Chapter 26
Actually, when Lu Yao was accompanying Yu Le up the mountain, he noticed that several slopes had become very loose with soil and rocks.
The town is located halfway up the mountain. If one isn’t careful, they could be affected by landslides or collapses. This is why he had to go into the mountains during the heavy rain—it’s crucial for the safety of the entire town, and someone needed to keep watch.
When he said he was experienced and knew the mountain roads like the back of his hand, it wasn’t to deceive Yu Le; after all, he had always gone into the mountains during the rainy season in previous years.
What he didn’t anticipate was the intensity of the rain on the last day of this rainy season. The rain had turned the mud into a slurry that flowed down in muddy torrents. The loose spots couldn’t withstand it and collapsed.
When the mud and stones came crashing down, Lu Yao was inspecting the low-lying mountain roads. Despite retreating as quickly as he could, he was still hit by a rock that was flung by a steep slope, striking his right shoulder.
His shoulder and the entire back were numb and without sensation. Lu Yao jumped onto a high embankment and retreated several dozen meters. Only when he heard others approaching did the pain from the impact start to set in.
“How is it?!” The first person to arrive was Uncle An. The rain was so heavy he couldn’t open his eyes and had to shield his forehead with his hand to reduce the pressure.
“Where did it collapse?”
Lu Yao replied, “The sandy slope. The entire area behind it is unstable.”
Uncle An adjusted his flashlight to its maximum brightness. “The sandy slope is far from the town, so it shouldn’t have much impact. We just need to see the situation with the tea plantation. If the tea plantation holds up, it should be fine.”
Lu Yao nodded. With the rain so heavy tonight, those who relied on the mountains would certainly have a hard time sleeping. Someone needed to stay up and keep watch.
The others gradually arrived, and the flashes of lightning briefly illuminated the world. Uncle An saw the mud mixed with rainwater cascading down not far away, as well as Lu Yao’s pale face and his left hand pressing against his shoulder.
“What happened? Are you injured?” The noise was so loud that the two had to shout to hear each other.
Lu Yao wiped the water off his face. “It’s nothing serious. I just reacted too slowly and got hit by a rock.”
“Just a hit and it’s not serious?! You should go back quickly!”
Uncle An urged him, “This kind of injury is the most dangerous. You might not feel the pain at the time, but later you could have injured your bones! Hurry up, we can handle things here. It’ll be fine!”
Lu Yao wanted to say it wasn’t necessary, but Uncle An continued, “When I came over earlier, I saw your inn’s lights on. Later, a flash of lightning must have caused them to go out. Probably some city kid who’s never seen such a storm got scared and can’t sleep!”
Remembering this, Lu Yao swallowed his words of refusal. Looking at the increasing number of flashlight beams around, he thought for a few seconds and nodded. “Then I’ll head back first. Thanks for your hard work tonight.”
Uncle An waved his hand repeatedly. “Hard work? If you’re staying here, I can’t stay here, too. Besides, you’ve been watching alone all these days. It’s our turn to pitch in.”
Lu Yao handed his flashlight to Uncle An and quickly made his way back under the dim light of his raincoat’s diminishing battery. As he exited the mountain entrance and walked a few steps down, he saw that the inn’s second-floor window was open and the downstairs door was only half closed.
Lu Yao furrowed his brow deeply. As he quickened his pace towards the inn, another flash of lightning lit up the doorway, and he saw a small figure sitting on the doorstep. He stopped abruptly.
The water on the ground had quickly formed a stream, almost reaching his ankles, and his steps became increasingly hurried until he was running.
The spot where he had stepped briefly cleared before being submerged again by the flowing water. The splashes wet his raincoat, mixing with the mud and flowing down.
Yu Le was sitting on the doorstep, his head buried in his arm. The tall young man was curled up into a small ball, like a homeless puppy or a child who had forgotten the key and was waiting for a parent to return.
As Lu Yao approached, he slowed his pace, squatted down in front of him, and spoke with restrained emotion, “Why are you sitting here?”
Yu Le didn’t respond.
Lu Yao reached out and held his fingertips, prompting him to look up.
Yu Le seemed either just woken from a nap or pulled abruptly from his thoughts. He stared blankly at Lu Yao with a dazed expression.
“Lu Yao, you’re back?”
His eyes were misty, so obedient and gentle that Lu Yao suddenly wanted to hug him. However, his own clothes were muddy and wet, so he restrained himself. “Yes, I’m back.”
Yu Le slowly emerged from his daze, his expression turning anxious. “The power went out just now. I heard them upstairs say there was a landslide. You didn’t come back, so I…”
He couldn’t quite explain it himself.
Lu Yao squeezed his hand firmly. “I’m fine, don’t worry. I’m okay.”
“I just wanted to come down and see, even though it’s not much use…” Yu Le’s voice softened, then he couldn’t help but call out, “Lu Yao?”
“I’m here.”
Yu Le sighed in relief. It was as if he was talking to himself, “I was worried I was so tired I’d fallen asleep and was dreaming. You really came back, right?”
“Really.” Lu Yao felt he couldn’t look at him anymore. He was clean, and Lu Yao didn’t want him to go through the trouble of taking another bath in the middle of the night, “Yu Le, the rain outside is too heavy. Let’s go back inside.”
