Evening Stars Chapter 6
Translated by Q the Panda (ko-fi)
Chapter 6
Xu Nanheng strolled around. It was a small county with a population of less than twenty thousand.
Fortunately, it wasn't too far from Shannan. The round trip by bus took about three hours, an easy stretch of time to fill. With his car parked at the entrance of the market, Xu Nanheng decided to wander the surrounding area.
The facilities in this small county was fairly complete, including farmstays and milk tea shops. Wearing sunglasses, he stood out clearly as an outsider.
There weren't many tourists in town. Because it was close to the national border, entering required a border pass. Even so, there were still a few around. Four people approached Xu Nanheng from the opposite direction on the street.
One of the young men stepped forward and asked, “Handsome, could you help us take a group photo?”
“No problem.” Xu Nanheng took the phone from him. The four young people stood side by side by the wall along the street, arms slung over each other's shoulders, smiling brightly as he snapped a photo.
When Xu Nanheng handed the phone back, one of them asked, “Handsome guy, are you alone? Want to join us? We're going to visit the temple on the mountain later.”
“Yeah, come with us!” another chimed in.
The group was quite enthusiastic, while Xu Nanheng looked like he was traveling solo. He smiled and waved his hand. “I'm not alone. I've got a friend. I'm waiting for him to come back.”
“Oh, I see!”
Xu Nanheng nodded and gave a brief hum of acknowledgment. After waving goodbye to the group, his phone rang again. The caller ID showed it was Teacher Dawa Gyatso. He answered, “Hello, Teacher.”
Uncertain whether to call him ‘Teacher Dawa’ or something else, he simply went with ‘Teacher.’
Dawa Gyatso's voice sounded a bit anxious over the phone. “Teacher Xu, where did you go? I came to the school to find you, but neither you nor your car were there.”
“Oh, I went to the county town to buy some……” Xu Nanheng paused for a moment, “……daily necessities.”
He didn't have the nerve to admit he'd come to buy beddings. It would make it seem like they hadn't hosted him well. But Dawa Gyatso didn't think much of it. Hearing that, he let out a long breath of relief. “Oh! You went to the county town? That's perfect then! The principal said we'll have a welcome dinner for you there tonight. Why don't you wait for us in town?”
Dawa Gyatso's sigh of relief was so obvious and prolonged that Xu Nanheng narrowed his eyes slightly. He had a distinct, subtle feeling that Dawa Gyatso might have thought he'd run off and deserted his post.
He chuckled. “There's no need. I'm here for volunteer teaching, not to make friends. Maybe you can talk to the principal and cancel it.”
Although the cost of living here wasn't high, Xu Nanheng didn't want them spending extra money on him.
“Oh, but you came all the way from Beijing……” Dawa Gyatso started to say, but Xu Nanheng cut him off.
“I appreciate it, really,” Xu Nanheng said. “There's really no need for formalities, Teacher. I need to acclimatize to the altitude for the next few days and then start preparing lessons. There's no need for a welcome dinner. The final year of junior high school is far too critical. As an educator, I should prepare properly. You even said I came a long way, so I certainly can't afford to waste time.”
His words were flawless and perfectly thoughtful. Dawa Gyatso hesitated for a moment, then agreed that Xu Nanheng had a point. He said he'd go speak with the principal about it.
By coincidence, while talking on the phone, Xu Nanheng had strolled right up to a Tibetan restaurant. He lifted the curtain and stepped inside. The tables, chairs, and carpets all carried a strong Tibetan flair. The carpet was a bit worn and frayed at the edges. The owner greeted him warmly and invited him to sit anywhere.
As a newcomer, he wasn't sure what to order. His gaze lingered on the butter tea on the menu. The owner, who had served many outsiders, suggested he started with the sweet tea.
Among other things, Xu Nanheng had been good at taking advice since he was a child. He ordered the sweet tea and a small serving of lamb with potatoes.
While he was eating, Dr. Fang sent him a WeChat message saying he'd picked up the car and was driving back now. Xu Nanheng casually replied, asking if he'd eaten yet. Fang Shiyou responded with a voice message:
“Don't worry about me. Just make sure you eat well. There's a temple on the hill above the county. You can go have a look after you eat. Remember to walk slowly, and if you feel unwell, stop and rest.”
Although Dr. Fang's voice wasn't deep, it carried a pleasant, magnetic timbre, and his speech was delivered with an amiable lilt. Xu Nanheng couldn't quite tell whether that warmth came from the man himself, or simply because Fang Shiyou was his only acquaintance and a fellow Beijing native in this place.
Xu Nanheng pressed the voice button and said, “Got it, Dr. Fang.”
