TLC: Yuyin
After nine o’clock, most people had entered their tents and some bundled themselves in blankets to watch the stars while others played cards and other games in groups.
Liang Muqiu was also wrapped in a blanket to watch the stars. He sat in front of the tent with most of his body sticking out of the tent.
He lit a cigarette and chatted with Cen Nan, “I can also see stars like this in my hometown.”
He didn’t grow up in Bincheng when he was a child. Before elementary school, he lived with his mother in his grandmother’s hometown. It was a small town, not prosperous and even a bit secluded, but the neighbors were very kind and friendly. The rice cakes from the shop next door were delicious, and when he enjoyed the night air in the courtyard, he could see the same stars as now.
He continued, “During this season, the toon trees in our yard would sprout. My grandmother loves to make fried eggs with toon, but I couldn’t stand the smell when I was younger.”
Now that he had grown up, he had less opportunities to eat it. His grandmother was older now and he and his mother didn’t allow her to cook anymore. Instead, they hired a nanny to let her play cards and shop happily.
Knowing that he was homesick, thin skinned and didn’t want to be exposed, Cen Nan said, “If you want to eat it, I know a private restaurant that makes it, I can take you there.”
Liang Muqiu chuckled, almost choking on the smoke. He waved, “Forget it, it’s not like I enjoy it a lot.”
He coughed several times and Cen Nan lightly patted his back.
Cen Nan stared at the cigarette in Liang Muqiu’s hand. It wasn’t the first time he saw him smoking. In fact, Liang Muqiu wasn’t addicted to smoking and he always controlled his intake to a small amount. His body was very clean and the smell of smoke was barely indistinguishable.
However, he remembered clearly that in university, Liang Muqiu never smoked a single cigarette. Sometimes when Liang Muqiu saw him smoke, he would kick him and deliberately prevent him from kissing.
He touched Liang Muqiu’s ear lightly and asked in a low voice, “I didn’t ask before, when did you learn to smoke?”
Liang Muqiu looked up at him.
The two people’s gaze collided and the answer was evident in their eyes.
Of course Liang Muqiu could just lie. He was busy and stressed at work and learned from his colleagues.
But he looked down at the ground and said softly, “After you left, I picked it up over time.”
Tobacco and alcohol weren’t good things, and he hadn’t indulged in them so far. However, after Cen Nan’s departure, he wondered if alcohol and cigarettes would make him forget about Cen Nan, even if it was only for a brief moment.
Later, he realized it was only an illusion.
Cen Nan was more addictive than cigarettes and alcohol.
Cen Nan gently clasped Liang Muqiu’s hand under the blanket. His fingers entwined Liang Muqiu’s and rubbed them.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
No matter how many apologies he spit out, on this cold spring night in the mountains, they were still not enough.
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“No, I went alone.” Cen Nan replied.
Liang Muqiu was even more surprised. “It’s not that you didn’t have a friend there, is it?”
Cen Nan thought, “I had some, but it wasn’t a special or deep friendship. I would go drinking and partying with them, but I didn’t want to travel with them.”
Travelling should always be more intimate and it wasn’t suitable for colleagues.
He had camped in the snowy mountains of Colorado. There was a thick blanket of snow on the mountains. When only he was awake and everything else was silent, it felt like he was the only person there.
There was loneliness, but no discomfort. Before meeting Liang Muqiu and after breaking up with him, he seemed to have been living such a life.
He held Liang Muqiu’s hand to his lips and kissed it lightly, his eyelashes drooping, “At that time I thought, if only you were here. There are so many places with breathtaking views, I want to bring you everywhere.”
Liang Muqiu didn’t pull his hand back but the place where Cen Nan’s kiss had landed was burning.
After eleven o’clock, Liang Muqiu and Cen Nan went to the toilet built in the camp to wash up, then entered the tent and prepared to sleep.
Although the ground in the campsite was bumpy, cold and hard, the inflatable mattress they bought was of good quality and was quite comfortable to lie on. Wrapped up in the thick fleece quilts, it didn’t feel that cold in the mountains.
But Liang Muqiu still couldn’t sleep. For the first time, he felt that he was slightly bed-sick. The tent was pitch-black. He counted one hundred and eight ducks in his heart but still couldn’t sleep. Finally, he couldn’t help harassing the person beside him.
He gently scratched Cen Nan’s palm with his index finger and asked in a low voice, “Are you asleep?”
Cen Nan’s eyes were closed. “No.”
Liang Muqiu perked up in excitement. He hadn’t slept with Cen Nan for seven years but his body seemed to carry its own memories. He didn’t even realize that he had set his feet on top of Cen Nan’s calf.
He suggested excitedly, “If you can’t sleep, I’ll tell you a horror story, it’s the one I told in the afternoon. In fact, I can’t remember very well. I made up a lot of the content myself.”
Cen Nan had to open his eyes.
He twisted his head to look at Liang Muqiu, as if remembering the countless nights Liang Muqiu kept him up with his antics.
Liang Muqiu blinked his eyes innocently. “Or you can tell me. You’re at least a lawyer, you must have encountered a lot of strange cases. Are there any shocking ones I can use as material?”
