Rebirth 1983: Building My Business Empire
Chapter 444 - Chapter 444 Chapter 433 Climbing Mount Tai

Chapter 444: Chapter 433: Climbing Mount Tai Chapter 444: Chapter 433: Climbing Mount Tai After finishing the exams, Lu Jiaxin returned to the Mainland to climb Mount Tai. The original plan was to climb Mount Tai last summer, but she ended up not going due to supplementary classes and the relocation of graves, followed by the onset of hot weather.

When Lu Jiaxin and her group arrived at Mount Tai, they discovered there were quite a few tourists there. It wasn’t like Huashan Mountain, where you could hardly see anyone.

At South Heaven Gate, Lu Jiaxin wanted to check in. Gu Wenfeng felt it was a waste of time and said, “Jiaxin, let’s take photos when we come back!”

Lu Jiaxin said with a smile, “Take them now and also when we come back.”

She was full of energy at the moment, but she guessed she would be worn out on the way down, wanting to capture photos of her different states to show Nie Zhan once she got back.

After taking photos, they started their ascent.

Lu Jiaxin wanted to watch the sunrise on Mount Tai, so they had to spend the night on the mountain, which meant they brought provisions and all the necessary gear with them.

Other tourists didn’t understand why Gu Wenfeng and his group were carrying such big packs. Halfway up, an older brother asked, “You shouldn’t carry so much, it’s too heavy to make it to the top.”

Gu Wenfeng smiled and said this weight was nothing to them. After becoming a bodyguard for Lu Jiaxin, he had become even more strict with himself, maintaining a high-intensity training regime and humbly learning from Miao Na.

The older brother nodded after hearing this, then turned to Lu Jiaxin and said, “Little girl, it’s tiring to climb up from here, you should prepare a walking stick like I have.”

Lu Jiaxin pointed towards Wang Lin, who was walking ahead, and laughed as she said, “I’ve prepared one, it’s in his pack. I’ll take it out when I can’t walk anymore.”

A walking stick is an essential item for climbing Mount Tai, and she wouldn’t forget that! But apart from her, no one else wanted a walking stick. Given their level of training, no mountain was too high for them, so they didn’t need walking sticks. Seeing that they didn’t want one, Lu Jiaxin didn’t insist.

Having taken a closer look at Wang Lin’s backpack, the older brother asked suspiciously, “Where’s the walking stick?”

Lu Jiaxin explained that she had bought a collapsible walking stick, which was convenient to carry. She intended to climb all of Mountain Wuyue, so she had a walking stick custom-made.

The older brother became interested when he heard this and asked, “Miss, it does sound convenient to carry around like that, may I know where you bought it?”

Lu Jiaxin replied with a smile, “I bought this walking stick in Hong Kong, I’m not sure where to find it on the Mainland.”

The older brother felt a bit disappointed.

After exchanging a few words, Lu Jiaxin moved on, leaving the older brother to slowly make his way behind them. Miao Na looked puzzled and said, “He is moving so slowly, he won’t make it up to the mountain by nightfall.”

Lu Jiaxin said with a smile, “You can’t say that. He’s enjoying the pleasure of climbing and appreciating the scenery along the way, whereas we are aiming to reach the summit to see the sunrise.”

The goals were different and thus not comparable.

Seeing that they quickly disappeared from his view, the older brother believed their earlier words. Sigh, back in the day when he was a soldier climbing mountains, he was quick on his feet, but time ages people!

Even though Lu Jiaxin ran every day and occasionally played tennis, Mount Tai’s grandeur and steepness were challenging. After walking for a couple of hours, she couldn’t continue without taking frequent breaks. Gu Wenfeng, Miao Na, and the others, who trained rigorously every day, kept a very steady pace.

The group found a spacious place to sit down and eat. Miao Na saw Lu Jiaxin leaning against a large tree, walked over to her, and said, “Boss, let me set up the tent for you to lie down in.”

