The Book of Hibernation

Aldin said: "Seeing that you are not feeling well, I want to stay and take care of you. Don't be afraid."

Holding the water glass, Dong Ji showed an embarrassed smile: "Look at what you said. I'm not afraid, I just feel too embarrassed..."

"You are not afraid, but I am very afraid," Aldin said with a smile. "Some people make a fuss after being drunk, and as a result, they become dizzy and disoriented. If left unattended, you could end up suffocating. Luckily you're fine. You don't fuss or cry, you're very honest."

When he said this, Winter Thistle's face became even hotter. "I'm fine... Actually, I don't drink much."

"Although you don't drink much, after all, you don't usually drink much, so you must be more likely to feel uncomfortable than people who drink a lot."

Seeing that Winter Thistle drank water, Aldin helped him take away the cup, came back and gently helped him lie down again, and pulled up the thin quilt for him.

"You haven't slept for long, go on sleeping." Aldin sat on the edge of the bed.

Being watched like this, how could it be possible for Winter Thistle to fall asleep.He half-closed his eyes, looking like he was really about to fall asleep, but his mind was actually very messy.

He always felt that he should say something, such as expressing thanks, or saying good night or something?But it doesn't seem right...

There was the sound of fabric rubbing beside him, and then the sound of bare feet stepping lightly on the carpet.Winter Thistle secretly opened her eyes to see that it was Aldin who stood up and walked aside.

He sat on the carpet, picked up a stack of papers that looked like ledgers, and turned his back to Winter Thistle, and said softly, "Sleep peacefully, if you have nightmares again, I'll wake you up right away."

Winter Ji let out a soft "hmm" and lay flat with her eyes closed.

In Dongji's memory, he used to stay by other people's bed like this.For example, when he took care of his young brother, and when he was working in a magic item shop, temporarily taking care of the owner's children.

He has watched others fall asleep more than once, but has never been accompanied by others.Even Jin Ye would not guard him like this.

Winter Thistle pretended to be asleep and remained motionless.After an unknown period of time, he quietly turned his head to see that Aldin was sitting cross-legged, lowering the lantern on the corner cabinet to the low round table in front of him, resting his head on one hand, and still flipping through the stack of documents.

Because Aldin was shirtless and his back was facing him, Winter Thistle couldn't help but began to observe the tattoo of the python. Usually he couldn't see the part on Aldin's back.

After thinking about it carefully, the python's posture seems a little menacing, coiled full of hostility.

If it's a real snake, it doesn't look like Aldine's friend at all, and more like it's trying to kill Aldine.

Just when Dong Ji was thinking wildly, Aldin suddenly turned around, and Dong Ji had no time to pretend to be asleep.

Winter Thistle was extremely embarrassed and didn't know what to say, but luckily the room was dark enough to hide his expression.

Aldin came over and sat on the carpet beside the bed. The mattress was very low. Aldin happened to look down at Winter Thistle: "Aren't you asleep? Is there any other discomfort?"

Winter Ji said, "No...are you busy with business?"

"Well, it's just something I need to look at."

"Sorry for bothering you."

"That's not true. Usually, I always procrastinate not wanting to read these things. It's been too long. Kanai keeps urging me. Being with you today makes me calm, and I just finished watching them," Aldin said, He looked down at himself again, "By the way, are you looking at this snake? I've noticed it since you first came here. You seem to be very curious about it."

Everyone has discovered it, and Winter Thistle can't say no: "I haven't seen this kind of tattoo much before."

"Then what did you see before?"

"The ones I've seen are generally spell runes. Some mages will stab the runes on their bodies, some for protection, and some for the convenience of casting spells."

"Do you have any?" Aldin asked.

"No……"

"Why not, don't you need it?"

Winter Thistle said: "I mainly sit in the laboratory and don't use it very much. And I'm afraid of pain. Stabbing spell runes is very painful. It's different from stabbing decorative things. You can't apply paralyzing potion."

Aldin touched the snake's head on his chest: "You don't know, but the paralyzing potion is useless at all, it still hurts a lot. Maybe it's because my anaconda is too big, maybe the pattern of the small area is different."

Winter Thistle estimated the size of this giant python, and how many needle pricks would be needed for the tattooing process... Just imagining it made him feel uncomfortable and his scalp was numb.

He wanted to ask "why do you need to prick when it hurts so much", but he felt that it was impolite to ask...

Aldin guessed what he was thinking, and took the initiative to say: "In fact, I regretted it halfway through the piercing, and I really wanted to give up, but I really couldn't afford to lose that person, so I had to grit my teeth and endure it. After the completion, the effect was good. I am very satisfied, and I have no regrets.”

A picture of Aldin gritted his teeth with a mournful face appeared in Dong Ji's mind, and he couldn't help laughing.

Aldin warned: "Laugh, don't tell others. The main thing is not to say the part of 'I regret it halfway through'."

