Chapter Ten: A Sea of Flowers from Afar

  Time is quietly slipping away.

  The day at Jiangcheng Middle School was not as calm as usual, one after another buses drove past the campus, emitting a dull roar. The students who happened to pass by stretched their necks and looked over, their eyes filled with curiosity.

  Art students always have this privilege, they can often go out and travel to various ancient cities and towns under the name of sketching, encountering scenery that catches their eye, using watercolors instead of cameras to record them permanently.

  Shen Beiqiu was also among the travelers on this trip. After putting away his heavy luggage, he trudged wearily to find a seat and sat down with a deep sigh. He didn't know why he chose fine arts; it was just an inexplicable impulse. Fortunately, so far, he hadn't regretted that impulsive decision much.

  The car finally started moving slowly towards the train station. Shen Beiqiu gazed out of the window at the fleeting scenery, feeling a strange thrill in her heart, and vaguely anticipating this trip to Yunnan with great eagerness. She had heard that there were vast expanses of flowers everywhere. Shangri-La was an irresistible temptation, whether for city dwellers tired of urban noise or melancholic literary travelers.

  But even so, Shen Beichuan was not familiar with Shangri-La, and could even be said to be very unfamiliar. He never intentionally looked for information about it, and then relied on his own imagination to explore its appearance. As for Shangri-La, what he knew was only the thick Tibetan Buddhist culture and the simple yet enchanting natural scenery. The peaks there, the snowy mountains there, the canyons there, all had an unspeakable mystery.

  Whenever Sheng Bei Chu mentions Shangri-La, he always thinks of the 6th Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso, although one is in Yunnan and the other is in Tibet. In fact, many times, he will completely overlap Shangri-La with Tibet.

  Shangri-La. Even the name is so beautiful that it takes your breath away. Maybe this trip will bring a different kind of beauty?

  The school is still an hour's drive from the train station, Shen Beiqiu sat in the swaying car and was about to fall asleep when his shoulder was lightly poked by someone sitting behind him. Shen Beiqiu perked up and turned around to see Lin Xue Xiao's faintly smiling face. She was leaning out of the back seat, smiling at Shen Beiqiu.

  Lin Xue Xiao, this elegant and refined woman, always had a subtle expression, distant from others, sometimes cold, sometimes hot, no one could understand her. She was like an enigmatic illusion, you knew she was standing in front of you, but couldn't see her eyes or emotions. If that were the case, it would be fine, after all, everyone has their own unique characteristics. However, Shen Bei Chuan found Lin Xue Xiao to be a headache, as if she unintentionally revealed her true self in front of him, sometimes playful, sometimes tender. How close do you have to be to reveal your hidden side without reservation? Shen Bei Chuan never thought he was familiar with Lin Xue Xiao, they were just classmates, occasionally discussing painting ideas, occasionally running into each other on the road and exchanging a brief greeting, that's all. Was there something he had overlooked?

  "What's on your mind? You're so absorbed." Lin Xue asked softly.

  "Ah......" Shen Beiqiu came back to himself, "I wonder... what Shangri-La would look like."

  "What do you think it will be like?"

  Shen Beiqiu looked out the window, his eyes drifting away, and once again thought of what that woman had said to him before. He couldn't help but respond softly: "That should be... a sea of flowers as far as the eye can see? Simple, elegant, quiet, serene, like the outskirts of Amsterdam, making one feel submerged."

  Lin Xue Xiao covered her mouth and smiled lightly, "The romance unique to painters?"

  "Haha......" Shen Beiqiu felt embarrassed, "I'm sorry to make you laugh, but I just remembered a friend's words."

  Lin Xue Xiao's tense expression flashed by, and soon she pretended to be nonchalant, asking in a soft voice: "A girl?"

  "That's right." Shen Beiqiu replied truthfully, without sensing anything unusual about Lin Xue Xiao.

  "Ah......" Lin Xue's tone couldn't hide her sense of loss.

  Shen Beiqiu finally felt something was off and looked at her with suspicion, asking: "What's wrong?"

  "Oh, it's nothing," Lin Xue Xiao immediately responded with a bright smile, "Maybe I just didn't sleep well last night, and I'll be fine after resting for a bit."

  "You take good rest."

  "Hmm." Lin Xue Xiao straightened her back, lowered her head and stopped looking at him. The back of the chair in front blocked her line of sight, her long hair fell down to cover half of her face, and it was unclear what she was thinking.

  It was already late at night when Shen Beichuan arrived at his destination, and Shangri-La had long since fallen asleep. Lying on the hotel bed, Shen Beichuan couldn't fall asleep for a long time, with Shangri-La right in front of him. As tomorrow's sun slowly rises, he will merge with this place, to experience this original ecological paradise with his own eyes and body.

  The next morning, Shen Beiqiu couldn't wait to put on his painting board and head towards the arms of Shangri-La.

