TSMITB Chapter55

After breakfast, Sheng Qixiao held Shen Que up to the first floor by supporting his bottom with one hand and carrying the wheelchair with the other.

It had been years since Shen Que was held in such a manner, and a suspicious blush appeared on his cheeks; he didn’t know if it was from anger or something else.

This was a two-story guesthouse; the layout of the stilt house was cleverly modified, with three sides of the first floor replaced by floor-to-ceiling windows, maximizing the surrounding lush mountain scenery within view.

The guesthouse stood halfway up the mountain, complete with its own small courtyard. The stone walls surrounding the yard were about half a person’s height, and from over the wall, one could see a world entirely different from the village below.

The two followed the gently sloping bluestone path down the mountain. Along the road, countless small buildings were already stirring awake. Most still retained their old-fashioned appearance, but the light shining through the few windows where the lamps had yet to be extinguished was no longer the flickering glow of candles, but the steady, bright light of incandescent bulbs.

Closer to the central area, shops had also opened their doors one after another with various signs above the entrances. The breakfast stalls had their steamer baskets set beneath the steps, and the moment a lid was lifted, a thick cloud of white steam billowed out, carrying the rich aroma of glutinous rice and savory meat filling that quickly permeated the air.

“Fresh corn cakes, handsome, would you like some? We also have Xiao Longbao¹small steamed buns~”

The broad flagstone road bustled with activity as tourists in outdoor jackets, pulling their suitcases behind them, passed by locals dressed in ornate embroidered Miao attire and adorned with layers of silver ornaments, creating a peculiar yet harmonious scene where the two worlds coexisted side by side.

The air was no longer the singular fragrance of grass and trees found in the mountains, but a mixture of countless scents forming a turbid current unique to the human world, full of vitality, which rushed at Shen Que, filling his nose, mouth, and lungs.

It had been far too long since he smelled this kind of scent.

Not until this moment did he have the concrete feeling that he was still alive.

Sheng Qixiao pushed the wheelchair at a very slow pace, moving like a solitary ghost detached from the world, entirely unaffected by the lively bustle surrounding him. His silence formed a stark contrast with everything around them; he stubbornly built an invisible barrier, trying to rudely isolate the two of them from this vibrant world.

Yet his gaze followed Shen Que from beginning to end, so he was perfectly aware of every subtle change in him. He watched Shen Que gradually relax without even realizing it, watched his earlobes turn red with excitement, and finally watched as the bustling sights of the crowded streets completely captivated him, leaving him almost forgetting about Sheng Qixiao altogether.

“Compared to the inner village, do you prefer it here?” Sheng Qixiao’s voice was very soft, like drifting mist, bringing Shen Que back from the commotion.

The look of longing on Shen Que’s face receded like a tide, naturally replaced by a calm, perfectly measured smile. He slightly turned his head, looking up at the person behind him controlling his direction of travel, and simply said, “It’s very lively here.”

Sheng Qixiao responded with an “en,” his gaze sweeping over the top of Shen Que’s head and towards the distant lights of the noisy area.

He wore dark-colored clothes with his long hair gathered into a thick, voluminous braid with silver threads woven through it, while tiny bells hung silently from the end. Standing amidst this colorful human world, he resembled a solitary boat of cool and indifferent color, carrying a wisp of wind that longed for freedom, seeming so out of place with everything around him.

“What about you? Do you like it here?”

Sheng Qixiao continued pushing the wheelchair forward, his gaze still fixed on the distance, not giving any attention to Shen Que, “There’s nothing to like or dislike; to me, none of this makes a difference.”

“Do you want to hear the truth?” Shen Que turned around and sat properly, his sight following the direction Sheng Qixiao was looking. He tilted his head back slightly, creating an ambiguous distance where Sheng Qixiao could send his heartbeat right to Shen Que’s ear if he leaned in, but he stood ramrod straight.

“Tell me.”

Shen Que pulled at the corner of his mouth, his voice full of weariness, “I grew up in a place a hundred times livelier than this; I’m used to all the noise and clamor. The mountain is beautiful, the little building is lovely, and the place is so quiet that it allows people to calm their minds and settle their hearts. But my heart has never been settled for a moment, because I don’t belong there.”

He paused for a moment, then shifted the focus of his words, adopting a somewhat persuasive tone, “Sheng Qixiao, are you really unwilling to go out and take a look with me? Go to the place where I grew up, I’ll take you to see real splendor, to see a world ten thousand times more prosperous than this.”

