bookrebus Chapter 404 Life
Chapter 404 Life
It was already past 3 p.m. when we came out of Wansui Mountain.
Lu Ran drove his RV onto the highway and headed east.
Shen Yuege sat in the passenger seat, reclined the seat a little, and half-reclined, holding her phone and looking through the photos she had just taken.
As she flipped through the pages, she suddenly chuckled.
"What's wrong?" Lu Ran asked.
"Look at this." She handed over her phone. On the screen was a video taken by a passerby from the side of the stage. In the video, Lu Ran was standing on the stage singing, his hat brim pulled low, so his face was not very clear.
The video's title reads: "A Mysterious Singer Appears at Wansui Mountain, Bringing the Entire Audience to Tears with an Original Song!"
It has already garnered hundreds of thousands of views.
In the comments section, some people asked who this was. Some said it was a professional, some said it was a student from a music academy, and some said, "This voice sounds familiar."
After Lu Ran finished reading, he handed the phone back to her: "It's good that you don't recognize it. It would be troublesome if you did."
"If your fans knew you sang love songs on the matchmaking stage at Wansui Mountain, the comment section would explode."
"That wasn't a blind date, that was going up to rescue you. If I hadn't gone up, and those twenty-three people had surrounded you on the stage, would you have been able to get down?"
Shen Yuege rolled her eyes at him: "Who asked you to save me? I can get down by myself."
"How are you going to get off the stage? The old woman is forcing you to choose one to add on WeChat; if you don't choose one, how can you back down?"
Shen Yuege opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything.
Indeed, given the situation, if she hadn't chosen someone to add on WeChat, Granny Wang definitely wouldn't have let her go.
With hundreds of people watching, she couldn't just turn around and run away.
Choosing Lu Ran is the easiest way.
But she also knew in her heart that even if Lu Ran didn't come up, she wouldn't choose anyone else.
At most, I'll just add one randomly, then go back and delete it.
It's impossible that she really has anything going on with anyone else.
"Alright, alright, you saved me, okay?" She put her phone away, leaned back in her seat, and looked out the window at the scenery.
The RV was driving fast on the highway, with the vast plains of Henan Province stretching out on both sides of the road.
For those from mountainous areas who have never seen a vast plain, it's hard to imagine that the most undulating landscape they see is a grave mound.
The distant village looked gray and drab, with houses crammed together like piles of building blocks.
Shen Yuege looked out the window and suddenly fell silent.
It's not the kind of quiet you feel when you're too tired to talk after scrolling through your phone; it's the kind of quiet where you're thinking about something.
Lu Ran sensed it, but didn't ask.
He understands Shen Yuege; she will speak when she wants to, and asking her when she doesn't want to is useless.
After driving for more than half an hour, Shen Yuege suddenly spoke.
"Lu Ran".
"Um?"
"How long have we been on this trip?"
Lu Ran thought for a moment: "It's been almost a month since we left Shanghai."
"A month." Shen Yuege repeated the number, as if savoring something, "It feels like it's been a long time since I've felt this relaxed."
"You've never been out and about before?"
"I've been out before. But it was all for work. I'd go to a city, get off the plane, go to the hotel, drop off my luggage, go to the venue, rehearse, perform, and then fly to the next city early the next morning. The scenery I saw was all from the car window, and the food was all ordered from food delivery. That's not called playing, that's called a business trip."
Lu Ran didn't respond, letting her continue.
"This time is different. This time it's real fun. I can go wherever I want, stop whenever I want, and leave whenever I want. No need to rush, no need to check schedules, no need to plan ahead." She paused, her voice softening slightly, "I feel like I'd almost forgotten that life could be lived like this."
Lu Ran's heart stirred when he heard the word "life".
He knew a little about Shen Yuege's past life.
She sang her way up from her debut to becoming a superstar, and she hasn't stopped for years.
Albums, concerts, announcements, endorsements—I work 300 out of 365 days a year.
It's not that she doesn't want to stop, it's that she can't stop.
The company wouldn't allow her to stop, the market wouldn't allow her to stop, and her fans wouldn't allow her to stop.
She was like a wound-up machine, spinning endlessly until she herself forgot why she was spinning.
"We can do this often in the future," Lu Ran said. "Just tell me when you want to come out, and I'll arrange things at the company so I can come with you."
"Are you willing to give up the company?"
"The company isn't run by me alone. Zhou Ge is here, Lao Wang is here, Xiao Yang is here, it won't be unable to function without me."
"You said the same thing last time. After the results came out, Zhou Ge made a phone call, and you got up in the middle of the night to write code."
Lu Ran felt a little guilty after hearing her words, and smiled, "Didn't I not write one this time?"
"This time it's because you were driving. If you weren't driving, you would have been coding on the server by now."
Lu Ran opened her mouth, but realized she really didn't have anything to refute. She could only say, "Then next time I come out, I'll finish all my work first, leaving no loose ends."
Shen Yuege glanced at him, the corners of her mouth curled up slightly, but she didn't say anything more.
Actually, she was already very satisfied that Lu Ran was willing to give up his job and stay with her for so long.
The sky outside the window began to darken.
In winter, it gets dark early; the sun begins to sink below the horizon around 5 p.m.
The clouds on the horizon were dyed orange-red, patch by patch, as if someone had spilled a palette of paint in the sky.
