Our Glamorous Time - Chapter 1

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The train rumbled from within the mountains, endlessly chugging forward.

The view out of the window was like a scene out a movie screen, a frame filed with mountains shrouded in clouds, a glowing lake, and herds of cattle and sheep, shown amidst glimpses of wilderness.

Tibet, where every colour is pure and peaceful, and in even a glimpse, it would arrive to the bottom of your heart.

Lin Qian[1] was sitting in a window seat.

Though the train was crowded, on her side, it was as if there was a region in vacuum. Everyone seemed to be wary, and she maintained a polite distance.

Lin Qian felt awkward, and also felt that this situation was quite amusing. She rested her forehead on her hand and started reading a book. But whenever she looked up, the crowd of men clothed in army greens’ eyes fell on her, and her face burned.

Indeed, a young girl carrying a backpack, suddenly found herself in a carriage filled with soldiers, and journeying for seven or eight hours with them, was quite uncommon.

Two days ago, Lin Qian got into difficulties on the snow in the mountains.

Due to her job changes, it was a rare recent vacation for her, previously just a dream of trekking in Tibet. With her fitness and outdoor sports experiences, this trip was not much more difficult. But while she was returning, first there was a hillslide, and then her rented pick-up truck broke down. Then the weather changed suddenly, and then a night of heavy snow tortured her cruelly.

Fortunately, at daybreak, a team of passing soldiers saved her. They were the frontier military corps, and were quite warm and upfront, and put her on the train used by Veterans, taking her through Lhasa.

At this time, a soldier sitting diagonally to her finally approached her. “Miss, where are you from?”

The soldiers could ascertain that the Miss had met with danger and were hence quite nice to her. Lin Qian smiled and answered, “I am from Lin City.”

The soldier replied with a hearty voice “Me too, I’m also from Lin city!”

Lin Qian looked up and smiled. She looked sweet, even at this moment, with rugged clothes and a bare face. Her facial features appeared utterly graceful and neat, and just one smile was enough to get the soldiers hearts palpitating.

The soldier smiled and asked “I’m guessing… You are a college student, right?”

“No, I work.” She answered politely. Her voice was warm and soft voice, as if born with a sense of unhurried, laid-back effortlessness, making the soldiers feel comfortable, and making her seem like a student.

“Ai Da Corporation”[2]

“Awesome!” The soldier who was from her hometown gave her a thumbs up “That’s indeed our awesome local company with assets worth several billions, right?”

Lin Qian idly chatted, but her eyes furtively scanned the other men in the carriage, her eyes landing a man sitting diagonally to her.

Out of the whole compartment of men, he was the most silent yet the most striking, so she had failed to notice him before.

He was dressed in a heavy woollen coat, and even though he sat back, he seemed to be very tall, even outstanding amongst all his fellow shoulders. A wide-brimmed cap was pulled down low, so that it covered half of his face, so that you could only see the faintly chiselled it was, and how fair it seemed in comparison.

No matter how much the inside of every nook and cranny of the carriage seemed to erupt, how enthusiastic the voices or discussion was, he did not move a single jot, seemingly already asleep like the dead.

**********

The journey was long, and the sky slowly darkened.

The soldiers were also tired, most of them snoozing in their seats, and the carriage became cold and quiet. Lin Qian sat alone against the windowpane, resting. Only the rumbling sound of the train running over its tracks was heard.

When Lin got back, she would have to begin her hectic work. Holidays always went by very fast, and she really did not want to go back.

Gradually, the sound grew farther, fading and becoming lighter and lighter.

Lin Qian suddenly opened her eyes.

She was still against the frozen windowpane, and it was still dark outside, with an indistinct outline of mountains and rivers and lakes. In the sky, the stars shone silently still.

The carriage stopped.

Here before the village, there were no shops or inns, there was no platform, and it was clearly only a temporary stop. The soldiers were all more vigilant, and they had all woken up, a lot were craning to see out of the window.

“It’s ok. This section of the road is not that good, so there may be temporary trouble, but we’ll be able to handle it.” The soldier opposite her comforted her.

“En.” Lin Qian looked out, and caught a glimpse of the seat diagonal to her was already empty. The sleeping soldier who had been sitting there before, before she realised, he had already left.

Someone would soon come.

It was a young officer, tall of stature, standing in the door compartment, full of authority and issuing a series of orders “Classes two, four, immediately report to the front office, class five, until the train starts running again, you are in charge of safety.”

All of the soldiers stood up to attention, and saluted, and shouted[3] “Yes.”

Lin Qian looked on with great interest as the soldiers got busy, and then gathered her backpack close and put her cap on, ready to sleep away the time. Suddenly, she felt all the soldiers’ eyes on her, and she wanted, badly, to shrink into her seat.

