When I Meet the Moon - Chapter 38

Chapter 38

After walking downstairs, Fu Shize sat down on Yun Li's left side, with Xu Qingsong taking the seat right next to him.

Yun Li felt that the presence of the person on her left was far too overbearing, and she instinctively leaned a bit closer to Fu Zhengchu.

Fu Zhengchu asked, "Sister Lili, why are you leaning in so close?"

Yun Li replied in a soft murmur, "Sitting with you just makes me feel grounded."

Upon spotting Fu Shize, Xiaxia wore a look of utter shock: "Little Uncle, you look ridiculously handsome today. I had no idea Qingsong's clothes would actually suit you this well."

Though Yun Li felt they suited him too, she was also perplexed as to why he had suddenly decided to dress like this.

Fu Shize provided a reasonable explanation: "I didn't bring a change of clothes."

"I think it suits him too," Xu Qingsong chuckled. "Have you guys decided what to play?"

Xiaxia replied: "We just unpacked a deck of Uno."

Xu Qingsong said: "Good."

Chen Renran suggested: "Let's play Snap Zero, it's a lot more exciting."

Everyone except Yun Li seemed to know the rules and chimed in: "Sure."

"I have no objections."

Noticing Yun Li's bewildered expression, Chen Renran explained: "It's just that whenever someone plays a '0' card, everyone has to quickly slap their hands down on top of the pile. The last person to place their hand has to draw two cards."

The game proceeded in an orderly fashion. Once Yun Li got the hang of it, she found it quite simple—she just had to follow her predecessor by playing a card of the same suit or the same number.

Until someone played the first "0" card, and everyone swiftly slapped their hands down, stacking them together. Yun Li didn't react in time, and by the time she realized it, she already had to draw two cards.

After drawing twice, Yun Li grew vigilant, keeping a close eye on the cards played by others until someone played a "0" in the second round. Yun Li reacted sharply and slapped her hand down instantly, with the rest of the group following suit.

Lu Yu's reaction speed was about the same as Yun Li's, landing just a fraction of a second after her, so his hand slapped down right on top of hers.

This time, Fu Shize was the last one.

Yun Li secretly applauded herself in her heart for her lightning-fast reflexes.

Yet another time, when Yun Li herself played a "0" card, she slammed her hand down swiftly, with Fu Shize following right behind her. Until the very last person was singled out, the palms and backs of their hands remained pressed together.

Yun Li could feel that Fu Shize's hand was hovering lightly over the back of hers. Even so, the point of contact sent her heart hammering wildly against her ribs.

She stole a glance at Fu Shize, only to find his expression as calm as still water.

During the last two instances of this game round, Fu Shize was the one who slapped his hand down right after Yun Li every single time.

Feeling that her heart could no longer take the strain, Yun Li thought about announcing that she would sit out the rest of the game just as this round ended.

Before she could even open her mouth, Fu Shize spoke up: "Let's change games."

Yun Li stared at him in a daze.

The members of the group who were on close terms all respected his suggestion and readily agreed on the spot.

Not having had his fill of fun, Chen Renran protested: "Why? We were all having a great time."

Resting his chin on one hand, Fu Shize replied casually with an indifferent tone: "I'm used to keeping track of the cards. We win too fast; there's no gaming experience to speak of."

Chen Renran: "..."

Everyone else: "..."

Chen Renran: "Well, since we're dropping Uno, what should we play instead?"

Deng Chuqi proposed: "Let's play Draw the Highest Card. Whoever draws the highest card gets to ask anyone present a single question." The rest of the group readily agreed that there was no problem with that.

"Right," Chen Renran interjected, "since we're playing this, we might as well drink a bit to liven things up. I brought two bottles of liquor; I'll go grab them."

After fetching the liquor, Chen Renran handed a bottle to Lu Yu and proceeded to pour drinks for everyone sitting on his side of the table.

When he reached Fu Shize's spot, Fu Shize spoke up: "I'll pass, thanks."

Hearing his refusal, Yun Li was somewhat surprised; in her impression, Fu Shize and alcohol were practically inseparable.

The game commenced, and everyone drew their cards before revealing them one by one. The card Yun Li drew wasn't very high, and she let out a silent sigh of relief. She had no desire to question anyone, nor did she want to be interrogated herself.

After checking his card, Chen Renran crowed triumphantly: "Mine's definitely the highest!" He then flashed his card for all to see.

King of Spades.

There genuinely wasn't any card higher than that.

Xiaxia said: "Then pick someone to question."

With his objective crystal clear, Chen Renran turned his gaze to Yun Li and asked: "Is there anyone among us here that you have a crush on?"

