?

  I sat for less than an hour, and my face turned black. This car didn't know how many years it had been opened, and the license plate couldn't be seen. The exterior paint was all peeled off, carrying a few tourists on the highway, winding and turning, with cliffs outside the road, not even a guardrail, scaring my little heart to death, one moment in the sky, one moment on the ground. Originally, I didn't have a car-sick constitution, but it was so tossed around that I threw up several times.

  I thought to myself, it's only been an hour and I'm already vomiting like this. If I had waited a bit longer, I probably would have died on the spot. With Xiaoyu's personality, she wouldn't even bother to collect my body. I quickly gulped down two mouthfuls of water, but before long, I vomited again. The other passengers on the bus were all pale-faced, and the young man who had been enthusiastic about picking up customers was now closing his eyes and dozing off.

  The current altitude is about 2500 meters above, but I don't have any plateau reaction, probably because of the training on Changbai Mountain. There was a little boy in the car who had a more severe highland reaction, his parents were scared and hurriedly asked the driver if they could go back.

  The young man in the car directly stuffed a board of medicine, patted the boy's arm, and checked it like a model. He said, "It's not serious, just take some medicine to relieve it, this road was originally not going back, now open it back, others will not agree."

  I was leaning against the car head, feeling dizzy and confused. All I could hear was a cacophony of noises inside the car - sometimes it was curses, other times it was children crying, one after another, more lively than a vegetable market.

  I don't know how long it took, but someone tapped my shoulder and said, "Wake up, we're here." I rubbed my sore forehead and looked out the window to see that it was already dark outside. I got off the bus with my luggage, and the young porter who had been calling out for passengers was also looking energetic, saying in a soft voice, "I can help you all find a hotel to stay in, follow me, don't get lost, it's too late now and hard to find a place."

  The parking lot was probably a county parking station, which had never been repaired. It was completely flattened by cars, with a patch of yellow earth and occasionally a few blades of grass stubbornly emerging from the soil. I was almost dragging my feet as I walked, and the altitude here seemed even higher. I was starting to feel unwell, feeling like I was filled with lead. I asked the young man: "What is Kama?"

  He said, "You're from Kama City, we're on the same road, come with me." I nodded and followed behind the group. The ground beneath my feet was soft grass, and the evening wind carried a hint of grassy scent. Although it was summer, the temperature here was very low. Other tourists were all prepared, wearing thick coats and wrapping up warm, but I was the only one on this high plateau above 3,000 meters, still in short sleeves. At that time, I was walking hastily and didn't think about this, so when the night wind on the plateau hit me, my nose started running with clear water.

  It wasn't long before we arrived at Kama, a typical Tibetan-style building with white walls and red pillars, topped with broad brown tiles. It was about three stories high, each floor having a corridor along the outside, and now most of the tourists were asleep, resting for tomorrow's Qinghai Lake tour, so Kama was very quiet, with only a few lights shining through.

  The young man who pulled in customers, I don't know what his name was, he chatted with a Tibetan Ama who was waiting in the building in Tibetan, and then didn't register anything. The Ama called several Tibetan men and women in their teens and led the tourists upstairs.

  I took out my phone to call Yuxiu Hua, and it rang for a long time before he picked up. His voice was hoarse and low, and he sounded quite annoyed: "Can't you see what time it is now? You're disturbing people's sleep and beauty rest, don't you have any manners?" I had been working hard all day without even eating a bite of food, and this guy was actually sleeping, yet he was blaming me? At that moment, I didn't feel like being polite anymore. I said: "I've already arrived at Kama, I'll settle the score with you tomorrow!" Not giving him a chance to retort, I hung up the phone and followed the person upstairs.

  The one who led me was a twelve or thirteen year old little girl, with a bunch of black braids tied up. I subconsciously counted them, but couldn't count clearly. At this time, she lifted a thick curtain and said: "Uncle, you live here." The floors above the second floor were all made of wood, and the rooms didn't have doors, only a piece of heavy curtain that reached the ground, with wooden blocks inside, which could block even the slightest wind.

  I didn't expect this Tibetan girl to be so young and yet speak Mandarin, so I asked her: "Where can I take a bath?" She told me that it's too late now, the hot water has been used up, so I had no choice but to resign myself to my fate, wrapping myself in a stinky sweat-dried body and lying down on the bed. Before falling asleep, I vaguely thought, tomorrow Hua Yu will not be able to come up with a good explanation, I must strangle him!

