Chapter 28
The next morning, the two of them changed into thick polar suits and waited for the guide to pick them up. Two bodyguards, also dressed in their best, waited outside the door.
"Hmm?" Lu Mingxiao glanced around: "Where's the assistant?"
"Sister Gao told me yesterday that she had a bit of a cold, so she doesn't need to run around doing paperwork for now. I'll let her rest for a couple of days." Jiang Huaiyu took a sip of warm milk. "I can handle everything else."
Lu Mingxiao: "Oh right, you can be a translator too."
The reason for waiting for a guide before leaving the island is that there are more polar bears than residents on the island. Tourists are not allowed to leave the town on their own to avoid danger. The guide can apply for a gun and then drive them out of the town.
Their guide was an elderly man with the typical large frame of a European. He carried a large-caliber shotgun on his back, and his weathered eyes held both sternness and kindness, suggesting a story to tell.
Two bodyguards followed in a spare vehicle. Jiang Huaiyu sat in the passenger seat of the car in front, chatting with the old man in English. He would translate each sentence the old man said to Lu Mingxiao.
“The old man said that they have a Sun Festival in March, which is a good day for Longyearbyen to celebrate the return of the sun. At that time, everyone will stand in that square…” Jiang Huaiyu pointed to Lu Mingxiao: “That’s where everyone sings songs and watches the sun rise from the valley.”
"That sounds so romantic." Lu Mingxiao sighed regretfully and took the initiative to communicate with the old man: "March, back to school!"
The old man gave him a thumbs up: "Chinese kids are such hard workers!"
Lu Mingxiao seized on the key words and looked at Jiang Huaiyu: "Grandpa, are you saying that all Chinese children are... hardworking!"
Jiang Huaiyu laughed out loud: "Yeah, Brother Xiao, your English has improved pretty quickly too."
Lu Mingxiao proudly wagged his tail: "Thanks~"
The old man escorted them all the way to the ferry terminal, where staff checked their tickets and they boarded the ship along with a dozen other tourists.
It was nine o'clock in the morning in Svalbard. The dark blue night still enveloped the island, and the seawater was frozen with a thin layer of ice. As the ship moved forward, the ice was crushed, and small ice blocks were washed onto the ice by the waves, looking like tumbling diamonds under the ship's lights.
The town lights gradually faded into the distance, and the outline of the snow-capped mountains on the island stretched into a deep blue silhouette. The outline was not sharp or rugged, but mostly gentle and expansive, and in the extreme cold, there was a gentle sense of loneliness.
The ship broke through the ice with a crisp cracking sound, heading into the depths of the night, as if sailing into another planet.
The tourists on the ship were initially amazed by the spectacular view, but as the scenery remained the same, many returned to their cabins, leaving only a few people on the deck.
"Seriously, with such a wide view, how come there's no aurora?" Lu Mingxiao glanced at Jiang Huaiyu's face, which was red from the cold. "How did you tie that scarf?"
Jiang Huaiyu: "It was just a normal injection..."
"It doesn't block the wind at all, just for looks?" Lu Mingxiao took off his scarf, wrapped it around twice, and then tied it back on.
Jiang Huaiyu silently pulled down his coat to reveal his eyes. His polar suit hood already had a frilly trim, so with this trim, only his eyes were visible.
It is indeed warm.
Two foreign youths who had been quietly observing the two of them noticed this and one of them laughed and said, "You're properly cute, mate! And your boyfriend's fit, you two make a sick couple!"
This long string of English, with its accent, was completely beyond Lu Mingxiao's comprehension. He could only hear the other person babbling on and on, while Jiang Huaiyu's eyes flashed with obvious astonishment.
You won't swear, will you?!
But then I heard cute...friend...
It doesn't seem quite right.
Jiang Huaiyu was very fortunate that he was now covered up and only his eyes were visible, otherwise, with Lu Mingxiao's eyesight, even if he didn't understand, he could still guess what the other person was saying based on his reaction.
He smiled politely yet distantly, "That's kind. We're just enjoying our time, hope you have a great day too!"
He didn't deny the relationship the other person mentioned, but the other person sensed the coldness in his tone and knew he didn't want to delve deeper into the conversation. They simply smiled politely, and then…
The two kissed through their thick masks and swaggered away.
Jiang Huaiyu: ...
This is an old London tradition.
This was the first time Lu Mingxiao had ever seen a live homosexual couple. He froze on the spot as if he had been frozen by the Arctic wind. After a while, he asked Jiang Huaiyu, "They're kissing..."
“I saw it, shut up,” Jiang Huaiyu said.
Lu Mingxiao touched his nose: "Oh."
...
Before they could see the aurora, the two of them couldn't stand the cold wind outside the ship anymore, so they went back to the cabin together. Just then, the ship started distributing food. The food taken out of the insulated box wasn't very hot anymore, but drinking a sip of warm reindeer soup in this freezing weather was still a treat.
Lu Mingxiao ate quickly. After finishing his meal, he immediately became very friendly and helped a Swedish couple entertain their child. He made the child laugh with his broken English and even received two children's cheeses as a gift from the young father. In return, he took two bags of spicy strips. The Swedish couple laughed and gave him a thumbs up.
The boy, with black hair and brown eyes, had deep and handsome features. When he smiled, he exuded youthful vigor, making him both handsome and likable.
