Chapter 53 Fortunately
Time slowly flowed by, and Su Nian no longer focused all her energy on the bookstore. Instead, she had more time to spend with Ling Shen. Ling Shen finally finished all the backlog of work before winter came.
Ling Shen took Su Nian and his parents to a hot spring hotel before it snowed. As soon as the car stopped in front of a wooden courtyard at the foot of the mountain, Su Nian's attention was attracted by the red lanterns hanging from the eaves.
Ling's father and mother looked at the two people walking hand in hand in front of them, the dead leaves rustling under their feet, and they couldn't hide the smiles on their faces.
Father Ling put his arm around Mother Ling's waist and deliberately slowed down his pace until they were a long distance apart, then he called out to Ling Shen who had already walked quite a distance.
"You two can go for a walk by yourselves. We are going back to the room to soak in the hot springs." The mountain wind, with the fragrance of pine needles, carried his voice far away.
Ling Shen and Su Nian turned around at the same time and looked at the old couple with cunning faces. Su Nian's ears turned red again. She glared at Ling Shen and walked forward.
The stone path winds its way into the depths of the bamboo forest, and sunlight shines through the gaps between the leaves, casting mottled spots of light on the ground.
"Hahahaha" Looking at his son's frustrated look, Ling's father laughed out loud. Under Ling's mother's reproachful eyes, he watched Ling Shen running to chase Su Nian who was walking away.
Ling Shen caught up with Su Nian in a few steps and tied his scattered scarf back together. "Are you angry?"
Su Nian turned his head and felt a bit of the cold air from the mountains on his nose. "I'm not angry, it's just that I didn't expect my uncle to have such a temper..." He lowered his head and thought for a moment, "jumpy." Su Nian finally found a word to describe Ling's father.
Ling Shen smiled and pulled Su Nian into his arms. The two walked side by side in the bamboo forest. "He's just like that. You'll understand after spending time with him. Is he cold?"
Su Nian shook her head. In the distance, the sound of steam rising from the hot spring pool came, mixed with the faint chirping of birds. Time seemed to slow down at this moment.
Before they knew it, the two of them were walking further and further away in the bamboo forest, stepping on dead branches and leaves, and fine snow foam was falling from the bamboo tips.
When Su Nian's cashmere scarf was caught on a bamboo branch, the two of them were shocked to find themselves deep in an unknown bamboo forest. Apart from the rustling sound of snow pressing down on branches, there was no sign of human life around them.
Ling Shen's knuckles turned white from excessive exertion, cold sweat soaked through his turtleneck sweater, and the hair on the back of his neck clung to his skin. Memories of childhood trapped within him lingered like a venomous snake, spitting its tongue through the impenetrable bamboo forest.
He counted the bamboo shadows swaying in front of him and tried to suppress the fear surging in his chest with deep breaths, but he could hear the chattering sound of his teeth.
Su Nian paused, staring around, her nose red from the frost twitching slightly. Moss, covered in a thin layer of snow, loomed among the dark green bamboo shadows, and somewhere, the sound of a gurgling stream could be heard.
Sensing the damp warmth in his palm, he turned around and saw Ling Shen's dilated pupils - those eyes that were usually as calm as a deep pool, now looked like a startled crow.
"Ling Shen?" Su Nian stood on tiptoe to brush away the snow from his eyelashes, her voice very soft, "Listen, there's the sound of flowing water over there. Follow the sound and you'll get out."
Ling Shen forced himself to curl up the corners of his lips and promised Su Nian, "Okay." But his weak voice was so weak that even he himself didn't believe it.
The two men supported each other as they moved, the dark ice beneath the snow causing them to stumble from time to time. Ling Shen suddenly felt the crunch of rotting wood beneath his feet, and before he could react, he fell into the void.
At the moment of falling, my wrist was suddenly grabbed by a force like an iron clamp, and the touch of the rough hemp rope overlapped in my memory.
Su Nian threw himself on the snow, his hiking boots leaving two deep marks on the frozen ground. He leaned one knee against the edge of the pit, his other hand tightly grasping Ling Shen's arm.
Ling Shen finally came to his senses at this time. The biting cold wind blew the fine snow past his ears, and the feeling of weightlessness from falling just now was still lingering in his limbs.
He looked down at his feet. The pit covered by dead branches was only half a person's depth. Even if Su Nian didn't reach out in time, he would at most just stumble.
But Su Nian didn't know this. The cold wind rustled the man's coat, and the rough branches tore hideous rips in the navy blue fabric, revealing the light gray lining underneath.
Ling Shen looked up and saw Su Nian with one knee against the frozen ground, blue veins bulging on the back of his pale hand, and the way he bit his lower lip gradually overlapped with the scene in his memory.
"Hold on to the rope and I'll pull you up." In his memory, when he was almost in despair, a rope dropped down and pulled him up from the darkness.
