When The Snow Falls In Autumn Chapter 55

Chapter 55

Ling Xueqing finished the last mouthful of porridge and gently put the porcelain bowl back on the bedside table.The bottom of the bowl made contact with the wooden tabletop, making a very slight “click”.She leaned against the head of the bed, her gaze lowered, falling on her well-jointed fingers resting on the thin gray quilt.The morning light moved another inch, making her fingertips almost transparent, and the light blue blood vessels under the skin could be seen.The air in the room seemed to become stagnant again as the bowl of porridge bottomed out.The fragile and fuzzy veil of illness faded away, and the usual clear boundaries belonging to Ling Xuequing were silently re-erected.

Ye Qiulan stood up and took the empty bowl.”Do you want more?”

Ling Xueqing shook her head, and her voice returned to its usual clearness, although it still had a hint of hoarseness after illness: “No. Thank you.”

Ye Qiulan took the bowl and walked to the small basin that doubled as a mini sink in the corner of the room, and turned on the faucet.The cold water rushed and washed the white porcelain bowl.She washed slowly and carefully, as if this simple action could fill the suddenly empty silence between the two of them.

Wash the dishes, dry them with a clean cloth and put them back in the cabinet.She turned around and looked at Ling Xueqing.Ling Xueqing had already gotten out of bed and was standing in front of the desk, with his back to her, looking out the window.She changed out of her nightgown and put on a simple white long-sleeved T-shirt and dark gray house pants. She had a slim and straight figure, and her long dark hair was casually scattered around her shoulders.Outside the window is the campus that is gradually lighting up, and the spire of the library in the distance is looming in the mist.

“You’re feeling better, I…” Ye Qiulan said, his voice a little dry, “I’m going back first. Remember to take your medicine on time and get more rest.”

Ling Xueqing did not respond immediately.She was still looking out the window, the lines of her profile looking clear and quiet in the morning light.After a few seconds, she slowly turned around and her eyes fell on Ye Qiulan’s face.The gaze was calm, but with a focused look that Ye Qiulan was familiar with, as if he was assessing something.

“Do you have classes in the morning?” Ling Xueqing asked.

Ye Qiulan was stunned for a moment and replied subconsciously: “No…there are no classes in the morning.”

“Then,” Ling Xueqing paused, her eyes turned to the neatly arranged professional books on the desk and the stack of copied materials spread out on top, “Can you do me a favor?”

Ye Qiulan’s heartbeat skipped a beat inexplicably.”What’s the deal?”

Ling Xueqing walked to the desk and tapped her fingers on the stack of copied materials.”These are some scattered records about the Ming and Qing family genealogies in the Yongzhou area that I copied from the Special Collections Department when I was writing a report. Some places need to be rechecked with the original book for page numbers and citation formats. I…” She frowned slightly, as if it was difficult to say, “I am still a little dizzy, and I will feel dizzy after reading the words for a long time. You have good eyesight, can you check it for me? No need to go more, just the first few pages.”

Her request was very specific and the reason was very reasonable – she was weak after illness and her eyesight was unwell.Even with a rare hint of weakness.But Ye Qiulan knew that checking page numbers and formats, an extremely tedious task that required a high degree of concentration and patience, should have come easily to Ling Xueqing. He would never do it to others, let alone worry about it when he was feeling unwell.Unless…the thing itself, or asking her to do it, had other intentions.

Ye Qiulan looked at Ling Xueqing’s calm face, and then at the thick pile of copy paper with some frayed edges.The unique slightly astringent smell of paper, mixed with the smell of medicine that had not yet dissipated in the room and the refreshing breath of Ling Xueqing’s body, filled the air silently.

“Okay,” she heard herself say.

Ling Xueqing seemed to be almost imperceptibly relieved, although the expression on her face did not change.”Sit here.” She pulled out the chair in front of the desk, walked to the bed and sat down. She picked up the collected works of Liu Zongyuan on the bedside table and flipped through them without reading.

Ye Qiulan sat down at the desk.The chair still had Ling Xuequing’s body temperature, making it slightly warm.The desktop was smooth and clean, except for the pile of photocopied materials and a red marker pen, which was the closed dark blue notebook with a map drawn on it.The edges and corners of the laptop’s hard shell glowed with a cold luster in the morning light.

