Chapter 31

(Seven days of bed sharing, the bright moon was as white as frost, the good winds were as cool as water.)

Mentions of suicide and mental illnesses.

Due to his present lack of strength, Gu Liang’s punch was not heavy in the least.

Yang Ye scooped Gu Liang up and headed back to the room they were staying in immediately.

“Your punch is too light. I’ll bring you back to the room to change your clothes first. When you return back to normal, I’ll let you give me a proper beating.”

After entering the room, Gu Liang changed out of his clothes while Yang Ye seized the chance to go to the kitchen to fetch some charcoal fire and a brazier.

When Yang Ye returned back to the room, Gu Liang was already in a new set of clothes and he was lying inside the blankets.

Once he had ascertained that the charcoal was burning enough, he placed the brazier by the wooden bed and went to open a slit in the window to introduce some fresh air to ventilate the room.

Having completed the necessary motions, Yang Ye moved closer to the bed and asked Gu Liang in a soft voice: “Still uncomfortable?”

Gu Liang did not even bother to lift his eyelids as he turned his body away to sleep.

In response, Yang Ye helped him tuck in the corners of his blanket, no longer making a sound, only choosing to watch over him silently. And when Yang Ye heard his breathing even out slowly after a short while, he knew that he had fallen asleep.

It was only at the moment where Yang Ye saw Gu Liang sleeping peacefully and in good health, that he settled down his highly strung heart.

* * *

Gu Liang did not know how long he slept for.

But what awoken him for certain was the argument happening outside the door.

Sitting up slowly, Gu Liang kneaded his temples as he glanced at the door, and he happened to see two long shadows standing underneath the evening sun.

Against the back lighting, one of them was standing in front while the other was behind, causing their shadows to be long and short respectively.

While their expressions were indistinguishable because they were concealed by the shadows, their voices were not the same; by virtue of their abnormally quiet surroundings, Gu Liang could hear their voices clearly no matter how soft their volume was.

“What? You faked it? To joke with him? How could you crack a joke like that with him?”

“You don’t understand. Yes, you don’t understand. But your lack of understanding doesn’t mean you can mess around.”

“All of us are mature adults. I might be speaking bluntly but, your actions were genuinely stupid? Why do you have to play tricks on him? Why did you make him go down the water to save you? You’ve only known each other for a few days?”

“You didn’t know that he couldn’t go down the water? Do you know what happened to him in the past…”

Xun Feng, who was not p.r.o.ne to speaking in such an agitated manner, also had his moments – few and far between – where he pointed at people’s noses and scolded them.

It could be seen that his emotions were unusually inflamed with extreme rage.

But when he spoke to that point, he seemed to remember something all of a sudden. His entire body visibly halted with his words and he did not continue to speak.

“What do you mean? What happened to him in the past?”

Yang Ye was a little confused and he could not resist throwing out a few more questions. “Is his problem related to water? If so, how serious is it?”

It was undoubtedly true that Yang Ye was very curious about what had happened to Gu Liang, but he did not want to hover around Gu Liang for the sake of information probing.

When he was asking these questions, he was merely worried that he and Gu Liang might encounter a script that was a.s.sociated with a body of water, and he wanted to know how he could help Gu Liang if there was a situation where the script needed them to go underwater.

Xun Feng only said: “It concerns his own private matters. I’m not allowed to say too much. But I’m telling you, don’t let him go into water, don’t play such pranks on him again, you’ll really hurt him. In short, I’m warning you—”

Before Xun Feng could finish his words this time around, Gu Liang interrupted him.

Getting off the bed, Gu Liang walked to the door slowly. Tone mild, he stated: “Enough, Xun Feng. I’m fine.”

Upon hearing Gu Liang’s voice, Yang Ye to turn his head and look at him immediately.

The evening sun contoured and emphasised his wan complexion, making it evident that he was not fully recovered.

But with the placid expression he was wearing, it was like there was nothing atypical about his current demeanour.

His grip on the door frame, however, betrayed the fact that his body was still slightly weak. Yang Ye raised his hand, wanting to go forward to support him but he stopped himself, as if he was being impeded by some kind of apprehension.

Since that was the case, a certain person by the name of Xun Feng took the first step to reach Gu Liang’s side and brought him back into the room while supporting his arm gently.

Xun Feng helped Gu Liang sit on the bed and propped the pillow behind his waist so he could lean more comfortably.

Xun Feng asked him: “Are you alright? Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”

Gu Liang: “I’m fine. There are no issues with my body at all. Thanks.”

