When I Meet the Moon - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

After a few consecutive days of light rain, the long-absent clear skies finally made an appearance in late August.

The blazing sun hung high in the sky, coating the world in a layer of gold while the asphalt road seemed ready to catch fire. Small insects darted across the field of vision from time to time, accompanied by the hoarse, endless, and uninterrupted chorus of cicadas.

Yun Li felt like she was going to be baked right into a crisp.

After meeting up with Deng Chuqi, neither of them had the patience to browse around for a restaurant, heading straight for the adjacent Haitian Mall instead.

The two casually walked into a wonton shop.

"This damn weather is practically trying to roast people alive." Only after catching the blast of air conditioning did Deng Chuqi feel like she was coming back to life. "I seriously can't take this anymore. Xifu is so much better; I never felt this kind of heat back there."

Yun Li refuted her: "That's just because you haven't been back in a long time. Xifu is just as hot."

"Is that so? Fine, whatever," Deng Chuqi said. "Sigh, I really wish Nanwu could have a whole summer of rain. The temperature over the last few days was extremely nice."

"If that happened, Nanwu would end up underwater."

"Then how about the sun just never comes out at all!"

"Why do you have such an aversion to sunlight?"

"..." Deng Chuqi couldn't take it anymore, leaning over to pinch her cheek. "Yun Li, you are such a world-class contrarian! I should have brought a needle today just to sew your mouth shut!"

Withdrawing defensively in pain, Yun Li chuckled and begged for mercy: "My bad, my bad, I was wrong."

Only then did Deng Chuqi reluctantly let go. Calming down and staring at Yun Li's face, she couldn't help sighing: "I remember my very first impression of you was that this girl, pretty as she was, was acting so aloof and cold—were you putting on airs just to show off?"

Yun Li glanced sideways at her: "Watch your phrasing."

Deng Chuqi: "Turns out that once we got close, I realized your lack of words was probably just a self-defense mechanism."

"Hm?"

"To avoid offending too many people and getting yourself assassinated."

"..."

The waiter happened to carry over two bowls of wontons.

Deng Chuqi poured a spoonful of chili oil and suddenly remembered something, pointing upward: "Right, was that VR experience hall fun? I meant to go during the soft opening, but I was too busy and forgot."

"I actually really liked it," Yun Li answered honestly. "I kind of regretted taking the gig at first, but once I got there, I felt it was totally worth it. I got paid and got to play at the same time."

Deng Chuqi grew curious: "Aside from you, who else did they invite?"

Racking her brain for a long while, Yun Li listed the few names she still remembered. When she mentioned one that Deng Chuqi recognized, the latter immediately grew excited and started dishing some juicy gossip she had heard about that person previously.

Yun Li listened with rapt attention and offered her critique: "Sounds fake."

After a moment, Deng Chuqi asked again: "Is that all of them? Anyone else?"

Yun Li thought about it, but genuinely couldn't recall anyone else. Meeting Deng Chuqi's expectant gaze, the three words "Fu Shize," which she had looked up on the web two days ago, suddenly popped into her head.

She moved her lips, hesitating as she asked: "Do you remember back in high school when some video got mildly popular on Bilibili?"

Deng Chuqi: "What video?"

"You know, the one about..." Yun Li found it hard to blurt out the name directly, holding back for ages before squeezing out, "...the moon in the mortal world."

"The moon?" Deng Chuqi looked entirely blank.

"It's that guy from Xifu University of Technology..."

"Oh! You mean that genius from Xifu Tech?" Catching the keyword, Deng Chuqi immediately made the connection. "I remember now! The very first time I went to your house in high school, I saw you had his photo pinned to your wall like some sort of shrine—"

"..."

She had completely forgotten about that embarrassing episode.

With her juvenile foolishness dragged back into the light, Yun Li's cheeks burned as she cut her off: "Alright, alright, just eat your food."

Deng Chuqi was highly amused: "Why'd you suddenly bring him up? I'd completely forgotten what he even looked like."

Yun Li paused slightly, waiting a few seconds before answering: "I think I saw him."

"Huh?"

"But I'm not entirely sure if it was the same person."

This was roughly similar to her going to EAW and running into several bloggers she had previously only known through a screen. Yet by comparison, the emotional impact triggered by running into Fu Shize was undoubtedly much stronger.

After all, he was someone she had once looked up to.

Yun Li simply felt a lingering sense of weirdness in her heart.

Where that weirdness stemmed from, she couldn't quite articulate.

Was it because she hadn't recognized him right away?

Or because, against all unexpected odds, she had run into someone she once assumed she would never cross paths with in this lifetime?

