When I Meet the Moon - Chapter 43

Chapter 43

Fu Shize said, "The car is parked at the apartment, you can use it for a while."

With her own dad owning a driving school, Yun Li was well aware of the rule that cars and women are not to be lent out. Fu Shize's willingness to let her drive his car meant he either trusted her deeply, or was prepared to bear any potential losses she might cause.

Flattered and overwhelmed, Yun Li tucked the keys into her bag. Unable to think of how to repay him, she came up with the most feasible idea: "Then when you get back, I can pick you up."

Fu Shize replied, "No need, Xu Qingsong is coming to pick me up."

When his lips parted slightly, forming an indecisive shape, a chill ran down Yun Li's spine. She glanced at him. His refusal was delivered with complete peace of mind, just as matter-of-fact as when she had pursued him.

His tone was even as flat as usual?

Facing Fu Shize, Yun Li didn't dare to harbor any resentment. She just pressed her lips together and said, "Fine."

Looking like she was harboring a grievance she didn't dare to voice, as if he were a bully who had mistreated her, Fu Shize didn't quite understand: "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Yun Li lifted her backpack strap, stood on tiptoe to look around, and put on a nonchalant act. "I just remembered before when I was chasing you, and you kept saying 'no need'."

Never expecting to have past scores settled right now, Fu Shize chuckled inwardly: "Then what should I do?"

Yun Li said, "That is..."

Approaching class time, people were trickling into the classroom. His striking looks and temperament drew universal attention, naturally pulling her into the spotlight as well. Remembering the time she had been secretly photographed in the café, Yun Li felt a bit awkward, and the words stuck in her throat.

Fu Shize glanced around and pulled her into the hallway.

The classroom was on the first floor, and the stairway leading to the basement relied solely on the natural light filtering from the upper floor, significantly reducing visibility. His hand was slightly cool, but soon began to heat up after he took hold of hers.

Having just started dating, the two of them were quite reserved when interacting. On the way today, they hadn't walked very close, and occasionally crossing the street only involved a brush of the backs of their hands. Yun Li had never imagined that holding hands would feel like this—their palms piping hot, sticky with a light layer of sweat.

As if wanting to retaliate against his rejection earlier, Yun Li scratched his palm with her thumb. Feeling the hand holding hers tighten slightly before relaxing with restraint, a strange sense of vindication welled up in her heart.

Pulling her to the entrance of the basement stairway, Fu Shize stopped. Unbothered by her little stunt just now, he softly asked her, "Can you say it now?"

Yun Li's first reaction was that she couldn't. She only ever opened up a bit when talking to her family and best friends, unafraid to voice her thoughts and opinions, but in front of Fu Shize, timidity remained her instinct.

Seeming to see right through everything, Fu Shize squeezed her palm and patiently repeated, "Then what should I do?"

This repetition gave Yun Li courage. She thought about it and said, "After we start dating, you can't reject me anymore." Having stated her demand, she didn't forget to respect his opinion: "Do you think that's okay?"

Fu Shize paused for a moment and agreed very quickly: "Mn." Pondering thoughtfully, he asked, "Then should we settle the old scores?"

Come to think of it, he really had rejected her quite a few times.

Yun Li tilted her head: "If we don't settle scores, I feel like I'm getting the short end of the stick..." Unsure of the intention behind his question, she turned it back on him: "Do you have any suggestions?"

Fu Shize offered a perfectly standard suggestion: "Then you can reject me a few times too, so you'll feel better about it." Following her format, he consulted her opinion: "Do you think that's okay?"

"..."

How could she possibly agree to that? Yun Li was dying for him to offer more invitations so she could readily accept every single one of them.

Knowing he was doing this on purpose and realizing she couldn't outplay him, Yun Li shook her head: "Forget it then."

Careless of whether this was the expected answer, Fu Shize added, "If you don't agree, you'll just have to take the short end of the stick."

Figuring she liked him more anyway, Yun Li didn't struggle: "Taking the short end of the stick it is then."

She truly looked like she wasn't harboring any lingering resentment.

