When The Snow Falls In Autumn Chapter 27

Chapter 27

The corridor on the side of the ancient books department is deeper than the main reading area. The light shines in from the narrow transom at the top and is cut into gratings by the stacked bookshelves. A stronger mixed smell of aged paper, ink and insect repellent floats in the air. It is so quiet that you can hear the sound of dust slowly settling.Ling Xueqing hugged the constant humidity book box, and her footsteps landed on the old but smooth terrazzo floor, making steady and slight knocks, one after another, like some kind of precise metronome, measuring the distance between her and the suddenly cut off morning behind her.

She stopped in front of the heavy wooden door marked “Temporary Relocation.”The door was ajar, and there was a low cough from Teacher Zhao and the rustle of turning pages.She knocked on the door.

“Come in.” Teacher Zhao’s voice was consistent, slightly tired and gentle.

Ling Xueqing pushed the door open and entered.The room was not big, with dark wooden cabinets on all four walls, and a large oak table in the middle, filled with documents and tools to be processed.Teacher Zhao is wearing reading glasses and leaning over the table to check a list.Seeing her come in, he raised his eyes and landed on the book box in her arms.

“Have you finished it?” Teacher Zhao took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“Yes. The main reinforcement and leveling have been completed. The edges of the separation seams and fragile areas have been focused on, and the condition is basically stable.” Ling Xueqing carefully placed the book box in an open space on the table, opened the lid, and revealed the ancient books lying quietly inside.”It needs to be left here for at least a week to monitor the temperature, humidity and paper adaptation.”

Teacher Zhao got closer and took a closer look at the state of the ancient books, especially the area where the cinnabar abnormality was found yesterday – it was carefully covered with a special transparent film, like a lake sealed by a thin ice.He nodded, a look of approval on his face.”It’s very well done, especially the covering layer, which is handled very carefully.” He looked at Ling Xueqing, “Where’s Xiaoye? Today… her condition seems to be a bit up and down?”

Ling Xueqing lowered her eyes and fastened the clasp of the book box again with smooth movements.”The minor accident was properly handled and no damage was caused. It has been recorded.” Her answer was concise and objective, without mentioning any details or commenting on Ye Qiulan’s condition.

Teacher Zhao glanced at her, as if he wanted to ask something more, but in the end he just sighed.”Young man, it is inevitable. You have always cooperated very well, and you have worked hard this time.” He pointed to a special storage cabinet with constant temperature and humidity next to him. “Put it in cabinet No. 3. The key is in the same place.”

Ling Xueqing obeyed, picked up the book box, and walked to the storage cabinet on the wall.Take a bunch of keys from the hook next to it, find the one marked “three”, insert it into the keyhole, and turn it.The cabinet door opened, and a stream of cooler air with an aura of precise control surged out.There are several similar constant humidity book boxes layered inside.She put the book box in her hand into the empty space, adjusted the angle, then closed the door and locked it again.The key hangs back up.

After doing all this, she turned to Teacher Zhao.”Signature is required for storage records.”

“Okay, I’ll sign it.” Teacher Zhao picked up the pen and signed his name and date on the record book handed over by Ling Xueqing.”For the follow-up observation records, I would like you to come over and take a look at them every day and take notes.”

“Understood.” Ling Xueqing took the record book and closed it.She did not leave immediately, her eyes fell on the pile of documents to be processed at the corner of the table. Among them was a light gray cardboard file bag with some wear and tear on the corners. It was the bag used to seal the sensitive loose page yesterday.

Teacher Zhao followed her gaze.”Oh, that,” he pointed at the archive, “according to the donor’s requirements, the highest level of access restriction has been marked and will be stored separately. The content… just pretend you haven’t seen it.” There was a hint of complex emotion in his tone, which was both a professional commitment to confidentiality and a hint of helplessness that history had been deliberately buried.

Ling Xueqing’s eyes stayed on the file bag for a moment.Didn’t see it?Those words about “nursing” and “dirty” have been engraved in her and Ye Qiulan’s eyes.But she said nothing, just nodded slightly.”Then I’ll leave first.”

“Go.” Teacher Zhao put on his reading glasses again.

