Chapter 73#

Chapter 73: Drinking the First Soup (3)

The Ishvish Grassland is one of the famous scenic spots in Suilin and even in our country. Every summer, red and yellow wildflowers cover the mountains and plains. Looking out, there are fields of purple lavender, snow-capped mountains standing behind the undulating grasslands, golden eagles and Tibetan antelopes, occasionally visible herds of cattle and horses, and hares that suddenly dart past your feet—tourists from all over the world come here.

This trip was prepared by He Hailou. During the flight, he made a phone call, seemingly instructing people in Ishvish to prepare. Obviously, although there was a small accident before, the two still proceeded according to the established plan—only a little earlier—to the originally planned next destination.

From the conversation with He Hailou this morning, to the two taking a plane to Sangzan, and then taking another plane from Sangzan to Ishvish, it had been less than 24 hours in total. But somehow, Gu Chenzhou already had a feeling that it had been a very long time.

Leaning back in his seat, he had just recalled the events of the day as a whole when he saw He Hailou sitting next to him suddenly yawn, and then yawn one, two, three times in succession.

Gu Chenzhou turned his head and glanced at He Hailou. Sensing Gu Chenzhou’s gaze, the other party said to him slightly dazed: “Didn’t sleep yesterday.”

…Not exactly “thought so”, but at least “not surprising”. He Hailou knew the location of the streets in Sangzan so well, he must have done some research on Sangzan before coming. Plus their schedule was a bit rushed, presumably when he was catching up on sleep in the morning, He Hailou was sitting and making a series of itinerary preparations.

“How many hours is the flight?” Gu Chenzhou asked.

“Three hours or four hours?” He Hailou replied. Like Gu Chenzhou, he hadn’t listened carefully to the broadcast just now.

Gu Chenzhou took out the plane ticket from his pocket, glanced at it, and answered He Hailou: “Three hours and thirty-four minutes. There’s no one in the back row, put the seat back down and sleep for a while.”

He Hailou was really sleepy. Taking Gu Chenzhou to that place, besides pointing out the people to Gu Chenzhou, he really just wanted to have a meal by the way—after all, leaving immediately after looking seemed strange—but as a result, they didn’t really get to eat, didn’t eat well, first encountered a robbery, then were chased by a group of people for several streets, fighting and racing, ran to the airport without even taking their luggage to fly to the next place…

He Hailou looked up and thought for a while, then suddenly said: “I always feel that when I’m with you, there are so many things happening!” Then he started counting on his fingers, “Went to the forest that time and got scratched unconscious by a monkey, then experienced a man-made mudslide together, and now being chased by rioters—”

“Young Master He forgot a few things.” Gu Chenzhou said lightly.

“Oh?”

“That night at Taihai River, after drinking with Young Master Wang, and the time I went to Dechang.” Gu Chenzhou said. The results of these three events were respectively: he punched He Hailou once, figured out the real mastermind behind Wei Xiangjin’s car accident last time, and beat He Nanshan at his own game by using He Hailou.

Speaking of the two getting along, seven parts were man-made, two parts were entanglement of various forces, and one part was coincidence. Basically, not a single time passed peacefully—even without contact, Gu Chenzhou and He Hailou could still clash.

Even if their positions were opposite, such frequent occurrences were simply a natural clash. Gu Chenzhou couldn’t help thinking this way.

He Hailou didn’t hear Gu Chenzhou’s inner voice. Just listening to the other party’s words, not only did his expression not change, but he also became happy from the bottom of his heart: “Isn’t it? It’s simply too fateful!”

Gu Chenzhou: “…”

He finally couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to He Hailou. He pulled out an advertising magazine from the seat back in front of him and flipped through it casually.

Sitting next to Gu Chenzhou, He Hailou openly leaned over to read with Gu Chenzhou, chatting a few words when there was nothing else. Even though Gu Chenzhou responded sporadically, he couldn’t resist the rising sleepiness. His voice slowly faded, his eyelids began to droop, and his breathing gradually became steady.

“Sir,” a stewardess walking in the aisle suddenly stopped beside Gu Chenzhou and asked him in a low voice, “Does your companion need a blanket?”

Gu Chenzhou: “…” He really wanted to say this is not my companion, but felt that saying this specifically to a stewardess was really silly. In the end, he could only nod silently.