Although Dawa Gyatso spoke Mandarin, and so did the restaurant owner, it was the subtle Beijing accent in Fang Shiyou's speech that brought a genuine sense of familiarity to this outsider.
When settling the bill after the meal, Xu Nanheng asked the owner about the temple. The owner told him it wasn't far. He could take a rickshaw or go on foot, but walking would take a while.
Xu Nanheng thanked the owner, put on his sunglasses, and stepped out of the restaurant.
The ultraviolet radiation in this high-altitude town was truly intense, as one would expect, with plentiful sunshine and direct sunlight. Moreover, this was the southern Tibet, a plateau region with a temperate semi-arid monsoon climate. It was August, just past the season's heaviest rainfall, leaving the humidity at a fairly comfortable level.
Xu Nanheng stepped out and stretched. People were like this: a good meal and a full stomach could lift anyone's spirits.
Sunlight caught the corner of his sunglasses, flashing off in a bright streak. After checking the temple's location, he saw both taxis and rickshaws on the street. Xu Nanheng waved one down. The rickshaw driver beamed at him, likely because Xu Nanheng was dressed like a tourist. He was smiling so brightly it was as if he had seen a wad of cash glinting in the sun.
In truth, it wasn't a long walk back to the market to get his own car, but since he'd come all this way, he might as well play the tourist for once and ride the rickshaw up.
The temple sat halfway up the mountain. It didn't look too high, and the path seemed gentle. Xu Nanheng glanced around and saw quite a few tourists. Cars from all over the country were parked at the foot of the mountain. The farthest license plate he spotted was from Heilongjiang, which earned his quiet respect.
The temple didn't charge an entrance fee. At the base of the mountain stood a warning sign stating that the temple's elevation was 4,500 meters, reminding visitors to know their limits. Indeed, on the plateau, even climbing a staircase counted as altitude increase.
Like the other tourists, Xu Nanheng stopped to take a photo of the temple on the mountainside. Nearby, a group of people, perhaps accompanied by a guide, were listening to a booming explanation.
“The deities enshrined here are the Lords of the Three Families: Manjushri, Vajrapani, and Avalokitesvara.
“It might get tiring as we go up, so I hope everyone's carrying their oxygen tanks~”
Xu Nanheng's oxygen tanks were in his bag, and the bag was in the car. He hesitated for a moment, then looked up at the temple again. The tinted lenses of his sunglasses muted the colors. He pulled them off, only to be met by a stab of blinding sunlight that forced his eyes into a squint.
The ancient temple sat solemnly on the slope. Prayer flags tied along ropes flapped loudly in the wind. Someone handed out a bundle of colorful flag to others, and they grasped one corner, gave it a few shakes to spread it apart, then released it into the breeze with cheerful shouts.
Xu Nanheng walked slowly up the slope, taking photos as he went.
He came from a well-off family and had been a privileged young master since childhood, dining on the finest foods and clad in the richest silks. Wherever he went, he carried an air of untroubled ease, moving with a light and graceful buoyancy. He was also more willing to be easy on himself. For instance, at this very moment, he was starting to gasp for breath.
The incline up the mountain was already very gentle, yet many others around him were also struggling. Xu Nanheng could have pushed himself to walk a little farther, but instead, he picked a clear patch by the side of the road and sat down.
The lady next to him was wearing sunglasses and a face scarf. She was wiping away sweat with a cloth, looking quite uncomfortable but was still smiling. In a Jiangsu–Zhejiang accent that tried its best to sound like standard Mandarin, she struck up a conversation with him. “Young man, are you traveling alone?”
Xu Nanheng scratched his head. “I've got a friend. He's coming to meet me later.”
“Oh~” The woman nodded warmly. “Hey! It must be hard for you to take pictures by yourself, right? Look, there's a big rock over there! Stand on it. Auntie will help you take a picture with the temple in the background!”
“Huh?” Xu Nanheng turned to look. Good grief, standing on that would mean an altitude increase of another meter! He didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but she was so enthusiastic that he couldn't bring himself to refuse. Anyway, since arriving in Tibet, he hadn't taken a single photo of himself aside from the group picture at the volunteer teaching conference.
He took off his sunglasses, opened the camera on his phone, and handed it to her with a sweet smile. “Thanks, jie, I really appreciate it!”
“Oh, come on!” the woman waved her hand. “Call me auntie, call me auntie! I'm probably older than your mom!”
Xu Nanheng pushed himself up from the ground and brushed the dust off his clothes. The rock wasn't large. It was just an ordinary stone. He stepped onto it, and the woman lifted his phone with a cheerful smile.
