The story of Rose starts with being a brother

Chapter 539 Heavenly Palace on the Clouds (Part 5) Entering the Mountain

"Dali, from now on, you can just eat and drink with Xinling, as if you're on vacation in Changbai Mountain."

“Xinling, you too. You went back to work not long after you recovered from your illness. This trip is a good opportunity to relax and take good care of Dali.”

During dinner that evening, Wen Sheng said this to Xin Ling and Da Li.

After all, the road ahead is somewhat unknown, and if these two people, one young and one sick, continue to follow, problems will arise.

Upon hearing this, Xinling and Dali exchanged a glance and nodded in unison.

It's worth mentioning that the people in the apartment were quite surprised by Cyndi's reappearance.

Lu Ziqiao was surprised that Sister Ling had actually gotten in touch with Wen Sheng. That night, he and Meijia only saw the two of them go inside and stand for a while on the balcony of the apartment before leaving. They had no idea what happened after that.

He later asked Cyndi about it, but unfortunately he didn't get an answer.

Zeng Xiaoxian, however, had a different idea about Xinling's appearance—"I must expose to Director Nuo that Xinling's crime of defiling the harem is unforgivable!"
Of course, he would only consider doing so after this matter was resolved.

After all, this is a time when unity and stability are needed.

Hu Yifei had only one thought about Xinling's appearance—Wen Sheng's love life was such a mess that it could fill a mahjong table.

I thought that Yu Mo's departure would allow both sides to calm down, but then Xin Ling suddenly appeared.

Thankfully, she came to Zhang Wei's rescue now, otherwise she would have hesitated whether to immediately notify Yu Mo.

Hmm... a slightly sinful thought is that it's fortunate Zhang Wei got into trouble.

But then again, if Zhang Wei hadn't gotten into trouble, who knows when he would have found out that Xinling had come back!
As for the other people in the apartment, they felt fine, especially Youyou and Meijia, who are always the troublemakers. They thought it was just another friend for Xinling to come!
……

The next afternoon.

After resting and getting ready, the group prepared to head from Erdaobaihe to Yingshan Village.

Fortunately, this is a tourist area with a good commercial atmosphere, and most of the items on the list were available for purchase, since most tourists here are going to Changbai Mountain.

Even though some items were hard to find, the three of them drove to the city yesterday and didn't return until almost midnight.

After another inspection this morning, we finally decided to set off.

"Goodbye, Uncle. Goodbye, Sister Mika."

"Goodbye, Brother Wensheng; goodbye, Meijia."

In front of the hotel, Xinling waved to Wensheng, who was about to leave, with Dali by her side.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Chen Meijia inexplicably started waving while crying, as if it were a life-or-death farewell.

Wen Sheng shook his head and looked out the window at the two figures, one big and one small. Before he could speak, Xin Ling smiled and said, "Don't worry, Brother Wen Sheng, I'll keep a close eye on Dali."

Dali nodded obediently and said, "Uncle, Xinling and I will wait for you to come back."

Seeing this, Wen Sheng said no more, smiled and waved before starting the vehicle.

"Youyou, let's go too."

Behind Wensheng's car was the Jeep that Youyou had rented.

"it is good."

Tang Youyou nodded, and just as she was about to start the car, Dali swung his legs to the side of the car.

"Goodbye, Sister Youyou and Brother Guangu."

"Goodbye, Dali," Tang Youyou said with a smile. "Have fun here, and wait for us to come back!"

"Mhm." Dali nodded, then casually asked, "Are you going to drive straight into Changbai Mountain to rescue Uncle Zhang Wei?"

"How could that be?" Tang Youyou shook her head with a smile. "The car will just go to Yingshan Village, where Sister Yifei and the others are."

"Yes, we'll head into the mountains after we meet up; the cars can't get in from there," Guan Gu laughed. "We've prepared so much; we're sure we can find Zhang Wei."

"You want to see people alive, you want to see corpses when you're dead!"

As soon as Tang Youyou spoke, Guan Gu and Dali fell silent.

"Pah, pah, pah! Zhang Weifu is incredibly lucky; he'll definitely hold out until we get there," Tang Youyou quickly tried to salvage the situation, then waved goodbye and said, "Let's go!"