"I definitely won't say it, I promise." Winter Ji said while still laughing.

"Is it that funny?" Although Aldin asked, he was actually smiling.

The two of them huddled under the dim bed curtain, chatting without saying a word, gradually, Dong Ji relaxed a lot.

This feeling was a bit strange, and although Aldin didn't persuade him anything, his heart became very peaceful.

Not only was it calmer than when I first woke up from the nightmare, it was even calmer than the whole day yesterday.

Now Aldin is so close to him, much closer than before, he can clearly see the lines on each scale of the python, but he is not afraid and does not hide back.

Because neither of them was sleepy, Aldin also told him the reason for getting this tattoo.

Winter Thistle originally thought that Aldin liked pythons, but who knows, the fact is just the opposite: in the past, Aldin was most afraid of snakes and pythons.

Aldin said that he was afraid of snakes since he was a child. At that time, he had never seen pythons or anacondas. He had only seen small earth snakes. He was very afraid, but he had to pretend not to be afraid, because he wanted to protect his younger brother Kanai. Don't look cowardly for your brother.

When he grew up a bit, he became a mercenary. One time, his companions caught snakes in the forest and roasted them. Others were discussing how to clean up the dead snakes. .

Then he went to Shandonia, a country with a warm climate and more snakes.One day, when he was completing his mercenary mission, he encountered a terrifying experience.

He got separated from his fellow mercenaries in the forest.He was so exhausted that he took a nap under the tree by the river with his sword in his arms, and accidentally fell asleep.

Suddenly, he was awakened by a strange feeling. When he opened his eyes, he saw a huge anaconda wrapped around his body, probably taking him as a tree stump to keep warm.

He was already afraid of these things, and lacked understanding of them. He made various resistance and attack actions in a panic, but the result was just the opposite. Not only did the anaconda not run away, but it entangled him more and more tightly.

That anaconda was as thick as a human's legs, and its strength was terrifying.Aldin's hard struggle was bound to be accompanied by intense breathing, and every time he inhaled and exhaled, the anaconda entangled him more tightly with the rise and fall of his chest and abdomen.

If this goes on, he will definitely be strangled, and eventually suffocate to death.

At the juncture of life and death, Aldin gradually calmed down.He covered his head and neck with his arms, flattened his body, stopped struggling, and even held his breath.

His action actually worked.The anaconda's entanglement gradually weakened, and finally let him go.

Aldin held a dagger in one hand, he thought, maybe the next step this anaconda will start to devour itself, it can swallow an animal much wider than itself, and when it devours, its lower jaw will come off, only Swallow with muscles, mouth cannot bite... then Aldin can fight back, kill it with a dagger.

However, things did not develop that way.The giant anaconda didn't try to devour him at all, but left slowly.

Maybe it was because the anaconda found that the prey was too big, so it looked for another target, maybe it was because the anaconda was not hungry in the first place, and only entangled him when it was frightened... Aldin couldn't tell what the reason was.Anyway, he's safe.

Aldin knew he hadn't won.He didn't beat the anaconda, he was just lucky.

However, with this experience, he found that his mentality seemed to have changed.

He is still afraid of snakes, pythons and the like, but the form of fear has changed—it is no longer the instinctive fear of the past, but the fear of their power and the danger they bring to others, just like being afraid of an enemy with powerful combat power. Same.

These are two different fears.The former is like a child who is afraid of the dark, no matter whether the darkness will hurt him or not, he will be afraid; while the latter is like an adult who is brave enough to be surrounded by wolves at night, and his life is threatened. The specific danger, not the fear of the dark itself.

A few months after that crisis passed, he got the anaconda tattooed.

His request was to imitate the posture of the giant anaconda entwining its prey, so the anaconda's body was wrapped around his torso, with the head at his heart, and his eyes seemed to be looking at his head, wondering if he could swallow him whole.

Hearing this, Dongji suddenly realized.

He finally understood why he always thought this tattoo was scary: the python's head was not a frontal pattern, but displayed from the top. Its eyes were looking up, and its mouth was facing Aldin's head. When he opened the collar, it was as if there was a giant python wrapping around him, poking out its head from his arms, and trying to attack his neck.

When Aldin got this tattoo, his original intention was to remind himself all the time, to stay vigilant, to stay in awe, and to face everything that he fears.

Later, he settled down in the Shifan Street Chamber of Commerce. As his fame and influence grew, "Anaconda" became not only his symbol, but also his nickname.What had once terrified him, what had nearly killed him, was now what he was called.

The purpose of his tattoo was achieved.He was not so afraid of snakes and pythons now, and even liked them a little.

While talking about this, Winter Thistle's legs gradually curled up, her shoulders shrunk, and she wrapped the thin quilt tightly.

Aldin asked him what was wrong, and Winter Thistle came back to his senses, and heaved a sigh of relief: "I'm imagining that anaconda... The more I think about it, the more terrifying it becomes. It's bigger than the tattoos on your body..."

