Chapter 49: Off We Go 6

After Gu Shisheng and Su Zhou finished wandering around the snack street, they couldn't find anyone upon returning, so they called Su Yu. When the two of them caught up, Su Yu was taking photos with Gu Yao.

Tibetan wedding attire is extremely elaborate. Gu Yao's head was adorned with heavy jewelry, and she wore multiple layers of garments. The weight felt quite heavy on her body, making walking rather tiring, yet she paid no attention to this. She only cared about admiring her reflection in the mirror and looking at the small braids in her hair, finding the entire experience wonderfully novel.

Compared to her, Su Yu appeared much more composed. Men, after all, do not care for vanity quite as much as women do; he simply supported her waist with his hand to help share some of the weight.

The photographer in the shop took several pictures of them. When pressing the shutter, the photographer could not stop praising them, declaring repeatedly that the two were a perfect match. Growing delighted, the photographer ended up taking many more pictures for them.

When the final proofs were displayed on the computer screen, everyone gathered around to look. They thought that these photos looked even more breathtaking than the model portraits hanging outside, requiring no retouching whatsoever.

Seeing how much Gu Yao loved them, Su Yu offered to buy all the photographs and even wanted to purchase the entire set of wedding attire for her, but she talked him out of it. Such a massive set of clothes would take up too much space in the car, not to mention that she wouldn't be able to wear them often in daily life. Just wearing them once to indulge her vanity was enough.

Su Yu did not think that way. After smiling at her for a moment, he reached out to gently tug at her little braid. "You look very beautiful in them. Once we buy them, it would be wonderful if you could wear them more often for me at home."

Shocked by his extravagant idea, Gu Yao glared at him before quickly ducking inside to change her clothes, firmly stamping out this notion of his.

Ever since entering the shop, Gu Shisheng and Su Zhou had been standing on the sidelines acting like third wheels, with not even a sliver of space to interject. At that moment, each of them was holding a bag of popcorn, but as they chewed, the taste felt rather wrong... it was practically like chewing a mouthful of dog food.

"Should the two of us take a picture too?" Su Zhou truly felt somewhat miserable and turned to suggest to Gu Shisheng.

As a result, Gu Shisheng simply couldn't afford to lose face and refused without a second thought: "If you want to take pictures, go take them yourself."

Only then did Su Zhou resentfully drop the idea.

Over here, because of Gu Yao's firm opposition, Su Yu ultimately gave up on buying the wedding attire with some lingering regret, leaving with only the photographs.

Before leaving, the female shop owner asked whether she could use their photos as advertisements at the entrance. Naturally, the two were unwilling. After refusing, Su Yu issued a few words of warning, implying that if the shop used the photos without permission, they would be sued for copyright and portrait infringement.

Only then did the shop owner drop the matter.

There were simply too many fun places on the street. Seeing that it was still early, the group walked around a bit more. With the two "big kids" joking around nearby, the atmosphere became much livelier.

After walking a great deal of distance unconsciously throughout the day, the result was that upon returning to the inn, Gu Yao felt her legs grow sore, numb, and as if they no longer belonged to her.

The altitude in this place was naturally high, and walking a little too fast would leave anyone panting. Although altitude sickness was no longer as severe as it had been after her vomiting episode that one night, Gu Yao still unavoidably noticed that her face was somewhat swollen.

This discovery somewhat dampened her good mood for the day, and she barely ate anything for dinner. After lying on the bed for a while, she originally wanted to take a nap, but just as she was drifting off to sleep, she was awakened by the aching pain in her legs, leaving her extremely irritated.

As she sat up, Su Yu brought a basin of water over from the bathroom, squatted down by the bedside, and rolled up her trouser legs.

"What are you doing?" Gu Yao asked, rubbing her eyes.

"I brought some water for you to soak your legs in so it won't be so uncomfortable." As he spoke, he wrung out the towel inside the basin and pressed it against her legs.

Gu Yao had assumed the basin contained hot water, so she didn't put up much resistance. However, the moment the towel touched her skin, she couldn't help shivering and hurriedly pulled her leg back.

The water was actually ice-cold, carrying an almost biting chill. She even wondered if this man had thrown ice cubes into it.

"Don't move, it will feel better in a moment." His large hand pressed down to keep her from moving while he pressed the towel more firmly against her skin. While giving her a cold compress, he gently massaged her legs to loosen the tense muscles in her calves.

Seeing that she was struggling less, he smiled and said, "Back when I used to train, I would always take ice baths afterwards. That's the most effective way to flush the lactic acid out of your muscles."

Gu Yao felt a bit surprised and repeated his words: "An ice bath?"

"Mhm." He nodded. "The bathtub would be filled with ice cubes, and you'd have to jump in quickly and soak. That feeling is truly unforgettable for a lifetime."

After hearing him say this, Gu Yao raised no further objections to her cold-water leg compress treatment, since this was undoubtedly much better than soaking in an ice bath.

After his ministrations, her legs genuinely didn't feel as sore, and she was finally able to lie down and sleep soundly. Su Yu also climbed up, lay down beside her, and casually pulled her into his embrace.

