Chapter 38

Chapter 38

Jiang Yun’s heart fluttered nervously at her smile.

Before closing the door, she instinctively glanced back into the room. The sky hadn’t fully brightened yet, and only a thin streak of light seeped through the curtains. The whole room was trapped in interlacing shadows, as if a giant beast were hiding in the corners, silently observing, making her uneasy for no reason.

She lowered her eyes and firmly closed the door.

Turning around, she had already composed her expression, smiling at Qu Yixian: “Sister Qu, shall we go?”

——

By the time they reached the parking lot, Fu Xun and Yuan Ye were already waiting.

Fu Xun was half-squatting by the SUV, checking the tire pressure, while Yuan Ye acted like a tourist, holding his phone and taking pictures of the sunrise.

Qu Yixian stepped lightly and leaned behind him, asking: “Is the sunrise pretty?”

“Pretty… look…” Halfway through, Yuan Ye sensed something was off. He turned to see Qu Yixian and, like a thief caught in the act, quickly hid his phone.

He gave a nervous laugh and explained: “I’m done checking everything.”

Qu Yixian glanced at him: “What did I say to you?”

Yuan Ye immediately shook his head, standing stiffly before her, like standing at attention, perfectly disciplined.

“Alright, let’s go.” Qu Yixian opened the car door and casually placed the glucose injections into the door compartment.

She grabbed the interior handle and slid into the car. While fastening her seatbelt, her eyes fell on Fu Xun, who was walking back after checking the rear tire pressure, and an idea struck her.

Qu Yixian pressed the window button, half of her body leaning out the car window, calling to Fu Xun: “You get in my car, along with Yuan Ye.”

She slowed her speech, carefully saying: “Going to Kekexili, one car is enough.”

Yuan Ye didn’t understand, but he habitually obeyed when Qu Yixian made a decision. He immediately closed the car door and cheerfully climbed into the back seat of the SUV.

Once everyone was seated, Qu Yixian started driving.

After passing the highway toll, she calmly explained to Jiang Yun: “Kekexili is pretty far, and we’re coming back the same day, so there’s no need for a second support vehicle.”

“Once we pass Golmud, about 60 kilometers ahead, there’s a must-pass route called the Wan Zhang Salt Bridge.” Qu Yixian pressed the accelerator, the wind whipping past, and asked Jiang Yun: “Just from the name, what do you think it is?”

“An elevated bridge over a salt flat?” Jiang Yun asked.

“The Wan Zhang Salt Bridge is a road bridge that crosses the heart of the Chaka Salt Lake, 33 kilometers long. Rounded according to city measurements, it’s about ten thousand zhang, hence the name ‘Wan Zhang Salt Bridge.’”

Jiang Yun only half understood and asked: “If it’s built over the salt lake, how is it still called a road bridge?”

“In 1954, when they built the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, the road construction army officially broke ground from Golmud. The first construction budget was 300,000 yuan, approved personally by Premier Zhou. But when the road reached Wudaoliang, funds ran out. The leaders in charge of the highway knew they still had the Tanggula Mountains and the Kunlun Mountains ahead, so they had to request an additional 2 million yuan.”

“This time, besides funding, the state provided 1,000 engineers and 100 vehicles for support. But these engineers and vehicles weren’t free. The requirement was to complete the Dunge Highway and expand the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. That’s how the ‘Wan Zhang Salt Bridge’ came to be.”

Qu Yixian’s storytelling voice carried a certain mesmerizing quality.

Not just Jiang Yun, even Yuan Ye and Fu Xun, who were familiar with the northwest’s development history, listened intently.

“To complete the Dunge Highway, the leaders were worried. Unable to go personally, they chose a Major General. In 1951, Tibet was liberated, and the leader took the Northwest Regiment into Tibet. This Major General was responsible for procuring supplies, stabilizing the region. By 1953, he participated in the Tibetan Camel Transport Corps, traveling Ningxia and Inner Mongolia, purchasing over 10,000 camels to transport food, helping Tibet through a critical period. In 1954, during the Qinghai-Tibet Railway construction, he was stationed at Kekexili as the food transfer station chief and naturally took on the responsibility of completing the Dunge Highway.”

Qu Yixian glanced at Jiang Yun, seeing her fascinated expression, and continued: “This Major General brought four people and one vehicle, detouring through Xining and Lanzhou to Dunhuang. Locally, he hired over 40 workers and, starting in November, explored and repaired the road simultaneously.”

“Explored and repaired at the same time?” Jiang Yun asked: “There was no road then?”

