Mu Xinrong was awakened by a chill.
Mu Xinrong opened her eyes and found herself leaning against a bench by the river, her forehead resting on Ye Qingliu's shoulder. The morning mist swirled around them like flowing silk, enveloping the entire world in a hazy gray-blue.
The river water in the distance was shimmering with a dim light, like the slowly rising and falling back of a sleeping giant beast.
Ye Qingliu remained seated, his school uniform jacket draped over Mu Xinrong. He wore a thin white shirt with sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his exposed arms gleaming like cold jade in the cold.
Mu Xinrong noticed that there were tiny water droplets on his eyelashes - was it night dew or mist?
"Awake?" Ye Qingliu's voice was lighter than the morning mist.
Mu Xinrong stood up, his coat slipping off his shoulders. He subconsciously grabbed his sleeve, where the fabric still retained the warmth of his partner's body.
"You...didn't leave?"
Ye Qingliu turned his head, and the first glimmer of light from the eastern sky fell on his face. His always calm eyes now reflected the indigo blue of dawn, with a very faint gold ring around the edges of his pupils.
"You grabbed my sleeve," he pointed to his right arm, "like you were grabbing at the last piece of driftwood."
Only then did Mu Xinrong realize that Ye Qingliu's cuffs were wrinkled badly, like a sail torn by a storm.
The sky gradually brightened.
First, a faint pale hue appeared on the horizon, quickly tinged with pale pink, then orange, and finally transformed into a fiery blaze like molten gold. The clouds were ablaze, floating above the river like countless flaming feathers.
Ye Qingliu stood up and walked towards the railing. The morning breeze brushed the hem of his shirt, causing the fabric to cling to his waistline, outlining the lean silhouette unique to young men.
Mu Xinrong followed and found that the river water had turned into flowing gold, and every ripple was wrapped in tiny particles of light.
"The sun is about to rise." Ye Qingliu said.
His voice was soft, but it reminded Mu Xinrong of Ye Qingliu in the fourth worldline, standing by the floor-to-ceiling window of the laboratory and saying, "It's going to snow." It was the same calmness, but without the biting indifference.
As the first rays of sunlight pierced the clouds, a silver fish suddenly leaped from the surface of the river. It drew a shimmering arc through the air, its scales reflecting a rainbow of light before plunging back into the water with a loud plop. Ripples spread, shattering the reflected morning glow.
Mu Xinrong held his breath unconsciously.
On the battlefield of the ninth world line, he had seen explosions a hundred times more magnificent than this. But at this moment, this silent river, this slowly burning sky, and this young man standing in the morning light made his heart tighten.
The sunlight gradually dispelled the fog.
Dewdrops on the grass began to evaporate, transforming into tiny halos of light that floated between the two of them. Mu Xinrong saw that the tips of Ye Qingliu's hair had turned golden, like wheat ears soaked in sunlight.
Tiny flying insects danced in the beam of light, their wings creating faint iridescence.
"What you said last night..." Ye Qingliu suddenly spoke, his voice warmed by the morning light, "What was I like in other world lines?"
Mu Xinrong looked at the rose-colored clouds in the distance.
"Sometimes you're wearing gold-rimmed glasses, debugging an electroencephalogram in the lab." He reached out to catch a falling sycamore leaf. "Sometimes you're wearing a military uniform, locking my wrist with an electromagnetic shackle."
The dew on the leaves rolled down, leaving a cold water mark on his palm.
"Another time..." Mu Xinrong's thumb unconsciously stroked the leaf veins, "It was raining heavily, and you found me with a black umbrella."
Ye Qingliu turned his head. The sun was now fully up, gilding his eyelashes and making his pupils appear even darker.
"So what about now?" he asked. "Which kind of me am I in this worldline?"
A white egret skimmed across the water, its wings flapping, startling more insects. Dust of light floated in the air like countless tiny stars.
Mu Xinrong looked at Ye Qingliu's earlobe which was penetrated by the sunlight and was glowing a translucent red.
"I don't know," he whispered, "but at least... you didn't implant a tracking chip in my spine."
Ye Qingliu smiled. It wasn't the cold smile he'd seen in the lab, but a genuine smile, warm from his body. The sunlight danced on his fangs, like a fleeting star.
"That's great," he said.
Ye Qingliu pulled the student union brooch from his pocket. The metal gleamed in the sunlight, and the school emblem engraved on the inside cast a small shadow.
"In other worldlines, I'm also wearing this?"
Mu Xinrong nodded. "Sometimes I pin it on my suit collar, sometimes on my white coat." He paused. "Once... it was stained with blood."
Ye Qingliu turned the brooch thoughtfully. Sunlight streamed across its silver surface like liquid flame. Suddenly, he raised his hand and pinned the brooch to Mu Xinrong's collar.
"Then you in this worldline should also wear it."
The metal felt slightly cool against his collarbone. Mu Xinrong lowered his head and saw the school emblem glowing softly silver in the sunlight.
"Why?"
Ye Qingliu looked at the river surface that had turned golden red: "So, the next time you see me in another world line..."
He paused, and a kingfisher took off from the reeds. "You can tell which one is the real one."
The wind suddenly picked up. The rustling of the sycamore leaves startled more birds. Mu Xinrong felt the brooch gradually take on her body heat, the metal no longer cold.
"Okay," he said.
As the morning mist cleared, figures of joggers began to appear along the riverbank. Ye Qingliu checked his watch and said, "It's time to go home."
Mu Xinrong stood still, his shadow stretched long by the morning sun, slanting across the wet grass.
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