chapter 35

Chapter 35

Since water makes them so uncomfortable, Du Island is practically a natural prison.

Why did Guan Heng choose this place, and even like it?

Ning Qiuyan looked at Guan Heng, the question on the tip of his tongue, but he only opened his mouth without speaking.

He keenly sensed that the answer to this question seemed crucial, perhaps touching on something core, something about Guan Heng himself, and perhaps things he shouldn’t be touching. Ning Qiuyan knew what it meant to speak deeply with shallow acquaintance, and besides, he had already asked Guan Heng one question today.

So he mumbled, “…I don’t intend to kill a Vampire.”

Guan Heng: “What if the other party wants to kill you?”

Did Guan Heng tell him this secret to teach him how to protect himself?

He answered, a bit dispirited, “I can’t beat them. There’s no way I could get them into a large area of water, so I’d just have to run faster.”

Guan Heng: “What if you can’t get away?”

If the contract was still valid, he could ask Guan Heng for help.

If it was in the future, when they had no more ties, then certainly not.

So Ning Qiuyan was momentarily speechless and simply didn’t answer: “…”

Sometimes, Ning Qiuyan had an air of giving up or self-abandonment. But strangely, if you handed him a positive choice or a bit of guidance, he would stubbornly pull himself together, until he hit the next wall of despair.

Guan Heng’s fingers lightly tapped the puzzle.

Ning Qiuyan was right; humans, relying on individual strength, truly cannot compete with Vampires.

Of course, he wouldn’t let this human fall into such a predicament.

The puzzle room was indeed much quieter than downstairs. Once they stopped talking, only Ning Qiuyan’s breathing and the faint sound of moving puzzle pieces remained.

If not for Guan Heng’s overwhelming presence, Ning Qiuyan would have felt he was alone in the room.

…Does Guan Heng breathe?

Ning Qiuyan suddenly wondered.

He held his breath and listened for a long time, unable to find a definite answer. When he looked up, Guan Heng was gazing at him with those cold, unruly eyes, and said, “I haven’t set foot on land outside Du Island for a very long time.”

Ning Qiuyan’s thoughts were immediately swept away: “A long time?”

“Mm,” Guan Heng said, “Over a hundred years.”

After a brief silence in the room, Guan Heng spoke: “Tell me about the changes outside.”

Changes?

Ning Qiuyan thought about it. In the past two hundred years, the city had gradually expanded, skyscrapers had sprung up, people no longer wrote letters but invented computers and mobile phones, travel had abandoned horses and carriages for high-speed trains and airplanes. Medicine discovered penicillin, ushered in the age of antibiotics, and now organs can be 3D printed… Would all this be too much information for someone who hadn’t left Du Island or seen the world in over a hundred years?

Guan Heng: “Ning Qiuyan.”

As if knowing what he was thinking, Guan Heng spoke at just the right moment, raising his brows ever so slightly, his expression teasing.

Ning Qiuyan snapped back to reality, his face suddenly hot.

Help.

Guan Heng was no decrepit relic-he was the one who replied to his questions daily by phone, who owned a high-tech game room, who possessed an entire modern facility and was the master of Du Island.

Was his brain broken?

Guan Heng always seemed able to see right through Ning Qiuyan’s thoughts, generously choosing not to hold it against him.

When Ning Qiuyan said, “I don’t know where to start,” Guan Heng replied, “Then start from your childhood to now, the changes in Wutong, or changes in your daily life.”

“Oh.” Ning Qiuyan obediently agreed.

He organized his thoughts, but still couldn’t find a definite starting point. In the internet age, what was still new?

Guan Heng didn’t rush him.

When he finished a whole section of the puzzle, Ning Qiuyan said, “When I was little, I went to Jiahua Island with my mom, and we took a diesel fishing boat. Back then, the boats were all privately operated, with seats retrofitted inside. In peak season, they carried passengers; in the off-season, they went fishing, so the boats always smelled strongly of fish. I only went twice, and both times left a bad impression. But a few days ago, I saw a government promo video and found out they’ve switched to luxury ferries now.”

“Mm, Wutong wants to develop tourism in a big way,” Guan Heng said, then asked, “You’ve been to Jiahua Island?”

Jiahua Island is in the other sea area of Wutong City, a famous tourist spot.

Compared to Du Island, it’s bigger and closer to the mainland, but perhaps because the memories are old and blurry, Ning Qiuyan felt Du Island was much more beautiful than Jiahua Island.

Ning Qiuyan nodded: “Yes. Back then, only locals went there. There was just one small inn on the island, the forest was deep, and only a small area was open, so few tourists stayed overnight. But I heard that in recent years, the whole island is open, there’s a smart map, and three luxury hotels have moved in. It’s changed a lot. My high school graduation trip-the school organized students to go there, but I don’t know what it’s like now.”

Guan Heng: “You didn’t go?”

Ning Qiuyan said: “No.”