Receiving Gu Chenzhou’s reply, the stewardess took a blanket from the cart, shook it open, and was about to cover He Hailou, but was blocked by Gu Chenzhou sitting on the outside. Seeing that Gu Chenzhou had no intention of lending a hand, she said: “Sir, could you please move a little?”

Standing up specifically to make room because he didn’t want to help cover He Hailou with a blanket… seemed even sillier.

Gu Chenzhou said: “I’ll do it.” He took the blanket from her hand, shook it open, and covered He Hailou.

The sudden addition on his body startled He Hailou in his sleep, but he didn’t wake up. He mumbled something unintelligible, subconsciously rubbed against the blanket that almost covered his neck, then shrank his neck, nuzzled his chin and lower nose into the blanket, and then continued to sleep peacefully.

This scene was really cute and pleasing to the eye. The stewardess pushing the cart further down couldn’t help looking back several times. It wasn’t until she could no longer see He Hailou sitting in the seat that she reluctantly withdrew her gaze and continued walking, gently asking each passenger about their needs.

The grassland in late April still retained some of the chill of winter.

On the flight, He Hailou slept almost from beginning to end. When the plane stopped steadily at the airport and passengers left one after another, he looked full of energy.

Compared to He Hailou, Gu Chenzhou, who was used to sleeping at eleven and couldn’t sleep beside He Hailou, looked a bit sleepy. Plus, as soon as he walked out of the plane, he was blown by a strong wind and sneezed on the spot.

He Hailou glanced at Gu Chenzhou and then at the time: it was already 2:45 in the morning.

Really been running since this time yesterday… He Hailou couldn’t help thinking, and said to the other party: “I found a place, but it’s too late tonight. Let’s stay next to the airport for a night first, and take the nomadic route tomorrow, go to the grassland and look inside the tents of those nomads, how about it?”

Gu Chenzhou nodded in agreement.

The hotel closest to the airport was just a turn out of the airport and a walk of about thirty steps to the right. Gu Chenzhou and He Hailou booked adjacent rooms at the counter, agreed on a time for tomorrow morning, and then went into their respective rooms.

When He Hailou walked into the room, he found that his bed was facing the wall. He thought about it and felt that according to the general design of hotels, Gu Chenzhou’s headboard should be directly facing his headboard…

It seemed strange to feel satisfied because of this, but a subtle sense of satisfaction indeed suddenly appeared in He Hailou’s heart. He took out his mobile phone, made a call, took a shower in the bathroom, tossed and turned until about four o’clock, and finally yawned and lay down on the bed.

At nine o’clock the next morning, the two met outside the hotel room.

The events of last night had passed, and neither Gu Chenzhou nor He Hailou cared anymore. For He Hailou, who single-handedly arranged this trip, although there were some changes, it was only to the extent that a certain project was advanced a little, and everything was within the plan.

They came to the first floor of the hotel, had breakfast, and got into the tour guide’s car waiting outside the hotel, passing through various tourist spots along the way. In April, the grassland was indeed not as stunningly beautiful as in summer. At this time, the grass had not fully grown out. At a glance, apart from sparse, thin, and small grass stumps, there was more yellow-brown of the land; the wildflowers covering the mountains and plains were even more traceless. The earliest, earliest flowers were only sandwiched in the wild grass, forming a pitiful flower bud, revealing a little bit of pale yellow or pale red under the sepals.

Throughout the morning, Gu Chenzhou and He Hailou set off from the airport, passed through pastures where grass had not yet grown, pastures where grass had grown halfway but were uglier than those without grass, the Ishvish River flowing through the Ishvish Grassland and known as the mother river of the grassland, and a herd of cattle and sheep drinking water by the river…

Gu Chenzhou and He Hailou got off the car.

The tour guide smiled and greeted the herdsman herding livestock in a language neither of them understood, and the herdsman also responded happily to the tour guide.

The tour guide turned back and translated for the two: “This is a friend of the Kazakh ethnic group. I told him that you two are tourists from out of town. He said that in this season, only the green by the river is a bit prettier. He also said that if you like, you can touch those animals, they are very well-behaved.”

Gu and He were just about to say something when they heard the tour guide add: “By the way, just playing is free. If you feed them, it’s fifteen yuan per person for unlimited feeding. If you want to ride, it’s thirty yuan per person for unlimited riding.”

Gu Chenzhou and He Hailou: “…”

He Hailou said: “Ride sheep?”

The tour guide laughed and said: “Riding horses is not fashionable now!”

