Chapter 48: The Northernmost Land

Chen Feng didn’t outright reject Sun Xiaorui, still giving her some hope.

Sure enough, after hearing Chen Feng’s reply, Sun Xiaorui was clearly a little happy.

If Chen Feng had readily promised to make her official after a few years, she would not have believed him and would have thought he was just stringing her along.

But now that Chen Feng said he didn’t know, it probably meant he was leaning towards the possibility of her becoming official.

Although she didn’t know what would happen in a few years, or even in one year, at least for now, she felt very happy and blissful with Chen Feng.

So, why not fight for it?

At the very least, the benefits after becoming official would certainly not be worse than now, and she might even get more.

Of course, there was no rush to become official. After all, they had only known each other for a few days.

Following this, their interactions became even more harmonious.

With the specific travel itinerary confirmed and the guides for the first few attractions prepared, the next step was to pack up and set off tomorrow.

He had a good night’s sleep.

Their flight was at ten in the morning. The two of them had breakfast around seven and then set off.

They arrived at the airport, boarded the plane, and had a smooth journey to Mohe County Airport.

The Arctic Village was under the jurisdiction of Mohe County, and it was about a two-hour drive to get there.

Chen Feng and Sun Xiaorui weren’t in a hurry to go to the Arctic Village. Instead, they planned to stay in Mohe County town first and do some sightseeing.

There were other attractions around the county town, and since they were already here, they definitely wanted to visit them all.

The two first went to the hotel they had booked online to drop off their luggage. Then, following their guide, they found a local specialty restaurant for a meal. The taste could only be described as passable; it wasn’t as delicious as the online guide had described.

This is often how tourism is. Many restaurants on a single street cater specifically to tourists and don’t care about repeat customers, earning money one transaction at a time.

As long as they maintained basic hygiene and taste and didn’t overprice things, they could be considered conscientious.

Therefore, as a tourist, if you want to eat truly authentic local food, you have to find restaurants that locals frequent, not the ones filled with tourists.

Chen Feng shared his thoughts with Sun Xiaorui, and she deeply agreed.

To eat real local delicacies, it was simple: just find a reliable local to get some information.

After leaving the mediocre restaurant, the two of them went for a walk.

The street was quite lively, lined with shops and stalls, mainly mobile vendors from all over the country, as well as various shops selling local specialties in gift boxes—small quantities at high prices.

They were fine for gifts, but it was not cost-effective to buy them for oneself.

After strolling down most of the street, the two of them scanned two shared bikes by the roadside and began to ride slowly through the county town, talking and laughing, looking at the scenery along the way, and occasionally stopping to take a few photos.

Sun Xiaorui had Chen Feng take several pictures of her. The beauty filter was a must, and after the photos were taken, she had to pick and choose carefully before she could post them to her Moments.

According to Sun Xiaorui, the fact that she only used a beauty filter and didn’t photoshop her pictures already made her a “breath of fresh air” on Moments. Some of her female colleagues and friends she knew would edit their photos so much that even their own parents wouldn’t recognize them.

She would never do that, the reason being, of course, her confidence in her own looks.

The county town wasn’t large. The two of them rode for less than two hours, stopping and starting, and had almost explored the entire place.

Finally, they arrived at a relatively bustling street and entered a medium-sized supermarket. They bought a lot of food and daily necessities. When paying, Chen Feng asked the middle-aged woman at the cash register if there were any restaurants nearby that locals often visited.

This middle-aged woman was probably the owner. Seeing that Chen Feng had bought over four hundred yuan worth of things at once, she enthusiastically told him about a restaurant and even wrote it down on a slip of paper for him.

The woman’s character was reliable. The two of them rode their bikes, using their phone’s navigation, to the restaurant. It wasn’t on a main street but located in an alley.

The interior decoration was average, but it had the advantage of being clean and tidy.

After they went in, they ordered similar local specialty dishes to the ones they had at lunch—Guo Bao Rou, chicken stewed with mushrooms, roe deer meat, and a few others. The taste turned out to be much better.

Even Sun Xiaorui, who was afraid of gaining weight, couldn’t resist eating a lot.

When they paid the bill, it was much cheaper than the restaurant at noon.

What a difference!

The next day, the two of them changed their plans on the spot and decided to go to the Arctic Village first.

They didn’t charter a car but took the regular shuttle bus instead.

It was about a two-hour drive, with the bus traveling on a road flanked by dense forests.

Upon arriving at this northernmost village in the country, a light snow began to fall from the sky. For the two of them, who grew up in the south, this was undoubtedly a pleasant surprise.

One of the reasons they chose to travel here at this time was to see the snow.

With global climate change, it was becoming increasingly difficult for people in the south to see snow.

“Here, quick, take a few pictures for me.”

Excited, Sun Xiaorui quickly handed her phone to Chen Feng and ran to stand in front of a wooden sign.

Chen Feng took the phone with a smile and opened the beauty camera app.

This wasn’t the first time he had done something like this. During his relationship with Shen Lin, he had often been her personal photographer.

The past is gone with the wind. Seeing himself now, holding a phone to take pictures for Sun Xiaorui, he was left with only a silent sigh in his heart.

“Hurry up, zoom out a little. Turn on the beauty filter,” Sun Xiaorui urged.

“Okay.”

Chen Feng fiddled with the settings and took several pictures for her.

Putting the phone away, just as they were about to walk away, they saw two women approaching. Their eyes met, and both parties froze on the spot.

At this moment, Sun Xiaorui was holding Chen Feng’s arm. Seeing Chen Feng suddenly stop moving, she looked in the direction of his gaze with surprise at the two women opposite them.

Both women were very beautiful. One was about her age, with heavy makeup, a great figure, and was slightly taller than her. She was holding a selfie stick, talking to the phone on it, looking like she was live-streaming.

The other one was a bit younger than her, looking somewhat quiet and pure, and was following beside the female streamer. At this moment, her eyes were wide as she looked towards Chen Feng.

They knew each other. Was one of them his ex-wife?

This was Sun Xiaorui’s first guess, and her arm holding Chen Feng’s tightened involuntarily.

These two women were indeed acquaintances of Chen Feng, because they were Wu Mengting and her good friend, Lin Wan.

Lin Wan probably didn’t have much of an impression of Chen Feng anymore, and she was in the middle of a live stream, so she didn’t pay attention to this passerby. But Wu Mengting was quite familiar with Chen Feng. It hadn’t been too long since they last parted.

The two of them had unexpectedly met here. She was initially pleasantly surprised, but she soon noticed Sun Xiaorui by his side, especially how she was holding his arm intimately. Her expression couldn’t help but darken slightly.

Chen Feng felt awkward and inexplicably guilty at this moment. He subconsciously wanted to pull his hand away from Sun Xiaorui’s, but after a slight struggle, he couldn’t break free. Then he realized the inappropriateness of his action.

Wu Mengting wasn’t his girlfriend. Why was he acting like this?

Should they pretend not to know each other and just walk past?

That seemed very impolite. He didn’t want to develop things further with her, but that didn’t mean he was so cold as to pretend not to know her when they met face to face.

While he was hesitating, a smile had already appeared on Wu Mengting’s face. She trotted over first and called out to Chen Feng, “Brother Feng, we meet again! And thousands of miles away, at that. Don’t you think it’s too much of a coincidence?”

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The translation for Chapter 48 is complete. The trip has led to an unexpected and potentially awkward encounter.

Shall we proceed with the next chapter to see how Chen Feng handles this situation? Or would you like to discuss the cultural details, like the concept of “beauty filters” and tourist trap restaurants mentioned in the chapter?