TSMITB Chapter56

For the rest of the time, the two lived very leisurely. Sheng Qixiao pushed Shen Que along, and like all the other couples who had come here for a vacation, they gradually became part of the lively atmosphere of the outer village.

They wandered around the market. Sheng Qixiao would take some specialty snacks, or things that looked like Shen Que would like, and give them to him.

The reason it was described as “taking” was because, along the way, Shen Que was nearly overwhelmed by the countless novel trinkets around him, while Sheng Qixiao never once made a move to pay.

Shen Que was gradually piled up with those small items, and finally couldn’t help but speak, “Sheng Qixiao, this is not your home. You have to pay for taking people’s things. You even knew to pay when you bought a phone.”

Hearing this, Sheng Qixiao took the time to withdraw his gaze from the various stalls, looked at Shen Que very seriously, nodded, and explained, “The phone store is not mine, so I have to pay.”

“Are these stores yours then? That’s why you don’t have to pay?” Shen Que was somewhat speechless.

“No.” Sheng Qixiao shook his head, and continued to explain seriously, “Only half of it is mine. They have to set aside half of what they earn for me.”

“……?” What kind of logic is that? Some villainous capitalist exploiting the villagers?

Shen Que decided to shut up, and no longer waste another word on such matters.

He sat in the wheelchair pushed by Sheng Qixiao, passing through the surging crowd. This feeling was very strange. He was like a motionless reef amid the lively, noisy river with countless breaths of freedom washing over him, yet he remained unable to truly flow with the current.

He was very close to freedom as if he could reach out and touch it, but the person pushing him was the most solid cage.

“Do you want to make something yourself?” Sheng Qixiao stopped in front of a shop with a sign that read “Handmade Silver Jewelry Custom Workshop.”

Shen Que looked up. The shop was brightly lit. Several couples clustered around the workbench, following the master craftsman’s instructions as they tapped away with small hammers, carefully shaping the silver strips in their hands.

Shen Que instinctively wanted to refuse. This kind of couple’s activity was not suitable for them, but the words, once they reached his lips, turned into silent permission.

The shop was not big. It was filled with various tools and semi-finished products. The air had a unique smell of metal after being heated. The master craftsman was very enthusiastic, leading them to an empty spot and bringing two silver strips of the same size and tools.

“What style do you want to make?” Sheng Qixiao asked Shen Que.

Shen Que’s gaze swept over the samples hanging on the wall, and finally landed on a style he thought was the simplest, a matte bracelet with only hammer marks.

He didn’t want to waste too much thought on this.

However, the making process was much more complicated than imagined. The silver strip needed to be quenched, then repeatedly hammered to shape. Shen Que had no skill. The hammer’s landing point was always inaccurate, and the force was uneven, so the indentations hammered out were naturally of different depths.

Sheng Qixiao sat right next to him, quietly crafting his own piece.

His movements were steady and powerful; every strike of the hammer landed just right, producing clear and rhythmic sounds.

“Raise your hand a little and use your wrist to guide it.” Seeing that Shen Que’s patience was about to run out, Sheng Qixiao considerately spoke.

“Tsk.” Shen Que disliked this sense of control that he inadvertently revealed the most, especially over such trivial details.

Like a challenge, he increased his force, and with a “clang,” the hammer went astray, almost hitting his own finger.

A hand reached out from the side and steadily held the hand with which he held the hammer.

Sheng Qixiao’s palm was broad, with a thin layer of calluses covering it, and Shen Que instinctively tried to pull his hand back.

“Don’t move.” Sheng Qixiao’s voice was very close as his warm breath brushed past Shen Que’s ear. He ignored Shen Que’s struggle, controlled his hand, and guided him by tapping the hammer on the silver strip stroke by stroke.

“Dong… dong… dong…” Regular tapping sounds rang out between the two of them.

He almost semi-enclosed Shen Que from behind with his chest pressed against Shen Que’s back. The steady and powerful heartbeat came through the fabric, and that familiar, cold scent of grass and flowers tightly enveloped Shen Que.

