Wild Fire Bids Farewell To Summer Chapter 38

Waking of Insects

6:00.The thermometer shows -2℃.

The inside of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the studio on the third floor of the Huang family villa is covered with ice flowers.The ice grows upward from the lower corner of the window pane, bifurcating in a hexagonal shape, with intertwined branches, cutting the Green Cen Mountain outside the window into pieces.The sun penetrates the ice and casts a pale grid on the ground, without any temperature.

There’s ice on the palette.

The remaining pigments from yesterday – titanium white, ultramarine, and ocher – froze into raised lumps on the surface of the porcelain plate, cracked at the edges, cracks radiating, and the paste expanded to break the ice.The ice layer is transparent and you can see the white paste underneath.

Huang Jinye stretched out his index finger and hovered three centimeters above the titanium white paint.

He lowered his fingers, and the pads of his fingers touched the ice. The coldness instantly penetrated his skin and stung.The ice is dented, cracks extend downward, and with a soft click, as thin as a hair, the ice on top of the paint block breaks apart.

He pulled back.The fingertips were stained with ice chips, which melted into water droplets and mixed with the stone powder embedded in the palm lines to form gray mud.

The camp bed is in the northeast corner of the studio.Wei Zhiheng was lying there, covered with two No. 055 school uniform jackets. They were made of cotton and washed hard. The collar was yellow with sweat stains and the cuffs were frayed.

The sound of his breathing came from the direction of the bed.

A heavy, bloodshot tremor, every inhalation has a long tail sound, and every exhalation is accompanied by the gurgling sound of blood foam.The air flows through the narrow airway, producing a whistling sound.

Huang Jinye turned around.The right knee was bent, and the accumulated water rushed from the inside to the outside, making a gurgling and muffled sound.

He walked towards the cot, his steps were heavy and light, heavy on the right and light on the left. His spiked shoes stepped on the frozen water stains on the ground, and the ice cracked, making a crunching sound.

Wei Zhiheng’s face was exposed above the collar.Pale, transparent, the skin is so thin that you can see the purple blood vessels underneath, branching and coiling.His eyelids were closed, his lashes casting gray shadows on his cheeks.His right hand stretched out from the quilt. The nail caps were tinged with light purple, with a white edge around them. Purple-black bruises were embedded under the nail beds.

The fingers are curled in a grasping posture, the knuckles are white, and the skin is taut and translucent.

Huang Jinye squatted on the edge of the bed.His right knee hit the ground, the water stinging under the pressure.

He stretched out his hand and hovered his right hand over Wei Zhiheng’s left wrist, stopping five centimeters away from the skin.The fingers are spread out, the joints are stiff, and there is white stone powder on the edge of the nail plate.

He lowered his fingers and pressed the pads of his fingers on the radial artery.

The pulse beats fast and erratically, more than a hundred times per minute, but it is slowing down and becoming heavier.He kept this position and counted his pulse, one, two, three. When he counted to the seventh beat, his pulse missed a beat.

He frowned, his chin receded, and the side muscles of his neck tensed.He applied more force, digging his fingertips into the skin and pressing on the purpura.

The pulse returns, but becomes weaker, thicker, and slower.

Wei Zhiheng’s body temperature came through the fabric of the school uniform. It was low, approaching 16°C.Huang Jinye’s palms were hot, and the temperature difference stung on the contact surface.

There was the sound of the iron door opening downstairs.

The hinge groaned like it was breaking, and the vibration of metal fatigue echoed in the empty villa.Footsteps sounded in the hall, the rubber soles rubbing against the terrazzo, dragging and heavy, accompanied by the dry sound of pine wood scraping against the wall.

Huang Jinye retracted his hand.He stood up, his kneecaps making a dry grinding sound.He walked towards the stairs.

Wei Mingyuan stood in the center of the living room.Gray shirt, carpenter’s apron, turpentine and sawdust on his fingers, and a crack on the side of his right index finger, exuding tissue fluid.

He held a stack of picture frames in his hands, made of pine wood, quarter-sized, with the smell of new paint on the surface, pungent and chemical.

He was trying to put the picture frame against the side wall of the stairs. The edge of the pinewood scraped against the frozen limestone wall. The paint was not yet dry and stuck to the hoarfrost on the wall. When he pulled it, it made a slight peeling sound, leaving white ravines mixed with pine wood chips and ice chips.

Huang Jinye walked down the last three steps.The right foot landed first, with a thud, and the left foot dragged, grazing the ground.He stood beside Wei Mingyuan, blocking the way the picture frame continued to ascend.

Wei Mingyuan looked up.His eyes met Huang Jinye, unfocused and scattered, falling in the direction of the stairs behind Huang.

His chin moved and dropped two centimeters, trying to form a nod, but stopped.The muscles tightened, and the veins on the side of his neck jumped.The nodding action was not completed, hanging in mid-air, and then retracted.

He licked his lips, which were chapped and stained with blood.

He adjusted the angle of the picture frame, trying to bypass Huang Jinye and move the picture frame to the third floor.The edge of the picture frame scratched the wall again, and the ice chips peeled off, revealing the dark gray limestone body.