At this time, the Kazakh old man said something to the tour guide in his own ethnic language. The tour guide listened for a while, a smile appeared on his face, and he said to the two: “You are lucky. This old man is very hospitable. He said if you go back with him to sit for a while, you will be guests of his family. You can play with the cattle and sheep as you like, and he will also bring out the best food to entertain you.”

He Hailou and Gu Chenzhou looked at each other. He Hailou asked: “What about the herdsmen’s homes in the original plan?”

The tour guide said disapprovingly: “Those herdsmen receive tourists every day. It’s just like my job as a tour guide and his as a driver, just practice makes perfect. How can they be as good as the one we met now? He sincerely invited you to his home for hospitality. If you want to see the authentic scenery here, it’s better to go with this old man.”

“Okay,” He Hailou decided, “Is there anything to pay attention to here?”

“Some customs can’t be explained clearly at once. Just follow me later,” the tour guide thought for a while and said, “You are guests when you visit, so there will definitely be no charge, but you can bring gifts.” He added, “I will prepare the gifts. The approximate amount is the amount you would have spent at those herdsmen’s homes, how about it?”

“Let’s do that.” This time it was Gu Chenzhou who answered. Then he walked to the Ishvish River a few steps away, bent down to test the river water, which was bone-chillingly cold, then casually pulled up a few stalks of grass from the ground and handed them to the mouth of a sheep beside him.

The wool on that sheep wasn’t all milky white, looking a bit yellowish-white. Its pink nose moved, as if sniffing Gu Chenzhou’s scent or the scent of the green grass, then it opened its mouth and ate those few stalks of green grass from Gu Chenzhou’s hand.

Gu Chenzhou watched the sheep slowly finish eating the grass he fed. Just as he was about to stand up, his coat was tugged. He turned his head and saw a sheep had ambled to his right at some point and was chewing on his coat vigorously.

Gu Chenzhou tugged, the sheep was still chewing; he tugged again, still chewing; tugged again, still…

Gu Chenzhou took off his coat directly, then pulled hard!

The sheep was dragged for two steps, finally regretfully let go of the thing in its mouth that it couldn’t bite, turned around and left.

At this time, the tour guide was already calling Gu Chenzhou and He Hailou. Gu Chenzhou looked at his coat with a wet patch, suppressed his intention to dip the bitten part into the river water, put it back on, got into the car, and followed the tour guide and the Kazakh old man to his yurt.

Lifting the felt door, everyone sat down. The first thing the Kazakh old man served was butter tea.

The tour guide took it with a smile, but didn’t drink it immediately, instead chatting with the Kazakh old man. There seemed to be no one else in the yurt. Besides speaking his own language, the old man could also speak some Chinese, but only for very basic communication.

Gu Chenzhou and He Hailou looked more at the furnishings in the yurt. As for the butter tea in front of them, when the tour guide just arrived, he took the time to tell them that they had to wait for the old man to start eating and drinking before they could.

After chatting with the tour guide for a while, the Kazakh old man picked up the butter tea and took a sip, while conversing with Gu Chenzhou and He Hailou in stiff and monotonous Chinese.

He Hailou took over the conversation. Gu Chenzhou picked up the still warm butter tea and took a sip. The taste was sweet and salty, feeling a bit strange… This cup of butter tea wasn’t much, so Gu Chenzhou simply drank it while it was hot.

At this time, He Hailou also cleverly shifted the topic to the tour guide. He saw Gu Chenzhou simply drank a whole cup of butter tea, so he also picked it up and took a big gulp. Instantly, his face twisted slightly: “You…”

“Hmm?” Gu Chenzhou looked at He Hailou without understanding.

He Hailou looked at Gu Chenzhou silently for a while, then turned to look at the old man who was chatting happily with the tour guide. Suddenly, he moved quickly and swapped Gu Chenzhou’s tea cup with his own.

Gu Chenzhou: “…What are you doing?”

He Hailou: Look at the felt roof, look at the felt roof, look at the broken felt roof! Whistle, whistle, whistle away~

A teapot spout suddenly appeared in front of the tea cup He Hailou swapped. The milky white liquid poured into the tea cup again. The Kazakh old man said with a smile: “Drink, drink!”

He Hailou: “…”

Gu Chenzhou couldn’t hold back and laughed out loud.

The journey continued.