At that time, he had to care for his mother, who was about to pass away, so he didn’t go on the graduation trip. Those days were so hard that even now, thinking about it makes him feel breathless.
However, the atmosphere in the room was simply too good. Ning Qiuyan really enjoyed chatting with Guan Heng like this, so he continued along the topic: “I was a bit busy back then, and didn’t have much money, so I didn’t participate.”

Guan Heng didn’t respond, perhaps waiting for Ning Qiuyan to continue on his own.

Ning Qiuyan hadn’t intended to say more, but for some reason, he felt a desire to confide. So he opened up to Guan Heng: “And because the first two times I went with my mom, we have so many beautiful memories together. Jiahua Island means something special to me. If she can’t go, I don’t want to go again either.”

A few seconds later, Guan Heng skipped the topic, not letting Ning Qiuyan drift into sadness.

He asked, “Anything else?”

“Anything else?” Ning Qiuyan asked in a haze, “Other changes in cities?”

Guan Heng: “Mm.”

Ning Qiuyan said, “I’ve been to even fewer other cities. Growing up, I’ve only been to Sujing once, and that was in my first year of high school.” He said, a bit embarrassed, “I actually haven’t seen much of the world, I’m not interesting, and I can’t give any good examples.”

Guan Heng said, “Uninteresting people don’t get hearts tattooed behind their ears.”

Having just been teased by Gu Yu about it, Ning Qiuyan instinctively covered the back of his ear, his ear burning. He told Guan Heng, “That, I got it secretly when I went to Sujing that year.”

Together with Su Jianzhou.

Back then, the tattoo shop owner even thought he and Su Jianzhou were a couple.

The heart tattoo actually had a special meaning-Ning Qiuyan had just discovered his own sexual orientation, feeling lost and uneasy, but received encouragement from Su Jianzhou. So, in a rebellious act, he got the heart tattoo, bravely accepting his own difference.

But Gu Yu was just a kid, so Ning Qiuyan couldn’t tell him the real reason.

And, it seemed he couldn’t tell Guan Heng either.

Yet Guan Heng seemed to see through everything, asking precisely, “Is that why you always reject others?”

Ning Qiuyan reflexively replied, “No.”

Wait, did Guan Heng notice his sexual orientation?

Ning Qiuyan’s heart skipped a beat.

The conversation stopped.

Guan Heng wasn’t a gossip, nor was he particularly interested in the romantic history of a human youth. Rather than chatting with Ning Qiuyan, it was more like finding someone to pass the time. The weekly meetings with Ning Qiuyan, the weekly puzzle nights, were just occasional amusements in Guan Heng’s otherwise unchanging life.

Guan Heng could enjoy such amusements.

But if he grew bored, he would stand up, brush off imaginary dust from his robe, and leave gracefully.

That was probably why Ning Qiuyan hadn’t seen him during the last two days on Du Island.

After calming down, Ning Qiuyan began to think. He suspected that Guan Heng asked because he knew about his encounter with Ran Ran at the library, knew about his past rejections of pursuers.

Guan Heng knew everything about him, but aside from what he learned through questions, Ning Qiuyan knew nothing about Guan Heng.

Ning Qiuyan felt a bit stifled, and a bit indignant.

Maybe he’d grown bolder these days; he could gauge Guan Heng’s patience with him, knew Guan Heng wouldn’t get angry, so he asked in return, “What about you? Why do you always reject others?”

Guan Heng replied deeply, “I reject others?”

“You live alone on Du Island, not engaging with the outside world,” Ning Qiuyan said. “That’s a kind of rejection too.”

Guan Heng: “I live alone?”

There were so many people on Du Island, Ning Qiuyan realized his slip: “…”

He lowered his head, and after a while, muttered, “I mean a partner, a lover, things like that. You don’t seem to have any.”

“Partner…”

Guan Heng seemed to recall for a long time, his smooth long hair blending into his black robe, giving him a classical air.

“When I was young, I had a fiancée. Does that count?”

Ning Qiuyan looked up again, “Fiancée?”

“A wife who never entered the household,” Guan Heng said. “We never met, and it ended before it began.”

Ning Qiuyan knew what he meant.

-“…Afterwards, the Zhennan Marquis displeased the Emperor and his nine clans were executed.”

The young Heir Apparent, stumbling into prison, his entire clan wiped out overnight. The fiancée who never entered the household might have been implicated, but the engagement no longer counted.

Guan Heng seemed indifferent, as if telling someone else’s story.

Then he said lightly, “Later, I did have a few fleeting romances, but they were all short-lived.”

Ning Qiuyan opened his mouth, then heard himself ask, “What about now? Why don’t you… try again?”

Why keep yourself trapped here?

Why not seek new feelings?

With such a long life, wouldn’t you feel lonely?

Guan Heng set down the puzzle piece at his fingertips, a lock of long hair falling, and said calmly, “I’ve already passed the age of loving someone.”