Yan Qing said, “Much better. I can feel both heat and cold, and pain as well. Sometimes when I try to use my feet to push, I can actually manage a little.”

The smile on her face was so bright, her eyes curving into little crescents with each smile. “I believe that one day, I will definitely be free of this wheelchair.”

Shi Ting felt genuinely happy for her from the bottom of his heart. He gently patted her on the quilt. “Go to sleep.”

He rose and walked to the table, blowing out the kerosene lamp.

The chair was not very sturdy. When he lay down on it, it let out a creaking sound.

After a while, Yan Qing still had her eyes open. Through the darkness, she looked in Shi Ting’s direction. Since that creaking sound earlier, he had not moved at all. She knew that in order to avoid making noise and disturbing her, he would very likely have to maintain that sleeping position for the entire night.

Yan Qing thought back to her days on assignment in the past, when the squad leader would always give her special consideration because she was a woman. But when things truly got difficult, everyone roughed it together regardless of gender.

She had once squeezed into a tent with several detectives to get some rest. In those days, however, everyone’s minds were on the case, and they treated her with particular respect and care. Nobody found it improper.

After a long inner struggle, Yan Qing finally lowered her voice and called out softly, “Shi Ting.”

“What is it?” In the darkness, his voice was unusually clear and bright.

Hearing no response from Yan Qing, he asked again, “Yan Qing, what’s wrong?”

Yan Qing pulled the quilt up to cover half her face, her voice muffled beneath it. “This bed is big enough. Come sleep on the other side.”

Shi Ting thought he had misheard. He propped himself up partway, and the chair let out a long creak as he moved.

Perhaps because his movement was too abrupt, after that drawn-out creak, the chair — already missing half a leg — crashed down with a thunderous bang.

What Yan Qing had imagined might happen really did happen. His makeshift chair-bed had collapsed.

“Are you all right?” Yan Qing sat up, asking anxiously.

“I’m fine.” Shi Ting got up from the pile of chair pieces, feeling rather vexed. He had been careful enough, yet he still hadn’t managed to preserve his “bed.”

“Shi Ting.” Yan Qing’s voice was very soft. “I’ll put a pillow down the middle. Come sleep over here.”

Shi Ting paused for a moment. “I’ll sleep on the floor. It’s the same.”

Yan Qing’s face flushed red, and even her breathing grew a little unsteady. “How can you sleep on the floor? Is it that you don’t want to sleep in the bed, or that you don’t trust me?”

How could Shi Ting not want to? He dreamed of it.

After saying that, Yan Qing buried her entire face under the quilt. Beneath the covers, her face felt as if it were on fire.

She had no other intention — she simply didn’t want him to spend two nights in a row without proper rest. But the tone she had just used made it sound as though she was actively inviting him to share the bed with her.

Would he think she was shameless and lacking in restraint?

“I trust you.” His voice came from beside her, laced with gentle teasing. “I trust that Miss Yan won’t do anything to me.”

Yan Qing’s face went even redder.

“Put the quilt down. Don’t suffocate yourself.” His voice was soft and pleasant, effortlessly dismantling her defenses.

Yan Qing knew he had come to lie down. She waited a moment before slowly lifting the quilt, though she didn’t dare look to one side.

“I’ve put the pillow in the middle,” Shi Ting said. “I don’t grind my teeth or talk in my sleep. You can rest easy.”

“What if I do?”

“Then I’ll pretend I didn’t hear it.”

Yan Qing smiled a little, and she felt her face wasn’t quite so hot anymore.

Between the two of them lay a single pillow. The distance wasn’t actually very great — even the sound of breathing was clearly audible.

Yan Qing placed her hand over her chest and felt the heart beneath her palm beating wildly. She genuinely wanted to know whether Shi Ting’s heart was racing as fast as hers.

Out of her sight, Shi Ting’s hand was clenched into a fist at his side, while in his mind he was reciting an English dictionary over and over.

Only by doing so could he keep himself calm and appear unconcerned.

Neither of them could sleep, yet neither spoke. In the air drifting through the darkness, an undercurrent of unspoken feeling slowly began to stir.

After some time, Yan Qing heard a strange noise coming from the adjacent room, where a young couple — a man and a woman — were staying.

At first the sound was restrained, but before long it grew entirely uninhibited.

The woman’s coy murmurs and the man’s low, husky responses formed a duet in the night.

Yan Qing had never felt so mortified in her life — mortified enough to want to find a crack in the headboard and crawl inside.

The two next door grew bolder and bolder, until at last a bestial cry rang out. Yan Qing quietly pulled the quilt up over her head.

Just as she was in the midst of her terrible embarrassment, the person beside her hadn’t made a single sound. He had always been sharp of eye and ear — there was no way he hadn’t heard it.

Yan Qing carefully lowered the quilt and glanced over, only to find that Shi Ting had already fallen asleep, breathing steadily, like an infant.

Her embarrassment dissolved, and Yan Qing let out a long breath of relief. She couldn’t help inching a little closer to him. Only after confirming that he truly was asleep did she allow herself a small smile of relief. “Asleep at such an inconvenient time. And he missed such a lively live broadcast, too.”

With that, she lay back down and gently closed her eyes.

Once Yan Qing had fallen asleep, the “soundly sleeping” Shi Ting opened his eyes. Those eyes were clear and bright in the darkness, with not a trace of drowsiness in them.

He silently turned her words over in his mind, a string of question marks forming in his thoughts. What did “live broadcast” mean?

