Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Before long, Qiao Ying came running back. She grabbed Shen Qingyu’s hand and, without caring whether it hurt him or not, cleaned the wound and applied medicine.

Of course, hurt or not, Shen Qingyu would never make a sound. Perhaps he had long since grown used to pain. The little stings caused by Qiao Ying fussing over his injured hand were nothing at all.

Listening to the crashing outside that still had not stopped, Qiao Ying was in a panic. The more nervous she became, the less she could control the muttering spilling from her mouth.

“Shen Qingyu, sometimes I really think you aren’t a lunatic, but an idiot. Otherwise, who would run out into the rain like you and then let himself get cut up by all kinds of random things?”

“I must have owed you in my past life. It’s one thing that I have to earn money to support you, but I also have to take care of your food, clothing, shelter, and daily life. And now even putting medicine on your wounds is my job.”

“You’re already a grown man. Can’t you be a little more sensible?”

…

She chattered on and on, and no one knew where she got so much energy from. Somehow, she did not even feel thirsty enough to stop and rest for a moment.

To Shen Qingyu, her voice sounded like the chirping of birds, yet it was somehow different from those annoying birds. As for exactly what was different, he could not say.

“Shen Qingyu, people instinctively seek benefit and avoid harm. A normal person would never get close to something that makes them feel pain!”

Qiao Ying had no idea how long she had been talking. At last, she felt a little tired and paused for a moment. She lifted her eyes, and her eyelids twitched again.

The young man had one hand resting on the table, propping up his chin. He had been facing in her direction the entire time, the corners of his pale lips curved up out of habit. Who knew what he was smiling about?

He was soaked through, and his long white hair hung wet and heavy. A strand was even plastered against his pale profile, yet he did not look the slightest bit disheveled. Because his expression was so calm and at ease, Qiao Ying, who had been dragging him around and bustling about, looked more like a clown in comparison.

Qiao Ying’s anger flared. She tossed aside his freshly bandaged hand in annoyance and lowered her head to tidy up the first-aid kit she used for emergencies.

“Shen Qingyu, if there’s a next time, I won’t put medicine on you again.”

Shen Qingyu moved the hand that had been tied with a bow. The sensation seemed to fascinate him. Moving his fingers was not enough; he used his other hand to touch and feel it, then poked at it. He laughed aloud.

“Qiao Ying, what is this?”

Qiao Ying glanced at the somewhat ugly-looking gauze knot. “A bow.”

He laughed again and tugged at the white “wings.” “A bow.”

Qiao Ying thought to herself that she was in a terrible mood, yet he could still laugh. She could not help looking up and snapping, “Have you never had a wound bandaged before? What’s so funny?”

The young man said, “No.”

For a moment, Qiao Ying had no idea how to respond.

He still wore that habitual smile, as if it were a mask. Pure, innocent, and utterly ignorant, like a blank sheet of paper. Then he stretched his uninjured hand toward her.

“Qiao Ying, aren’t you going to bandage this hand?”

Qiao Ying said, “This hand isn’t hurt. Why would I bandage it?”

He gave a half-understanding “oh.”

Qiao Ying finished tidying up and picked up the things, intending to take them back to her room. Suddenly, she heard the sound of a teacup shattering. She instinctively turned her head.

Shen Qingyu was gripping a shard of the teacup. Without the slightest hesitation, he drew a deep cut across the palm of his uninjured hand. Blood quickly welled up, dripping with soft patters onto the table, where it gathered into a small red puddle.

He lifted his face, his smile pure, and once again stretched his hand toward her. “Look, I’m hurt. I need bandaging.”

Then he held out his other hand, the one wrapped in gauze. “Qiao Ying, I want the same bow.”

Bright red drops of blood were still falling, yet he looked as though he stood amid a brilliant spring scene in full bloom. His smile was radiant, bright and dazzling, his deathly pale face so beautiful it was almost unreal.

Qiao Ying clutched her head and screamed, “You’re insane!!!”

Whether Shen Qingyu was truly insane, no one dared to conclude. But Qiao Ying felt that her own fragile nerves were very likely to be driven insane by him.

By calmly cutting his own hand without so much as a change in expression, he successfully obtained another matching, ugly little bow.

Every now and then, Shen Qingyu touched his right hand with his left, then touched his left hand with his right. It was as if he had received some curious new toy. Such an ordinary thing had sparked an extraordinary curiosity in him.

Qiao Ying held her head in both hands and stared at him for a long while. “Shen Qingyu, can you stop mistreating your own body like this?”

Shen Qingyu smiled gently. “Mistreating?”

“I mean, can you stop hurting yourself? Protect yourself properly instead. Don’t get injured.”

Shen Qingyu tilted his head slightly. “Don’t get injured?”

Qiao Ying felt that communicating with him was so difficult. She let out a long sigh, straightened up, and said solemnly, “Someone who truly cares about you would never bear to see you in pain. I don’t know why those ghostly things all want to feed on your flesh and blood, but I can say one thing for sure: those things are definitely not trying to be friends with you.”

The smile at the corner of Shen Qingyu’s lips faded. “Is that so?”

