Chapter 40: Departing for Talan City

Ji Xu was dragged up from the depths of sleep by the persistent ringing of his phone.

Fuzzily groping around beside his pillow, his fingertips touched the icy cold phone case.

Swiping the answer button, he pressed the phone against his ear, his voice still carrying an undispelled drowsiness and hoarseness: “Hello…”

“Ah Xu, I’m at your university’s east gate.” Rong Du’s voice traveled through the receiver, with the faint sounds of passing vehicles and distant bus stop announcements in the background.

His tone was calm, carrying a very faint smile, as if he had been standing in that spot waiting for quite a while before finally dialing this call.

It took about two seconds for Ji Xu’s brain to break free from the quagmire of sleep.

Opening his eyes abruptly, he propped himself up by his arms to sit up from the bed.

The blanket slid off his shoulders as the morning light seeped through the curtain gaps, falling onto his knees.

“Why are you here?” His voice lowered as he subconsciously glanced toward the opposite bunk—Yuan Hanfei was still asleep, facing away from him, wrapped tightly in his blanket with steady and even breathing, clearly not woken up yet.

“Taking you out to have fun,” Rong Du said on the other end of the phone.

His tone remained smooth, as if this were the most natural thing in the world that required no further explanation.

Ji Xu looked down at the time on his phone screen: 7:53 AM.

Lifting the blanket, he got out of bed with very light movements, shrinking back slightly as his bare feet touched the cold floor.

“Then wait for me, I’ll be out very soon.” He hung up the phone, set it on the desk, and walked briskly into the bathroom.

While brushing his teeth, he looked in the mirror at his messy, sticking-up hair and the faint sleep marks remaining at the corners of his eyes.

Dipping his hand in water, he pressed down the stray hairs and washed his face.

After changing his clothes, he picked up the backpack he had packed last night.

He opened the dorm door softly, and in the final gap as the door closed, he took a look back.

Yuan Hanfei was still sleeping, the light from the curtain gap falling on the hair at the back of his head.

Ji Xu gently closed the door.

Walking from Building Seven to the east gate took less than ten minutes.

From afar, Ji Xu saw Rong Du standing under the camphor tree by the school entrance.

He wore a light gray thin jacket, carried a modest travel bag, held a kraft paper bag in his hand, and was looking into the campus.

Seeing Ji Xu’s approaching figure, a smile surfaced on his face, and he raised his hand to wave in his direction.

Ji Xu quickened his pace and ran over, his backpack bouncing lightly against his back.

When he stopped in front of Rong Du, he was breathing slightly heavily: “Rong Du, you arrived so early.”

His tone carried a bit of surprise and excitement, his eyes reflecting the morning light.

Rong Du pulled two plane tickets from his jacket pocket and held them out in front of him.

Printed on the blue and white boarding passes were the origin and destination—from Haicheng to Talan City in Northern Xinjiang, with a departure time of 10:20 AM.

“We’re going to Talan City for this holiday,” Rong Du looked at Ji Xu with a smile.

Ji Xu took them and flipped them over twice, his fingertips tracing the name of the place printed on the ticket that he had never been to before.

“Is this real?” He looked up at Rong Du, those eyes bright and sparkling. “Rong Du, why are you so good to me?”

He threw his arms around Rong Du in a hug, tightening his arms around his back.

Burying his face in the crook of Rong Du’s neck, the familiar scent of laundry powder mixed with clean air filled his nostrils, making him feel as though he were still dreaming.

A place as far as Northern Xinjiang from Haicheng was something he had never even dared to think about before.

The price of plane tickets was a significant sum for him right now, and he couldn’t bear to spend so much money on travel.

Rong Du was pushed back half a step by his sudden plunge before regaining his footing.

Raising his free hand, he placed it on Ji Xu’s back and patted gently.

“Let’s go, we’re heading to the airport,” Rong Du’s voice sounded close to Ji Xu’s ear, the trailing edge of his smile kept very low.

In the car to the airport, Rong Du set the kraft paper bag on Ji Xu’s lap.

Opening it up, Ji Xu found a warm sandwich, a carton of milk, and a washed apple inside.