He pulled Yu Le, who also grasped his hand, but Yu Le braced himself on the doorstep and didn’t move.
Lu Yao asked, “What’s wrong?”
Still shaken, Yu Le swallowed and spoke with a trembling voice. “I can’t, Lu Yao. My legs are weak, and I can’t stand up.”
Lu Yao stayed with Yu Le until he regained his composure before helping him upstairs.
Lu Yao walked in front, and Yu Le followed behind. As Lu Yao passed Yu Le’s room, Yu Le did too, and he followed Lu Yao into his room.
Lu Yao took off his raincoat downstairs. Although his clothes underneath weren’t as dirty, they were still soaked and muddy. He got out clean clothes and prepared to shower, asking Yu Le, “Aren’t you going to go back to sleep?”
Yu Le, just inside the door, asked, “Did you get hurt somewhere?”
Lu Yao replied, “No.”
“You look off.” Yu Le continued to watch him. “Also, when you came up, I saw you holding your shoulder with your left hand.”
“… I’m fine. Be good and go back to sleep.”
Lu Yao went into the bathroom with his clothes. When he came out, he found Yu Le still in his room, sitting on the bed with a bottle of medicine.
“Take off your clothes so I can check,” Yu Le said stubbornly. “If you’re okay, I’ll go back to sleep right away.”
Lu Yao didn’t move.
He stayed still, and Yu Le didn’t move either, adopting a stance that seemed to say, “If you have the ability, you can spend the night here with me.”
Lu Yao sighed and, resigned, took off his shirt to show Yu Le his reddened and swollen right shoulder.
“Didn’t you say it was nothing?”
Yu Le bit his lip and glared at Lu Yao. Seeing the injury made his own shoulder hurt, and the mix of emotions made his tone naturally harsh. “Come over and sit down. Let me apply the medicine.”
Lu Yao was actually quite pleased by the scolding, though he didn’t dare show it openly. He only subtly curved his lips into a small smile and walked over to sit beside Yu Le.
In truth, Lu Yao wasn’t afraid of pain. He had endured worse injuries countless times before, so this really wasn’t much. But Yu Le didn’t know that. He saw the injury as severe and assumed Lu Yao must be in great pain, so he handled the treatment with utmost care.
“How did this happen?” Yu Le asked Lu Yao. “Did you fall?”
Lu Yao replied, “No, it was a rock that hit me.”
Yu Le was silent for a long while before asking, “Was the landslide on the mountain severe?”
Lu Yao responded, “Not really. It won’t affect the town.”
Yu Le continued, “Did Uncle An and the others go there?”
Lu Yao said, “Yes, they are all stationed there.”
Yu Le asked, “You don’t need to go, do you?”
Lu Yao answered, “Not tonight.”
Yu Le fell silent.
Lu Yao sensed his anxiety and sighed quietly. He tried to shift the topic to something else. “Were you scared when the power went out?”
Yu Le didn’t respond. He meticulously applied the medicine to every part of the swollen and bruised skin, using three or four cotton swabs.
The calm in the storm was somewhat unusual.
As Lu Yao heard the sound of the medicine bottle being capped and set down, he turned around and was suddenly knocked into an embrace by Yu Le.
“Enough already. I’m not scared of thunder. You’re the one who scared me!”
Yu Le held him tightly, burying his head. He looked like a balloon that had silently inflated, and even without being punctured, it would eventually burst.
“Since you left in the afternoon, I’ve been restless. With the heavy rain, lightning, and thunder tonight, just thinking about you being on the mountain made me uneasy.”
“Zhou Fei, that idiot with his bad luck, was talking badly about you. I yelled at him, but it didn’t relieve my frustration. I was really worried about you, so I had no mood to argue with him.”
“I couldn’t sleep at all. Zhou Fei scared me, and I couldn’t stop thinking about what if something happened to you, what if you fell and couldn’t get up, and no one found or helped you. What if you didn’t come back, and the next day Uncle An told us to search the mountains for you… then what would I do?”
“When the power went out, I was especially panicked, lost and restless. I wanted to go into the mountains to find you. I thought that even if you had fallen and couldn’t move, if you had to spend the night in the mountains, at least I could be there with you until the rain stopped and it was dawn.”
“But when I got downstairs in the dark, I was afraid again. I’m useless and afraid I’d hold you back. If I joined you, it might make things worse even if nothing went wrong.”
“Lu Yao.”
The unfamiliar and overwhelming emotions left him at a loss, and he paused for a few seconds, feeling choked up.
Taking a deep breath, he anxiously called out to him by his ear, “Am I too worried about you?”
Footsteps splashing through the water were heard downstairs, heading toward the mountain entrance. The water rat in the woodshed was still drowsily thinking about guarding the place but, too tired, had only squeaked a couple of times before burrowing back into its nest to continue sleeping.
Meanwhile, Lu Yao felt like the little person living in his chest was causing mischief again.
It playfully shrank his heart to a tiny size, rubbing it in the palm of his hand, squeezing and pinching it, focused solely on its own amusement, completely disregarding how every nerve and vein was expanding and overheating.
He closed his eyes tightly, hiding his emotions, and let them flow out through every pore in his body.
“No.”
He lifted his arm, pulling Yu Le tightly into his embrace. Their two pounding hearts pressed together as closely as possible, exchanging their rhythms until they were completely in sync.
“Not at all!”
