As usual, on every night, Wu Chun and Xu Shi Yao leaned against each other, sitting on the branches of the pine tree.
Wu Chun rested his head on Xu Shi Yao’s shoulder, watching the sun gradually disappear behind the mountaintop.
Another night had come…
“Why did you come back now?”
Xu Shi Yao’s low voice came from above.
Wu Chun buried his face in Xu Shi Yao’s embrace, greedily inhaling his scent.
“I missed you.” Wu Chun said truthfully. If it weren’t for the overwhelming longing in his heart, why would he have put in so much effort, traveled for a whole day, taking two buses, just to be with Xu Shi Yao before sunset.
And when tomorrow’s day breaks, Wu Chun will have to leave again.
There are twenty-four hours in a day, but the time Wu Chun and Xu Shi Yao spend together is only about four hours.
Wu Chun couldn’t resist the drowsiness brought on by the night.
Xu Shi Yao couldn’t resist the damage caused by the sunlight.
Between them, it was like when the guards changed shifts, there was a period of time in between when no one paid attention to them.
So, in this stolen time, they love each other recklessly.
Thinking of this, Wu Chun felt a bit childish. Despite being an adult, he still acted like a child, doing things based on his feelings.
Wu Chun admonished himself to be steady, but in front of Xu Shi Yao, that steadiness would easily crumble. Regardless of whether the other person appeared or not, it could easily disturb his emotions.
“Have you been listening to me these past few days?” Wu Chun asked, acting like a spoiled child.
“I have,” Xu Shi Yao’s tone was filled with indulgence.
“What did you listen to?”
Without hesitation, Xu Shi Yao said, “I’ve been missing you, every moment, constantly.”
Wu Chun’s eyes welled up with tears. He stared at Xu Shi Yao’s affectionate gaze for a moment but couldn’t hold back and dove into his embrace.
“It must have taken you quite a bit of time to come back here, right?” Xu Shi Yao asked.
It’s not just a short amount of time!
From the moment Wu Chun boarded the bus, he didn’t eat much. When he arrived at the town where his grandfather lived just now, Wu Chun bought a steamed bun and now kept it in his pocket.
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.
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Ca atlr wbwfca, lc bgvfg cba ab ifa We Vtl Tjb kbggs, tf qgfafcvfv ab yf gfijzfv jcv rjlv, “Pa vlvc’a ajxf abb ibcu.”
“It didn’t take too long, just a little over a day.”
After hearing Xu Shi Yao’s words, Wu Chun was stunned.
“You… you knew?” Wu Chun asked in astonishment.
His waist was gripped by a hand, and Wu Chun was close to Xu Shi Yao. At this distance, Wu Chun couldn’t see Xu Shi Yao’s facial expression clearly, but he could hear his voice very clearly.
Wu Chun listened as Xu Shi Yao said, “When you boarded the bus to the school, you held the pinecone in your hand until you got off at the school, which took about half a day. And from your home back to Shili Mountain, it would take nearly a day. Isn’t that more than a day?”
Wu Chun was taken aback.
Holding the pinecone in his hand, Wu Chun did it for the sake of peace of mind, never thinking it would have such significance.
“You remembered it?” Wu Chun asked softly.
“I remembered. This pinecone was originally placed on you to feel your presence.” Xu Shi Yao replied.
“How did you know I was on the bus at that time?”
Wu Chun not only held the pinecone when he was on the bus but also when he was sleeping or deeply engrossed in reading. He was surprised that Xu Shi Yao could gather such information from all those moments.
He looked at Xu Shi Yao with confusion, and Xu Shi Yao gave a slight smile, raising his hand to gently tap Wu Chun’s forehead.
“Forgot already? You said it yourself.”
Wu Chun said it himself?
Wu Chun tried to recall, though they didn’t have an all-night conversation before parting, they had chatted about many things. He searched his memory for that evening, but he couldn’t remember mentioning it at all.
“When did I say it?” Unable to recall, Wu Chun asked.
“You said it many times, mentioning that after three days of returning home, you would leave the city to study, and there would be a long journey.”
As he spoke, Xu Shi Yao waved his hand lightly, and several new pieces of tree bark appeared in front of them.
The contents on the tree bark were all additions made by Xu Shi Yao during this time. Wu Chun saw that it recorded when he left Shili Mountain and when he left the city.
The time recorded on the tree bark was not very different from the actual time Wu Chun left.
However, for the other moments when Wu Chun tightly held the pinecone in his hand, the tree bark only recorded them without Xu Shi Yao knowing the context or reason behind them.
So he drew a small question mark after these contents.
However, after much thought, Wu Chun realized that despite there appearing to be many possible answers to the question, they could all be summed up into one – missing.
When he missed Xu Shi Yao, Wu Chun would do this – clutch the pinecone in his hand, as if Xu Shi Yao was by his side. On the days when they couldn’t be together, it brought some comfort to his heart.
“Xu Shi Yao,” Wu Chun said, pointing to the string of questions, “Remember well, the standard answers to these questions are here. I do this because…” Wu Chun paused and looked up at Xu Shi Yao.
The moonlight fell on Xu Shi Yao’s cheeks, and his bright eyes glimmered like stars in the dark night, enough to put one’s heart at ease.
Who said ghosts are the ugliest creatures in this world?
Wu Chun leaned forward, and his lips coincidentally touched Xu Shi Yao’s lips, lingering for a short while before quickly pulling back.