She picked up the top copy page.The paper is a little yellowed, and it is densely packed with traditional Chinese characters arranged vertically, with occasional markings in red pen and notes in young regular script.The content is about the population changes and land transaction records of a certain Lin family in Yongzhou in the mid-Ming Dynasty. It is boring.In the blank space next to it, there are brief notes and page numbers written by Ling Xueqing with a black pen. The handwriting is neat and powerful.

Ye Qiulan gathered his thoughts and started to check the source and format of the citations one by one according to Ling Xueqing’s request.She needs to recall or infer the precise page number based on the name and approximate volume of the ancient book mentioned in Ling Xueqing’s brief notes, and mark it next to it with a red pen.This work is indeed tedious and requires a strong memory and patience, as well as familiarity with the arrangement of ancient books.Fortunately, when she gave a report before, she followed Ling Xueqing and came into contact with many similar documents, so she was not completely unfamiliar.

She quickly got into it.The sunlight filtered through the gaps in the curtains and shone right on the paper in front of her, illuminating the ancient ink marks.She frowned slightly, her eyes focused, and her fingertips traced the difficult words line by line. She stopped from time to time, biting the penholder and thinking, or wrote down a few possible page numbers on the draft paper next to her, and then checked carefully.

For a moment, the only sounds left in the room were the slight rustle of paper being turned, the thin sound of the pen tip scratching across the paper, and the shallow breathing of the two of them.Ling Xueqing leaned on the bedside with the book spread out on her knees, but her eyes did not fall on the pages of the book, but looked vaguely at Ye Qiulan’s back at the desk.The morning light outlined her thin shoulder lines and slightly drooped neck, and her fine hair swayed gently on her cheeks as she occasionally tilted her head.

Ling Xueqing looked at it, her eyes a little deep and distant, and her fingertips unconsciously rubbed the smooth edges of the pages.She did still feel a little dizzy, and her vision occasionally blurred slightly.But what made her even more uncomfortable was something strange and ready to stir in her heart.The brief, almost out-of-control dependence and tightness during last night’s illness appeared like an unexpected crack in her tightly controlled mind.She needed to do something, to confirm some boundaries, or… test something.

It was a clumsy and high-sounding excuse to let Ye Qiulan do such boring checking work.She needed Ye Qiulan to stay here, stay in her space, stay in a familiar “transactional” atmosphere dominated by her, to dilute the overly private and fragile atmosphere of last night.At the same time, she also wanted to see how Ye Qiulan would react.Do you find it troublesome?Or will you devote yourself to it quietly and seriously as you do now?

Time passes quietly between the tip of the pen and the page.Ye Qiulan finished checking the first page and started reading the second page.The content of this page seems to be a little different. It is not a boring family record, but a miscellaneous note about local customs. It mentions a certain shrub that is now rare by the “Gui River” and an ancient local gathering custom related to sacrifices.The text is more vivid than before, but also more complicated.

Ye Qiulan watched carefully.Suddenly, her eyes stopped on one of the lines.That line describes that when offering sacrifices, it is necessary to collect “green wormwood by the stream, before sunrise, when it is wet with dew, and its fragrance will be strong.”Next to it, Ling Xueqing’s black abbreviated note reads: “‘Qing Ai’ may be an ancient name, but it is suspected to be the current ‘Cress’? I doubt it.”

The note itself is nothing special.But Ye Qiulan’s eyes fell on the word “Qingai”.Not because of the plant itself, but… “Qing Ai”, “Qing Ru”.They all have the word “green” in them.She thought of the record about the “Qingrui” river copied on her old bookmark.The river that has disappeared long ago also has “green” in its name.

An inexplicable, almost intuitive touch made her heart beat slightly faster.She raised her head and looked at Ling Xueqing.

Ling Xueqing seemed to have been looking at her, but the moment she raised her head, her eyes quickly moved away and fell back to the book page on her lap, as if it was just an accidental glance.

“Here,” Ye Qiulan pointed to the word “Qing Ai” on the copy paper, “Is this ‘Qing Ai’… related to the ‘Qing Ru’ on your map?” She asked hesitantly, wondering if she was overthinking.