The sandwich was still warm, with bread slices sandwiching a fried egg, ham, and lettuce, its edges wrapped in plastic wrap.

The straw for the boxed milk was already inserted.

“You must be hungry,” Rong Du said, turning to pull down the passenger seat sun visor to block the morning sunlight slanting in for Ji Xu.

“I was worried you wouldn’t have time for breakfast after waking up.”

Ji Xu unwrapped the sandwich and took a big bite.

The edges of the fried egg were seared slightly golden, the savory aroma of the ham blended with the crunch of the lettuce, and the bread slices were baked soft by the residual heat.

As he chewed, he tilted his head to look at Rong Du, speaking only after swallowing the food in his mouth: “What time did you wake up? Preparing these must have taken time.”

“Not that early,” Rong Du leaned back in his seat looking at the road ahead, his tone offhand.

“A little after six, just a bit earlier than usual.” He reached over and picked off a small bit of lettuce leaf stuck to the corner of Ji Xu’s mouth.

Ji Xu paused for half a second when his lip was touched, then continued eating the sandwich in his hand with his head down.

The tips of his ears flushed a faint layer of pink in the morning light inside the car.

Two hours later, they arrived at the airport.

Haicheng’s terminal building was much larger than Ji Xu had imagined.

A giant glass curtain wall illuminated the entire hall clearly and brightly, flight information rolled across electronic screens, and lines of varying lengths formed in front of check-in counters.

Ji Xu followed Rong Du through checking in, checking luggage, and passing security.

Throughout the entire process, he looked around at everything curiously—moving walkways, electronic displays at boarding gates, and airplanes parked or taxiing outside the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Rong Du walked beside him, occasionally stopping to wait for him without rushing whenever Ji Xu paused to look in a certain direction.

After boarding, Ji Xu found that his seat was next to the window.

Pushing up the window shade, he watched planes painted with various colored logos on the apron and the skyline at the end of the distant runway.

His fingers rested on the window sill, not even noticing that his seatbelt had been buckled.

Beside him, Rong Du checked the buckle to make sure it was fastened securely, then dimmed the reading light above his head a bit.

The moment of takeoff, Ji Xu felt the push coming from the back of the seat.

His body was pressed backward as the ground outside the window began to retreat rapidly, then tilted, accelerated, and left the ground.

He watched the vehicles and houses outside grow smaller and smaller, watched the runway disappear below his field of vision, and watched the patches of color on the ground gradually turn into a scaled-down map outline.

Then the plane broke through the cloud layer, leaving only an endless stretch of white and blue outside the window.

Sunlight streamed in from the edges of the clouds, dyeing the margins of those fluffy clouds with circles of golden halos.

Ji Xu pulled out his phone and took several photos facing outside the window.

The cloud layer looked like an expanded snowfield, with a gradient line from light blue to deep blue at the distant horizon.

Once he had taken enough photos of the clouds, he turned his phone around and aimed the lens at the person beside him.

Rong Du was tilting his head to look out the window, the curve of his jawline clearly illuminated by the light streaming through the window, his eyelashes casting a small, quiet shadow on his cheekbones.

“Rong Du, look over here,” Ji Xu said.

Rong Du turned over to look at the lens, his face carrying an expression he hadn’t had time to fully adjust—a trace of that previous curve still lingered at the corners of his mouth, and his eyes held a question of “what’s wrong,” yet he was already framed by the lens.

Before Ji Xu could pull back his phone, Rong Du had already smiled, reaching out his arm to wrap around his shoulder and pull the two closer together.

Tilting his head slightly toward the top of Ji Xu’s head, his other hand reached out to make a simple pose in front of the lens.

“I think we should take a photo together,” Rong Du’s voice sounded very close by.

The tip of Ji Xu’s ear brushed against Rong Du’s jaw, feeling Rong Du’s breath sweep over his forehead before pressing the shutter.

In the frame, their two faces were joined side by side.

Rong Du’s mouth carried a composed smile, while Ji Xu’s eyes were slightly widened, looking as if he hadn’t completely reacted yet, but was already captured in that moment.

The flight from Haicheng to Talan City took nearly five hours.