Xinling, who was on the steps, also came down and waved goodbye to them.

Only after the two cars had driven away and disappeared from sight did she lead Dali back home.

"Dali, let's go back and discuss where to go for fun next time?"

"Okay." Dali nodded, then rolled his eyes and said, "Sister Xinling, there are so many people at the popular tourist spots in Changbai Mountain. How about we choose a less crowded route later?"

"sure."

"Let's go prepare supplies too!"

"Don't they have the leftovers? These Uzbeks won't do?"

……

Yingshan Village is located in a relatively remote part of the Hengshan Forest Area. More than ten years ago, the roads here were in very bad condition, and some sections of the road were close to cliffs. If you were not careful, you would fall off and be smashed into a bloody pulp.

However, with the development of tourism in Changbai Mountain and the renovation and repair of roads, there are now occasional tourists driving here.

In the evening, Wen Sheng and his group of four finally drove into the village.

Having received advance notice, Hu Yifei and her two companions were already waiting at the intersection, accompanied by the tour guide from before.

"You are finally here."

After greeting the group, everyone headed towards the empty house where the forest ranger was resting.

Because of the development of tourism, the village is not surprised by the arrival of outsiders.

August is the peak tourist season in Changbai Mountain, and the snow-capped mountains that are frozen all year round are thawed in just a few months.

If it were winter, they wouldn't need to come. Unless Zhang Wei's birth chart is harder than rebar, it would be a waste for everyone to come.

It was only from the tour guide that we learned that Zhang Wei had made some preparations before going up the mountain, bringing enough food and water to last him for a while.

However, in the continuous Changbai Mountains, starving to death might be a relatively happy way to die.

Even in August, Wen Sheng, who had come all the way, saw that the tops of the surrounding mountains were still covered in snow.

In the Changbai Mountains, some areas are permafrost zones, where the snow line has simply shifted slightly.

Unfortunately, the place where Zhang Wei last disappeared was already past the snow line.

After analyzing the current situation, everyone's mood became somewhat heavy.

"Alright, everyone, cheer up. The fact that Zhang Wei, an orphan, has survived to this age and is doing so well proves that he's tough. He shouldn't have met his end here."

Seeing that everyone was in low spirits, Wen Sheng quickly spoke up to encourage them.

Seeing this, Hu Yifei also said, "Yes, Zhang Wei is waiting for us now. Everyone, get yourselves back in good spirits. Our operation to rescue Zhang Wei has only just begun!"

Then she gave Zeng Xiaoxian a wink, and he immediately understood. He then pulled everyone aside and started talking about how to find Zhang Wei after going up the mountain.

Hu Yifei glanced at Wen Sheng and beckoned him to come out.

"what happened?"

"The situation is not good. Zhang Wei may have gone deeper into the area in his search for Jian Ning."

Hu Yifei frowned, glanced inside the room, and then said to Wen Sheng, "I asked the tour guide, and Jian Ning has been in the mountains for a week now. Also, the people in their team are a bit strange; they don't seem like they're there specifically for archaeology."

Upon hearing this, Wen Sheng raised an eyebrow: "What do you mean?"

"There were quite a few of them, and they were carrying a lot of things, but they said they were here for tourism. In reality, they were walking in a hurry as if they were looking for something."

After a pause, Hu Yifei explained, "If it really was for archaeological purposes, then after reporting it, there would be no need to use tourism as a pretext. Also, there are a few strange people in the team..."

After hearing Hu Yifei recount the information she had obtained from the tour guide, Wen Sheng's expression didn't change much, but he still sighed inwardly.

Sure enough, this group had come looking for the Heavenly Palace on the Clouds. However, Wen Sheng was still somewhat taken aback after hearing Hu Yifei describe the characteristics of the tomb-raiding trio.

Could this really be integrated with the world of "The Grave Robbers' Chronicles"?
Most importantly, Wen Sheng was unsure whether this was a tomb raiding plot from the "iPartment" movie or a plot from "The Lost Tomb".

If it's the former, that's fine; everything will be back to normal after this part of the story ends. But if it's the latter...

Then there are too many variables for this trip.

Moreover, compared to "iPartment", the worldview of "The Lost Tomb" is much more complex, featuring a group of madmen who go to coffins to search for immortality, and they are capable of doing anything for immortality.

