When The Snow Falls In Autumn Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The drop of liquid did not fall after all.

Ye Qiulan’s fingertips trembled slightly, moved the pen tip to the spare tissue, and gently tapped away the excessive fullness.His movements returned to smoothness, as if the moment of stagnation just now was just an illusion created by light and shadow.She leaned forward again and turned her attention to another damage in the ancient book.It’s just the pale pink that hasn’t faded away at the base of the ears, like the light rouge accidentally dripped on rice paper, spreading out a small piece of silent evidence.

Ling Xueqing’s eyes fell on the notes written by herself, but she couldn’t read a word.The remaining touch on her fingertips lingered, and the slightly cool and soft body temperature was like a stone thrown into a quiet lake. The ripples spread silently but continuously, disrupting the almost harsh inner order she had maintained all year round.The breath of cedar was slightly restless behind the embankment of self-discipline. She calmly adjusted her sitting posture and became straighter, as if this could suppress the untimely throbbing back deep into her bones.

The sun is crawling slowly.The light spot moved from the back of Ye Qiulan’s hand to the cuff of her forearm, and the cotton fabric glowed with a soft velvet sheen.In the library, there was only the occasional faint sound of turning books in the distance, and the constant low hum of the old air-conditioning system, which made their corner even more silent. It was so quiet that they could hear each other’s shallow breathing, and some deeper, silent noise surging undercurrents.

Ye Qiulan repaired very slowly.The damage this time was more complicated than the previous one. It was a small hole in the center of the page with jagged edges. It was necessary to find pieces of vellum with the closest texture and color and patiently splice them together.Occasionally she would stop, hold up a very thin piece of patch paper to the window light, and squint her eyes to compare it carefully.Fragments of light penetrated the paper fibers and danced between her focused brows and eyes.Ling Xueqing raised her eyes when she stopped. His eyes passed over her lowered eyelashes and pursed lips, and finally landed on her fingertips, which were slightly white from holding the posture for a long time.

“Take a rest when you’re tired.” Ling Xueqing said, her voice deeper than usual, suppressing the unnoticeable astringency in her throat.

Ye Qiulan shook his head, without raising his eyes, and said in a soft voice: “It’s almost healed. This hole… is a bit troublesome.” She said, using tweezers to pick up a fragment the size of a rice grain, her wrist hanging in the air, surprisingly steady, and slowly approached the damage.His concentration was as if he was performing a precise surgical operation.

Ling Xueqing stopped persuading and just pushed the untouched glass of warm water a few centimeters closer to Ye Qiulan.The water droplets on the wall of the cup condensed and then slid off, leaving a short water mark.

Just when Ye Qiulan was about to put the pieces together, the heavy oak door of the library was pushed open ungently by someone from the outside, bringing in a short gust of wind and slightly noisy footsteps.Several students walked in chatting and laughing, their voices echoing in the empty reading area.

Ye Qiulan’s wrist flicked almost imperceptibly.

An extremely small mistake.The precious piece of leather paper that was finally selected slipped from the tip of the tweezers, swirled, and fell to the table.Near the landing point, there happened to be a small pool of wet marks that Ye Qiulan accidentally splashed when adjusting the slurry water before and had not been cleaned up.

Ling Xueqing’s reaction was almost instinctive.Her left hand, which had been resting on the edge of the table, stretched out like lightning, and pinched the index finger and middle finger gently in the air – the movement was precise and the force was light – and she firmly caught the fragment when it was only a millimeter away from the fatal wet mark.

Everything happens between breaths.

Ye Qiulan exclaimed in low voice, the tweezers still stopped in mid-air, his eyes widened slightly due to fright, and he looked at Ling Xueqing’s fingers holding the fragments.

Ling Xueqing’s expression did not change, she just gently placed the fragments on a dry paper towel before taking back her hand.The fingertips seemed to caress each other unconsciously, brushing away the dust that may not be there, and also brushing away a hint of the cold cedar breath that almost escaped out of control due to the rapid movement at that moment.She regained control of it.

“Be careful.” She said, her tone was calm, and there was no audible fluctuation of emotions, as if the swift and leopard-like swipe just now was just an illusion of others.