She sat up straight again.

The officer walked to her seat, showing no emotion on his face, and having cold eyes.

“Lady, please take your luggage and come with me.”

In front of everyone, Lin Qian looked up at him clearly asked “May I ask… what’s the matter?”

But the officer didn’t answer, instead, he smartly waved to other soldiers to carry her luggage, and with great strides walked towards the door.

The aisle was dark, the night cold.

Lin Qian quickly followed the two burly soldiers through the corridor to other corridors of carriages filled with soldiers, leading to many curious eyes.

Until when they reached the sleeper carriage door, far away from the soldiers, did the officer order the soldiers to place down the luggage and leave, who quickly glanced at Lin Qian again.

She looked at him, and his fair face and the chill his eyes radiated, in the night, caused nervousness.

She stared at him hard, and the young officer opened his eyes somewhat uneasily, and explained: “Some landslides lie ahead, which the soldiers have been sent to remedy. Train personnel may be repeatedly moved tonight, and there are wolves in the area, so for a woman to be staying there is not convenient. The Commander ordered me to take you to the sleeper carriage, no one is here, and it’s cleaner and safer. At dawn you will be escorted away.”

Ah?

Lin Qian and the soldier looked at each other.

So…. All this menacing air, he was actually doing a good deed?

She laughed, and hastily nodded a bow “Thank you, thank you.”

The officer seemed to be awkward, hastily said “It’s nothing”, and turned away.

The aisle was empty, the front compartment had two soldiers standing guard, and it was safe and clean.

Lin Qian bowed lightly, and blowing on her hands to warm them, reached out and twisted the compartment door.

Her hands had not yet touched the doorknob when the she head from within a “click” sound of light.

She was shocked all of a sudden, there was somebody inside?

Before she could distinguish carefully, she heard a “crash” sound, and the door opened from the inside.

Lin Qian quickly backed away two steps, leaning into the window.

A man stood in the doorway.

Without turning on the lights, the man’s face was unclear. He was very tall and wore military uniform, a head taller than the officers. His hat’s brim was low, blocking his eyes, so she could only make out that he had a straight nose, and strong lines, neat and clean.

Was he? The man sleeping in the carriage before?

Although she could not see his face, but his bearing told Lin Qian that it was him.

What was this? How did he get here?

Lin Qian smiled at him “I’m sorry, I did not know that you were inside. The officer told me that no one was there.”

“Hmm.” A sound from deep in his throat, as if he were gently humming, emerged. He instantly took his long leg and strode away from the doorway, stepping away from her.

Lin Qian turned to look at him. Ignoring her stirred heart, she managed to react.

“You are the major?”

“Hmm.” He’d opened the door.

Lin Qian was surprised, and quickly calculated. So the person who sent the officer to pick her up and bring her to the sleeping car, the high-up military soldier uncle, unexpectedly and surprisingly turned out to be him? She could not think about the past: “Thank you, Ah…”

There was a “thud” sound, as he pulled on the car door, and simply ignoring her, the tall figure walked away quickly.

**********

Well-lit, warm atmosphere. Lin Qian sat comfortably in the chair by the window and looked at her surroundings again.

The four-berth compartment is very neat, the quilts piled up like blocks of tofu. But on the walls, there hung a uniform jacket. On the small table in front, there was a stainless steel cup.

Obviously, this was where officers lived. He definitely gave up his bunk for her.

Such nice people. Why were the hiding her like the black plague? Was she that awful?

Lin Qian laughed lightly.

As she drifted off to sleep, Lin Qian noticed that the train was still standing. She didn’t go to sleep, instead wrapped herself in her coat, got up and went outside.

Just as she opened the door, she was stunned.

It was still calm outside the hall, she was still not too far from the gaurds. On the hallway bench, two to three metres away, a soldier sat quietly, with woollen coat and black boots, was this not her retreating major?

He was not exactly upright anymore, leaning back in his chair, head bowed deeply, hat handing very very low, his overcoat collar blocking his face. This kind of undisciplined young temperament, just like…. A napping cat?

Lin Qian’s sound of opening the door no doubt alerted him. His head slowly lifted up a small angle, but still remained buried in the collar. That way, he seemed to be too lazy to look up at her, waiting to speak to her.

[1] Lin Qian’s name is made up of the characters for Forest (trad. Of Bamboo) and Light.

[2]The characters for Ai Da are the ones for Love and eminent or reach respectively, but reaching love/eminent love corporation just sounded weird to me.

[3] I’m not sure if I should write shouted, like what do they do, exclaim? You get what I mean though, right?