This was an extremely ambiguous yet highly oppressive posture, and Sheng Qixiao particularly favored such a posture.

“Your mind must be calm, Shen Que. If you want to take every step well, you cannot rush, nor can you be distracted.”

Shen Que lowered his eyes, choosing not to consider whether there was any other meaning to his words. Allowing Sheng Qixiao to control his arm, Shen Que once again felt like a puppet being manipulated by strings, with Sheng Qixiao as the one holding the threads.

A fierce war was raging in his heart.

His reason told him that this was a humiliation, a form of control; Sheng Qixiao seemed intent on quietly infiltrating every aspect of his life, leaving his presence stamped upon every detail of his surroundings. He ought to feel furious and disgusted.

But his body’s sensations were betraying him. That stable and powerful heartbeat, that aura completely enveloping him, and the sense of strength forcefully imparted, actually made him feel a subtle, unsettling, and inappropriate sense of security.

For a moment, he even had a lapse of consciousness as if they were truly an intimate couple, jointly creating a token that belonged to them.

This thought almost made Shen Que break out in a cold sweat. He suddenly snapped back to awareness and forcefully tried to pull his hand away.

“I’ll do it myself!”

Sheng Qixiao glanced at him, his eyes showing no ripples, nor did he seem displeased or surprised by Shen Que’s sudden emotional outburst.

Shen Que was always like this when he was by his side, like a lost little hedgehog; he would immediately put up all his quills when slightly provoked, but as long as his bottom line wasn’t touched again, those quills would quickly soften themselves, and he would continue to maintain a relatively stable calmness with him. This was Shen Que’s method of self-protection.

The young couple beside them, who were busy making matching couple rings, secretly cast measuring glances their way.

The sweet and lovely girl lowered her voice to share with her boyfriend, “They look like an estranged couple.”

Her boyfriend nodded in agreement, “I knew you secretly stayed up late reading novels again last night; you’ve never used that word before.”

Sheng Qixiao released his hand.

Shen Que’s heart was beating rapidly. He lowered his head and frantically hammered the already pitted silver strip, trying to use this method to hide his loss of composure.

He glanced at Sheng Qixiao out of the corner of his eye and found Sheng Qixiao staring blankly while holding the small hammer.

Shen Que paused for a moment, wondering whether his reaction just now had been too harsh and if it had hurt Sheng Qixiao.

Looking back on the past, Shen Que realized that Sheng Qixiao had indeed been easily hurt at times.

His strength and vulnerability were very well-timed. When Shen Que was annoyed by his assertiveness, the characteristics of weakness and helplessness, which were minimal in his life, would demonstrate their value at that moment.

Shen Que sighed, considering whether he should be kinder to him in their “last” time together.

“What does ‘estranged couple’ mean?” Sheng Qixiao suddenly asked.

Shen Que was stunned for a moment, “It means a couple who are not harmonious.”

“Then let’s not be an estranged couple.” Sheng Qixiao seemed to understand, yet didn’t fully understand either. After getting the answer, he continued the unfinished process in his hands.

“Of course we’re not.” Shen Que gave a little laugh. “We are not husband and wife.”

Sheng Qixiao emphasized, “We are husband and wife.”

“Sleeping together doesn’t automatically equal marriage,” the mischievous factor within Shen Que resurfaced. “If that were the standard, then I’d have more ‘wives’ than I could ever count…”

“Shen Que.” Sheng Qixiao gave him a warning glance. “Don’t say such things, or do you hope we return to the mountains right now?”

Shen Que fell silent.

Sheng Qixiao’s tone softened, “Marriage requires the witness and blessing of both sides’ relatives and friends, and a wedding ceremony. We have all of these. I know the outside world needs a marriage certificate; we can make up for that later.”

“When did we ever have these?”

Sheng Qixiao stopped paying attention to him and began to continue perfecting the bracelet in his hand.

The style he was making was very complicated, intricately carved into a circle of interconnected and intertwined vines.

