Passion Raga Novel (Completed) - Chapter 40

Supplement. Another Angle

“Thank you.”

As soon as Ling Xinlu sat up, he quietly bowed his head in greeting. He then wiped his body with the wet towel on the plate and put on his clothes. A stinging sensation lingered where the moxibustion had been applied. He gazed indifferently at the skin that would scar, then began to button his shirt.

The old man, who sat opposite Ling Xinlu and had received his greeting, remained silent. Several months had passed since the treatment began, yet there was no improvement whatsoever. Although Ling Xinlu himself said nothing, the old man seemed troubled by it. Or perhaps Ling Xinlu’s parents or relatives were pressuring the old man without his knowledge.

Ling Xinlu himself was not particularly anxious or concerned.
It wasn’t that he intended to wait patiently. He had already, to some extent, given up on his eyes.
There were voices that subtly asked if he wouldn’t accept another person’s eyes, but the mere thought of another person’s body mixing with his own made him uncomfortable, so he refused without a second thought.

He could live with one eye. Though there were many inconveniences he hadn’t imagined when he had two eyes, by the end of the day, he only felt more fatigued than before, perhaps because he overworked the one eye. Other than that, it wasn’t particularly difficult.

Besides, it has been months now. During that time, he had tried every method except transplantation, but the condition of his eye showed no improvement. The difference between “as hazy as cream” and “as hazy as ivory” was enough to make him scoff just hearing it.

Rehabilitation, treatment, medicine—everything poured into his eye felt untrustworthy and like a useless struggle.

However, he didn’t outright refuse the people who constantly sought out various methods. It wasn’t out of hope. If it didn’t matter whether he did it or not, he didn’t want to stubbornly refuse and reveal his twisted inner self.

After tidying his clothes, Ling Xinlu opened the sliding door.

Normally, Yuri would be sitting there in an upright posture, but now the seat was empty.

He had been there when Ling Xinlu first began his treatments. Ling Xinlu recalled him, his back straight, looking down at the garden, seeing his shadow cast on the sliding door.

But then, as if someone was passing by with a heavy load, he heard Yuri say, “May I help you?” and stand up. The shadow that disappeared from the sliding door did not return.
Given how much time had passed since he left, he might have taken on other tasks where he went to help.

“Then, I’ll take my leave now. I’ll see you again next week.”

Ling Xinlu bowed to the old man and stepped outside.

For a moment, he felt at a loss as to where to find him in this vast house. On the other hand, he wondered if he even needed to go looking for him. If he waited there, he would surely return someday.

But even as he thought that, Ling Xinlu moved his feet, thinking, I have nothing else to do anyway, so it wouldn’t hurt to look for him while taking a walk.

Finding Yuri in this vast main residence was not difficult.

Just being a foreigner made him noticeable, so if he asked a few people, he could immediately hear where he had been seen just moments ago.

This time, he was by a stone wall next to a side gate that few people used, so he had to ask more people repeatedly than usual. But after getting an answer, he hurried his steps, wondering if Yuri might have moved in the meantime, only to find him still in the same spot.

Ling Xinlu spotted Yuri, recognizable even from his back, sitting upright on a tree stump. He took a few steps closer, then slowed down. An old woman was sitting beside Yuri.

Seeing the lid of a large jar open next to the stone wall, it seemed she had brought something to put in it. Yuri had probably helped her carry the heavy load.
Ling Xinlu approached them silently from behind, tilting his head.

The old woman sitting with Yuri had been an employee of the Ling family even before Ling Xinlu was born. Born and raised in Xizang, she had moved here a long time ago, but her Xizang accent remained strong in her speech, making it difficult to understand her unless one was quite accustomed to talking with her. If it was difficult for Ling Xinlu, how could Yuri, who only spoke Mandarin—and even then, quite well for a foreigner—possibly understand her?

Moreover, the old woman couldn’t speak Mandarin. She only spoke Xizangese or the local dialect, so she often couldn’t even watch TV. Even when she did watch, someone else had to help interpret for her.

So, even though there was no way they could have a conversation that they both understood, Ling Xinlu soon understood and nodded. It was the same with the old man; this wasn’t the first or second time. Yuri strangely exchanged words as if having a conversation even with people who couldn’t understand him.
Just like now.

“So, my old man finally died when I was past fifty. That old man, always playing mahjong and going to the battlefield, racking up debts, making me sick to my bones, then he just up and died. Good riddance, that old man, he died well.”

“You played mahjong with your grandfather and got along so well?”

“I married that old man when I was eighteen, so for how many years? Forty years I spent hunched over just paying off debts. When I was a maiden, they said I was pretty, but I met the wrong old man and suffered so much, and now that he’s finally dead, I’ve aged terribly.”

“So even after marriage, your husband cherished you until you grew old?”

“My old man, you know, he was a bit like you, young man. His eyes were very gentle. So many women followed him. But he never cheated… Then what did he do? That old man, he just tripped on the street and suddenly choked and died. Oh, it’s good he died, good he died.”

