Chapter 113

Chapter 113

Late summer.

The Sujing meteorological department issued an orange alert: rainfall was expected to exceed fifty millimeters within the next three hours. Citizens were reminded to protect themselves and their property.

Not long after the notification came through, the torrential rain arrived like it was swallowing the world.

Lightning flashed and thunder cracked in the raging wind, and the sound of rain wrapped around everything.

Ning Qiuyan sat beside the window, propping his phone against a stack of books on the floor as he recorded a video of the scene outside. He had found just the right angle, capturing both the sky rolling with dark clouds and the plants in the garden being battered sideways by the gale and the downpour.

His hair had gotten even longer, and it was starting to fall into his eyes.

He stood up to look for a hair tie. His bare, fair instep passed through the frame.

When he came back, he stopped recording and sent the video out.

[It’s raining really hard today. The sky is so dark, and the lightning feels like it’s striking right above my head. It feels like the house is about to collapse.]

After he finished typing, the cursor blinked. Then he deleted the words one by one.

[It’s raining really hard today.]

He edited it again, then sent it.

Ning Qiuyan turned off his phone, sat cross-legged on the floor, and stared blankly at the rain outside the window.

Recently, the frequency with which he messaged Guan Heng had dropped sharply.

The last message had been sent a week ago. He had sent Guan Heng a newly written piece of music, one about Du Island. It was only audio, and he had not asked for any feedback.

He had once said he wanted to make an exclusive documentary for Du Island, complete with its own score. So much time had passed, yet he still had not found inspiration. This piece did not even count as a demo.

At first, he had sent several messages a day. Then it became one every two or three days, then one every week or two. The once surging desire to share everything was disappearing, because there was never any response.

Did he not miss him?

How could that be possible? This dormancy had already gone on for far, far too long.

Even during those two or three seconds when Ning Qiuyan spaced out on the subway, the ache of missing him could become unbearably painful.

Sometimes, he hoped Guan Heng would wake up soon. Other times, he hoped it would not happen too soon, because he wanted to make a little more progress himself first.

It had already been one year and two months. Ning Qiuyan had accelerated his studies and taken on a lot of work, preparing for the day he would fully move to Du Island in the future.

As soon as the rain eased a little, Ning Qiuyan pulled on an oversized white T-shirt, went downstairs, took the rain poncho hanging behind the door, and rode his bike out.

Cold threads of rain struck his face, but he did not feel chilled.

His bicycle passed through street after street before arriving in front of the studio.

He did not have many classes that day. Since it had rained in the morning, he had skipped all the unimportant ones outright and used the time to watch an online documentary made by a master composer. It contained many insights, from professional techniques to life philosophy, and there was a lot of knowledge in it that could not be learned at school.

In the afternoon, there were many things to keep him busy at the studio.

New juniors had joined the studio, and they were lively. Before he even entered, he could hear laughter and chatter from inside. The senior who had now become the boss’s wife liked this kind of atmosphere very much. Sometimes, she even teased Ning Qiuyan by imitating the way he had looked when he first came here, his expression tense as he stared at the computer, asking softly, “Can I borrow this software?”

The moment Ning Qiuyan entered, he tossed his bag onto the floor, took off his rain poncho, and shook out his hair.

His hair was already very long, bleached platinum blond. Paired with that clean face and his naturally casual movements, he was practically a walking dealer of hormones.

The juniors stared until their eyes went straight, nudging each other and pushing one another to go ask for his WeChat.

Unexpectedly, after they had spent ages psyching themselves up and finally gathered the courage to ask Ning Qiuyan, he took out his phone and gave it to them very easily.

After the friend request was accepted, they studied Ning Qiuyan’s profile picture. “Is it a couple avatar? No, right? It’s just a tower.”

A female junior pondered. “But I really heard he seems to have a boyfriend.”

“A boyfriend?!”

“Nonsense. I already asked around. He’s always alone. He even voluntarily comes here to work overtime during holidays. Other than our senior, I’ve never seen any guy around him at all.”

The senior passed by the group of chattering little brats and specially stopped to give them the answer. “He does.”

“What?!”

“Really? What department is he from?”

In truth, the senior had never met him either.

After knowing Ning Qiuyan for so long, all she knew was that he was indeed in a relationship. One day, when he came to the studio, there were two uniquely designed rubies on his earlobe, and they looked extremely expensive. She had originally thought Ning Qiuyan had gotten two ear piercings at once, but Ning Qiuyan told her it was actually only one earring.

“You’re dating?” the senior teased. “A gift from your girlfriend?”

Ning Qiuyan gave a soft “Mm.” After thinking about it, he still told her, “Not a ‘girl’ friend.”

For a long time, Ning Qiuyan had worn that earring.

His skin was fair, his hair jet-black, and the gemstone looked beautiful beside his ear, like two drops of dark-red blood.

But it seemed he had not worn it in a long while. Now, he was only wearing an ordinary little silver hoop.

Once, when they went out for a group dinner, someone asked if he had broken up. He froze for a moment in great surprise. “No.” Then, as if talking to himself, he deliberately emphasized it again. “We won’t break up.”

Now that the little brats had received a definite answer, they grew even more curious.

Ning Qiuyan knew nothing about it. He was wholly immersed in production, busy until deep into the night. Only after most of the people had left did he say goodbye to the remaining coworkers.

“You’re leaving?”

A coworker yawned.

“Be careful riding home.”

