Peach Blossom Land On Longyin Island Chapter 8
byAn Linmian
“Shh—someone’s coming,” An Le whispered quickly. From his vantage point, he could see a figure through the paper window rushing quickly toward Village Chief An Mu’s house along the path outside the fence.
An Xiaoyu quickly glanced back. The figure was already outside the fence gate.
An Ran recognized the person as An Linmian, Village Chief An Mu’s granddaughter. An Linmian seemed very anxious, running to push open the fence gate and heading straight for the inner hall.
An Xiaoyu quickly extinguished the tinder in his hand. However, the candle inside An Le’s rabbit lantern was housed within the rabbit and couldn’t be instantly put out. If they went out, they would have to use the living room door they entered through, and doing so now would surely lead to a collision.
“On the wall.” An Xiaoyu quickly scanned the room, his gaze locking onto a wooden peg on the wall where a bamboo hat was hanging. As the words left his mouth, An Xiaoyu had already snatched the rabbit lantern from An Le’s hand and agilely hung it up.
The rabbit lantern swayed on the wall a few times, casting flickering, uneven light on the floor. An Le heard An Linmian’s hurried footsteps suddenly stop, followed by soft steps that seemed to be heading toward the bedroom.
An Le thought, This is bad, and was about to find a place to hide. The next second, his body swayed, and before he could react, he was pulled forcefully by An Xiaoyu.
In the gap between the wardrobe and the bed, the moonlight and candlelight were completely blocked by the wardrobe. It was pitch black and the space was narrow. The two squeezed together, straining their ears and holding their breath to listen to the sounds outside.
The footsteps were light and slow, seemingly as cautious as they were. After a long while, An Le heard a murmur: “Was that the wind? Why is the lantern hanging here? Never mind, I should deliver the things quickly.”
After she spoke, An Le heard a set of hurried footsteps leaving. The two waited until the footsteps faded before relaxing. An Le breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Looks like she forgot something and came back to fetch it.”
“Mhm.” A warm breath brushed past An Le’s ear. An Le shivered and subconsciously leaned back and turned his head, unexpectedly meeting a pair of eyes glowing faintly in the darkness.
Only then did An Le realize how awkward their posture was. Not only was he pressed against An Xiaoyu, but the other person’s left hand was braced against the wall, while his right hand maintained the motion of pulling him over, tightly encircling his waist.
In this position, it was as if he was being hugged from behind. Although An Le was straight, he had never been in such close contact with anyone and couldn’t help but feel awkward. More importantly, he realized at that moment that the other person was half a head taller than him! His ear only reached the other person’s chin! As a result, the other person’s breathing was incredibly clear in his ear, and he couldn’t ignore the tingling sensation caused by the warm air exhaled during the other person’s breathing brushing past his ear.
An Le felt even more awkward realizing that he seemed to be heating up; he couldn’t ignore the heat rapidly rising in his ear tips. An Le was so embarrassed he wished he could immediately escape this awkward position, yet the arm wrapped around his waist showed no sign of loosening.
“We… we can go out now.”
An Le offered a subtle reminder, but An Xiaoyu behind him seemed not to hear, maintaining the posture and whispering in his ear, “What do you mean, you died?”
An Le internally cursed the person for being so oblivious—couldn’t he let go first? Didn’t he think it was strange for two men to be hugging like this? While trying to maintain his composure, he said, “It means exactly what it says. I died, which is why I ended up here.”
After a moment of silence, An Le heard An Xiaoyu speak with a bewildered tone: “I… I don’t understand.”
An Le sighed, “It’s complicated to explain, and now isn’t the right time. I’ll explain later. Let’s find the map first. Let’s check the study. Grandpa An Mu often stays in the study, so if there’s a map, it might be kept there.”
After speaking, An Le waited for a moment, seeing that the other person had fallen silent again and the arm still hadn’t loosened. An Le finally couldn’t stand it anymore. He poked An Xiaoyu’s arm with his index finger, coughed, and pretended to sound natural, “Let go, I need to get out.”
“Ah? Oh? Oh.” An Xiaoyu seemed to have just realized the intimacy of their posture. He hastily released An Le, scratching his head, looking around, and suddenly becoming flustered, appearing completely at a loss.
“Hehehe.” Seeing An Xiaoyu so flustered and helpless, An Le silently sneered a few times, thinking, What a slow reaction. He’s definitely 100% straight.
The study was much more cramped than the other two rooms. Upon entering, there was a wall-to-wall bookshelf, packed full. On the desk by the window were brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone. On the left side of the desk lay a thick, half-open notebook. An Le flipped through a few pages by the lamplight and saw that it recorded the distribution of supplies in the village: what each household received and how much, all clearly documented. The most recent pages detailed the materials used by the village to prepare for the Mid-Autumn Festival, which were numerous and fragmented. An Le read a few pages and restored the notebook to its original state.
“Did you find anything?” An Le asked, seeing An Xiaoyu sorting through and flipping through books on the shelves.
An Xiaoyu shook his head, saying, “There are too many books. If the map is tucked inside a book, going through them one by one might take until the villagers return.”
“Not many people in the village are literate, so most of the village’s books are here with Grandpa An. Occasionally, someone who needs to look up information will come to borrow them from Grandpa An.”
“So you mean the map wouldn’t be kept inside a book?” An Xiaoyu put a thick book back on the shelf and turned to ask.