This was a test, or rather, a temptation and a trap.

Sheng Qixiao listened quietly, neither moved by the rare sincerity in Shen Que’s words nor angered by the obscure test.

He remained silent without expressing any sentiment.

He didn’t know how much time passed; just as Shen Que thought the conversation had faded into silence, Sheng Qixiao took something out of the pocket behind the wheelchair and handed it to him.

It was an unopened cell phone.

Shen Que’s breathing suddenly caught.

He didn’t immediately reach out to take it, but looked at the phone in disbelief, then turned to look at Sheng Qixiao, unsure whether the hand he was about to extend was reaching for an opportunity or another trap.

The fact that Sheng Qixiao suddenly volunteered to bring him out was strange enough; he had no choice but to be wary.

“Didn’t you want to get in touch with them? There’s no signal up on the mountain, but you can get a signal here.” Sheng Qixiao still didn’t look at him, his tone was very casual, but his lips had already unconsciously been pursed into a straight line.

It was the expression of someone who was extremely unwilling but forcing himself to do something against his will.

Shen Que watched him for a long time without moving; for some reason, his heartbeat became very chaotic as if overturning boxes of different paints, and an unspeakable unfamiliar emotion stood out from the complex interweaving feelings, making his eyes inexplicably feel sore.

The phone screen illuminated in his hands, and Shen Que felt as though his entire world brightened with it, while somewhere deep in his chest, a corner seemed to crumble completely, beyond any hope of recovery.

Shen Que fumbled with the phone, while Sheng Qixiao thoughtfully pushed him to a relatively quiet corner.

It was an alleyway formed between two stilt houses, avoiding the crowded throngs, with only the distant roar of human voices faintly reaching them.

Before the excitement had subsided, a practical problem surfaced.

“Do you have a SIM card?” Shen Que looked up at Sheng Qixiao.

Sheng Qixiao looked momentarily confused, as though he didn’t understand the term, before slowly asking uncertainly, “What SIM card?”

He had always been only partially knowledgeable about outside affairs; no matter how fluent his Mandarin was at this moment, it couldn’t hide the fact that he barely recognized any Chinese characters.

The concept of a cell phone was something he had gained previously when secretly watching Shen Que; as for the minor detail that a card needed to be inserted inside, he naturally had no way of knowing.

“A phone needs a SIM card to make calls.” Shen Que explained.

Sheng Qixiao nodded, having learned something new, and pushed him to start walking out, “Then I’ll go get one for you.”

“Wait a minute.” Shen Que realized an even more serious problem, “Where did the phone come from?”

Based on Shen Que’s not-too-deep understanding of Sheng Qixiao, he speculated that Sheng Qixiao was probably visiting the outer village for the first time; he likely hadn’t even figured out the rules of the outside world, let alone having money.

Shen Que quickly thought through things again; the small amount of cash in his own wallet wouldn’t even cover a fraction of the cost of this phone.

At this thought, Shen Que’s expression turned serious.

“I found someone to buy it for me.” Sheng Qixiao showed no sign of guilt on his face, stating calmly, “I traded something with someone for money and had him buy the phone for me. I’ll go find him later and get him to buy me a SIM card.”

“What did you exchange with him?” Shen Que’s tone took on an interrogative quality; he folded his arms, perfectly mimicking Sheng Qixiao’s posture when he had “interrogated” him previously.

Sheng Qixiao didn’t understand why, but inexplicably followed Shen Que’s rhythm, putting on the role of a “criminal suspect.”

He brought his braid around to the front and shook the silent bells, “Inside the bells are small Gu insects…”

“You sold them to an outsider?!” Shen Que’s voice suddenly rose, but he instinctively lowered it again.

Sheng Qixiao frowned, and as if afraid of being overheard, he quickly stepped forward to shield Shen Que, subtly pushing the wheelchair further into the alley, cutting off the view from outside.

“Why are you blocking? Now you know it can’t be overheard?” Shen Que grabbed Sheng Qixiao’s sleeve, “Are you crazy, Sheng Qixiao! Don’t you know how terrifying this thing is? This isn’t E’yun Mountain; the outside world has its own rules. Do you know what kind of consequences this thing could cause once exploited by someone with ill intentions? Or, what if the buyer uses these things to investigate you instead, what will you do?!”

His worry was not only fear of the Gu insects, but the dread of a Pandora’s box being so easily opened.

