Chapter 86

Chapter 86

Ning Qiuyan took two days to finish making the plant specimens with Gu Yu. Now all they had to do was wait for them to dry completely before binding them together. They ran into some uncertainty over how to make the labels and table of contents, so Uncle Kang had Lu Qianque take them to the library, where they found a thick specimen album.

The album had been made twenty years ago by a Guan Family girl who had come to the island. The handwriting on the title page was elegant and delicate, spelling out her name: Guan Yueran. Inside were nearly a hundred plant specimens. Ning Qiuyan turned the slightly yellowed pages as if he were leafing through decades of time, and before he knew it, he was completely absorbed.

He asked Lu Qianque, “This… the person who made this album. Is she still on the island?”

The specimens they had made were far too crude. If she was still on Du Island, perhaps they could ask her for advice.

Lu Qianque said, “Of course not.”

Ning Qiuyan knew that, aside from Uncle Kang and the others who had chosen to live on Du Island long-term, members of the Guan Family usually stayed on the island for a fixed period of two years.

He looked at the date on each page’s label and realized the album spanned seven years. That meant its maker had already stayed here far, far longer than most.

Lu Qianque noticed the dates and could roughly guess what he was thinking. He said, “Some people come early, some come late. Some leave the moment their two years are up, and some stay here for a very long time. But in the end, most of them still choose to leave. After all, their lives aren’t on the island.”

That was only natural. Ning Qiuyan nodded.

Lu Qianque went on, “But as you can see, they weren’t idle while they were here. Besides this specimen album you’re holding, they also left behind some of the books over there, a few handmade instruments in the music room, the vases and clay jars in the house, the path on the island leading to the farm… As long as someone has been here, everyone leaves behind a trace, more or less.”

In other words, the Du Island they knew today had actually been built up, bit by bit, by many people’s hands over the past century.

From Guan Heng first stepping onto Du Island alone, living by himself in some lightless place where the sea wind howled, barren and cold, to the Guan Family later sailing over in their first boat, gathering on the island from all over the world, finally creating the quiet peace that surrounded him today.

Everything was different from what Ning Qiuyan had originally imagined.

It was not that there had first been this grand mansion, and then Guan Heng had chosen to settle here in a secluded corner of the world. Rather, there had first been Guan Heng, who wanted to be alone and shut away from the world, and only then had there been this mansion, this Du Island of today.

People drew close to Guan Heng, then slowly dispersed.

The time they spent here might be two years, seven years, fifty years, or an entire lifetime.

They came and went. Who knew how many springs and autumns had already passed?

Only Guan Heng remained where he had always been.

“Lu Qianque!” Gu Yu called from the other side. He was perched on a ladder, but his arm could not reach the long shelf. “Help me get this.”

“All right.” Lu Qianque went over.

Gu Yu wanted to read an old book. Ning Qiuyan did not know what it was about; Gu Yu simply thought the spine looked nice. After taking one, he wanted another, and Lu Qianque grew a little impatient. The two of them started bickering back and forth.

Ning Qiuyan silently studied how the specimens had been organized, then carefully slid the album back onto the shelf.

Looking at the books that covered the entire wall, the entire room, he wondered which of them Guan Heng had read.

After so much time, he had probably read them all.

Winter break lasted a month and a half.

Ning Qiuyan had never stayed on Du Island for so long. Away from his phone and computer, with all the distractions he would have had in the outside world set aside, his days suddenly slowed down.

After the Spring Festival, everything returned to normal.

All the windows in the mansion were covered by thick curtains, without a single ray of sunlight seeping through. Guan Heng no longer slept during the day, and neither did Lu Qianque.

The four of them read together, drew, played games, and watched movies.

They also played cards.

Guan Heng was very good at cards and did not like to talk much while playing. Gu Yu had learned a couple of tricks from Lu Qianque and especially loved putting on an act. With the two of them livening up the atmosphere, Ning Qiuyan, who was also not especially talkative, did not seem dull at all.

