Chapter 77

Chapter 77

The heavy snow had stopped long ago. People had cleared away the drifts, and most of the roads were open again.

But as Ning Qiuyan made his way deep into the Forest, he ran into an obstacle.

A dead fir tree in the woods had been crushed down by the snow. Its trunk was so thick it would take about three people to wrap their arms around it, and it lay across the middle of the road. People had brought in a tow truck and were using tools to cut it apart.

There were about five or six people on-site, working away with great energy, chatting and laughing as they did. Ning Qiuyan couldn’t really help with anything.

The New Year was almost here, and this was the first time Ning Qiuyan had felt such a distinct sense of life from the people on Du Island. This place did not belong only to Guan Heng. It was their home, too. Together, they had built it into something more than a lonely island in the sea. They had made it a paradise beyond the world.

It would probably take another half hour to clear the tree.

Ning Qiuyan took a small detour and went to the farm.

Standing outside the fence, he saw a little black-and-white calf. Its legs were still thin and spindly, but it looked adorably dopey, and the horns that had yet to grow in were only two small bumps on top of its head.

The calf circled around the cow as she ate hay, and when it found the right moment, it knelt down, latched onto one of her teats, and suckled hard.

Warm vapor rose from their muzzles. The scene was quiet and peaceful.

Ning Qiuyan stood there with his hands hooked over the fence for quite a while before Guan Ziming appeared from who knew where and stood beside him. “It’s about time to wean it.”

Ning Qiuyan turned his head, not quite understanding what he meant. “Huh?”

“I said, it’s about to be weaned.” Guan Ziming was carrying an iron shovel, still wearing that cool, aloof expression. “After New Year’s, it’ll go to another shed and eat hay and feed with the other cattle.”

This was the calf Guan Ziming had delivered with his own hands. He had torn open the membrane around it, so naturally his feelings for it were different. He sounded like he was lamenting how quickly animals grew up.

Ning Qiuyan nodded. “It’s so cute.”

Only to hear Guan Ziming say warily, “Stay away from it.”

Ning Qiuyan: “…”

Fine. He admitted he had once been the executioner who killed a lamb.

Guan Ziming had just finished clearing the snow behind the farm and was about to go carry feed. Ning Qiuyan joined in as naturally as he had before, helping distribute feed to the cattle and sheep. But this time, for certain reasons, he didn’t have much strength. His movements were slow, and Guan Ziming soon took the things from him in disdain and stopped letting him carry them.

After they finished distributing the feed, they went to collect chicken and duck eggs, then cleaned the slaughterhouse.

The work wasn’t heavy, but it was tedious, and it took them two or three hours to finish. Guan Ziming knew how to repay a favor, so during a break, he specially kept Ning Qiuyan company on a bench at the farm and chatted with him.

“Is there another problem with the island?” Guan Ziming asked. “Didn’t you say last time was your last time coming here? Why are you here again?”

Like most people on the island, Guan Ziming didn’t know about Guan Heng having left the island before, nor did he know the reason Ning Qiuyan had come again.

It was just that other people wouldn’t ask, while Guan Ziming had no such reservations.

“No.” Ning Qiuyan stepped onto the seat and sat on the back of the bench, looking up at the sky above the Forest. “It’s for another reason.”

Ning Qiuyan had lost a little weight, and much of the childishness about him had faded. Only his dark eyes had not changed; his gaze was still clear.

He wore a thick coat. After working, he had warmed up and loosened his scarf, revealing several red marks on the skin of his neck that had yet to fade. From the side, two tiny red dots were faintly visible.

They were glaring.

There was no need to think to know what had happened.

This boy, who was about the same age as him, had just had his blood sucked by the man whose name appeared on the first few pages of the family genealogy.

Guan Ziming’s understanding of Guan Heng was complicated. Even though his view had changed quite a bit, he still couldn’t fully accept him. He wasn’t so cynical as to hate the world; he simply believed, rationally, that Vampires were beings that should not exist. Whether they were good or bad, they were, in truth, disrupting the rules by which humans survived.

Humans offered their blood in exchange for nothing more than money and protection.

Guan Ziming asked, “Then are you going to stay here from now on?”

Ning Qiuyan nodded. “More or less.”

“You’re not going to school anymore?” Guan Ziming asked. “I remember you came here for school, didn’t you?”

Ning Qiuyan realized he had misunderstood and turned to look at him. “Of course I’m going to school. What I mean is, from now on, Du Island is my second home. I already belong here, and I’ll come often in the future.”

Guan Ziming said strangely, “Guan Heng made you one of his blood slaves.”

“He didn’t.” Ning Qiuyan blurted out, “I don’t belong to the blood slaves.”