Ye Qiulan looked at the rescued fragment, and then at Ling Xueqing’s hand, which had clear bones and had returned to a relaxed state. An expression that was mixed with annoyance, happiness, and some deeper hesitation slowly appeared on his face.”I’m sorry,” her voice was a little tight, “I was so careless… I almost ruined it…”

“There’s no ‘almost’.” Ling Xueqing interrupted her, her voice low, but with an unquestionable certainty, “It’s fine.”

Ye Qiulan raised his eyes and looked at Ling Xueqing.Alpha’s profile looked a bit cold in the slanting light, with a stretched jawline and a straight line on his lips.But her eyes… Ye Qiulan was very familiar with these eyes.At this moment, the deep black pupils reflected the skylight outside the window, and also reflected her own small, somewhat helpless shadow. Under the cold background, there was a touch of suppressed and almost imperceptible concern.

That is not a concern for an ancient book that may be damaged.At least, not entirely.

This knowledge was like a small seed that fell into Ye Qiulan’s heart lake and sank to the bottom silently, but it brought a strange and delicate throbbing.Beta is slow to perceive changes in pheromones, but her perception of Ling Xuequing is almost terrifying.Twenty years of getting along day and night allowed her to understand the true emotions behind every subtle expression of Ling Xueqing, and to distinguish the stormy waves beneath her silence.At this moment, she read the undercurrent under the calm sea.

“Yes.” Ye Qiulan lowered his head, picked up the tweezers again, and carefully picked up the lost fragment.This time, her movements were slower and more steady.The heartbeat was a little disobedient, pounding against the eardrums.She fit the piece perfectly into the little hole, and the edges were tight, as if it had never fallen off.

In the following time, the air between the two seemed to undergo some subtle changes.The silence remains, but the quality of the silence is different.The silence that was habitual and reassuring before seemed to have weight and temperature now, hanging heavily between square inches, rising and falling with every breath.

Ling Xueqing finally forced herself to focus back on the ancient book in front of her.What she read was a monograph on ancient geographical research, which was boring and ordinary.But at this moment, the words about the history of place names and changes in waterways were strangely intertwined with the silent torrent tumbling in her heart.She remembered that when she clamped the fragment just now, her fingertips almost touched the skin of Ye Qiulan’s wrist – although she didn’t touch it after all.At that moment, some instinct belonging to Alpha clamored for more, wanting to hold that slender section, wanting to confirm its temperature and pulse.But she just clamped the paper and took it back.

Restraint was ingrained in her bones.It comes from family, from gender, from her indescribable and extremely heavy cherishment of this relationship.

Ye Qiulan finished repairing the small hole and started to deal with the last bit of roughness on the edge.Her movements returned to their inherent delicacy and gentleness, but there was always a thin layer of tiredness between her brows, and there seemed to be a ripple of confusion added at this moment.Occasionally, she would quietly raise her eyes and quickly glance at Ling Xueqing opposite.Ling Xueqing sat upright, with a calm profile. Only the fingers holding the pen had their knuckles turned slightly white due to excessive exertion.

The sunlight gradually turned golden and red. Through the dense branches and leaves of the camphor tree, the light spots filtered out took on a warm tone. They moved slowly and irresistibly, climbing up the pages of Ling Xueqing’s spread book and spreading over her wrist resting on the table.The wrist was white, with faintly visible light cyan blood vessels, and had a sense of restrained power that belonged to Alpha.

Ye Qiulan watched the beam of light slowly move over Ling Xueqing’s wrist, and suddenly remembered something that happened a long time ago.It was probably junior high school, and it was summer. It suddenly started raining heavily on the way home from school.Neither of them had an umbrella and hid under the eaves of a narrow newsstand.The rain was cold and the wind was strong. They were soaked and shivering.Ling Xueqing suddenly turned sideways and used her relatively wider shoulders and back to block most of the wind and rain that blew in obliquely.At that time, Ye Qiulan was still short, and his forehead almost touched Ling Xueqing’s chin.She couldn’t smell the pheromones, but she remembered the clean, rain-soaked scent of soap on Ling Xueqing’s body, and the firm and hot temperature from her chest that could be felt through wet and cold clothes.Ling Xueqing said nothing, just stood like a silent and reliable wall until the rain stopped.