Huang Jinye didn’t move.His right shoulder was pressed against the handrail of the stairs. The iron pipe was cold, and the silvery metal was exposed where the green paint peeled off.

He reached out his hand, not to push it away, but to grab the pine wood frame of the frame, his fingertips sinking into the stickiness of the new paint.

Their hands touched on either side of the frame.Wei Mingyuan’s fingers were cold and stained with sawdust; Huang Jinye’s fingers were hot and stained with stone powder.

The picture frame hovers between the two, tilted, its pine wood frame reflecting the morning light, dazzling it.

The door shaft let out another dry moan.

Su Huiqin walked in, holding a strong brocade in her hand, with a water ripple pattern, dark blue weft threads undulating on the off-white warp threads, the fabric was complete, and the threads on the edges had been trimmed and neatly trimmed.

She didn’t look at the stalemate in the living room and walked straight to the stairs. Her steps were light and her cloth shoes made a rustling sound as they rubbed against the ground.

Huang Jinye let go of the frame.

He turned aside to make way for the passage, but the frame did not move upward.Wei Mingyuan leaned the picture frame against the wall with a gentle movement. The wood made a dull impact when it came into contact with the limestone wall.The new paint on the pine frame stuck to the wall frost, creating white patches.

Su Huiqin walked up to the third floor.Huang Jinye followed, Wei Mingyuan came last.

The three of them stopped at the door of the studio.

Wei Zhiheng’s breathing changed – shallower and slower. Every inhalation seemed to be drawn up from a deep place, with a gurgling sound of blood foam.

Su Huiqin walked to the camp bed and unfolded the brocade.

The fabric was long enough to cover the whole body, and she covered it on Wei Zhiheng. The dark blue texture of the water ripples formed a color difference with the gray-blue of the two No. 055 school uniform jackets.The tapestry fell, and the fibers rustled against the school uniform fabric.

The water ripples rise and fall with Wei Zhiheng’s breathing, and the dark blue texture tightens when he inhales and relaxes when he exhales.

Wei Mingyuan stood in front of the easel.The ice flowers on the palette were melting, and the first drop of water fell from the tip of the hexagonal fork, hitting the porcelain plate with a ticking sound.

He stretched out his hand, his index finger hovering over the cracked patch of paint without touching it.

Huang Jinye took out the aluminum foil package from his trouser pocket.Rectangular with jagged edges, it is half-opened to reveal the plastic tray inside.There were three bottles of morphine oral solution in the tray. The liquid was brownish-red and viscous, with an oily surface and a rusty smell.Next to it is a plastic measuring cup with clear markings: 5ml, 10ml, 15ml.

He took out a bottle of oral liquid, glass bottle, cold.The liquid sloshes in the bottle and is viscous. Due to the low temperature, the fluidity becomes poor and is close to semi-solidification.

He unscrewed the bottle cap, and the plastic threads rubbed together, making a dry sound.

The smell came out—sweet, falsely sweet, like poison, settling in the lower part of the nose.

He walked over to the cot.

Wei Mingyuan and Su Huiqin stepped back, forming the other two vertices of the triangle.Huang Jinye sat down on the edge of the bed. The mattress springs made a series of noises from the head to the end of the bed.

He bent over and his right knee made a sharp scraping sound.

He held the back of Wei Zhiheng’s neck with his left hand and raised his head.Wei Zhiheng’s lips were chapped, and there was a crack in the center of his lower lip, which was bleeding and the edges were raised.

Huang Jinye pointed the mouth of the morphine bottle at his lips and tilted the bottle.

The brown-red liquid flows out, is viscous, sticks to the wall due to low temperature, and flows slowly.The liquid slid into Wei Zhiheng’s mouth. There was no swallowing action. It just flowed down the base of the tongue and settled in the throat.

Part of the liquid overflowed from the corner of the mouth and dripped along the chin, forming dark red spots on the No. 055 school uniform jacket and spreading.

Huang Jinye took back the bottle.

He stretched out his right hand and held Wei Zhiheng’s right hand hanging outside the quilt.The hand was cold and the knuckles were stiff.

Huang Jinye pressed the bottom of the morphine bottle into Wei Zhiheng’s palm and crushed it hard. The glass at the bottom of the bottle rubbed against his skin, making a slight sound.Wei Zhiheng’s fingers spasmed under the crushing force, his knuckles turned white, and his nails left scratches on the bottom of the bottle.

Huang Jinye continued to apply pressure until Wei Zhiheng’s fingers were forced to close together into a fist, wrapping the bottom of the bottle.

He pulled out the bottle, leaving his hand in the hollow position of a fist.

Su Huiqin stepped forward.

She took out a roll of medical tape from her pocket. It was transparent and narrow, with only one circle left.She tore off a section and the tape made a tearing sound.She held up Wei Zhiheng’s chin and put tape between his chin and neck to fix the angle of his head and prevent blood from flowing back.

Her fingers trembled when applying the tape, her knuckles were swollen, and the tape was applied crookedly, with one end turned up.

Wei Mingyuan picked up the picture frame from the wall.