The vines were carved lifelike, bearing flourishing vitality.

In contrast, the one in Shen Que’s hand was rough and clumsy, bearing many hammer marks that contained his emotional fluctuations.

“Sheng Qixiao.” He suddenly felt an absurd impulse.

“Hmm?” Sheng Qixiao looked up.

Shen Que didn’t act immediately while rubbing the uneven bracelet in his hand. After a while, he somewhat awkwardly pulled Sheng Qixiao’s hand over and, without allowing argument, put it on him.

The size was surprisingly just right as if it had been custom-made for him.

“For you.” Shen Que said.

Sheng Qixiao was somewhat surprised. He looked down at the rough silver ring on his wrist, his eyes sparkling with fragmented light. He even lifted his wrist, turning it around and around under the light, carefully examining and appreciating every unique mark.

“It’s very beautiful.” He looked at Shen Que with a heated gaze, the corners of his lips curling upward uncontrollably, deepening the pretty dimples in his cheeks, before speaking earnestly,, “I really like it. Thank you, Shen Que, I’m very happy.”

Shen Que’s heart suddenly felt a little stuffy.

During this time, Sheng Qixiao had given him many things, including the freedom he was about to be “forced” to give him.

But he, apart from deception and utilization, seemed to have given him nothing.

A strange feeling of debt densely flowed and filled his entire chest cavity.

Sheng Qixiao took the finished bracelet he had made and went to find the shop owner, communicating something in a murmur only they could understand.

Just then, the phone that had been lying face-down on his lap vibrated briefly. Shen Que quickly glanced at Sheng Qixiao’s back before unlocking it to see the new message.

“Location determined. We’ll arrive in two days, so hang in there a little longer.”

This short line of text was the trumpet blast announcing his imminent victory.

After reading it, Shen Que immediately deleted the message. When he looked back, Sheng Qixiao was already walking back empty-handed, seemingly unaware of this small incident.

His attention was drawn to the young couple next to them.

They were discussing which studio they should go to for their travel wedding photoshoot, saying they wanted to leave traces of their love in every city, so they could slowly recall them when they got old.

Sheng Qixiao thoughtfully withdrew his gaze and looked towards Shen Que.

After leaving the silver jewelry shop, Shen Que’s mood remained low.

The joy brought by that message was, for some reason, diluted by a more complex emotion.

Leaving E’yun Mountain was his wish, but he suddenly realized that leaving Sheng Qixiao, perhaps, was not.

This realization made him panic.

The morning sun was just right, diagonally passing through the eaves of the stilt house and casting mottled light and shadow on the bluestone slab road.

The two walked past a sizable ethnic style photography studio under the sun. In the huge glass showcase, several sets of gorgeous and complex local costumes and shimmering silver crowns were displayed.

Shen Que’s gaze locked onto one set of men’s attire.

That was a set of formal attire with a black base, embroidered with complex totems using gold and silver threads, and adorned with a large amount of silver jewelry. It carried a solemn and mysterious aesthetic, looking very much like the set he and Sheng Qixiao wore during the Moon Glazing Festival.

“Do you want to try it?” Sheng Qixiao’s voice sounded at the right time.

“Try what?”

Sheng Qixiao pondered his tone and tentatively lowered his stance, “I haven’t taken photos before.”

“……” Although he knew the anticipation and pitifulness in his words were likely feigned, but Shen Que still nodded.

Inside the shop, Shen Que was assisted in putting on the heavy and exquisite formal attire he had seen in the showcase.

Layers of fabric tightly constrained his body. A heavy, crescent-shaped silver collar hung against his chest, while a weighty, cold crown was fastened securely atop his head.

Shen Que looked at his richly dressed self in the mirror, like a gorgeous and noble sacrificial offering about to be consecrated.

He had only worn such formal attire twice. Once during the Moon Glazing Festival, when Sheng Qixiao personally helped him dress, his eyes held anticipation for him. But at that time, he was single-mindedly thinking only of how to utilize and escape, which ultimately ended badly.

