Chapter 63: Accident
They got off the bus in the afternoon. The guesthouses in the scenic area were almost full, and even with advance booking, they only managed to get a two-bedroom apartment. The two rooms were shared by four people, and Su Yu was squeezed into the living room.
The door to the room suddenly opened, and Lu Siyuan walked in with his girlfriend. Su Yu had met Lu Siyuan’s girlfriend, Tang Xin, before when they went to the bar. They weren’t complete strangers.
“Hey, the front desk said we can take the cable car up the mountain first. The scenery is great for taking pictures up there. We can climb the mountain tomorrow morning to watch the sunrise. Let’s just take the cable car and have some fun today.”
“I heard the cable cars here are prone to power outages. Maybe we should skip it…” Su Yu hesitated, remembering the online reviews he had read before coming.
Lu Siyuan didn’t think much of it. “How many times has that happened? And it’s a holiday. How could there be a power outage?”
“Okay, I’ll go ask An Zhi and the others.”
Just as Su Yu stood up, the door to An Zhi and Xia Qian Ge’s room opened from the inside. Xia Qian Ge walked out and then slowly closed the door behind her.
“What’s wrong?” Xia Qian Ge’s loose hair had been tied into a ponytail. She looked up at Su Yu and asked.
“Um… I was going to ask An Zhi if she wants to take the cable car up the mountain to take pictures.”
Su Yu took two more steps forward, wanting to go in and ask An Zhi for her opinion, but Xia Qian Ge discreetly blocked the doorknob with her body.
“Xiaozhi has serious motion sickness. She’s already fast asleep. It’s better not to disturb her.”
“She’s asleep?”
“Yeah, probably tired.”
Xia Qian Ge nodded, her dark eyes hidden by her hair, making them hard to read.
“Then… are you still going? We can take the cable car and watch the sunset.”
“The cable car?” Xia Qian Ge frowned and thought for a moment, then agreed. “Okay, it’s a bit boring to stay in the room alone anyway.”
“Let’s go then. We have to be quick to get a spot. I think it’s the last one.”
Lu Siyuan waved his hand and left the room with Tang Xin.
…
Qingyan Mountain was a tourist project that had been developed in the past two years with the rapid development of Qingchuan. The once undeveloped mountain was now filled with modern facilities. Walking along the forest path, he could occasionally see a few monks, their identities unknown.
It was almost evening, and the sky was beginning to glow with the colors of sunset. The air in the mountains was much fresher than in the city. A deep breath filled his lungs with the smell of grass and earth.
They arrived at the cable car station of Qingyan Mountain. The brightly painted red cable cars hung in the air like lanterns, pulled up by chains.
Lu Siyuan and Tang Xin got on a cable car first. The cable car was fully enclosed, not very big, with glass on all four sides. Two people could sit on each side without disturbing each other.
Su Yu watched as Lu Siyuan and his girlfriend got on, then he opened the door and let Xia Qian Ge in first, followed by him. They sat facing each other, and the door closed with a click.
The cable car wasn’t very spacious, and it felt a bit cramped with the two of them inside.
The cable car started moving, slowly gliding along the cable, getting higher and higher. Looking down through the glass, they could see the temples and monasteries of Qingyan Mountain, a few towering ancient trees rising above the rest, the green moss on the rocks glowing with a warm, soft light in the evening sun.
Xia Qian Ge seemed to be completely captivated, her face pressed against the glass, looking outside. Half of the sun had already set behind the mountain ridge, the clouds lit up by the sun, painting half the sky red, dyeing Xia Qian Ge’s dark pupils the color of blood.
“Oh, I almost forgot to take a picture.”
She looked down and took out her phone, pointing the camera at the fiery clouds in the sky. She looked at it for a moment, but didn’t take a picture.
“Su Yu… look outside.”
“Hmm?”
Su Yu frowned and looked outside. The cable car had been moving slowly, but it had been moving. But now it seemed… to have completely stopped.
Soon, they weren’t the only ones who had noticed. The cable cars on the two lines going up and down the mountain, not far from them, had also stopped. Although there had been several power outages here before, no one had expected it to happen to them.
The glass-enclosed cable car was completely stopped in the middle of the cableway. The wind in the valley was fierce, and they could hear the sound of the cables rubbing against each other in the cable car.
Beneath the cable car were cliffs and a swaying forest. The change in their mood made the once beautiful scenery suddenly lose its charm. In this uncertain environment, everything became a bit scary.
Some people started to scream, others to curse… The air was filled with a cacophony of noise. Su Yu also received a message from Lu Siyuan, asking about his and Xia Qian Ge’s situation. He briefly explained and said they would meet up and go down the mountain together later.
“Xia Qian Ge, are you okay…”
Su Yu put away his phone, a little worried about Xia Qian Ge. But when he looked up, Xia Qian Ge had already retreated to the center of her seat. She was staring at her shoes, as if in a daze, but her hands were gripping her clothes so tightly that her slender knuckles were pale and bloodless.
“I… I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”
Xia Qian Ge looked up, her face pale, her thin lips pursed tightly. The smile on her face was so stiff that it was easy to see through.
The noise around them grew louder. The cable car had been stopped for almost half an hour. Besides a few useless broadcasts, there was no reason to feel at ease. The tourists who had gotten on after them were two women. Through the glass, he could even see them crying.
“Don’t look.” Su Yu moved to the middle, blocking Xia Qian Ge’s view with his body.
“Huh? Okay, I know.”
Xia Qian Ge’s thin shoulders trembled a few times before she looked away, but the anxiety in her dark eyes was spreading.
Su Yu looked at the girl’s uneasy expression, his hands behind his back clenched into fists, the back of his hands white from the force.
He remembered how he would hold her tightly in his arms when she woke up from a nightmare, waiting for her to fall back asleep.
But now she was scared… and Su Yu could do nothing, and he couldn’t do anything.
“Su Yu…”
“I’m here. What’s wrong?”
“Do you think… we’ll get down alive?”
“Of course we will. It’s just a small malfunction.” Su Yu smiled, trying his best to comfort her. “When we get down, we’ll go eat something delicious. And An Zhi, that girl is so lucky. We’ll bring her back some good food, she’ll be so happy.”
“Yeah, I believe you.” Xia Qian Ge nodded, but the smile on her face was still forced. “We’ll get down. We definitely will.”
The sun had completely set behind the winding mountain ridge, and the sky darkened at a visible rate. Only a faint moonlight shone through the clouds and into the cable car. Besides the dull thud of the wind hitting the glass, there was only the growing darkness in the car.
Su Yu’s heart, which had been in his throat, clenched even tighter. He suddenly remembered, the girl… was afraid of the dark.
