"Hmm—"
In the shaking carriage, Jiang Chuyan's forehead hit the window, and he felt a slight dull pain in his forehead. He suddenly opened his eyes and broke free from the bizarre and hazy nightmare.
The remaining moisture in the air slightly overlapped with the scent in the dream, causing Jiang Chuyan to feel momentarily dazed.
For a moment, he was a little confused about what year it was and where he was. It was not until the endless green mountain scenery outside the car window came into view that Jiang Chuyan remembered that he was sitting in a car heading to Longzhao.
Dragon Marsh.
His mind was still a little foggy. Jiang Chuyan rubbed his temples and repeated the unfamiliar place name in his heart.
He'd been attending university in K City for three years, but this was the first time he'd heard of such a place. To reach Longzhao, one had to venture deep into the Xi Mountains, which stretched across Province A. Even with today's vast transportation network, there was still no public transportation, and the only way to reach the village was by car. Even the bumpy, treacherous, winding mountain path they were now walking on was only completed a few years ago. Before this road was built, reaching Longzhao Village had to rely on centuries-old methods: mule or horseback riding, trekking through dense forests and spending half a month traversing the mountains.
However, it is precisely because of this isolation, which is rare in modern society, that Longzhao Village, located deep in the mountains, has preserved a large number of ancient folk customs and totem culture until now.
And this is exactly what Jiang Chuyan and the others need.
At the start of this year's semester, Jiang Chuyan enrolled in an obscure folklore course. The credits were high, and the professor was handsome and gentle, his lectures captivating and engaging. However, even for such an elective, the requirements were incredibly strict. The entire class was assigned to study groups by lottery, and a serious paper was required at the end of the semester. Looking at the young professor at the podium, whose smile was incredibly gentle yet eerie, Jiang Chuyan and her classmates realized something was amiss. After asking their seniors from the previous class, they discovered that Professor Li Xiu, the folklore professor, was notorious for failing classes without blinking an eye. No wonder, despite his face, which rivaled that of a top idol, his classes were packed with auditions, yet few students actually took his classes.
It's a pity that it's too late to regret now.
Jiang Chuyan, however, had always hoped to secure admission to graduate school, and his GPA was more important than his own, so naturally, he couldn't afford to let down his standards. Worst of all, as the group leader, he was assigned an especially tricky thesis topic: a study on the survival of folk beliefs and ancient religious symbols in modern rural areas.
"Rural? Huh?"
There are only four people in the study group formed by drawing lots. Jiang Chuyan was born and raised in the city. His only memory of the countryside is that he seemed to have lived at his grandmother's house for a period of time when he was a child. But when he thinks about it now, he has no impression at all.
As for the other three people in the study group, there was a boy named Liu Tianyu. When he saw the word "rural", he raised his hands to express that he had a pure and innocent origin. City people had no idea where to find rural folk beliefs.
The other Xu Yuanzhou didn't say anything, but Jiang Chuyan knew from his expression that he must be confused. Xu Yuanzhou was from Beijing, and Jiang Chuyan suspected that his concept of "countryside" was probably outside the third ring road of Beijing.
The reason why he knows Xu Yuanzhou so well is because he happens to be Jiang Chuyan's boyfriend.
Xu Yuanzhou and Jiang Chuyan had been dating for three years, attending the same school but always spending less time together due to some unforeseen circumstances. This time, he had chosen this course with Jiang Chuyan just so they could see each other more often. As a result, they were now on the same boat.
Just as the three of them were bewildered, the most unexpected person suggested that he knew of a place perfect for collecting research and writing a paper. It was a short holiday coming up, and he happened to have a Land Rover that could take everyone there.
*
"Jiang Chuyan...are you okay?"
A deep male voice was heard in the carriage that was shaking wildly due to the extremely bad road conditions. Before Jiang Chuyan could react, he found that there was suddenly a sour plum candy in the palm of his left hand.
"…"
"Still motion sickness?"
The boy in the driver's seat withdrew his hand, looked ahead and asked.
Compared with other students in the class, the boy's appearance and figure are somewhat special.
Perhaps because of his mixed ethnic minority blood, he has a tall frame and unusually deep lines on his facial features, as if they were chiseled out of hard granite. However, his dark black hair is slightly curly, and the two drooping curls look particularly soft.
The boy's skin color was slightly darker, a special golden brown, which made his light-colored pupils deep in his eye sockets particularly prominent.
He Yuan is a prominent figure in the school.
It's not that he's very capable, it's purely because of his extraordinarily handsome appearance and his wealth.
Jiang Chuyan still remembers the Rolls-Royce that brought He Yuan to campus on registration day, and the huge stir it caused among the freshman group. Later, He Yuan's every word and action clearly revealed his wealthy status. However, people like He Yuan seemed to be inherently separated from ordinary students. In Jiang Chuyan's impression, He Yuan always seemed to be a solitary person, his thin lips always tightly pursed, giving him an unusually aloof air.
It was precisely because of He Yuan's personality that Jiang Chuyan was so surprised when He Yuan proposed to go to Longzhao that day.