  The vast expanse of Pudacuo was boundless, with lush greenery everywhere, and the sunlight shone brightly, as if calling out to him. The sky was so clean and azure, without a hint of worldly flavor, even the wind was refreshing. Returning to simplicity was probably like this, Shen Beiqiu thought silently. On the grassy bank of the emerald water, leisurely cows grazed back and forth, while the winding river flowed from the flower-filled meadow into the distance, with misty smoke wafting about, making one feel as if they had stumbled into a mortal paradise. The rhododendron flowers stretched out in clusters, their majestic aura spreading across the sky, causing people to completely forget the small wildflowers of various colors along the way.

  For the first time, he felt so close to nature, and this kind of primitive beauty has a power that makes people forget everything. Shen Beiqiu has been to many, many places and seen many seas of flowers. This is an ocean of wilderness, also an ocean of flowers. He stored these purple and red seas of flowers in his mind, on his canvas, and in his memory.

  Miss you so much, reluctant to part with you.

  On the third day of arriving at Shangri-La, Shen Beiqiu sent a hand-painted flower sea to Jiang City. Red, purple, white, and various colors of Gesang flowers were scattered on the paper, with the branches gently tilted, as if blown by the wind, but swaying, it was unclear whether it was the flowers or the painter.

  River City. On Saturday evening, the warm sunset passed through everyone's face and gradually retreated. Soon, the night curtain fell, and the lights came on. Jiang Ze pulled Su Yisu out of school while whispering in her ear: "I've decided that from this semester on, I'll definitely sacrifice my life to accompany you hiking every Saturday evening to exercise! Look at your frail appearance, River City has many typhoons! If you get blown away, it won't be good!"

  "... Su Yisu's face turned black, struggling to stop, and shouted: "Miss Jiang, I'm very tired! And I'm also very healthy, okay?"

  "Not good!" Jiang Zuo said in a tone that brooked no argument, his eyes scanning Su Yisou back and forth several times with great disdain. "This is clearly the appearance of a sickly beauty!"

  "You're just a sick beauty!" Su Yisou was so angry that she didn't care where she was and shouted loudly, successfully attracting strange glances from the people around her.

  The phone rang very timely, Su Yisuo puffed out her chest and took out her mobile phone. Seeing that it was an unfamiliar number, she pressed the answer button and asked fiercely: "Hello, who is this?"

  "Hello, Shentong Express, please bring valid documents to the school gate to pick up now." A deep male voice came from the other end of the phone.

  "Express delivery?" She hung up the phone and muttered to herself in confusion, "Who would send me something?"

  "Go and see for yourself." Jiang Zuo Ling pulled Su Yi Su towards the school gate again.

  Dazed, Su Yisu signed the document and took the express package in her hand, flipping it back and forth repeatedly, as if trying to see through its contents. "It's so light, what could it be? And no name was left..."

  Jiang Ya shrugged and replied indifferently: "Anyway, it's not poison or a bomb, oh dear, are you going to open it or not?"

  "Hmm..." Su Yisu was still hesitating, "The lighting outside is not good, let's go back to the dorm and open it later." After finishing speaking, she immediately walked towards the direction of the dorm.

  "You're just making excuses for not going mountain climbing!" Jiang Xiao Ling shouted in dissatisfaction, but also followed along.

  "Painting? Flower?" Su Yisuo returned to the dormitory, opened the express delivery and stared at that one paper, immediately stunned, "Gesang flower?"

  "There's another letter." Jiang Zuo Ling's eyes moved quickly, and she pulled out another letter from the envelope. She scanned it briefly, "Wow, a handsome guy has sent a letter." After saying that, she tossed it to Su Yi Suo, her eyes gleaming with mischief.

  "Hmm?" Su Yisuo doubted and unfolded the letter, reading it: "The sea of flowers in Shangri-La has made me infatuated, among which the purple and red Gesang flower is the most beautiful. The delicate painting can't compare to the shock in my heart, I just want to share with you my feelings at this moment. Shen Beiqiu."

  "Hehe......" Jiang Yaoyong smiled slyly and leaned in, "Tell me, when did you get hooked up with the handsome guy?"

  "Jiang Zuo, can you be even more shameless?"

  Jiang Zuo seemed to have not seen the anger in Su Yisuo's eyes, and still smiled and said: "Can't, it's already the limit."

  Su Yi Su lightly glanced at her and didn't respond.

  "What's the meaning of this? I'm a decent woman..."

  "...". Su Yisu's face turned black, and with a wave of her hand, she pushed her out of the dormitory, saying: "Then, gentle girl, why don't you go work as a female worker?"

  "Me me me...... Ah!" Jiang Zuo was still thinking about how to respond when Su Yisou shut the door on him.

  Su Yisuo completely ignored the discontented Jiang Zhan outside, and picked up that painting of Gesang flowers again, looking at it carefully. The blurry background was dotted with clusters of flowers, which seemed to be both light and shadow, clear yet vague. The contrast between light and shadow made those few striking, vibrant Gesang flowers even more enchanting. Each flower bud was about to bloom, and people could feel a strong power of rebirth. Su Yisuo didn't understand painting, but that didn't hinder her fondness for this painting at all.

  After some thought, she took out her phone and sent a message to Shen Beiqiu: I received the painting, I love it so much... Unfortunately, I couldn't see the real sea of flowers. If you were here, remember to take an extra look for me.

  Should have returned by now? Su Yisu shook her head, it's been so many days already.