Phantom Skeleton Painting

Chapter 49.1 Returning Hometown

In just a moment, big raindrops were falling. Ji Leshui and Lin Banxia ran away. When they reached the stairs, they both looked like drowned rats. Ji Leshui didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, saying that the boss was really powerful, he even knew it was going to rain, but unfortunately the two of them ran away a little too slowly, and within a few minutes, both of them were covered in water.

Lin Banxia sighed and said, “Let’s go, I just want to go back and take a shower.”

After arriving home, Lin Banxia saw Small Cave still sitting on the sofa, just like he was when they went out. Peppa Pig was still playing on the TV. He was shaking his thin bones and watching it with gusto. Lin Banxia walked over, touched the smooth back of its head, and said, “You’ve been watching it for a whole day, are you still not tired of it?”

Small Cave shook his head and said that he wasn’t tired at all.

Lin Banxia couldn’t help but smile, feeling as if he had raised a little darling. He got a change of clothes and went to take a shower. When he came out, he heard the wind blowing louder and louder, so he walked to the balcony to check whether the window was closed tightly. The wind whistled outside the window, and heavy rain swept across the world. The thin glass seemed to be unable to hold up, and it kept creaking. Lin Banxia glanced downstairs and saw Song Qingluo standing in the open space downstairs, talking to someone. The man opposite him was wearing a raincoat, and he couldn’t see his face clearly, but he could vaguely feel that the atmosphere between the two was not good.

Lin Banxia knew that Song Qingluo hated water, but at this time, he was soaked and had no intention of going elsewhere to take shelter from the rain. Lin Banxia looked a little worried, so he returned to the house, grabbed an umbrella, and ran into the elevator.

After going downstairs, Lin Banxia rushed into the rain curtain with an umbrella, and soon found Song Qingluo the man standing opposite him.

“Umm.” Knowing that the two of them must be talking about something, Lin Banxia didn’t dare to say anything, and simply handed out the two umbrellas in his hands. Song Qingluo was slightly startled when he saw Lin Banxia, ​​but he still accepted it. Lin Banxia brought the black umbrella out of kindness. The person standing opposite Song Qingluo didn’t reach out, and instead turned his head and glanced at Lin Banxia, ​​”No, thank you.”

“Why don’t you go in and talk? It’s raining so hard outside,” Lin Banxia shouted.

“No, we’ve finished talking.” The man said. After he finished speaking, he turned around and disappeared into the rain.

Song Qingluo stood there and looked at him, looking a little indifferent. He was soaked all over, his black hair stuck to his cheeks, and his face was as pale as paper. The rain was so heavy that there were even raindrops on his eyelashes. He blinked, and the raindrops fell. At first glance, it looked like a tear, but these gentle tears were so incompatible with his cold expression.

“Let’s go back.” Song Qingluo said softly.

Lin Banxia followed him, and the two entered the elevator one after another. The atmosphere in the elevator was a little silent. Lin Banxia was struggling with how to break the awkwardness, but Song Qingluo spoke first. He said: “Heresy No. 47777 lost control when the stress was released, and three monitors died. ”

Lin Banxia was stunned: “Out of control?”

“Yeah.” Song Qingluo said.

Lin Banxia said: “Need you to go over?”

“No need for the time being.” Song Qingluo said, “They are still trying other methods. If it fails, it will be very troublesome.”

Lin Banxia asked: “What is number 47777?”

Song Qingluo glanced at Lin Banxia and said softly: “It’s a dream.”

Lin Banxia was stunned, showing doubts.

However, Song Qingluo didn’t intend to explain in detail. Judging from his solemn expression, this thing seemed to be more troublesome than what he said. He didn’t know whether it was because the previous injury was not fully healed, or because he was caught in the rain, but when the elevator door opened, Song Qingluo staggered. Fortunately, Lin Banxia stretched out his hand to support him: “Are you okay?”

Song Qingluo: “…I’m okay.”

He said he was fine, but he didn’t look like he was fine at all. Lin Banxia felt that his hands had no warmth and were as cold as a dead person. Lin Banxia pursed his lips and said, “Go back and take a shower first and change out of your wet clothes.”

Song Qingluo nodded.

When Song Qingluo was taking a shower, Lin Banxia was waiting outside. He noticed that Small Cave, who was originally sitting on the sofa watching TV, jumped off the sofa and stopped watching Peppa Pig, and headed toward the bathroom. He seemed a little worried about Song Qingluo.

