Chapter 6

Arrival in the Western Regions

The train had entered the vast northwest of China, continuing westward. By 20:34 Beijing time that evening, it would arrive at its final destination in the Western Regions Province.

The journey from Sichuan to the Western Regions spanned 2,781 kilometers, passing through nineteen cities. The scenery outside the train window was breathtaking.

The train traversed the Hexi Corridor, Buddhist grottoes, and the Gobi Desert, with occasional glimpses of stunning rainbows.

The small sofa had become Jiang Yuan’s personal territory. She sat there with a DSLR camera, clicking away, capturing the beautiful landscapes outside.

Lin Senmu, meanwhile, was secretly taking photos of Jiang Yuan with his phone. Unbeknownst to her, she had become the most beautiful scenery in his eyes.

Suddenly, Jiang Yuan turned around, her face flushed with embarrassment. “Lin Senmu, don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing. I can see your reflection in the window taking pictures of me!”

“So, how do you think I did?”

Sitting on the bed, Lin Senmu rubbed his nose, trying to hide his embarrassment at being caught.

“Let me see!”

Jiang Yuan leaned over, her long hair cascading into Lin Senmu’s lap as she reviewed the photos. “These are pretty good. I’ll take them!”

The photos Lin Senmu had taken were mostly of Jiang Yuan’s back and side profiles.

Although he didn’t have a professional camera, his modern smartphone had a decent camera. Before the trip, he had even studied photography techniques on short video platforms to capture the scenery along the way.

Lin Senmu sent the photos Jiang Yuan liked over Green Bubble, then typed a message: “Jiang Yuan, are you traveling alone? Or do you have friends meeting you at the destination?”

“I’m alone. Why are you asking on WeChat?”

Jiang Yuan looked at him, puzzled.

“Because I don’t have the courage to ask face-to-face!” Lin Senmu thought to himself.

He continued typing: “I’m also traveling alone. How about we explore the sights together once we reach the Western Regions Province?”

Seeing this, Jiang Yuan switched to WeChat as well: “I’m not going with you.”

Lin Senmu looked at her, confused. “Why not?”

Jiang Yuan replied playfully: “Ugly rejection!”

Lin Senmu was frustrated. “Am I ugly? I think I’m quite good-looking, actually!”

Jiang Yuan wasn’t lying; Lin Senmu’s features were indeed to her taste.

“Let’s travel together!”

Lin Senmu extended the invitation again.

“No!”

Jiang Yuan still refused.

Lin Senmu felt hurt. He lay down on the bed, pulling the blanket over his entire body, including his head.

Jiang Yuan bit her lip and sent a message: “Lin Senmu, can you give me some time? My image in your eyes is nothing but a series of embarrassing moments!”

Hiding under the blanket, Lin Senmu mustered the courage to ask: “So, you don’t mind being friends with me, right?”

“Not at all.”

“That’s good.”

Lin Senmu then asked: “By the way, Jiang Yuan, how old are you?”

“I’ll be nineteen in November. Lin Senmu, have you even reached adulthood? Don’t tell me you’re just a little brother!”

Jiang Yuan sent a mischievous emoji.

“Jiang Yuan, you’re overthinking it. I turned nineteen in March!”

Lin Senmu quickly retorted, calling her “little sister”!

Jiang Yuan sent an angry bomb emoji. “Lin Senmu, stop trying to take advantage of me. Who’s your little sister?”

Lin Senmu replied with a shy emoji. “I’m just following your lead!”

“You’re bringing that up again? Didn’t you say you forgot about us sleeping together???”

Jiang Yuan, in a fit of anger, kicked off her slippers and extended her little foot, giving Lin Senmu’s backside a hard kick.

The deluxe soft sleeper compartment provided disposable slippers, the pure white kind you’d find in hotels.

“Hey, we were just chatting, Jiang Yuan, why did you start getting physical?”

Lin Senmu popped his head out from under the blanket.

“I didn’t use my hands!”

Jiang Yuan blinked her almond-shaped eyes, her little foot resting on the lower bunk, swaying happily from side to side.

“Gulp!”

Lin Senmu swallowed, his gaze completely captivated by the jade-like foot before him.

Jiang Yuan noticed something was off and exclaimed in surprise, “Lin Senmu, you’re such a pervert, why are you staring at my foot?”

“I wasn’t staring at your foot.”

Lin Senmu denied it.

