Translator: Xena
Editor: Sammy
Proofreader: Bubbles
While they were heading to the ginkgo tree next to the ancient well of the Taoist temple, Dream-Ge waved from a distance. “School Flower! Lu-Shen! You guys are walking too slowly!”
Li Hua poked Dream-Ge with his elbow. “You talk too much.”
Dream-Ge didn’t respond for a while, not knowing why Li Hua poked him.
Blinking his eyes a few times, he suddenly felt enlightened. Dream-Ge stifled his voice. “Damn, you mean they, they—” He shielded his mouth with his hands and whispered, “Did they have a lover’s rendezvous in the woods? That exciting?”
Chu Yu approached and only vaguely heard two words. “What woods?”
Dream-Ge immediately stood up straight and said with a grin, “It’s nothing ah, I was just telling Li Hua that the woods on this mountain are so dense and pleasantly cool!”
The ancient well was surrounded by a fence, and beside it was a stone tablet with the words “Qing Liang Jing” engraved on it.
Old Ye was standing beside the stone tablet next to the ancient well, fanning himself with two palm-sized leaves and saying, “Class Monitor, come and check if everyone is here. We’ll be taking pictures when we’re all present!”
Zhang Yueshan then counted. “Teacher, there are still three people left.”
“Okay, then we’ll wait. Students can take this opportunity to get close to nature. When learning ‘Endless, Dreary Fall of Trees’ in the future, you’ll be able to imagine what being endless means in this ‘endless fall’. Speaking of which, this reminds me of an ancient saying. Shuowen Jiezi mentioned that when the grass loses its leaves, it’s called ‘wither’, but when trees lose their leaves, it’s called ‘falling’…”
The Ginkgo trees were very old and were planted here hundreds of years ago. Their emerald-green tree tops spread widely, and their canopy was shady, allowing only tiny specks of light to scatter on the ground.
Chu Yu’s sharp eyes singled out a heart-shaped ginkgo leaf which he then grasped in his hand.
After Lu Shi had said those two words to him under the eaves of the Taoist temple, he felt more at ease, and his whole person became relaxed again.
Handing the ginkgo leaf to Lu Shi, Chu Yu’s eyes revealed a clear, bright smile. “Here, for you, the leaf of love!”
Lu Shi accepted it, picked a book from his black bag, and carefully placed the leaf inside it.
Zhang Yueshan, who was watching from the side, moved over to his desk mate to say, “Why do I always feel that… around Lu-Shen and School Flower, there seems to be a magical barrier, making it impossible for other people to get close.”
Li Hua held a dried up branch he picked up from somewhere and spun it smoothly like a pen. “Thundemiskovsky said this is called ‘the barrier of love’.”
“There’s actually a scientific basis? Fucking awesome!” Zhang Yueshan, who’d learnt Dream-Ge’s commonly used expression, wondered, “Then—”
Before he could finish asking, he heard Old Ye shout, “Everyone is here. Class Monitor, come over to organize!”
Zhang Yueshan got up. “I’ll be going first, I’ll come back later so tell me then!”
Fang Ziqi, who had seized the time to memorize words even during the spring outing, closed his vocabulary book. “Who is Thundemiskovsky? There’s no entry related to this person’s name in my knowledge inventory, I can’t allow this to happen!”
An ‘are you stupid?’ expression was plastered over Li Hua’s face. “Because it’s a name I just made up. How can ‘barrier of love’ be a thing?”
Fang Ziqi: “…”
Zhang Yueshan’s organizational skills were very strong. After a few minutes, all of Class A was standing up.
Old Ye watched his students with a satisfied smile on his face. He took out the camera he’d borrowed and captured a few pictures in 7 to 8 different angles before saying in a raised voice, “Okay, everyone can move freely, the most important thing is to pay attention to safety. At five o’clock in the afternoon, we‘re to assemble down the mountain!”
In the evening, when everyone had gotten on the bus, the group photos taken were sent to the class group chat. Old Ye told everyone to vote as the two photos with the highest votes were to be sent for printing.
The length of the journey was long, and there was nothing to do in the bus except sleeping, chatting, or playing with cell phones.
This matter of voting for photos had aroused everyone’s interest at the right time.
“Hahahaha Lin Shicheng, why are your eyes closed even when you open them? I can’t find any picture where you have your eyes open!”
“Dream-Ge, can you not fucking grow taller, any taller and your head would’ve touched the leaves!”
“My god, Lu-Shen and School Flower really raised the whole class’ attractiveness index. Their faces are amazing, it’s surprising that they can look this good in Old Ye’s camera lens!”
“Old Ye’s skills are dope, hahaha, there were two pictures where I wasn’t in the frame!”
“Be considerate, it’s Old Ye’s first time taking pictures. By the time we graduate from 3rd year of high school, Old Ye will be able to take beautiful graduation photos for us!”
They agreed to vote for the photos, but as they chatted, the topic unavoidably diverged in different directions. In short, when the bus had driven back to the school, there was still no result.
Contrarily, Old Ye was happily not in a hurry. He told everyone to choose carefully after they go home.
Chu Yu had climbed the mountain earlier, and then followed Dream-Ge and the others to hang out by the stream below the Taoist temple. At the end of the day, he was so tired that his soul was about to exit his body.
He dragged his footsteps into the dormitory. “Ge, I can’t do this anymore. I’ve truly exceeded the maximum exercise limit for this body today! I have to rest for two days — no — three days to recover!”
Lu Shi watched him spread his legs and cross his arms as he lay on the back of a chair, his whole body like a sun-dried flower. “Should I go take a shower first?”