Meanwhile, Yang Ye stood a distance away, not daring to get close, but his heart did settle down considerably when he heard those words.

Xun Feng said to Gu Liang: “When you’re capable of walking, do you want to move over to my room to sleep later? I feel like the majority of the people in this game have committed some kind of crime. You’ve only known this person for a few days, how could you possibly know if he isn’t some exceedingly fiendish evildoer in reality?”

Yang Ye took a large stride forward with tangible strictness. “Playing tricks on Gu Liang was an unreasonable action that I took. I will apologise to him properly. If he wants to beat me up, I’ll accept it, as long as it can abate his anger. But one incident is just that; there’s no need for careless conjectures. You don’t know me as a person.”

Although these words were directed at Xun Feng, Yang Ye’s gaze was staring at Gu Liang fixedly.

— Is that how it is? Do you think I am an exceeding fiendish individual too?

Towards the things I have done today, do you feel extremely repulsed, even to the extent where you loathe me?

Who is this Xun Feng person? Why does he understand you so much?

If he’s your friend, will you choose to trust him instead of me…

Like they had established, Yang Ye was bent, and he could scarcely avoid having occasional, distracting thoughts about Gu Liang, especially when the man was attractive to him in all aspects.

But Gu Liang was a straight man. Honestly speaking, Yang Ye did not delude himself into thinking that they could be something more, and he had never done anything that would overstep his boundaries.

Yang Ye had two worries at the moment: one was Gu Liang’s bodily condition; the other was that he had hurt the both of them when he accidentally stepped on Gu Liang’s land mine and they could no longer be friends because of it.

Xun Feng turned his head and told Yang Ye with a scowl: “Either way, everything you did today was extremely unreasonable. I’m warning you, stop using these things to mess around with Gu Liang, he—”

Gu Liang interrupted him, finally speaking up for himself once more. “It has already pa.s.sed, Xun Feng. It’s not like Yang Ye knows about my situation.”

Xun Feng turned his head back to regard Gu Liang again. A glint of light flashed past his eyes as he accidentally revealed a mystified expression, as if the act of Gu Liang defending Yang Ye, especially given his personality, was an absolutely inconceivable thing.

After pausing for a moment, Xun Feng heaved out a sigh and said: “Gu Liang, you should also be aware of the fact that you can’t go into water. You would be putting yourself in a desperate condition if you did so. I should have mentioned this to you before…”

“I merely felt that I was already fine. I haven’t been like this in a long time.”

As Gu Liang cut off Xun Feng’s speech, his usual calm and tasteless tone dropped to the freezing point instantaneously.

Xun Feng became conscious of something and his brows knitted together. “Gu Liang…”

In reply to that, Gu Liang turned his head to gaze at Xun Feng. Slowly, he said: “Take me as a normal person, alright?”

Feeling a little helpless, Xun Feng released a deep sigh. “I didn’t say you weren’t normal. You’ve already recovered. It’s just that if a similar scene occurs again, just like that year, you would inevitably—”

Although the pair’s conversation did not go into any specifics, it had already exposed pieces of important information.

Gu Liang stiffened, turning to face Yang Ye. Judging from his expression, he seemed to have some guess.

Despite having a moment of silence, Gu Liang still spoke in the end. “Xun Feng used to be my doctor. A psychologist.”

Having said that, Gu Liang raised his right hand unconsciously and placed his fingertips above the red cord on his left wrist to rub at it gently.

At the side, Xun Feng could not stop himself from being shocked when he heard that.

Because he could not be clearer about Gu Liang’s personality.

Gu Liang was the type of person who would keep everything close to his chest; getting him to admit to someone that he had seen a psychologist or had a mental illness before was a very difficult thing.

But unexpectedly, and right before his eyes, Gu Liang was telling those facts to Yang Ye. Why was that?

Xun Feng understood the rationale very quickly.

It was not that Gu Liang was being honest with Yang Ye on his own accord; it was his own fault.

— He hadn’t handled the issue appropriately, and he had written the five words “Gu Liang Is Mentally Ill” on his face.

Prior to this, Xun Feng had revealed so much to Yang Ye because his anxiety-fuelled anger had burst out, and he was worried that Gu Liang would relapse.

In Gu Liang’s purview, however, his actions evidently crossed the boundaries into “excessive concern.”

This “excessive concern” was not derived from any charming or ambiguous sentiment.

