Still Frame Chapter 54

This unexpected kiss made Zhang Liuxin’s heart pound even faster than the previous two where their tongues had intertwined. Wen Jin’s expression was almost reverent, leaving him so shaken he could barely speak.

“After we return to Yinzhou, will you continue your rehabilitation training? I’ll be watching you,” Wen Jin said, his tone carrying a new certainty.

“You already accompanied me for acupuncture; you must be tired.” Besides, doing rehab at home meant no cameras would film him.

Wen Jin was extremely busy. Not only did he have school matters to attend to, but he also had experiments to rush, and in his remaining time, he attended group meetings to help his father handle some official business.

“It’s no trouble,” Wen Jin settled the matter. “We’ll draft a new schedule when we get back.”

“What about the exoskeleton…”

“You can still use it,” Wen Jin pulled his pant leg back down. “It’s up to you.”

“Okay.” A strong feeling surged through Zhang Liuxin. He wanted to commit seriously to his rehabilitation from now on. Perhaps, in the near future, he could walk confidently toward Wen Jin.

Tu Yier’s door suddenly opened. He was holding a satellite phone and told them, “I just called Xiao Hui. She said people from Selin City did come down to the town today, but they weren’t conducting strict searches. The cars left by evening, so it shouldn’t be a big deal.”

“I’ll call her again tomorrow. If everything is fine, I’ll drive you down tomorrow evening. You two should get some rest today. Yue must be very tired.”

“Alright,” Zhang Liuxin nodded. Just as Tu Yier was about to close the door, he called out, “Brother Tu.”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you, truly.” Zhang Liuxin said sincerely.

Tu Yier smiled, the lines on his face making him look very honest. “I should be thanking Yue. He reacted quickly and blocked that bullet for me, otherwise, it might have hit me. Just relax, you’re safe.”

The next day, Wen Jin’s wound looked much better. Even Tu Yier praised his self-healing ability, complimenting his excellent physical condition.

Zhang Liuxin carefully changed the gauze for him and asked if he felt better.

“It didn’t hurt much to begin with, don’t worry,” Wen Jin said, picking up the exoskeleton. “Let’s go, get in the car.”

By the time they reached the town, the sky was almost completely dark. To their surprise, Tu Huisha was waiting for them, holding Duofei’s hand.

“Liuxin!” Children have good memories. Duofei had learned how to pronounce his name and kept repeating it. Seeing them, she laughed and ran over to hug him.

Zhang Liuxin nearly lost his balance, and it was Wen Jin who steadied him by holding his waist. Tu Yier grabbed his niece by the collar to make her stand properly. “Feifei, slow down. Don’t rush like that. What if you knock Uncle over?”

Tu Huisha followed behind, smiling. “You’re back. My brother called me. There are no outsiders in town today. I guess the authorities weren’t paying too much attention, so there’s no need to worry.”

“That’s good,” Zhang Liuxin rubbed Feifei’s head and asked her, “Feifei, what have you been doing these past two days?”

Duofei was very articulate. She held his hand and said, “Waiting for you to come back! I missed you very much. Oh, and Uncle! I missed you too, Uncle.”

Tu Yier rubbed his forehead. “You little girl… Well, I’m heading back up the mountain. I’ll come down in a few days.”

Tu Huisha said, “Okay, don’t forget about the Qiu family wedding. Drive slowly up the mountain.”

After watching Tu Yier leave, Duofei pulled Zhang Liuxin’s hand. “Let’s go, Liuxin.”

After walking two steps, the little girl noticed that her brother seemed different. He was walking very slowly, almost haltingly. She slowed her pace too and looked at her brother curiously, but when she turned her head, she met the gaze of the quiet Uncle Yue.

Uncle Yue gently shook his head at her.

Duofei seemed to understand what he meant. She obediently closed her mouth and walked slowly beside Zhang Liuxin.

It wasn’t until they returned to the shop that Duofei noticed the device on Liuxin’s left leg was gone. Uncle Yue was carrying it in his hand. She remembered it was called an exoskeleton… Was that why Liuxin was walking slowly? Because he didn’t have that thing?

Zhang Liuxin leaned on the small table in the shop. Tu Huisha pulled out a chair for him. “Have a seat.”

“Thank you,” Zhang Liuxin smiled sheepishly at her. “Sister Hui, my exoskeleton ran out of battery, so I’m not walking very smoothly right now.”

Tu Huisha quickly glanced at his leg before looking away, pulling her daughter onto her lap. “That’s nothing to worry about. Does your leg hurt right now? Did that ointment help? I brought a few jars from home; they’re under the cash register.”

Duofei finally got her chance and, like her mother, asked him softly, “Liuxin, does your leg hurt a lot? Should I hold your hand while you walk?”

Zhang Liuxin felt a lump in his throat and his eyes warm. He said gently to Duofei, “Thank you, Feifei. It doesn’t hurt.”

“There’s still some ointment left upstairs. Thank you, Sister Hui. This leg is an old problem; it won’t heal overnight, but walking isn’t an issue.”

“That’s good. But will going upstairs be inconvenient? The staircase is quite narrow,” Tu Huisha asked worriedly.

“It’s fine,” Zhang Liuxin originally wanted to say he could hold the wall and walk slowly without falling, but his peripheral vision caught Wen Jin standing nearby. The latter had put away the now “useless metal” exoskeleton and was wiping the dust off it with a tissue. “I have him, it’s alright.”