  I didn't expect to sleep until after noon, and when I got up, my whole body was sore. After tidying up, I went downstairs to call Yuxi Flower to arrange a place to have a good talk, but unexpectedly, the downstairs was already crowded with people.

  Last night's rush didn't leave much of an impression, but now that I've had a chance to look around, this place called Kama Hotel is a typical family-run operation. The building and layout blend Tibetan and Han Chinese characteristics, with the former being more prominent. Although it's already past noon, it's just about time for Tibetans to have their afternoon tea. A group of people are gathered around a long table, sitting on thick woolen blankets, with plenty of food already laid out on the table.

  I had traveled to Tibet before, so I knew a bit about the living habits of Tibetan people. The Ama sitting in the main seat put her hands together and bowed to me, while the young girl sitting next to her, who was either her daughter or daughter-in-law, added a set of tableware for me. You can tell whether a Tibetan woman is married or not by looking at her headdress, but apart from my brief trip to Tibet, I knew very little about Tibetans and rarely came into contact with them in my daily business, so I didn't know whether the girl who poured butter tea for me was a daughter or a daughter-in-law.

  I gave my aunt a slight bow, picked up the butter tea and took a sip, and happened to glance up. As I looked up, I almost spat out the tea. There, sitting across from me, was someone wearing a pink sweater with a pink down jacket - it wasn't Yuxiu Hua, but who else? He was lowering his head playing with his phone, when suddenly he lifted his head and gave me a wide smile, revealing a row of white teeth. "Little San Ye, you've rested long enough," he said. After that, he ignored my stunned expression and continued to play with his old flip phone - I really don't know what's so fun about it.

  But what surprised me was not only the flower, but also a familiar face sitting next to him - Huo Jia's daughter, Huo Xiuxiu. Xiuxiu looked a bit embarrassed and nodded at me before burying her head in her tea. Next to Xiuxiu sat a young man wearing a white down jacket. I specifically mention him because he was also wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses that covered his entire upper face, leaving only his lips and chin exposed. The skin on the exposed parts of his face was pale and delicate, making him look very young, probably not much older than me.

  I remember seeing these glasses in a science magazine, which said they were some kind of ultra-thin and sticky design, with a bunch of miscellaneous functions, the whole article wrote a lot, but I only remembered one point, worth over 50,000.

  I may not have a lot of money, but spending 50,000 yuan on a pair of sunglasses is something I would never do. People who wear glasses like this are obviously different from those who are blind, it's not just to cover their eyes, but to cover their face, can't they show their face? A rich person who can't be seen by others?

  I'm not sure if he's with Xiaohua and the others, because from head to toe, he had his hands crossed, neither moving the food in front of him nor talking to Xiuxiu or Jiayu Hua, so it's possible that he's a solo tourist.

  Just as I was guessing, his gaze suddenly turned to me. Due to his special glasses, I couldn't be sure if he was looking at me or not, but I clearly saw the corners of his mouth curve upwards, seemingly smiling.

  At that moment, I had a feeling of being ridiculed, as if he saw through me. The feeling was very uncomfortable, like walking on the street without wearing underwear, thinking that only I knew, but the next second, I found that everyone's eyes were staring at my butt. I don't know why I thought of such a strange metaphor, but the uncomfortable feeling quickly disappeared because that person had lowered his head and started drinking butter tea, with elegant movements like a noble, as if he was not sitting on a mat drinking butter tea, but sitting on a dragon chair drinking red top.

  I shook my head, shaking off the strange idea in my mind, and decided not to care about this passerby. What was most important now was to ask Xie Yu Hua what she knew. Even if he wasn't reliable, it wouldn't be enough to make me take a trip from Hangzhou to Qinghai for nothing.

  But looking at the two of them, one playing with his phone and the other concentrating on eating, they seemed to have completely ignored me, not showing any intention of going out to talk. There were also over a dozen tourists surrounding us eating, so I didn't dare to speak up and first lowered my head to eat.

  My stomach, which had been empty for a day and night, protested violently after eating the dry tsampa, but felt slightly better after drinking some butter tea. Just as I was starting to appreciate the flavor, Xie suddenly stood up, slung his backpack over his shoulder, gave me a sideways glance, and said, "If you want to know what happened, follow me." I almost choked on my tsampa in surprise, but quickly got up to follow him, only to discover that the bystander was also following us with his arms crossed.

  I was shocked, and it really was a gang.