What about now?

Shen Que forced a smile at the mirror. They both knew very well that they would never reach an agreement, so they would no longer futilely try to persuade the other party to adopt their own ideas, maintaining a superficial peace with great understanding, which also avoided many disputes.

Sheng Qixiao also changed his attire, putting on a qipao.

The dark, slim-fitting qipao outlined his tall and straight figure. The slits on both sides of the qipao were not too low, revealing the long, straight lines of his legs as he walked.

His long hair was half-tied up, fastened into a side chignon behind his ear, adorned with a few light-colored peonies. Paired with classical and dignified makeup, this maximized his androgynous beauty.

This was the condition Shen Que set for agreeing to take pictures.

Sheng Qixiao could choose the clothes and accessories for him, and correspondingly, Sheng Qixiao’s attire had to be specified by him.

Shen Que’s eyes lit up. He pushed his wheelchair over, “Sheng Qixiao.”

Sheng Qixiao was not very comfortable, “Do I really have to be dressed up like this?”

“What’s wrong? Didn’t you say you’d like whatever I chose? Are you lying to me again?” Shen Que pretentiously sighed, “Or how about we just don’t take the pictures?”

“…We will take it.” Sheng Qixiao gritted out.

The photographer was very professional; he only paused for a second at their drastically different styles and outfits, then immediately got into the groove, “Both of your temperaments are absolutely amazing! Come on, move a little closer, closer still!”

Shen Que was arranged to sit on a carved wooden stool with Sheng Qixiao standing beside him.

“Come on, sir, move a little closer. You can gently rest your hand on the backrest of the wheelchair. Yes, yes, yes…”

“The teacher who is sitting, relax a little and smile, think about something happy!”

Logically speaking, Shen Que should have been happy. He had received the good news that he would soon be leaving, and he had even managed to play a prank on Sheng Qixiao.

But he found that he could not bring himself to smile at all.

He was not as happy as he thought he would be.

“Come, teacher in the qipao, put your hand on his shoulder, yes!” The photographer directed loudly. “The other teacher, lean your head over a little, make it look natural!”

“No, no, it’s too stiff.” The photographer shook his head in dissatisfaction, and directed Sheng Qixiao, “How about this? Lean forward slightly and wrap your arm around him from behind, as if you’re about to hug him. Yes! That’s it! It gives the impression that you’re protecting him!”

Sheng Qixiao complied with the instructions.

He bent down, naturally slipping one arm around Shen Que from behind. One hand rested on the armrest beside Shen Que, while the other lay loosely against his waist.

Shen Que’s heart suddenly skipped a beat.

“Teacher sitting there, look at him! Look at the person beside you!” The photographer called out loudly in reminder.

Shen Que subconsciously raised his head and met Sheng Qixiao’s gaze directly.

Sheng Qixiao was not looking at the camera; he had been looking at him, his gaze focused.

Within those pale eyes, countless complicated emotions surged. Love came first, spreading out like a vast ocean. Then, Shen Que painstakingly caught hold of the emotion hidden deepest within; a feeling called sorrow.

His eyelashes trembled slightly.

Sorrow? Was it because of him?

It was because of him.

A voice answered for him in his heart.

“Good! Excellent! Hold that pose!”

“Click—”

The crisp sound of the shutter rang out, permanently freezing this instant, along with Shen Que’s momentary wavering and confusion.

Looking at the photo on the camera screen, Shen Que was momentarily in a trance.

In the photograph, Sheng Qixiao was looking down at him, the contours of his profile sharply defined, while his eyes held a gentle warmth. Shen Que was looking up, his expression bewildered and helpless, but even more, there was a deep attachment drawn by the person in front of him.

“The two people in the photo are very well-matched, aren’t they, Shen Que?” After staring at it for a long while, Sheng Qixiao commented, his tone almost sounding like a sigh.

“En.” Shen Que did not refute it.

They might be well-matched, at least in that frozen instant.

The author has something to say:

Enjoy the “final” happiness well~