Chapter 1: A Lifelong Love, Unfazed by Mountains and Seas

Mid-autumn, August.

Lin Shenlu stepped off the plane and headed straight for the headquarters of TripYou Network.

Resignation! Resignation!

This would be her final job.

After graduating from university, Lin Shenlu, who loved freedom and travel, thought turning her passion into a career was something truly cool.

Thanks to her relevant major, four years ago, she became a website program maintenance specialist at TripYou Network. Over these four years, through hard work, she moved from coding to content editing, and step by step became the route sales manager.

Though she really did drift through cities across the country these past years—

She came and went in a hurry… The cities that enchanted her and all the stories that should have begun there, were all cut short by work… There was never a continuation.

Those years, Lin Shenlu worked diligently, striving to rise higher, only to find that the higher she climbed, the further she drifted from her original aspirations.

She had to admit she earned a lot of money during these years.

But this was not the life she had imagined when she first joined the company.

“Once dreamed of roaming the world with a sword…”

“To see the splendor of the world…”

“The heart of youth is always a little wild…”

“Now you make your home wherever you go…”

The car’s speaker played Xu Wei’s “The You of Once Upon a Time!”

Lin Shenlu felt the song spoke to her—her former self!

And now, what she longed for was truly to make her home wherever she roamed!

In these four years of climbing the ranks at TripYou Network, Lin Shenlu had no idea how many travel blogs she’d reviewed, how many landscapes she’d glimpsed in the photos, each article’s every word drawing her in.

But opportunity! Opportunity! Opportunities always came down like rain, and she dodged every one.

Though she had patience, Lin Shenlu could not withstand loneliness. Even relying only on her accumulated knowledge, she could write travel guides and copy that caught the eye.

No one knew that under the pen name “Mr. Deer,” Lin Shenlu was a 4A contracted blogger on TripYou Network’s main site. She had mastered the art of writing blogs incognito.

And now, opportunity had truly arrived.

In her inbox lay an email.

An invitation from a world-renowned travel magazine.

Lonely Planet.

Dear Mr. Deer:

Lonely Planet sincerely invites you to contribute a series of ten travelogues on China. We look forward to your reply.

…

This was the only time in years Lin Shenlu made up her mind—she would leave.

She feared that, if she let this opportunity slip by, she would never again have the resolve.

With reverence for the vast and beautiful world, she would make her home wherever she went, traversing every inch of land fully!

Leaving behind the hectic company, leaving the city that did not bring her joy, she would become a free travel blogger, a true version of herself.

Lifelong passion, fearless before mountains and seas.

And so…

Taikoo Li, TripYou Network Headquarters, Executive Office.

As an executive, Lin Shenlu quietly placed her resignation letter on the desk.

Dear Boss,

Thank you for your years of care and support. I am resigning to embark on a journey at a moment’s notice.

To leave on a whim is life’s greatest luxury, its brightest freedom. I wish to exile myself to some corner of the world.

So, until we meet again.

…

Leave, leave.

The farther from this gaudy city, the better!

She turned off her phone. With no one left to disturb her, Lin Shenlu pressed harder on the gas.

From today forward, she would be a free person, facing the sea, with spring in bloom.

It took only an hour and a half to fly from Tianfu Airport to Dali Airport.

With a sense of responsibility to Lonely Planet, Lin Shenlu chose Yunnan—the Land South of Colorful Clouds—as her first stop for the first issue.

Of all the manuscripts she had reviewed over the years, those about Yunnan were the most numerous.

Why is it called the Land South of Colorful Clouds?

Can clouds be any color other than white?

Yes, they can.

Lin Shenlu remembered a piece of writing:

At the foot of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, someone saw multicolored clouds beneath a clear sky.

How to describe it? It was a color impossible to capture with words.

Sunlight hidden behind the clouds painted them in hues more dazzling than a rainbow.

In that moment, Lin Shenlu seemed to understand.

In ancient times, they spoke of auspicious clouds of seven colors; today, clouds are simply called clouds.

Countless proofs show clouds are not merely white.

So, to chase the rainbow clouds of Yunnan, to see them with her own eyes—this became Lin Shenlu’s deepest goal for this journey.

To witness the rarest beauty, to taste the most precious cuisine—Lin Shenlu could feel her blood beginning to boil.

This month, the freshest matsutake mushrooms in Yunnan must have emerged, right?

An encyclopedia entry read: Matsutake are harvested and eaten in autumn, with a particularly rich aroma and a texture reminiscent of abalone—extremely smooth and savory.

Just imagining that tender, bouncy texture made Lin Shenlu’s heart race with excitement.

Now, what she held in her hand was no longer a boarding pass, but a ticket to the stars and the sea.

Her phone, except for playing music, had lost all other functions.

Switched to airplane mode early, free from all disturbances, she boarded the plane in peace.

This was sure to be her most magical flight yet.

Not to mention, Lin Shenlu really wanted to ask the executives of Air China… Is a ninety-minute flight not worthy of a meal?

Even in business class! No in-flight meal—she endured it—but what about slippers?

Other than the opening bottle of water, was it just a dry flight?

She missed the China Southern Airlines flight attendants in black stockings, kneeling beside her, asking, “Coffee or Tea?”

Of course, guided by her own moral standards, Lin Shenlu quietly listened to music and gazed out the window. Too many people passed by from the front rows to economy class; boarding business class early always made her feel like an animal on display at the zoo.

When nearly everyone was onboard, she sensed someone taking the seat beside her.

The movement was so light, only her seatbelt shifted slightly.

It made Lin Shenlu turn her head, curious about this fellow traveler brought by a stroke of fate.

Perhaps this was one of the little anticipations of flying.

Beside her sat a woman, head slightly lowered so that her long black hair veiled her profile. Judging by her silhouette, she was beautiful.

The space in business class was ample, yet the woman’s legs still stretched straight to the front. Her bare legs alone seemed to be over a meter long.

Through years of reviewing countless photos of models, seeing all manner of women with extraordinary poise and astonishing looks, Lin Shenlu was rarely impressed.

Even those women who could make one’s heart skip a beat at a glance, or those unattainably high-quality beauties, Lin Shenlu never lost her composure.

Yet, when the flight attendant came over to greet the woman with a smile, and the woman lifted her head, letting her hair fall to reveal her profile, Lin Shenlu was momentarily dazed.

That face was like a ray of light, shining directly onto Lin Shenlu’s heart.

The woman gently tucked her hair behind her ear, revealing a smooth, gently curved forehead. Her long black hair, with generous waves, cascaded over her chest. Her eyes held both warmth and coolness, sensuality and intelligence—so bold yet alluring that, though they sat side by side, Lin Shenlu felt she was both near and infinitely distant.

Yes, that was it—the woman had an untouchable air about her.

The radiance of her face seemed to come from the stars and the sea.