Lu Jiaxin waved her hand and said, “Climbing a mountain requires a burst of effort, if I lay down now I won’t feel like climbing anymore. It’s okay, we’ve already walked more than half the distance, we should get there soon.”

It was mainly because she was slowing everyone down, otherwise they would have been nearly at Riguan Peak at the same pace as Gu Wenfeng and Miao Na.

After eating, they continued to climb. Because they were stopping more and more frequently, and for longer periods, Miao Na wanted to assist her but was refused.

They had set off from the foot of Mount Tai at nine o’clock, and by four o’clock, they finally reached their destination, Riguan Peak. As soon as she got there, Lu Jiaxin unceremoniously sat down on the ground, feeling as if her legs no longer belonged to her.

Gu Wenfeng said, “Miao Na, Jinghua, you two stay here to accompany the boss, Wang Lin and I will go collect some firewood.”

Their midday meal had been dry rations, and they would definitely need something warm to eat later. Cooking was out of the question, but boiling noodles was no problem since they were prepared with water, noodles, and ingredients.

Lu Jiaxin saw Miao Na preparing to pitch a tent and said with a smile, “No need to hurry with the tent, come and take a photo of me first.”

Miao Na took out the camera from her backpack and seeing her sitting on the ground without any concern for appearances, said, “Boss, stand up.”

Lu Jiaxin refused, saying she wanted to be photographed just like that, “This is the true state after climbing a mountain. When I develop the pictures, I’ll show them to Nie Zhan so that he can join us next year if he has the time.”

After taking a few photos of her, Miao Na asked, “Boss, the photos I just took aren’t very good, maybe we shouldn’t show them to Mr. Nie?”

Lu Jiaxin laughed, “Why not show him?”

Miao Na said, “A woman should only expose her beautiful side to a boyfriend or husband, hiding the bad. That way, you will always appear perfect in his heart.”

Lu Jiaxin replied with a smile, “There’s no such thing as a perfect person in this world. I have many flaws, and so does Nie Zhan. There’s no need to hide and pinch, it’s exhausting and can’t last long.”

She had seen a video about a woman who had been married for ten years, and her husband had never seen her without makeup. Of course, whether it was true or just a joke was unclear. If it was true, she could only admire that woman, but she knew she couldn’t do it.

Gu Wenfeng and Wang Lin returned quickly, each carrying a bundle of dry firewood.

After placing the firewood on the ground, Gu Wenfeng used rocks to construct a simple stove and started to boil noodles. They had brought a mini pot, which could only cook a small portion of noodles at a time–this was a lesson learned from their trip to Huashan Mountain last year.

Apart from oil and salt, the noodles were also accompanied by green vegetables and sausages, making for quite a hearty dish. As Lu Jiaxin smelled the aroma, her stomach embarrassingly started to growl.

As the sun set, Lu Jiaxin had Miao Na take pictures of her first and then she herself clicked away, taking many photos. After the sun had gone down, she talked with Gu Wenfeng for a while before entering the tent.

The main reason was that once the sun had set, clouds and fog obscured the view, and with nothing much to see, it was the perfect time to rest after a tiring day.

The next day, they got up just after four in the morning and waited a while for the sun to come out. The sunlight streaming through the clouds poured down on the mountain peaks, while the sea of clouds changed into a multitude of shapes, ebbing and flowing like the tides–mysterious and magnificent to behold.

The sun rose slowly, and the sky gradually turned golden. The contours of the mountain peaks were clearly visible, accompanied by the multicolored glow of the sunrise. The scene at that moment, like a magnificent painting, was too beautiful to blink away.

Miao Na exclaimed, “It’s so beautiful!”

With a click, Lu Jiaxin captured the beautiful scene on her camera and then asked Gu Wenfeng to take her picture. In her previous life, she had lost interest in taking photos after her parents divorced, but when she fell ill, she regretted not having taken more pictures when she was young. Otherwise, flipping through old photos during idle times, reminiscing about people and events from the past, could be quite lovely.