第一章 海边的倩影

The bright and clear sunlight scattered across the shimmering coastline.

明媚清澈的阳光散落在波光粼粼的海岸线上。

The faint scent of greenery drifted onto the island as the sea breeze, mingled with a salty tang, swept through in waves.

植物清淡气息被混着腥味的海风一阵阵的送入岛屿。

A boy’s figure emerged from the white house, walking to the edge of the embankment. He took off his hat, placed it under him as a seat, and casually tossed the little pebbles by his side down the embankment, where they vanished into the azure waves in an instant.

男生的身影从白房子中走出来，行至堤岸边。他摘下帽子垫在屁股下，将旁边的小石子随手往堤岸下抛去，石子转眼就消失在碧波中。

At that moment, his face was still beaded with sweat, as if he had just finished exercising.

此刻他的脸上还有着汗渍，像是刚运动完出来。

Swoosh—Swoosh—

哗——哗——

In the distance, the waves rhythmically lapped against the shore.

远处海浪有规律的响起。

The boy looked around for a while, and on the distant coastline, he seemed to see a figure of a woman in a long black dress. She wore a large sun hat and stood barefoot against the vast blue backdrop, like a fresh, elegant painting of the deep-blue sea.

少年四望了阵子，远处海岸线上似有道身穿黑色长裙的女人身影。她戴着大大的遮阳草帽，赤脚站在在宽广蓝色背景下，仿佛一副清新淡雅的深蓝画卷。

“You can go talk to her.”

“你可以去找她聊聊。”

Footsteps approached, and Feng Juguan’s deep voice sounded from behind.

脚步声传来，冯居冠的深厚嗓音自背后响起。

Hong Haocheng turned his head and said, “Your wounds are healed? I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened. I was so scared at the time, I thought you were going to die.”

洪灏承转头道：“你的伤好了？对不起，我也不知道是怎么回事。当时吓死我了，我还以为你会死。”

“I have sunk to the bottom of the sea underwater and seen torpedoes explode right before my eyes. My boat has capsized, my yacht has lost its power in a deserted place, and I have even wrestled with sharks. None of these things killed me.”

“我在水下沉到过海底，还亲眼见过鱼雷从眼前爆炸。我的船翻过，我的游艇在了无人烟之地断过动能，我还与鲨鱼搏斗过。这些都未曾将我杀死。”

Feng Juguan let out a long sigh and sat down beside the boy. “Huh—eeaahh—”

冯居冠长叹着坐在了少年身边，“嗐诶~”

His eyes, darkened by years of sun exposure over the many years, gazed steadily into the distance.

累年被阳光晒得有些深沉的眼皮坚定地看向了远方。

“So, a little guy like you isn’t qualified to take my life.”

“所以，你这种小家伙想要我的命，还不够格。”

Hong Haocheng let out two awkward chuckles.

洪灏承尴尬笑了两声。

He himself didn’t understand what was going on. Two days ago, after a training session, he saw lines reappearing behind Feng Juguan, and instantly felt ravenous, longing to devour all those lines into his body.

他自己并不清楚是怎么回事，前两天一次训练完，自己再次看到冯居冠背后出现线条，瞬间他便觉得饥肠辘辘。恨不得将那些线条全部吞噬进自己的身体。

Then he lost control.

随后自己失控了。

When he woke up again, he found himself tied to a bed.

再次醒来，他发现自己被捆在床上。

“There’s not much time left. If you want to know something, go find her.” Feng Juguan pointed at the distant figure of a woman.

“没多少时间了，想知道点什么的话，去找她吧。”冯居冠指了指远方那道女士的身影。

……

The gracefully built woman was holding the brim of her hat with one hand, turning her head to gaze at the distant sea.

身形优美的女士正一手扶着帽檐，扭头看着远方的海面。

Suddenly, she looked back, watching the boy running down from the slope behind the white house, slapping his hat against his thigh along the way.

忽地她回首，看着边拿帽子在大腿上拍着，边一路从白屋子后斜坡跑下的少年。

“Reporting for duty! Feng Juguan sent me to find you.” Hong Haocheng rushed to her side.

“报告！冯居冠让我来找你。”洪灏承冲到了她身边。

Before he could clearly see the woman’s face, he first caught a faint fragrance wafting from beneath her black gauze skirt—a scent that made him feel very comfortable.

他还未看清楚女人的相貌，首先闻到了自黑色纱裙下传来的淡淡幽香，这味道让他很舒服。

The woman lifted her hat brim slightly and carefully examined the person before her.

女人将帽檐抬起了一点儿，仔细打量起了身前的人。

He was so full of vitality.

他是如此富有活力。

“Haocheng.”

“灏承。”

“Huh, do we know each other?” Hong Haocheng looked at her oval-shaped face with some confusion.

“呃，我们认识吗？”洪灏承有点疑惑的看着这张瓜子脸。

She revealed a very sweet smile and said intimately, “Now we do.”

