Chapter 2

During the 27-hour journey

“Boxed meals, boxed meals! Twenty-five yuan for three dishes! Any passengers interested?”

As the train sped along, it was mealtime, and the railway attendant pushed a small cart through the carriages.

“Miss, what dishes do you have?”

Hearing the call, Lin Senmu opened the compartment door.

Before the trip, he had done thorough research and knew that the food on the train was generally average in taste and slightly expensive.

But since this was a long journey, he couldn’t wait until the next station to eat like on high-speed trains. If he missed this meal, he would have to wait until breakfast the next morning.

“Kung Pao chicken, braised lion’s head, and twice-cooked pork!”

The attendant stopped to introduce the dishes.

Lin Senmu looked at the meal sets in the cart. Each of the three meat dishes was paired with shredded potatoes and greens. After some thought, he chose the twice-cooked pork.

“Hmm, the braised lion’s head, I’ll take one of those.”

Jiang Yuan climbed down from the upper bunk, tiptoed, and peered over Lin Senmu’s shoulder to look at the dishes in the cart.

Lin Senmu scanned the payment QR code and entered 50. Just as he was about to confirm the payment, he realized something was off. However, recalling a certain scene, he dismissed the thought of correcting it.

The attendant checked the payment confirmation and, after verifying it was correct, pushed the cart away without looking back.

Jiang Yuan was about to scan the code with her phone when she saw the QR code suddenly retracted. Her almond-shaped eyes widened in surprise, “Hey, hey, hey, I haven’t paid yet!”

The next second, she seemed to understand something and turned her beautiful almond eyes toward Lin Senmu.

Lin Senmu calmly explained, “You treated me to chips earlier, so I’ll treat you to this meal.”

Jiang Yuan initially wanted to say, ‘I’ll scan the money to you,’ but she silently swallowed the words and instead said, “Thank you!”

She walked over to the small sofa, opened the boxed meal on the table.

Lin Senmu scratched his head, closed the compartment door again, and when he turned around, a hint of hesitation appeared on his face.

The current situation was that the girl had taken the sofa. If Lin Senmu wanted to eat, he would have to sit at the innermost part of the lower bunk, facing the girl across the table.

“We don’t know each other, so sitting across from each other to eat would probably feel awkward for her too.”

Lin Senmu decided to wait until the girl finished eating before having his meal, so he sat by the edge of the lower bunk.

Jiang Yuan took a small bite of the lion’s head and a piece of greens, then lifted her almond eyes, but didn’t see anyone sitting across from her.

She couldn’t help but turn her head and saw the boy sitting upright, his phone screen on a music playlist.

Jiang Yuan caught a glimpse of a fleeting image of Jay Chou and a thought popped into her head, “I wonder what song he’s listening to? Could it be ‘Sunny Day’? I never get tired of that song!”

Curious as she was, Jiang Yuan didn’t invite the boy over. In a compartment less than ten square meters, it was already awkward for strangers of the opposite sex to be together.

If the boy had taken the initiative to come over, Jiang Yuan wouldn’t have resisted; the table was meant to be shared.

Not long after, Jiang Yuan finished her meal, cleaned up the table, and smiled at the boy, “I’m done!”

“Alright!”

Lin Senmu smiled back.

Jiang Yuan kicked off her shoes and climbed back into the upper bunk.

Just then, the attendant’s voice rang out again outside the door, “Boxed meals, boxed meals! Ten yuan for three dishes! Only three left!”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yuan paused her attempt to climb into bed and looked at the boy with a tearful expression, her eyes seemingly saying, “We’ve been tricked!”

Lin Senmu met her gaze and nodded vigorously, feeling that the meal had lost its flavor.

“Angry!”

Jiang Yuan let out a soft huff and burrowed into the blanket, using her little feet clad in white socks to gently kick the door panel.

The green train from Sichuan to the Western Regions passed through twelve stations, stopping and starting along the way, and before they knew it, it had left the southwestern region.