Wen Sheng wasn't afraid, but he couldn't help but feel disgusted after getting involved with this group of people.

As for immortality... hasn't he already achieved immortality to some extent?
So he wasn't really interested in what those lunatics were after.

Hmm... If it were "Ghost Blows Out the Light," he might be more interested, at least the tomb raiding in that book has a beginning and an end, and there isn't so much scheming involved.

Regardless of which one it is, he's currently living a peaceful life as depicted in "iPartment," and he just hopes that those monsters and demons won't get involved.

After thinking for a moment, Wen Sheng said in a low voice, "I reckon that team went to rob a tomb!"

"Tomb raiding?!"

Hu Yifei exclaimed in surprise, then quickly lowered her voice and said, "Isn't Zhang Wei's girlfriend an archaeologist? How did she become a tomb raider?"

“That’s why Zhang Wei said not to rush to call the police,” Wen Sheng said after thinking for a moment. “Since it’s not an official matter, let alone whether the police can rescue them, even if they do, they’ll end up in jail. The archaeologists will be labeled as tomb raiders.”

After a pause, Wen Sheng added, "And that tour guide, he has his own reasons for not calling the police. If he had called the police and found out that someone had gone missing while he was a tour guide, he could forget about making money from this anymore."

Hearing this, Hu Yifei's eyes widened slightly: "So many lives..."

“The main problem is that calling the police wouldn’t be very effective. If they had disappeared within a tourist area, there would still be a chance to find them, but where did they disappear to?” Wen Sheng said, gazing at the continuous Changbai Mountains in the night. “Don’t even mention the police searching for them; even if you brought a whole tour group into the mountains, it would be difficult to find them in these deep forests.”

"Then how do we find Zhang Wei?"

Hu Yifei's question hit the nail on the head. Wen Sheng sighed and said, "We can only try our luck. If we don't do anything, Zhang Wei will really have no hope."

Wen Sheng was still being a bit restrained. The Changbai Mountains are extremely vast, and there are countless dangerous things, such as primeval forests, snowfields, and volcanic crust. Let alone a regiment, even a division would find it like looking for a needle in a haystack if they went in to search for someone.

Moreover, there is another important problem: if Zhang Wei really did follow them into the Heavenly Palace, then they would have to find a way to locate the entrance to the Heavenly Palace.

The problem is that the movie didn't show a detailed method for entering the Heavenly Palace.
The movie starts in some unknown location in Changbai Mountain, and they have to take a back path to get in. Who knows where that back path is?

If you don't know how to locate auspicious sites, how are you going to find a suitable location?
Now let's hope that the paths taken by the two groups will still leave some traces.

In August, there shouldn't be any blizzards on the snowfields of Changbai Mountain, right?
"By the way, we also finalized the horses this morning. We didn't know how much supplies you would be bringing, so we rented twelve horses," Hu Yifei added.

"it is good."

……

Although time is life, coming to Changbai Mountain to find Zhang Wei is no joke. If we rush in without being prepared, we might end up getting ourselves into trouble.

So the next day, the people in the apartment didn't rush into the mountains, but instead made the necessary preparations first.

They recounted the supplies they had brought, and then, apart from what they carried on their own backs, they loaded the rest onto their horses.

Although it's impossible to have a map of Changbai Mountain, I still bought a rough map left behind by the older generation who went into the mountains from the villagers.

The other people in the apartment also have to learn to ride horses, so they don't fall off as soon as they get on.

Wen Sheng actually wanted to buy a few hunting rifles, but unfortunately the villagers refused to sell them to him.

Although he could still buy it if he really spent a lot of money, he gave up after much consideration.

Putting aside the troubles that come with buying a gun, the key issue is that no one else can use a hunting rifle properly, and if it goes off accidentally, that would be a huge problem.

Well... it's not uncommon for something like this to happen in "iPartment".

Besides, the shotgun wasn't very useful to him, so he didn't want to cause any trouble.

After resting for a day, on the morning of the third day, the eight people and twelve horses, including the guide and having eaten and drunk their fill, set off in a grand procession into the depths of the forest.

The scenery of Changbai Mountain is beautiful, with different colors in every direction. However, apart from Wen Sheng and Hu Yifei who still had the energy to appreciate the scenery, everyone else in the apartment focused all their energy on horseback riding, otherwise they would fall off their horses if they were not careful.