Lin Banxia touched its head and calmed its emotions.

Song Qingluo went in quickly and came out quickly. He came out with a bath towel around his lower body. Lin Banxia saw his exposed abdominal muscles. The wound he suffered in Russia last time was almost healed, but you could still see a faint red line running across it. At first glance, it was really glaring.

He rubbed his wet black hair, walked to the sofa with half-lidded eyes, sat down and turned his head, looking at the pouring rain outside the window and sighing softly.

Lin Banxia handed the hair dryer to him.

“Is the matter serious?” Lin Banxia asked.

“It’s okay.” Song Qingluo said.

Lin Banxia said: “The one just now… was also a monitor? He looked so young. Now that I think about it, that man’s face is too young, and he is not tall. If you don’t look carefully, you might think that he is still a high school student.”

“He has a small face.” Song Qingluo was not energetic.

Seeing that he was uncomfortable, Lin Banxia was too embarrassed to disturb him anymore. He raised his hand to turn off the TV, then took a blanket from the house and put it over him, saying, “You can sleep for a while.”

Song Qingluo said: “My hair is not dry yet.” He didn’t like water, and he didn’t like wet hair, but putting his hands in the wet hair to dry it wasn’t comfortable, so he sat on the sofa , looked at the hair dryer in front of him and didn’t move for a long time.

This look made Lin Banxia laugh. In front of him, Song Qingluo had always been synonymous with reliability. It seemed that he only showed his childish side when he encountered water. Lin Banxia said: “How about I blow it for you?”[1.]

Song Qingluo raised his head and glanced at him, then actually agreed: “Okay.” He said and tilted his head.

Lin Banxia walked to Song Qingluo, picked up the hair dryer and started to dry his hair. Song Qingluo’s hair was slightly long and felt as smooth as silk. This was Lin Banxia’s first time blow drying someone’s hair. He was very careful with his movements, afraid that he might hurt Song Qingluo.

Song Qingluo’s expression relaxed, and his eyes slowly closed.

Halfway through Lin Banxia’s blowing, he heard Song Qingluo’s breathing becoming more and more even, as if he had fallen asleep. He quickly sped up his movements, dried the rest of the hair, and then carefully left the sofa.

Song Qingluo leaned on the sofa and slept soundly.

Lin Banxia looked at his sleeping face, but suddenly thought of his sister. His parents died early, and he had almost no concept of family since he was a child, let alone enjoying the warmth of family. No matter how good the relationship between friends is, they cannot take the place of family members. Without his sister, Lin Banxia might not have been able to survive until now. Those obscure memories were so torturous that he simply forgot about them, and even his sister’s appearance became blurry.

The night was getting darker, but the rain had not stopped, but it didn’t matter, the sun would rise as usual the next day.

Although there was a small interruption, Lin Banxia’s return to his hometown was still on the itinerary as planned. He bought the tickets a few days in advance, prepared his luggage, and set off with Song Qingluo.

Perhaps due to getting closer to home, Lin Banxia felt a little nervous after getting on the train and was restless in his seat. His hometown was remote and there were no planes, only trains. They had to ride in the train for a day and a night, and then transfer to a bus heading to the county town.

Song Qingluo asked: “How long has it been since you went back?”

Lin Banxia said: “I haven’t gone back since I went to college. If I have to calculate it carefully, I haven’t really gone home since high school…”

Song Qingluo said, “Oh.”

“My parents died in a car accident. I don’t have any relatives in the family, other than one aunt,” Lin Banxia told his story. “They had no choice but to take over my burden. In fact, I understand them. No one was rich at that time, and suddenly having another child was a burden.”

Song Qingluo said: “Did they not treat you well?”

Lin Banxia smiled: “It was not very good. Hitting and scolding were commonplace, and I had gotten used to it.” He reached out and grabbed his hair, showing a helpless look.

Song Qingluo’s eyes stayed on Lin Banxia’s hair. Before, he always thought that Lin Banxia had dyed hair, but after asking, he found that Lin Banxia had not dyed his hair, but had naturally light hair. Song Qingluo had only seen this kind of situation in some malnourished children, and his brows furrowed invisibly.

