Chapter 13: Midnight Bathroom Trip
The floor was cold, and Qingyan didn’t want Qiu Henian to freeze. Besides, without an oil lamp, nothing could be seen anyway; the darkness concealed the awkwardness.
Qingyan gritted his teeth and pulled down his underpants. The more he hurried, the harder it was to pee. It took him a while to finish urinating.
Throughout the process, Qiu Henian waited patiently and quietly. Once Qingyan was done, Qiu Henian bent down to take the bucket away, then handed Qingyan a cloth to wipe his hands.
Feeling embarrassed, Qingyan lowered his head as he took the cloth, thinking he had lost all face in front of the other man.
After wiping his hands, Qiu Henian also cleaned his own. They both lay down again. After the previous incident, Qingyan found it hard to sleep, turning over repeatedly.
On one hand, he still felt a bit embarrassed; on the other hand, the bed was so hard that it was uncomfortable no matter how he lay.
After a while, the man beside him got up again. This time, he lit the oil lamp and retrieved a spare thick quilt from the luggage at the head of the bed. He folded the quilt and placed it on the mattress, pressing down to check its thickness.
The man looked at Qingyan and said, “Try it, is it thick enough?”
Bundled up to his chin in the original quilt, Qingyan shuffled over and sat down on the newly placed quilt, obediently nodding his head.
Qiu Henian responded with a “Mm” and got off the bed to extinguish the oil lamp. Wrapped in the quilt like a cocoon, Qingyan sat there and lightly coughed. His nasal passages itched, and his throat was both itchy and dry—he was getting a bit of a cold.
While the heated bed was warm, it made the room very dry. Meanwhile, Qiu Henian, who had just stepped down from the bed, suddenly stopped. There were many items beside the heated bed, and the hem of his undergarments got caught on the clutter.
The tie of his undergarments must have been loose, and because he was moving away, the opposite force caused his garment to open, almost pulling it off and revealing much of his muscular upper body.
It was just then that Qingyan, who hadn’t even managed to get a good look, suddenly felt an intense itch in his nose. Something flowed from his nasal passages to his lips and then down to his chin.
He instinctively let out a sound, “Ah!”
Hearing Qingyan, Qiu Henian turned to look, not having had time to fix his open garment. The oil lamp’s light was soft. Qingyan stared blankly at Qiu Henian, seeing an obvious look of shock on his face.
Qingyan then thought to touch his nose and saw blood on his fingers.
Looking between the blood on his hand and the nearly naked man on the floor, he became flustered, stammering, “No… let me explain…”
Before he could finish, Qiu Henian swiftly pulled his garment back and tied it. Qingyan wanted to scream in frustration. Even if he had a crush, it was too much to start a nosebleed just by looking at someone’s chest muscles!
He felt wronged.
When he opened his eyes again, his nostrils were stuffed with a small cloth, and Qiu Henian was using the remaining part to wipe the residual blood from his face. Qingyan remained silent, feeling dejected.
Once the situation was handled, and his nose stopped bleeding, they lay down again. After a while, Qingyan suddenly sat up again, speaking with a cold tone, “You must forget what just happened, or else no one will sleep tonight—not even Erxi, who will have to walk 20,000 steps!”
Erxi, having not slept either, seemed to recognize his name and barked tentatively.
Qingyan, exasperated, said, “What are you looking at? This doesn’t concern you!”
In the darkness, the man beside him was silent for a while. Just when Qingyan thought he had fallen asleep, he heard a soft “Mm” in response.
Satisfied, Qingyan lay down and tucked himself in, finally ready to sleep. Just then, he heard the man beside him laugh softly.
Qingyan’s face turned bright red. Embarrassed, he regretted not seeing the man’s smiling face.
He had never seen it before.
How annoying it is for him to laugh when he couldn’t see.
…
Despite the previous night’s ordeal, they woke up early. If it snowed heavily, they wouldn’t be able to go far and had to hunt while the weather was good.