Ning Qiuyan did not know how to play billiards, nor did he know how to play cards. Guan Heng sat beside him, his voice gentle and low as he patiently taught him bit by bit.

They did not gamble money. They gambled on drawing on each other’s faces.

Gu Yu’s face was the most heavily decorated. He shouted that it was unfair. “Sir keeps helping Brother Xiao Ning look at his cards! Teaching him a few times is fine, but how can he keep teaching him forever?”

Lu Qianque had a few marks drawn on his face too.

Ning Qiuyan also had black lines on his face, but somehow, his were even fewer than Lu Qianque’s.

Lu Qianque smiled and did not stop Gu Yu. It seemed he, too, had quite a few objections to Guan Heng’s favoritism.

Ning Qiuyan grew a little embarrassed. The hand he had been dealt was actually excellent, but he simply put all the cards back, blushing as he said, “Then let’s start over. From this round on, I won’t let sir teach me.”

Guan Heng’s face was the cleanest of them all. Lazily, he lifted his eyelids to look at him. “Are you sure?”

The two of them were sitting very close, their posture intimate.

They clearly were not doing anything, but suspicion stirred in Gu Yu’s heart. He kept feeling that something about this was strange.

“I’m sure,” Ning Qiuyan said. “I’ve pretty much memorized the rules. It should be fine.”

Guan Heng said, “All right.”

Lu Qianque spoke at just the right moment. “Ahem. Then you and Xiao Ning need to sit a little farther apart, otherwise it’ll be too easy to cheat.”

Only then did Guan Heng straighten and put some distance between himself and Ning Qiuyan. He personally shuffled the deck. His fingers were long and slender, his knuckles distinct, his fair fingertips cool and indifferent, and somehow, he made an ordinary deck of playing cards look at least ten times more expensive.
The cards were dealt to everyone. Ning Qiuyan’s hand was thoroughly mediocre, and he lost without the slightest suspense.

Gu Yu cheerfully took the eyebrow pencil and drew on Ning Qiuyan’s face. After several losing rounds, Ning Qiuyan ended up with three whiskers on each cheek. Even Gu Yu marveled, “Brother Xiao Ning looks like a cat-no, like a puppy.”

Lu Qianque burst out laughing. Even Guan Heng laughed.

Ning Qiuyan, who had already lost until his eyes were red with frustration, said, “…Again.”

As the biggest winner, no matter how good Guan Heng was at cards, he ultimately couldn’t escape the fate of a terrible hand.

Guan Heng lost.

Gu Yu was enthusiastic about drawing on the losers’ faces, but now that it was Guan Heng’s turn, he didn’t dare make a move. He looked pitifully at Lu Qianque. Lu Qianque sat steady as a mountain and winked at him. Gu Yu immediately caught on and stuffed the pencil into Ning Qiuyan’s hand, saying with a precocious air, “Brother Xiao Ning, you draw it. You’re closest to Sir!”

Ning Qiuyan: “…”

He gripped the eyebrow pencil and turned to look at Guan Heng, feeling as if the pencil were burning his hand.

Guan Heng sat still, as though waiting for him.

Even seated, Ning Qiuyan was still slightly lower than Guan Heng, so when he leaned in, his gaze had to tilt upward a little. His eyes were clear and sharply defined, the corners faintly drooping; from this angle, he always looked especially innocent-especially now, with puppy whiskers on his face.

The light in the room was warm, bright yet carrying the intoxicating haze that belonged to the night.

Outside, it was daytime.

Ning Qiuyan stared intently at a spot on Guan Heng’s face. His Adam’s apple bobbed. He raised his hand, and the eyebrow pencil touched skin as cold as jade, leaving behind a black mark.

Guan Heng’s lashes lowered at the offense.

Both of them were haloed in warm light.

Lu Qianque suddenly covered Gu Yu’s eyes.

