Moonlight Left Behind chapter 26

“What are you doing?” Lin Qinzhou sat cross-legged at the foot of the bed, watching Qin Yue come out of the bathroom, quickly drying his hair with a towel. Then Qin Yue folded the towel neatly and placed it on the floor before lying down on it.

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m going to sleep,” Qin Yue replied.

“You think I’m blind? I can see you’re going to sleep! What I mean is, why are you sleeping on the floor?” Lin Qinzhou felt like this guy was born just to annoy him. He had lost count of how many times he had gotten angry that day.

“I know you don’t want to share the bed with me, and I don’t want to either,” Qin Yue said.

That hit a nerve. Lin Qinzhou immediately got angry. “What do you mean by that? Are you saying you’re disgusted by me?!”

Qin Yue turned to face him. “No, I just don’t like sleeping with others. And besides, the floor is really nice. It’s much better than sleeping on the road or a bench.”

“You really know how to play the part of a beggar. But have you really slept on the street?” Lin Qinzhou asked, a little curious.

Qin Yue responded indifferently, “What else would I have done?”

Lin Qinzhou realized he had a point. Where else would a beggar sleep? It was just that Qin Yue looked so different after cleaning up that Lin Qinzhou almost forgot how dirty and pitiful he had been before.

Of course, he still looked pitiful now. Lin Qinzhou glanced at the bandages wrapped around Qin Yue’s body and awkwardly said, “Maybe you should sleep on the bed after all. Don’t think I don’t know—you’re only sleeping on the floor so you can complain to Grandma later that I’m bullying you.”

Qin Yue chuckled softly, sounding a bit helpless. “Young master, don’t think of me so badly. I really don’t have any plans. You don’t need to be so wary of me.”

“Don’t call me young master. I’m not one!” Lin Qinzhou said sharply, pulling Qin Yue up. “Just get on the bed!”

The two were far apart, so when Lin Qinzhou pulled him, half of his body was hanging off the bed, with only his legs hooked onto the blanket. Worried that he might fall, Qin Yue quickly stood up to support him.

“Are you sure you want me to sleep here?” Qin Yue asked, still uncertain.

“Yes!” Lin Qinzhou barked, holding onto Qin Yue tightly. “But don’t you dare touch me!”

He rummaged through the closet and pulled out a sky-blue fleece blanket, which he rolled up into a barrier that divided the bed in two—one side larger, one side smaller. He pointed to the smaller half and said arrogantly, “You sleep on that side. Don’t let any part of you cross this blanket—not even your hair—or I’ll kick you off the bed!”

Qin Yue smiled kindly. “Alright, got it. So, young master, can I sleep now?”

Lin Qinzhou gave him a light kick on the back. “You’re crazy.”

Qin Yue smiled again and then lay down.

After the lights were turned off, the room became very quiet. The sound of rain pattering outside seemed especially clear. Qin Yue lay on his side, gazing at the young master beside him in the dim moonlight.

Grandma Dou was right—this young master could fall asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. Completely defenseless, he fell asleep within just two minutes of lying down, breathing deeply in slumber.

But Qin Yue couldn’t sleep. The mattress beneath him was so soft, and the pillow and blanket carried a pleasant scent of mint and lemon. This place felt like a beautiful dream.

He wasn’t sure if, when he closed his eyes and opened them again, the dream would still be there. He feared he’d wake to find that everything—his escape, Grandma Dou, the young master, this soft bed—was all just an illusion.

So he didn’t dare sleep.

The young master had called him a liar, and honestly, he wasn’t wrong. Qin Yue was indeed a despicable liar, trying to deceive his way into a place to call home.

Even if the young master hated him, he wasn’t going to leave. He had nowhere else to go. This was the safe harbor he’d been lucky enough to find, and he wasn’t going to leave, no matter what.

Thud—

While Qin Yue was lost in thought, an arm suddenly flung over him, landing squarely on his chest. Then came the weight of half a body. The young master, like a sloth, wrapped his arms and legs around Qin Yue, holding him tightly by the neck, using his chest as a pillow, and unconsciously squirming.

“Mm… I want to eat…” the young master mumbled.

Qin Yue: “…” Where did the boundary line go? Did you eat that too?!

Qin Yue was speechless, but oddly enough, he didn’t seem to mind the young master’s touch.

If it had been anyone else, he’d have kicked them off the bed by now.

Meanwhile, Lin Qinzhou, who hadn’t eaten dinner out of anger, had a strange dream. In the dream, he was playing by the seaside and accidentally dropped a bowl of oden into the ocean. Just as he was feeling sad, a mermaid appeared on the waves.

The mermaid had long, straight black hair down to her waist, very pale skin, and a tiny mole near the bridge of her nose. She was stunning.

“Mortal,” the beautiful mermaid said coldly, holding three takeout boxes. She asked Lin Qinzhou, “Did you drop this bowl of oden, this oyster pancake, or this watermelon ice?”

