Still Frame Chapter 43
byChapter 43 The Kissed Scar
They were still sleeping in the warehouse, but compared to last time, the clutter had been tidied up, making it look less messy. Tu Yier had even put together a bed for them, which, though simple, was better than sleeping on a mattress.
When Zhang Liuxin saw this, he knew the decision he had made earlier was correct; Tu Yier was indeed a trustworthy person.
He had lived in Yinzhou for over twenty years and encountered very few good people. Now, after only a few days in Bernlin, everyone he had met—except for Feng Xi, who was a bit strange—was kind, and he even had the good fortune to meet Reporter Daping.
“Lights out?” Wen Jin had already turned on a small lamp and stood by the switch, asking him.
“Mhm.” When Zhang Liuxin took off his exoskeleton, he noticed the surface was quite worn, and he wasn’t sure how long the remaining battery power would last.
The bed was a bit small. They slept close together, their shoulders pressed tightly against each other. Zhang Liuxin found it hard to fall asleep and gently turned over.
Unexpectedly, Wen Jin also moved. Zhang Liuxin whispered, “Did I wake you up?”
“No.” Wen Jin’s voice sounded wide awake.
Zhang Liuxin: “How about we switch places? I’ll sleep on the outside; this lamp is a bit bright.”
“It’s fine,” Wen Jin pressed his arm. “You were like this in Yinzhou too, couldn’t sleep without a light on at night?”
They had been together for so many days, but this was the first time Wen Jin had proactively asked. In Yinzhou, they always slept in separate rooms and rarely saw each other outside of mealtimes.
“Didn’t I fall asleep the night after He Qing’s brother’s wedding, even with the lights off?”
When Zhang Liuxin heard this, his body stiffened. If it weren’t for Wen Jin’s genuinely inquiring tone, he would have thought Wen Jin was being deliberate.
“…I fell asleep,” Zhang Liuxin thought. How could he not sleep after being made dizzy?
“When did it start,” Wen Jin asked, “when you were little?”
The mention of this made Zhang Liuxin feel a little down. Fortunately, Wen Jin couldn’t see his expression, so he managed to reply in a normal tone, “Yes, when I was little.”
Wen Jin paused. Zhang Liuxin’s heart tightened, afraid of the sudden stillness. Just as he was hesitating whether to speak up, Wen Jin spoke again: “If you don’t want to talk about it, don’t. Close your eyes and sleep.”
The anxiety in Zhang Liuxin’s heart was gently released. Wen Jin’s voice, bathed in the warm yellow light, sounded very gentle. Zhang Liuxin turned his head to look at him. Wen Jin noticed his gaze and turned his head too, giving him an inquiring look.
“It was right after I returned to the Zhang family,” Zhang Liuxin said. He had been criticized for his identity and called a bastard to his face and behind his back so many times growing up that he was immune to it, but facing Wen Jin, he undeniably cared. “Zhang Jiming didn’t like me much. Actually, he didn’t want to acknowledge me at all, but my grandmother was a very traditional person. She felt the Zhang family bloodline shouldn’t be left out in the world, so she brought me back.”
His grandmother had passed away many years ago, so even now, he didn’t know how she had managed to persuade Ren Shuyun.
“Back then, I couldn’t speak Yinzhou dialect, only Bernlinese. It was hard to communicate with anyone in the Zhang family. Zhang Jiming couldn’t understand me, so he found me annoying. I was young then, too. I only remembered my mother telling me he was my father, so I kept calling out to him. Eventually, he got so annoyed that he locked me in the attic and told me not to speak Bernlinese anymore. He said he’d let me out when I stopped crying for my mother.”
Zhang Liuxin thought he would feel terrible recounting these things to Wen Jin, but the truth was, he felt very calm, as if it hadn’t happened to him.
“The attic was too dark,” Zhang Liuxin felt the atmosphere was getting heavy, so he laughed twice and tried to use a light tone. “It’s normal for kids to be afraid of the dark, right? I just didn’t expect to never grow out of it later. Wen Jin, no one else knows, so don’t laugh…”
Before the word “laugh” was out, Zhang Liuxin was embraced. Wen Jin’s face suddenly moved very close. One arm wrapped around his waist, fingers tracing the warm skin beneath the fabric.
They intertwined like two vines, their breathing and heartbeats overlapping in the silent room.
“Wen Jin,” the emotion conveyed by the other person felt very unfamiliar to him. Wen Jin was usually a very emotionally detached person, yet now he was transmitting an incredibly soft emotion. Was it pity? “It’s okay. At least I never lacked food or clothing growing up.”
“What’s there to compare?”
Wen Jin tightened the hand on his waist. The distance between them was unprecedentedly intimate. Zhang Liuxin felt Wen Jin’s lips gently touch his forehead. When Wen Jin spoke, his lips brushed him, making Zhang Liuxin almost believe it was a kiss on the forehead, like at the wedding.
“Liuxin, don’t compare these things,” a fleeting, light touch of moisture came from his forehead. Before Zhang Liuxin could react, he heard Wen Jin say, “Don’t be afraid.”
He had expected Wen Jin to say something—a condescending judgment or half-hearted pity—but he never expected Wen Jin to hold him so tightly, repeating the simple phrase “don’t be afraid” over and over.
But Wen Jin was holding him so tightly that Zhang Liuxin almost thought Wen Jin was afraid too.
