When I Meet the Moon - Chapter 60

Chapter 60

Running a high fever, Fu Shize returned to Jiangnan Garden and slept for two whole days straight, catching glimpses of Yun Li in his half-conscious haze.

Fu Shize was jolted awake by a searing pain; his abdomen was in agony, contracting in violent spasms as if being carved up by a knife. Cold sweat soaked his forehead, and his vision was filled with the stark white ceiling and fluorescent tubes of a hospital ward.

Having gone without food for two full days due to his deep sleep, the toll of two years of irregular eating habits and alcohol consumption had finally caught up with him all at once.

Seeing him wake up, Fu Dongsheng hurried to his side and pressed him back down. "Don't move, just lie down and rest."

Fu Shize furrowed his brows. "What happened?"

"A perforated stomach ulcer. Nothing major, your mom and dad have already arranged everything—you're going into surgery this afternoon." Fu Dongsheng offered a reassuring smile. "Don't be scared, son. It's a minor operation, you'll be fine once you sleep it off."

"..."

Fu Shize's head felt unbearably heavy. "Has the funeral ended?"

Fu Dongsheng nodded, trying to comfort him. "It's normal to feel heartbroken, but the old lady lived to a ripe old age, and we have to accept these things. Those photos you sent me of you and Lili earlier—I showed them to your grandmother. The old lady shouldn't have any regrets left."

Fu Shize fell silent for a moment before asking, "What time is it?"

Fu Dongsheng glanced at his watch. "One in the afternoon."

Vaguely recalling that it had been the middle of the night when he collapsed, Fu Shize asked, "What date is it today?"

"The twenty-sixth."

Two whole days had passed.

Two days without any contact with Yun Li.

Fu Shize's lips turned pale as he demanded, "Where's my phone?"

"Son, can we focus on getting medical treatment first..."

"My phone."

With a helpless sigh, Fu Dongsheng rummaged through the bag nearby and pulled out his phone. It took over a dozen seconds just to boot up.

Throughout the wait, Fu Shize dug his fingers fiercely into his own abdomen.

The moment the screen lit up, he immediately switched to his chat interface with Yun Li.

A message from yesterday morning.

Yun Li: [My younger brother is sick, and I'm heading back to Xifu right now. Can you come back with me?]

There were no newer messages.

"Dad, let's push the surgery back." Fu Shize pressed his lips together and tried to force himself up.

The moment he straightened his torso, a wave of excruciating pain caused his entire body to double over in a tight curl. He tipped sideways and collapsed, dragging the IV pole down to the floor where it shattered into pieces.

For the past two days, Nanwu had been battered by torrential downpours, the heavy, ink-black clouds suffocating enough to leave people gasping for air. Holed up at home, Yun Li forced herself through problem sets she barely understood.

Classes had already resumed at Nanli University, and with this semester's coursework being both heavier and more advanced, she was already struggling to keep up by the end of the first week.

If Fu Shize were here, things would surely be much easier.

Growing exhausted from studying, Yun Li stared blankly at the empty seat beside her for a long while.

During these two rainy days, Yun Li hadn't received a single WeChat message or phone call from Fu Shize. Even after she proactively sent a few texts, he hadn't replied.

A dull ache settled in her chest, yet it also felt strangely expected.

It was as if everything was simply bound to unfold this way.

Fu Shize hadn't come looking for her, which probably meant he wanted to break up.

She had no idea what a relationship looked like when it reached its end, having never experienced it herself.

Nor did she reach out to him again.

She felt somewhat exhausted too.

Yun Li sniffled and forced herself back to her studies, desperately trying to maintain a semblance of normal routine so she could lie to herself that everything was fine.

When Yang Fang called, Yun Li was racking her brain to battle a complex math problem.

Yang Fang's voice carried a hint of panic: "Your brother started running a high fever last night, hitting thirty-nine degrees Celsius. No matter what medicine we give him, it just won't break."

With her timid nature, Yang Fang panicked when faced with emergencies. Hearing the distress in her voice, Yun Li didn't think too terribly much of it at first, figuring that she herself caught a fever every year or two: "At his age, it's just a fever. Hurry and take him to the hospital to get an IV drip so it can come down."

"He's burning up so badly he's out of it, and he can't even speak properly anymore. He just keeps muttering numbers over and over, mumbling 'one, one, one'," Yang Fang panicked. "Let me tell your dad to rush back; I can't hold your brother up all by myself."

