When I Meet the Moon - Chapter 41

Chapter 41

There wasn't much emotion on his face, yet Yun Li felt an extraordinary sense of reassurance. She smiled faintly and walked back to his side.

Ever since last night, she had felt as though she were living in a dream, but now she found a sense of reality in his attention to detail.

After breakfast, Fu Shize borrowed Xu Qingsong's car and drove toward the zoo.

"Don't you need navigation?" Yun Li asked, somewhat surprised when he started the car directly. Fu Shize let out a soft "Mn" and replied, "I used to come here often when I was a kid."

Yun Li: "Have you been to this zoo?"

Fu Shize: "Mn."

Yun Li: "Then if we go again, won't you find it boring?"

Fu Shize looked at the road ahead, pausing for a few seconds before saying, "If I'm with you, no."

……

The zoo was a little over half an hour's drive from the guesthouse, and various Christmas decorations were hung at the entrance. After parking the car, Yun Li and Fu Shize scanned their electronic tickets at the entrance. The staff handed them a park map; the grounds were quite large, and specific landmarks were marked on the map.

Their feelings for each other were now known to both parties.

A date in the truest sense.

Because it was the weekend, there were quite a few people in the park, mostly parents with children and couples. Yun Li lowered her head to study the map.

"Wait a moment," Fu Shize suddenly said, turning to walk toward a convenience store near the entrance. Yun Li didn't think much of it and pinned down a few spots on the map they could visit.

By the time she snapped out of her thoughts, a shadow blocked the light. She looked up and found that Fu Shize was holding a new parasol, the tag on the handle still unremoved.

His complexion was fair, his brows and eyes pitch-black, and now, wearing a black jacket under the black umbrella, he looked a bit like he was shunning the sunlight.

Yun Li: "I brought sunscreen, do you need any?"

Fu Shize: "..."

Fu Shize: "Which one are we going to?"

Yun Li casually pointed to a spot on the map, and Fu Shize took a glance before walking straight in that direction.

Under the umbrella, the two of them still maintained a certain distance to avoid brushing against each other.

As they walked forward, Yun Li noticed that among the nearby young couples, quite a few of the guys were also holding umbrellas for the girls.

He must have seen that, which was why he went out of his way to buy an umbrella.

Spending over three hours, the two of them basically finished touring the park. Yun Li received a message from Deng Chuqi: [Did you and Xiaoxia's maternal uncle go out?]

Yun Li: [We're at the zoo.]

Deng Chuqi: [Don't just look at the animals, remember to get down to business.]

Yun Li: [?]

Deng Chuqi: [Take down this high-and-mighty flower!]

Yun Li: [He's sober today, so he should talk things through with me, right?]

After Fu Shize took the initiative last night, Yun Li had also expected that the two of them would communicate rather formally today about matters of the heart.

As the one who had always been rejected previously, Yun Li had to admit that she didn't want to be the one to bring it up.

Fu Shize seemed to have little interest in the surrounding entertainment, only cooperating with Yun Li whenever she wanted to play something.

When they reached the exit of the park, there was a goldfish-scooping stall by the roadside.

Yun Li stayed on the sidelines, watching a young man cautiously scoop up a goldfish, place it into a transparent plastic bag filled with water, and hand it to the girl waiting beside him.

Both of them looked to be in their early twenties.

Yun Li subtly hinted: "Do you think they look like a campus romance?"

Fu Shize: "..."

He consciously bought ten scoops, handed five of them to Yun Li, and used them to scoop the little goldfish in the pool.

Yun Li had never played this before and underestimated the difficulty of the game. After having her paper scoops repeatedly torn by the water and poked through by the fish, she updated her understanding and turned to look at Fu Shize beside her.

He was the same.

He looked at the fish in the pool without moving.

Yun Li tried to comfort him: "It seems a bit difficult..."

Fu Shize acted as if he hadn't heard what she said and stood up expressionlessly: "Boss, give me 30 more scoops."

The stall owner hurriedly turned around to count the scoops, handed them to Fu Shize after counting, and then pointed to the QR code on the wall nearby, saying, "Just scan this code to pay."

Fu Shize pulled out half of them and handed them to Yun Li.

Yun Li reached out to take them in a daze: "Do you want these fish?"

Holding the scoop, Fu Shize stared intently at the pool. Hearing Yun Li's question, he replied, "No."

After a few seconds.

He continued, "It's just a bit unbelievable."

He actually hadn't managed to scoop up a single one.

Yun Li understood the thought in his mind and found it somewhat amusing.

Holding her scoop with no intention of continuing, she squatted beside Fu Shize to watch his movements. Unlike his usual self, his expression remained unchanged, but there were some emotions in his eyes.