Lin Qinzhou wanted to eat them all, but he knew he couldn’t be too greedy. So he pointed to one of the boxes and said, “It’s the oden.”

The mermaid’s eyes were particularly captivating, with long, naturally upturned corners and a hint of red. Even when expressionless, her gaze seemed to carry a smile, making her an expert at deception.

She glanced at the takeout box Lin Qinzhou had pointed to, then back at him. With a strange “Oh?”, she dumped all the food from the boxes into her mouth and said provocatively, “But I’m not giving you any of them.”

“…” Lin Qinzhou was furious. He leapt into the sea and grabbed the mermaid’s long hair, ready to fight to the death.

Who won in the end remained a mystery, as Lin Qinzhou woke up. Remembering the face from his dream made him so angry that he ground his teeth, itching to catch that annoying brat and beat him up.

Unfortunately, the annoying brat wasn’t there. Instead, he found himself sprawled out in the middle of the large bed, the blanket that had been used as a boundary line kicked to the floor.

The blanket was one he’d bought at the supermarket with his grandmother a long time ago. It had a blue background with white clouds. He used to love it, but as it got old, he lost interest and stuffed it into a cupboard, rarely using it.

When he went downstairs, the lobby was empty. He called out for his grandmother several times, but there was no response. It wasn’t until he reached the door that he saw Qin Yue sweeping the yard.

After the typhoon, the yard was a mess, with fallen leaves everywhere. A few bougainvillea trees had even been blown over, their branches broken in half. It was uncertain if they would survive.

“Where’s my grandma?” Lin Qinzhou asked.

Qin Yue, without looking up, continued sweeping away a puddle. “She went out. Breakfast is in the kitchen—there’s satay noodles and fried dough sticks. Help yourself.”

Lin Qinzhou was already holding a grudge from his dream, and hearing Qin Yue’s tone only made him angrier. What kind of attitude was that? You’d think he was the master of the house!

Shouldn’t this guy be taking the chance to wait on him, serving tea and currying favor to earn some brownie points?

After all, Lin Qinzhou held his fate in his hands.

So annoying.

He really wanted to kick Qin Yue out.

“I know! You don’t need to tell me!” Lin Qinzhou glared at him and stomped off to the kitchen.

Grandma Dou didn’t return until nearly 1 o’clock. The two youngsters were sitting in the yard, each holding a book, creating a rather harmonious scene. Grandma Dou was quite pleased.

“Are you both starving? I didn’t have time to make anything else, so how about I just cook some noodles?” she asked.

“No need. We’ve already eaten,” Lin Qinzhou replied, then asked, “Grandma, where did you go?”

Grandma Dou was surprised. “You’ve already eaten?”

Lin Qinzhou’s eyes darted. “Yeah.”

Seeing his reaction, Grandma Dou quickly guessed what had happened. Amused, she looked at the two boys. “What did you eat? Is there any left for me?”

Lin Qinzhou didn’t respond, so Qin Yue chimed in, “We had fried rice. If you’d like, I can heat it up for you, though it might be cold now.”

Grandma Dou smiled warmly. “Thank you, Xiao Qin.”

“So where did you go, Grandma?” Lin Qinzhou asked again, tugging on her arm once Qin Yue had left.

“I went to visit your Granny Ying,” Grandma Dou said.

“What happened to her?” Granny Ying, whose full name was Zhou Ying, was Grandma Dou’s childhood friend. The two had maintained a close relationship over the years. Granny Ying’s grandson was about five or six years older than Lin Qinzhou, and Lin Qinzhou used to follow him around when they were younger.

Grandma Dou sighed. “Her grandson upset her so much that she got sick.”

“Huh?” If I remember correctly, Grandma Ying’s grandson was known for being obedient and sensible, with excellent grades—a child that many parents on Coral Island admired. “What happened?”

Dou Xiaohua’s expression was a bit awkward. She brushed Lin Qinzhou off with a quick “Kids shouldn’t worry about these things.”

Just then, Qin Yue came out with fried rice, so the conversation didn’t continue. Lin Qinzhou only learned later what Grandma was hiding from him that day, and it was this very matter that significantly changed the course of his life.

But that’s a story for later. At the time, Lin Qinzhou was merely asking casually, not expecting any answers, and didn’t give it much thought afterward. He finished the plate of soy sauce fried rice with Grandma in the courtyard, sneaking a few glares at a certain annoying person.

—Because Grandma kept praising Qin Yue’s cooking skills as they ate, Lin Qinzhou felt that Qin Yue was doing it on purpose, showing off his skills in front of Grandma.

This kid is such a schemer, he knows exactly how to manipulate Grandma.

But the annoying kid seemed to really love reading. He could sit and read for hours, completely absorbed, not noticing even when Lin Qinzhou glared at him.