WSSAPF chapter 2

“No.” Zhou Chulan’s answer was exceptionally quick. The moment he raised his eyes, he happened to meet Li Zhuoyao’s gaze, then quickly averted his eyes.

“Oh, then I might have made a mistake. After all, it’s my first time here.”

“Yeah, it’s your first time.” Zhou Chulan lowered his head to eat the noodles. Soon, his bowl was empty, leaving only a bit of clear soup with a lonely scallion flower floating on top.

The rain gradually intensified at this moment, and the wind, carrying raindrops, continuously beat against the eaves. Soon, rain started to fall from the eaves with a pattering sound.

Zhou Chulan stood up, began to tidy up the bowls and chopsticks, looking thoughtful as he stared at the rain.

“When it rains in the mountains, the ground becomes very slippery. It’s dangerous to walk on the night road. If you don’t mind, stay here for the night and leave tomorrow.” Zhou’s father suggested.

Zhou Chulan paused for a moment while tidying up the table. Li Zhuoyao thought for a while and agreed. After thinking, he took out two hundred yuan from his wallet and handed it to Zhou’s father, who repeatedly refused.

“We can’t accept this.”

“If you want to stay here, take the money back.” Zhou Chulan coldly dropped a sentence, leaving the basin that held the lamb noodles on the table, turned and entered the kitchen. The sound of the faucet quickly followed, with ceramic bowls, steel bowls, wooden chopsticks, and iron basins clashing together in chaos.

“He’s not usually like this. I’m sorry.” Zhou’s father apologized.

“It’s okay.” Li Zhuoyao silently took back the two banknotes, cursing himself inwardly.

“Why don’t you come in?” Zhou Chulan walked out of the kitchen with wet hands, his fingers red from the cold water. He pointed to the house in the yard.

“My dad lives in the one next to the kitchen. There’s also one inside the yard. You can stay there tonight.”

Zhou Chulan took Li Zhuoyao into the living room, where they sat on the sofa. Then he took out an electric kettle and started boiling water.

“Sorry about earlier. I just wanted to thank you.”

“No problem.”

The living room was unusually neat, with many decorative paintings on the wall. Li Zhuoyao approached and found that these paintings were hand-drawn, all signed with the character “Lan.” Upon closer inspection, he was increasingly amazed by the level of the artworks. Each stroke revealed a solid foundation, far from being amateur. The painting style was very distinctive, with bright colors resembling the style of Chagall, full of vitality.

However, Zhou Chulan seemed completely indifferent.

“Did you study painting?”

“Yeah. I majored in fine arts in college.”

“Have you ever thought about going out to see the world?”

“I can’t go out.” Zhou Chulan shook his head, looking at a painting on the wall with a somewhat melancholic calmness in his eyes.

“My dad is not in good health.”

The painting on the wall was the most artistic one in the entire room. It depicted a young man in a white shirt, sitting on a stone, reading a book. Surrounding him was a green field filled with white flowers.

“This painting is quite special.” Li Zhuoyao walked forward, looked at it, and started to smile. He pointed at the young man in the painting and turned to Zhou Chulan, saying, “Why does this person’s figure resemble mine a bit?”

“Just a coincidence.” Zhou Chulan extended his thumb, using the pad of his finger to wipe away a smudge on the outer glass.

“Who is this?”

“Like you, he was also a guest at the gas station.”

“Can I have one too?” Li Zhuoyao approached, half-jokingly and half-seriously.

“Sure.”

Li Zhuoyao grinned happily. Just as he was about to express his thanks, he felt an itch in his nose and sneezed. Suddenly, he felt a bit cold, rubbing his arms to warm himself, and asked, “Do you have cold medicine?” He sniffed, and his speech already had a nasal tone.

“I seem to have caught a cold.”

At this moment, the water boiled, and the electric kettle made a clicking sound as it tripped the circuit.

Zhou Chulan opened a pack of Yinqiao cold medicine, put it in a glass, poured water, and the water in the glass gradually turned into a light brown color. He then took out a pack of rock sugar from the drawer, pinched a small piece into the glass, and stirred continuously with a spoon. The iron spoon tapping against the glass made a sound similar to the jingling of wind chimes.

“Is the place in that painting far away?”He continued the previous topic.

“Not far. This is my family’s ginger field, right behind the house.”

“Are these white flowers ginger flowers? Does ginger also bloom?”

Li Zhuoyao was pleasantly surprised. He had never seen ginger flowers and never thought that the seemingly insignificant ginger could be so beautiful when it blooms.

“Yes, but it only blooms around July or August.”

“Oh, that’s a bit of a pity.”

Zhou Chulan put down the spoon, tested the temperature of the glass with his hand, and then handed the glass to Li Zhuoyao.

“Here.”

“Thank you.”

Li Zhuoyao couldn’t stand bitter medicine and always needed to add sugar. He took a sip of the medicinal water in the glass, and the sweetness of the rock sugar covered the bitterness of the honeysuckle. The warm medicine flowed through his throat, warming his whole body.

“The bathroom is over there, next to the bedroom. You sleep downstairs tonight, and I’ll sleep upstairs.”

Zhou Chulan found a white short-sleeved shirt, a pair of gray shorts, and a new towel and handed them to him.

“The towel and clothes are new and have been washed.”

While saying this, he unwrapped the packaging of the green fine hair toothbrush in his hand and repeatedly rinsed it with hot water. Then, he shook off the water droplets from the toothbrush, handing it to Li Zhuoyao.

Li Zhuoyao took these items, pushed open the bathroom door, which was spacious and very clean, with a bottle of ginger shower gel on the table. He picked it up and shook it; there was still more than half left, and the bottle was wiped clean on the outside. The walls also had ceramic tile paintings, all of Zhou Chulan’s works.