After offering a few words of comfort, Yun Li hung up just as Yun Yongchang arrived home.

Setting down her pen, Yun Li stared blankly ahead. Her thoughts froze as she recalled Yun Ye's previous phone calls where he had casually mentioned not feeling well.

Barely half an hour later, a text message arrived from Yun Yongchang: [Come home]

Just those two brief words, completely devoid of explanation—or rather, leaving no time for one.

Trembling uncontrollably, Yun Li stood up from her chair. Holding her breath with shaking fingers, she fumbled through a ticketing app, pressing the wrong buttons repeatedly before finally managing to book the earliest available flight.

The loading screen crawled at a snail's pace, every single step of the booking process feeling infinitely drawn out.

Grabbing her ID card without packing a single other item, Yun Li rushed straight out the door. The biting cold wind failed to snap her back to any sense of logic.

Regardless of the friction and arguments between them, the moment a crisis like this struck, Yun Li still desperately wished Fu Shize was by her side.

She tried calling Fu Shize several times, but none of the calls went through. After hastily typing out a quick text message to send to him, she hailed a taxi straight to the Nanwu Airport.

An unspeakable dread choked Yun Li's heart.

Even though she knew she needed to remain calm, her mind kept replaying endless terrifying possibilities alongside fragmented memories of Yun Ye talking to her.

Right up until boarding the plane, Fu Shize still hadn't replied to her message.

The moment the plane touched down and she reconnected to the cellular network, a text from Yun Yongchang flashed on her screen, draining all color from her brain.

[We've signed the critically ill notification form.]

[Take your time getting here, don't rush. We're at the People's Hospital emergency room now.]

By the time Yun Li arrived at the hospital, Yun Ye had already been transferred to the inpatient ward. Since the hospital only permitted one person to accompany the patient overnight, Yang Fang was crying so hysterically that they made a special exception allowing both Yun Yongchang and Yang Fang to stay inside.

Yun Yongchang stepped out to brief Yun Li, explaining that a gallbladder inflammation had escalated into acute pancreatitis, with an emergency surgery scheduled for the following evening. Yang Fang still refused to accept reality and adamantly declined to come out.

Yun Li sat alone in the long hospital corridor, staring blankly at the people hurrying past while tears continuously welled up, blurring her vision. A surreal sense of detachment gripped her; it felt as though Yun Ye ought to still be at school rather than lying in the inpatient bed behind those doors.

Suddenly, a memory flashed through her mind—Yun Ye really had warned her.

Yun Ye had told her something felt off with his body.

And she hadn't paid attention.

She could have figured it out so much sooner.

In the past, whenever she felt even the slightest bit unwell, Yun Ye would always drag her off to the hospital himself.

A crushing wave of guilt and helplessness swallowed her whole.

When dinner time rolled around, Yun Li went downstairs to buy boxed meals and brought them up for Yun Yongchang and Yang Fang. Yun Yongchang looked a decade older, his eye sockets rimmed with angry red. "Go back home and rest, come back tomorrow when the surgery starts."

"Dad, I understand. Call me if anything happens."

"Mn," Yun Yongchang grunted before turning back into the hospital room.

From the doorway of the inpatient wing, the window to Yun Ye's room was visible. Yun Li forced herself to imagine that Yun Ye would suddenly pull through, walk out on his own two feet, and mercilessly mock her miserable expression.

Yet only strangers walked past.

Unable to stop herself, Yun Li searched the illness up online. The moment she saw a mortality rate as high as 10%, she collapsed forward, burying her face in her knees. She dared not picture the worst-case scenario, nor could she bring herself to go home, terrified that if Yun Ye's condition worsened in the dead of night, she wouldn't even make it back in time to see him one last time.

She had never imagined that the word death could ever be associated with Yun Ye.

Huddled in the hospital corridor, she spent the entire night awake.

Fearing she might miss a notification, she kept her phone's ringer turned up.

Xifu wasn't bitterly cold, but nighttime temperatures hovering around ten degrees Celsius still seeped right through one's clothes. Waking up in the dead of night, Yun Li stared at the unyielding glare of the overhead lights while the surrounding area remained completely deserted.

She opened her chat history with Fu Shize.

A deep, aching sorrow washed over her. After fighting so bitterly and letting their relationship plunge to the brink of collapse, she found herself yearning—more desperately than ever—for Fu Shize to be right by her side.