In an instant, every single set of eyes turned to focus on Yun Li.

Unable to withstand the collective gaze of the crowd, Yun Li answered: "No."

Chen Renran followed up immediately: "Then what if you were forced to pick just one?"

Yun Li: "..."

Xiaxia intervened: "No fair, you can only ask one question."

Chen Renran spread his hands: "Fine, alright."

Over the course of the following rounds, the rest of the players gradually drew the highest card, but their questions universally centered around embarrassing childhood anecdotes.

Until Lu Yu finally drew the highest card. Hoping to throw Chen Renran a lifeline after pondering for a moment, he asked: "Who do you think is the most handsome person in this room?"

Chen Renran: "..."

Feeling utterly speechless, he gave Lu Yu a sharp kick under the table.

Yun Li hadn't expected the two of them to press the issue so relentlessly. Struggling feebly for a moment, she pinned her gaze onto Fu Zhengchu: "Fu Zhengchu."

Fu Zhengchu's eyes widened in surprise, and he said with bashful embarrassment: "Really?"

Yun Li suddenly felt a wave of guilt toward him: "Of course."

Once her answer was delivered, the heavy boulder weighing on Yun Li's heart finally dropped to the ground. She reached out to take a sip of her drink, only to find that her original glass of orange juice had already hit rock bottom. She eyed the newly poured glass of alcohol sitting beside it with a trace of hesitation.

Suddenly, an extra hand entered her field of vision.

Fu Shize quietly moved her glass of liquor out of reach and slid his own untouched glass of orange juice over to her place.

He downed her cup of alcohol in a single gulp, then announced: "You guys keep playing. I'm going out for a smoke."

After Fu Shize left, Yun Li played with a wandering, absent mind.

She stared blankly at the glass of orange juice in front of her, her mind completely blank.

Noticing her unusual state, Deng Chuqi stepped in to smooth things over: "It's getting pretty late anyway, why don't we take a break for tonight?"

Xiaxia chimed in: "That's true, and there are hot springs right inside the rooms. Everyone should head back early and get some relaxation."

With that, the group broke up and dispersed.

Xiaxia went off to find her parents first. Upon returning to their room, Yun Li headed straight to the balcony to fill the open-air hot spring tub with water. With the outdoor temperature dropping low, the water sent up billows of steaming mist the moment it poured into the basin.

Deng Chuqi was busy removing her makeup in front of the mirror, letting out a sigh: "Who would've thought that aloof flower of a man would look like some young master of a wealthy estate the moment he puts on a floral shirt? I used to think only Xu Qingsong could pull off that vibe."

Yun Li pulled up a chair to sit beside her and set about removing her makeup as well.

Noticing her preoccupied expression, Deng Chuqi gave her a light nudge: "Hey, don't tell me you're utterly infatuated with him all over again just because he changed his clothes?"

"I'm not the kind of person to fall blindly for a pretty face." Yun Li shot her a look, grabbed her yukata, and headed out toward the balcony.

Once stripped down, the two girls stepped into the hot spring pool.

Their bodies were instantly enveloped by the soothing warmth. Yun Li scooped up some water to ladle over her shoulders; the rising steam seemed to beat against the partition boards, leaving her thoughts drifting and scattered.

She sidled closer to Deng Chuqi and murmured in a low voice: "Remember when I told you earlier that he was planning a date with a girl he'd known for many years?"

Deng Chuqi: "That's right, that's what you said..."

Tilting her head back to rest against the marble rim of the pool, Yun Li said in a daze: "But when I asked Fu Zhengchu about it, he said all the acquaintances his uncle has known for a long time are blood relatives..."

Failing to catch her drift, Deng Chuqi pondered for ages before asking: "Does Xiaxia's little uncle happen to swing that way?"

"..."

With no clue what wild scenarios Deng Chuqi was conjuring up in her head, Yun Li vehemently denied it: "That's not what I meant." She asked with a notable lack of confidence: "I mean... do you think I might have totally misunderstood him?"

Deng Chuqi tucked a folded towel behind her own back to avoid the cold edges of the pool, and argued disapprovingly: "Even if it was a misunderstanding, the fact that he kept rejecting you all this time is still true."

Deng Chuqi continued: "Lili, my colleague is genuinely fond of you. You need to realize that you're someone who is very well-liked."

Yun Li groaned: "Drop it with that colleague of yours..."

Deng Chuqi pressed on: "Why don't you just ask him directly? You keep guessing back and forth, and the only one suffering is you."

Yun Li pulled her washcloth over her eyes to shield her face: "After getting turned down so many times, how could I possibly find the courage to ask?" She muttered, "Wouldn't that just be asking to humiliate myself?"