Without his sunglasses, the sunlight was blinding, and he had to narrow his eyes. But it was a photo, after all, so he made sure to smile. His brows tightened slightly against the glare, yet he still managed an easy, unbothered grin.
Xu Nanheng never particularly liked taking photos. He didn't pose. One hand hung loosely by his side while the other rested in his pocket. The wind on the mountainside was strong, tugging at the hem of his jacket and ruffling his hair.
He was undeniably handsome, and the woman, well-traveled and with a good eye despite her retirement years, had solid photography skills. Her composition was thoughtful, capturing not only him but also the mountain, the temple, and the fluttering prayer flags all in one frame.
Once the photos were taken, Xu Nanheng quickly put his sunglasses back on. Another moment in that glare and his eyes would've started watering. The woman waved him over. “I took three shots, come see which one you like best!”
Xu Nanheng answered obediently, “They're all great, thank you, jie!”
The woman and her friends were well-rested. They waved goodbye to him and continued their walk toward the temple. Xu Nanheng stayed where he was, content to sit a while longer. He wasn't in a hurry. Dr. Fang wouldn't be back for a bit yet.
Sitting cross-legged by the roadside, he picked one of the photos and posted it on Moments.
The sky in Tibet was a clear, pure blue. Xu Nanheng lifted his head, sliding his sunglasses halfway down his nose so he could look up at the sky with his own eyes.
In recent years, Beijing's environmental efforts had been quite effective. Even in autumn and winter, the skies often turned out blue and bright. His grandfather often sighed about the heavy smog from years ago, when you couldn't see the end of the alley from its entrance. A few of those smoggy days had stayed vivid in Xu Nanheng's memory. The thick haze used to make the city look as if it had sunk into a mixture of amber and slime.
Xu Nanheng pushed his sunglasses back up, and within moments, his Moments feed filled with likes and comments. He rarely posted anything there. His grandfather had liked the post and replied with a line of poetry:
The birds have flown up, up and away. That last cloud drifting idly will not stay.
Xu Nanheng stared at the line from Li Bai's poem for a while, then suddenly smiled.
He had always been close to his grandfather, and he was never good at hiding things. The day he'd flipped a desk at school and come home, his grandfather immediately asked what had happened. Xu Nanheng told him everything, down to the last detail.
Grandpa sighed and waved a hand, then recited a line from Bring in the Wine: ‘I'll call my boy to trade them for fine wine, and together we'll drown away the woes of ten thousand generations!’
Then the two of them shared a drink.
His grandfather truly loved Li Bai. The line after ‘The birds have flown up, up and away. That last cloud drifting idly will not stay’ was ‘Neither of us shall tire of the gaze of the other, just Mount Jingting and I, here forever and after.’ In truth, the rumors at school had been nothing but trivial nonsense, not even worth mentioning.
But that was how people were. When caught up in something, the frustration could feel unbearable, making you want to lock the door and set fire to it all just to find peace. But once you stepped out of that moment and looked back, you realized it really had been nothing.
Thinking of that, Xu Nanheng couldn't help but laugh to himself. He didn't know whether he was laughing at his own foolishness or at his grandfather, who had taken his troubles so seriously and compared him to Li Bai. He quickly replied to his grandfather's comment: ‘It's not that bad. You flatter me.’
There were monks and small animals passing along the mountainside. Xu Nanheng folded his arms behind his head and simply lay down. A kitten padded over to his head, peered down at him, and raised one paw, seemingly hesitating whether or not to swat Xu Nanheng's face.
Xu Nanheng stared at the kitten through his sunglasses and said seriously, “Don't step on me.”
The cat walked away.
Xu Nanheng thought Dr. Fang hadn't been entirely right. The tranquility of Tibet wasn't just because the thin air made movements a struggle. Even now, as the effects of his altitude sickness faded, he still felt a profound sense of tranquility.
The mountain wind, the kitten, the monks, the tourists.
The prayer flags flapped like wings, and there was also a faint, indescribable scent, perhaps the smell of stone and grassland.
Xu Nanheng dozed off for a while. Then he slowly sat up and looked at his phone. Most of the comments on his post were about how beautiful Tibet was, what kind of temple was on the mountain, and how blue the sky was, until a profile picture of a Tibetan antelope appeared.
Dr. Fang had commented: ‘Handsome.’
Xu Nanheng felt a little embarrassed. This morning, Dr. Fang had already called him handsome just for wearing sunglasses.
Xu Nanheng replied: ‘You've complimented me twice today. That's enough.’
Fang Shiyou: ‘Alright. I'll compliment you again tomorrow.’