Outside the window, it was pitch black, with no scenery to be seen along the way. Only when passing through towns and villages could they catch glimpses of scattered lights.

Lin Senmu leaned against the headboard, flipping through the pages of “Passing Through Your World.”

Although he had the e-book on his phone, Lin Senmu preferred the feel of reading physical text.

This youth book was filled with many love stories.

Every time he finished a story, Lin Senmu found it hard to snap out of it because he had immersed himself in the characters.

“I wonder when I’ll meet the girl who belongs to me,” Lin Senmu murmured softly.

Suddenly, the image of the girl in the upper bunk flashed through his mind.

He shook his head hurriedly, dismissing the unrealistic thought. After all, their encounter was just a brief, fleeting moment.

In the upper bunk, Jiang Yuan had been lying down because sitting up would bump her head against the ceiling of the compartment. She had been wearing headphones, scrolling through short videos, and watching a few episodes of “Crayon Shin-chan,” but soon she grew tired of her phone.

So, the girl couldn’t help but glance toward the door again, looking at the boy quietly reading in the mirror.

“He’s the kind who grows on you, really, the more you look, the more handsome he seems!”

“I’m 168 cm tall. When I was buying the boxed meal behind him, my head seemed to reach his nose bridge, so he must be over 180 cm tall?”

“Hmm, his fashion sense is good too, with that restrained style. His long-sleeved white shirt looks a bit like a couple’s outfit with mine?”

“Ah, Jiang Yuan, what are you thinking? What if he has a girlfriend? This kind of thinking is dangerous!”

The girl, with nothing else to do, stared at the boy in the mirror, her little head filled with all sorts of strange thoughts.

Realizing something was off, she shyly clasped her arms together, her hands covering her slightly flushed face.

“Thud.”

Jiang Yuan’s phone slipped from her hand and fell straight to the floor.

Lin Senmu caught sight of the phone falling from above out of the corner of his eye. After waiting a few seconds and noticing that the girl in the upper bunk hadn’t come down to pick it up, he picked up the phone and gently tapped the girl.

Jiang Yuan, with her hands covering her face, felt someone touch her and looked blankly at the boy by the bed.

“Your phone fell,” Lin Senmu said, handing it to her.

“Huh?”

Jiang Yuan only then realized that her phone was in the boy’s hand.

Lin Senmu hesitated for a moment, then said, “The screen protector is cracked. Your phone model is the same as mine. I have a spare tempered glass protector. Do you want it?”

“I don’t know how to apply it,” Jiang Yuan replied softly.

“Wait a moment, then.”

Lin Senmu sat back on his bed, took out a new tempered glass protector from his travel bag, removed the shattered protector from the girl’s phone on the dining table, wiped it with a wet tissue, then a dry one, and finally dusted it off.

Jiang Yuan peeked her little head out from the upper bunk, looking down at the boy who was focused on applying the protector, blinking her charming big eyes.

Suddenly, her face turned bright red as the phone screen lit up, revealing the lock screen wallpaper—Jiang Yuan in black stockings.

Girls, even without a boyfriend, will buy a few pairs of stockings and take some beautiful photos to please themselves.

Jiang Yuan was most satisfied with her legs.

Her girlfriends all envied her “manga legs.”

Lin Senmu also noticed this, his clear pupils suddenly widening.

One second, two seconds, three seconds—whether it was due to proper appreciation or coming back to his senses, it was unclear.

Lin Senmu discreetly locked his phone and placed a brand-new tempered glass screen protector on the girl’s screen.

“Done!”

Looking up, a faint blush appeared on Lin Senmu’s face as he met the girl’s shy gaze.

Jiang Yuan took the phone, this time not even saying thank you. She pulled the blanket over her head, her toes curling up in her white socks out of shyness.

“This is so embarrassing. I’ll change my lock screen right away!”