The original work was a boys’ love horror-mystery novel with very high popularity on the website. Fu Zhen felt deeply honored to have been chosen to draw a color illustration for it.
But precisely because the original work was so popular, Fu Zhen felt immense pressure. What style should he use? Most color illustrations for horror novels featured gloomy corridors, bloodstained bedsheets, or pale-faced characters. It was not that Fu Zhen could not draw that kind of illustration. He simply wanted to create a different style. He hoped the picture could give people an eerie feeling without making the image too bloody.
Fu Zhen pressed a hand to his forehead and thought for a while. Then he typed the word Guernica on the keyboard with a rapid clatter. Guernica was a large oil painting Picasso had created against the background of the German bombing of the town of Guernica in northern Spain and the killing of innocent civilians. The painting combined Cubism, realism, and surrealism, giving people an intense sense of tension and terror.
He did not have Picasso’s level of skill. He simply wanted to try imitating that style to draw a
color illustration for the author. But before drawing it, he needed to ask the author’s opinion first.
After all, that kind of style did not seem very easy for people to accept.
The author was a very straightforward person. After learning Fu Zhen’s idea, they immediately agreed and let Fu Zhen freely create.
Based on the spoilers he had found online, the character designs the original author had sent him, and the key points he had extracted from each case, Fu Zhen quickly came up with the composition. Once his thinking became clear, his speed increased. By the time he finally finished revising the rough sketch and looked up, he realized it was almost one in the morning.
He put everything away and went to bed.
January arrived quietly, without a sound. In the new year, it seemed nothing had changed, yet it also seemed that many things had already changed.
In the morning, Fu Zhen took his computer to a repair shop. The technician repairing it shook his head and sighed. “This computer of yours… even if I fix it now, it’ll definitely have problems
again in a few days. You’ve used this computer for several years, haven’t you? You might as well get another one.”
Fu Zhen gave a soft hum and answered according to the technician’s words, “After a while.”
After the technician worked on it for a bit, the computer was soon able to function normally again. Fu Zhen paid him fifty yuan, carried the computer back to the rental apartment, and continued the color illustration he had not finished the night before.
Today was New Year’s Day. Most of the tenants in the rental apartment had gone out to have fun. They did not return until two or three in the afternoon, carrying large and small bags. The originally quiet apartment gradually became noisy. People loudly discussed the interesting things they had encountered over the past few days.
Fu Zhen stayed quietly in his room and drew. When the sky outside gradually darkened and it was time to turn on the lights, he raised his head and glanced at the time in the lower right corner of the computer screen. It was already five o’clock.
Estimating that Jiang Hengshu would soon be back from work, Fu Zhen turned off the computer, left his room, and sat on the sofa in the living room outside. Not far away, several tenants were playing cards. Laughter and curses kept drifting over. The kitchen was giving off the fragrance of food. Someone was preparing a sumptuous dinner.
When he heard the sound of the door opening, Fu Zhen raised his head and looked toward the entrance. The person who walked in was not Jiang Hengshu. Fu Zhen lowered his head in disappointment, his finger sliding back and forth over his phone screen.
Over the next twenty minutes, several more people came in and went out one after another, but none of them were Jiang Hengshu. Fu Zhen’s hand tightened around his phone. Why had Jiang Hengshu not come back yet? Had he forgotten that they had agreed last night to go out for dinner?
The sound of the door opening rang out once again. This time, Fu Zhen did not raise his head. The footsteps grew closer and closer, finally stopping not far from him.
Fu Zhen put down his phone and raised his head. He saw Jiang Hengshu standing nearby, looking down at him. His blue eyes were as clear and calm as lake water. Fu Zhen stood up and asked Jiang Hengshu, “You’re back?”
Jiang Hengshu nodded and said to Fu Zhen, “I’ll change my clothes. Wait for me.” “Okay.” Fu Zhen turned and watched Jiang Hengshu return to his room.
Not long after, Jiang Hengshu came out of his room wearing a black trench coat. He walked to Fu Zhen’s side. “Let’s go.”
Fu Zhen left the crowded beehive-like building together with Jiang Hengshu. The moment they stepped out, the cold wind swept over them, carrying icy snow pellets. Fu Zhen shrank his neck, tilted his head to look at Jiang Hengshu, and said to him, “I forgot to ask you yesterday. What do you want to eat?”
“Anything is fine.”
“Is there anything you don’t eat?” “No.”
Fu Zhen had originally thought of several restaurants, but since Jiang Hengshu said that, he felt there was no need to keep asking. He said to Jiang Hengshu, “Then is barbecue okay?”
“Mm.”
Anything was fine. No. Mm. Every sentence was brief to the extreme. Fu Zhen sighed softly, walked to the roadside, called a taxi, and got in with Jiang Hengshu.
The air-conditioning was on inside the car, making it somewhat stuffy and hot. Fu Zhen turned his head and looked out the window. The streetlights along the road had already lit up, decorating the somewhat shabby edge of the city into a scene completely different from what it looked like in the daytime.
Christmas had not passed long ago, and the traces it had left behind had not yet been completely cleared away. Small lights decorated both sides of the street. Stickers of Santa Claus clung to yellow glass windows. Many citizens had gathered in the large square in front of the shopping mall and were watching a grand performance.