“I’m not afraid. It just became a habit over time,” Zhang Liuxin said. “But Wen Jin, I’m not a bastard. Zhang Jiming and my mother were married. He just abandoned us.”
A soft kiss was pressed onto his forehead. This time it wasn’t a delusion. Wen Jin rubbed his hair on his forehead, a gesture he rarely made. Zhang Liuxin remained motionless, afraid it was a phantom dream that would shatter completely if he moved even slightly.
“I know,” Wen Jin said, his voice like a classical cello. “You never were.”
Zhang Liuxin said, “You have to believe me. A lot of people believed the rumors when I was in college.”
“Mhm. You are my husband. Of course, I believe you. Was it your roommate spreading rumors in college?”
Zhang Liuxin was surprised: “How… how did you know?”
Wen Jin paused again: “Zhong Sixun told me.”
Zhang Liuxin wasn’t surprised. Before they got married, Zhong Sixun must have collected all his personal information, but he hadn’t expected it to include things like this from his college days.
“It won’t happen again,” Wen Jin said. “Sleep.”
Zhang Liuxin wasn’t sleepy, but why was Wen Jin’s embrace so warm? He realized that even a cold person like Wen Jin could make one feel so secure when holding them while sleeping.
Drowsiness gradually set in. Zhang Liuxin closed his eyes. He was reluctant to fall asleep too quickly, reluctant to let go of this limited-time version of Wen Jin tonight.
“Good night.” Wen Jin lightly patted his waist with an unfamiliar, soothing gesture.
Zhang Liuxin smiled slightly. In the last moment before falling into slumber, he was still wondering if Wen Jin’s “it won’t happen again” meant no one would spread rumors again, or if he wouldn’t be abandoned again.
If it was the former, then indeed, thanks to Wen Jin, no one would dare discuss his background to his face. But if it was the latter, in what capacity was Wen Jin making that promise?
Zhang Liuxin slept very soundly. When he woke up and moved slightly, the hand on his waist tightened. Wen Jin slowly opened his eyes, which were unusually unfocused. His long lashes fluttered a few times, and Zhang Liuxin felt a tickle in his heart. He instinctively leaned closer…
“What are you doing?”
Wen Jin’s slightly hoarse voice came through, instantly waking Zhang Liuxin up. He propped himself up and sat.
“Nothing, time to get up.”
Wen Jin hummed and closed his eyes again, saying, “You go wash up first.”
Remembering last night, Zhang Liuxin’s ears felt warm. He hadn’t felt it when he was saying those things, but thinking about it now made him feel a bit embarrassed. Moreover, if he hadn’t misremembered or hallucinated, Wen Jin had also kissed his forehead… His gaze involuntarily fell on Wen Jin’s lips again.
“What are you looking at?” Wen Jin raised a hand, accurately pinching his chin, then slowly moving up his face until he covered his eyes. Zhang Liuxin felt his eyelashes brush against Wen Jin’s palm.
“Alright, I’m getting up.”
Zhang Liuxin was surprised that Wen Jin was still lingering in bed, finding it rare. Was it because he had pressed against Wen Jin last night, causing him to sleep poorly?
The morning water was cold. Zhang Liuxin washed his face and was completely awake. He looked up and saw the morning mist gently spreading. The air was wrapped in the clean moisture of ginger flowers, mixed with the earthy sweetness of soil, full of coolness, making him feel refreshed.
If he had a choice, Zhang Liuxin would really like to experience this kind of life. Being a forest ranger like Tu Yier seemed quite nice—not having to deal with too many people, and having free time to sit outside, sunbathe, and read.
But when Wen Jin came out, he remembered that Wen Jin liked the sea.
“So cold?” Wen Jin walked over, naturally taking the towel and touching the back of Zhang Liuxin’s hand.
Zhang Liuxin: “It’s fine. It’s actually quite refreshing.”
After they washed up, Tu Yier had breakfast ready. There were lemons on the plate, and he asked if they had tried them before.
“We have, they’re delicious.”
Tu Yier said, “Then you’re like Xiao Hui and Feifei; you can get used to the taste. I can’t. I find them too sour and a bit bitter.”
Zhang Liuxin smiled and glanced at Wen Jin: “He can’t get used to them either.”
“By the way, Chen, did you sleep well last night? The conditions here are limited; it’s usually just me.”
“We slept very well, thank you, Brother Tu. How is your injury? Is it better?”
“It doesn’t hurt as much after I put on the ointment. But I still need to trouble you both today. I’ll give you the plant monitoring logbook in a moment. If you know the names of the plants, write them down. If not, just record the samples, and I’ll fill in the rest when you bring them back.”
“The forest is a bit large, but I’ve marked everything. Follow the markers and don’t stray too far. Running into illegal loggers can be troublesome; they carry black guns.”
“Understood.”
Wen Jin spread the cheese evenly and placed a slice of bread on Zhang Liuxin’s plate. Zhang Liuxin asked, “Aren’t you eating?”
“Too sour, can’t eat it. What were you talking about?”
“We’re going out to do monitoring records for Brother Tu later.”
Wen Jin looked at him and said, “I can go alone.”
“It’s fine, I can walk this path.”
Wen Jin opened his mouth, looking like he wanted to argue, but Zhang Liuxin interrupted him: “If I can’t walk, you’ll pull me along, right?”
Zhang Liuxin took a bite of the cheese bread, enjoying the rich texture, and predictably saw Wen Jin nod, looking a little helpless.
A young couple.
It’s September!