For Gu Liang, a psychologist being this anxious for a long-recovered patient only meant that this person was gravely ill and it was even possible that they were not fully healed.

The more anxious Xun Feng looked, the more damage it was doing to Gu Liang’s repute.

The expression he was wearing just now was basically short of telling Yang Ye this message directly: “He’s mentally ill, how could you go and provoke him?”

Hence, although the person who did not understand the gravity of things and played a practical joke was Yang Ye—

The person Gu Liang was sticking a metaphorical needle into was actually Xun Feng.

Xun Feng, who was a psychologist, naturally grasped Gu Liang’s thoughts immediately.

He issued another heavy sigh before he told Gu Liang specifically: “Rest well then. I’m relieved that you’re okay. Also… I‘m sorry. Since you’ve already completed your treatment, we should have left our doctor and patient relations.h.i.+p behind. I’ve overstepped my boundaries slightly. I was being unprofessional just now.”

In response to the underlying meaning to his words, Gu Liang smiled and huffed out a breath. Then, he said: “It’s fine. I’m also aware that you were being concerned about me. Furthermore, you didn’t expect I would eavesdrop.”

The usage of the word ‘eavesdrop’ could be considered as Gu Liang giving Xun Feng a way out of the predicament he made.

Truth to be told, this made Yang Ye feel a little surprised as well.

Gu Liang had always possessed a sarcastic and poisonous tongue that had no scruples, but there were apparently instances where he was glib and capable of polite ba.n.a.lities.

Despite that, Yang Ye’s thoughts took another turn. Since Gu Liang’s family background was not particularly good, everything he achieved later was gained through the challenging experiences he had in society.

And probably because he came to a game that was far away from reality, Gu Liang had loosened his natural instincts to a certain degree.

Yang Ye came to an abrupt realisation— perhaps, in Gu Liang’s heart, he and Xun Feng were regarded in completely disparate ways.

Although people frequently lamented that they regret meeting late, there were times where meeting a little later would become an unexpected fortune.

* * *

Xun Feng left very swiftly.

After Gu Liang watched him depart, he saw Yang Ye staring at him without blinking the moment he turned his head back partially.

— Did he have a lot of questions he wanted to ask?

Like why he could not go into water, or what kind of mental illness he had?

Or perhaps, was there a possibility of him relapsing at any given time right now?

Numerous thoughts flashed past Gu Liang’s head, and he silently waited for Yang Ye to bring up one of the questions he had conjured.

Contrary to Gu Liang’s expectations, the question that Yang Ye asked him after a long wait was: “What do you want to eat for dinner?”

Once he heard those words, Gu Liang lowered his eyelids and the corners of his lips raised unconsciously as he could not stop himself from laughing.

In that instant, even he did not have an explanation for the sudden burst of laughter.

When the laughter subsided, Gu Liang studied Yang Ye briefly and asked: “Speaking of which, aren’t you a rich second-generation… oh no, rich third-generation? Being the young master you are, why do you know how to cook?”

Yang Ye said: “I went overseas in my first year of middle school and I only returned at the start of high school. During that period of time, I was in the company of several repeating students who were quite messy, since they refused to attend school regularly. They would constantly hang out and try to invite me along t00. Ah, how I had shun away from these evil influences…”

Gu Liang’s eyelids twitched— Tch, I was asking him about his cooking skills; why was he tacking compliments on himself?

Yang Ye continued to speak: “When I was overseas, I wasn’t very used to Western food and disdained oriental food for not being authentic enough. Therefore, I could only improve myself and become proficient in cooking.”

Gu Liang looked at him, commenting: “Studying abroad and serving the military. Your history is quite rich.”

Yang Ye chuckled, “I was in my second year of high school when I returned back to the country. I studied for a year, took my college entrance examinations in year three, but my father twisted my aspirations. Out of a fit of anger, I went to join the military. It was a lucky coincidence too; the thought of joining had never occurred to me, but my old friend wanted to join the military so he dragged me to sign up with him, and then I was chosen.

“After being in active service for two years, I retook my exams for university, which led to my graduation being two years later than most. But I was already interning at my company as I was studying, so my general progress wasn’t delayed either.

“Ah right, I injure my right eye during one of my missions, which resulted in irreversible damage to my vision. Back then, I was still tangled about whether I should leave the troops but I had no choice but to resign in the end.”

Yang Ye finished summarising his own history quickly, and he asked Gu Liang: “What about you? Why are your cooking skills so poor?”