Early the next morning, Yin Yusheng called her. Refusing to answer, she let it ring, but he persisted and called several times over.

When she finally picked up, it was Yin Yunyi on the other end: "Big sister, Yun Ye always sends me a text message every single morning and night, but he hasn't sent me anything for the past two days, and I can't reach him either. Is something going on with Yun Ye lately?"

Yun Li fell silent.

Silence invariably signaled bad news.

"Can you please tell me?" Yin Yunyi's voice carried a distinct sob. "Big sister, we promised to meet up during the summer vacation... Did something happen to him..."

Overwhelmed by panic, Yin Yunyi broke down, prompting Yin Yusheng to take over the phone. He asked, "Did something happen?"

Yun Li gave him a concise rundown of Yun Ye's condition.

Awakening with a start in the hospital hallway, Yun Li realized she must have dozed off for a while. Yin Yusheng had sent her a WeChat message stating that their flight would land in Xifu at two in the afternoon.

By the time the two siblings arrived, Yin Yunyi's eyes were swollen and red from crying. Muttering Yun Ye's name under her breath, Yun Li blankly reached out to stroke the young girl's head.

Yun Li sat in mute isolation on a chair in the corner.

Yin Yusheng walked over, squatted down in front of her, and placated, "Don't worry too much. Acute pancreatitis is quite common, and since he was brought to the hospital promptly, the surgery will go smoothly."

Her mind failed to absorb his words. Lowering her gaze, she whispered, "Can you look after Yun Yunyi? I want to be by myself."

Pressing the matter no further, Yin Yusheng left a bottle of water beside her and went back to sit next to Yin Yunyi.

Yun Ye's surgery proceeded as scheduled. While he was still under the knife, Yun Li received a reply from Fu Shize.

[Lili, I have some matters to attend to here. I'll come find you in a few days.]

A taut string snapped inside Yun Li's chest as she waited for the operation to conclude.

The surgery was a success. Although Yun Ye hadn't regained consciousness yet, the doctors confirmed he was officially out of danger, and Yun Li let out a long-awaited breath of relief.

Visiting hours wouldn't begin until the following morning, but Yin Yunyi flatly refused to spend the night at a hotel, insisting on staying right here at the hospital.

Yun Li remained seated in her chair.

Glancing to the side, she saw Yin Yunyi resting her head in Yin Yusheng's lap. Shivering from the chill, the young girl had curled up tightly beneath Yin Yusheng's jacket, which he had draped over her.

Yun Li asked numbly, "Do her parents know she came all the way here?"

"Of course not." Yin Yusheng rubbed the back of his neck. "She cried for ages in front of me, and seeing my sister like that broke my heart, so I just told our parents we were going to stay at a guesthouse for a trip."

"Yun Yunyi lives such a pampered life, yet she's willing to suffer like this for your brother." Yin Yusheng cast a sidelong glance at the hard metal chairs.

She and Yun Ye weren't even an official couple; they merely held a mutual fondness for one another.

The tight string inside her finally snapped completely. Breaking down, Yun Li stood up and walked toward the far end of the corridor, where a stairwell awaited.

Plunged in darkness with no lights on, she stepped inside. Fu Shize had called her over a dozen times tonight, but tending to Yun Ye's surgery had meant she missed every single one.

Yun Li returned his call.

The line connected almost instantly, delivering a voice that was both long-overdue and yet felt completely foreign to her: "Lili."

His tone was feather-light, almost devoid of strength.

Why couldn't he just drop everything and come to her like Yin Yunyi had?

Why couldn't he ever care about her just a little bit more, no matter what?

Her eyes stung with moisture, and the accumulated grievances of a long time desperately sought an outlet. Her chest was flooded with exhaustion, sadness, and anguish that she wanted him to understand.

Yet, in the end, she said none of it.

She didn't intend to hurl accusations.

She simply uttered a single sentence—

"Let's break up."

"..."

A heavy silence stretched across the line.

Every single word traveled through the phone receiver, striking heavily against Fu Shize's body.

Perhaps it was just an illusion, but a faint, nearly imperceptible tremor laced his voice as Fu Shize asked her, "Is it because I didn't come to see you?"

Hardening her heart, Yun Li replied, "That's part of it, but there are other reasons too."

"..."

Quietness filled the air, broken only by the faint whistle of passing drafts.

Yun Li half-expected him to press further.

