chapter 6

Ning Qiuyan held up his phone, searching for a signal in the room.

He stood on the bed, climbed onto the windowsill.

Then he went to the corridor, the dining room, the lounge, and the front yard.

The signal bar always showed an exclamation mark; the network flickered and disappeared, leaving him with nothing but Xiaoxiaole to play offline. He asked Uncle Kang about the signal on the island, and Uncle Kang kindly suggested he try by the lake, but to be careful.

Ning Qiuyan had a psychological shadow about the lakeside, but two hours later, unable to resist the lure of the internet, he took his phone and walked through the Forest.

It was his first time leaving the building during the day. He didn’t walk fast, leaving deep and shallow footprints in the snow, becoming a small moving dot in the Forest.

“He’s a filial child,” Dr. Ling commented casually. “So well-behaved, with eyes as bright as a Little Puppy’s. You wouldn’t guess he has a tattoo on his arm-he said it’s to commemorate his mother, and it looks quite nice.”

Guan Heng stood by the window, looking downstairs.

The heavy curtains were drawn open a crack, letting daylight in, which fell about a foot in front of him.

Guan Heng’s eyes reflected the snow outside the window. He parted his lips and said, “There’s another one behind his right earlobe.”

Dr. Ling was surprised. “There’s one behind his ear too?”

The small dot in the Forest fell down, but quickly got up, straightened his hat, and continued forward, looking a bit clumsy because the path was hard to walk.

Guan Heng closed the curtains and said calmly, “It’s heart-shaped, very small.”

Dr. Ling chuckled.

The room returned to darkness.

The chandelier cast Guan Heng’s tall, silent shadow.

He strode to the table. Guan Heng picked up a small bottle from the tabletop, which contained a few milliliters of red liquid. He looked at it, then put it down. “Take it downstairs.”

“If the situation weren’t so serious…” Dr. Ling put away his smile and said, “What you’re doing may not be a good thing for them. If you ask me, everyone should be more cautious themselves.”

Guan Heng didn’t respond to that topic.

After a brief silence, he asked, “Is it almost time?”

Dr. Ling checked his watch. “About an hour left. How do you feel?”

Guan Heng said, “Nothing special.”

Dr. Ling said, “The meeting is in April. Xiao Ning will come again in a month.” He hesitated and asked, “Would you consider letting him stay on Du Island? We have excellent resources; he won’t be mistreated.”

Guan Heng’s black hair fell like a waterfall, his expression calm. “It’s not necessary for now.”

Ning Qiuyan didn’t find a signal by the lake either.

He thought of a possibility: maybe only Guan Heng’s room had internet access.

A moment later, he dismissed the idea. If Guan Heng’s room had internet, then the room directly below, being so close, should have it too.

Baffled, Ning Qiuyan was very disappointed.

To deprive a young man of internet is to deprive him of his soul.

Xiaoxiaole was no longer appealing at all.

Fortunately, the scenery by the lake was beautiful.

Except for almost falling into the lake-which still made his heart race-he found nothing to complain about here.

The lake surface was frozen, and boats were trapped in the center.

The dock was covered in white snow, surrounded by fir trees.

Ning Qiuyan returned to his room to fetch his guitar, then went back to the dock by the lake. His injured hand didn’t hurt as much now; he only planned to play a little. Having something to do was better than just waiting out the time.

The music he’d listened to on the bus to Du Island was still cached on his phone.

He played it a few times, then played along on his guitar. The undisturbed environment and stunning scenery made it all feel especially easy, and soon he was familiar with the melody.

When he felt the urge to play more songs, he stopped.

Practice ended abruptly.

Ning Qiuyan spaced out for a long time.

Only when his hands and feet were numb from the cold did he carry his guitar case back to his room, where he lay on the bed and spaced out some more, no longer playing Xiaoxiaole.

After that, until he left Du Island, he never saw Guan Heng again.

*

On Monday morning, before dawn, Ning Qiuyan got up, packed, and went to the dining room.

The kitchen had prepared oatmeal porridge and sandwiches for him.

He ate everything.

What Ning Qiuyan found most comfortable about Du Island was the food-every meal was completely different and delicious. The injured kitchen helper seemed to have no effect on the kitchen’s operation.

Uncle Kang personally saw him off.

When they reached the dock, snow was falling again.