Ning Qiuyan denied it so quickly that surprise appeared on Guan Ziming’s face. Feeling a little embarrassed by his own guess, he asked stiffly, “Then why are you still letting him drink your blood?”
Ning Qiuyan actually wasn’t all that clear on the specific difference between “blood slaves” and a “Blood Contract Partner,” but he still felt that, whether by the literal wording or the actual meaning, a “slave” and a “partner” should be completely different things.

“Blood slaves” sounded more like food for Vampires, while a “Blood Contract Partner” was something special. Guan Heng had once told him that a human who entered into a Blood Contract with a Vampire was unique and inviolable, and their status was recognized throughout the world of Vampires.

“Mr. Guan and I made an agreement.” Ning Qiuyan’s face felt a little hot. Without thinking, he raised a hand and touched the Ruby Earring. “I’ve already given myself to him… Everything I have belongs to him. But letting him drink my blood is something I’m willing to do. He actually doesn’t want to hurt me.”

And to avoid hurting him, Guan Heng had even made preparations like that.

Ning Qiuyan told Guan Ziming all this not because Guan Ziming was even closer to him than Su Jianzhou, but because Guan Ziming was somehow the only person he could talk to about it.

The secrets he had no way of telling Su Jianzhou, no way of confessing to Su Jianzhou, just happened to be things that weren’t a problem with Guan Ziming.

Guan Ziming didn’t understand. “You gave yourself to him? You belong to him?”

Ning Qiuyan nodded. “Mm.”

Guan Ziming asked, “What did he give you in exchange?”

Ning Qiuyan froze. He had never thought about that. He only answered, “Sir said he would give me the most generous reward.”

Guan Ziming asked incredulously, “You mean money?”

Ning Qiuyan was at a loss.

He felt as if it wasn’t entirely like that, and he hadn’t agreed to Guan Heng because of money, either. But faced with Guan Ziming’s question, he couldn’t find anything to say.

Guan Heng had indeed given him a great deal of material and financial support. That was a fact Ning Qiuyan couldn’t deny.

At most, Guan Ziming was just complaining. He wasn’t judging Ning Qiuyan’s choice. Even if Ning Qiuyan really had done it for money, Guan Ziming wouldn’t look down on him. The two of them fell silent for a while before Guan Ziming patted Ning Qiuyan on the shoulder and said, “Then remember not to let yourself get the short end of the stick. He’s loaded. If you’re making an exchange with a clear price tag, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

Guan Ziming sighed.

“The way we keep coming to this island one after another, whether we’re willing or not, isn’t it all the same? We’re doing it for his money.”

Guan Ziming took out a pack of cigarettes and, out of habit, offered one over.

Ning Qiuyan accepted it.

Guan Ziming lit it for him. Seeing how practiced Ning Qiuyan was at smoking, the corner of his mouth tugged faintly.

The two young men exhaled smoke, each lost in his own thoughts.

A car drove toward them from far down the road outside the farm. Its black paint gleamed, and only the wheel hubs were splashed with mud. Clearly, it wasn’t there to haul meat or eggs. Guan Ziming was still squinting to observe it when Ning Qiuyan, beside him, had already jumped down from the back of the chair. He choked and coughed loudly, then stubbed out the cigarette like a teenager caught red-handed by his parents.

The car, utterly out of place at the farm, stopped outside the fence. The door opened, and Uncle Kang got out and waved to them.

He was calling Ning Qiuyan.

Ning Qiuyan took a few steps, then remembered the reason he had come to the farm in the first place. He turned around, pulled something from the pocket of his jacket, and tossed it to Guan Ziming. “For you!”

His mood changed quickly. A moment ago he had still seemed down, but as soon as he saw that car, his eyes lit up.

In the end, he simply broke into a short jog toward the car. “Uncle Kang!”

The rear door opened, but it was impossible to see who was sitting inside.

Guan Ziming only caught a glimpse of a hand wearing a black leather glove. As Ning Qiuyan got in, there was a flash of movement, and the door shut.

He lowered his head to look at what Ning Qiuyan had thrown him.

It was a small black box. When he opened it, he found one of those single-player handheld game consoles they had played with as kids, along with a card that said, “Happy New Year.”
Inside the sealed car, there was a very faint scent of incense. The windows were specially made, with the ability to block all ultraviolet rays.

Guan Heng, traveling in daylight, wore a black cloak. He removed the matching mask, revealing the face that had been etched into Ning Qiuyan’s sight over the past few days, and asked, “What are you hiding from?”

The moment Ning Qiuyan met his gaze, his body seemed to react on its own, shrinking back almost imperceptibly.

Those sensations, those images, were still there.

Over the past few days, they had been intimate to the point of fitting together without the slightest gap, creating a link no one else could see.

Hearing Guan Heng ask that, Ning Qiuyan said, “…”

He knew that no matter how quickly he had thrown it away, with Guan Heng’s eyesight, Guan Heng definitely must have seen it just now.