“Still denying? Your eyes haven’t moved away yet!”

Jiang Yuan quietly retracted her little foot.

Lin Senmu stubbornly insisted, “I was looking at your princess dress. I noticed how well this white dress matches the skin tone on your legs!”

Jiang Yuan placed her hands on her hips, leaning slightly forward, looking at him with a fierce yet cute expression, “You picked this dress for me last night, so I wore the clothes you chose to please you?”

“If you had any gratitude towards me, you definitely wouldn’t hit me the next second.”

Lin Senmu sensed danger and hid again.

“Lin Senmu, prepare to die.”

Jiang Yuan clenched her little fists and gave him two solid punches.

“Easy, easy, Jiang Yuan, you can hit me through the blanket!!!”

“Not listening!”

The two of them bickered noisily in the compartment, and soon it was time for dinner.

Jiang Yuan paid for dinner, as her upbringing made her unwilling to take advantage of others. Lin Senmu had treated her to meals last night and this morning, so she returned the favor with lunch and dinner.

At the dining table, Lin Senmu sat in the middle of the lower bunk, while Jiang Yuan sat in the single armchair.

Lin Senmu looked at the two lunch boxes and organized his words, “I have a suggestion, but I’m not sure if I should say it!”

Jiang Yuan held her chopsticks, her beautiful eyes showing a hint of caution, “Go ahead!”

Lin Senmu cleared his throat and suggested, “Look, I have Big Plate Chicken, and you have Braised Dough Drops. If we combine them, we can enjoy two different flavors of Northwest cuisine.”

“Lin Senmu, I just realized how deep your schemes are.”

Jiang Yuan blinked her eyes, a smile in them.

“Just consider it as me scheming against you. Anyway, I want to eat the Braised Dough Drops in your bowl, yes or no?”

Lin Senmu went straight to the point.

Jiang Yuan’s cheeks flushed slightly, “If you want to eat it, just help yourself.”

The Braised Dough Drops contained ingredients like wood ear mushrooms, pork, potatoes, tofu skin, and green beans.

Lin Senmu took a big chopstickful, then scooped some chicken for Jiang Yuan with a spoon, “Here, this Big Plate Chicken tastes pretty good!”

Jiang Yuan didn’t refuse.

Thus, during the meal, each of them ended up eating two dishes!

After dinner, Lin Senmu checked the time and said somewhat reluctantly, “We’ll be getting off in just over an hour!”

Jiang Yuan turned her head towards the train window and softly said, “Yes, we’re almost there.”

In the compartment, the boy and girl fell into a momentary silence.

Outside, the train continued to run on the tracks, soon entering the Western Region Province.

Beyond the window, the world was vast and boundless, with endless grasslands stretching as far as the eye could see, where the wind blew the grass low and cattle and sheep ran in the distance.

Although it was already 8 PM, the Western Region Province was still as bright as day. It was said that the sun here didn’t set until around 10 to 11 PM.

Lin Senmu walked out into the aisle, holding his phone to take pictures of the private room from the outside, capturing the room’s environment and the girl inside.

“Lin Senmu, you’re taking sneaky photos of me again!”

Jiang Yuan turned her head with a mix of shyness and reproach.

Lin Senmu spoke softly, “Jiang Yuan, I came from Xiangchu, and I’m really glad to have met you on this journey.”

“Smooth talker, I can tell you’ve fooled many girls with that.”

Jiang Yuan’s face flushed slightly.

“That’s not fair, I’ve never even been in a relationship.”

Lin Senmu protested.

“Really or not?”

Jiang Yuan asked casually, pretending to be indifferent.

“Of course, it’s true.”

Lin Senmu looked completely sincere.

“Alright, I’ll reluctantly believe you.”

Jiang Yuan suppressed the rising joy in her heart.

Lin Senmu smiled, “Jiang Yuan, come to the doorway and take a photo of me too, will you?”

Jiang Yuan stepped forward, took his phone, and snapped a single photo of Lin Senmu sitting on the sofa.

Looking at the phone’s photo album, Lin Senmu saw that he and the girl now had a photo with the same background and angle.

“Jiang Yuan, how about we take a photo together? This private room is where we met!”

Lin Senmu suddenly suggested.

“Dream on!”

Jiang Yuan snorted.

“Come on, come on!”

“Lin Senmu, why do you have so many demands?”

As the boy and girl bickered, the green train arrived in the Western Region Province at that very moment.