Chapter 10

Scenery has its own path.

When someone falls for another person, everything about that person automatically gains a filter in their eyes and heart.

Lin Senmu and Jiang Yuan were near the performance stage, enjoying exotic dances and traditional Chinese lion dances.

These performances were eye-opening for the two southerners.

“Lin Senmu, let me treat you to some candied hawthorns on a stick.”

Jiang Yuan suddenly had two sticks of candied hawthorns in her hand.

When Lin Senmu turned to look at her, he happened to see a vendor carrying a rack of candied hawthorns walking away.

“Too sweet, no thanks!”

Lin Senmu waved his hand dismissively.

“Fine, I’ll eat both then.”

Jiang Yuan puffed her cheeks, unwrapped the plastic from the candied hawthorns, and tentatively licked the sweetness with the tip of her tongue before taking a big bite of a hawthorn berry.

After finishing one, she had a bit of crystallized sugar stuck to the corner of her mouth, but she repeated the action, biting into another berry.

The girl’s eating manner was somewhat adorably naive.

“Jiang Yuan, is it good? Let me try one!”

Lin Senmu’s eyes sparkled with an indescribable expression.

“Here.”

Jiang Yuan handed over the unopened stick of candied hawthorns.

“I’ll just try one to see how it tastes. Don’t waste it.”

Lin Senmu quickly leaned in, biting into the stick Jiang Yuan was holding. With a slight tilt of his head, he pulled a hawthorn berry from the skewer into his mouth.

“Lin Senmu, the king of schemes! You didn’t want the one I bought for you, but you just had to eat the one I was eating, huh?”

Jiang Yuan widened her beautiful eyes, staring at him for a moment before realizing what had happened. She blushed and raised her little fist in mock anger.

Lin Senmu dodged, mumbling, “I’ll save the new one for you to eat later.”

Just as Jiang Yuan was about to chase him and give him a couple of punches, her phone buzzed with a group voice message. She checked Green Bubble and saw that their tour guide had tagged everyone to gather.

“Lin Senmu, I have to go back now!” Jiang Yuan said softly.

Hearing this, Lin Senmu’s smile froze on his face, and he nodded gently, “Okay.”

“Will you walk me to the gate?”

Jiang Yuan turned her head slightly, her tone ambiguous.

“Sure.”

Lin Senmu understood, his smile returning as he walked side by side with Jiang Yuan.

When they reached the gate of the night city, Jiang Yuan boarded the tour bus with her group. Before getting on, she glanced back at the boy.

Lin Senmu waved at her.

Once inside the bus, Jiang Yuan immediately unlocked her phone and sent a message, “Lin Senmu, are you still following our tour route tomorrow?”

“Yep.”

Lin Senmu replied with an OK hand gesture.

“Hehe, then I’ll treat you to ice cream tomorrow.”

“Too sweet!”

Seeing these two words, Jiang Yuan couldn’t help but think of what had just happened. Her face flushed slightly. Would Lin Senmu try to steal the ice cream she was eating again tomorrow?

“Lin Senmu, I’m back at the hotel. I’m going to take a shower!”

“Alright, I’ve already showered.”

Lin Senmu had long returned to his RV. The benefits of the RV were numerous—it had a bed, a shower, and even a kitchen!

Although it cost 500 yuan a day, it saved him the expense of staying in a hotel.

“Lin Senmu, I’m going to sleep now. Goodnight!”

“Goodnight, Jiang Yuan!”

Early the next morning, when Lin Senmu woke up, he received a message from the girl as usual.

“Lin Senmu, get up, get up! Our group has left Anxi City. I’ll be waiting for you at Tianchi next!”

“I’m up. I’ll be there soon.”

After washing up, Lin Senmu bought some bread and milk from a nearby store in the night city to satisfy his hunger, then set his navigation for Tianchi.

However, when he arrived at the Tianchi scenic spot, he didn’t see Jiang Yuan at the agreed meeting place.

“Where is she?”

