Chapter 31 The Train to Spring

Before setting off for Quzhou, Jian Zhen did thorough research. She was originally a lazy person, either just packing her bags and going wherever she happened to be, or leaving everything to a travel agency and simply following along.

But this time, she had her own little scheme in mind, trying to squeeze some "romantic moments" into the trip. So she took care of everything herself, from the route to the accommodation, from the work trip to the relaxation in between.

Before they even set off, Xu Weisheng raised an objection: "Didn't we say we'd drive there?"

Jian Zhen spread the map with two fingers, turned the phone screen around, and handed it to him: "Look, it's a whole thousand kilometers. You'll be exhausted if you drive that far."

Xu Weisheng said, "It's alright," but in his heart he was already prepared to give up. He couldn't help it; he found it hard to go back to frugality now, and he wanted to call a driver for any journey that took more than 90 minutes.

"What do you mean 'okay'?" Jian Zhen said matter-of-factly, "Even if you don't complain of being tired, I'll still feel sorry for you."

Hsu Wei-sheng: ?

His face flushed red, as if he had been startled, and he suddenly turned his head to look at the other person.

Jian Zhen had already put her phone away and continued swiping on the screen with her head down. He couldn't see Jian Zhen's expression, so he could only silently turn his face back and continue walking side by side with her on the road.

Was it just his imagination? Jian Zhen had been talking to him more and more...directly lately. She was as passionate as a volcano ready to erupt. Even if the volcano were to erupt the next second—and Jian Zhen were to pounce on him and kiss his lips—he wouldn't be surprised. He just hadn't decided yet whether or not to dodge.

According to Jian Zhen's plan, the two of them would first fly to Hangzhou, and then take a train from Hangzhou to Quzhou. At that time, the Quzhou high-speed railway station had not yet been officially put into use. For comfort, Jian Zhen bought a deluxe soft sleeper for herself and Xu Weisheng.

The deluxe sleeper berths were two-person compartments with private bathrooms and TVs, which greatly impressed the two young people who had never seen the world before as soon as they boarded the train.

Jian Zhen exclaimed, "I've never ridden in a carriage like this before!"

Xu Weisheng now made no attempt to be sarcastic, bluntly stating, "You clearly haven't even ridden a green-skinned train much!"

Jian Zhen turned around and glared at him: "You talk like you're so experienced!"

"I've taken many hard-seat trains before," Xu Weisheng said proudly, squeezing in beside her. He didn't understand why Jian Zhen was blocking the door and deliberately preventing him from passing, even though they were already on the train. Was she trying to play tag? They couldn't play that game either!

Fortunately, we were dressed warmly in winter, and with our clothes close together and our chests brushing against each other, we didn't feel embarrassed at all. Instead, it added a touch of intimacy and tenderness.

He put down his two suitcases, glanced at the bed, and said, "You can sleep on the bottom."

"Why?" Jian Zhen thought she was much lighter than him and should sleep on the top bunk.

"What if you roll off the bed?" Xu Weisheng took off his coat and hung it up, sat on the small sofa, and reached out to wipe the glass that was covered with frost.

Jian Zhen seemed to have been greatly slandered. She took a deep breath, pointed at herself, and said, "Hey, I also went to university and lived in a dormitory! If I had slept on the top bunk, I would have rolled off. I would be a paraplegic by now!"

Xu Weisheng turned around and looked at her with a smile, saying leisurely, "I didn't say it was certain. Isn't it just a matter of being prepared for the worst?"

"If you sleep on the top bunk, isn't there even a one in ten thousand chance you'll fall off?" Jian Zhen firmly disagreed.

"I'm tall, so I'm stuck and won't fall."

That's utter nonsense! Jian Zhen laughed angrily, glanced back at the bed behind her, and wanted to stretch out her arms to measure the length, but then felt it was too embarrassing, so she gave up and plopped down on the lower bunk, facing Xu Weisheng on the sofa across the small dining table.

She stood up angrily, while Xu Weisheng suppressed a laugh and changed into slippers.