Instead, after a long moment, came only a barely audible whisper—

"Okay."

Old conflicts piling up alongside new grievances had made Yun Li speak without thinking, yet she had never expected Fu Shize to agree so readily.

Dazedly, Yun Li hung up the phone.

Walking back out to the corridor, she found Yin Yunyi awake, sobbing softly as she stammered about having a nightmare.

Yun Li felt as though she, too, had just lived through an exceptionally long, harrowing nightmare.

Giving Yun Li a look, Yin Yusheng handed over his scarf. "You should get some rest, too."

Yun Li shook her head.

She spent the entire night wide awake.

When the sound of footsteps in the hallway jolted her awake in the small hours of the morning, delayed realization finally dawned on her.

She and Fu Shize were broken up.

...

Yun Ye woke up bright and early. Having been entirely oblivious to everything from the onset of his illness to the surgical procedure, he stared in utter bewilderment at his surroundings.

When Yin Yunyi came in to visit later, her eyes were still rimmed with red. Putting on a carefree front, Yun Ye redirected all his attention to the postcard he had received earlier.

Noticing that Yun Ye seemed in relatively good spirits, Yun Li relaxed slightly.

Since he still needed to spend a week recovering in the hospital, Yin Yusheng and Yin Yunyi headed back to Nanwu, leaving Yun Li behind to stay by his bedside.

Youth granted Yun Ye a rapid recovery; within a couple of days, he had Yang Fang bring over his workbooks from home so he could study, leaving Yun Li utterly speechless: "Can you just rest properly for once?"

Trading mutual jabs, Yun Ye shot back, "I'm going to take the entrance exams for Xike University, so stop bothering me."

Yun Li glared at him. "Just don't go getting sick again."

Having already been briefed on how perilous the situation had been, Yun Ye lowered his eyes and muttered, "I know."

Whenever the young man focused on his studies, Yun Li would cup her chin in her hand and drift off into a daze, inevitably letting her thoughts wander back to Fu Shize in Nanwu.

When Yun Li returned carrying the porridge Yang Fang had sent over, Yun Ye was busy trying to climb out of bed.

Yun Li immediately shoved him back down. "Stay put."

"Damn it, I'm going to get hemorrhoids lying here," Yun Ye complained, before catching sight of Yun Li's haggard appearance and promptly shutting his mouth.

Unpacking the lunch box, she revealed a container of steaming hot porridge.

Scooping a spoonful, she blew on it to cool it down before holding it out to Yun Ye's lips.

"..." Disgusted, Yun Ye recoiled. "Yun Li, you're my older sister, not my mother. I can eat myself."

Having bottled up her frustration for days, seeing him looking so disgustingly healthy made Yun Li snap. She gave his skull a light smack without holding back and launched right into a fresh round of nagging.

"Yun Li," Yun Ye interrupted. "When are you heading back to Nanwu?"

"Why do you ask?"

"You're driving me crazy. Go nag your brother-in-law instead, I need a quiet environment to recuperate." The moment those words left Yun Ye's mouth, Yun Li's expression plummeted into absolute gloom. He froze for a second, then asked, "What's wrong with you?"

Forcing an indifferent front, Yun Li said, "Your brother-in-law... ex-brother-in-law and I broke up." She offered a strained smile. "It's no big deal, just focus on taking care of yourself."

"Oh." It took Yun Ye a solid moment to process the statement. "Broke up? Who initiated it?"

Yun Li: "I did..."

"Oh." Yun Ye tapped his spoon against the lunch box a few times before asking with utter disbelief, "Didn't you chase after that guy for seven years?"

"That was ancient history. Chasing someone is one thing, breaking up is another. Those are two completely different matters."

"Why did you break up?" Yun Ye looked completely baffled. "Didn't brother-in-law treat you pretty well?"

He added as an afterthought, "He treated me pretty well, too."

"..."

"Don't worry about it," Yun Li snapped irritably. "He didn't like me that much anyway. The issues between us weren't born overnight."

As those words left her mouth, her chest felt as though it had taken a heavy blow. Lowering her voice, she stared with reddened eyes as she tried to convince herself: "People breaking up and getting back together in relationships is completely normal."

She looked up at Yun Ye, struggling to keep her expression composed while the back of her hand hastily wiped away the tears spilling uncontrollably down her cheeks. "It's totally normal, right?"

Everything had happened too fast.