After having lunch in the old man’s yurt at noon, in the afternoon, the two followed the tour guide and continued deeper into the grassland according to the previous plan. The flat terrain slowly became undulating, forests began to appear more often, and distant mountains were faintly visible…

The wild wind poured in from the car window. Gu Chenzhou had just zipped up his coat when he saw snow-capped mountains appearing at the end of the grassland. The green came to an end, presenting a decadent gray-brown. Above the gray-brown, it was dotted with pure white snow. Looking at a glance, the mountains undulated endlessly, with interesting heights and lows.

The wind on the grassland seemed never to stop for a moment.

The grass, which was only two or three centimeters high by their feet, also swayed its body with the wind on the grassland, drilling around Gu Chenzhou and He Hailou’s feet from time to time, or gently nudging, or mischievously brushing past quietly, or teasingly hooking their ankles…

He Hailou suddenly bent down, groped around his feet for a while, and picked up something: “I was wondering what grass has so many skills, turns out it’s a…” He lifted the thing in his hand higher and identified it against the moonlight for a while, “Kitten?”

This seemed to be a spotted cat, a bit larger than two adult palms put together. Its eyes were big and spirited, not looking very afraid of people, just staring at He Hailou with round eyes.

He Hailou reached out and scratched the kitten’s chin. The kitten immediately narrowed its eyes and made a purring sound in its throat.

Gu Chenzhou, who was looking into the distance, felt something was wrong and turned back to ask He Hailou: “What sound?”

“Cat meowing.” He Hailou said casually, scratching the kitten’s chin again, and the kitten purred again.

Gu Chenzhou was a bit puzzled. He leaned close to He Hailou and looked at the kitten in his hand for a while, then looked back as if sensing something…

“What’s wrong?” He Hailou, who had been teasing the kitten for a good while, suddenly found Gu Chenzhou staying beside him. He was about to drop the kitten in his hand but was surprised, thinking to himself, could someone like Gu Chenzhou be interested in a cat like a little girl?

“That cat in your hand…” Gu Chenzhou’s voice was very light and thin, “Don’t throw it, put it down slowly, be careful.”

He Hailou actually wanted to ask how the other party knew he would throw it, but Gu Chenzhou’s tone?

“What’s wrong with this cat?” He Hailou followed Gu Chenzhou’s line of sight, turned slightly backward, and then saw…

“…A leopard?” He Hailou’s voice shattered into pieces.

“Whose cat purrs like that.” Gu Chenzhou laughed once, but there was no smile in his voice at all.

The two looked at each other. He Hailou immediately felt his hand heavy, as uncomfortable as holding an ancestor. He swallowed a mouthful of saliva. Just as he was about to say or do something, the leopard crouching a dozen steps behind them suddenly leaped forward! Almost like lightning flashing across the sky, without blinking an eye, they saw the black shadow that was three or four meters away had already jumped to a position above their heads.

He Hailou suddenly raised his hand and threw the little leopard in his hand forcefully in the opposite direction of the two, then suddenly threw himself onto Gu Chenzhou beside him. The two bodies entangled and rolled several times on the grass. Just as they raised their heads, they saw the black shadow turn lightly in the air, jump towards the direction where the little leopard was thrown, catch up with the little leopard in mid-air, then catch the other party in its mouth, and disappear in a few moments.

Gu Chenzhou and He Hailou collapsed on the grass at once.

The thumping heartbeats and heavy breathing were particularly obvious on the silent grassland.

A cold sweat broke out on their backs at some point. The wind blew into their clothes, making them shiver with cold. He Hailou propped his hands on the grass, wanting to sit up. Halfway up, his hand suddenly went soft, and he fell down again. His lips happened to land on the corner of Gu Chenzhou’s lips, who was still lying on the grass.

In the darkness, he couldn’t see the other’s expression clearly, only feeling the person beneath him move, and then lips against the corner of the mouth became lips against lips.

He Hailou almost instinctively stuck out his tongue and licked the other’s lips.

Very soft.

He then bit again.

Very resilient!

This was He Hailou’s first thought and the only thought at this moment. The next moment, he found the person beneath him actually opened his mouth slightly!

The expected warm and wet mouth made He Hailou spirited all over! He leaned closer and closer with great interest, catching a glimpse of Gu Chenzhou’s slow smile from the corner of his eye…

Five fingers clenched into a fist kissed He Hailou’s cheek. He Hailou was unprepared, and his teeth and tongue immediately had an intimate contact.

He Hailou: “…”

Too disappointed, he was actually half a beat slow before remembering he should cry out in pain.