He originally thought that people like He Yuan would not care about the credits of elective courses.
...Of course, Jiang Chuyan was also surprised that He Yuan was concerned about his physical condition while driving.
He was stunned for a moment.
He Yuan seemed to have misunderstood something and tapped the steering wheel with his fingers.
"It was my mistake. I always hiked here before, but I didn't expect this junky car would be so bumpy. If...if you still feel uncomfortable, just eat the candy. If you can't hold on any longer, tell me."
The boy said with a stern face, staring straight ahead without blinking.
The voice sounded as if he was worried about something.
However, he and He Yuan had no personal connection, and there was really no reason for the latter to be particularly concerned about him. Jiang Chuyan was stunned for a moment, but quickly put that illusion behind him.
"I don't get carsick."
He lowered his eyes and said lightly.
"That's good."
He Yuan gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands and responded without looking away.
*
While Jiang Chuyan and He Yuan were having a brief conversation, the laughter of other members of the group could be heard from behind the car seat.
When Jiang Chuyan fell silent, Xu Yuanzhou was just telling an online joke. The jokes in the joke sounded a bit outdated and a bit vulgar to Jiang Chuyan. He couldn't help but frowned slightly, but as soon as Xu Yuanzhou finished speaking, a burst of crisp laughter came from the back seat.
"Hahahaha, I'm dying of laughter, Brother Yuanzhou, let me tell you, if you make me die of laughter, you will be responsible, hahahaha——"
Jiang Chuyan couldn't help but turn his head to look at the back seat, and just saw a young boy laughing so hard that he was leaning back and forth, and then as if he had lost strength, his whole body leaned on Xu Yuanzhou's shoulder.
"That's Bai Ke. Your sense of humour is too low. It has nothing to do with me!"
Xu Yuanzhou said so, but Jiang Chuyan could see that the boy named Bai Ke's strong support made Xu Yuanzhou very happy. He looked more and more excited and didn't even notice Jiang Chuyan sitting in the front seat.
"…"
Jiang Chuyan withdrew his gaze silently.
*
Bai Ke appeared when the schedules of several people were almost finalized.
Because he skipped class, he just missed the group draw. After being left alone, the boy went straight to Xu Yuanzhou, with a look on his face that showed a plea for shelter and help.
"Brother Yuanzhou, you really have to save me this time. I failed three subjects last semester. If I fail again this time, I'm really dead. Wuwuwuwu..."
In fact, even Jiang Chuyan had to admit that if other boys followed Bai Ke's example and acted coquettishly to another boy with a sad face and a low voice, the scene would probably be very ugly.
But Bai Ke did have a cute baby face, round eyes and a look with slightly feminine features, which made it look natural even when he was crying and acting coquettish.
Not to mention, Xu Yuanzhou has long been accustomed to taking care of Bai Ke.
Jiang Chuyan saw it clearly at that time, and Xu Yuanzhou almost agreed out of habit. Fortunately, at the last moment, he finally remembered that he had to rely on He Yuan to drive to Longzhao this time, and he remembered to ask He Yuan a question.
In fact, given He Yuan's personality of always being self-centered and not bothering to care about other people, Jiang Chuyan also felt that the other party probably wouldn't care about having one more person in his schedule at all.
Unexpectedly, after a brief silence, He Yuan turned his head and looked at Jiang Chuyan who was sorting out documents on the side.
"The team leader this time is Jiang Chuyan." Even when discussing the itinerary, He Yuan always habitually kept a distance from the others. He was leaning against the window at the time, and because of the backlight, Jiang Chuyan couldn't see his expression. He could only hear the boy's low and hoarse voice, as if it didn't contain any warmth, "...Shouldn't we ask for his opinion on things like this?"
"Oh, about this, Chu Yan won't care."
Xu Yuanzhou's expression relaxed and he spoke immediately.
He Yuan ignored Xu Yuanzhou's words.
Jiang Chuyan could feel that the pair of pale golden eyes were always fixed on him.
"Team leader?"
Then He Yuan asked again.
Jiang Chuyan: "Yeah."
Xu Yuanzhou immediately and happily added Bai Ke's name to the group list.
…
Xu Yuanzhou had reported Bai Ke's existence to Jiang Chuyan a long time ago.
Bai Ke has been doing live streaming since high school, so many of her outfits are androgynous.
However, because of this, he was severely ostracized in college, and eventually he couldn't even stay in the university dormitory, and he almost committed suicide in school. And Xu Yuanzhou happened to be the one who saved Bai Ke. It seems that from that day on, Bai Ke has always been very dependent on Xu Yuanzhou.
Xu Yuanzhou would occasionally feel that Bai Ke was too clingy, but considering that Bai Ke had been bullied and had a history of suicide, Xu Yuanzhou was inevitably a little restrained when dealing with Bai Ke and was reluctant to refuse her.
*
"But I can swear to God that everything between him and me is absolutely innocent! The only boy I'll ever love in my life is you, Yanyan, please don't misunderstand me!"
Xu Yuanzhou swore and swore many times during those years when he was pursuing Jiang Chuyan.
...Jiang Chuyan believed it.