winter in greenland

Chapter 59

The terrain under the feet gradually changed from flat to rough, and the slope of the hills gradually became larger.

Dan squinted his eyes and looked into the distance. The sun was not as bright as it was at the beginning. The brown earth seemed to have been sprinkled with a thick layer of icing sugar. In the distance, two or three towering peaks could be seen faintly hidden in the clouds. A layer of tulle-like snow and mist, reminding us of a fairyland.

"We came to this place the farthest when we came to investigate for the first time. The guide didn't recommend us to go deeper, but I probably still remember some of the terrain around here." August parked the snowmobile on an ice-stained slope Before, he got out of the car and walked up the slope while talking, keeping his eyes on the ground, as if he was looking for something.

Suddenly he stopped, bent down a little cautiously, and after confirming something, he turned his head and waved to Dan: "Come", the look in his eyes focused and expecting.

Dan walked over and squatted down, seeing several brown gravels piled together in front of him, and two or three blue sedges emerged from the gaps between the stones, with very thin stems and only a few scattered leaves, like a gust of wind. It can be blown down if it passes by, but it is trying hard to exude vitality on this frozen land.

"Look at this." August carefully removed a few gravels, revealing a small sunken hole, because there was no snow falling in the hole, only a solitary palm-sized light brown hole. Stone.

"What is this?" Dan picked up the stone curiously.

"Look carefully." August took off his gloves, and turned the stone over in Dan's palm. With his fingers hanging a few centimeters above the stone, he gently drew an outline.

Following the direction of his finger, Dan was surprised to find a fan-shaped pattern appeared on the dark stone, which looked like a shell shape.

"This is..." He murmured and his eyes widened: "...fossils?"

August nodded: "Yes, I discovered this by accident when I came to investigate. Unfortunately, everything on the island cannot be taken away without authorization." He glanced at the fossil with some regret, and then rushed to Dan smiled: "But I built a 'base' for it, I didn't expect it to still be here after all these years."

Dan looked at his childish smile, and couldn't help laughing: "Then I... have found a treasure?"

August coughed and looked away: "Give it a name."

Dan was a little surprised: "Name?"

"Well, although you can't take it away, it's still a commemoration." August caressed the surface of the stone with some nostalgia.

Dan thought for a while. "No, I'll have to think about it. Next time, I'll tell you its name next time we're here again."

August thought for a while and didn't object: "Okay, let's look for it next time we come, and hope it won't be discovered by others."

Dan watched him carefully put the shell fossil back into the small hole, and then pressed the few gravels on it to cover it, with a smile in the corner of his eyes.

After August clapped his hands and put the gloves back on, he suddenly said, "Have you...been to the seed bank before?"

August nodded, a little strange: "Bill took us all there at the time, why, do you want to go and see?"

Dan bent his eyes and nodded: "I want to go and see with you."

The narrow silver metal wall still stood halfway up the mountain, and the metal mirror at the door reflected the dazzling sunlight.

"When Barents discovered this island back then, he must have never imagined that humans would choose this place as one of the preservation places of civilization in the future." Dan stood at the foot of the hillside and looked at the entrance gate in a daze.

August walked beside him, and his voice was a little low: "For hundreds of years, no one knows what will happen in the future."

"So are we witnessing history now?" Dan tilted his head and smiled.

August thought seriously for a few seconds: "We are history ourselves."

Dan stared at his profile for a while, then tiptoed slightly without warning and kissed the corner of his lips, and then said: "So, we have what we have now."

August caught his chin when he retracted, leaned forward to deepen the kiss, panted slightly when he let go: "So you are declaring your love to me in front of 'human civilization' ownership?"

Just as Dan was about to speak, out of the corner of his eyes, he caught sight of a few hikers who came over from the other side of the hillside at some point, and squeezed August's palm with a smile.

The group of hikers had obviously seen them. Although the Seed Vault is a famous "attraction" near Longyearbyen, in such an environment, no matter when you see humans, there will always be a sense of intimacy.

The man in the lead waved at them as he walked down, and Dan raised his hand and waved at them.When the group of people walked up to them, the team leader enthusiastically said to them, "Are you coming from the port? Did you see the whales?"

August and Dan looked at each other and shook their heads. August said, "We came from the port, but we have circled around the area. Are there whales in the port?"