Fu Shize raised his eyes and gave a slight nod of his chin toward the scoop in her hand: "Not playing?"

Yun Li nodded.

Fu Shize: "Then give it to me."

Yun Li: "..."

Yun Li: "I never knew you had such a strong competitive streak."

Fu Shize's gaze remained fixed on the fishpond, and after a long while, he asked, "Don't you like it?"

"..."

"I do like it quite a bit..."

Hearing her reply, Fu Shize's hand paused, and his fishing net tore another hole. He put it down indifferently and continued as if nothing had happened.

After finishing thirty fishing nets, there were a few goldfish in the small bucket. He bought a small glass tank, poured the goldfish in, and bought some fish food.

Before leaving the zoo, Yun Li thought for a long time before saying to Fu Shize, "Let's take a picture together."

Fu Shize didn't refuse either: "There's no one to help take it."

Yun Li didn't mind that: "We can just use the phone's selfie mode. You're tall, can you hold the phone?"

He put up no resistance, took the phone according to her instructions, and pressed it a couple of times.

After wandering around several other Christmas markets near the zoo, as mealtime approached, Fu Shize asked her, "Are you heading back together tonight?"

Yun Li thought about it. Tomorrow and the day after were the Human Resources Department's year-end trip, also coming to this guesthouse. If she wanted to participate, she wouldn't need to go back.

She had classes on Monday.

Yun Li nodded.

Upon returning to the guesthouse, the others' luggage was already packed, and Xia Congsheng drove a carload of people away first.

Fu Shize and Yun Li went upstairs to retrieve their luggage first. When they reached downstairs, Xu Qingsong and Fu Zhengchu were already in the car. Fu Shize put the luggage in the trunk, and the two of them sat in the back seat.

Just as the car started, Fu Shize leaned close to her and fastened her seatbelt.

Fu Zhengchu kept staring at the rearview mirror, grinning foolishly as he watched their movements after getting in the car. After Fu Shize sat back in his original position, Yun Li looked up and met Fu Zhengchu's gaze in the rearview mirror, instantly feeling overwhelmingly embarrassed.

Fu Zhengchu sent Yun Li a screenshot, which was the chat interface between the two of them. He had directly changed her nickname to "Little Maternal Uncle's Wife."

"..."

Xu Qingsong glanced at the rearview mirror: "What are you holding in your arms?"

Fu Shize didn't explain much: "Fish."

Without questioning them further, Xu Qingsong drove the car straight to the entrance of Qilixiangdu. It was only after getting out of the car that Yun Li noticed Fu Shize following along.

Yun Li: "Are you still going to EAW?"

Fu Shize: "Walking you back."

She hadn't expected this reason, especially since the car had already reached the entrance of the residential complex.

Yun Li glanced at the time; it was just past eight o'clock.

Yun Li: "It's still quite early... Shall we go buy some stir-fried rice noodles?"

Fu Shize didn't refuse.

The last time the two of them walked this path together was when they had first met, and four months had passed before they knew it.

Fu Shize still remembered the way, walking side by side with her.

Yun Li had bought from there many times, so the shop owner already recognized her. Finding it rare for her to bring a guy along, the owner said, "Little girl, your boyfriend?"

In the past when she bought stir-fried rice noodles, the owner would also chat with Yun Li, and they were considered somewhat familiar with each other. Yun Li naturally denied it: "No."

Fu Shize: "..."

Yun Li muttered to herself: "Not yet anyway."

The owner didn't hear clearly and let out a puzzled, prolonged "Ah." Yun Li waved her hand and smiled to indicate it was nothing.

Fu Shize remained silent at her side.

"All done." The shop owner handed the takeout bag to Yun Li. Before she could reach out, Fu Shize took it directly: "Thank you."

They hadn't walked two steps when Fu Shize stopped in his tracks: "There's a box in the pocket."

Yun Li was stunned. Was he asking her to help get something?

She was standing on his left side, reached her hand into the left pocket of his jacket, touched a box with a cold texture, and pulled it out.

It was a small mother-of-pearl inlay box, the surface embedded with seashell pieces in the shape of clouds. Yun Li guessed what it was, but still suppressed the excitement in her tone and asked, "Is this for me?"

Fu Shize looked at the girl standing before him, her long, thick eyelashes fluttering slightly, a pair of eyes underneath brimming with smiles. He couldn't help curving the corners of his lips either: "Mn, Christmas gift."

Once the feelings they held for each other were acknowledged, the growth of this budding romance could no longer be contained.

Yun Li carefully placed the mother-of-pearl box into her bag.

She was still immersed in the elation of receiving her first gift when the person beside her suddenly asked, "Where's mine?"

Yun Li: "..."

Yun Li's smile froze.

Well, how could she have prepared a gift?