"Of course it's bigger than a tattoo," Aldin said, touching the pattern on his chest, "That anaconda is at least as thick as my leg, which is still average, not the thickest part of the body, as for the length... …I can't even see how long it is. I'd like to get it to its actual size, but I don't have that big a body. Unless I'm an ogre, the 'canvas' is probably big enough."

Dong Ji was still apprehensive at first, but now she was amused again.

Aldin looked at him: "You have to keep this matter a secret, don't go out and tell people."

Winter Ji asked, "Don't others know?"

"Of course they knew I had tattoos, but they didn't know I was almost eaten by a boa."

"Don't Master Kanai know?"

"Oh, he only knew that I was almost eaten, but he didn't know that I was afraid of snake-like creatures as a child. In his mind, I was always afraid of nothing."

Dong Ji smiled and said, "It's so complicated...then why did you tell me?"

Aldin said, "Because you are serious and you won't laugh at me."

"No one will laugh at you." Winter Thistle said.

"That's not necessarily the case. They may not laugh at me face to face, but they may despise me behind my back." Aldin looked into Winter Thistle's eyes and said, "Actually, this is not the main reason. People, there are always things that you don't want to say , The matter itself is not serious, it's just that I don't want to mention it. When I meet a specific person, I might want to talk about it."

Hearing this, Dong Ji lowered her gaze, thoughtful.

When he slowly raised his eyes to look at Aldin, there seemed to be a little mist in his eyes.

Aldin found that something was wrong with him, and just about to ask, Dongji took the initiative to say: "Actually, I also have something that I'm afraid of, and I've been afraid since a long time ago, and I've never told anyone about it..."

Aldin said softly, "Do you want to talk? I'll listen if you want to. It's okay if you don't want to."

Dong Ji smiled bitterly: "Actually, I don't need to say it. You already know."

"Do I know?"

"Well, you know. You saw it with your own eyes. What I'm afraid of has happened, just today . . . or yesterday."

The voice of the winter thistle became softer and slightly nasal.

He thought that his emotions had calmed down, and it was okay to talk about these things, but who knew, just as this topic was brought up, before he could say more, a sour dull pain suddenly surged up in his chest, making his voice tremble.

Aldin understood immediately.He put his arms around Winter Thistle, so that if Winter Thistle really couldn't help crying, he could hide the tears in his arms.

Aldin said softly: "If the thing that scares you the most has already happened, then after it has happened, you don't have to be afraid anymore."

Winter Thistle didn't answer, just quietly huddled in his arms.

Aldin asked, "Do you regret coming to Harbor City?"

"I..." Dong Ji hesitated for a moment.

His first reaction was to say that he didn't regret it, but when the words came to his lips, he doubted himself a little.

Aldin continued: "Fortunately, you are here in Harbor City, otherwise how would I know you?"

"Is it because I'm a refiner?" Winter Thistle muttered.

"That's not all the reason. As for the other reasons...you already understood."

After speaking, Aldin kissed the top of Winter Thistle's head.

The color of the half-elf's hair is close to the grayish yellow of withered grass. It looks a bit dim in the daytime, but in the dark with the faint light in the distance, it looks like soft sand under the moonlight.

Winter Thistle didn't dodge, but raised her eyes to look at Aldin, and when her eyes met, she hurriedly looked away.

Aldin kissed his forehead again, very lightly and soothingly, as if kissing a precious and fragile antique.

When being kissed on the forehead, Winter Thistle slightly closed her eyes.

There was an ambiguous sound of fabric rubbing beside him, and when he opened his eyes again, Aldin trapped him between his arms and looked down at him, their foreheads almost touching.

From this distance, he was either looking directly at Aldin's face or at the python tattoo.So he had to squint his eyes, trying to say something, but felt that he couldn't say anything.

The third kiss fell on the pinna of Winter Thistle's ear.First, the tip of the ear was slightly hot, and then it slid down to the earlobe.

Aldin put his lips next to the half-elf's ear, and spoke softly with a volume that was almost breath-only.

Those words made Winter Thistle's breathing visibly disturbed.

Before he could calm down, the next kiss fell on his lips.

As her breathing became more and more rapid, Winter Thistle's thoughts became more and more blurred, and the weight on her heart seemed to disappear temporarily, and all senses became light and ethereal.

He closed his eyes, his eyelashes and the corners of his eyes were slightly moist.The tears were not from the kiss, but from all the thoughts that had been going on in his mind tonight.

Emotions piled up tears in the corners of their eyes, and before the drops had time to fall, they were wiped away by more kisses.

There are also some water stains that have not been wiped off from the side of the cheeks, flowed into the trembling hair, and melted with the thin sweat on the skin.

The lantern was still on the low table with round corners, and no one tried to extinguish it.The warm lamp was on all night, unable to see through the smoky purple curtain hanging from the bed frame.