Lin Banxia’s attention was elsewhere so he did not notice the change in Song Qingluo’s expression. He continued to talk about the past: “Actually, I can’t remember that time clearly. I just felt hungry.” Rubbing his belly, he said with a smile, “Children at that age are greedy and never seem to have enough to eat.”

Song Qingluo pursed his lips and said nothing.

“My aunt has a son and a daughter, and the daughter is my cousin.” Lin Banxia said, “But at that time, family planning was still in place, so the daughter was simply sent to someone else’s home to be raised, and she would not be recognized until she was older. Maybe it was because they didn’t like my sister very much.”

Song Qingluo said: “What’s your sister’s name?”

Lin Banxia said: “Her name is He Xiaohua[2.].”

Song Qingluo: “It’s a very cute name.”

However, Lin Banxia didn’t laugh: “They say it’s easy to make a living with a cheap name…so they picked one at random.” He put down his phone and yawned, “I’m a little sleepy, let’s take a nap first.”

Song Qingluo said, “Yes.”

It was late at night, but the clanging sound of the train did not stop. Lin Banxia had a dream that he had returned to the hometown in his memory. In his hometown, there were crisscrossing paths everywhere, and lush flowers and plants grew on the ridges of the paddy fields. He was holding a girl whose face he couldn’t see clearly and was skipping ahead. Suddenly someone called his name from behind. He turned his head, but only saw a black shadow, and the black shadow slowly walked towards him. He was about to ask, “Who are you?” However, he saw a pair of hands reaching out from the black shadow giving him a heavy push.

He staggered, his body tilted, and he was about to fall into the paddy field next to him. The sister he was holding tried to reach out to hold him. However, before he could be happy, he found that his sister’s hands had turned into bare bones.

“Ah!!” Lin Banxia suddenly woke up from the dream and saw Song Qingluo’s face close at hand. He was breathing heavily, his face was covered in cold sweat, and his body even shivered involuntarily.

Song Qingluo asked: “Are you okay?”

“No, it’s okay.” Lin Banxia raised his hand and wiped his face.

“Did you dream about something bad?” Song Qingluo asked.

Lin Banxia said: “…Yeah.”

Song Qingluo was silent for a moment, then suddenly said: “Do you still remember the perfume I gave you to smell when we first met?”

Lin Banxia said: “Perfume? Is it the one he brought when No. 1 met Li Su?”

“Yeah.” Song Qingluo said, “That perfume is also a heresy.”

Lin Banxia was stunned, not understanding why Song Qingluo suddenly mentioned the perfume at this time.

Song Qingluo said: “Its function is to remind you of the most beautiful change in your past…” He spoke very slowly and softly, “But at that time, there seemed to be something wrong with your reaction. Do you still remember if you remember anything at that time?”

The best change? Lin Banxia thought that although he didn’t remember what he thought of when he smelled the perfume, he had a vague impression that it didn’t seem to be a pleasant experience, but since it was not a pleasant experience, why did he think it was the best change in his life? No matter how you think about it, it seems like the wrong logic, right?!

Lin Banxia couldn’t figure it out: “I don’t remember, but the most beautiful change should be pleasant, right?”

Song Qingluo said: “Usually yes.”

Lin Banxia: “Usually?”

Song Qingluo said: “There are some exceptions.”

Lin Banxia smiled bitterly, thinking that he was indeed one of these exceptions. Thinking of the scenes in the dream, his uneasiness became more intense.

Song Qingluo noticed Lin Banxia’s uneasiness and said softly: “It’s okay, I’m here.”

Lin Banxia raised his eyes and met Song Qingluo’s black eyes.

“Thank you.” Lin Banxia heard his voice, which sounded a little dry, “Thank you for accompanying me back.” Thinking about it carefully, Song Qingluo could only be regarded as a good friend, so he didn’t know why he was willing to accompany him back to his distant hometown.

Song Qingluo said: “Don’t think too much, just go to sleep.”

Lin Banxia nodded and fell asleep on his side.

 

Translator’s comments:

1. So this is not actually an explanation, but I just thought it was funny when I translated it. Because I MTL the chapters first and then fix them up the sentences can sometimes be a bit funny. So, in this sentence, when I translated it, it came out as “How about I give you a blowjob?” (⊙_⊙) I was really tempted to leave it like that, but I am sure that in the context of the story he was not offering to blow Song Qingluo like that. ʱª(˃̣̣̥∀˂̣̣̥)
2. Her name means little flower.

 

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