Chapter 6 Traveling Notes

I ate and drank a lot of wine to the point where I felt dizzy, and that was when Fatty told me about the other surprise he had prepared. There was a documentary team filming Tibetan animal husbandry in the local area, and the boss here had recommended us as one of their subjects. The name of the documentary was going to be “From Southern China to Western China”.

Although the interview would be short—only about twenty seconds—and they would have to go to Xilaimian later to shoot some source material, Fatty said that our shop would definitely be famous on the internet then.

To be honest, I already felt that Xilaimian’s business was good enough. After all, retirement life shouldn’t be more tiring than going on an adventure in the woods. After arguing with him for a little bit, we eventually decided to let Jiang Bai take our place. He was also good-looking, so he could be our western promotion ambassador.

We all ended up drinking a little too much while discussing it, so we headed back to the guesthouse to sleep. When we arrived, we saw a few old customers from Xilaimian who happened to be there. They had also come to Motuo to travel, so we exchanged pleasantries for a while and then went to our room and fell asleep.

The plan for the next day was to go to Motuo. We had already agreed to participate in the competition, so we’d come back here and take part when the time came. The rest of the time, we were free to do whatever we wanted.

I got up very early the next morning. Poker-Face always got up earlier than me, so he was long gone. I didn’t know where he went, but Fatty was still snoring away nearby.

I went up to the rooftop and silently looked off into the distance—it had actually snowed last night, and all the hills had turned white overnight.

I couldn’t help but feel an indescribable emotion. Although snow during this season wasn’t very rare, it wasn’t that common either. It should be several more months before the probability of such an overnight spectacle increased.

This snow would soon melt. By noon, the overnight accumulation would probably return to its original level, and the melted snow water would converge together and flow into the small streams and rivers, increasing their size and nourishing everything around them.

Was this snow Motuo welcoming an old friend? But who was it welcoming, me or Poker-Face?

I figured these mountains were welcoming the young man who had journeyed through them for countless days and nights.

I heard the other tourists start murmuring in astonishment, but the locals didn’t seem surprised at all. After following their gaze, I could see a black spot on the mountain in the distance, heading towards the back of the snowy peak. I wondered if it was Poker-Face.

Fatty didn’t fully wake up until around eleven o’clock. Once Poker-Face came back, we all started preparing to leave.

“You have to practice,” Jiang Bai said as he helped us with our luggage and watched us leave.

From here, the journey to Motuo was very quick.⁽¹⁾ There were more and more snow-capped peaks on both sides, but the road wasn’t the same as the one I had taken back then. I closed my eyes. Even though Fatty had kicked up a fuss yesterday, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy as I looked at the road signs that kept appearing.

“I fucking knew you’d act like this,” Fatty started scolding me. “You’ve had enough time to adjust. If you pass out again, it’s your funeral. And the altitude here is high, so if you shed a few tears, you might just wind up with pulmonary edema.⁽²⁾ You need to take care of yourself.”

I looked at my hands and found that they were shaking.

What did Motuo mean to me?

I hadn’t thought about it before, but at this time, countless memories that I didn’t want to recall all started surfacing in my mind. I looked down at my hands and realized that what happened in Motuo must’ve been more important in shaping my life than I originally thought.

“Then enlighten me,” I said to Fatty while showing him my hands. “What’s wrong with me?”

Fatty glanced at Poker-Face, who was looking out the window at the snow-capped mountains all around us. It was very quiet, the kind of quietness that was abnormal. He definitely didn’t see such a scene when he went in and out of Motuo before. It must’ve been more spectacular and quiet than what we saw, just like a sanctuary.

Now he was staring out the window the whole way, but he couldn’t seem to find the memory of that time. Although his eyes were indifferent, they still made me feel distressed because in them, I could see that there was confusion regarding the old man I saw before.

Even if he tried to recall the distant memories, they were all very vague since most of them had escaped into the void.

“You were alone when you went to Motuo, but when you came back, you were a different person,” Fatty said to me. “People never really know how they’ve changed. Your memory of Motuo is certainly not as clear as mine.”

“Because I changed in Motuo?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t think you could change back,” Fatty said to me. “I watched you the whole time. You don’t know how thrilling it is to see you from my point of view. It’s not something on the outside, but something in your heart.”

“Is that why my hands are shaking?” I looked at Fatty.

Fatty handed me an oxygen canister, “No, your hands are shaking because of altitude sickness. Here, take a breath.”

<Chapter 5><Table of Contents><Chapter 7>

****

TN Notes:

(1) Idk what’s quick about a 23-hour drive but ok Wu Xie.

(2) Pulmonary edema is a condition caused by too much fluid in the lungs. It’s usually caused by a heart condition, but can also be caused by pneumonia, exposure to certain toxins and drugs, and being at high elevations. Just FYI, but smoking at high elevations is also a VERY bad idea.

****

Pic added 12/3/2022 (fan translation courtesy of me).