Soaking in the steaming water, her pores opening up to the heat, Yun Li felt her entire body relax as she temporarily pushed away the worries that had plagued her for nearly a month.

An image of Fu Shize flashed across her mind, pulling Yun Li back to reality. Bracing both hands against the marble ledge, she gave a firm push to hoist herself up onto the edge of the pool, reaching out to grab the towel nearby.

The moment she stepped out, the piercing chill of the winter air struck her. With a sudden plop, Yun Li tumbled right back into the pool.

Deng Chuqi stared at her with a mischievous glint in her eye: "Lili, your figure these past few years..."

Before she could finish her sentence, two sharp thuds suddenly echoed from the wooden partition wall.

"..."

The two girls fell dead silent.

Deng Chuqi whispered: "Did you hear that sound just now?"

Yun Li: "..."

Moving with perfect unspoken coordination, the two of them scrambled out of the hot spring pool, threw on their yukatas, bolted straight back into their bedroom, and slammed the balcony window shut tight.

A sense of utter horror washed over Yun Li: "Our next-door neighbor is..."

Deng Chuqi: "Holy crap..."

...

When Xu Qingsong returned to his room, Fu Shize was currently lying prone on the edge of the hot spring pool, idly playing on his phone. Noticing that he seemed to be in low spirits, Xu Qingsong amusement got the better of him as he scooped up some water and splashed it directly over Fu Shize's head.

"You really need to cut back on smoking; we only made it halfway through the day."

Fu Shize used a towel to wipe the water droplets from his eyes, remaining silent as he scooted over to the side and resumed playing on his phone.

Seeing that he wasn't in the mood to talk, Xu Qingsong sensibly refrained from prying further. He stripped off his clothes and soaked in the hot spring pool. After a grueling day of fatigue, drowsiness began to wash over him in less than two minutes.

When water was being run in the adjacent room, every single sound came through crystal clear across the thin wooden partition.

The quiet solitude of the two men was shattered by the sudden intrusion of chattering voices.

They belonged to Yun Li and Deng Chuqi.

Fu Shize turned his head slightly toward the direction of the voices, shifted his position closer to the source, and gave the wooden partition a light tap with his knuckles.

Immediately following that came the sounds of Yun Li and Deng Chuqi scrambling out of the pool and fleeing back into their bedroom.

Fully awake now, Xu Qingsong leaned back against the rim of the pool, watching Fu Shize with an expression of leisurely amusement.

Though Yun Li and Deng Chuqi hadn't mentioned any names, Xu Qingsong hadn't been listening too closely, but he could roughly piece together what had happened. The corners of his lips curved upward, though he chose not to press for details.

Seeing the look on his face as if he had just stumbled upon some great amusement, Fu Shize cast a sideways glance at him, his voice laced with faint reprimand: "Earlier, when I asked you about that restaurant..."

Xu Qingsong hadn't connected the dots to that question just yet and blinked in surprise: "Did little He tell Yun Li?"

He flicked the water with his hand and chuckled: "Didn't that just help you block a wave of unwanted romantic attention?"

Fu Shize closed his eyes for a moment, deciding not to bother responding to him anymore.

Inside his mind, however, he was mulling over what Fu Zhengchu had told him earlier today, as well as the conversation between Yun Li and Deng Chuqi that he had just overheard.

What an absurd misunderstanding.

...

After retreating to her room, Yun Li found herself in a complete state of emotional meltdown.

As she desperately dried her damp hair, Deng Chuqi offered words of comfort: "Don't overthink it, maybe they didn't hear anything at all... Even if they did hear something, it's no big deal..."

If they hadn't heard anything, there wouldn't have been a knock on the wooden board to warn them.

Hanging her head in mortification, Yun Li groaned, "Just kill me now."

After comforting Yun Li for a bit, Deng Chuqi mentioned that Chen Renran had invited them both down to play mahjong. Curled up tightly on her bed while staring at her phone in a state of extreme self-imposed seclusion, Yun Li replied despondently: "I'm not going."

The next morning, Yun Li woke up at eight o'clock, intending to rouse Xiaxia and Deng Chuqi to go grab breakfast. The two of them hadn't returned to their beds until one or two in the morning after polishing off quite a bit of alcohol, and were still dead to the world, sleeping soundly.

With no other choice, Yun Li had to head out by herself. Not long after she clicked her door shut, she heard a door click open behind her. Turning around, she saw Fu Shize stepping out from his room.

Fu Shize asked: "Going to grab breakfast?"

Yun Li: "Yeah..."