Fu Shize stared at her for a few seconds and said meaningfully, "So, why didn't you agree?"

He pulled Yun Li a little closer.

Getting teased by him on every occasion, Yun Li felt a mild dissatisfaction: "You clearly know."

"I want to hear you say it." Ignoring the other emotions in her tone, Fu Shize's voice lowered.

The atmosphere right now was similar to that night on Christmas Eve. He naturally leaned in close, and the two of them could hear each other's heartbeats. Yun Li knew she was completely wrapped around his finger, yet she did so willingly. Her lips moved, and after a moment, she said, "Because I can't bear to reject you."

Hearing this, Fu Shize gave a low chuckle: "Then come pick me up." Using the knuckle of his index finger, he brushed her cheek and added, "That way I can get to see you right away."

The hallway was dim, and the square tiles symbolized the solemnity of the campus—a stark contrast to the ambiguous romance of the moment, brewing the clandestine thrill of tasting forbidden fruit.

"Though it's also possible," his thumb grazed Yun Li's palm, tracing a few unhurried strokes as his tone turned casual, "that you just want an excuse to come pick me up."

Listening to his words, the temperature on Yun Li's face steadily rose.

"I'm just fulfilling my duties as a girlfriend." Yun Li's heart was sent racing by his few words, while his expression had remained as calm as ever since they entered the hallway, his dark eyes concealing all his thoughts.

Both of them were dating for the very first time, but Fu Shize was clearly much more smooth at it than she was. Armed with the desire not to be outdone, Yun Li thought of the thing she had been pondering all night: "Then shouldn't you also fulfill your duties as a boyfriend?"

"?"

Fu Shize continued to stroke her palm: "What duties?"

Yun Li swallowed hard and looked straight into his eyes: "Give your girlfriend a hug."

"..."

Fu Shize leaned against the wall, looked at her for a few seconds, and didn't move. The tiles in the basement hallway were pearl white and the walls were gray. His face looked like a painting abruptly carved onto wallpaper, his Eurasian-leaning features possessing a medieval charm. He curved his lips, his gaze dark: "You come hug me."

"..."

Yun Li suspected he hadn't understood what she meant.

Or maybe he had understood and was doing it on purpose.

At that moment, a bell rang—the 7:55 warning bell. Pulling herself together, she turned away with a blushing face: "I have to go to class—"

Her arm was gently caught by his right hand. His presence pressed up from behind, his chest against her back, while his other arm wrapped around her neck, coming to rest on her right shoulder. Before one wave had settled, the arm around her pulled her back a little further, pressing her closer into his embrace.

Yun Li took a few deep breaths.

His right hand slid down her arm and hooked her fingers.

"Turns out dating," Fu Shize leaned against her right shoulder, turning his head to say slowly, "is actually quite nice."

The moment lasted for over a minute before Fu Shize let her go, his gaze gentle: "Go to class." Coincidentally, his phone kept vibrating. Yun Li reminded him, "Your phone is ringing."

He didn't mind answering the call in front of her. He pressed accept, and the person on the other end spoke for quite a while. Fu Shize didn't make a sound the entire time, speaking only three sentences in a cold tone.

"Got it."

"Mn."

"No need."

Then he hung right up.

Having witnessed the entire phone call, Yun Li suddenly realized that previously, even when he was at his coldest toward her, Fu Shize had never spoken to her like that. She didn't know the reason behind it, but she felt happy because of this tiny special treatment she had discovered—even if it were just an illusion.

Arriving at the classroom door, Yun Li walked inside and found a seat to sit down.

Before long, her roommate Tang Lin sat down beside her and greeted her. The two of them had only crossed paths during winter semester classes. Flipping open her textbook, Tang Lin said excitedly, "Yun Li, did you see that tall hunk by the door just now? He is holy-shit drop-dead gorgeous."

Yun Li paused in the middle of taking out her things and gave a quiet, affirmative hum.

"You know, that ascetic, cold-beauty type? He's practically my ideal type. I even tried to show my face in front of him just now, and he actually..."