The team leader nodded: "My friend on the boat just sent me a video. We are going there too. If you have nothing to do, you can go and see. There are about twenty Arctic whales, which are very rare."

August thanked the man, then turned to look at Dan: "Want to take a look?"

Dan looked eager to try: "Let's go, I only saw one on the boat last time, this time there are so many, it should be quite spectacular."

August was a little puzzled: "On the ship? 'Moby Dick'?"

Dan nodded: "It was the last voyage. Speaking of which, I also heard the whale song, which is an unforgettable experience."

August raised his eyebrows: "Is that Xia Zuo here?"

Dan remembered Xia Zuo's action of covering his eyes, and coughed: "He's the first mate, of course he's here."

August unexpectedly said nothing.

When the two arrived at the port on a snowmobile, a large group of tourists had already surrounded the small pier.Relying on their height advantage, they stood in the crowd and looked towards the sea. They saw a dozen or so black curved backs on the originally calm water, and several huge animals floating leisurely on the sea, followed by Several smaller baby whales.From time to time, a huge tail fin rises high from the water surface, slaps down heavily, splashing waves several meters high, and a high-pitched and distant sound echoes in the air, which is the song of whales.

The group of tourists was quiet, except for a few whispers occasionally. It seemed that everyone was shocked by these creations of nature.

The whale group has been cruising in this sea area for about [-] minutes. As the head whale turned around lazily, they swam towards the direction of the Barents Sea not far away.

It wasn't until they disappeared at the end of sight that the voices in the crowd suddenly became louder.Someone was exchanging photos with friends excitedly, someone was talking on the phone, and there was beaming wonderment everywhere.Near the land, a singer came at some point, set up an electric steel and began to sing for himself.

Infected by the atmosphere, Dan was about to speak to the people around him when he turned his head and realized that August walked away at some point.He glanced around the crowd without seeing anyone, until he saw the periphery of the crowd, where the little singing brother was standing, he saw the familiar figure from behind.

He walked over with some doubts, "Auguste?" Just shouted, the other party looked back at him, raised a finger in front of his lips and made a "shh" gesture, turned his head and continued talking to the little brother He chattered a few words, and pointed at Dan with his finger.

Dan was standing a few steps away from them. He couldn't hear what they said, and he was puzzled when he saw August took out his wallet from his pocket and handed a few banknotes to the little brother. The little brother pushed his hand away and said something, and smiled in Dan's direction, and then August stood behind the electric steel.

His slender fingers tried a few notes on the black and white keyboard. Dan stood still and didn't realize what was going on until August tried the notes, raised his head to meet his gaze, and showed him With a slight smile, his fingers dropped.

The affectionate and euphemistic melody flows slowly from his fingers, and the song-like Andante in G minor seems to be telling a slightly sad story.

Tchaikovsky, "June - Boat Song".

August played slowly, but his eyes were focused.His skills are not very good, years of unfamiliarity even made his piano sound a bit immature in some passages, but the piano sound is full of deep feelings that this man has not expressed, just like this sea.

Some tourists around were attracted by the sound of the piano and gradually came over, forming a small circle behind Dan, and Dan was always standing in front of him.A gust of sea breeze blew through his long bangs, covering his slightly drooping eyes, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking.

The continuous arpeggio fades out and ends, as if the boat on the water has finally moored into the port.August let out a breath, raised his eyes to look at Dan, his gray-blue eyes were like the sea in June.

"Bravo!" Someone in the crowd yelled first, followed by a burst of applause.

August bowed slightly to the crowd to thank him, and he was stunned for a moment when his eyes returned to Dan—the young man also raised his face at some point, his jaw was tense, and the corners of his eyes were slightly red. Dark tides surged in the green eyes.

I'm supposed to be...not that bad, right?While thinking about it, August stepped forward uncertainly, and said awkwardly: "I... this is for you. I don't know how compared to the whale song you heard last time... um..."

Seeing the man in front of him looking at a bewilderment, Dan showed a smile: "This is the best music I've ever heard."

August breathed a sigh of relief, raised his hand and wiped the corners of his reddened eyes with his thumb, then lowered his head slightly and kissed his lips.

The electric steel guy next to him took the lead in blowing a whistle. Amidst the booing sound of goodwill around him, Dan put his arm around August's shoulder.

The author says:

This chapter should be eaten with "Can'tkeepitinside" (volume version)~