Fu Shize: "Together."

The dining area was located in another building. The self-service breakfast was simply equipped with a toaster and an egg boiler, alongside a few warming trays filled with traditional Chinese breakfast items.

"Want some toast?" Standing right beside her, Fu Shize asked. Yun Li nodded, and he reached over to take the tongs from her hand, placing two slices of bread into the toaster.

As Yun Li lingered by his side, Fu Shize glanced sideways at her and instructed: "Go wait at a table first."

After placing the breakfast on the table, Yun Li sat down. Before she even had a chance to settle into her seat, Chen Renran and Lu Yu carried their trays over from a neighboring table, asking, "Do you mind if we sit here?"

Yun Li nodded: "Fu Shize is still waiting over there for the toast..."

She raised her head to fix her gaze on that familiar retreating back. He waited there for a moment before transferring the freshly toasted bread onto a plate.

Chen Renran probed cautiously: "So, are you two in the ambiguous dating phase?"

Yun Li choked instantly, waving her hands in a frantic denial: "No..."

This response only served to convince Chen Renran that he still stood a chance. He set his tray down directly opposite Yun Li, and noticing that her tray looked rather bare, he offered: "You didn't grab a drink? I'll go get one for you. What would you like?"

Before Yun Li could refuse, Fu Shize had already returned with his tray. He took the seat right next to Yun Li and answered on her behalf: "No need, I brought one."

Once seated, Fu Shize picked up two slices of toast from his own plate and placed them onto hers, adding a poached egg for good measure.

He unsealed the plastic straw attached to a carton of milk, pierced through the aluminum foil seal with the straw, and only then handed it over to Yun Li.

The milk was warm.

He said calmly: "I soaked it in hot water for a bit, so it took a little extra time."

His own breakfast consisted solely of two slices of toast and a cup of black coffee.

Chen Renran watched the intimate exchange between the two of them, recalled Yun Li's categorical denial just moments ago, and wore a rather peculiar expression.

Throughout the entire breakfast, the four of them exchanged only a handful of words. After the meal, once they stepped back outside, Yun Li suddenly realized she had left her small handbag behind at the table. Fu Shize told her to wait right where she was and turned back to head inside the restaurant.

Ever since yesterday, Chen Renran had felt that Yun Li was being shielded so tightly by Fu Shize that not even a breath of air could get through. Even though Deng Chuqi had repeatedly stressed to him that the two of them shared no romantic entanglements, he couldn't help but harbor suspicions.

Seizing this opening, he pressed Yun Li once more: "Are you and Xiaxia's little uncle really not in the ambiguous stage? Or are the two of you already dating?"

Yun Li shook her head.

Feeling rather disgruntled, Chen Renran threw caution to the wind, ignoring Lu Yu's presence entirely as he spoke with brutal honesty: "Yun Li, to be completely frank, I do have a crush on you. If you have no intention of pursuing anything further with me, you could have just been upfront about it instead of enlisting Xiaxia's little uncle to help me get the hint and back off."

These words left Yun Li utterly dumbfounded, and she blurted out in a dazed tone: "What?"

"You and Xiaxia's little uncle certainly don't look like ordinary friends. If the two of you acting all ambiguous in front of me was just a tactic to reject me, there really wasn't any need to go to such lengths."

Yun Li had given up on pursuing Fu Shize quite some time ago, and she had no idea whether the way she and Fu Shize interacted still carried lingering, subconscious habits that she herself wasn't even aware of, leading Chen Renran to draw such conclusions. After pausing for a beat, she asked: "What makes you say we aren't ordinary friends?"

Convinced more than ever that Yun Li was simply trying to cover her tracks, Chen Renran laughed in sheer exasperation: "No ordinary friends act the way you two do."

Fu Shize happened to return at that exact moment. Unaware of the topic they had been discussing, he lowered his gaze to look at Yun Li: "Let's go."

Having spent the previous night tossing and turning sleeplessly over the hot spring incident, compounded right now by Chen Renran's baffling accusations, Yun Li felt her mind weighed down by a mountain of tangled thoughts.

Fu Shize glanced at her: "What are you thinking about?"

Startled, Yun Li replied off the cuff: "I was wondering how ordinary friends are supposed to act..."

To Fu Shize's ears, however, that sentence carried an entirely different connotation.

He didn't offer a retort, instead gesturing a direction to Yun Li: "Tonight is Christmas Eve, they've strung up holiday lights over that way."

Faint strings of lights and Christmas decorations were visible amongst the branches of the trees ahead. Fu Shize paused for a second before continuing: "They turn the lights on after nine o'clock."

Yun Li nodded absentmindedly.

