Glass Butterfly

When he woke up, Ruan Youqing found that Tang Tu was holding his right hand and gently stroking the light-colored long and thin scar. The other scars disappeared quickly after healed, but this one spanned half of the palm of his hand. But leave a permanent mark.

"Here, how did you get such a long scar?" Seeing that he woke up, Tang Tu asked him with a grin.

"It was scratched by the glass." He pulled out his palm and burrowed into the other's neck.

"Why are you so careless... What did you do?"

Ruan Youqing's head was pressed against Tang Tu's chin, and his whole head shook slightly when the other party spoke.He thought of the scattered glass shards, and replied vaguely, "It's all small things. Go to sleep again."

They returned to Venice on the first day of the opening of the Biennale. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Ruan Youqing, and Xu Hanyi even clenched his fist and beat his heart lightly, making a funny gesture of respect.

Ruan Youqing already knew that it was this kind and lovely girl who delivered the gift for him, so she walked over to express her solemn thanks.

"Hey... Don't be so polite, Teacher Youqing. Come and take a picture for us, take that interactive installation." Xu Hanyi and Liu Yan were wearing identical girlfriend outfits.It's rare not to wear formal clothes, and the simple white long dress looks pure and moving for girls.They could finally leave their jobs today and come to the Biennale venue simply as exhibition visitors.Ruan Youqing took her mobile phone and took the trouble to take a group photo for them.

"Where are you going next?" Liu Yan asked while flipping through the photos she just took.

"Go to Murano Island." Ruan Youqing asked, "What about you?"

"Same, go to Rainbow Island the day after tomorrow, then go around the island the day after tomorrow, take a gondola ride, then go to Milan, and then Rome."

He and Tang Tu didn't have such a specific arrangement, their plan was only until tomorrow.

"What about us?" He turned his head and asked Tang Tu.

"Wherever you want to go, we will go there." Tang Tu smiled at him.

"Hey, there's no need to be like this, boss. Dog abuse is not your style, so take your time and see you later." The two girls looked at each other and disappeared into the crowd.

At dinner, Ruan Youqing sat around a table with Tubai's people, except for him who was excitedly waiting for the cuttlefish pasta, the others seemed to lose their appetite and just chatted.Confused, he rolled a small bite with a fork to try, and it was unexpectedly delicious.

"Don't you want to eat?" He glanced at the light salad in front of Tang Tu.

"You can eat." The other party took a sip of black tea.

"It's delicious, I felt the same way in the first week. But we've been eating spaghetti risotto and bread here for a month now... I just want to go back to my room and eat instant noodles with braised beef flavor." Zhang Wenbin bitterly Face muttered.

"Then let's go. Go back and rest, I'll just accompany him." Tang Tu waved his hand, "Get up early tomorrow and take a boat to Murano Island."

"Okay!" The round table was empty in a blink of an eye.

Cheng Mo also got up slowly, and turned to them before leaving: "You guys have fun, I won't be with you tomorrow, I'm going back on the plane at noon."

Tang Tu nodded: "Let Zhang Wenbin take you to the airport."

At Ruan Youqing's insistence, Tang Tu added a seafood chowder, and they sat by the window slowly watching the gondolas coming and going nearby.The boatmen are skilled. Under the control of a single oar, the slender and light gondolas can easily pass through narrow waterways, low bridges and abrupt corners, and change direction flexibly in the bay.

"What's it singing?" Tang Tu asked curiously, dragging his chin and looking at him.

Only then did Ruan Youqing realize that she had unconsciously hummed the intermittent melody that came to mind.

"I have seen an animation called Mercury Navigator before. The place where the story takes place is a city designed with Venice as a model, but the gondola boatmen there are called Navigators, and they are all girls. As long as the guests request, they will Sing a boat song. It’s a very gentle song.” He looked out of the window at the same building and the same beautiful sunset as in the animation, and automatically recalled those unintelligible tunes in his mind.

"There is this tradition. When operas first became popular in the [-]th century, the boatmen would hum a few words impromptuly. Although few people do it now, if there are guests who are willing to pay, they can still find professional accompaniment singers on board the boat. " Tang Tu narrowed his eyes, "Although it doesn't sound very nice to say, there are people who are willing to pay for it, so those ancient tunes are still passed down here from generation to generation."

Ruan Youqing saw that he subconsciously thumped his lower back again, so he got up first: "Let's go back to the room. Rest early today, and go to Glass Island tomorrow."

"Yeah." The other party stood up slowly, and it seemed that the fatigue from last night had not completely disappeared.

Sure enough, after Ruan Youqing washed up and held the tablet to look up information, the people around him fell asleep.

In the early morning of the next day, they boarded a boat with other people from Tubai, and went to Murano Island, which is famous for its glass, after a 10-minute water voyage from the main island.

The semi-open-air boat was driving on the calm sea, and the sea breeze brought by the speed messed up people's hair.

"What are you thinking?" Tang Tu took his hand off the railing and held it in his hand.

"Don't you need to wear a life jacket?"

"You...can't swim?" The other party looked a little surprised.

"Well, no."

