Carriage movement

"Don't move!" Pei Zhi patted Xu Youling's waist again without any hesitation.

"I know...don't take pictures." Xu Youling said in a low voice with a red face.

It would have been fine if he had just patted her to act as a deterrent, but Pei Zhi wasn't satisfied and went to touch Xu Youling's waist twice, then restrained him. Xu Youling felt uncomfortable sitting sideways, but he didn't dare disobey Pei Zhi, so he could only tremblingly raise his hands to hold onto his neck to maintain his balance.

Pei Zhi enjoyed it very much and curled his lips without saying anything.

The train had stopped accelerating and was gradually becoming steady. The soldiers inside the carriage began to chat, and from time to time someone would boldly glance at the two men in the corner who were clearly taller than them.

Xu Youling felt embarrassed, burying his head in the window and Pei Zhi's shoulder, unwilling to face outside. Pei Zhi didn't say anything, but just used his palm to cushion his soft face to prevent him from being hit on the head by the bumps of the car.

Not long after, a young man in a flight attendant uniform hurried over, half-knelt down, and whispered "Lieutenant Colonel Pei".

Pei Zhi turned Xu Youling's face to confirm that he was not sleeping, then signaled the flight attendant to speak.

The young man pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and said cleverly, "Lieutenant Colonel, this is the application for civilians to enter the border military zone. The procedures are complete. Please sign it with your family members."

Pei Zhi then lowered his head to look at Xu Youling, who was so embarrassed that he wanted to crawl into the ground, and even raised his knee to bump him: "I'm calling you, family member."

Xu Youling raised his head and saw the young man pursing his lips to suppress a smile. He quickly took the form and signed it. Then no matter how Pei Zhi teased him, he refused to pay any attention to him.

The train had been running for most of the day, and Pei Zhi knew that Xu Youling was probably really embarrassed, so he finally gave up the idea of ​​teasing her and asked the attendant to find another empty berth for them.

Xu Youling didn't want him to help her. She ran to the junction of the carriages, picked up the orange cat, and looked back at him, looking like a young wife who said, "If you don't come to comfort me, I will run away with our child."

Pei Zhi was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. He calmly turned his back to the stern condemning gazes of the people in the carriage and stuffed the person into the sleeper room.

As soon as Xu Youling entered, Pei Zhi carried her to the slightly elevated bed on the train. Her two slender white legs dangled downward, and she looked at Pei Zhi with a rather resentful look. The sight of those two white legs made Pei Zhi's heart race. He quickly found a thin blanket from the cabinet and wrapped Xu Youling tightly from waist to ankle.

"Look." Pei Zhi half-knelt and adjusted the blanket on his body, sounding like he was complaining, "You ran over here like this, wearing so little. What are you going to do when you really reach the border?"

"It's cold there? It's summer now." Xu Youling felt a little guilty.

"What do you think?" Pei Zhi held his ankle and pushed his socks up a little. He looked up at him and said, "What latitude is the border? What latitude is the White Tower?"

He was lower than Xu Youling, as if in a lower position, but his eyes were just as fierce and aggressive. Xu Youling couldn't stand being stared at, and subconsciously said weakly: "Don't look at me like that..."

Pei Zhi was stunned for a moment, realizing that he was now looking directly at Xu Youling's lower abdomen. His expression suddenly became playful: "Do you like this?"

"That's not what I meant!" Xu Youling argued with a red face.

Pei Zhi laughed, as if he was too lazy to expose him: "I don't think you dare to mess around here."

He climbed onto the bed, held Xu Youling's hand and played with it for a while before he opened the curtains and motioned him to look outside. Xu Youling turned his head and looked over. Although there was still some distance to the border, the lush green trees outside the window were becoming fewer and fewer, and the vegetation was sparse.

"Now I'm the only one here." Pei Zhi kissed his face. "Will you listen to me?"

"When haven't I heard it..." Xu Youling said shamelessly.

"Okay, okay, you are the most obedient." Pei Zhi hugged his shoulders tightly.

The two of them were silent for a moment. Under the ground came the rumbling mechanical sound of the train axles running. In the room, the German Shepherd was panting, and the orange cat was curled up in the corner under the bed, sleeping soundly without any psychological burden.

"Xu Youling," Pei Zhi said, "I..."

The conversation was interrupted by the sudden stop of the train.

The heavy inertia caused both of them to sway twice. Pei Zhi hugged Xu Youling tightly, and his eyes suddenly became dark.

The sudden stop command caused a cry of surprise from the nearby carriage, and Xu Youling turned his head to listen.

"Sit here and don't move." Pei Zhi decisively turned over and got out of bed. He quickly pushed back Xu Youling who tried to follow him down. "Are you still pretending you can't hear me?"

Xu Youling was caught red-handed and simply pulled Pei Zhi's hand to prevent him from leaving: "Is it a mental fluctuation?"

Pei Zhi raised his eyebrows in surprise: "Your guiding ability has improved quite quickly."

"Then I'll go with you." Xu Youling struck while the iron was hot, "I can help you, really."

"Do you think it's possible?" Pei Zhi immediately put away his approving expression.

The screams in the adjacent civilian carriage turned into confused noise, and the soldier section was much quieter, but Xu Youling had already sensed the anxiety coming from there, mixed with some emotions like sadness and despair, which suddenly flooded into his mind.