Of course Shi Ting couldn’t sleep. Having her beside him was enough to keep him wide awake, and the commotion from the next room had only made sleep more impossible. However, knowing that Yan Qing’s sense of propriety was delicate and that she would not know how to handle such a situation, he had deliberately feigned sleep.

Now she was asleep, and he was more wide awake than ever.

He turned onto his side. The pillow pressed against his chest. He extended his left arm over it and rested it lightly around her waist — a posture very much like an embrace, even with a small mountain between them.

He gazed at her quiet, peaceful features in the stillness of sleep, and involuntarily leaned closer to her forehead. His lips came to within a hair’s breadth of her soft skin, and then gradually stopped.

After a moment, he slowly drew back to his original position, withdrew his arm, and closed his eyes, as though nothing had happened at all.

The next morning when Yan Qing woke, there was only one pillow beside her, returned to its rightful place. Shi Ting’s bedding was folded neatly and set at the head of the bed.

She lay there in a daze for a moment before sitting up. Thinking back on the events of the previous night, she found it rather funny.

Shi Ting was downstairs at that moment, ladling out breakfast. Wu Yiwei, one half of the young couple from room two, was also there. Seeing that no one else was around, Wu Yiwei joked, “Brother, you made quite a racket last night. Sounded like the bed caved in.”

Shi Ting paused in his ladling, then said, “Compared to you, Brother, I’m barely a sparrow next to an eagle. Your noise kept me up all night.”

Wu Yiwei grinned. “Fair enough, fair enough.”

Back upstairs, Yan Qing was sitting at the head of the bed in a daze. When she saw Shi Ting come in, she felt a little self-conscious but did her best to appear unconcerned. “You’re up so early.”

“Breakfast is ready, and I’ve brought up wash water for you. Wash your face first, then eat.” He set down the morning meal, walked to the bedside, and lifted Yan Qing into her wheelchair, then handed her a towel.

After Yan Qing had washed her face, the porridge had cooled to just the right temperature. She and Shi Ting ate together, then tidied up the bowls and chopsticks.

“Where are we going today?”

“To dig for mushrooms,” Shi Ting said. “You wait here for me. The woods are still damp and there are no proper paths.”

Yan Qing nodded. “Then I’ll wait for you to come back. Be careful.”

After Shi Ting went downstairs, he came face to face with Wu Yiwei. Wu Yiwei and Zhang Qiu were carrying tools and preparing to head out. It wasn’t fully light yet, but the people in this inn were already getting ready to leave one after another.

Seeing that Shi Ting also had a hoe, Wu Yiwei looked at him with suspicion. “Brother, what are you off to do?”

Shi Ting let out a sigh. “Don’t ask. My girlfriend saw you all going out every day to dig for mushrooms in the woods, and now she’s insisting I go dig some too — says she wants to try something fresh. What do I know about digging mushrooms? It’s really putting me in a difficult spot.”

Wu Yiwei gave a dry laugh. “That is a bit much to ask of you.”

Zhang Qiu smiled coyly. “Young man, you’re so good-looking — how is it your girlfriend is disabled?”

Shi Ting looked put-upon. “Ah, her family has money. What can you do? You make do. Whatever she says goes. I wouldn’t dare breathe a word against her.”

He gazed out toward the woods. “Brother, in such a big forest, where does one even find mushrooms? Could you point me in a direction?”

Wu Yiwei’s eyes lit up. He pointed toward the southwest. “Over there, perhaps. There’s a low-lying patch of ground — should have mushrooms.”

“Really? Many thanks, Brother.” Shi Ting picked up his hoe and strode off in high spirits.

Once he was out of earshot, Zhang Qiu gave a dismissive snort. “Decent-looking, but he’s a kept man and a country bumpkin. We dug that area out just yesterday. There won’t be any mushrooms there.”

Wu Yiwei was afraid Shi Ting might dig up something he shouldn’t, which was precisely why he had directed him to a spot they had already worked over.

He glanced at his watch. “Let’s get moving. We need to get ahead of those three people no matter what. Time waits for no one — only two days left.”

After Wu Yiwei and his companion departed, the remaining three also made their way into the woods one after another. A few birdsongs drifted out from among the trees, and a new day had begun.

Yan Qing sat upstairs and watched as Shi Ting disappeared into the forest. She had a fairly good idea of what he was planning to do.

A newspaper was still lying on the table. She wheeled herself over, picked up a copy, and began reading it carefully to pass the time.

At noon, the innkeeper sent up two mushroom-filled pastries.

This place lived off what the land provided. This inn’s livelihood came from mushrooms and crucian carp.

In the autumn they would gather large quantities of oil mushrooms — some sold at market, some dried in the sun. If stored properly, these dried mushrooms could keep for two years.

“My husband went fishing today. Tonight we’ll have braised fish,” the innkeeper’s wife said, leaving behind that one remark before departing.

That evening, the innkeeper did indeed prepare braised crucian carp, and the aroma of the cooking fish drifted all the way through the woods.

Those who had gone into the woods to “dig mushrooms” during the day began trickling back one by one. Yan Qing watched as Shi Ting and Zhang Da from room two came in last.

Shi Ting asked with apparent interest, “Brother, did you find any mushrooms?”

Zhang Da wore an expression of complete indifference and said nothing.

Shi Ting lowered his voice and said with an air of mystery, “You’d better give up digging. There’s something wrong with this forest. To be frank, I dug up a dead body today.”

Zhang Da’s eyes lit up, and his voice sharpened. “What did you say?”

—