“Mm, you go first. I’ll go after you finish.”
With Chu Yu’s face pillowed on the back of his hand, he kept a comfortable posture and didn’t want to move any more. His ears were inclined to the side, listening to Lu Shi as he went into the bathroom, closed the door, and turned on the shower.
The sound of the water falling onto the ground wasn’t very clear, but it didn’t prevent Chu Yu from silently imagining several frames of images.
At that time, Lu Shi’s voice came from the bathroom. “Chu Yu, the shower gel is gone.”
Shower gel?
Chu Yu tilted his head and thought about it. In his memory… there seemed to have been a lot left? But it was also possible that his memory was wrong.
Thus, Chu Yu actively got up, took an unopened bottle of orange blossom scented shower gel from the cabinet, stood at the door, and knocked on it twice. “I brought it. Lu-Ge, open the door.”
The door opened a crack. Lu Shi’s white skin was stained with water droplets, and the black rope bracelet had become darker because of the water.
Why is this wrist so beautiful?
Chu Yu took two more glances, then lifted the shower gel bottle to hand it over. Unexpectedly, Lu Shi bypassed the shower gel and grabbed his wrist.
Unprepared, Chu Yu was pulled into the bathroom.
“What are you doing, Lu Shi? Don’t… oh—”
After taking a bath for almost an hour, Chu Yu’s clothes were all wet, so he had to come out wrapped in a bath towel, and his legs were weak when walking. His face was also a little red due to lack of oxygen inside, and his lips were slightly swollen after being kissed.
Sitting lazily on the bed, Chu Yu couldn’t muster any more energy, feeling that his last bit of vitality had been drained. He reflected deeply, how could he have fallen into Lu Shi’s plan so easily?
Beauty is misleading!
Lu Shi got the hairdryer and helped Chu Yu dry his hair skillfully and meticulously.
Shaking his head, Chu Yu raised his hand and tugged at the corner of Lu Shi’s clothes. “I want to drink water first, it should be warm.”
After he finished speaking, he pointed to his feet. “My legs are soft so I can’t walk.”
Lu Shi enjoyed Chu Yu’s dependence very much. He turned around to find a cup to pour water in, and didn’t even let Chu Yu raise his hand; feeding him the water with his lips instead.
It always felt very risky to kiss like this. Chu Yu really didn’t want to do it again, so he quickly grabbed the cup and drank the water in a few gulps.
After tidying up, only a dimly lit night light was left on inside the dark room.
On the bed, Chu Yu grabbed Lu Shi’s arm, put it on his pillow, and explained his behavior, “If I don’t sleep on you as a pillow, I’ll have nightmares.”
“Okay.” Lu Shi indulged, kissing the side of Chu Yu’s face at the corner of his eye.
Chu Yu couldn’t help shrinking his neck due to the itch caused by Lu Shi’s breath. “Itchy!”
He said so, but he was reluctant to back away. He could only shout itchy while letting Lu Shi kiss him.
In the transition period of late spring into early summer, two people were lying together close to one another with body temperatures touching; it’d be a little hot.
Chu Yu stealthily poked a foot out of the corner of the quilt. Feeling comfortable, he moved again, exposing his entire calf.
So comfortable!
He was in a good mood. He seriously said to Lu Shi as he remembered something, “We’ll be turning on the air conditioner when the weather gets warmer. It’ll be very cold so I’ll have to sleep next to you. During winter, it’ll be too cold to even think about. Lu Shi, when the time comes, you need to hug me to sleep. I only sleep well if you hug me to sleep.”
Under the dim lighting of the night light, his eyes seemed to be soaked in two bright ambers, containing straightforward and undisguised dependence.
Without you, I’ll be cold, and I won’t even be able to sleep well.
Lu Shi’s nose brushed against Chu Yu’s soft hair as he replied in a low voice, “Okay, all right.”
Under the thin quilt, Chu Yu held Lu Shi’s hand.
It was late at night and the whole dormitory was quiet. There was no noise in the corridor outside the door, and it seemed that even the air had stilled.
There was only the sound of the other person’s breathing.
After a long time, Chu Yu asked, “Lu Shi, you, do you still hate them?”
Lu Shi’s eyes revealed a bit of confusion at the question.
“I don’t know.”
Lu Shi rarely had this kind of uncertain moment. He’d always been tenacious, patient, and purposeful.
However, right now, in the face of Chu Yu’s inquiry, he chose to be frank.
“I want to hate.”
Previously, this was the center of gravity and fulcrum of his life; the force that drove him to keep moving forward.
“But now, I don’t know who to hate.”
Jiang Yueman couldn’t live again, Fang Weiyun paid with her life, Lu Shaochu and Fang Weishan were imprisoned, and Lu Zhaohe was about to die—
Who should he hate now?
Chu Yu inserted his fingers inch by inch between Lu Shi’s fingers.
He suddenly propped himself halfway up, lowered his head, and looked down at Lu Shi’s eyes. “Then stop hating.”
“If you hate, then you’ll be up at night, thinking about those bad guys who’ve hurt you and have blood on their hands. I forbid that.”
Chu Yu raised his chin, his expression and tone obviously arrogant and possessive. “Lu Shi, from now on, I want you to be up at night, unable to sleep, yearning and thinking about me, and only me alone.”
In the darkness, Chu Yu’s eyes were clear and firm.
I am your accomplice.
I want to be with you.
I’ll pull you up, and won’t let you fall in.
I want you to yearn and think about only me from now on.