“There wasn’t a road before. The workers carved it bit by bit. When they reached Chaka Salt Lake in winter… you wouldn’t know, but the northwest winter is harsh. The lake’s surface was hard salt crusts, jagged like fish scales, with sinkholes beneath, gullies, and ponds.”

“The tricky part was, when the construction army was at a loss, someone lifted the salt crust, crushed it, and filled the sinkholes. The next day, the sinkholes had solidified. They then used the salted soil and brine to pour and build the Wan Zhang Salt Bridge.”

Jiang Yun had never heard of northwest road construction before, so she was excited: “The Wan Zhang Salt Bridge is built over a salt lake, forming a road. The scenery must be nice, right?”

Qu Yixian smiled: “You might be disappointed. If I didn’t say it’s the Wan Zhang Salt Bridge, you might not notice at all. You’d just complain the road is so steep and bumpy.”

As she spoke, the car passed Golmud and entered the Kunlun Mountains. On the not-so-wide two-lane road, transport vehicles gradually appeared in both directions.

The land and scenery became increasingly barren. All the mountains in sight were gray, bare stone, devoid of the heavenly beauty of Kekexili.

Jiang Yun hesitated: “Bumpy?”

“The roadbed of the salt bridge, below one meter, is entirely made up of crystallized salt and interstitial brine forming underground lakes ten to twenty meters deep. In reality, the highway is a long bridge floating on the salt lake. With any weather change, thermal expansion and contraction occur. Whether in winter warmth or summer coolness, the road surface is always uneven. Vehicles with low clearance will scrape the skid plates if not careful.” Qu Yixian finished speaking as the car sped through the canyon.

It wasn’t until she could see the jade mine in the distance that she slightly raised her chin, signaling Fu Xun to look: “Jade mine.”

It was a very prominent jade mine on the Kunlun Mountains, producing Kunlun jade.

Fu Xun was somewhat distracted. He followed the direction Qu Yixian indicated, squinting, and asked: “You said that under the Chaka Salt Lake’s crust are sinkholes, gullies, and ponds, and that the salt bridge was built using local materials. But do you know that the sinkholes under the lake are narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, with only a manhole-sized opening visible on the surface, while the width underground is unpredictable, and the water depth can reach several meters?”

Afraid she might not understand the implication, Fu Xun lowered his voice and added quickly: “If a car falls in, it’s very hard to get out.”

Qu Yixian had been listening halfheartedly, but at the second half of his sentence, a thought struck her, and her heart raced.

Luckily, there was an emergency pull-off about fifty meters ahead. She switched to the brake, gently slowed, and stopped by the roadside. When she turned to Fu Xun, her expression was grim, voice low: “Say that again?”

The two in the backseat, quietly discussing Wan Zhang Salt Lake, were stunned, not knowing what had happened between them.

Yuan Ye saw Qu Yixian’s expression and hesitated, asking: “Sister Qu, are you experiencing altitude sickness? Should we take a break? I can drive the rest of the way.”

“No need.” Fu Xun unfastened his seatbelt, dismissing her suggestion.

He took the glucose from the door compartment, motioning for Qu Yixian to follow him out of the car.

Once out, Fu Xun didn’t mention it again. He broke the tip of the glucose vial and handed it to her. “Drink it and rest in the car. I’ll drive.”

“You just said—”

“Qu Yixian.” Fu Xun interrupted, glancing back.

Jiang Yun was leaning out the car window, her face full of concern as she looked at Qu Yixian. Seeing Fu Xun, she bit her lip, worried: “Sister Qu, are you okay?”

Qu Yixian immediately closed her mouth.

She took the glucose in one gulp, her voice hoarse: “I’m fine.”

——

Qu Yixian’s condition wasn’t good, so she didn’t insist. For the second half, Fu Xun drove while she sat in the passenger seat to guide.

For a moment, it felt like returning to July in Dunhuang. When she had searched for Xun Haichao by car, Fu Xun drove while she directed from the passenger seat.

Fortunately, the road to Kekexili had only one fork. Following the single road straight ahead was enough. Otherwise, with Qu Yixian so absent-minded, she would have taken the wrong turn two or three times by now.

At the Kekexili observation deck, Qu Yixian instructed Fu Xun to pull over so Jiang Yun could get out and take photos.

Yuan Ye, feeling stifled inside the car and unwilling to stay, followed Jiang Yun outside.

Qu Yixian sat in the car, squinting at the view for a long while. “Fu Xun, sinkholes like this are rare in Kekexili.”

Fu Xun had implied that the sinkholes could swallow cars, with brine inside several meters deep, making it easy for a vehicle to be engulfed.

