Seventy-nine: What you have overlooked is what others pursue for a lifetime.

Yes. It was hard to believe, but this pale, delicate-looking girl with the sway of a woman and a face full of adult grace was only sixteen.

Among these people, who prized pleasure in sex and love, girls began learning how to dress up at eight or nine. In some remote villages beyond the reach of authority, once the coming-of-age ceremony at thirteen was past, boys and girls were already allowed to be introduced to matters of sex.

Perhaps the bitter lesson of her mother’s suffering had given Isa an especially powerful warning. After all, this system of marital wandering depended on the coexistence of an entire structure; if one of its many supports was missing, the whole thing could collapse. It was also an example of how many folk customs were defeated by modern life, and the survival of the fittest in such things could not be reduced to a simple judgment of good or bad.

When Chen Sufen looked back on it, she felt that this sixteen-year-old girl was certainly not as simple as she seemed, no matter how fair and pretty she looked.

At the very least, the way she had fixed on a man and then done everything in her power to carry out her plan of escape was not something an ordinary girl could do.

Isa was also staring straight at her, thinking of something, her gaze anything but innocent.

At least, not the kind of innocence she ought to have at this moment.

Bai Haonan had already gained some experience in running for his life. As they neared the expressway behind them, he pulled over to the side, changed to the set of nearby Rongdu license plates he had previously acquired, and then sped through the township by the expressway entrance without stopping.

Sure enough, when they lined up to enter the toll station, there were indeed several motorcycles scanning from far away, and people making phone calls. The inexplicable tension made both girls crouch down and hide beneath the seats. This time even Chen Sufen could not help tightening her grip on the long blade, which truly helped bolster her courage. Fortunately, Bai Haonan remained calm, driving with a lazy ease, sticking out his rear end as he cut in between the trucks to show the license plate, then gliding through the toll station with complete composure.

Only when the car had reached more than a hundred kilometers per hour did Chen Sufen finally straighten up and let out a long breath. After thinking for a moment, she turned around and advised the girl crouched on the seat behind her, “Girl, this may be hard to accept, but that’s just how it is. He has to keep running in hiding. If you come along too, there will definitely be a lot of inconvenience.”

Isa took back her identity card and rejected the suggestion from her husband’s childhood friend. “My life is tied to A Zhu. Unless he abandons me, we women have never been ones to stay passively attached to just one man. That is our affair. Even uncles and elders cannot interfere, let alone you.”

Chen Sufen made a face at Bai Haonan. “There’s no way to communicate with this girl. According to the plan, it’ll still be five or six days before we get there. Should we go straight there now, or find another place to rest first?”

Bai Haonan did not have the issue of abandoning anyone; in truth, he had never even considered that he had possessed anyone at all. He even resisted the sense of responsibility that came with such possession. After learning that Isa had never been farther than the county seat, had seen a great deal of television, but had only heard that the nearest major city was Rongdu, his idea was actually to shove both girls back where they belonged. “And you? You ought to go back, right? Or just take her to Rongdu. Whether it’s learning to sing with Qiaozi or picking up a trade in the city to make a living, both of you would be better suited to Rongdu than following me off to some place where I know absolutely nothing and cause trouble!”

Chen Sufen had not expected to be dragged into it herself and fell silent. She was relieved that Bai Haonan was not attached to other women, but it seemed she had no special place either, which made her feel somewhat sulky.

Isa also understood. Her deep, rolling eyes kept studying the two people in front, and even when she sat down she chose the middle seat so she could still occasionally see Bai Haonan’s side profile.

The imported beard-growing lotion really did work. In just two or three days, the clean-shaven stubble on Bai Haonan’s face had turned once again into a dark, bristling shadow, with a rough layer of beard growing back. For a tall, sturdy man like him, it added a touch of ruggedness, perfectly matching the aesthetic of the mountain people. She said nothing, only watching him slowly.

The three of them formed a rather peculiar arrangement; whenever any two drew a little closer, the third seemed to be isolated.

And both Chen Sufen and Isa undoubtedly believed they carried some special significance and thus had a certain psychological superiority. Now and then they would lift their eyes and look at each other, so the atmosphere inside the car was rather strange.

No matter how much of a nightlife prince Bai Haonan had been, he had never faced this sort of situation before, with two women at once, both of them eager to claim ownership of him. And both were formidable: one could act, and the other dared to.

So that silence in the car held all the way to another prefecture-level city more than a hundred kilometers away, an autonomous prefecture belonging entirely to another ethnic group. By then they should have been absolutely clear of danger, and Isa confirmed it as well; she had never even heard of this city. Thus Bai Haonan pulled off the road and said, “Anyway, let’s eat first and talk this through slowly.”