When she stopped to count, seven full years had passed.

The youth had grown taller, and his facial features had matured, acquiring that unmistakable, unfeigned depth of maturity carved by the passage of time. While his appearance hadn't shifted drastically, the most striking contrast lay in the aura he projected.

It deviated wildly from the image she had constructed in her mind.

Across these few encounters, he had consistently exhibited a somewhat reclusive and unsociable demeanor.

She had always imagined someone like that would stand out as the focal point of any crowd—a moon surrounded by a constellation of stars. Poised, measured, handling every person and situation with effortless fluidity, worldly yet uncorrupted. Persistent yet unbreakable, immensely powerful and indomitable.

He shouldn't have been like this.

His brilliance seemed to have been coated in a layer of dust, merging seamlessly with the night.

Silent and withered.

Distracted for a moment, Yun Li inexplicably recalled the image of him lying asleep on the sofa. The man had curled up slightly, his frame slender and lean, the sharp outlines of his shoulder blades protruding right through his clothing.

Decadent, fragile, and utterly vulnerable.

"Then it's probably not the same person after all, maybe they just look alike," Deng Chuqi brushed it off without a second thought. "If I recall correctly, that genius should be the exact same age as us, right? After all these years, he might not look anything like the guy in that old video anymore."

Coming back to her senses, Yun Li chuckled: "That's true."

Thinking about it that way, she realized she might have been overthinking things quite a bit.

Even if it really was the same person.

He might simply have been listless these past couple of days because he had caught a cold.—

There were numerous residential compounds nearby, spanning both old and new constructions. Since Yun Li wasn't strapped for cash, she chose Qixiang Capital, which boasted the closest proximity and the best security in the area. It sat right across from Haitian Mall and was less than a ten-minute walk from Nanwu Tech.

After the meal, Yun Li contacted the real estate agent again, and once the time was locked down, she dragged Deng Chuqi along with her.

The apartment was a one-bedroom, one-living-room unit equipped with complete furnishings, and the interior had already been cleaned to a pristine shine.

Deng Chuqi had just signed a lease herself and possessed slightly more experience, so she took charge of communicating with the agent the entire way through. The landlord's sole requirement was a minimum one-year commitment along with a three-month security deposit.

Yun Li felt that condition was entirely acceptable.

The deal was finalized quickly, and they scheduled the lease signing for the following day.

Once Deng Chuqi headed home, Yun Li went online and hired a professional cleaning service to give the apartment a thorough deep clean.

She also sequentially purchased a host of living essentials, filming equipment, and small knick-knacks online to fill out the space.

On the day before her hotel room booking expired, Yun Li officially moved in.

By the time she finished getting everything organized, evening had already fallen. A sudden wave of hunger hit her, reminding her of the stir-fried rice noodles she had randomly grabbed at a snack street near Nanwu Tech during her interview trip, which had turned out to be unexpectedly delicious.

When she later returned to Xifu, she had tried a few places locally, but none of them quite captured that flavor.

With that thought in mind, Yun Li scrolled through her delivery apps, only to come up empty.

It seemed that particular shop didn't offer delivery services.

Yun Li glanced at the wall clock: a little past ten o'clock.

Looking out the window, the brilliantly lit Haitian Mall remained clearly visible in the distance.

The hour wasn't particularly late, and coupled with the sudden craving, Yun Li developed an unyielding determination to satisfy her appetite tonight. Without further ado, she slipped back into her room to change clothes, grabbed her wallet, and headed out.

Relying on a hazy memory, Yun Li stepped out of the residential complex, crossed the street, and walked straight ahead alongside Haitian Mall. Along the way, she spotted people burning paper offerings by the roadside on several occasions.

Confused and unsettled, she pulled out her phone to check the date.

That was when she realized today was the Ghost Festival.

"..."

Yun Li's scalp tingled, and she instantly regretted stepping outside.

Still, having already covered more than half the distance, turning back empty-handed felt like a waste.

Pressing onward, Yun Li crossed a plaza, navigated another street, and finally reached the familiar snack street.

The streetlamps burned brightly, and plenty of pedestrians still milled about. She let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Yun Li had originally come here for a trendy bubble tea shop, and the rice noodle stall had been located just a few steps past it. At the moment, she couldn't remember its exact location, recalling only that it was tucked away in a rather out-of-the-way spot.

Yun Li opened her map navigation app.

Following the route for about a hundred meters, whether due to a signal lag or not, the directions on her GPS began twisting erratically. The route instructed her to cut through a narrow alleyway.

Pitch black inside, the ground damp and slick. A corner loomed just ten-odd meters ahead.