That kind of unspoken protection lasted throughout all the years they spent together.It’s just… I don’t know when, Ye Qiulan began to feel that in addition to peace of mind, this protection brought her another kind of empty and hard-to-fill longing.She wanted to know all the words behind the silence, and wanted to touch whether there was the same burning warmth hidden under the restraint.Her status as a Beta placed her outside the raging torrent of pheromones between AO, like a sober and lonely bystander. But Ling Xueqing was Ling Xueqing, and her existence itself was enough to make all Ye Qiulan’s senses deviate from the so-called “normal track.”

“Xueqing,” Ye Qiulan suddenly spoke, his voice was very soft, as if he was afraid of disturbing something.

Ling Xueqing raised her eyes.

“This word,” Ye Qiulan used the end of the repair pen to lightly touch a blurred ink mark on the edge of the page she had just repaired, “is it the word ‘gui’? There seems to be half… next to the word ‘boat’?”

Ling Xueqing leaned forward a little, and his eyes fell on what her fingertips were pointing at.The ancient ink marks are so diffuse that they are indeed difficult to identify.She carefully looked at the incomplete stroke structure and compared it with the context.”It should be ‘return’.” She confirmed. Because of her close breath, she inadvertently brushed the disobedient strand of hair in front of Ye Qiulan’s forehead. “‘The guest boat returns home’ is a very common image.”

“Returning place…” Ye Qiulan repeated in a low voice, his eyes lingering on those two words, a little lost in thought, “I have been repairing it for a long time, but it turned out that I was repairing a ‘returning place’.”

This was said without any beginning or end, with a bit of her unique stupidity that was ignorant and went straight to the essence.Ling Xueqing’s heart seemed to be hit by these two gentle words.

Home.

Where do they belong?Is it the end of the abandoned railway track that has long been swallowed up by weeds?Is it the void between the two balconies, which is less than an arm’s length but separated by the ethical and gender gap?Or… is it just at this moment, this oak table soaked in sunlight, there is only mutual silence on this side?

Ling Xueqing didn’t answer.She couldn’t answer.She just looked at Ye Qiulan’s soft side face outlined by the golden light, and her thoughtful expression under her long eyelashes, and her throat tightened.The breath of cedar flowed silently through her body, impacting the gate of her reason.She wanted to say something, even if it was just a syllable.But in the end, she just held the pen in her hand tighter. The metal pen barrel was cold and touched her palm.

Ye Qiulan didn’t seem to be expecting an answer.She took back the hand that was pointing at the writing and continued to work on the last bit of rough edges.The movement was very slow, as if it was trying to extend this moment infinitely.The wall clock in the library rang again, reminding me of the passage of time, but here, beside this table, time seemed to be stuck in the sticky sunlight and silence, flowing extremely slowly.

Finally, the last damage was repaired.Ye Qiulan gently put down the tool, breathed a long sigh of relief, and rubbed the stiff back of his neck.The light gray cardigan slipped more from one shoulder as she moved, revealing the collar of the cotton shirt underneath and a small section of her delicate neck.

Ling Xueqing’s eyes fell on the neck uncontrollably.Beta’s glands are flat, not as sensitive and delicate as Omega’s, nor are they slightly aggressive like Alpha’s.It just exists quietly, with beautiful lines. The skin looks particularly white under the light, and even light blue slender blood vessels can be seen.For Alpha, there’s often a lack of attraction there.But at this moment, Ling Xueqing felt an almost sharp desire. It was not the urge to mark, but a more primitive and unexplainable demand – she wanted to put her forehead there, feel the steady pulse of life under the skin, confirm the existence of this person, and confirm the reality of this companionship.

Her fingertips trembled in shock at her sudden thought.It’s too out of bounds.This is beyond the scope of childhood sweethearts, and even beyond the scope of ordinary Alpha’s possible interest in Beta.She suddenly withdrew her gaze, lowered her eyes, and stared at the densely packed words on the page, but those words were beating wildly in front of her eyes, unable to form any meaning.

“It’s finally done.” Ye Qiulan didn’t notice Ling Xueqing’s turmoil at that moment. She moved her wrist, her voice filled with slight exhaustion and satisfaction after completing a meticulous work.She carefully closed the repaired ancient books, lined them with special acid-free paper, and placed them in a constant humidity book box.Every step is done skillfully and gently.

After doing this, she did not immediately start packing her things. Instead, she hugged the book box and sat quietly for a while.His eyes fell on Ling Xueqing’s lowered eyelashes across from him, and then slid towards her tight lips.The golden red of the setting sun became more and more intense, coating Ling Xueqing’s whole body with a layer of warm color, but it could not get rid of the usual coldness between her eyebrows.