Ling Xueqing turned around, walked out of the room, and gently closed the door.There was still deep silence in the corridor.Instead of returning to the main reading area, she turned to another less popular passage leading to the internal work area of ​​the Ancient Books Department.It was quieter here, with only the sound of her footsteps echoing.

She walked to a window at the end of the passage.Outside the window is a small patio surrounded by a tall library building, with a few clumps of thin bamboo planted there. The sun can only shine in briefly at midday, but it is already setting sun. There are clear lights and shadows in the patio, half bright and half sinking into the deep blue.

She stood here, leaning against the cold stone window sill.Until this moment, the tight shoulders and neck lines relaxed almost imperceptibly.She raised her right hand to her eyes, her index finger stretched out, facing the remaining skylight outside the window.

The skin on the fingertips is smooth and clean, with only a very fine texture.The feeling of the cold reinforcement liquid dripping on it in the morning has long since disappeared.But at that moment, the trajectory of the falling liquid, Ye Qiulan’s suddenly pale face, the contraction of his heart that almost stopped beating, and the subsequent burst of protective impulse that almost broke through the years of restrained instincts… All the feelings were mixed with the cedar breath with original warmth that could not be completely locked due to the surge of adrenaline, but could be recalled with incomparable clarity at this moment.

She’s not regretful.Protecting Ye Qiulan and protecting that ancient book was an instinct that did not require thinking at that moment.What she was afraid of was the intensity of her reaction, the almost out-of-control, strong impulse that belonged to Alpha and wanted to completely isolate danger from Ye Qiulan’s world.And… after the impulse, when faced with Ye Qiulan’s tearful eyes and fragile expression, there was an even more turbulent wave in my heart, wanting to do more and say more, but had to suppress it with my frozen reason.

“Don’t worry.”

She could only say these three words at the time.Use the calmest tone and draw the clearest boundaries.It was as if it was really just a trivial operating accident, as if her fingers had not instinctively touched it, as if it had not caused any waves in her heart.

Only in this way can everything be brought back to “normal” track.What belongs to Ling Xueqing and Ye Qiulan is the “normal” that seems safe but is actually walking on thin ice.

In the patio outside the window, the last ray of sunlight disappeared, and the outline of the bamboo bushes merged into the growing twilight, turning into a dark silhouette.A dim wall lamp lit up in the corridor.

Ling Xueqing put down her hands and put them in her coat pocket.My fingertips touched the cold cover of the hard-shell notebook.Inside, there are old bookmarks written by Ye Qiulan many years ago about “Qingru” and “We Saw”.

She retracted her hand, no longer staying, turned around and walked back along the way she came.Footsteps sounded again in the empty corridor, steady and clear. Each step stepped on the smooth, mirror-like terrazzo floor, and also stepped on the calm and restrained order that he had rebuilt.But under that order, somewhere the foundation stone that had been quietly loosened by the morning’s accident and the old bookmark was emitting a subtle buzz that even she herself had not fully noticed.

She walked out of the ancient books department wing and re-entered the main reading area.The hustle and bustle of the weekend afternoon has long since dispersed, leaving only a few students still immersed in studying.The long oak table by the west window was empty. The sunlight had moved away, leaving a soft shadow on the tabletop.

Ling Xueqing didn’t look there again.She walked straight to the exit and pushed open the heavy oak door.

The campus has been completely shrouded in the warm tones of dusk, the street lights have not yet been turned on, and a faint orange remains in the sky.She walked towards the East End graduate student apartment, walking a little faster than when she came, as if she wanted to return to the closed space that belonged to her as soon as possible and where she could completely remove all external expressions.

The wind blows through the camphor trees, bringing the coolness of the approaching night.She tightened the collar of her coat and curled her fingers unconsciously into her pockets. Her fingertips seemed to be able to feel the cold hardness of the notebook cover and the thin cardboard underneath.

The night was like a tide, slowly spreading over every corner of the campus, and also over her straight but lonely back.Behind her, the library was like a huge container filled with countless silent stories, and the story that happened at the long table by the west window this morning, with a drop of reinforcement fluid that had never fallen, an instinctive protection, and a cold “don’t worry”, quietly sank to the bottom of the container, becoming one of the countless secrets, waiting to be read tomorrow.