He stepped forward and attempted to hang the frame on the wall above the cot.The edge of the frame scraped against the frozen wall again, flakes of ice peeling off.

He stood on tiptoe, and the pine wood frame of the picture frame swayed in the morning light, casting shadows on Wei Zhiheng’s face in a grid-like pattern that overlapped with the shapes of ice flowers.

Huang Jinye stood up.

He blocked Wei Mingyuan’s movement to hang the frame and reached out to grab the other side of the frame.

The two were locked in a stalemate again, with the frame hovering over Wei Zhiheng, and the shadow cast by the pine wood frame covered his face.Huang Jinye pressed his thumb on the new paint on the edge of the frame. The paint was still wet and stuck to his fingertips, forming white threads when he pulled it.

Wei Mingyuan let go of his hand.

The picture frame fell into Huang Jinye’s hands. It was heavy and made of pine wood.Huang Jinye placed the picture frame on the ground and leaned it against the foot of the bed, forming a right angle with the camp bed.The glass surface of the frame (the canvas is not yet mounted) reflects the ice flowers outside the window, creating distorted spots of light.

Three people in the studio.

Wei Mingyuan stood in front of the easel, with his back to the bed, his fingers picking at the ice on the edge of the palette.Su Huiqin sat on the low stool beside the bed, put her hands on her knees, twisted her fingers together, her knuckles turned white, and stared at the water ripples on the brocade rising and falling with her breathing.

Huang Jinye stood by the window, leaning against the limestone wall tiles. The moisture on the wall sent a chill through the fabric of his vest.His right hand was in his trouser pocket, and his fingertips touched a hard object – a limestone specimen, ivory white, with gray flint strips and sharp edges.

He tightened his grip, the sting waking him up.

silence.

The air is heavy, like stone, like ice.The breathing sounds in the studio – Wei Zhiheng’s heavy breathing with the smell of bloodshot trembling; Wei Mingyuan’s heavy breathing with the smell of carpenter’s glue; Su Huiqin’s shallow and fast breath with the smell of bamboo healds from the loom; Huang Jinye’s heavy breath with the smell of stone powder.

The four rhythms are intertwined and mistimed, forming an irregular hum.

There are aluminum foil packages on the coffee table. There are two bottles of morphine left. They are brown and red. The liquid is still in the glass bottle with white thin ice on the surface.

Huang Jinye took out a limestone specimen from his trouser pocket.

He walked to the bed and opened Wei Zhiheng’s fingers that were still in a fist position.His fingers were stiff and resisted opening. He exerted force, and his knuckles made a slight friction sound.

He stuffed the limestone specimen into Wei Zhiheng’s palm and forced his fingers together.

The stone is cold, 16°C, in sync with Wei’s body temperature.The edge cut into the palm of the hand. Wei Zhiheng’s fingers spasmed when the stone was embedded. His nails scraped on the surface of the limestone, making a dry sound, and the stone powder embedded in the gaps between the nails.

The stone acted as a counterweight to hold his hand down and prevent it from floating away.

The fingers are wrapped around the stone, showing a natural depression, a passive posture, unable to hold it voluntarily, it is just filled.

Outside the window, the outline of Greencen Mountain appears in the morning light. The gray-white limestone has clear vertical layers and is covered with thin frost.

On the frozen windowpane, ice flowers are melting, and water droplets fall from the tips of the hexagonal branches and hit the window sill, making a ticking sound, like a second hand moving, like a heartbeat.

Huang Jinye returned to the window.

His right hand hovered over Wei Zhiheng’s left shoulder, stopping five centimeters away from the No. 055 school uniform jacket.The fingers are spread out, the joints are stiff, and there is white stone powder on the edge of the nail plate.

He didn’t fall behind.

Just hover, let the body temperature conduct in the air, exchange hot and cold, invisible convection.A heavier layer of air settled, mixed with the sweetness of morphine, the rust of blood, the smell of turpentine, the chemical smell of new paint, the fiber smell of tapestry, and the astringent smell of limestone dust, pressing down on the ankles, spreading upward over the edge of the bed, and flooding the chest.

Wei Zhiheng’s breathing continued, and the intervals became longer.

Inhale, pause, exhale, pause.Each pause felt like stopping, only to be broken by the next breath.His body temperature continued to drop, approaching 16°C.

The strong brocade water ripples covering the body rise and fall with the last visible breath, and the dark blue texture tightens, relaxes, and then tightens again.

Huang Jinye’s fingers hovered, twitching and trembling.

He didn’t fall, just hover, like a frozen bird’s talon.

Time stretches out in this suspension, every second is like a layer of sedimentation, every second is like an ice crack.The ice flowers continue to melt, and the water drops fall, tick, tick, tick.

He pulled back.

Insert it into your trouser pocket, and touch the piece of eucalyptus candy with your fingertips. It is wrapped in tin foil and has green stripes. It has softened and deformed, mixed with Wei Zhiheng’s blood, and is sticky.

He turned around and faced the window.

The limestone of Greencen Mountain is silent in the morning light. The longitudinal flint strips are straight and parallel, without melting or flowing.