The sky was just beginning to lighten, and the white boat moored by the dock was still a hazy white shape in the faint morning light.
There was no wind that day, and the white boat did not sway with the waves. A man stood on the deck-it should be Uncle Ping.

Before boarding, Ning Qiuyan seemed to think of something: “Grandpa Kang!”

He took out the earphone case, warmed in his coat pocket, and said, “These are Mr. Guan’s earphones. I won’t have insomnia after I return, so I won’t need them anymore. Please thank him for me.”

Uncle Kang did not take them, smiling, “If Mr. Guan gave them to you, then they are yours.”

Ning Qiuyan did not want them.

He had already received a large sum of money.

Uncle Kang saw through his thoughts and said, “Come to Du Island next time as agreed, and consider this a small token of thanks. Go on, I hope you won’t get seasick this time.”

Ning Qiuyan bid farewell to Uncle Kang.

On the boat, Uncle Ping was dressed the same as last Friday.

This time, there was no gale at sea.

Nor was there the Boy who had boarded the island with Ning Qiuyan in the cabin.

Ning Qiuyan asked Uncle Ping about it once, but Uncle Ping did not answer directly: “You’ve only come a few times. He won’t be boarding with you again.”

The boat sailed across the sea.

They arrived smoothly at the dock on Du Island’s coast.

“Be on time next time,” Uncle Ping said. “I’ll be waiting for you here.”

“Alright,” Ning Qiuyan replied. After disembarking, he waved goodbye to Uncle Ping, “Goodbye, Uncle Ping!”

Uncle Ping stood on the deck, seeming quite unaccustomed to such farewells.

After a while, he finally waved back to Ning Qiuyan, then quickly went into the cabin.

Ning Qiuyan set foot on land and once again saw those old boats piled up by the sea, covered in graffiti.

He walked through the Forest he had come by, reached the asphalt road, and stood there for half an hour without seeing the return bus.

So he chose to walk.

After walking two or three hundred meters, his phone rang.

Su Jianzhou said over the phone, “Ningning, let’s go get skewers after work tomorrow night. I’ll wait for you at the bar.”

Ning Qiuyan: “Okay.”

Su Jianzhou said something to someone else, his tone cheerful, then complained to Ning Qiuyan, “I tried calling you yesterday but couldn’t get through. What were you doing?”

Ning Qiuyan said, “I went to Du Island. The signal there is bad.”

Su Jianzhou paused, then cursed himself, “Sorry, I forgot because I was busy.”

Ning Qiuyan said, “I know,” and surprisingly, he wasn’t angry.

While on Du Island, because the island was so strange, his urgent desire to contact Su Jianzhou and complain had vanished.

He felt he had grown up.

After agreeing on a time with Su Jianzhou, the bus arrived out of the morning mist.

Ning Qiuyan boarded. This time, the driver was not the same as last time, and the bus was crowded. Every passenger looked as if they hadn’t slept enough.

Ning Qiuyan sat by the window, listening to the little girl in front of him fussing for her mother to play the Finger Bear game with her.

The couple in the back seat whispered to each other, while the uncle next to him snored loudly in public.

Ning Qiuyan scrolled through all the messages and trending topics he’d missed these past few days.

Suddenly, he felt as if he had returned to reality.

*

That night, Ning Qiuyan had a very bad dream.

He had had such dreams before, but never to the extent that he woke up drenched in sweat.

He breathed heavily, clutching his quilt. Feeling ashamed, he squeezed his eyes shut, but fragments of the chaotic dream kept surfacing.

A small boat floated in blue lake water.

Moonlight shone on them.

They were fish, tangled and inseparable.

“No betrayal, no running, no fear.”

He cried, tears clinging to his lashes, promising that person again and again.

Long hair brushed his earlobe.

Breath lingered by his neck.

That person was behind him, a deep, pleasant voice chanting a spell: “Give yourself to me.”

He repeated it devoutly, over and over, afraid he could not prove his loyalty enough.

The scene shifted to a room.

Guan Heng sat on the sofa, the cup in his hand empty, his skin pale, eyes dark, lips tinged with blood.

“Get up,” Guan Heng said coldly, as if granting alms.

Recalling the absurd, outrageous dream, Ning Qiuyan buried his face in the pillow, his heart pounding so hard it nearly burst his eardrums, the heat in his cheeks refusing to fade.

-Give myself to you.

He had only gone to Du Island, and yet he truly felt he was going mad.