“Yes. He passed away.”

Ling Xinlu stopped walking altogether, crossed his arms, and stared at the back of their heads.
It was mostly like this.

From a distance, it looked like they were having a friendly conversation, but up close, it was a spectacle. Since Yuri couldn’t understand her, he would sometimes hear one or two familiar words and then arbitrarily guess the content of her speech.

Sometimes, it was pure comedy.

Ling Xinlu let out a small snort and perched himself on the low stone wall. His intention was to listen and have a laugh.

The old woman lamented her life for a long time. Whether Yuri understood or not, she seemed to just miss having someone to talk to. Since she had worked for the Ling family for so long, Ling Xinlu knew her circumstances to some extent.

She was an old woman who had suffered immensely.

She married a much older man, left her hometown, and came far away. Because her husband was addicted to gambling and only accumulated debt, she had to work day and night without a moment’s rest to pay it off. As her body withered, so did her spirit, and she would routinely curse her husband every day. Then her weak-willed husband would hesitate, then sneak out and go back to the gambling den, and so their days passed.

Then one day, without any warning, her husband tripped on the street and hit his head wrongly, simply dying on the spot. They had no children.

That was the end of their marriage. It had been more than a decade ago.

“They say enemies from a past life are born as spouses in this life, and that old man truly was nothing but an enemy. Oh, you scoundrel… If only he had died earlier when I was still prettier, I could have met someone new and lived. What is this because of that old man? Damn old man…”

After lamenting for a long time, the old woman seemed to have run out of things to say and only grumbled curses. Looking at the stone wall ripening in the yellowish sunlight, she muttered, “You enemy, you scoundrel,” exhausted.

Beside her, Yuri, who had been sitting next to the old woman and gazing at her, suddenly spoke quietly.

“You must miss your husband.”

The old woman fell silent as if she had understood his words.

She hadn’t understood. Yuri’s words no longer registered in her ears. She lost herself in past memories and fell silent for a moment. Then she only muttered to herself, “He only made me suffer so much, oh, you scoundrel…”

Yuri gently took the old woman’s hand. The old woman, who had been rambling curses about her husband without knowing who was holding her wrinkled hand, shed tears from her equally wrinkled face. “Oh, you wretched man, oh, you wretched man,” she kept muttering.

Ling Xinlu watched them silently, then stood up. He had been watching with the intention to laugh, but no laughter came.

Even though he didn’t empathize with the old woman’s feelings—he did think it was a foolish life—he didn’t feel good. It was different from discomfort or repulsion; yes, a certain heaviness settled in his chest.

It was only after thinking a bit longer that he realized it wasn’t because of the old woman, but because of Yuri.
Why?

The answer came after a longer period of thought.

Yuri was truly having a conversation.

Even though the story was nonsensical, he was clearly talking to the old woman. Listening to what was inside the superficial words.
—You must miss him.

Just like that, as if he had seen into Ling Xinlu’s heart from the very first time they met.
He was talking to others, sometimes knowing their hearts better than they did themselves.

“Are you alright?”

The warm towel, which came down just above his eyelids, always stopped at a hair’s breadth away, as usual. Only after confirming Ling Xinlu’s answer did the towel cover his eyes, perfectly warm. Even though he must have checked the temperature himself, Yuri always asked Ling Xinlu before placing the towel. And then he gently placed his hand on top of it.

That hand, adding weight to the warm towel, always lingered for a moment before slowly beginning to stroke and rub his eyelids. The sensation, surprisingly, was quite pleasing.
The warm, languid sensation that seemed to release fatigue from his entire body, not just his eyes, was so pleasant that it had been a long time since he started lying down with his head on Yuri’s lap immediately after showering. It was a man’s hand, rough and unrefined, with prominent joints. But the touch rubbing around Ling Xinlu’s eyes was gentle and sincere, as if soothing his very soul.

It was as if it revealed Yuri Gable himself.

The calm and gentle emotions subtly hidden within his indifferent and taciturn face, like water.

“Did you have a nice date with Grandma Mei?”

In the sensation of his heart relaxing languidly, Ling Xinlu asked with a low chuckle. The hand rubbing his eyes seemed to pause for a moment, but with a short “Yes,” it soon began to move again pleasantly.

The old woman, having finished her long lament to Yuri, took Yuri, who was carrying the empty jar, and returned the way they came. Ling Xinlu, who couldn’t find an opportune moment to interject, leisurely followed them at a slight distance.

Yuri noticed Ling Xinlu following along the way and looked back, but when Ling Xinlu lightly gestured for him to continue, he silently carried the old woman’s jar all the way. While he carried it, the old woman continued to talk, and Yuri occasionally offered absurd responses to her words. Their mismatched conversation sometimes continued like a comedy, making Ling Xinlu chuckle softly from behind, but the hard-of-hearing old woman didn’t look back, and only Yuri occasionally looked back with a slightly embarrassed expression.

“Did you understand even half of what Grandma Mei said?”