The entire bathroom was filled with a faint ginger scent, slightly bitter but warm. Zhou Chulan also carried this scent. Now, Li Zhuoyao was immersed in this comfortable scent, feeling a long-lost sense of familiarity.

It was as if this ginger fragrance had accompanied him through many places, gone to Guangzhou to finish university, traveled through every corner of Yongqing Alley, Chen Family Ancestral Hall, and Shamian Island, looked out at the Canton Tower, accompanied him across the ocean to pursue a master’s degree in New York, and now it lingered with him in Guizhou.

But he didn’t know Zhou Chulan before. This ginger shower gel also seemed to be a local miscellaneous brand; he had never seen it before.

Warm water flowed down Li Zhuoyao’s head, and he wiped his face, feeling a bit light-headed. After drying his body, he changed into Zhou Chulan’s clothes. A lavender laundry detergent scent wafted from the neckline of the clothes, which went straight to his nose.

Li Zhuoyao returned to the bedroom, the overhead light was on, presumably left on by Zhou Chulan for him, casting a warm yellow glow. There was a staircase in the corner connecting upstairs. The sound of a shower came from upstairs; Zhou Chulan was probably taking a bath.

Li Zhuoyao lay on the bed, and his heart was restless until the sound from upstairs stopped. He touched his face, feeling a bit hot. He tossed and turned in bed; he couldn’t fall asleep no matter what.

At night, the temperature was relatively low, so he pulled the duvet higher. The duvet was filled with Zhou Chulan’s scent, a faintly bitter ginger aroma that was very reassuring. Li Zhuoyao was tightly wrapped in this scent, and soon fell asleep.

He had a very deep and heavy dream, dreaming that he was walking in the desert with a heavy head and light feet, tired and hot, desperately thirsty. Suddenly, the sky began to rain, and the raindrops fell gently on his lips.

Li Zhuoyao opened his eyes and found a cold towel on his forehead. Zhou Chulan was using a cotton swab dipped in water, gradually wetting his dry, peeling lips.

“You have a fever. Here, take a fever-reducing pill.” Zhou Chulan opened his palm, and there lay a white pill, holding a cup of warm water.

Li Zhuoyao sat up, his head feeling heavy. As he leaned his nose toward Zhou Chulan’s palm, he furrowed his brows.

“It feels so bitter; I don’t want it.”

After saying that, he turned his head away, like a cat forced to eat vegetables.

“Do you have sugar? Give me one to eat first. I can’t swallow bitter medicine.”

Zhou Chulan sighed, put the water cup on the table, and took out a pink-wrapped strawberry candy from his pocket. The packaging even had a butterfly pattern. He tore open the candy wrapper and handed it to him.

Li Zhuoyao’s entire face turned red from the fever, making his eyes even more watery. He bent down slowly, extending his head over to eat the candy from Zhou Chulan’s hand. The breath of a feverish person was scorching, and the hot waves between his lips and teeth sprayed onto Zhou Chulan’s palm. Zhou Chulan’s body moved slightly, and his back suddenly stiffened.

“Don’t move.” Li Zhuoyao reached out, grabbed Zhou Chulan’s arm, pulled it towards himself, and then bowed his head, taking that candy into his mouth, licking Zhou Chulan’s palm with his tongue.

This time, Zhou Chulan didn’t move. His palm became damp.

“You’re a grown man, and you still buy strawberry candy?”

Li Zhuoyao’s mouth was stuffed with candy, and he spoke unclearly, but his eyes sparkled under the light.

“It was given to me by someone.”

“Was it a man or a woman? A woman, right?”

“Yeah.”

Li Zhuoyao frowned, his cheeks redder than before, and his breath, when he exhaled, became even warmer. With a “crack” sound, he bit the candy in half.

The strawberry-flavored candy became even sweeter. The sweet taste, like a burning sensation, drilled straight into his chest. The next moment, he bent over and spat the candy into the trash.

Li Zhuoyao wiped the candy stains from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and turned to Zhou Chulan.

“Give me the fever-reducing medicine.”

Zhou Chulan paused for two seconds, then extended the fever-reducing medicine to Li Zhuoyao again. Li Zhuoyao, out of habit, reached for it with his mouth. Thinking of the candy from earlier, feeling a bit displeased, he reached out, picked up the medicine, and directly put it into his mouth. He then grabbed the water cup and started to gulp down water.

Drinking too quickly, he choked. A violent cough ensued, and the not-yet-swallowed pill met the water in his throat, immediately dissolving. A strong and bitter taste spread in his mouth, making it almost unbearable.

It took a while for the commotion to settle down. He felt somewhat exhausted, leaned back, and closed his eyes to rest. Zhou Chulan sat there without saying a word.

“I’ve finished the medicine… you can go upstairs to rest. Thank you.”

It was still Li Zhuoyao who broke the silence, and he spoke without bothering to open his eyes.

A hand silently covered his forehead. The palm was wide, but the center was cold.

He opened his eyes to see Zhou Chulan’s face in front of him, calm and unruffled.

Li Zhuoyao reached out and removed Zhou Chulan’s hand from his forehead.

“Your hand is too cold.”

He casually looked up and saw Zhou Chulan’s face getting closer and closer. Li Zhuoyao froze in place, and that handsome face was like a blade, approaching him directly.

Zhou Chulan pressed his forehead against Li Zhuoyao’s forehead. They were very close, and Li Zhuoyao could even feel Zhou Chulan’s scorching breath on the tip of his nose. Any closer, and it would be a kiss.

In a daze, he actually imagined scenes of kissing Zhou Chulan. His heart stirred, and his lips involuntarily parted, emitting a tiny muffled hum.