Work Can Wait, Staying Alive Comes First

Jiang Shixu is a 29-year-old business owner with a considerable fortune. For ten years, the sole purpose of his life has been to work hard and make money. After his health finally sends up warning signs and he nearly gets misdiagnosed with a terminal illness, he begins to consider another question: What if he dies before he gets to spend all his money?

To keep that greatest tragedy of life from happening to him, he spends two months getting treated by a retired traditional Chinese medicine doctor, then sets work aside for the first time and decides to take a carefree road trip.

On Highway 214, a young man in a ginger-yellow jacket stops his car.

“Hello, could I get a ride to Feilai Temple? Oh, it's you.”

Jiang Shixu takes a closer look. The young man in front of him is Niu Yangyang, the old doctor's grandson.

When he learns that Niu Yangyang ran away from home because he doesn't want to take the graduate school entrance exam or work at a hospital, and plans to hitchhike all the way to Lhasa, Jiang Shixu sighs for the first time that being young must be nice, and that young people come up with endless schemes.

To keep the little ox in front of him from being taken away and having his kidneys harvested, Jiang Shixu's sense of responsibility as an “adult” takes over. He gets Niu Yangyang to join him, claiming that his poor health makes traveling alone dangerous.

Seeing his grandfather's regular patient, a thin, pale man who looks blood-deficient and poorly nourished, Niu Yangyang's sense of responsibility as a “knight-errant doctor” flares up, and he happily agrees.

At the foot of Meili Snow Mountain, Niu Niu tells him legends of the mountain god. When they reach Motuo, Niu Niu tells him the story of Zhang Qiling. Beneath Namcha Barwa, he pulls Jiang Shixu close and has him shout at the setting sun.

The aimless road trip begins to come alive with color thanks to this unexpected visitor.

The only thing that gives Jiang Shixu a headache is that he got dizzy just once, and the kid immediately decided his kidneys must be failing from a chronic illness...

Theme: Finding different meanings in life.