Passing through here, making a right turn followed by a left, would lead straight out to another street.

The distance wasn't far, so Yun Li summoned her courage and stepped in. The moment she rounded the corner, the sound of men jeering and laughing drifted over from ahead. Simultaneously, an overwhelming wave of alcohol odor assaulted her senses.

Two men materialized in her field of vision.

One sported light blue hair, with a string of cryptic English letters tattooed across his collarbone; the other wore a tank top, displaying bulky, thick muscles across his arms.

A dim, secluded alleyway.

Faced with this scene, Yun Li inevitably felt a surge of alarm. Lacking the nerve to make eye contact, she maintained a composed facade and kept walking forward. Before she had taken more than a few steps, the blue-haired man stepped directly into her path: "Well, hey there, little sister."

Yun Li stepped back defensively.

The bulky guy on the other side chimed in with a tease: "Dafeng, stop playing the hooligan."

"How am I being a hooligan?" the blue-haired man slurred, his tongue heavy with drink. "I—I'm just saying hello!"

Yun Li wanted to skirt around them, but the alley was too narrow, and the two men completely blocked her escape route. Fearing that showing too much cowardice would only prompt them to push further, she spoke in a soft voice: "Could you please step aside? I need to get through to the other side."

The blue-haired man gave a cheeky grin: "Sure thing. I'll let you pass, if you keep me company for a late-night snack later."

"..."

"Whaddya say, little sister?"

"...Okay." Terrified of provoking him, Yun Li didn't dare refuse outright, resorting to a stalling tactic instead: "Can you let me pass first? I still have to pick up something."

The blue-haired man shrugged, sidestepping to clear a narrow path.

The shops lining the alley were already shuttered, leaving the left side completely vacant, as if stepping into a ghost town. On the other side, standing a few meters away under the dim glow of a streetlamp, a man lingered with his head lowered, smoking a cigarette.

With his back to the light, his complexion appeared pale and devoid of color, looking grim and uncanny.

He resembled an otherworldly outcast who had slipped through the gates of the underworld to wander the mortal realm at midnight.

Yun Li's heart skipped a beat, and she recognized his face almost instantly.

It was Fu Shize.

She had assumed their paths would never cross again.

At that moment, he seemed to catch the commotion as well, lifting his head to look over.

Unsure what the two men might pull next, Yun Li didn't dare draw attention to herself prematurely or provoke them. Pressing her lips together, she cast a silent look of quiet appeal toward him.

Their eyes locked for barely a second.

Fu Shize averted his gaze immediately, exhaling a cloud of smoke as if he hadn't seen a thing.

Yun Li froze in place.

For a split second, she couldn't bring herself to believe what his actions implied.

——He had no intention of helping her.

The blue-haired man behind her grew impatient, raising his voice in a demanding whine: "I let you pass, time to go get that late-night snack, little sister. Why aren't you moving? Going back on your word—"

Her voice trembling, Yun Li couldn't help crying out: "F-Fu Shize!"

As the name dropped, the air seemed to congeal.

Even the blue-haired man's aggressive posture deflated slightly, the alley falling completely quiet.

Following what felt like an agonizingly long yet fleeting silence, Fu Shize tilted his head and gave a lazy, casual gesture with his hand. A spark of hope ignited within Yun Li, assuming the gesture was meant for her, and she prepared to step forward.

Instead, the next second, the blue-haired man beside her strode over, asking with a puzzled tone: "Bro, you know her?"

"..."

Yun Li's mind went completely blank.

The hazy dream from a few days ago suddenly snapped back into sharp, vivid focus.

The mocking laughter of that young man at the airport echoed once more in her ears: “Fooled, weren't you? Didn't expect that, did you? He's the boss of our gang!”

Fu Shize offered a noncommittal response: "What are you doing."

The blue-haired man adopted an aggrieved, matter-of-fact tone: "I just asked her to grab a late-night snack with me, didn't do a thing."

"Grab a late-night snack..." He repeated the words nonchalantly before shifting his gaze to Yun Li. "Do you want to go?"

The sky was vast, the distant stars scattered, and the dry, lingering warmth of the wind still clung to the night air.

At that exact moment.

Yun Li had no idea where she found the courage, but she shook her head.

Fu Shize let out a soft "Mn" and relayed her answer: "She doesn't want to go."

The blue-haired man still looked somewhat intoxicated, opening his mouth to argue his case. Before he could utter a sound, Fu Shize gave him a shove against the shoulder. Staggering back two steps and nearly losing his footing, the man turned around.

"You scared her," Fu Shize said with chilling nonchalance. "Go over and apologize.”