And such emotions were clearly spreading from Pei Zhi in front of him.

Pei Zhi opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but before he could, there was a sudden crackling sound on the window, occasionally with a more subtle, undetectable...

"careful!"

Xu Youling and Pei Zhi reacted almost at the same time. One of them jumped off the bed and threw himself at the other, trying to block the exploding glass with his back. The other took a step forward to catch the man steadily, and at the same time quickly took a few steps back, protecting the back of his head with one hand.

“Crash!”

The entire glass window shattered into large and small pieces, all falling on the spot where Xu Youling had just been sitting. Pei Zhi was so scared that he hurriedly lowered his head to check if Xu Youling was injured, but the person in his arms had already turned around and looked out the window.

Pei Zhi then followed his gaze and saw that outside the window, snow had already covered the ground. Countless flying snowflakes seemed to be carried by some invisible force, drifting in the stream. Now, they too deliberately died down, and only the curtains torn by the glass swayed seemingly safely.

"Are you scared?" Pei Zhi turned Xu Youling's face back, not wanting him to look at him anymore.

The sound of glass had obviously alarmed the soldiers and ordinary people in other carriages. There was a hurried running in the corridor, and the attendants knocked on doors one by one to confirm the situation. Xu Youling caught more anxiety and fear.

He was silent for a moment, and Pei Zhi breathed a sigh of relief. He lowered his head and kissed the tip of his nose lightly: "It's not safe here. I'll take you to another carriage."

-

The chill gradually seeped in from outside the car, piercing the bones. Pei Zhi picked up Xu Youling, blanket and all, and brought him into the soldiers' carriage.

As soon as they entered, they heard the train attendant begin an announcement, probably something reassuring, saying that the train had broken down and was being repaired, asking passengers not to panic. Pei Zhi didn't listen carefully. He put the person back in their original position and bent down to pinch Xu Youling's ear.

"Tell me if you feel cold," Pei Zhi whispered. "It will be dangerous."

Although Xu Youling had never left the area around the White Pagoda before, the sudden drop in temperature outside and the sudden falling snow were enough for him to notice. Coupled with his gradually improving guiding skills, he could already determine what danger Pei Zhi was talking about.

"Is it..." Xu Youling raised his head, "was it the same when Shen Jiayi was injured before..."

"Yes." Pei Zhi's hand turned to stroke his jaw, "So protect yourself and don't make me worry."

Pei Zhi stood up and talked in a low voice with other soldiers in the carriage. Xu Youling looked at him from a distance with a worried look on his face.

What exactly is behind these sudden snowstorms that caused the soldiers in a carriage to feel as if they were facing a formidable enemy?

Is the mission Pei Zhi usually talks about solving these incomprehensible things?

What should they do if guides and sentries like Shen Jiayi and Fang Suiming are likely to be injured in this kind of resistance?

Pei Zhi met his gaze and nodded reassuringly. The sentries and guides, who had already agreed, began to count their weapons and equipment, preparing to leave the carriage.

Xu Youling was a little anxious.

As we all know, sentinels and guides should work together in combat, with the former providing output and the latter assisting. He should also play the role of sensing the mental fluctuations for his sentinels and escorting them in battle.

But Pei Zhi seemed, at least it seemed, not to want Xu Youling to stand with him, which made him feel uneasy.

Pei Zhi lowered his head to check the gun and daggers on his body. When he looked up again, he saw Xu Youling looking at him with a complicated expression. He couldn't help but laugh a little in his nervousness.

"What's wrong?" He mouthed to Xu Youling.

Xu Youling got the nod, wrapped in a blanket, jumped down from her seat, and ran to Pei Zhi's side: "I'll go with you."

Pei Zhi glared at him, unsurprisingly. Xu Youling thought for a moment and continued to persuade him, "It's dangerous in the carriage, too."

"It's too cold outside, you know?" Pei Zhi frowned. "The coldness of that kind of thing is not something an ordinary person can withstand, you understand? You will definitely get hurt."

"But it's definitely getting colder in the car..." Xu Youling looked around and reached under the blanket to pull Pei Zhi's sleeve, "Don't leave me here alone."

Pei Zhi seemed to have just realized that "protecting Xu Youling" and "leaving Xu Youling alone here" were two coexisting concepts, and his expression couldn't help but stiffen. Xu Youling took the opportunity to wrap her arms around him, moved closer to him, and lowered her voice, "Pei Zhi..."

"...Okay, follow me." Pei Zhi took a deep breath irritably and ruffled Xu Youling's hair. "No matter what happens, you have to stay by my side, and don't be too curious. Got it?"

"Okay." Xu Youling's eyes lit up.

Pei Zhi then wrapped the blanket around him tighter, bent down and kissed Xu Youling's forehead, then pushed open the carriage door.

Several pairs of sentries and guides who had just walked out of the train were already standing in the snow outside the door, with their backs to the train, looking towards the frozen snowfield in the distance.

Pei Zhi jumped down first, turned around and held out his hand to Xu Youling, helping him land safely. A gust of cold wind blew in Xu Youling's face, causing him to shiver, prompting Pei Zhi to hug him even more cautiously.

"It'll be over soon, I promise."

In the howling wind, Pei Zhi leaned close to Xu Youling's ear and said so.