At this moment, moonlight penetrated the clouds, coating Su Nian's eyelashes with a layer of silver frost. Ling Shen looked at the face that was flushed from the effort and suddenly laughed softly. The dull pain that had accumulated in his chest for years turned into bubbles, shattering in the wind and snow.
"You're still laughing. Hold on to me!" Su Nian's eyelashes trembled, and his red, frozen fingertips probed toward the edge of the pit again, "I'll pull you up." Before he finished speaking, Ling Shen had already grabbed his wrist, and with the help of the protruding rocks on the pit wall, he drew an arc on the snow.
Su Nian was caught off guard and fell to the ground, his back hitting the fluffy snow. Before he could react, Ling Shen's scorching body temperature had already enveloped him.
The familiar fragrance of plum blossoms mixed with the scent of cedar wafted towards him. Ling Shen's trembling hands clasped the back of his neck tightly, as if holding the only salvation in his life.
"It's okay, it's okay." Su Nian subconsciously put her arms around the other person's trembling back and stroked his sweaty hair with her fingertips.
Ling Shen buried his face deeper, and his moist breath made his neck itchy.
He remembered everything. The person who pulled him out was Su Nian, and the person who gave him light in the darkness was Su Nian.
Many years later, it was Su Nian who held him back again. Ling Shen felt that the shackles that had been entangled in his heart suddenly broke at this moment.
"Fortunately, fortunately, it's really you." Ling Shen kept murmuring, his hands tightening constantly, as if he wanted to rub the person in front of him into his bones and blood.
When the two returned to the B&B, Ling's mother looked at the two in such a mess that she felt distressed and asked someone to quickly bring a towel. "What happened? Your clothes are all wet. Come on, wipe them off."
Father Ling, however, looked at Ling Shen's exceptionally bright eyes and realized that something must have happened between the two. He pulled Mother Ling, who was concerned, and nodded to them, "Go ahead. The hot water in the room is ready. Take a hot bath and don't catch a cold."
Ling's mother looked at Ling's father in confusion, but he just shook his head. Su Nian only had time to smile at the two elders before Ling Shen pulled her away.
The misty water vapor filled the blue brick bathing pool. Su Nian sank his whole body into the hot spring. The warm spring water wrapped around his trembling fingertips, and even the coldness in his heart was smoothed out.
The pebbles at the bottom of the pool hurt his back, so he simply leaned back and let the current carry him to the surface, with tiny water droplets condensing on his eyelashes.
“Crash—”
There was a sound of water behind her. Su Nian opened her eyes and saw Ling Shen kneeling on one knee by the pool, his black shirt half open, revealing his lean waist and abdomen.
His fingertips, still stained with water, were slowly stroking down Su Nian's damp hair. When they stopped behind her ear, his thumb unconsciously rubbed her earlobe. The emotions surging in Ling Shen's eyes were too intense, like a burning fire, making Su Nian's ears burn.
"Come down." Su Nian took Ling Shen's hand and led him into the hot spring. Ling Shen put his arm around Su Nian's shoulders, feeling the contact of their warm skin, and couldn't help but sigh in comfort.
As the spring water surged, Ling Shen was particularly excited, watching Su Nian's originally fair skin turn rosy beneath him. Su Nian's fingers, softened by the hot spring, clasped Ling Shen's shoulders, and the waves crashed against the pool wall with a small sound as their intertwined movements.
He could clearly feel Ling Shen's violent heartbeat mixed with the steaming heat. Ling Shen lowered his head and kissed the scar on Su Nian's arm almost devoutly, while his movements became more passionate.
Su Nian didn't understand why Ling Shen was like this, but he loved the way Ling Shen looked. Having just experienced a dangerous situation, he also urgently needed to feel Ling Shen's presence.
It was not until Su Nian fell asleep due to exhaustion that Ling Shen looked at his lover beside him and laughed softly.
Moonlight poured in through the window of the B&B, casting a silver edge on Su Nian's sweaty temples. Her eyelashes cast fan-shaped shadows under her eyes, and her half-open lips still retained the moisture from her breathing.
He would not tell Su Nian that the person he saved was himself. He did not want the feelings between them to be mixed with the kindness they had shown him. In Ling Shen's view, Su Nian only needed to be loved and pampered by him. He would take care of everything else.
A kiss filled with endless love was gently imprinted on Su Nian's forehead. Ling Shen looked at Su Nian who was holding his hand even when she was asleep, and slowly pulled her into his arms, rubbing his chin against the top of her head, feeling the familiar fragrance.
"Go to sleep, Anian." His voice, wrapped in the mist of hot spring, fell behind Su Nian's ears.
The snow outside the window was getting heavier, falling on the red plum blossoms beside the hot spring pool. In the warm room, the two people fell into a deep sleep hugging each other.
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