It was only when the fireworks had completely faded that Zhu Jingru let go of Bai Qinglin’s hand.
The two of them, with a tacit understanding, pretended that nothing had happened. The palpitations & ambiguity all dissolved into the mountain wind of the night, blowing past their ears and ruffling the hems of their clothes.
Zhu Jingru suddenly said, “Brother Bai, let’s elope.”
The spark from the lighter scorched Bai Qinglin’s fingertips. He froze for a second before he registered what the words meant.
“I’m serious.” Zhu Jingru’s silhouette seemed to embrace the wind. “Right now.”
Not getting a reply didn’t disappoint him. Zhu Jingru was certain Bai Qinglin was willing to go with him.
This “date” itself had been implicitly agreed upon.
“The train leaves in half an hour. I bought tickets for you in advance.” Zhu Jingru’s peripheral vision was filled with Bai Qinglin. He felt an unprecedented excitement and novelty. From his teens until now, he had spent most of his time adventuring alone, but this time was different.
In his thirty-second year, Zhu Jingru was setting off together with the person he liked.
They arrived at the train station and parked the car. Zhu Jingru and Bai Qinglin had no luggage. One in front of the other, they moved through the late-night, uncrowded station.
When it was time to check their tickets and enter the platform, they stood shoulder-to-shoulder in two separate lines. Zhu Jingru was properly looking straight ahead, but his hand reached out to gently tug on Bai Qinglin’s sleeve.
The line moved forward slowly. Zhu Jingru simply kept a firm hold on the man’s cuff, his action open and mischievous, like a child trying to get an adult’s attention with a prank—willful, yet making it impossible for one to get angry.
At the final security check, a station staff member reminded them, “You handsome guys can let go now. No matter how close you are, you have to get on the train first.”
Bai Qinglin glanced sideways at Zhu Jingru, his expression impassive but the corner of his lip slightly raised.
Zhu Jingru’s ears burned. He obediently let go.
The train ride to the final destination was five hours long. Due to the rush, they had only managed to get seated tickets. Bai Qinglin sat by the window, gazing at the pitch-black night sky, while Zhu Jingru seemed to run out of energy as soon as he got on the train. He grew drowsy, his head swaying for a while before he simply leaned on Bai Qinglin’s shoulder and fell asleep.
Soft hair brushed against his neck, the scent of shampoo mixed with the fragrance of plum blossoms. It smelled very nice.
Bai Qinglin remained motionless. The glasses on his nose seemed to be crooked. He felt as if he had found the perfect excuse to follow his heart and stop holding back. The tightly wound string in his mind gradually snapped.
After a short while, Bai Qinglin silently fixed his gaze on Zhu Jingru’s face, lowering his head to carefully observe the person before him, inch by inch.
His eyelashes were long, the red mole at the corner of his eye distinct. He wasn’t still even in sleep, his cheek rubbing against the shoulder and turning slightly red.
Zhu Jingru’s lips suddenly moved slightly.
The pads of Bai Qinglin’s fingers curled. With a calm expression, he turned his head to look out the window.
Sitting across from them was a mother and son. The child in her arms woke up groggily in the middle of the night and vaguely saw the uncle with glasses very gently touching the face of the sleeping uncle next to him. It seemed like he even pinched it for a bit.
At a little past five in the morning, the broadcast announcement was quite loud. “The next stop will be Haikou City…” It successfully woke Zhu Jingru. He was half-lying on the seat, a coat draped over him.
It was not yet dawn outside. Zhu Jingru went straight to the restroom to wash up. Only after drying his face did he go to the connecting area between cars to find Bai Qinglin. “Did you not sleep all night?”
Bai Qinglin, who was exhaling smoke, wasn’t particularly sleepy. He nodded in response.
Zhu Jingru naturally took the cigarette from Bai Qinglin’s hand, took a drag, then stubbed it out and threw it in the trash can. “Next time you can’t sleep, you can wake me.”
Acting like a rogue first thing in the morning wasn’t usually Zhu Jingru’s style. But Bai Qinglin, with that slightly weary look on his face, the bob of his Adam’s apple as he smoked, and the way he held the cigarette and looked up lazily at him…
“You’re quite good at pushing your luck.” Bai Qinglin’s voice was slightly hoarse, a rare display of emotion. Though the six words were not particularly friendly or gentle, they sounded different in Zhu Jingru’s ears.
“Brother Bai.”
“…”
Zhu Jingru’s fingertips touched the man’s Adam’s apple as lightly as a dragonfly skimming water. His enunciation was particularly thought-provoking. “If I kissed you here, would it be very ticklish?”
Bai Qinglin didn’t speak. The scent of agarwood pierced through the smoke. His gaze held a mixture of scrutiny and focus. The breath from his nose felt like it was exhaling smoke onto Zhu Jingru’s cheek.
They arrived in Haikou City at 6:10 in the morning.
Zhu Jingru drove a pre-rented Jeep and took Bai Qinglin to the seaside. The waves crashed against the reefs in unison. Other than them, there was no one else on the beach. The world was so quiet it seemed to have stopped.
Zhu Jingru brazenly took off his upper body clothes, one piece after another. The red string around his waist was clearly exposed, the scar on his butterfly-like shoulder blades once again visible. He stretched his back, completely unconcerned that there was anything wrong with his actions.
Bai Qinglin chose to bend down and pick up the clothes that had fallen on the sand, the bulging blue veins on his wrist indicating his master’s extreme inner turmoil.
Then, he watched with his own eyes as Zhu Jingru seemed about to jump into this unfamiliar sea. His back in the golden twilight was a mysterious and dangerous work of art bestowed by the Creator. His muscles were well-proportioned, his figure slender and beautiful. Every movement was incomparably free and unrestrained as he moved further and further from the shore.
But at that moment, Zhu Jingru turned back to wait for him.
On the horizon, the light and shadow were hazy. The sea’s surface was turbulent yet held a certain gentleness. After the dawn comes the rising sun.
For the first time in his methodical to the point of boring life, Bai Qinglin glimpsed the light of daybreak by the sea.
Zhu Jingru raced towards him and joyfully pulled him along to jump into the sea where azure and gold coexisted, as if breaking free from all restraints, leaping like a whale.
Biologists say humans came from the water, that everything was once a vast ocean. Now, they returned together to a time billions of years ago, back to the primitive era when the body enjoyed being bare.
Suffocating, chaotic water rushed violently into their ears and noses. Their vision became increasingly blurry with the crashing waves. Sunlight pierced the surface of the sea and reached their entangled bodies. Zhu Jingru held Bai Qinglin’s hand tightly and never let go.
When he broke the surface and gasped violently for air, Bai Qinglin, in a daze, heard him ask with a laugh.
“Will you let me kiss you?”