“Xueqing,” Ye Qiulan called again, this time the voice was softer, like feathers brushing over the silent water.

Ling Xueqing forced herself to raise her eyes and look at her.The heartbeat has not yet calmed down.

Ye Qiulan met her gaze, and his eyes, which always seemed warm and ignorant, clearly reflected Ling Xueqing’s figure at this moment, and also reflected some kind of determined and flexible light.”Thank you,” she said, not for the fragment or the cardigan.

Ling Xueqing was stunned for a moment.

“Thank you… for always being here.” Ye Qiulan added, his fingers holding the book box tightened slightly, and his knuckles turned white.This sentence has no beginning or end, but it seems to cover everything – thank you for blocking the wind in the rain, thank you for holding the fragment, thank you for your silent companionship for twenty years, thank you for sitting opposite me now, making this dull afternoon different.

Ling Xueqing understood.The sour warmth surged in again, destroying all her carefully constructed language embankments.She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.My throat was blocked by some hot emotion, choking and hurting.She could only look deeply at Ye Qiulan, describing her features with her eyes, trying to engrave her at this moment more deeply into her memory.

Under her long silent gaze, Ye Qiulan’s cheeks slowly began to heat up again.But she didn’t dodge, still holding the book box as if holding a fragile and precious promise.She is waiting, although she may not know what she is waiting for.

There was a slight sound in the distance as the administrator began to sort out the books, and the closing time was approaching.The sound of reality was like a thin needle, gently piercing the suspended, isolated bubble between the two.

Ling Xueqing finally found her voice, which was so hoarse: “…Yeah.”

Just one syllable.Dry and simple.But it seemed that she had exhausted all her strength at the moment.

She avoided Ye Qiulan’s clear gaze and began to collect the books and notes scattered on her desk.The movements were a little hasty, and even a little awkward.She fastened the pen, inserted it into the pen case, closed the heavy monograph, and stacked them one by one.Every movement was standard and neat, but he lost his usual calmness.

Ye Qiulan watched her clean up, the light in his eyes flickered slightly, as if he understood something, but also seemed to be more confused.She didn’t speak anymore, and quietly began to organize her canvas bag, put away all the repair tools, carefully folded the light gray cardigan, smoothed out every wrinkle on it, and then, after a pause, gently placed it next to Ling Xueqing’s pile of books.

“Yours,” she said softly.

Ling Xueqing looked at the squarely folded clothes and then at Ye Qiulan.Ye Qiulan had already picked up his canvas bag and book box in his arms, standing by the table, waiting for her.The afterglow of the setting sun gave her whole body a furry golden edge, which was incredibly soft.

Ling Xueqing picked up the cardigan, and the body temperature belonging to Ye Qiulan and the clean smell of lime and old books that remained on the fabric came to her fingertips.She didn’t put it on immediately, she just took it in her hand and picked up her schoolbag.

The two left the long oak table side by side and walked towards the library exit.The footsteps landed on the smooth marble floor, making a slight echo.They did not speak, and silence enveloped them again, but this time the silence was no longer just habit or tranquility. It was full of unfinished words, untouched desires, and the faint desolation of their respective fates that could not be completely dispelled by the warm light of the setting sun.

When she reached the door, Ling Xueqing paused briefly and turned sideways to let Ye Qiulan pass first.The evening breeze outside the door came in with the cool breath of late spring evening, blowing the hair on Ye Qiulan’s forehead, and also blowing the soft corners of the cardigan in Ling Xueqing’s hand.

Ye Qiulan stopped half a step outside the door and looked back at her.Eye contact.

At that moment, the huge glass windows in the library cast the last, intense golden-red light on them, stretching their shadows very long, overlapping each other on the smooth ground behind them, making them indistinguishable from each other.

Ling Xueqing looked at Ye Qiulan’s eyes looking back in the light and shadow. There was dependence, trust, ignorance, and maybe… there was also a hint of unnamed sourness that was surging in her heart.

Then, Ye Qiulan turned around, holding the book box in his arms, and slowly walked into the courtyard path soaked in the sunset.Ling Xueqing paused for two seconds, clenched the cardigan in her hand, and stepped up to follow.Always maintain a half-step distance.Not far, not near.