A dot of black was drawn longer, like an ink stroke appearing on snow.

It was done.

Ning Qiuyan’s gaze shifted and collided with Guan Heng’s. In those phoenix eyes, always so dark and heavy, he saw indulgence.

Thump-

A drumbeat sounded, accompanied by beautiful music spilling from his heart.
Lu Qianque left with Gu Yu on the night of the fifth day of the New Year. Before they went, they made a point of saying goodbye to everyone.

Granny Bai made many pastries for Gu Yu to take with him. Since he didn’t want to go away to school, Gu Yu couldn’t help crying when he left.

The car carried them around the fountain below the mansion and into the Forest, heading for the helipad not far from here. The bright headlights cast out beams like a beast traveling through the darkness, and soon the dense Forest swallowed them up until they could no longer be seen.

Ning Qiuyan did not see them off.

At that time, he was in the bedroom on the third floor, in the middle of that gray-blue bed.

Because the last time Ning Qiuyan had been released from his restraints, his closeness with Guan Heng had caused things to slip slightly out of control, they had maintained a certain distance from each other for nearly a week.

They were not doing anything now either.

Ning Qiuyan was merely kneeling on the soft mattress, letting Guan Heng come over from the other side of the bed, lift his chin, and kiss him.

The mattress sank beneath their combined weight, tilting slightly in one direction.

Ning Qiuyan’s body burned hot. He was soft all over, almost unable to keep kneeling.

Guan Heng held him by the jaw, leaving him unable to move and unable to close his mouth at all. His lips and chin were wet all over. When Guan Heng finally released him, his jaw was covered in finger marks, and even the corners of his eyes were red, making him look a little pitiful.

On his neck were still two tiny puncture wounds from a few days ago, so faint they were nearly gone.

They drew a little distance apart.

Ning Qiuyan’s hand had been lightly clutching Guan Heng’s hem the entire time. The one before him was clearly a demon who drank his blood, yet Ning Qiuyan trusted him without reservation, no matter when, no matter what happened.

At the same time, though he had wrinkled that patch of fabric in his grip, he obediently did not overstep.

Ning Qiuyan was the one who received.

He accepted Guan Heng’s kisses, his embraces, and everything he gave him.

Because of the kiss, Guan Heng’s lips had also taken on a vivid color they usually did not have. Only his eyes remained deep black and cold, and his skin was still pale to the point of bloodlessness, giving him a strange and singular allure.

“Ning Qiuyan.”

Guan Heng suddenly called his name, his voice hoarse.

Then, in a tone from which no emotion could be discerned, he said, “Repeat the safe word.”

Ning Qiuyan’s mind buzzed, and his whole body instantly seemed to catch fire. He stared blankly at Guan Heng and repeated it on instinct. In truth, he did not even hear himself clearly. He only felt Guan Heng’s voice sounding very close by, drilling straight into his ear, as if in warning: “Remember it.”

The curtains had been drawn open. The night was beautiful.

They still used more or less the same method, but there was no longer a “punishment” that lasted the entire night.

Deep in the night, Guan Heng roughly threw something onto the carpet.

The dark, short-pile fabric was immediately soaked through in one patch, nearly turning completely black.

Ning Qiuyan was trembling.

Bright white moonlight flowed over the gray-blue sea, over cold white hills and valleys, and over the black mask beneath the handsome brows and eyes of the one above him.

This time, Ning Qiuyan was very clear-headed.

When he took the small silver packet, he even recognized it as the same brand he had accidentally bought before, though it differed greatly in every other respect.

He put what he had learned to use.

Guan Heng had taught Ning Qiuyan what to do.

He applied it very well.

The wrist beneath the black leather cuff was exceedingly slender. Very soon, it was caught by another hand.

That hand was large, its palm slightly cool, even the fingertips detached and cold.

Yet from restraint, prominent blue veins stood out on the back of it.

The horizon began to pale with the first light of dawn.