"Not bad, these shoes are quite comfortable." Xu Weisheng changed her shoes, stretched her legs to relax her limbs, swung her feet, touched the hem of her slightly flared jeans, and laughed, "What's wrong? You even have to fight for an upper bunk?"

Jian Zhen kicked his foot away, bent down to change her shoes, and said angrily, "You called me short."

Xu Weisheng raised an eyebrow. Had he really said such a thing? Heaven above, don't be so quick to wrong people!

"Where? I never said that... How tall are you?"

Jian Zhen: "1.71 meters tall."

Xu Weisheng immediately chimed in, "1.71 meters is the perfect height for a girl. Any taller and it's hard to buy pants; any shorter and she lacks presence."

Jian Zhen chuckled twice and then changed her words, saying, "1.71 meters with shoes on, 1.69 meters without shoes."

Xu Weisheng was taken aback for a moment, but quickly came to his senses and nodded, saying, "1.69 meters is still more perfect. It leaves room for explanation for most of the men in the world who are less than 1.7 meters tall but still exaggerate their height. Considering your future development in Guangdong, 1.69 meters is a kind number. Besides, you have a great presence even without being 1.7 meters tall."

Jian Zhen looked up, rolled her eyes, and couldn't help but laugh.

"How much longer until we reach Quzhou?" she asked.

"This train is pretty fast, it'll take about five hours. I reckon it'll be dark by the time we get there." Xu Weisheng put their paper train tickets under the thermos, took out a yellow-covered science fiction novel from his bag, took a bookmark, and started flipping through it from the middle.

Jian Zhen was scrolling through her WeChat Moments on her phone when she suddenly felt a little ashamed. They had come here for work, and instead of improving her professional skills, she had been indulging in the online world and becoming a "phubber" the whole way. Xu Weisheng, on the other hand, although not much older than her, was clearly more composed when faced with online temptations.

She put down her phone and leaned closer: "What book is it... 'The Three-Body Problem'? What's it about?"

Xu Weisheng turned a page and said without changing his expression, "Mathematics book."

"Tsk." Jian Zhen instantly lost interest, got up, put down her suitcase, took out her pajamas and makeup bag, and said, "I'm going to wash my face first."

"Okay," Xu Weisheng replied without looking up.

Jian Zhen locked herself in the bathroom and started removing her makeup. It was hard for her to catch an early flight to Hangzhou and even put on makeup on the plane. After she finished, she asked Xu Weisheng if he could see anything different, but he shook his head and said he couldn't see anything.

That's like casting a seductive glance at a blind man!

Now that she's planning to take a nap, she's decided to remove her makeup.

Just as she was removing her makeup, her phone, which was on the table, rang. Xu Weisheng put down her book, glanced at the screen, and was instantly stunned. The caller ID read: Mom.

He silently watched his phone ring. Ten seconds later, the other end still hadn't given up. Xu Weisheng could only sigh softly, pick up his phone, walk to the bathroom, and call out, "Your mother is calling you."

"Help me answer this!" Jian Zhen shouted from inside.

"Should I answer it for you?" Xu Weisheng doubted he had misheard. He could answer other people's parents' calls without a second thought, but Jian Zhen... He had a guilty conscience and was afraid that if he answered, her parents would hunt him down to the ends of the earth.

"I don't have hands right now!" Jian Zhen's hands were covered in slippery makeup remover oil, and in order not to get her pajamas wet when removing her makeup and washing her face, she had only taken off her clothes and wasn't wearing pajamas. She was completely naked except for a set of underwear.

"Put the handset on for me, I can hear you." Jian Zhen rubbed her nose vigorously in front of the mirror.

"Okay! Wait a minute, I'm hanging up—"

"Please call me back!"

Xu Weisheng had no choice but to concede, "What's the password?"

"0712!"

Xu Weisheng was stunned. This was... his birthday. Strange, he had never told Jian Zhen his birthday, and they had missed each other's birthdays during the time they spent together. How did Jian Zhen know?