How could she have imagined that taking a trip could lead to a direct, complete reversal of their relationship?

"Can I make it up to you later?" The gift box in her bag magnified her inner guilt as she shrank back and said, "I didn't prepare any..."

Fu Shize reminded her: "The drone."

Prompted by him, Yun Li remembered the drone she had made through the night: "It's in the apartment, I'll get it for you."

"Mn."

Upon arriving at Qilixiangdu, Fu Shize consciously stopped a few meters away from the door. Yun Li had already unlocked the door, and after thinking for a moment, she said, "Why don't you come upstairs with me?"

When Yun Li was pursuing him unilaterally, this sentence only had its literal meaning, but at this moment, the state of the two of them endowed the mundane words with other ambiguous connotations.

Fu Shize didn't refuse, following her upstairs.

Yun Li turned on the lights, thankful that the place was still relatively tidy before she left. Fu Shize put the things on the sofa, looked around, and placed the goldfish tank in the center of the coffee table.

This wasn't the first time he had asked about this drone, and Yun Li still didn't understand why he wanted it so badly. Time had been tight that night, and after she spliced it together through the night and painted it, the finished product still had many flaws.

At that time, Chen Lirong 'warned' her not to give it to Fu Shize. Fearing that she might step on some sensitive minefield, she no longer considered giving it as a gift. A few days later, when she met He Jiameng and was told that Fu Shize was going to ask a girl out, it became even more impossible to give it away.

"I put the drone on the shelf. It's actually a bit ugly." Fearing that he would have high expectations for it, Yun Li preemptively disparaged her own finished product.

Fu Shize gave a casual "Mn," stretched out both hands to pick up the cardboard drone, and moved it onto the table.

Fu Shize lowered his gaze to look at this cardboard drone.

It was glued together from simple cardboard, with paint applied to the surface, and it didn't look very sturdy. He touched the wings, and the color was uneven.

"How about I make it up to you with another gift?" Yun Li worried that he might think she was being too perfunctory, especially since the gift he gave seemed quite like a pricey custom piece.

"No need." Fu Shize: "This is very good."

"Would you like to eat a little with me?" Yun Li pointed to the stir-fried rice noodles at the corner of the table, and Fu Shize didn't refuse. She went to the kitchen to fetch chopsticks and small bowls, and also grabbed two drinks.

Fu Shize didn't let her do the work; he unscrewed the drink bottle caps himself and scooped the stir-fried rice noodles into a bowl for her.

He looked to have a poor appetite, putting down his chopsticks after eating only a couple of bites. He propped his phone up on the table using a paper napkin, opened Station E, and began playing the cardboard drone video she had uploaded previously.

The video was edited hastily, and the scenes weren't particularly smooth or coherent. Fu Shize seemed completely unaware of these details, watching silently until the progress bar reached the end.

She faced the camera, saying word for word—This handmade drone, I plan to give it to someone very important.

"..."

Fu Shize dragged the progress bar back a few seconds and played that sentence again.

"..."

Embarrassed, Yun Li lowered her head to eat her food and muttered, "Stop teasing me..."

Seeing her flushed face, Fu Shize held back even less: "Didn't you say it for me to hear?"

"..."

When Fu Shize would make clear rejections, Yun Li's courage was actually a bit greater. Now that the two of them were more affectionate than before, she instead felt too constrained to handle their current state.

She could learn how to invite someone and how to accept someone's rejection in a very short time, yet she didn't know how two people who loved each other should get along.

It was already close to ten o'clock after they finished eating. Yun Li walked Fu Shize to the doorway. Remembering the question the shop owner asked earlier, Yun Li couldn't help asking him: "Today, we should count as being on a date, right?"

Seeming not to have expected her to ask this question, Fu Shize thought about it and didn't answer directly: "What do you think?"

Seeing that he didn't give a definitive answer, Yun Li felt a bit doubtful: "It should be... right?"

Fu Shize: "..."

He nodded.

Getting confirmation, Yun Li valued the sense of ritual of their first date and said earnestly, "It's my first date."

Fu Shize lowered his gaze to look at her: "Mine too."

Yun Li: "How did you find it?"

Pondering for a moment, Fu Shize slowly said, "Pretty good."

"Then when is our next date?" Yun Li forcefully reined in her smile, trying to keep her feelings from being too obvious: "Can it be soon?"

"I'm going on a business trip to Yihe tomorrow." Leaning against the door, Fu Shize paused in thought for a moment before looking at her: "Wait for me to come back?"

A warmth bloomed in Yun Li's heart: "Okay."

As things drew to a close, he leaned there without leaving immediately, instead continuing to watch her for quite a while longer. The two of them remained silent until the lights in the hallway went out, and only then did she snap back to her senses.