Ling Xueqing paused while turning the pages of the book.She raised her head and looked at where Ye Qiulan’s fingers were pointing. A flash of light, akin to surprise, flashed through her eyes, but she soon became silent again.She was silent for a few seconds, as if she was considering or recalling.

“I don’t know.” She finally answered with a steady voice, “‘Qingru’ is the name of water, and ‘Qingai’ is the name of a plant. There are many ancient place names and product names with the word ‘green’ in them, which may not be directly related.” She paused and looked at Ye Qiulan, who was still confused and curious.With eyes wide open, he added, “But… when my mother mentioned her hometown, she would occasionally mention that there was a grass with a special aroma growing by the river, which was picked for use in spring. She didn’t mention the name, she just said it was ‘green, with a cold fragrance’. I don’t know if it was this kind of ‘green mugwort’.”

This was the first time that Ling Xueqing took the initiative to mention such specific and sensual details in her mother’s memory.It’s not the cold symbol on the map, but a kind of grass that is “green and has a cold fragrance”.Ye Qiulan’s heart seemed to have been lightly hit by something, feeling a little soft and sore.

“Then… what happened next? Is there still that kind of grass?” She couldn’t help but ask.

Ling Xueqing shook her head, her eyes became a little vacant again, and she looked out the window.”I don’t know. The river changed its course and the place changed. Probably…it’s gone a long time ago.”

Just like the “green road”, like the place names marked with question marks on the map, like the old times in my mother’s mouth that were sometimes clear and sometimes confusing.All “long gone”.

The air in the room seemed to have changed subtly because of this brief conversation about a herb that might have disappeared long ago.The previous stagnant and deliberately maintained business atmosphere was quietly penetrated by a lighter and more melancholy softness.

Ye Qiulan lowered his head and looked at the record about “Qing Ai” again.”Before sunrise, if the dew is still wet, the fragrance will be strong.”She imagined a river named “Qingrui”, where the morning mist had not dispersed, the dew was shining, and someone was bending down to pick green grass leaves with a cold fragrance.Is that a scene in Ling Xueqing’s mother’s memory, or is it one of countless ordinary mornings that have long been lost in time?

She picked up the red pen and carefully added a line of very small words next to Ling Xueqing’s “doubtful” abbreviation: “Maybe it is related to the image of ‘Qing Ru’? Fragrance, morning dew, river.”

After finishing writing, she raised her head and found that Ling Xueqing had walked to the desk at some point and was looking down at the line of small words she had just written.The distance was very close, and Ye Qiulan could smell her fresh breath and the slight smell of sweating after illness.

Ling Xueqing read the words for a few seconds, then raised her eyes, and her eyes collided with Ye Qiulan’s.Her eyes were deep and quiet, filled with emotions that Ye Qiulan could not fully understand – examination, measurement, perhaps a hint of being touched, and more hidden and complicated things.

She did not comment on the comment Ye Qiulan added, nor did she erase it.Just a very soft, almost inaudible breath.

“Go on.” She said, her voice lower than before, then turned around and slowly walked back to the bed and sat down.His back was still straight, but it seemed that some invisible tension had been relieved.

Ye Qiulan looked at her back, then looked down at the line of words he had written, his heart beating a little erratically.She seemed to… unintentionally touch something more secret and fragile than checking page numbers.

The sunshine outside the window became brighter, completely dispelling the morning fog.Morning music began to play on the campus radio, faintly coming in.

Ye Qiulan clenched his pen and returned his attention to the copy paper in front of him.Those ancient records about family, land, and property seem to have become less cold and boring because of the brief and light association about “Qing Ai” and “Qing Ru” just now.Like the silent and distant Ling Xueqing in front of her, who would hold her wrist tightly during illness and treasure her mother’s memory of a vanilla plant, they all contain invisible, soft, fragile, yet stubbornly existing cores.

The tip of the pen scratched the paper, making a rustling sound.On this clear and sunny morning after recovering from an illness, in this neat and almost empty room, a new and delicate balance was quietly established between the boring document checking and the sporadic emotional ripples.Just like the “green mugwort” with cold fragrance by the river when the morning dew is still fresh, it exists quietly in a corner forgotten by time.