“Genetics perhaps. My mom’s cooking was bad.” Gu Liang said.

Yang Ye laughed, “Bad in what way?”

Gu Liang asked: “Braised soy sauce tap water, have you ever eaten it?”

“Braised… braised soy sauce what?”

“Tap water. Soy sauce, fermented broad-bean sauce and water boiled together, and eaten with rice.”

When Yang Ye heard that, his heart ached— Just what kind of days did Gu Liang have to live through?

“Don’t give me that look. Although my social cla.s.s is that of a pauper when compared to you, it wasn’t to the extent where we couldn’t afford meat.” Gu Liang said, “It’s just that I would rather eat my braised soy sauce tap water than my mom’s stir-fried meat and stewed vegetables.”

Yang Ye: “……”

“It’s also why I couldn’t understand the students who kept insulting the food in the school cafeteria. In my opinion, that’s already a delicacy in this world. I would eat at the cafeteria every day when I was schooling. Work came along later and I was basically eating outside all the time because it was really busy, and I would call for take outs during my occasional breaks. Therefore, I don’t know how to cook.”

After Gu Liang was done speaking, he suddenly went quiet.

Since Yang Ye was observing him, he noticed that the smile on his lips was disappearing gradually.

Outside the window, the evening sun was sinking down slowly, causing the skylights to darken like Gu Liang’s expression.

Yang Ye stared at Gu Liang for a long moment before he started to find a source of light.

There were only red candles left in the cupboard. Yang Ye lit up the candles and placed them on the table.

With the slight redness of the flame, the paleness of Gu Liang’s countenance was not as apparent as before.

Yang Ye’s heart squeezed instantaneously.

Gu Liang’s gaze s.h.i.+fted towards the candle on the table little by little. He observed the flickering flame for a long time before he opened his mouth slowly: “A long time ago, due to some wrongs I committed, someone jumped into a lake and committed suicide.”

Yang Ye did not reply to his words hastily, and he heard Gu Liang continue: “As a matter of fact, unless a person encounters an unforeseen circ.u.mstance where the waves are rapid or something along those lines, most people who throw themselves into the lake or jump into a river to commit suicide would find it rather hard to die. Because the human body has its own life-saving mechanisms. When a person jumps into a river and their lungs are filled with water, the body will be placed under immense pain, causing the body to instinctively float up to the water surface, and this is especially so for people who know how to swim. Using such a method to commit suicide is very difficult.

“But she wasn’t the same. She carried a bag and drowned herself by jumping into the water. That bag was filled to the brim with stones, she was determined to die.

“When she jumped into the lake, her entire person started sinking to the the bottom. I dived into the water with her, but no matter how much strength I exerted, I couldn’t pull her up. In the end, I pa.s.sed out and I was rescued by the personnel at the scenic spot. But she died.”

Was the person a man or a woman? How old were they? Why did they commit suicide because of Gu Liang?

Unable to attain his love? Betrayed by Gu Liang? Or was it a dispute over money?

After listening to his recollection, Yang Ye was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with questions in his heart.

But he did not want to voice a single word.

Because he knew that Gu Liang had suffered a terribly huge blow from this incident.

“She was roughly forty years old, slightly younger than my mother. Not long after, my mother also pa.s.sed away. Their deaths, are inextricably linked to me. And even later, I…”

Gu Liang asked Yang Ye: “Do you know what PTSD is?”

Yang Ye furrowed his brows. “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder? I understand it a little. When I was in the military, I took some psychology courses. Furthermore, I had comrades who partic.i.p.ated in disaster reliefs and had to personally dig up countless corpses, and they were diagnosed with it after they returned.”

“Mn. After that person and my mom died, I got… depression, and PTSD. Those matters occurred a long time ago and I’ve already made full recovery. It’s just, when you fell into the lake just now, and I couldn’t find you, the scene was probably too similar, which made me a little…”

It was only when Gu Liang had spoken to this point that he s.h.i.+fted his gaze to meet Yang Ye’s eyes. “What I’m trying to say is, I’m fine now. The injury on my hand has healed, everything else is good, I’m fully recovered.”

“Mn, I understand. You don’t need people to worry about you. You’ve recovered. You’re not abnormal. You’re just like the rest of us.”

Yang Ye gave him a smile. “You don’t need to explain. I know. From the start of this murder mystery game, the person who was the most tenacious, calm, and collected has always been you. You’ve even entered the small black room twice. No one is stronger than you.”