她露出很甜美的笑容，亲昵道：“现在不就认识了。”

Hong Haocheng looked to her side, where the tide was washing over the carcass of a seal. Creatures resembling hairy-footed worms nibbled at the rotting meat beside it, the summer heat already breeding maggots within.

洪灏承看向她身侧，海水冲刷着一头海豹的尸体，类似毛足虫的海中生物在它的身体旁分食着腐肉，夏天的高温已经让它生出虫子了。

Hong Haocheng was a bit speechless.

洪灏承有点哑然。

“So this is what you were staring at.”

“原来你就是在这里看这个。”

The girl before him seemed refined and extraordinary, yet here she was, fixated on a decaying seal.

眼前的女孩给人感觉很是淡雅脱俗，却在这里盯着头腐烂的海豹。

If a painter had captured her in that moment, the audience would never guess that the heroine in the painting was actually staring at a corpse.

若是真有画家画下她之前的画面，观众们绝对想不到画中的女主角实际上在看一头死尸。

“Come with me.” The woman smiled and walked toward a folding chair in the distance, under which a sunshade was propped. On a nearby table sat a glass teapot filled with lemon-scented flower tea, accompanied by a few books.

“跟我来吧。”女人微笑着往远处折叠椅走去，上面还撑着遮阳伞，旁边桌上放着泡着柠檬花茶的玻璃茶壶，旁边还有几本书册。

“Looks like you’re on vacation.”

“你像是在度假。”

“Sort of.”

“算是吧。”

The woman sat gracefully on a wooden chair and poured a cup of tea for the boy.

女人坐在木椅子上，优雅大方地为少年倒了杯茶水。

Hong Haocheng casually picked up a book from the table and flipped through it; the text was utterly indecipherable. “Studying a foreign language? What script is this? The characters look so abstract.”

洪灏承随手拿过一本桌上的书翻阅，全是看不懂的文字，“学外语的？这是什么语言，文字有点抽象。”

“Around here, we call it the Hermes Tongue.”

“在这里，我们称它为赫尔墨斯语。”

“There’s such a language?”

“有这种语言吗？”

The teacup clattered as it was set on the table before him, and at the same time, the woman handed a large book of distinctly strange material to the boy across the table.

茶杯放在他身前的桌面上，发出脆响，同时女人将一本材质略显奇怪的大书递给桌对面的大男孩。

“This is for you. You’d better memorize it in the next month.”

“这是给你的，最好在接下来的一个月把它背熟。”

Flipping through the pages, Hong Haocheng’s eyes grew wider and wider, and with a shocked expression, he stammered, “You want me to memorize these in just over twenty days?!”

嚓嚓嚓，洪灏承越翻眼睛瞪得越大，一脸震惊道：“你要让我在二十几天背熟它们？！”

“Mm-hmm.” The woman smiled and nodded.

“嗯呐。”女人笑着点头。

“Do you have any idea how they tortured me these past two weeks?” Hong Haocheng pointed at the distant house without looking at his arm. “Do you think I have nothing better to do?”

“他们这两个礼拜是怎么折磨我的你知道吗。”洪灏承不看手臂地指着远处的屋子，“你觉得我很闲？”

The woman extended her hand to support her smooth chin. “Of course I know, because all of these were my suggestions.”

女人伸出手掌撑着自己光洁的下巴：“我当然晓得，因为这些都是我的建议。”

“What?!”

“什么！”

Hong Haocheng suddenly stood up. He glared at the woman before him, speaking incredulously:

洪灏承一下站了起来，他瞪着前方的女士，不可思议的道：

“What exactly is this place? Who are those people? And who are you?!”

“这里到底是什么地方，那些人是谁？你又是谁！”

“Don’t rush.”

“别急嘛。”

The woman stood up, stepped back twice, and spun around like a fairy emerging from a painting.

女人起身后退两步转了圈，仿佛从画卷中走出的仙女。

“Do you think I’m beautiful?”

“我好看嘛？”

“Uh, yes, you are.” Hong Haocheng told the truth. He had been struck by her at first sight, though she seemed much older than him.

“呃，好看。”洪灏承实话实说，看到对方的第一眼他就怦然心动，只是似乎年纪长自己很多。

“Then do you like me?”

“那你喜欢我吗？”

“Ah?!” Hong Haocheng suddenly stammered. “That’s way too…”

“啊？！”洪灏承一下支支吾吾起来，“你这也太…”

He suddenly recalled the image of her staring at the seal carcass. The woman’s boldness seemed innate; if not for being a linguistic expert with a scholarly aura, she would definitely be a rough old street-gal.

他一下想到对方盯着海豹尸体看的画面，这女人的大胆像是天生的，难得她是研究语言的专家，多了些书卷气，否则肯定是个老太妹。

“What, hesitating when a twenty-eight-year-old big sister confesses her love?”

“怎么，看到二十八岁的大姐姐表白就犹豫了？”

“I… uh…”

“我…嗯…”

Initially wanting to dodge the question, Hong Haocheng saw her playful smile as if teasing an innocent boy, and a surge of stubbornness rose within him.