Reaching the crucial point, Tang Lin paused for two seconds. Yun Li grew a bit anxious: "Actually what?"

Tang Lin spread her hands with an incredulous expression: "Directly ignored me and walked right around me." She opened her selfie camera to check: "My makeup looks decent today too, which is bizarre. Don't you think?"

Not knowing what to say, Yun Li awkwardly echoed, "Pretty nice."

"A guy like this must have a ton of confessions on the campus crush wall. Let me go dig up his name later and I'll tell you if I find it." Tang Lin smilingly opened the school forum and flipped to the confession wall to show Yun Li.

Yun Li smiled: "Okay, thanks."

Browsing the confession wall, Yun Li realized there were quite a few confessions directed at Fu Zhengchu. Seeing this, Tang Lin filled her in: "This Fu Zhengchu is on our school's sports team, and apparently they won the championship in the tournament." Tang Lin smiled brightly, "Word is he's cold, fair-skinned, and handsome. He seems to be in the outdoor club too, I'm planning to sign up for their activities, you wanna come?"

"Not for now..." Yun Li hastily declined, but by this time Tang Lin had already pushed the outdoor club's official WeChat account to her. Their latest event was a stargazing camping route, and the recommended demographic listed 'couples.'

It seemed... she could consider it, perhaps.

During class, Yun Li wrestled for a good long while over whether she should send Fu Shize a WeChat message. If she sent one—it would make her look like she wasn't paying attention in class, and since they had just started dating, she had to maintain her image in front of him. If she didn't send one—it would make their relationship seem overly distant.

When she finally made up her mind, the biggest problem was that she didn't know what to say to Fu Shize. The two of them had barely chatted before.

racking her brains, Yun Li sent: [Tell me when you get to Yihe okay.]

Fu Shize: [Mn]

Fu Shize: [Does the girlfriend have any other duties?]

She thought carefully, and dutifully typed out: [Care for and pamper the boyfriend, support him, communication]

Before she could even finish typing the sentence, Fu Shize sent another message—

[Want to experience it.]

Yun Li felt her mind was far too filthy for a wholesome statement like that to trigger such alternative associations. Her head was full of his detached face embedded with a pair of eyes brimming with desire. Recalling what had happened in the hallway just now, she couldn't help but take a sip of water to calm her nerves.

...

Further down on WeChat was a message from Yun Ye, which was a photo of a postcard.

Accompanied by the text: [My reply letter. [Happy]]

Yun Li hadn't forgotten that Yun Ye had sent the postcard in the name of the whole class, so she replied: [Is this for you, or for Class 15 of Sophomore Year?]

Yun Ye: [Mind your own business.]

Looks like it was sent to Class 15 of Sophomore Year.

Yun Li tapped on the picture to examine it closely. The photo only showed the side with the design, and it looked like a Christmas card.

She hadn't expected Yin Yunyi to write him back. Could it be she really hadn't realized that the person sending her letters was a fixed correspondent?

After returning home, Yun Li first went to find Fu Shize's car. The interior of the car was spotless, with no items left in the storage compartments; it looked just like a brand-new vehicle. Catching a glimpse of something beneath the driver's seat out of the corner of her eye, she reached out and pulled it out.

It was his cardholder again.

Now his official girlfriend, Yun Li didn't mind this too much. She took the cardholder and flipped through it; inside were mostly bank cards.

Flipping to the last few cards, she paused. They were West Ke University student ID cards. The undergraduate-stage one was already worn out with age, but the photo was still clear enough to make out, showing a bit of a greenhorn look, smiling recklessly at the camera. The doctoral-stage student ID card was still brand new, looking close to his current appearance, with the corners of his lips upturned and a brilliant look in the outer corners of his eyes.

At the very end of the cardholder was another undergraduate student ID card, so faded the colors were peeling off, the photo unclear, and the name quite blurry.

Jiang Zhou? Jiang Yuan? Jiang Huai?

Why was he carrying someone else's student ID card?

Yun Li didn't dwell on it too much, her attention consumed by looking at the first two.