Deng Chuqi and Xiaxia slept all the way through the afternoon, so Yun Li didn't bother going out either. Once they finally woke up, Yun Li learned that Fu Zhengchu had also gotten heavily drunk late last night.

After the group cleared their heads, they discussed gathering downstairs later that night to play cards. Unwilling to subject herself to this kind of drinking atmosphere, and feeling that her interactions with Chen Renran remained somewhat awkward, Yun Li made the excuse that she needed to edit her videos tonight.

Deng Chuqi, who likely picked up on something from Chen Renran's end, didn't push her to join.

Cooped up in her room until ten o'clock, Yun Li felt like she was growing mold from sheer boredom. The sounds of laughter from the group drifted up from downstairs from time to time, and since she couldn't bring herself to fall asleep early anyway, she remembered what Fu Shize had mentioned earlier that day. Yun Li stood up, changed into warmer clothes, and slung her camera bag over her shoulder.

Noticing that the outdoor temperature had dropped to a mere one degree Celsius, Yun Li filled her hand warmer with boiling water, wrapped it neatly in a fleece pouch, and stepped out into the night clutching it with both hands.

Passing by the doorway of Fu Shize's room, she could hear the strains of classical music drifting out.

She had no way of knowing who was inside.

Yun Li walked downstairs. A few people were hanging out, playing cards and chatting, but both Fu Shize and Xu Qingsong were nowhere to be seen. Steering clear of Chen Renran's line of sight, Yun Li offered a brief greeting and stepped outside under the pretext of shooting exterior footage of the villa. Knowing it wouldn't take long, she turned down Fu Zhengchu's offer to accompany her.

Once outside, Yun Li walked in the direction Fu Shize had mentioned earlier.

The decorative lights were set up near the dining area, several hundred meters away from the small villa where they were staying. As she approached the edge of the woods, Yun Li could already spot the faint, warm yellow strands of lights winding spirally around the treetops.

Further in the distance, the canopy of the night sky stretched out in a deep grayish-blue, dotted with clouds like delicate dabs of dye.

She unzipped her camera and snapped a photograph from afar.

Pulling her coat tighter around herself and holding her hand warmer close, Yun Li stepped closer.

A hammock was suspended between two thick tree branches, hanging roughly half a meter above the ground. As Yun Li walked forward, the hammock swayed gently.

She stopped in her tracks.

The person lying inside the hammock illuminated their phone screen briefly before setting it aside again. Though the glimpse was fleeting, Yun Li immediately recognized the silhouette as Fu Shize.

After a moment of hesitation, she slowly approached.

He was curled up in the hammock, fast asleep, with a bottle of alcohol and a glass tumbler resting beside him. The bottle was already half empty.

In such freezing temperatures, he wasn't wearing very heavy outerwear, and his lips had paled from the chill.

A twinge of ache pricked at her heart.

Yun Li crouched down close to him and gave his shoulder a tentative poke.

Fu Shize fluttered his eyes open to look at her, his gaze heavy with sleep. He slowly pushed himself into a sitting position and murmured softly, "You're here."

You're here?

It sounded as if the two of them had arranged beforehand to meet up here tonight.

The ambient temperature was bitterly cold; Yun Li could practically feel frost forming on the tree trunks. When Fu Shize looked down at her just then, his eyes were clear, completely devoid of their usual sharp edge, making him look almost like a youthful boy.

He lowered his gaze to the empty space beside him on the hammock and murmured softly, "Sit for a while."

Yun Li stood frozen in place.

A moment later, she spoke up: "You've had too much to drink."

Yun Li held out her hand warmer toward him. Fu Shize stared at it for a long beat before reaching out to take it. His hands, previously chilled to the point of numbness, finally regained a shred of sensation, yet he insisted: "Sit for a while."

Unwilling to bicker with a drunkard, Yun Li reluctantly sat down right beside him.

Under their combined weight, the hammock dipped into an inverted triangle, forcibly narrowing the distance between them.

Lowering his gaze, Fu Shize reached out, gently caught her wrist, and placed the hand warmer back into her palm. The warmth radiating from his palm formed a sharp, dizzying contrast with the lingering chill on her wrist, yet Yun Li's entire focus was instantly drawn to that cool, arresting touch.

Fu Shize didn't let go.

Instead, he reached out and pulled her other hand over, pressing it down on top of the hand warmer as well.

Time seemed frozen in this exact frame.

She looked up and saw the very same youth she had laid eyes on for the very first time seven years ago gazing back at her.

He slowly leaned in closer, bringing his lips right to the shell of her right ear.

"Aren't you going to chase me anymore?”