Chapter 1.9

Chapter 10

"Where's the driver?" Ivo asked.

"He had to return to Beijing in a public transportation." Replied quickly Lian. "I'll drive from here on, for it's an area I know." She then hesitated and added. “Do you want to share the driving?”

"Yes, although I come from a flat area, the Po River plain. Is it a mountainous area?”

"There are parts with cliffs." Do you have experience in cornice roads?

"I've driven in the Alps.”

"Anyway, do not expect us to have here the routes you have in Europe. Never mind, I will do the driving in the high mountain parts.”

The two of them had already been driving for more than fifteen hours. The asphalt road had ended many miles back but the gravel was at an acceptable maintenance level. In fact, they found gangs of workers making repairs on the route several times. When the sky darkened they decided to stop at a miserable lost inn just where the first foothills of the mountains began to permit themselves some rest before the following day of driving. The place was attended by an elderly woman and her two grandchildren. The hostess prepared them an acceptable meal and the hosts found that the room and bathroom were modest but clean.

"In rural China you never know what you're going to find." Lian had resignedly commented.

At the end of the meal the girl asked.

"I'm going to walk out to the nearby grove to stretch my legs. Do you want to come with me?”

“No thanks, I'd rather go to rest.” As up until then they had traveled on a flat road Ivo had driven most of the time. Lian left and the man retired to the room, which was on the ground floor. After entering and laying in bed his mind reflected on the situation and decided that it was not safe to leave the young woman walking alone in the open field and with little light. Overcoming the complaints of his body he rose, went out to the inn lobby where he gave a greeting to the lady and began to march along the path poorly drawn on the earth. In the dim light of the evening he saw Lian sitting on the trunk of a large tree, staring up at the mountains. From far away he thought she was holding her head with her hands. Ivo approached and the whisper of a nearby stream covered the noise of his steps so Lian did not notice. The man came within ten yards of her back without being noticed. Then he saw that he was speaking on a telephone of certain dimensions and heard her voice above the flow of water; Lian spoke in Chinese. Although Ivo did not understand the subject of the conversation, he was certain that the girl had actually retired to that place to be able to speak alone and that the invitation to walk had been only a pretext. Ivo decided not to violate this need for isolation and silently started the return to the inn.

如果......我们已经在山脚下......你确定道路是否安全？

(2) Yes ... we are at the foot of the mountains ... are you sure the road is safe?

When Lian returned to the room she found his partner sleeping.

The next morning the surroundings were wrapped in a thick fog and the road was barely visible three paces away so they had to wait for the mist to rise. Just as the innkeeper had anticipated that happened at about 11 a.m. so they had to stay in their room all that time, since it did not even make sense to walk in the sticky fog without being able to tell the nearest grove. Finally, and almost at once, the mist came out. The night before they had already loaded the utility car so that they set off without delay, praying that the fog would also have disappeared in the mountains. In the initial stretch Ivo was driving since as a Milanese he was accustomed to deal with the steering wheel even in the middle of the fog. When the car was started the man said with a gesture of satisfaction.

"This inn was more welcoming and comfortable than I imagined when we got to it."

Surprised at Lian's lack of response Ivo looked at her as she sat in the passenger seat and watched her absorbed in the contemplation of the exterior rearview mirror of the car at her side. So abstracted was the girl that it was obvious she had not heard Ivo's words. He frowned at the vehicle's rearview mirror and determined the object of the woman's interest. Partially hidden behind a tree the son of the innkeeper stared at them in a fixed form. Evidently there was something about them that interested him. The young man shrugged his shoulders, dismissing the fact that there might have been some reason for Lian's attention and he remained silent for a while, but the procession went inside and finally asked the girl.

"Tell me, Lian. What was it about the boy at the inn that caught your attention?"

“I do not know what are you talking about.”

"I think you do. So concentrated were you that you did no even hear what I was telling you.”

"Oh! I am sorry. And what were you saying to me?”

"I really do not remember, but that's not the point.”

"And what's the point then?"

"Your interest in him and his interest in us."

“I do not know. I swear I've never seen him before.”

"I'm sure of that, but the reciprocal control was obvious.”

The girl remained silent.

"Lian, I have followed you everywhere and I am now accompanying you on a journey whose purpose is not clear to me, but I have the persistent suspicion that you are hiding something from me.”

"I cannot believe you're jealous.”

"I'm not, my suspicions go in another way.”

"Which way?" Lian's questioning system was exasperating. Ivo came to conceive that she was trained to face interrogations, and he had to admit that her system was very effective.

"It's just what I do not know. Do not think I have not noticed your mysterious calls over the phone, even in areas where I cannot explain how you got a line.

For a moment Ivo took his eyes off the route and looked at the woman's face, so she could feel the blush that covered it for a moment.

“There is nothing that you have to worry about .” She answered without giving further explanations and leaving the doubts of the man unresolved.

Then Lian closed her eyes and fell into what seemed to be a deep sleep, but in reality it was a state of slumber in which, as the defenses of consciousness descended, the deep contents were easier to express. A warm feeling rose from her gut and invaded her head. At last Lian began to suspect that she had fallen in love. It was the first time in her young life that she experienced this feeling, so that the first stage of confusion was followed by another of rejection of the idea when she realized that falling in love would somehow restrict her options and give her a certain point of reference that at first sight would introduce rigidity in her life. However, after being seized by that rational thought, that other eminently irrational and primitive feeling that had ascended from the guts made its way and filled her with a sweet remnant. At that point Lian stopped fighting and surrendered to love and sleep.