When A Snail Falls In Love

Lin Qingyan Short Story Part 2.1

Ten years passed by as if he was in a dream. By and by, Lin Qingyan was already thirty-two years old, and Qin Shuhua was fifty-four years old.

The sky in Hong Kong was very blue. When he woke up each morning, Lin Qingyan would don a black sleeping robe and stand on the balcony to watch the sunrise in silence while, Qin Shuhua would either be enfolded in his arms, or smile wordlessly as she looked at his lofty and slender.

From the perspective of an outsider, Lin Qingyan had been living extremely well all these years- even he had thought that way.

As the adopted son of the CEO of the Qin group, he rose from managing a small investment firm, to controlling half of the assets*. Others would compliment him, and say, "President Lin could really be President Qin's biological son. In business matters he's exactly as she is, astute and bold." Alike- of course they were alike. He was under Qin Shuhua's personal tutelage whether it teaching him how to develop his character, how to conduct business or how to make love.

* (半壁江山 – lit. half the country)

He also had a lot of money. Athough it was only a drop in the ocean* when compared to Qin Shuhua's assets- the allowance Qin Shuhua gave him, his own annual salary as a senior management executive, and the money he had earned from investments was more than enough for him to spend in several lifetimes. He had even given his former female form teacher a sum of money. Surprised at the amount, she had resolutely refused it, but he had still pressed it upon her.

* (九牛一毛 – lit. one hair from nine oxen)

Everyday, he worked out, attended receptions and balls, and played a few rounds of golf, seeming to live the life of the upper classes.

Even Qin Shuhua might really like him – she did not have any other men, and, very often, the two of them seemed to be living like a real couple.

It was just that, whenever he surfaced from his dreams from the depths of the night, he saw Qin Shuhua at his side with new silver threads in her hair. He saw the exorbitant amounts of money she spent to maintain her smooth, fair and clear skin, with her face looking more artificial than ever. He saw, under her elegant clothes, her flabby skin, and the sporadic age spots of the old... the entire room was full of a suffocating sense of decay that hit him full-on, and he was floundering in it, his dreams of a better future drowning with him.

Once, when he went home, he procured a lot of potassium cyanide from a gold mine*. It was said that this was a totally painless poison. He thought, the day would eventually come when, if Qin Shuhua didn't die, he would die. No matter who it was, his or her should be calm and happy.

*(Note: potassium cyanide is required to refine gold ore. Thanks to Librismuse for the info!)

However, the first person he killed was a totally irrelevant girl.

During that period of time, Qin Shuhua had gone to Malaysia for self-cultivation, and he had stayed in Hong Kong to oversee the operations*. Working overtime till late at night, he returned to the villa and was greeted by a cold room, with Qin Shuhua's pajamas tossed untidily on the bed, her perfume faintly scenting the whole house, and the condoms they had used the night before still in the rubbish bin. Lin Qingyan suddenly could not take it any more. He got into the car to leave the villa, driving into the darkness of night by himself.

*(坐镇江山 – literally, assume personal command of the rivers and mountains)

He met Linda at a bar in Lan Kwai Fong. She was a very clean and beautiful girl, a little more than twenty years old. When she smiled, her eyes would curve up, and two large dimples would appear on her face, attracting the attention of all the men present.

Perhaps Lin Qingyan had been born with the potential for criminality. At this time, he had not considered killing Linda at all, but he subconsciously left the bar early, and waited in a deserted little alley, waited for Linda to come out and get her car.

What happened next was only to be expected. A handsome and melancholic young man driving a luxury car would be attractive to any girl. Linda got into his car, and the two of them kissed enthusiastically the entire journey. When they had just reached the Mid-Levels*, he was unable to stop himself from coming once.

*(Note – the Mid-Levels is an expensive and affluent residential area in Hong Kong)

He took her to his own villa – when Qin Shuhua was not in Hong Kong, he liked to stay there by himself. That night, he and Linda made love very freely, very intensely, and very happily. A young girl's body was so fresh and clean, and her delicate, fair skin looked as if dew might just drip from it. Lin Qingyan followed the curves of her body and licked it inch by inch, not neglecting even her private parts and her toes. Linda laughingly scolded him, "So perverted."

Perverted? Maybe. Lin Qingyan only knew that he was like a long-dead fish, which had finally absorbed the oxygen in the water. He just could not get enough of her. Right at the end, Linda could not take any more, and pushed him away while giggling, "You're too fierce, enough is enough! I want to go home, drive me there."

Lin Qingyan's eyes were as dark as a beast's, a refined, fair beast. With one move, he pinned her to the bed.

It had been so difficult to find his salvation, how could he so easily let her go? If she left him alone, he would die, he would really die.

For more than ten days, he chained Linda to the bed. In the daytime, he would feed her a sleeping pill, and wait for her to fall asleep before he went to work. When he returned at night, the moment he had time, he would have sex with her. He also fed her a Japanese sex stimulant, an aphrodisiac used by ladies. Qin Shuhua also used a little of it occasionally. He had doubled the dose, and tested it on small pets. Those nights were so wonderful that he was overcome by ecstasy, with his little darling sprawled on his chest, lying submissively* along his body, to receive both his cutting whip of his rebuke and his gracious favour.

*(臣服 – to swear allegiance to a king)

Things finally ended on the eve of Qin Shuhua's return to Hong Kong.

At this time, Linda was already like a walking corpse, and muddleheaded. In her moments of lucidity, she was only able to resume crying for Lin Qingyan not to kill her.

However, there was no way for him not to kill her. He was not a fool, he knew that he had committed a grave crime.

Moreover, he no longer wished to die. On the contrary, he felt as if he had been resurrected to new life. It was as if Linda's fresh and vigorous vitality had been transfused into his body.

He was extremely happy.

Linda's death was very serene. The potassium cyanide caused her face to flush faintly. Lin Qingyan kept her in cold storage in the villa for 3 days before he finally, reluctantly, drove her into the wilderness, and hid her in the depths of the mountains.