Lin Senmu tapped her avatar, and the same message popped up: ‘Lin Senmu pays his respects to the beautiful little princess.’

“Wuwu, Lin Senmu, I’m sorry! We’ve already visited Tianchi and are now on our way to the Populus euphratica forest!”

Jiang Yuan spoke cautiously, not knowing that the tour group would move so quickly today. She didn’t dare to tell Lin Senmu.

“Jiang Yuan, you stood me up!”

Lin Senmu sent a cracked emoji.

“Sorry, Lin Senmu!”

Jiang Yuan accompanied her message with a remorseful sticker.

“Ugh!”

Lin Senmu was genuinely upset. He had come eagerly to meet someone, only to be greatly disappointed.

“Don’t be mad.”

Jiang Yuan sent a sticker of a little girl tugging at a boy’s sleeve, resembling a coaxing gesture.

“Pat-pat me, and I won’t be mad.”

Lin Senmu was cunning, his tactics seamless.

“!!!”

Jiang Yuan was extremely embarrassed and directly typed three exclamation marks.

After waiting for a long time, just when Lin Senmu thought it was hopeless, the Green Bubble avatar was patted.

A system notification popped up on the phone screen: Jiang Yuan patted Lin Senmu and called him ‘hubby’!

Lin Senmu’s mood instantly brightened, and he teased, “Jiang Yuan, if you keep calling me ‘hubby,’ I’ll have to call you ‘wifey’!”

“Scheming king Lin Senmu, I didn’t call you ‘hubby’! You asked me to pat-pat you so you wouldn’t be mad!”

Jiang Yuan sent a cleaver emoji.

Lin Senmu took a screenshot of ‘Jiang Yuan patted Lin Senmu and called him ‘hubby’,’ cropped the borders in the photo album, and sent only the text content.

“Ignoring you!”

Inside the bus, Jiang Yuan’s face turned red, and she impulsively thought: Is Lin Senmu trying to flirt with me?

“Quickly tell me the next stop. I’m not visiting Tianchi anymore; I’m coming to find you now!”

Lin Senmu’s original ‘Western Region Tourist Attractions List’ included Tianchi, where he currently was.

In sight was the clear, rippling water of Tianchi, surrounded by lush, dense trees. In the distance were crystal-clear glaciers, and beyond them, snow-capped mountains.

But without that person there, the scenery seemed just ordinary.

“Lin Senmu, you pig-brain, it’s in the chat history. I told you, Populus euphratica forest.”

Jiang Yuan rolled her eyes.

“Ah, I’ve become dumb.”

Lin Senmu sent a sighing handsome guy sticker.

“You’ve always been dumb.”

Jiang Yuan sent a mischievous grin.

So cheeky, girl!

Lin Senmu didn’t back down, “I never thought that in just two or three days, someone as smart as me could be infected by a fool like you!”

Jiang Yuan retorted angrily, “Lin Senmu, you’re the fool, the big fool!”

“Then you’re the little fool!”

Lin Senmu replied with a mischievous grin.

“Hmph, hurry up, or I’ll leave again.”

Jiang Yuan urged.

“Coming, coming. You didn’t even call me when you went to the Populus euphratica forest. I could have skipped Tianchi and gone straight there.”

Lin Senmu complained.

“I was afraid you’d get distracted while driving.”

Jiang Yuan had thought about it. She knew Lin Senmu was on a self-drive tour and worried that a call might cause him to lose focus and lead to an accident.

Lin Senmu felt a warmth in his heart, “I’m setting off now!”

Jiang Yuan reminded him, “Mhm, don’t drive too fast, be safe!”

“OK!”

Although Lin Senmu agreed, he pressed the accelerator hard, eager to meet the girl as quickly as possible.

He came to the Western Regions to see the scenery, but now the scenery was the path she had taken.

However, just as Lin Senmu was on his way to the Poplar Forest.

The bus Jiang Yuan was on, while passing through a city, stopped at the largest shopping mall in that city.