When A Snail Falls In Love

Feng Ye Short Story Part 1.3

Did I hate Lin Qingyan? No, of course I didn't. If we were to change places, I would have done the same. He had come up tops* this time, so what was there to hate? However, I was extremely patient. Sooner or later, he would commit more crimes, and then, I would be able to make a comeback.

*(成王败寇 – lit. become king, defeat enemies)

However, he was really sick in the head, dressing up corpses to look like lovers. It seems he had been severely tormented by my mother all those years, such that even his mind had become twisted.

At the beginning of the third year, I encountered Tan Liang.

It was a spring morning. I was sitting in the cave, roasting a freshly-caught rabbit. Suddenly, I heard footsteps approaching, and then a fair, clean-cut young man came into sight. He was wearing the uniform of a forest ranger, and he looked at me quietly as he asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Roasting meat." I used my dagger to cut off a piece and held it out to him. "Do you want some?"

He laughed. "Why wouldn't I want it?"

After many days, we became as close as brothers. He lived by himself, watching over the forests in the deep mountains. He had no friends, and called me 'big brother'.

He didn't say much, but, whenever I asked him why a university student would become a forest ranger, or about his superiors and colleagues, he would become especially silent, and there was a predatory gleam in his eyes.

Ha, another one of the same kind.

This world is really distorted.

I lived in the cave, he lived in the forest ranger quarters. At times, we would spend the night at each other's place. One night, I caught two turtledoves, and brought them to his place. From far away, I could see that the door to the building was tightly shut. When I peered into a window, I was amused: he was holding down a woman on the bed, and was frantically making love to her.

I knew that he was a virgin. So, today was the day he would become a man. Who knew what kind of woman would be willing to be with him. At first, I watched them with avid interest. After all, I had suffered a drought for 3 years, and as I watched, I became unbearably hard. After a while, I became aware that something was not right – the woman's face was pale, she was unmoving, and her hands were hanging limply off the side of the bed, as if she were dead.

It was only after he had ejaculated on the ground that I noticed the livor mortis* on the woman's thighs. F–k me, this bastard is really hardcore. Where on earth did he find this exquisite** corpse to play with? Unbelievably, could this have been his only option in his urgency**?
livor mortis (尸斑), the purplish red discolouration that is one of the signs of death

**如花似玉 – lit. delicate as a flower, refined as precious jade

***饥不择食 – lit. when hungry, you can't pick what you eat

I looked even more carefully. This woman's appearance, disposition and clothes, brought about a sense of deja vu.

I pushed open the door and walked in. At first, Tan Liang's face was both flushed and pale. However, when he saw me calmly examining the body, he squatted behind me, and smiled as he said, "I picked her up in the forest. Big brother, do you want to do her?"

I laughingly scolded him. "Go to hell, I don't get it on with dead people."

After a few simple questions, how Tan Liang had discovered the body became clear. I had hidden in the deep mountains, cutting myself off from the world. But, now, I was almost certain – Lin Qingyan was here.