Lu Ran stopped the car at the next service area, and the two had a simple dinner.
The restaurant in the service area is small and sells fast food; two meat dishes and one vegetable dish cost 38 yuan per person.
After finishing her meal, Shen Yuege said she was tired and wanted to rest early.
Lu Ran drove the RV to the parking lot behind the service area and parked it in a less crowded spot.
After washing up, the two lay down on the bed.
Shen Yuege slept inside, and Lu Ran slept outside.
This location allocation has been fixed and hasn't changed since the third day of the RV trip.
Shen Yuege pulled the blanket up to her chin, lay on her side, and faced Lu Ran.
She didn't close her eyes as usual, but looked at him with her eyes open.
Lu Ran felt a little uncomfortable under her gaze: "What are you looking at?"
"It's up to you."
"What's so interesting about me?"
"You're beautiful."
Lu Ran was taken aback by her straightforward praise and didn't know what to say.
Shen Yuege smiled, reached out and pinched his cheek, then shrank back into the blanket, turned over, and faced away from him.
The carriage fell silent, with only the hum of the air conditioner's outdoor unit breaking the silence.
A few minutes later, Shen Yuege's voice came from the darkness, muffled, as if she were talking with her face buried in the pillow.
"Lu Ran".
"Um?"
"Where did you go the furthest on this trip?"
Qin Province. Xi'an.
"Xi'an is in Qin Province, which is located in the east. Weren't we originally planning to go to a more distant place? We were going to take the road that circles the border."
"Plans can't keep up with changes. You were worried that my legs would have problems at high altitudes, so we didn't head west."
"Will you go again in the future?"
"Go. We'll go whenever you're free. We'll start from Shanghai, but this time we won't go south. We'll head directly west, take G219 into Tibet, and then head north on G331, circling around the border. We'll revisit all the routes we didn't get to take last time."
"How long will that take?"
"At least two months. Maybe longer."
"Two months. Are you willing to give that up?"
"What's there to be reluctant about? The company isn't going to run away."
Shen Yuege paused for a moment, then turned over to face Lu Ran.
He couldn't see her expression in the darkness, but Lu Ran could sense that she was looking at him.
"It's a deal then. We'll go on that route next time."
"It's settled."
Shen Yuege didn't say anything more, but she stretched her hand out from under the covers and put it on Lu Ran's arm.
It's not the kind of tentative, cautious way of arranging things; it's the kind of natural way of arranging things, as if it was always meant to be there.
Lu Ran did not move, nor did he pull his hand back.
He lay there, feeling the warmth of Shen Yue's hand and the slight coolness of her fingertips.
Outside the car window, the lights of the service area shone through the gaps in the curtains, casting a thin strip of light on the ceiling.
The light band was narrow, but bright enough that Lu Ran could see the thin crack in the ceiling.
He stared at the crack, thinking about something.
Although this trip only covered less than half of the planned route, and she didn't even have time to see the most beautiful northern section, it seemed like enough for Shen Yuege.
It's not that she didn't want to see more scenery, but that she realized that what's more important than the scenery is who you see it with.
This conclusion was drawn by Lu Ran himself from what she said today.
Shen Yuege didn't say it explicitly, but Lu Ran could tell.
When she said, "I feel like I've almost forgotten that life can be lived like this," the emphasis wasn't on "life," but on "living like this."
Together with Lu Ran, they could drive a motorhome, going wherever they wanted, stopping whenever they wanted, and leaving whenever they wanted.
No need to rush, no need to check the schedule, no need to go through the process.
She had never done this kind of thing before.
It's not that I don't have time, it's that I don't have the person I can spend it with.
As Lu Ran thought of this, the corners of his mouth curled up.
Shen Yuege's hand was still on his arm, but she was no longer moving.
Her breathing became even and long, as if she were asleep.
But Lu Ran knew she wasn't asleep, because her breathing would be slower when she was asleep.
He didn't expose her, nor did he move his arm; he just lay there, staring at the thin strip of light on the ceiling.
The band of light moved slowly, from the center of the ceiling to the edge, and then disappeared.
The lights in the service area are off.
The carriage went completely dark.
Shen Yuege's hand slid down his arm and landed on the back of his hand, her fingers slightly curled as if she were grabbing something.
Lu Ran turned his hand over, palm up, and her hand landed in his palm.
He held it gently, without using any force, just loosely cupping it.
Shen Yuege's finger twitched slightly, then stopped moving.
This time she really fell asleep.
Lu Ran listened to her even breathing and closed his eyes.
He recalled that on the morning of their departure, Shen Yuege stood next to the RV, looking at the 70-centimeter-wide single bed, and said, "If I really can't fit, I'll squeeze in with you."
At the time, he thought Shen Yuege was joking, since the two had been living in the villa for more than half a year, but had always slept in separate rooms.
Now, although the two haven't taken the final step yet, they no longer object to hugging, kissing, and touching.
From squeezing in together, to sharing a bed, to sleeping in each other's arms.
None of these steps were initiated by anyone; they just happened naturally.
Like water flowing downhill, like trees growing taller, it needs no reason, nor any plan.
Lu Ran smiled as he thought of this.
Then he felt Shen Yuege snuggle closer to him in her sleep, her back pressed against his chest.
Her body was warm, like a small stove.
He reached out and wrapped his arms around her waist, rested his chin on the top of her head, and closed his eyes.
...