"Didn't you go to school by the sea?"

Ruan Youqing looked down at the blue-gray sea surface, it was deep and beautiful: "Yeah. But... my grandfather said since I was a child that all drowned people can swim, so I don't go into the water very much and just stay on the shore. It is said that my father is a good swimmer, There was grandpa. But they all died in the sea."

He has never met his grandfather. It is said that when his father was a child, one day his grandfather went out to sea with a fishing boat in a storm and never returned home.

After so many years of impressions of my father, only the back of him rushing to the sea when I was a child remains.

Tang Tu squeezed his palm, as if wanting to comfort him: "I..."

"I will, handsome guy! If the boat capsizes, I will save you!" Zhang Wenbin who was sitting in front suddenly turned his head and said loudly.

Tang Tu, who was on the verge of speaking, was choked by him and slowly closed his mouth, and turned away from him in a blink of an eye. The latter's expression tightened instantly, and he turned back in despair to look ahead.

"Pfft..." The two girls in the back seat couldn't hold back their laughter. Xu Hanyi reached out and patted Tang Tu's shoulder, "Boss, bear with it for another day. Tomorrow our light bulbs won't be an eyesore in front of you!"

Tang Tu shook his head helplessly, and then raised the corners of his mouth amidst their laughter.

The sun is just right on Murano, and there are glass factories and handicraft shops all over the island. Many glass artists from all over the world gather here to create colorful and exquisite glass artworks.

They watched the glass blowing performance in the factory together. After the end, the girls saw the teaching course in the glass workshop on the side of the road and paid the money excitedly, trying to make two glass beads by themselves as souvenirs.They chose the most representative gold and red colors of Murano Island, and burned them into irregular spherical shapes.

Ruan Youqing stared at the milky white ingredients in deep thought, then sat down in a place where no one was around, and skillfully turned on the unused blowtorch.Someone stopped him in Italian, which he didn't understand, but was stopped by Tang Tu. He turned his head and saw Tang Tu was paying, so he quickly picked up the tool, and burned a milky white translucent glass bead in a blink of an eye. Slowly rotate the glass colloid in the middle, sprinkle with scattered silver foil debris, and continue to cover the new glass colloid until it becomes a round large marble.The old craftsman behind him applauded, repeating good, perfect, probably these are the only English words he knows.

Then, Ruan Youqing deftly removed the glass ball that was freezing and cooling down, and directly threw the fragile marble, which was still in high temperature, into the ice water next to it.The water was originally prepared to deal with the small probability of scalding.

"NONONONO!" The old craftsman turned pale with shock, quickly picked up the slowly sinking glass beads with tools, shook his head regretfully, and put the things in front of Ruan Youqing with eyes full of blame.When the high-temperature glass beads encounter ice water, they crack instantly, and irregular cracks spread throughout the marble.Ruan Youqing nodded in satisfaction, waiting for the glass to cool down completely.

"What's going on? Why is that old man so fierce." Xu Hanyi and Liu Yan came over.

Ruan Youqing picked up the temperature-changing milky white marble and handed it to Tang Tu: "Look at the light."

Tang Tu took it without thinking, and held up the small bead to the light.He turned the beads unconsciously, as if watching a snowstorm under the sun.The silver foil is dotted with stars, shining in the snow and fog.

"It's Otaru." Ruan Youqing smiled, "Do you like it?"

Tang Tu was taken aback, put the beads into his pocket, and pulled him away quickly.

Liu Yan and Xu Hanyi looked at each other, and said "噫——" at the same time, wishing they could get under the car now.

"They don't seem to care about us at all..."

"Did Boss blush just now... What's wrong with Otaru?"

"It seems that these two people lived together after returning from Otaru, right?"

"That's right...then...wow..."

They toured the island not far behind the client, but the focus has shifted from the appearance of the island to the gossip.

Tourists usually have to evenly allocate their one-day tour time to two or three different islands, and Glass Island is just one of the stops.

No one stayed in Murano for half a day like them, starting early in the morning and returning with a full load in the afternoon.

Ruan Youqing went shopping all the way, and made something when her hands were itchy.Tang Tu's pockets were soon filled with all kinds of glass beads, Christmas balls, and handmade cups. If it couldn't fit, he stuffed them to the two girls: "Take it back and drink water. Teacher Youqing gave it."

"I knew I should carry a bigger bag..." Xu Hanyi complained while stuffing the glass whose bottom was smudged like a starry sky into a small cowhide bucket bag.

"Otherwise forget it." Tang Tu stretched out his hand, making a gesture to withdraw the cup, but was protected by the girl again.

"Don't, don't, don't! How can you take back the things you gave me! Boss! Artist limited edition!"

On the return boat, Tang Tu looked at Ruan Youqing who was lost in thought and couldn't bear to disturb her. This state should have caught some inspiration.The man was playing with a few glass beads in his hand, looking at the distant sea without blinking his eyes, the golden sunlight fell on his smooth side face, Tang Tu couldn't guess what kind of wonderful picture was drawn in this head .

--------------------

The rest of it is all greasy and crooked...