Gu Liang: “……”

Gu Liang felt mystified upon hearing Yang Ye’s compliment.

Then, Yang Ye asked him seriously: “Okay. Let bygones be bygones. The important question now is, what should we eat for dinner?”

Gu Liang thought about it: “Apart from braised soy sauce tap water, I’m fine with anything.”

As Yang Ye was walking away, Gu Liang kept looking at him pensively.

Truth to be told, Yang Ye understood the meaning behind that gaze.

— Gu Liang was curious as to why he hadn’t asked for the full story in an insistent manner.

But Yang Ye knew that he could not ask. At the very least, now was not his time to ask.

After the first scenario concluded, he had attempted to ask Gu Liang about his past happenings.

Gu Liang had raised his walls then, and it was a profound memory that etched itself deeply in Yang Ye’s heart.

Before Gu Liang was prepared, excessive concern and interrogative questioning would only make his self-defensive walls build higher and higher and make them increasingly thick.

Moreover, Yang Ye had witnessed all of the psychologist’s reaction.

Logically speaking, psychologists and their patients were very close.

There were some patients who even started becoming more affectionate with their doctors, because from the beginning of their psychological treatment and to the end where they recovered, they had to trust the doctor wholly, and confide in these doctors their absolute worst thoughts and experiences.

But Gu Liang was different; precisely because the doctor knew everything about him – the things he deemed the absolute worst included – it had him raising his guard against the same doctor completely.

The concern the doctor had for him would be interpreted as— In my doctor’s eyes, once a madman, always a madman.

Hence, he would choose to keep his distance from the doctor instead.

From his perspective, the doctor would never treat him as a normal person; how could he possibly become friends with him?

Given the circ.u.mstances, not only did Yang Ye immediately eliminate his imaginary enemy, he also understood a principle— Gu Liang was a sensitive person, unless he had thoroughly let down the walls around his heart; only when he had successfully attacked the city and seized the territory, thereby entering his heart; unless both of them had made the proper preparations… no matter how curious Yang Ye was, he decided he would not inquire about his past.

* * *

Deep in the night, a shower of rain arrived.

However, the late autumn rains were not as quick as summer ones. The rain drops rolled down the roof eaves slowly, fine and adhesive.

Gu Liang was not asleep.

He turned his head to gaze at night colours outside the window, heard the sound of the thin rain, and it dredged up the most terrifying nightmares from the recesses of his heart.

Rain, reminded him of water, reminded him of the lake, which also reminded him of the middle-aged lady he had killed.

Gu Liang’s breath quickened and his shoulders were shaking a little.

Closing his eyes, he huffed out a deep breath and flipped his body only to see Yang Ye, who was sleeping inside the bed.

Truth to be told, the wooden bed was quite big and the distance between the two of them could not be considered as close.

When Gu Liang was younger, his family conditions were not the best, and this was especially so when his parents were recently divorced. He had followed his mother to seek refuge with his maternal aunt – his mother’s younger sister – and since Gu Liang had to share a bed with his younger male cousin, he was used to it. Besides, he had never thought in the direction of whether it was gay or not, so he did not feel much for it in all honesty.

Additionally, he scarcely went onto Weibo to look at nonsensical and messy posts, and he was so under the radar that he could not understand the joke about picking up soap.

But he was beginning to realise that, perhaps because he was now aware of Yang Ye’s s.e.xual orientation, or that he had clung onto him tightly, drenched all over as they rushed back to the room, he felt that he was in a slight predicament. Whenever he stared at Yang Ye, a small feeling of stuffiness would arise.

Owing to the manifestation of his iron and steel straight man aspect, he had bragged unblus.h.i.+ngly that two men sleeping together was nothing.

It seemed like it was too late for regrets now.

There were still six more days where they had to share the same bed.

If he were to change his tune in the middle, it would evidently prove that he had opinions, and attempting to hide it would only make it more conspicuous.

Belatedly, Gu Liang had the strange realisation that after he saw Yang Ye, his brain had s.h.i.+fted towards his intellectual blind spot instantly, thus occupying him with all sorts of messy thoughts, which in turn, shoved the long past, dreadful memories to the back of his mind.

Gu Liang stared at Yang Ye for a while longer before he shut eyes and finally drifted into peaceful sleep.

The rain gradually stopped.

Gu Liang slept dreamlessly.

Outside the window, the bright moon was as white as frost, the good winds were as cool as water.

The author has something to say:

The next chapter will enter the next scenario《 Undying Town》.