Smoking wasn’t some unforgivable crime, but Dr. Ling had clearly reminded Ning Qiuyan before that Guan Heng had high standards when it came to blood, and that he ought to maintain good living habits.

Ning Qiuyan simply hadn’t had time to tell Guan Heng yet.
They were the only two people in the back seat.

The sky was nearly dark, and the light in the woods was dim. Guan Heng propped his elegant fingers against the side of his face, keeping a small distance between himself and Ning Qiuyan.

Just like before, with that faint sense of detachment.

“When did you learn?” Guan Heng asked mildly.

“In the summer,” Ning Qiuyan answered. “Before I went back to school.” He didn’t dare be dishonest, so he spilled everything in one breath. “I smoke when I’m in a bad mood, when I can’t find inspiration, and sometimes when I’m bored too. But only once in a while.”

Guan Heng must have known about Ning Qiuyan smoking long ago. He simply hadn’t known when Ning Qiuyan had picked up the habit, and he had always indulged him by never asking. Ning Qiuyan was well aware of that.

He had thought Guan Heng would forbid it, that after seeing it this time, he would stop him. Instead, he heard Guan Heng say, “If you don’t smoke much, there’s no need to hide.”

Surprised, Ning Qiuyan asked, “You don’t hate the smell of smoke?”

“Depends on the person.” Guan Heng was still looking at him, unreadable emotions flowing through his phoenix eyes.

Depends on the person.

Ning Qiuyan understood what Guan Heng meant. He was clearly telling him that while Guan Heng might find the smell of smoke on other people hard to tolerate, he didn’t dislike it on him.

Ning Qiuyan’s face heated at once. “Oh.”

He asked Guan Heng how he had known he was here.

Guan Heng said he had seen the text Ning Qiuyan sent when he returned.

“I went to take care of something troublesome,” Guan Heng told him, then added, “Don’t run around these next few days.”

Ning Qiuyan’s face and ears were both red, but he stared at Guan Heng without blinking. “What happened?”

What kind of matter could be troublesome enough to make Guan Heng go out in broad daylight?

Ning Qiuyan was a little worried.

Guan Heng originally hadn’t wanted to tell him, lest he make Ning Qiuyan worry for no reason. But under that look, he still ended up telling him. “Someone smuggled their way onto Du Island.”

Things like this had happened on Du Island before. The island’s signal had been blocked because of it.

As far as Ning Qiuyan knew, the dock on Du Island had never been especially peaceful either, but that was only possible during the warmer seasons, not in weather as bitterly cold as this.

Ning Qiuyan said, “In weather this cold, why would anyone smuggle themselves here?”

Guan Heng said briefly, “They aren’t human.”

Ning Qiuyan understood at once.

Not human. Then the ones who had smuggled themselves here… were Vampires.

That was why Guan Heng had personally come to pick him up and told him not to run around.

“Ever since the last time I went to Sujing, people have been arriving on the island one after another. This isn’t the first time,” Guan Heng said. “There’s no need to be afraid. They usually don’t dare do anything. If nothing unexpected happens, this should also be the last time.”

Ning Qiuyan nodded.

Of course he believed Guan Heng.

But Vampires were naturally afraid of water, so why would those stowaways cross the sea and risk everything to come to this little island?

Ning Qiuyan remembered what Qu Shu had told him. Most Vampires had an intense instinct to revere strength. They were born to worship the powerful. They yearned to see Guan Heng.

In that case, it was only after Guan Heng had shown himself in Sujing last time because of Ning Qiuyan that he had begun being harassed like this.

Yet Guan Heng had never mentioned it.

Ning Qiuyan was a little curious about how Guan Heng handled it.

With the end of the year approaching, Uncle Kang spoke with Guan Heng, saying the island would undergo one final inspection over the next two days.

Ning Qiuyan had no way to join the conversation. He simply sat there, his thoughts in disarray.

By the time the car returned to the main residence, the sky had gone completely dark. The conversation stopped, and the driver came to open the car door for Guan Heng.

Ning Qiuyan was just about to follow him out when Guan Heng had already removed his glove and extended his hand, palm facing up.

He meant to help Ning Qiuyan down.

The same season, the same night, the same place.

It was as if yesterday had returned, taking him back to the day he had gotten lost in the Forest and Guan Heng had brought him back from the Lighthouse.

Ning Qiuyan drifted into a brief daze, then placed his hand in Guan Heng’s.

Uncle Kang stood respectfully to one side, making way for them.

Their two hands touched, warmth fitting against coolness.

This time, Guan Heng did not let go.

His expression was as lazy and cool as ever, but very naturally, he slid his fingers between Ning Qiuyan’s and held his hand loosely like that.

Looking at Guan Heng’s tall profile, Ning Qiuyan’s heart beat extremely fast.

Until they stepped into the main residence and took off their coats, they remained that way, holding each other’s hands with their fingers intertwined.