The barbecue restaurant Fu Zhen had chosen was not especially far from where they lived. The taxi fare cost less than twenty yuan. The barbecue restaurant was packed with noise and people. Fu Zhen and Jiang Hengshu waited nearly half an hour before they got a table by the window.
Fu Zhen sat down opposite Jiang Hengshu. Across from the barbecue restaurant was a movie theater. Through the transparent glass window, Fu Zhen saw a same-sex couple walking hand in hand toward the cinema. They were too far away, and the sky was too dark. Even with the streetlights shining, Fu Zhen could not clearly see them, but he felt that both of them should have smiles on their faces.
Jiang Hengshu noticed that Fu Zhen was staring blankly out the window and asked him, “What are you looking at?”
Fu Zhen blinked, withdrew his gaze, shook his head, and smiled at Jiang Hengshu. “Nothing.”
Jiang Hengshu turned his head slightly and happened to see, beneath the dim yellow streetlight, the same-sex couple embracing. The taller one lowered his head and pressed a kiss to the other’s forehead.
Jiang Hengshu withdrew his gaze as if nothing had happened. The servers quickly brought over the dishes they had ordered. Fatty pork belly seeped oil, sizzling on the grill pan. The squid tentacles were soon roasted golden and curled by the fire, giving off a fragrant aroma.
The two of them sat in silence, each holding their chopsticks and eating their own food. They seemed completely out of place amid the lively atmosphere of the barbecue restaurant. Fu Zhen wanted to speak several times, but he did not know what he should say.
To them, this meal, in a certain sense, felt as though it were simply a task that had to be completed.
When they were paying the bill, Fu Zhen saw an ice cream machine on the left side of the counter, so he bought two cones and handed one to Jiang Hengshu. “Here.”
Jiang Hengshu accepted the cone Fu Zhen handed him. In truth, he did not like such things very much, but when he saw Fu Zhen’s shining eyes, he forgot to refuse for a moment.
It was not even eight o’clock yet. Nightlife had only just begun, yet they were already going back. After they left the barbecue restaurant, the cold wind howled toward them. Fu Zhen took small bites of the ice cream cone in his hand. Cold wind paired with cold food had its own special kind of thrill.
Cars on the street let out deafening honks. Jiang Hengshu turned his head and glanced at Fu Zhen. Fu Zhen was holding the ice cream cone he had just bought. A bit of white cream had stuck to the corner of his mouth. Jiang Hengshu’s steps stopped on their own, and he looked at Fu Zhen.
“What is it?” Jiang Hengshu had stopped and kept looking at him. Fu Zhen felt a little uneasy. He blinked and asked Jiang Hengshu, “Is something wrong?”
Under the dim streetlight, Fu Zhen was looking at him. Jiang Hengshu’s reflection was contained in those dark eyes. Fu Zhen’s face was flushed from the cold, and his lips, perhaps because he had eaten the ice cream cone, looked even brighter than usual.
As if tempted, Jiang Hengshu raised his hand. His thumb brushed lightly over the corner of Fu Zhen’s lips, gently wiping away the cream stuck there.
Fu Zhen froze. His lips parted slightly, and he stood stiffly in place without moving. A wild wind swept past. Melted cream from the cone in his hand dripped down along the paper holder and fell onto the red paving stones beneath his feet.
With a soft plop, it was as if something else had fallen with it.
Beneath the vast starry sky, in the neon-noisy city, tall buildings stood and traffic flowed endlessly. Under the streetlight, he and Jiang Hengshu’s shadows overlapped. The wind
gradually stopped, and the cars also receded into the distance. At this moment, heaven and earth both fell silent.
Jiang Hengshu withdrew his hand. His thumb and index finger rubbed together unconsciously. He knew very clearly what he had just done. After a long while, he turned away, lowering his eyes. Confusion showed in his beautiful blue eyes.
“Let’s go back,” Jiang Hengshu said, lifting his foot and walking toward the other side of the road. They had to go there to get a taxi.
“Jiang Hengshu…” Fu Zhen called his name softly from behind him. “What is it?” Jiang Hengshu turned back.
Fu Zhen asked, “Can we go watch a movie?” His eyes seemed to shine beneath the streetlight.
Jiang Hengshu was silent. For a long time, he did not give Fu Zhen an answer. Fu Zhen lowered his head in dejection. It seemed he had been flattering himself.
“Let’s go,” Jiang Hengshu said.
Fu Zhen stared blankly at Jiang Hengshu’s back, not quite reacting to what Jiang Hengshu had just said.
Jiang Hengshu walked two steps and realized Fu Zhen had not followed. He turned and looked back. Seeing Fu Zhen still standing in place, he asked him, “Why aren’t you walking? Didn’t you want to watch a movie?”
Fu Zhen followed.
Did Jiang Hengshu understand what kind of feelings he held for him? And how did he see Fu Zhen now?
Fu Zhen thought of how Jiang Hengshu’s fingertip had brushed over the corner of his lips just now. Jiang Hengshu’s warmth still lingered there. The corners of Fu Zhen’s mouth could not help lifting.