After breakfast, they geared up and went out together. This time, they walked quite far. Qiu Henian took all the tools Qingyan had been carrying, yet Qingyan still panted heavily from exhaustion.
They walked through dense woods, and as the trees thinned, Qingyan saw a lake. The sunlight shone on the snow-covered lake, creating a dazzling white expanse that was hard to look at directly.
Emerging from the woods and suddenly seeing the lake felt refreshing and uplifting. It was vast and pristine, with the air around it seemingly exceptionally clear and pure.
Qingyan pulled down his scarf, exhaling clouds of white breath, and gazed at the scene before him, feeling that the long walk was worth it.
This place, located in the far north and up in the mountains, experienced winter nights with temperatures dropping to minus twenty or thirty degrees Celsius. Even on sunny midday, it was still below freezing.
The lake was frozen solid, with no worry of the ice breaking. They carefully walked onto the lake’s surface. Qiu Henian chose a spot, used a snow shovel to clear the thick snow, and Qingyan swept away the remaining snow with a broom until a two-meter square area was cleared.
After clearing a two-meter square area, the real work began—hard and technical work that Qingyan couldn’t manage. Instead, he helped Qiu Henian from the side.
Qiu Henian started by testing the ice with an ice pick, striking it a few times, causing ice chips to scatter. He paused, glanced back at Qingyan, and advised him to stand further away before continuing with full force.
Qingyan watched from a distance.
At first, there wasn’t much change in the ice, but after a long while, the first layer of hard ice shattered, and water began to seep out. The work then sped up, and soon enough, Qiu Henian had created a one-foot square hole in the ice.
Qingyan bent down to take a closer look. The lake water beneath the ice looked dark due to the blocked light, with white foam floating on the surface, but there were no fish in sight.
At this point, Qiu Henian asked him to fetch a tool that had a net on the bottom and resembled a bamboo dragonfly on top. Qiu Henian placed it into the hole, holding the handle and rotating it continuously. The lake water with ice chips started to swirl.
After a while, as Qingyan watched intently, Qiu Henian suddenly lifted the rod, and as the net emerged from the water, it was full of lively, jumping fish. Qingyan exclaimed in surprise. Qiu Henian dumped the net’s fish onto the ice beside them and quickly dipped the net again.
Qingyan, thrilled, ran to fetch a bucket. The fish froze quickly in the cold air, so Qingyan used a wooden shovel to scoop them into the bucket. They repeated this process, moving to drill a new hole when one stopped yielding fish. By the end of the day, they had filled two large buckets with fish.
On the way back, their load was heavier, and they were exhausted. However, Qingyan was so excited that his eyes sparkled. Despite his aching hands, he hummed tunes and occasionally turned to flash sweet smiles at the man behind him.
When they returned to the cabin, Qingyan was exhausted, and Qiu Henian prepared dinner. He cooked a large pot of fish soup with three big fish and several small ones. The fish, cooked over a wood fire, was delicious, and the water used was from the melted snow. The simple seasoning made the soup milky white and incredibly enticing.
At dinner, each had a big fish, and Erxi also got one, eating enthusiastically. After a few bowls of soup, Qingyan felt revitalized, and his frozen body began to thaw, though his toes still felt numb from the cold.
At bedtime, Qingyan’s feet remained cold, and he rubbed them together under the blanket. When Qiu Henian climbed into bed later, he lifted the quilt and placed a hot water bottle inside. Without saying a word, he then took Qingyan’s feet in his large hands and naturally tucked them under his undergarments, pressing them against his warm skin.
Qingyan’s face turned as red as a cooked shrimp, and he shyly turned his head away, feeling a slight itch in his nose again.
He tried to ignore the sensation on his feet, thinking instead that they needed to place more water basins around the room to combat the dryness.
The cabin was just too dry!
Spoiler for the Next Chapter:
Qingyan smiled and said, “Your mouth tastes nice.”