“Because… I miss you.”
Wu Chun completed the unfinished sentence. He saw Xu Shi Yao hesitate for a moment, and then suddenly, Wu Chun felt a force at the back of his head, a cool sensation rushing into his lips. Almost impatiently, Xu Shi Yao swiftly parted Wu Chun’s lips with his own, their tongues intertwining.
Wu Chun’s eyelashes trembled slightly, and he passively and willingly accepted Xu Shiyao’s advance. His hands tightly held onto Xu Shi Yao’s waist. Slowly, Wu Chun closed his eyes and gradually surrendered to the gentle touch accompanied by the coolness.
After they separated, Wu Chun was slightly panting, while Xu Shi Yao seemed unaffected.
Wu Chun leaned against Xu Shi Yao’s shoulder, listening to Xu Shi Yao’s soft voice near his ear, saying, “I miss you too.”
Because of this longing, they would strive to resist the fading memories, recording the time when the other person left, and then calculating day by day how many days and nights they had to endure before they could meet again.
For the past five years, the atmosphere and surroundings of Shili Mountain had remained the same day after day. In the past, Xu Shi Yao never found it boring, as his inability to remember made everything around him feel new each day, like a fresh experience.
But now, even though the surroundings were still novel, Xu Shi Yao still felt a sense of boredom.
Perhaps it was because the person he wanted to see the most wasn’t there. Even though he had recorded the time when the other person returned to this place, when he opened his eyes and saw that there was only himself around, he still felt a sense of loss in his heart.
Xu Shi Yao waved his hand again, and a larger piece of tree bark appeared in front of them. Wu Chun looked at it and found that it depicted a simple map of their school, with some buildings outlined with just a few simple lines, but the geographic locations were incredibly accurate.
“This is what I told you last time, and you remembered it?” Wu Chun asked.
Xu Shi Yao nodded.
“How could you remember so clearly,” Wu Chun murmured softly. At that time, he only wanted to introduce Xu Shi Yao to his school because it was a significant place in his life, and he wanted to share it with Xu Shi Yao.
But Wu Chun never expected that Xu Shi Yao would record it in this way.
However, upon reflection, it made sense. Besides drawing and writing, Xu Shi Yao had no other way to retain memories.
His brain’s memory capacity had been mercilessly taken away, but at least he could still remember through these records.
“In the days when I can’t see the light, at least I can still record a glimpse of light,” Xu Shi Yao’s voice suddenly sounded, and Wu Chun slowly raised his head, meeting those tender eyes.
“What?” Wu Chun asked softly.
“In the places where I am not present, I want to know about your living environment. You already know about my life – I appear at every sunset and disappear at every sunrise. But as for the world outside of that, I’m curious,” Xu Shi Yao explained.
“Do you want to see what it looks like outside?” Wu Chun asked cautiously.
Xu Shi Yao hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. He continued, “I just want to see the places where you are.”
Wu Chun was taken aback, then smiled gently. He looked at the sketch of the school campus on the tree bark and replied tenderly, “From now on, I’ll tell you about everything.”
At this moment, Wu Chun realized that there was another flexible way for Xu Shi Yao to record memories, aside from drawing and writing, and that was through him.
As he stepped away from his hometown, Wu Chun’s eyes carried a hint of Xu Shi Yao’s anticipation. Together, they would record the myriad of worlds. In a sense, they were connected as one.
“Are you leaving tomorrow?” Xu Shi Yao asked.
Wu Chun nodded, “I’ll be leaving at dawn.”
Upon hearing this, Xu Shi Yao briefly froze before indulgently saying, “Next time, don’t do this. It’s going to tire you out. Don’t let seeing me exhaust your body.”
Wu Chun pursed his lips and didn’t say anything. He understood the logic behind it, but when longing overpowered rationality, he couldn’t care about anything else.
“I’m right here,” Xu Shi Yao suddenly said, and Wu Chun looked at him, not quite understanding. Xu Shi Yao gave a faint smile and explained in a soft voice, “I’m right here, I won’t leave. When the time is right, we will meet, and when it’s not meant to be, we should be where we belong, doing what we should be doing.” He sighed slowly and continued, “Perhaps we have to endure some pain of separation to enjoy being together in the future. After all, our future is full of possibilities.”
With that, Xu Shi Yao embraced Wu Chun again and spoke in a tender tone, as if comforting a child, “Wu Chun, don’t be too impatient. I’ll accompany you as you grow.”
“I understand,” Wu Chun responded softly.
Seeing Wu Chun, Xu Shi Yao was certainly happy, but he couldn’t bear to see Wu Chun rushing back and forth, and he didn’t want to spend most of his energy and time on distant journeys just for a brief meeting like today.
If it’s said that in the future torrent of time, their paths will eventually intersect at a point, then the diverging crossroads they encounter between that point will be a test for them.
After all, they are different from others, and cross-world love is not an easy thing. How could this world allow them to be together easily.
Even so, Xu Shi Yao still stands at the intersection where Wu Chun used to pass by every sunset, even though he knows Wu Chun won’t appear. He recreates the scenes of Wu Chun’s past appearances in his mind based on the recorded contents on the tree bark.
As the saying goes…
If you have free time, why not think of someone you miss?
A soybean:
Hello, everyone! Good evening!! 😊
Such a heartwarming and heartbreaking chapter. Haha, long distance relationship between two different species..?
thanks for the chapter 😭💞