An Le nodded slightly, saying, “Unless it’s a book Grandpa An is certain no one would read.”
“A book no one would read…” An Xiaoyu murmured, moving the tinder to examine the titles on the bookshelf one by one by the light.
“But I don’t think Grandpa An would put the map inside a book,” An Le continued. “Even if he did before, he would definitely have taken it away after I arrived. When I first came to Longyin Village, I borrowed many books here to understand the place—all kinds of genres—and I never saw a map.”
“Hmm… then have you noticed any hidden compartments or mechanisms?” An Xiaoyu pondered briefly and asked.
An Le shook his head, saying, “Grandpa An Mu was always here whenever I visited, and I never thought to look for mechanisms.”
An Xiaoyu nodded and said no more, focusing on searching the room for mechanisms and hidden compartments, sometimes tapping, sometimes picking up, and sometimes rotating the furnishings in the room. After searching for a while, An Le lost interest. He sat listlessly in the chair in front of the desk, resting his head on his hand and watching An Xiaoyu search the room diligently and meticulously.
The window in the study was large, and moonlight streamed through it, illuminating the room brightly enough to see even without lamplight.
An Le watched by the moonlight for a long time and asked, “Are you very anxious to go back?”
“The Village Chief only gave me half a month to recover from my injuries. Now only three days are left,” An Xiaoyu said flatly.
“Even if the half-month deadline arrives, as long as you say you’ve changed your mind and don’t want to leave, Grandpa An Mu will most likely agree to let you stay. It wouldn’t be hard to find a reason to remain.”
“But I need to go back as soon as possible.”
“Why? Didn’t you lose your memory? If you can’t remember, why are you in such a hurry to return?”
An Xiaoyu was silent for a moment, then gently shook his head, saying, “I don’t know, I just have a feeling, an intuition, that I need to go back quickly.”
“Mhm.” An Le hummed softly and said nothing more. The sound of gongs and drums drifted in the distance; the lively fish lantern parade hadn’t ended yet. An Xiaoyu searched the study for a long time until the sound of the gong suddenly disappeared. An Xiaoyu finally stopped, sighed softly, and turned to An Le, saying, “Let’s go. It’s not here.”
An Le stood up and said, “Should we check other places? After the parade, there’s a bonfire party, so the villagers won’t be back for a while.”
An Xiaoyu shook his head, looking at An Le with a slight smile, and said, “No more searching. Let’s go have fun.”
The fish lantern parade and the ritual to the gods had ended. A large, bright full moon rose from the sea. The massive Dragon King fish lantern that Village Chief An Mu and others carried during the parade was placed on several large fishing boats, floating casually on the sea alongside countless other fishing boats carrying flower lanterns and people. Waves crashed against the shore, and the sea breeze blew on the villagers onshore. The people of Longyin Village gathered by the sea, lighting bonfires. Those skilled in music played instruments and sang, and those skilled in dance danced gracefully. They ate, played, sang, and danced, creating a lively scene.
As soon as An Le and An Xiaoyu appeared by the sea, they immediately attracted many eyes. The two were already noticeable in the village, especially after An Su Su’s vigorous promotion of her brother marrying a mermaid wife. When the two appeared together, the attention they drew multiplied several times. Although the villagers knew it was a joke, whenever the two showed up together, their gazes inevitably carried teasing. Especially during the special occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival, and since the two had been missing for a long time, the looks directed at them were even more intense than usual.
“Oh, Le Le brought his mermaid wife!”
“Le Le, where did you take your wife to play?”
As if teasing the two young men into shyness was particularly amusing, the villagers laughed and deliberately called them “mermaid wife” and “mermaid bride” to tease them.
An Le braced himself and walked toward the dining table where Father An and Mother An were, while awkwardly smiling and giving vague responses to the crowd: “Ha, ha, Aunt Hui, hello. We were just wandering around, just wandering around… Uncle Cha, Su Su was just joking, don’t take it seriously, don’t take it seriously… It’s nothing, nothing at all…”
“Was Su Su really just joking?” Suddenly, a girl in a pink shirt and skirt jumped in front of the two, smiling sweetly at them as she spoke.
This girl was An Linmian, Village Chief An Mu’s granddaughter, the one who had almost caught them. An Linmian was eighteen, a year older than An Le. Since An Le often visited Village Chief An Mu, the two were quite familiar with each other.
“Linmian.” An Le offered a gentle smile and greeted her politely.
“An Le, are you two really not in that kind of relationship?” An Linmian asked in a joking tone. Although she looked at An Le, her peripheral vision was directed at An Xiaoyu.
“Of course not.” An Le took in An Linmian’s subtle movements and understood. Many girls in the village were interested in An Xiaoyu, and An Linmian was one of them. An Linmian specifically asked this in front of everyone, likely intending to make a move. An Xiaoyu is certainly popular, An Le thought. Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, An Linmian’s face broke into a bright smile. Without concealing her intentions, she immediately turned to An Xiaoyu.
“Xiaoyu, are you free?” An Linmian smiled openly, looking directly at An Xiaoyu, getting straight to the point.
She’s certainly bold, worthy of being Village Chief An Mu’s granddaughter—not shy at all, completely unlike someone from ancient times. An Le clicked his tongue in admiration, thinking he shouldn’t stand in the way.