Entering the forest area from Yingshan Village, following the mountain path led by the forest workers for four hours, you will reach Agai West Lake, where the lake's waters are like a mirror, reflecting the scenery of Changbai Mountain.

Upon arriving here, everyone dismounted to rest and replenish their energy.

"I never imagined I'd be riding a horse on Changbai Mountain in my lifetime!"

With clear blue skies, forests, and snow-capped mountains, Tang Youyou couldn't help but exclaim in admiration as she gazed at the beautiful scenery before her, even though she was worried about Zhang Wei.

Guan Gu Shenqi hugged her and sighed, "Yes, Youyou, after we find Zhang Wei, I think we should include Changbai Mountain in our future romantic trips."

“Okay, next time we can go to Mount Siguniang, which is in my hometown of Bashu.”

“Hey, watch your words,” Lu Ziqiao said. “The way you’re talking now is like a general on a stage with flags stuck in his back.”

Guan Gu Shenqi was a little confused, but Tang Youyou, being a professional actress, understood. She glared at her nephew and said, "Shut your jinx!"

Looking at the scene before him, Wen Sheng felt something was off. The people in the apartment were all in pairs. Even though Lu Ziqiao and Chen Meijia weren't together right now, they had looked after each other on the way here.

As for Hu Yifei and Zeng Xiaoxian, needless to say, Zeng Xiaoxian has already gone up to fawn over them.

Looking at it this way, I feel like an outsider, all alone!

"Come on, everyone, let's take a group photo by the lake!"

At this point, Hu Yifei made a suggestion.

Since we're already here!

So they asked the guide to bring the camera, and the seven people from the apartment took a group photo by the lake.

Half an hour later, the group, having rested, continued their journey.

The road we were on before was actually at the bottom of the mountain range, but the road that follows really goes up the mountain.

The road became increasingly steep later on, and the trees stood very straight.

Since the slope made it impossible to ride horses, everyone dismounted and walked.

To Wen Sheng's surprise, he had thought that everyone in the apartment except Hu Yifei would be too physically fit, but he didn't expect that everyone's physical fitness was quite good.

Hu Yifei goes without saying. Although Guan Gu paints at home, he sometimes goes to exercise with Wen Sheng after Wen Sheng moved in.

Tang Youyou is an actress who occasionally works as a stunt double. Her ability to do twenty backflips in one go proves her physical fitness.

Lu Ziqiao also used to work out... Well, it's worth mentioning that Wen Sheng once ran into him at the gym, which can be considered as witnessing his angel investment in those overweight girls.

Hmm... Lu Ziqiao also said that he got the inspiration after learning about Xinling's act of repaying a debt of gratitude. Although he couldn't be a hero and save the damsel in distress, he could still encourage chubby girls to lose weight.

This perfectly illustrates the saying, "It's not that we're afraid of cultured hooligans, it's that we're afraid of patient perverts."

Furthermore, Meijia, despite her delicate appearance, possesses considerable physical strength. During the eight months she worked as a nude model in a clothing store in Northeast China, she certainly honed her physical abilities.

Only Zeng Xiaoxian, the late-night radio host, has the worst physical strength.

But perhaps because he won the lottery not long ago and needed to manage his physique for the advertisement shoot, he temporarily exercised for a while, so he wasn't in particularly bad shape.

In short, because they are young.

The guide said there was a deserted village further up the mountain, where everyone could rest and spend the night. After getting enough rest, they would cross the snow line the next day.

As we approached the deserted village, Agai West Lake was already a scenic view at the foot of the mountain. Looking down from above, the vast lake surface resembled a pond.

There is beautiful scenery at the foot of the mountain, but the scenery changes completely when viewed from the top.

The distant mountains appear both majestic and seemingly within reach; this thrill of conquering the mountains is what mountain climbing enthusiasts are so captivated by.

However, just as everyone was admiring the beautiful scenery, Wen Sheng looked down at A'gai West Lake with surprise in his eyes, and then his face fell.

Lu Ziqiao, who was looking around with binoculars, also looked down and exclaimed in surprise, "Huh? Dali? Xinling?"

(End of this chapter)