At that moment, she recalled the SUV carrying Jiang Yuan plunging into a sinkhole in the salt lake. She could almost picture it—the reckless headlights on the grass, instantly illuminating the sinkhole like daylight. The vehicle lost control, and by the time Jiang Yuan realized, it had already been swallowed.

Her grief and anger left her no attention for anything else.

But calming down and analyzing carefully, the assumption didn’t hold.

In June, Kekexili’s ice and snow were starting to melt.

Even though Jiang Yuan traveled at night, for safety Qu Yixian had rented a modified SUV. The headlights were bright enough that, even at night, visibility was sufficient.

She wouldn’t have intentionally driven through the briny water or across the dry salt crust. Even if the first two conditions accidentally fit her panicked driving, rescue had already begun the next day. Such a large vehicle sinking into a sinkhole wouldn’t leave zero traces.

Unless someone deliberately covered the sinkhole with salt, but that clearly didn’t happen.

That day, everyone saw Jiang Yuan drive off alone. Her route was opposite to the Chaka Salt Lake, so such an accident was impossible.

Fu Xun remained silent. He took a cigarette from his pack, put it in his mouth, and asked Qu Yixian: “How important is Jiang Yuan to you?”

Biting the cigarette, his voice was slightly vague: “You’re not the type to punish yourself for someone else’s mistakes. After searching for her all these years, what are you looking for?”

This was the first time Fu Xun directly addressed Jiang Yuan in front of Qu Yixian.

He had once used Jiang Yuan as bait to lure her.

That method was neither honest nor straightforward, and in the end, he realized it was a poor strategy. So he didn’t use it again and couldn’t bear to manipulate Qu Yixian further.

But surprisingly, he actually felt a kind of irritation upon realizing how much she cared about Jiang Yuan.

Amid the soft click of the lighter, Qu Yixian let out a small laugh and turned to Fu Xun: “And you? With all your gold and silver, why aren’t you enjoying yourself in Nanjiang, running around for fun, but instead coming all the way to fund a rescue team in the far northwest?”

Fu Xun was silent.

He took a deep drag of his cigarette, and as he exhaled, his eyes narrowed slightly. The depth in them, swirled by smoke, was like an unsolvable riddle.

He rolled down the car window, flicked the ash off, and spoke again, his tone calm: “The night I got your call, there were only two people at the Sonam Daje Protection Station—Pan Shen and me. The station couldn’t be left unattended, so that night I drove out alone to find Jiang Yuan and only returned at dawn.”

“I was the last batch of volunteers that year, and that day was also my last shift at the station. The evacuation time had been predetermined, so I left your situation and the satellite phone with Pan Shen to follow up.”

He held the cigarette, letting out something like a bitter laugh: “I didn’t know his emotions toward me would affect his work. Later, I checked the station’s work log for that day. His report simply said—called, confirmed as an invalid number.”

“Xinghui…” He stubbed out the cigarette and looked up at her. “Consider it my way of making amends to you.”

Author’s note: The descriptions of Wan Zhang Salt Bridge in this text refer to Baidu Encyclopedia and the actual stone monument of Wan Zhang Salt Bridge.

Today is the last day of 2018, forgive me for rambling a bit more.

This story, Xinghui, I have ambitious plans for. Both the main and side plots, including clues between protagonists and supporting characters, are carefully designed.

I want it to be exciting and unpredictable, keeping a sense of freshness between us each day.

On the romance side, I did my best. A person like Qu Yixian wouldn’t easily fall in love unless Fu Xun experienced things with her. She’s very particular, so don’t mind if the romance seems slow—no holding hands or kisses doesn’t mean there’s no progress. Their feelings accumulate day by day.

Fu Xun will always protect her, and so will Qu Yixian. These two are extraordinary in their ordinariness. If you expect nonstop sweetness, it will indeed be slow. If it’s not to your taste, wait for the next story—a purely romantic tale about the younger third master of the Fu family.

I also sincerely thank all of you for understanding and being supportive despite my repeated breaks since starting this story. When I chose to prioritize quality over daily updates for subscriptions, I was prepared mentally, so I truly appreciate your understanding and care.

As I promised, no matter how the metrics go, I will finish this story with care. Within my capacity, I will update diligently until the end. So if you enjoy this story, please don’t hold back—praise me! I’m the type of motivational player everyone talks about!!!

Finally, thanks to the little fairies reading this. I hope to fulfill my promise in 2019 and become the prolific “Peking University fool.”

Volume Three: Gouwun Jade Pendant