He unlocked his phone with intense confusion, and what jumped into his eyes was Jian Zhen's Moments interface, which she hadn't had time to exit. In the interface, "Auntie" was showing off her happiness, with the caption "Thank you Professor Lin for taking me to visit HKU". The nine-grid photo was a beautiful portrait, with group photos and individual photos of the two people each taking up a third of the space.

Jian Zhen's aunt looks somewhat similar to her, and the other person in the picture looks both familiar and friendly to Xu Weisheng, as if she has seen him somewhere before, but she can't quite place him right now.

He still had a mission to complete and couldn't linger on a stranger's photo, so he quickly exited the app, dialed back, and put the phone on speakerphone. The call was answered almost immediately.

"Zhenbao~" Jianzhen's mother called out eagerly on the other end of the phone.

"Oh dear." The mother and daughter weren't usually this clingy; the mother must be in an exceptionally good mood today. Jian Zhen felt a little embarrassed, but she couldn't directly say that there was a third person present, so she quickly got to the point: "What's wrong, Mom?"

“The family photo we took during the Spring Festival has been developed. Your grandma really liked it and insisted that I send it to you today. I figured sending one or two photos is the same as sending one, so I asked Aunt Zhang to cut a few pounds of lamb rolls for you and send them over as well. It’s fresh lamb from Xilingol League, it just arrived the day before yesterday. We roasted lamb chops at home yesterday, and your grandma said it was a pity you weren’t here!”

It was indeed a big deal. No wonder Mom was so persistent in calling. Xu Weisheng leaned against the bathroom door, holding his phone, and chuckled softly.

Is that all? It makes her seem like she's so greedy. Jian Zhen sighed inwardly, "Mom, you've completely embarrassed your daughter."

"Okay, thank you, Mom. I have to go now, I'll talk to you later!" she called out from inside, standing on tiptoe.

"Okay, you go ahead and do your thing. It's cold, don't take off that down jacket so early!"

"Okay, goodbye Mom!"

"goodbye!"

As soon as Xu Weisheng hung up the phone, Jian Zhen slammed the door open from the inside, her face still wet with water droplets, and looked up to meet Xu Weisheng's eyes.

She glanced at her phone screen to make sure the call was over, then awkwardly took the phone from the other person, wiped it, and said, "Sunite lamb, it's really delicious, not gamey at all."

“I know,” Xu Weisheng said with a smile. “Doesn’t Donglaishun use this?”

“That’s different. Our family gets direct supplies from the herders every year. Anyway, it’s better than Donglaishun. I’ll share half with you when it arrives.” Jian Zhen took a tissue to wipe the water droplets off her face, picked up the clothes she had taken off, and threw them on the only small sofa. She started folding and hanging them up.

Xu Weisheng was puzzled when his seat was taken: "Why didn't you just throw it on the bed and fold it?"

Jian Zhen turned her head to look at him, and said with certainty, "Didn't you tell me to sleep on the lower bunk? I'm a germaphobe, I don't sleep on the bed with dirty clothes."

Xu Weisheng laughed: "Okay, I'll go up."

With his long arms and legs, he climbed up easily and was lying on the bed in the blink of an eye, having to look up to see. Jian Zhen was folding clothes while looking up at him when he suddenly put down his book, turned to the side, grabbed the iron railing by the bed, stared at her, and asked, "What does 0712 mean?"

Caught off guard, Jian Zhen was momentarily flustered and nervously grabbed her clothes, saying, "Oh, it's that, Lin Sheng, his birthday."

Xu Weisheng paused for two seconds, then slammed back onto the bed with a thud, saying nothing.

Jian Zhen licked her lips awkwardly and continued hanging her scarf. When she turned her head, she unexpectedly caught a glimpse of the window frost pattern on the glass. Two cute little figures, a boy and a girl, had been drawn with someone's finger. It was probably Xu Weisheng's masterpiece.

The more she looked at them, the cuter they seemed, and she couldn't help but reach out her finger and draw a tacky big heart around the two little figures.

Even the author himself found this chapter increasingly sweet, almost too sweet to handle (so sweet he had to write a separate comment, oh dear!).

The lower bunk is so comfortable, but the upper bunk on a train is too hard to climb.

I love you so much, but I can't bring myself to say it.