本想拒绝回答的洪灏承看向对方如逗纯情小男生般的笑意，一股倔强油然而生。

He deliberately scoffed, “So what if I like you?”

他故意不屑道：“喜欢又怎么了。”

“Then let’s get married.”

“喜欢就结婚吧。”

“Are you a demon?!” Hong Haocheng leaned back, toppling over with his chair, causing the woman in black veil to cover her mouth and laugh, eyes curved with mirth.

“你是魔鬼吧！”洪灏承往后一仰，人连同椅子摔倒在地，让黑纱女人捂嘴笑弯了眼。

The woman approached him, suddenly reaching out to twist his chin.

女人走来靠近他，忽地伸手扭曲他的下巴。

“What are you—mmph…”

“你干什么…唔…”

Shocked, Hong Haocheng only felt a soft pair of lips press against his own, the moist, tender sensation like lightning streaking through his mind.

震惊的洪灏承只感觉一道软唇贴向自己，濡软的触感，如闪电划过脑海。

Under the sunlight, the shore waves crashed with a rustling sound.

阳光下，海岸哗啦啦响着。

After about ten seconds, he was finally allowed to breathe. Hong Haocheng felt his face flustered and dazed, looking at the beautiful woman in front of him in disbelief. “You!”

十来秒后，他才被获准呼吸的权利，洪灏承感觉自己脸红地发懵，不可思议的看向前方美女，“你！”

“The wedding is today.”

“结婚，就在今天。”

……

……

The small island suddenly bustled with activity.

小岛上突然就热闹了起来。

When Hong Haocheng ran back to the dormitory in panic, he found Feng Juguan directing other young men to decorate with lanterns and colored streamers, hanging up red lanterns and pasting couplets.

当洪灏承惊恐的跑回宿舍的时候，发现冯居冠居然在指挥着其它小伙子们张灯结彩，挂着红灯笼，贴着对联。

“What are you doing!”

“你们在干什么！”

“Huh, didn’t she tell you?”

“咦，她没跟你说吗。”

The boy’s eyes went wide. “Are you kidding me? Wow, is this the 18th century or the 15th and 16th? You can just abduct someone to be the mountain king’s son-in-law through marriage?!”

“你们没开玩笑？”少年瞪圆了双眼，“哇，这是十八世纪还是十五十六世纪？拐个人来就能当山大王的赘婿？！”

Laughter erupted all around.

周围一阵哄笑。

Feng Juguan grabbed the dazed young man by the arm and pulled him to the corner of a building freshly painted snow-white.

冯居冠一把拽住神魂颠倒的小子胳膊，来到了漆刷雪白的房屋拐角处。

From here, he could still see the woman lounging in a deck chair, basking in the sun on the distant coastline.

从这里还能看到远处海岸线上女人坐在躺椅上晒太阳的身影。

“You’re not setting up some kind of prank, are you, huh? Why did I run berserk and faint before? Who are you people!”

“你们不会是搞什么捉弄人的东西吧，啊？我之前为什么会发狂昏迷，你们到底是什么人！”

Feng Juguan firmly clamped a hand on his shoulder.

冯居冠一把扣住他肩膀。

“Calm down!”

“镇静！”

A roar of majesty, like a fierce tiger, calmed the somewhat panicked Hong Haocheng. But Hong Haocheng still stared wide-eyed and breathed rapidly at the man before him.

如猛虎般的威严吼声，让陷入混乱情绪中的洪灏承略平静了下来。但洪灏承还是瞪着眼呼吸急促的看向身前的人。

Suddenly, he kicked at Feng Juguan, only to be subdued in a few moves, with his arm twisted behind his back and pinned against the wall.

突然他一脚踢向冯居冠，却几招就被制服，被反扭手腕扣在墙上。

“Not bad, already able to trade four or five moves with me in just a week.”

“不错，才一个礼拜就能跟我过手四五招了。”

The boy was twisted and dragged by him towards the woman in the black gauze dress. The woman smiled at the towed boy and the stern-faced Feng Juguan.

少年被他扭着拽向黑纱裙女人那里。女人笑看着被推拽而来的少年和面容严肃的冯居冠。

“Didn’t you make it clear to him? Why is the kid so uncooperative?”

“你是不是没给他说清楚，这小子怎么这么不配合。”

“No, I didn’t. I wanted him to figure it out on his own when the time comes.”

“嗯，没说呢，我想到时候让他自己明白。”

“Find out what, you…”

“我明白你…”

Feng Juguan covered Hong Haocheng’s mouth, staring at the woman, and said:

冯居冠捂住洪灏承的嘴，盯着女人道：

“But the way it is, he’ll never settle down and train. Didn’t you say there’s hardly any time left?”

“但就这样的话，他根本不会静下心训练吧。你不是说已经没多少时间了。”

“It doesn’t matter. We’ll treat the coming time as a honeymoon. I believe he’ll grow up quickly in the future.”

“没关系，接下来的时间就当度蜜月好了，我相信他以后能很快成长起来。”