Chen Sufen glanced at the girl in back and found that she was no longer even looking back at her. “Do you want to change clothes? Have A Zhu buy you some. He’s generous with money.”

Isa still silently ignored her. Bai Haonan looked back and felt it should be so. The robe looked splendid on the outside, but the shirt underneath was quite old, and the underwear from last night did not suit such a girl at all. He had never been stingy in the first place. “Should we go buy clothes first?”

Unexpectedly, Isa asked, “What do people usually eat at a time like this?”

That reminded Bai Haonan of the sour soup mountain chicken they had had for lunch the day before. “How about we find some... cough, just somewhere on the roadside, and pick a decent place to eat.”

Nowadays every city and town in the country had its most prosperous commercial district. Bai Haonan drove around for ten minutes before finding one, then chose the most upscale-looking shopping center, parked, and went upstairs. In places like this, where he often went hunting for girls, he was indeed quite well versed. In the women’s clothing area, near the escalator, he casually put an arm around Isa and asked a saleswoman, “What sort of clothes should suit such a beautiful lady? I don’t need to spell it out, do I?”

The air he gave off was not the sort commonly seen in a county-level city. Then, seeing Isa’s unmistakable minority features, the saleswoman immediately understood she had run into some big shot trying to pick up a village girl. Though surprised that this village girl had such fair skin, she still hurriedly and attentively offered to guide Isa over to try on clothes.

Unexpectedly, the girl clutched Bai Haonan’s arm and did not even raise her face much. “Eat first.”

The ethnic costume that had seemed so splendid in the mountains now looked rather rustic inside this brightly lit shopping center. Chen Sufen sighed and casually grabbed two outfits from the racks and display tables, even picking up a pair of nearly matching sneakers. After Bai Haonan paid, they went upstairs to the food court with its sushi, seafood, Sichuan cuisine, hot pot, and the like.

Bai Haonan wore an expression of wealthy disdain. “What good seafood could there possibly be in a place this small? It’s all dead stuff anyway. Even the sushi doesn’t look right. How about Haidilao? Shall we eat at Haidilao?”

Not sensing any reaction from the girl on his arm, he turned his head and saw that a glistening line of saliva was already hanging from Isa’s chin.

It was truly a real scene: the saliva had overflowed from the corner of those cherry lips and run down to her chin.

He had no choice but to find a seat at random and use a tissue to wipe her clean. “It’s fine. You can eat whatever you want. How about we start with roast duck? That’ll be quick.”

It could be seen that the girl was doing her best to control her gaze, but merely saying that the food was good made the saliva spill down again.

Chen Sufen, carrying the clothes and following slowly behind, stared in disbelief. “Is it really that exaggerated?”

Isa struggled to swallow it, but once she opened her mouth again, it was all saliva. Bai Haonan had to hold back his laughter and pour her a cup of tea. “Hold it and drink. I’ll go hurry the dishes!”

To him it might have been nothing more than a casual courtesy, or a way to spare the girl embarrassment. But to a girl who had only just stepped into this dazzling world, it must have felt like a different kind of warmth altogether. She held the cup with one hand, brought it to her lips, drank a few hard gulps, and forced it down. Her answer to Chen Sufen remained those same three words: “You don’t understand.”

Chen Sufen said no more, though her throat moved a few times. She was probably testing whether saliva really could spill out so easily.

The roast duck really did come quickly. Bai Haonan even went himself to fetch it, so it arrived even faster as several large plates. Sitting down, he first gently took hold of Isa’s other hand, the one she had kept hidden under the table, where she was tightly gripping the short blade. “Tuck it at your waist. Eat first. I’ll help you wrap one...”

Chen Sufen propped her cheek in her hand and looked at the man opposite her. More than ten years ago, it had seemed as though he had been arranging food for her like this as well. Now, in front of her, he was actually fawning over another girl. Her gaze turned somewhat complicated.

Bai Haonan had nothing to be ashamed of. Seeing that Isa already understood the sequence, he lifted his head. “Wait. The spicy hot pot you like will take a little longer. I’ll go get it for you.”

Faced with this seamless two-pronged operation, Chen Sufen could only shift her attention to the girl whose cheeks were already bulging. She watched in a kind of thrilling shock as Isa’s small face and slender neck seemed to distort like a snake swallowing an elephant while she swallowed with obvious difficulty.

“Slow down! No one’s fighting you for it!”

Isa could not be bothered to pay attention to her. While she deftly began the blind operation of wrapping roast duck, her eyes were already fixed firmly on the steaming iron pot Bai Haonan had brought over, fragrant and overflowing with aroma.

At the way she looked at it, she might as well have been able to eat the pot itself.