So fast that she still hadn't digested even a fraction of her emotions. Those waves of pain remained vivid as day, feeling as though they had occurred only yesterday.

Yun Ye fell silent as well.

As the older sister, Yun Li had always played the strong one in front of him, never once showing vulnerability when shielding him outside. Faced with this situation, he had no idea how to comfort her.

Reaching out just like he used to when they were kids, he grabbed Yun Li's hand and offered awkward reassurance: "Sis, don't be sad."

"You still have me. You and Yin Yunyi are tied for first place in my book."

Having spent so long away from Nanwu, the automatic feeder's fish food had completely run out, and the little goldfish had already passed away.

Her chat history with Fu Shize remained frozen at that single phone call declaring their breakup.

Yun Li: [I'll be dropping by Jiangnan Garden tomorrow afternoon at two to pick up my things.]

The chat interface displayed an ongoing 'typing...' indicator for several minutes, yet the final response was merely a single word: [Okay.]

Arriving at Jiangnan Garden, Yun Li packed up only the items that had absolutely nothing to do with Fu Shize.

As she left, the balcony was neat and pristine, holding nothing save for a solitary chair. She left her keys resting right on top of it.

She deleted every single contact method associated with Fu Shize and wiped their couple photos from her devices.

Her internship at EAW had concluded as well. Disregarding the security deposit, Yun Li canceled her lease on the Qixiangdu apartment.

Too many memories haunted those rooms.

While packing her luggage, Yun Li noticed the group photo that had been wedged deep into the sofa cushions long ago—in it, standing in the audience bleachers, he was gazing toward her with an untamed gaze while she looked painfully awkward.

For some inexplicable reason, she slipped that photograph inside her notebook.

The rabbit balloon on the nightstand had long since deflated, hanging limply against the floorboards.

Recalling that Halloween night when he pulled her behind his back, she felt as though she caught a glimpse of those eyes once more. Yun Li felt a sharp sting in her nose, and after casting one final glance around, she pulled the front door shut behind her.

Deng Chugi had managed to secure a spot in the final application wave, receiving a Master's offer from a university in the UK, and had traveled there early to work as a research assistant.

This turn of events reminded Yun Li of advice her advisor had once given her.

The overseas exchange procedures went smoothly. Bridged by her mentor Zhang Tianqi, she arranged to spend a year exchanging at a higher-education institution in the United Kingdom.

True to form, Yun Yongchang opposed the idea, but after her gentle attempts at persuasion failed, she simply chose to ignore his protests.

Yun Li remained in Nanwu through the month of July.

Occasionally, when a delivery courier knocked on her door, she would experience a momentary hallucination.

Perhaps he had managed to ask others for her new address.

Perhaps he had come looking for her.

By mid-July, Yun Li had rented an apartment after arriving in the UK.

Deng Chugi was living in a completely different city.

Navigating life independently in an unfamiliar city while dealing with all sorts of strangers, she still harbored moments of fear and reluctance, yet she refused to back down.

Life abroad was far from easy, and she frequently opened up her livestream to chat with her followers.

Her audience cycled through wave after wave of new faces.

A handful of loyal fans appeared reliably on schedule, including the user named efe whom she had noticed previously.

On a whim, Yun Li clicked open efe's profile page. It was entirely blank, displaying the standard gender-neutral status.

As time drifted on, the two gradually became friends, and efe helped shepherd her through the toughest period of adjustment abroad.

Months later, efe mentioned sending her a postcard.

She received them one after another, all originating from Xifu. At a glance, she could tell the handwriting didn't belong to Fu Shize, and besides, he ought to still be in Nanwu.

Of course.

It had already been half a year since they broke up.

Yun Li scolded herself for being foolishly imaginative.

With her days filled with early mornings at the lab and late nights updating her E-site videos, Yun Li poured every ounce of her energy into her academics.

Returning home from the laboratory that evening, Yun Li tossed a container of food into the microwave to heat up.

While waiting, she found herself browsing that once-viral online forum thread.

Lately, it had climbed back up to the top of the trending boards.

It was an ancient post, yet a steady stream of new comments continued to pour in.

She looked at the young man captured in the video.

Without realizing it, Yun Li tapped open the reply box.

Hesitating for a long while, she finally mustered her resolve, carefully weighing every single word before tapping out a line of text.

It sounded as though she were comforting someone else, yet equally as though she were soothing herself.

——Fortunately, I was brave enough, at least getting to cross paths with the moon.