August 21.
Jiang Ning got up early, had breakfast with Xue Yuantong, then rented a Mountain Bike.
Xue Yuantong asked curiously, "Aren't we riding horses?"
Jiang Ning discussed it with the bike shop Boss and, using the tried-and-true method of paying extra, had a comfortable rear seat installed on the Mountain Bike.
He patted the soft seat. "Get on."
"Mm, okay." Xue Yuantong adjusted her posture and obediently sat down.
Just like when they used to go to and from school, Jiang Ning carried Xue Yuantong through an unfamiliar city and onto a country road.
The August grasslands stretched endlessly in emerald green. The carpet-like fields on either side gradually receded, making them feel as though they had entered a fairyland.
Jiang Ning followed the road upward, steadily gaining elevation.
Xue Yuantong looked around from the back seat and recalled a poem she had once learned: "The sky is like a vast yurt, covering the four wilds."
Beneath the heavens lay boundless silence, as though only the two of them remained. Far in the distance, a great river seemed to coil and flow.
Xue Yuantong truly felt how small people were.
Suddenly, a deep, powerful cry came from the sky.
Xue Yuantong looked up. An eagle spread its wings and circled through the air.
"Jiang Ning, Jiang Ning, look! What a huge eagle!" she cried.
She could clearly see that the eagle's wings were not flapping at all, yet it continued soaring through the sky.
Jiang Ning asked, "Do you want to fly?"
Without hesitation, Xue Yuantong answered, "Of course I do."
"Hold on tight." Jiang Ning twisted the handlebars and performed a 180-degree drift on the spot, turning the bike downhill.
Ahead lay a long road with a thousand-meter drop in elevation.
Xue Yuantong poked her head out from