Qiao Ying glanced at his still-dripping hair and suddenly felt that such pure, untainted white hair looked truly pitiful, soaked through by the rain like this.
So she picked up a dry towel, walked behind him, gathered up his soft white hair, and gently began to wipe it dry.

“You’re so good-looking. If you wanted to make friends, I’m sure you could do it easily.”

“Of course, that assumes you don’t go around inviting people to kill you at the drop of a hat.”

“Also, you can’t just start slaughtering people in front of others. If you really don’t know what to do…”

“Then just smile more.”

Shen Qingyu sat there in a daze, unmoving. Only when Qiao Ying’s hand tightened slightly as she gathered his long hair would his head sway gently with the motion.

When she bent down, he could feel her breath draw closer, and her light, brisk voice filled his ears.

“You look so beautiful when you smile. No one could dislike you.”

In her heart, she added one more line: A normal smile, of course. Not that fake smile that never reached his eyes.

Shen Qingyu lowered his head slightly. Strands of half-dry hair slipped from her fingers, covering most of his face and hiding his expression. He touched the bow on his hand. “So, you like my smile too?”

Qiao Ying answered honestly, “I do, quite a bit.”

Of course, what she liked was a normal smile.

In the blurred light and shadow behind his white hair, the corners of the young man’s lips seemed to curve faintly. “Qiao Ying, I think I understand a little now.”

“What do you understand?”

“You don’t want me to get hurt. You bandage my wounds, and you praise me for being good-looking. You’re different from them.” There was a smile hidden in his lovely voice. “Qiao Ying, you do like me.”

Qiao Ying: “…”

He lifted his face. His hair fell loosely around him, the white silk blindfold covering his eyes and making his skin look as fair as congealed cream. As his smile spread, the white silk blindfold shifted faintly with his breathing, dyed with a gentle warmth in the candlelight. Even his pallor became something fragile and exquisite, so beautiful it was hard to look away.

“Qiao Ying, am I wrong?”

He tilted his head slightly and smiled with an innocent expression, making him seem even more alive, like an ordinary boy next door-warm and approachable.

Qiao Ying endured it and endured it, but in the end, she couldn’t hold back. She pushed his face to the side. “Don’t use the method I taught you against me!”

This was really testing her self-control!

Shen Qingyu’s face was shoved away rather roughly, but he wasn’t angry. Instead, he merely laughed softly, good-tempered as ever.

It was true. When he smiled, he was that beautiful. Who wouldn’t like him?

In a cheerful mood, he suddenly said, “Qiao Ying, don’t be afraid.”

Qiao Ying was puzzled and didn’t immediately understand what he meant.

Stimulated by the smell of blood filling the room, the fragile wooden door finally could no longer withstand the savage ghosts and vengeful souls driven mad by their hunger for flesh and blood.

When Qiao Ying saw the door violently crash open and black mist come surging in, carrying pair after pair of ghostly green eyes, she instinctively raised her hands to protect her head and cried out in panic.

In the space of a breath, an arm wrapped around her waist. Her body spun, and she fell into the young man’s embrace, landing on his lap.

The imagined pain of being devoured never came. The wailing and howling of ghosts no longer shrieked endlessly in her ears. She couldn’t even hear the rain. Everything was far too quiet.

Then, waves of cold silently crept in.

Qiao Ying slowly lowered the hands covering her face. The instant she opened her eyes, what met her gaze was the young man’s porcelain-white, beautiful jaw.

All the black mist had been frozen by a layer of frost one step away from them, with the two of them at the center. Time seemed to have paused. Countless dangers hung suspended in midair, yet it also looked as though they had been frozen into a clear, crystalline cage-one that imprisoned only the two people within.

The white silk blindfold hung softly. When he lowered his head, his snow-white hair brushed over the back of Qiao Ying’s hand. His lips curved with a smile as he said, “Didn’t I tell you? Don’t be afraid.”

Crack. Crack. Several sounds rang out like shattering glass. Spiderweb-like cracks spread through the frozen scene around them. At last, with another sharp crack, the cage shattered on all sides, turning into tiny shards of ice that drifted down like falling snow.

Outside, the rain began to fall again. The sound of rain returned, and the world that had seemed stopped in time resumed its normal flow. Along with it came an even more bone-piercing chill.

Qiao Ying shivered.

The arms around her tightened slightly. She sank deeper into his embrace, until every breath she took was filled with his scent. His body kept the cold out, and on this snowy, stormy night, she strangely felt warmth again.

“Qiao Ying.”

“Mm?”

“Your heart is beating so fast. Do you like me even more now?”

Qiao Ying said, “It’s just the Suspension Bridge Effect.”

Shen Qingyu asked, “What is the Suspension Bridge Effect?”

Qiao Ying said, “I don’t know either. The phrase just suddenly popped into my head.”

Shen Qingyu gave an “oh.”

A long while later, he spoke again. “Qiao Ying.”

“What?”

“Do you want to try liking me a little more?” The young man smiled, thinking himself clever. “In exchange, I can work hard to like you a little more too.”

Qiao Ying: “…”

She was so tired at heart.