The surge of excitement slowly faded after about an hour in the air.

Ji Xu put away his phone and leaned back into his seat.

At first, he watched the changing light and shadows of the clouds outside, but later his eyelids grew heavier and heavier.

The headrest on the seat back was too soft, the air conditioner’s breeze was too gentle, and the warmth coming from Rong Du beside him was too reassuring.

His head slowly tilted to the side, first touching Rong Du’s shoulder, nudging around to find a comfortable position, and then leaning against it completely.

His breathing grew light and even, his eyelashes closing over his eyes, his whole face buried in the space between Rong Du’s shoulder and the back of the seat.

Rong Du looked down at the head leaning on his shoulder.

Ji Xu’s sleeping face was quiet and relaxed, his lips slightly parted, one hand resting motionless on the armrest between them.

Turning his head toward the male flight attendant across the aisle, he whispered softly: “Could I bother you for a blanket?”

The flight attendant nodded and quickly handed over a neatly folded, thin blue blanket.

Rong Du accepted it, unfolded it, and covered Ji Xu very gently.

Tucking the edges of the blanket under his shoulders, even his hand resting on the armrest was covered.

In his sleep, Ji Xu seemed to feel that warmth, leaning slightly closer toward Rong Du again, curling up a bit tighter.

Rong Du adjusted his posture so Ji Xu could lean more steadily, then leaned back into his seat as well.

Glancing out at the clouds outside the window, the curve at the corners of his mouth remained softly bent.

When the plane landed at Talan City Airport, it was already afternoon.

Ji Xu woke up twenty minutes before landing, rubbing his eyes to take a look out the window.

The ground below the cloud layer had transformed from vague outlines into clearly visible fields, roads, and white roofs.

When he raised his head from Rong Du’s shoulder, he felt his neck was a bit stiff, but said nothing.

After folding the blanket neatly to return it to the flight attendant, he leaned against the window again to watch the gradually approaching ground.

That feeling of his heart accelerating slightly at the impending landing cleared away all his lingering sleepiness.

After exiting the airport, Rong Du called a car on his phone and gave an address in the old town district.

The car passed through city streets, turning from wide, modern roads into narrower old streets lined with ancient trees on both sides.

Ji Xu rolled down the car window to open a crack.

The air carried a dry atmosphere entirely different from Haicheng, mixed with the fragrance of cumin and baked naan from roadside food stalls.

The sunlight was somewhat fiercer than in Haicheng, reflecting a dazzling white light off the light-colored walls lining both sides of the street.

The car stopped in front of a small, low building with light yellow exterior walls, dark blue doorframes, and a handwritten wooden plaque hanging at the entrance displaying the inn’s name.

Carrying two bags, Rong Du pushed open that wooden door.

Ji Xu followed behind him, stepping over the threshold as a cool breeze surged out from inside to wrap around him.

The inn’s lobby wasn’t large, but it was decorated with care, featuring wooden tables, chairs, and cabinets.

Colorful woven carpets and several hand-drawn maps hung on the walls, and a young man behind the counter raised his head to smile at them.

Rong Du walked over to check in while Ji Xu stood in the lobby looking around, feeling as if he had stepped into a movie he had never seen before.

Clay pots in the corner, wind chimes hanging at the staircase turn, a row of dried chili peppers drying on the window sill—all carried an unfamiliar, fresh attraction that made him want to stop and look a while longer.

Rong Du collected the key and walked over, waving the copper-colored key in his hand toward Ji Xu: “Let’s go, the room is on the second floor, I’ll take you up to see where we’re staying first.”

Ji Xu followed his steps onto the wooden staircase.

The stairs made a soft creaking sound underfoot, and the afternoon sunlight outside slanted in through the window at the turn of the stairs, casting a layer of warm gold onto their shoulders.

Ji Xu walked half a step behind him, watching Rong Du’s back move upward step by step in the light and shadow, his backpack straps swaying gently on his shoulders.

A clear thought suddenly popped into his mind—this holiday was definitely going to be great.

The light outside the window, the smell of wood, the dry wind, the unfamiliar streets, and the person walking in front of him—everything was saying that it was going to be great.

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