Chapter 45: Leaving on a Whim (2)

Gu Yao woke up in the middle of the dead of night. Although her body felt warm, her stomach was intensely uncomfortable. It was likely due to eating too much before bed, leaving the food in her stomach largely undigested, pressing up against her chest and surging upward in waves.

Disregarding the bitter cold outside the quilt, she sat straight up, dry-heaved a few times uncontrollably, and scrambled to get out of bed to run to the bathroom.

Su Yu, sleeping beside her, was already awake. He reached out to turn on the bedside lamp, and with just a single glance, he took in her condition. He immediately picked up the quilt, wrapped her tightly in it, and scooped her up into his arms. "Bear with me for a moment, I'll take you right now."

Without even taking the time to put on shoes, he strode barefoot into the bathroom, lifted the toilet lid, pulled the blanket down a bit, and patted her back gently. "Go ahead."

With red-rimmed eyes, Gu Yao tightly covered her mouth with her hand and turned back to signal him to leave. She did not want him to see her in such a wretched state.

"It's alright, darling. You'll feel better once you throw up," Su Yu said softly, refusing to budge. He reached out to grab a towel and gently wiped the cold sweat from her forehead.

Left with no choice, she lowered her head and vomited a few times. Once she had emptied her stomach, she genuinely felt a bit better, though she was still dizzy and felt weak all over.

Su Yu filled a cup of water for her to rinse her mouth, flushed the toilet, picked her up, placed her back on the bed, and carefully tucked her in with the quilt.

Gu Yao felt completely drained of all energy. After catching her breath, she opened her eyes to see Su Yu standing by the bedside, putting on his clothes piece by piece. Having stood outside for so long in thin clothing, his lips had turned slightly bluish. After pulling on his heavy coat, he bent down to slip on his shoes, lowered his head, and tucked the blanket around her shoulders. "I'll go get some hot water for you to drink. Sleep for a little while first."

Gu Yao blinked, burying her delicate face in the quilt, and nodded feebly. She felt a bit worried about him: "It's all my fault for waking you up. If you don't get a good night's sleep, you'll be drowsy driving tomorrow."

"I'll sleep as soon as I get back," Su Yu comforted her, then opened the door and left.

When he returned, the thermos flask in his hand contained a cup of steaming hot water. After letting it cool slightly on the table, he helped her sit up to drink some.

As the warm water entered her belly, her entire midsection warmed up. Gu Yao's complexion grew a bit ruddier, and she patted the mattress beside her, urging him, "Come over and sleep."

"Take your medicine first," Su Yu agreed. He handed her a pill for altitude sickness, watched her take it, and then lay down beside her.

By now it was the deep dead of night, and the two dozed off again. When day was just beginning to break, Gu Yao opened her eyes to find that the person beside her was already awake, propping his head up and gazing at her with tender concern.

"How are you feeling?" Seeing her wake up, he reached out to test her forehead.

"Mm, I'm doing quite well," Gu Yao nodded, lifting the blanket to get up and put on her clothes, but he pressed her back down. "Put them on under the covers."

He fetched her clothes from a nearby chair and passed them inside the blanket piece by piece. Leaving it at that would have been fine, but he insisted on dressing her himself. It tickled Gu Yao so much that she dodged a few times and laughed, "Stop fussing with me, I can do it myself."

After a bit of a struggle under the covers and some shared laughter, they finally managed to get all their clothes on. Gu Yao shook her head and, miraculously, found that she felt much better; her head was no longer dizzy.

Su Yu still remained skeptical. "Does your head hurt? Is your stomach still uncomfortable? Do you have any cold symptoms?"

He asked a rapid-fire string of questions. To prove she was as healthy as could be, Gu Yao stretched her arms and legs, displaying a vibrant and energetic posture, stopping just short of running laps around the room.

Only then was Su Yu finally convinced. He picked up his phone and made a call. "Cancel the plane tickets."

"What plane tickets?" Gu Yao blinked, slightly bewildered.

"I booked tickets to Y City last night, planning to drive you back today so we could fly home tomorrow," Su Yu explained, closely examining her complexion to ensure there were no signs of illness, which seemed to set his mind somewhat at ease.

"What about Su Zhou and the others?" she asked with a smile.

The man sat back casually on the sofa. "Let them be. Whatever they want to do is fine by them."

Gu Yao was speechless.

She couldn't help feeling... that as an older brother, he was truly ruthless.

When they arrived last night, it was pitch black, and they hadn't seen any of the scenery. But when the two of them stepped outside this morning, they were instantly captivated by the breathtaking landscape.

After asking the innkeeper for directions, the two drove toward Lake Ranwu. Along the way, the distant mountains were vast and majestic, dotted with patches of snow, giving off a desolate and biting chill. Cyclists occasionally passed by on the roadside. Everyone hurried along, yet all were struck with the exact same awe by the scenery, stopping from time to time to take out their cameras and shoot.

Gu Yao couldn't be bothered with a camera, so she just used her phone to snap a few pictures out the window. A moment later, she shifted the frame slightly to capture Su Yu's profile as well. The man's facial features were striking and deeply etched, with very short black hair, a high bridge of the nose, and large sunglasses perched on top. He looked both steady and fiercely bold, blending seamlessly with the distant scenery.

"Aren't you going to take pictures of the handsome soldier?" That slightly jealous tone sounded in her ear once again.

Gu Yao curled her lips. "The handsome soldier won't let me take his picture, so I have to make do with photographing you."

Though she said that, she was being entirely hypocritical, repeatedly viewing that photo and carefully treasuring it away. To be honest, if she weren't afraid of her phone's photos leaking and being seen by others, she probably would have taken and saved countless pictures of Su Yu's physique just to admire at her leisure.