Jiang Huaiyu sipped her soup, looking at this social terrorist. It was only because he didn't know enough languages that Lu Mingxiao could fly out of the Milky Way and establish diplomatic relations with the Trisolarans.
but……
He smiled slightly. The two Englishmen were right; Lu Mingxiao was indeed a very charming person.
After lunch, the ship reached its end, where the ice was too thick to proceed.
The ship's guide lowered a makeshift metal ladder from the hull and explained something to the passengers...
"He said the ice was thick enough to walk on, but only ten people could go down at a time, and each group could only stay on the ice for ten minutes..."
"Can we go down?" Lu Mingxiao asked in surprise, grabbing Jiang Huaiyu's hand.
Then he wouldn't let go and kept pulling her onto the ice.
“This is ice!” he declared confidently. “It’s so slippery.”
Jiang Huaiyu: "Hmm~ Slippery human feet."
The Swedish couple approached Jiang Huaiyu and Lu Mingxiao and asked if they could take some photos of their family of three. They had professional equipment that allowed them to take photos normally even under such extreme conditions. In return, they would also like to take a couple of photos of Jiang Huaiyu and Lu Mingxiao to keep as a memento.
After the translation, Lu Mingxiao was naturally willing to help. He was as professional as a professional photographer, even adjusting the poses of the family of three and finding the right angles to take pictures. The light was not very good in the polar night, but the other party was very satisfied with the photos he took and even asked him if he had studied photography.
Finally, the young husband suggested that they take a photo together.
The two boys stood side by side, with the longest night and the purest snow in the Arctic as the backdrop. The moment the shutter clicked, Jiang Huaiyu took Lu Mingxiao's hand.
...
Lu Mingxiao's ears were still red when he returned to Longyearbyen.
He said he didn't want to go back to the hotel for dinner because he felt he hadn't eaten enough, so the guide recommended a bar in the small town, saying that the portions were huge and that the bar had three sled dogs and was a well-known internet-famous spot.
Jiang Huaiyu himself doesn't have a good impression of the word "internet celebrity," but since he's already here, there's no harm in experiencing it. Even if the food isn't good, he can still pet the dogs.
The three dogs take turns working. Today, a huge Alaskan Malamute is working. It's a big, fluffy ball sitting by the door with a cute red bow tie around its neck. The warning sign above its head reads in multiple languages:
"This dog has high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar; feeding it is prohibited."
Jiang Huaiyu played with the dog for a while before realizing that Lu Mingxiao was a bit too quiet.
The waiter started serving the food. He went to the restroom to wash his hands before sitting down opposite Lu Mingxiao: "Didn't you say you were hungry? Why aren't you eating?"
Lu Mingxiao snorted: "I'm going to tell Hu Zi when I get back that you have another dog outside."
"Go ahead and say it..." Jiang Huaiyu elegantly cut the steak into small pieces, then pushed the cut portion in front of Lu Mingxiao, and then swapped the steak in front of Lu Mingxiao, which was supposed to suffer torture even after death, with her own.
Lu Mingxiao: "...Never mind, where are the other dogs? I didn't see any."
The guide's recommendation was indeed correct; all the dishes at the tavern tasted good. Jiang Huaiyu particularly liked their salmon rolls, and the portion sizes were enough to fill someone's stomach after eating a bowl of rice.
After saying goodbye to the high altitudes of Alaska, the two of them got into the guide's car and headed to their last stop of the day.
It looks like a rectangular, lead-gray stone.
“This is the monument at the entrance to the Global Seed Vault.” Jiang Huaiyu had done her homework beforehand and could easily replace the guide in explaining: “Its outer layer is a titanium-zinc alloy metal plate, and the high borosilicate glass on top that reflects light has a special coating, which is named the Eternal Reflection.”
“I think I’ve seen this before when I was doing English reading…” Lu Mingxiao touched the cold, smooth surface of the monument: “It was said to be Noah’s Ark for crops in the apocalypse?”
"Yes." Jiang Huaiyu was somewhat surprised: "You've done so much English reading, how come you remember this so clearly?"
"Because I got all five questions wrong," Lu Mingxiao said. "My English teacher advised me not to do them and just fill in random answers, saying I might get one or two right."
Jiang Huaiyu burst out laughing.
Seeing that they were chatting happily, the guide smiled and asked what they were talking about. Jiang Huaiyu translated for the old man, who then laughed and mumbled a string of words.
Jiang Huaiyu relayed: "The old man said that a good teacher should not deny a child's efforts, even if the direction of your efforts is wrong, but should guide you onto the right path."
But after relaying the message, he said to the old man, "He's made great progress this year; he's really smart and outstanding."
Lu Mingxiao raised an eyebrow, took Jiang Huaiyu's hand, and leaned closer with a light laugh:
"Jiang Xiaoyu, you're praising me, I understand."
Author's Note:
Let's see who approaches reading these sentences with the same seriousness as doing English reading comprehension [doge emoji]
The meaning of several English phrases is:
The two Englishmen praised the little fish for being cute, said that Lu Mingxiao was very charming, and that they were a good match.
The little fish replied, "That's great. We're enjoying our time. I hope you all have a good day too."
Finally, Xiaoyu praised Lu Mingxiao, saying that he had made great progress this year and was very smart and outstanding.
The student who got a perfect score is awesome! [Sprinkling flowers]
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