Ning Qiuyan said, “Okay,” but he was already swinging one long leg over the bike and vanishing into the dim alley entrance. The terrain around that alley entrance was complicated. Usually, when they worked late, even the boys would leave in groups. Ning Qiuyan had always gone alone.
“He’s so young, and he’s already pushing himself this hard,” his coworker sighed again. “And he’s got guts, too.”
—
Li Tang had ruined Ning Qiuyan’s hair with the dye. It was dry as straw. He had originally planned to finish work as soon as possible and go get it cut, but things had been especially busy lately, and it wasn’t until that night that he finally found the time.

Fortunately, Vampire schedules ran counter to human nature. Going over at this hour was perfect.

When he arrived below the building that housed Li Tang’s studio, Ning Qiuyan was just about to call him when, to his surprise, he ran into someone completely unexpected.

There was a whole street of bars nearby. Guan Ziming was standing at the roadside, holding up a drunk, his expression as cold as a poker face.

They had not seen each other in nearly two years, and Guan Ziming had changed quite a bit. Ning Qiuyan could not tell whether his shoulders had broadened or he had grown taller, but he now looked every bit like a young man.

For a moment, Ning Qiuyan wasn’t sure it was him.

Guan Ziming also did not recognize Ning Qiuyan right away.

The two of them stared at each other by the roadside until Guan Ziming spoke first. “Since when did you start going for this look?”

His expression was faintly disdainful.

Ning Qiuyan: “…”

He really had not changed at all.

Guan Ziming had never been some overly nice guy. The little episode of him helping someone ended almost immediately. He hailed a cab, shoved his drunken friend inside, and did not care whether the other man knew the way home or whether the driver was grumbling. He patted the car door and sent the man off just like that.

Ning Qiuyan leaned his bicycle against a tree and waited for him, hands in his pockets. As always, he looked quiet and reserved.

But between the two of them, Ning Qiuyan had always been the one to speak first. He asked Guan Ziming, “Why did you come to Sujing?”

Guan Ziming said, “I was already in Sujing.”

Before he went to Du Island, he had a home, after all.

Ning Qiuyan: “…”

“Sujing is so big, I thought we’d never run into each other,” Guan Ziming said. His words were still unpleasant to hear, but it was obvious he was very happy to see Ning Qiuyan. “I heard you went back to Du Island during Spring Festival last year. I’d just left then.”

As soon as the time came, Guan Ziming had not wanted to stay there a moment longer.

“Yeah.” Ning Qiuyan nodded. “I only stayed for a week too.”

After leaving Du Island, Guan Ziming had stopped paying attention to news from there. He simply assumed Ning Qiuyan went back often, and asked, “Is everyone on the island doing all right? How are Uncle Kang and the others?”

Ning Qiuyan said everyone was doing well.

Guan Ziming then spoke again, sounding awkward. “Then… what about Sir?”

No matter how prejudiced he was against Vampires, Guan Ziming could not deny the wonderful experiences Du Island had given him, nor could he deny the respect for Guan Heng that came from their family bloodline.

Ning Qiuyan said, “He’s still dormant.”

“Still dormant?” Guan Ziming asked in surprise. “Didn’t he wake up ages ago? Why did he enter another dormant period?”

Ning Qiuyan went blank. “What?”

Guan Ziming said, “I said, wasn’t his dormancy already over? Did something happen again?” As he spoke, he looked at Ning Qiuyan’s earlobe. When he did not see that distinctive thing there, he asked in shock, “You two broke up?”

Guan Ziming had always thought it would be a good thing if Ning Qiuyan and Guan Heng broke up.

Provided that Ning Qiuyan got enough money out of it.

Ning Qiuyan had no chance to answer that question. A little anxious, he asked, “You said his dormancy ended. When was that?”

Everyone on Du Island knew about Guan Heng being injured and entering dormancy. Based on the timing, Guan Ziming should not have left yet when Guan Heng went dormant, so he definitely knew what had happened.

“Last July, during summer vacation,” Guan Ziming said, recalling an unpleasant scene. “That Gu kid Lu Qianque brought over came. He ran around the farm causing trouble every day and even told me to go surfing in the sea with him. He annoyed the hell out of me.”

The more Ning Qiuyan listened, the more stunned he became. It was almost unbelievable.

“Of course I didn’t go surfing with him. Anyone with half a brain wouldn’t,” Guan Ziming said. “One day he got himself into trouble and fell into the lake. When they fished him out, he almost couldn’t catch his breath. Luckily, Dr. Ling gave him first aid. It was a huge commotion at the time. He… was there then.”

That “he” at the end referred to Guan Heng.

“Lu Qianque couldn’t control the kid. He was probably getting a headache from all the noise, so he personally called the little brat up to the third floor,” Guan Ziming said. “No idea what he said, but that kid behaved himself after that.”

Ning Qiuyan’s mind buzzed.

Guan Heng had woken up last July. Then why had he not told him?

Why had he never replied to any of his messages?

Seeing that he looked unwell, Guan Ziming bumped his shoulder with a fist. “You okay?”

Ning Qiuyan could not say a word. He only shook his head to indicate he was fine, and Guan Ziming said, “Stay up late less. Go to bars less. You won’t learn anything good in places like this.”

In Guan Ziming’s eyes, Ning Qiuyan had clearly become some weirdo who even rode a bicycle to bars for fun.

They exchanged a few more words, and it was about time for Guan Ziming to leave. Seeing Ning Qiuyan distracted, he even asked if Ning Qiuyan wanted to ride with him.

Ning Qiuyan said no. Guan Ziming got into the car, then rolled down the window again. “Hey, give me your phone number.”

Ning Qiuyan gave it to him mechanically.

Guan Ziming waved, which counted as goodbye.

Ning Qiuyan watched the car disappear into the night. He stood by the roadside in a daze, his heart suddenly clenching with pain from the panic that had come out of nowhere.