It was already past nine o'clock, and the lights in the room were all turned off, leaving only a tiny bedside lamp. Gu Yao snuggled in his arms for a while, but feeling slightly unable to sleep, she poked his arm with her finger.

"What is it?" He lowered his head and played with her long hair.

Gu Yao smiled and said, "Thinking about it now, what you said earlier was actually very right. Marriage isn't scary at all, as long as you find someone you truly love."

Out of nowhere, she dropped this sudden, out-of-context remark, yet Su Yu understood it instantly. His arms tightened as he turned to embrace her sideways, his tone carrying an unmistakable thrill: "Yaoyao, do you really think so?"

Even someone as usually composed as him could not help feeling deeply moved at this moment. The heart he had guarded and nurtured with such cautious care had finally opened its very last barrier to him.

After resting for the night, the group discussed their upcoming route the next day and decided to continue along the Qinghai-Tibet Highway via a self-driving tour to return to City Y. They set off immediately, heading from Lhasa to Namtso, a gorgeous lake and an essential travel destination.

However, this place was relatively small, and the accommodation conditions were not very optimal, especially regarding the water resources, which were scarce and had to be transported from elsewhere.

Having purchased food in advance, the group did not plan to dine there. They arrived a little after four in the afternoon. After dropping off their luggage inside, they walked through the back door of the inn and strolled for a short while before catching sight of the vast and flat Namtso Lake.

Gu Yao and Su Yu walked hand in hand by the lake for a while when they noticed several tourists approaching to take pictures of a yak. Immediately afterwards, local Tibetans swarmed around them demanding money, implying that taking pictures of the cattle required payment.

She frowned and put away the phone she had prepared to take pictures with. In truth, ever since entering Tibet, she hadn't paid a small amount of unjust money along the way. There were often inexplicable places where people would suddenly come up to demand payment, and ordinary people would usually endure it because it was an unfamiliar place, making it difficult to deal with if disputes arose.

Those tourists held the same mindset, obediently handing over thirty yuan before quickly walking away.

By this time, the sky had grown dark, and the snow-capped mountains in the distance were dyed in a brilliant red. The group stood still, quietly gazing at this breathtaking scene. Without exaggeration, this was the most magnificent scenery they had seen since entering Tibet.

It wasn't until that round red sun gradually vanished from the edge of the horizon and the surroundings grew dim that the group walked back to the inn. Upon entering, they heard the innkeeper warn them: "Don't go out tonight. There are many wild dogs in this area that come out to bite people."

Having already seen warning signs outside earlier, Gu Yao and the others nodded in agreement. With nothing to do at night and poor internet connectivity, they all went downstairs and sat around the stove on the ground floor of the inn, chatting idly.

It was currently the off-season, and the inn housed only their group of tourists. The innkeeper had also gone to bed early in their room. The night wind outside began to rise, whistling and causing something unknown to rattle, but the interior remained warm and cozy.

Gu Yao gazed at the flames flickering in the stove for a moment before standing up, intending to go upstairs to sleep with Su Yu. Her body had already warmed up, and she could fall asleep as soon as she crawled under the covers.

Sitting nearby, Su Zhou suddenly spoke up: "Brother, do you have time? Can we talk for a bit?"

Knowing the two brothers had things to discuss, Gu Yao directly pulled Gu Shisheng up, and the two went upstairs, leaving the ground floor to the two men.

Glancing at his younger brother, Su Yu sat back down: "What is it? Go ahead."

The room grew quiet, leaving only the crackling of the fire in the stove and the sound of the wind outside the door. Su Zhou hesitated somewhat, shook his head, and said, "Actually, it's nothing..."

Su Yu said nothing more, quietly staring at this troublesome younger brother.

Sure enough, he still had something to say. After a short while, Su Zhou finally opened his mouth again. Gone was his usual cheeky, smiling demeanor; his expression turned desolate and somewhat nervous as he said, "Brother, do you think I'm utterly useless?"

"Why would you say that?" Su Yu raised an eyebrow and asked with a calm expression.

Su Zhou hesitated for a moment, let out a long sigh, and decided to push through in one breath: "Brother, actually, even if you don't say it, I know. Compared to you, I'm just a good-for-nothing. Not only am I unaccomplished, but I also lack backbone. All these years, you've been the one holding the family together while I could only watch from the sidelines, completely incapable of doing anything right."

His emotions grew somewhat agitated, as if he had suppressed these feelings for a long time and desperately needed to vent.

Su Yu listened in silence without interrupting.

He continued: "Brother, actually, I wanted to change too. Before, when you had me work at the factory, I initially loathed it for being too exhausting, but later I worked hard at it. When I became the workshop director, you have no idea how happy I was. For the first time in my life, I achieved results through my own efforts, and I felt so proud inside, thinking about sticking with it for the long haul."

As he said this, Su Zhou's voice suddenly dropped: "But I failed again, which is why I wanted to escape City Y and run off to a faraway place."