Tu Huisha looked at the two men. She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but she felt their dynamic had subtly changed after three days on the mountain. She smiled and asked, “Chen, are you two in the ‘re-dating’ phase now?”

Zhang Liuxin was momentarily stunned. It took him a moment to recall that this was the suggestion Tu Huisha had given him last time. He paused, unsure how to respond. Did they really look like they were dating in Tu Huisha’s eyes?

It was strange. He and Wen Jin had never gone through the dating phase. They had been married for seven years, and he himself had never dated anyone, so he had no idea what his current interactions with Wen Jin looked like.

Seeing the momentary blankness in his expression, Tu Huisha stopped smiling and didn’t press further. Before leaving, she reminded him again to be careful going up and down the stairs, then took Duofei home.

“Let’s go upstairs.”

Perhaps interpreting the meaning hidden in Tu Huisha’s expression, Wen Jin helped him very carefully as they went up the stairs, ensuring he was stable with every step before moving on.

After washing up, Zhang Liuxin saw Wen Jin sitting under the skylight, examining his puzzle. He waved him over. “Can we finish it before we go back?”

“Probably not. It’s a bit too big,” Zhang Liuxin sat down beside him, watching Wen Jin’s interested expression. He tentatively asked, “Do you want to help me?”

“I can.” Wen Jin nodded.

At Wenfeitai, he had a room dedicated solely to puzzles. He had forgotten how that room came to be, but before he realized it, the room was filled with expensive, intricate puzzles.

The things he liked in college didn’t even have a place to be displayed, yet after marrying Wen Jin, he had an entire room for them.

Wen Jin had never asked about it. Zhang Liuxin would sneak in to work on puzzles whenever Wen Jin wasn’t home, afraid Wen Jin would find him childish—a grown man still obsessed with playing puzzle games. Until one day, he was engrossed in a puzzle for hours, and when he walked out rubbing the back of his neck to get water, he ran right into Wen Jin.

He nearly dropped his cup. At the time, Wen Jin merely glanced at him and said flatly, “Go downstairs and eat.”

Only then did he relax.

Thinking back now, he probably never imagined that a few years later, he would be sitting with Wen Jin, playing a puzzle together.

“There’s a piece missing here.” He pointed to the area in front of them. Wen Jin quickly found the missing piece and handed it to him, telling him that the section he was working on was Ursa Minor.

With Wen Jin’s help, the puzzle-solving efficiency increased unprecedentedly. Wen Jin had excellent hand-eye coordination. Before long, they had completed about a quarter of the entire image.

Seeing Wen Jin blink uncomfortably, Zhang Liuxin quickly took the puzzle pieces from his hand. “That’s enough for today. Let’s go to sleep.”

“Are your eyes bothering you?” Zhang Liuxin leaned closer but couldn’t see anything wrong.

Wen Jin said, “It’s fine, I’m okay.”

Putting the puzzle away, Wen Jin picked up the book, flipping it open. “Continue.”

Zhang Liuxin hadn’t expected Wen Jin to be so interested in Bernlinian. He turned to the page they had stopped at last time and taught him a few new words.

Wen Jin still learned quickly. He was already multilingual and had studied related language families. After just a casual lesson from Zhang Liuxin, he could construct complete sentences on his own. Zhang Liuxin felt a little envious. It seemed that sometimes effort wasn’t enough; things came easily to the naturally gifted.

“I’m not kidding. Seriously, I feel like if we stayed here for another half month, you could communicate perfectly with the locals.”

Wen Jin instead asked him, “Do you want to stay here for another half month?”

Zhang Liuxin was briefly stunned by the question, feeling as if his thoughts had been seen through. “No.”

In the end, he answered against his true feelings. After all, he knew very well they couldn’t stay here indefinitely. As it was, Yinzhou was already in chaos.

Wen Jin narrowed his eyes slightly. Zhang Liuxin felt flustered under his gaze, worried he would be exposed the next second. Fortunately, he wasn’t. Wen Jin pointed to the paper in front of them, which had several words written on it: “trust,” “pity,” “pain,” and “cat.”

“You went to the Zhang family when you were six, and then you learned Bernlinian on your own later?”

Zhang Liuxin hadn’t expected Wen Jin to be curious about his past. He nodded. “Yes. I picked it up again after I started university. Maybe because I have the bloodline from here, it wasn’t too difficult to learn.”

“But I can’t remember where my mother and I lived when I was little. I only remember the houses were similar to those in this town, and the air was good, though it got cold in the winter.”

Mentioning the language made Zhang Liuxin think of his mother. The atmosphere now was so pleasant, almost peacefully warm, so he spoke without thinking.

Wen Jin said, “Bernlin State is large. We can come back and look around when we have time.”

Zhang Liuxin shook his head. “I’ve looked, but this state is too closed off. I don’t know where my mother is, and maybe she doesn’t want to see me because of Zhang Jiming.”

Zhang Liuxin looked at the night sky outside the skylight, dotted with scattered stars. “So now I just hope she is still living a healthy and happy life. I’ve felt very comfortable staying here these past few days. I guess she must be very happy on this land too.”

He withdrew his gaze and happened to catch a fleeting emotion in Wen Jin’s eyes. Unfortunately, it vanished too quickly for him to see clearly. Wen Jin stood up and used the Bernlinian he had just learned to say, “It’s getting late. Let’s go to sleep.”