There are certain men who look slender and well-proportioned while wearing clothes, but once stripped down, their muscles are lean, sculpted, and so stunningly attractive that they practically make people drool. The so-called ultimate clothing hanger of a man was nothing more than this.

Yesterday she had been sickly and had no energy for sightseeing, but today was different. Having finally adjusted and overcome her altitude sickness, she looked outside with bubbly excitement, eager to get out and take photos at every single scenic spot they passed.

Seeing that she mostly photographed the landscape and rarely put herself in the frame, Su Yu offered to take the phone and shoot for her. Gu Yao waved her hands. "Never mind, just the pure scenery is fine. Putting people in it makes it look vulgar."

He stared at her, thoroughly unconvinced. "In my eyes, you are more beautiful than the scenery."

He forcibly pulled her to stand beneath a tree, bent down to search for the angle for a long time before finally snapping the photo, and beckoned her over. "Look, how gorgeous."

Gu Yao initially hadn't trusted him, holding zero expectations for a straight man's photography skills. But when she took the phone, she was genuinely surprised. There she stood beneath a tree in full peach blossom bloom, slightly lifting her head to gaze into the distance, her eyes filled with a trace of longing. The atmosphere was exquisite, and she looked stunning—easily rivaling professional photos taken by a paid photographer.

She hurriedly took the phone back and saved it.

Su Yu looked at her with a smiling gaze from the side. "Not afraid of looking vulgar anymore?"

"As long as it looks good," Gu Yao smiled, demonstrating a high degree of adaptability.

Lake Ranwu is exceptionally long. Driving a little further brought the lake into view, its water displaying a jade-like green that resembled a massive gemstone.

Gu Yao gasped in wonder. Once they finally reached the entrance, the two hurried down to get a better look. The lake surface possessed not a single ripple, smooth as a mirror reflecting the mountains behind it with breathtaking beauty. Gazing at it for too long gave one the wondrous, upside-down sensation that the entire world had inverted.

Gu Yao exhaled, her breath turning into a wisp of white mist in the freezing air. Though her nose was frozen red, she was utterly reluctant to leave, simply standing there and watching quietly.

Behind her, the man opened his oversized down jacket, wrapped her inside it, and held her in his embrace. He lowered his head, exhaled a warm breath, and warmed her freezing little ears before asking with a smile, "What is it, turned to stone?"

Gu Yao snuggled into his warm embrace and shook her head slightly. "No. It's just that whenever I see such majestic beauty, it makes humans feel so insignificant, which brings a strange sense of melancholy."

After pondering for a moment, she added, "Thinking about it this way, all those things I went through in the past really don't amount to much at all. There's no need to take them to heart."

"Mm," Su Yu murmured, lowering his head to nuzzle her soft hair. "Then let's stay and look a little longer. We'll stay another night in Ranwu Town."

"Alright, with so much beautiful scenery, a single day is far from enough," Gu Yao agreed with a smile, and the two continued to quietly gaze at the boundless, gorgeous lake.

The two lingered for yet another day, visiting a glacier along the way. Although buying tickets was easy, the hike up was exhausting, and Gu Yao almost failed to keep going. That evening, they went back down to eat some exceptionally delicious Sichuan cuisine and bought local yak jerky as a novelty snack. All in all, it was a thoroughly pleasant experience.

Early the next morning, they drove from Ranwu Town toward Bomi, and after traveling for a while longer, finally arrived at Nyingchi City, where Su Zhou and Gu Shisheng were staying. Upon entering, they could see many local, highly distinctive architectural styles.

Having already contacted Su Zhou beforehand, they had originally planned to meet at a designated spot. However, the brat simply claimed he was too busy to break away and directly sent a location pin for them to navigate to themselves.

Gu Yao glanced at it and discovered the pinned address was a restaurant, which made her a bit suspicious. Had these two actually started a business in Tibet and decided never to go back?

When they arrived, Su Yu parked the car. After waiting for quite a while without anyone coming out, he and Gu Yao walked together into the rather antiquated little eatery.

"What can I get you two?" A tall, thin young man with shoulder-length hair immediately walked over. His skin was tanned a dark bronze and he had a stubble of a beard. If not for his standard Mandarin, one would have mistaken him for a local.

"We aren't eating, we're looking for someone," Gu Yao waved her hand, just about to utter Su Zhou's name, when she noticed Su Yu's expression turn dark, staring grimly at the waiter before them.

She took a closer look herself and was promptly rendered speechless...

Wasn't this just Su Zhou? How on earth had he turned into this state? It was a miracle his own older brother even recognized him.

"Brother, you actually recognized me?" Su Zhou cracked a wide grin, making those teeth of his practically the only white thing on his entire body.

"Where is Gu Shisheng?" Su Yu asked in a cold voice, stepping away with a look of utter disgust from his younger brother's attempted embrace, unwilling to spare Su Zhou another glance.

"Follow me," Su Zhou said cheerfully, taking the lead. Anxious to see her brother, Gu Yao hurried after him toward the backyard.

It was a rather small courtyard, piled with miscellaneous items like firewood. A tall boiler stood in the middle, boiling water and sending up gushes of white steam from the top.

Gu Yao stood at the doorway and swept a glance inside, spotting a disheveled young man squatting by the boiler. His clothes had a few small holes in them, on his feet were worn-out tourist sneakers, and his hair was quite long, topped with a woolen cap. He looked destitute in every possible way.

She raised an eyebrow, a terrible premonition washing over her.

Sure enough, the moment Su Zhou called out to the figure, the young man abruptly turned his head. His tanned, rough features were truly weathered, and only his facial features retained a hint of delicate refinement.