Cen Nan didn’t want to speak at all.
He was here for a date. The mountains were a vibrant green and the night was cold. His sweetheart was sleeping by his pillow, who wants to ruin it by talking about crimes?
His eyes darkened.
Liang Muqiu didn’t even think about it that way. It wasn’t his first time camping and he was accustomed to the stiff and cold environment already, but why did he find it so difficult to sleep?
Maybe it was because the person beside him was his sweetheart.
In the narrow tent, two people were squeezed onto an inflatable mattress. When they rolled over, they could touch each other. The outside was peaceful and silent, like a small isolated island with only him and Liang Muqiu left.
Liang Muqiu didn’t understand the dangers and he looked at him eagerly. He scratched Cen Nan’s palm with his index finger. Just like a wild kitten who had gotten used to living in a warm house, he let down his vigilance.
Provoked, Cen Nan let out a soft huff and suddenly stretched out his hand, pushing Liang Muqiu’s back onto the mattress. Liang Muqiu was still unaware of what was happening while Cen Nan had already flipped on top with him still huddled under the blanket. Cen Nan’s hands landed on both sides of Liang Muqiu.
Liang Muqiu realized what was going on and stammered. “You, what are you doing? This is a tent…”
Cen Nan interrupted him. “Since you can’t sleep, let’s do something else.”
After speaking, he didn’t wait for Liang Muqiu’s reaction and he lowered his head to kiss the lips that had still been chattering a moment ago. His teeth were attacked and the tip of his lip was sucked on, teasing and seducing fiercely.
This was the wilderness. Rounding up, the sky was the curtain and the ground was the seat.
The scenery was as pretty as a picture and there was a breeze and a bright moon.
Under a tent, they were secretly intertwined.
Liang Muqiu resisted at the beginning but he didn’t dare to move too much. The tent was not soundproof but he succumbed into the deep kiss.
Cen Nan’s eyelashes swept lightly over his eyelids and his hands were also grasped by Cen Nan, their fingers intertwining. Even his fingers were numb.
After a long while, Cen Nan released him.
Liang Muqiu only reacted half a day later. He was dizzy and his spirit was weakened. His voice was low and vague. “I didn’t give you my consent…and you just kissed me.”
The last four words were whispered softly.
Cen Nan looked down at him and his eyes stopped on the slightly swollen lips. He corrected himself humbly and asked, “Then will you let me kiss you?”
Should I?
Liang Muqiu was still dazed by the kiss just now. He stared at Cen Nan’s rolling Adam’s apple, hesitated, and gave a slight “Mn”.
Cen Nan smiled slightly.
He lovingly touched Liang Muqiu’s hair, like the world’s gentlest lover, and asked, “Qiuqiu, this would be our first date since I returned to China ba.”
Liang Muqiu nodded confusedly.
“Then, we have to leave something different.” Cen Nan said.
Liang Muqiu didn’t understand and tilted his head in doubt, but soon he understood what Cen Nan meant.
Cen Nan’s kiss descended gently, from his lips, all the way down and sucking his Adam’s apple and biting his collarbone.
Then, Cen Nan looked up at him and entered the quilt.
Liang Muqiu let out a startled cry and tightly pressed his lips together fearing that others would hear him.
He suppressed his voice but his sentences were broken, “Cen Nan, don’t… Are you crazy…”
Cen Nan turned a deaf ear to him.
Of course he’s not crazy.
He loved the person before him tremendously, so much that even he himself was shocked. Seven years of spring and autumn passed by, and it was still his longing for Liang Muqiu that kept him going.
He had been distorted for a long time but he still had to put on a gentle and refined mask in front of Liang Muqiu.
In the cramped tent, only Liang Muqiu’s low breathing could be heard. He was afraid of waking up others, so he could only bite the back of his hand and not make a sound.
It was unknown how long it took before he let out another short cry.
When the quilt was lifted, Cen Nan looked down at him again. His carved face and the outline of his facial features was flawless in the dark.
“Qiuqiu…” He called out.
Liang Muqiu closed his eyes and played a dead fish washed ashore.
Cen Nan laughed. He sorted out Liang Muqiu’s clothes, covered him with a blanket and went out by himself.
Liang Muqiu only dared to open his eyes after Cen Nan left.
He covered his face in disbelief, feeling like he was going to burn up.
It’s exam season so there won’t be updates for the next 2 weeks. Plus, I’ll be going back to my home country almost immediately after exams so I don’t know if I’ll be able to upload.
My updates have been more erratic recently but it’s only because I have a lot of changes happening in my personal life right now but it should ease up soon and if possible I’ll try to ramp up my releases. For now, I’ll see if I can get a couple of chapters scheduled for the upcoming month. Thanks for your patience everyone! <3
Thank You for the new chapter ♡(˃͈ દ ˂͈ ༶ ) Take care and good luck with Your exams! (つ≧▽≦)つ❤️
Well my exam are starting this Thursdays too so I don’t really mind besides reading always comes first. Best if luck for your exams
Thnx for the translation 😜