“Are you worrying about me?” Sheng Qixiao lowered his head, soothingly pinched his earlobe, his mood visibly brightening, “Don’t worry, they’re not harmful; they’re just little bugs that can make people tell the truth.”

As he spoke, he seemed to recall something, sighing very lightly, and quietly added, “I never even had the heart to use them on you.”

“……” This sentence, mixed with both intimacy and threat, made Shen Que deeply feel that his worry was truly excessive.

He let go and leaned back against the wheelchair, but his heart remained unsettled. After holding back for a moment, he couldn’t help asking, “Are you sure that person can be trusted?”

“He should be reliable. He wouldn’t dare lie to me.” Sheng Qixiao answered with great certainty, and as if it were obvious.

Sheng Qixiao’s certainty stemmed from his near-absolute control in E’yun Mountain, but how could the wickedness of people in the outside world compare to the small swamp of E’yun Mountain?

Shen Que still wanted to say something more, but finally forced himself to relax.

Hopefully, that person is truly reliable.

However, if Sheng Qixiao were to stumble, it wouldn’t be bad either. Shen Que became gleeful again.

It was already fifteen minutes later when he got the SIM card.

Shen Que paused for a long time at the dialing interface. He wanted to call Shen Yi and ask if he was truly better. But his finger hovered over the screen for a good while without pressing a single digit.

His older brother’s private number, that sequence of digits which had never changed since childhood and which he once knew by heart, had now become a blur of garbled code in his mind.

The long-term isolation and high level of mental stress seemed to have begun silently and invisibly eroding his memory.

Just as Shen Que was about to be swallowed by this sudden anxiety, a hand reached over, covered the phone, and took it from his rigid fingertips.

It was Sheng Qixiao.

He leaned down, his whole body adopting an encompassing posture, completely enclosing Shen Que in his shadow.

“131…”

Sheng Qixiao recited a string of numbers deliberately, word by word, and then accurately typed them onto the screen with his long, slender fingers.

That sequence of digits coincided with the blurred number deep in Shen Que’s memory.

A chill quickly spread from their briefly touching fingertips throughout his entire body, and Shen Que abruptly looked up, staring at Sheng Qixiao in shock.

How did he know?

“What’s wrong?” Sheng Qixiao lowered his gaze with a perfectly pitched look of confusion in his eyes, “Do you need anything else?”

Shen Que did not answer immediately; the emotional turmoil in his heart did not subside, but instead intensified. He looked away and shook his head nonchalantly, “Nothing.”

Actually, there was nothing to be surprised about; it wasn’t as if he hadn’t seen Sheng Qixiao’s capabilities before. Knowing his brother’s phone number didn’t seem too unbelievable.

But at this moment, his heart, and his entire being with it, was uncontrollably sinking.

The call was quickly connected, and Shen Que spoke before his brother could, “Ge, it’s me, Shen Que. Are you feeling better?”

There was silence for a few seconds on the other end, then a deep, slightly trembling voice that was trying hard to suppress something came through, “…I’m much better, and you, Little Fool, you…”

“Ge!” Shen Que quickly interrupted, “I’m fine. I’m relieved to know you’re okay, but I have something to do, so I’m hanging up now.”

“Wait.” Shen Yi’s end was quiet for a while again, then there were soft rustling sounds of deliberately muffled footsteps and rapid keyboard typing, and finally, he only said, “Take good care of yourself.”

Shen Que hung up the phone and, looking up, met Sheng Qixiao’s scrutinizing gaze.

“I thought, you would have a lot to say.”

Shen Que shook his head and turned off the screen, his expression revealing neither joy nor sorrow. “What’s the point of saying anything more?”

Sheng Qixiao knew he was accusing him of depriving him of his freedom.

He didn’t respond, instead asking a somewhat unrelated question, “You’re so smart, why does he call you Little Fool?”

“Didn’t you say you know everything about me?” Shen Que didn’t really want to talk to him; he didn’t want to deal with this question or the person asking it.

“I lied.” Sheng Qixiao admitted frankly, “I only know bits and pieces.”

Shen Que seized the opportunity to press further, “I’ve wanted to ask for a long time, why do you know everything that happened before I came into the mountain? You started monitoring me a long time ago… Was it you who…”

“What’s over there?” Sheng Qixiao suddenly turned his head, his gaze directed at the surging crowd outside the alley, casually interrupting him.

He pushed the wheelchair back toward the bustling crowd. The phone remained resting in Shen Que’s palm, and Sheng Qixiao showed no intention of taking it back.

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  small steamed buns