When I Meet the Moon - Extra Chapter 2

Extra Chapter - Yun Ye and Yin Yunyi (Part 2)

The maiden's innermost thoughts had turned into an unspeakable secret.

Yet, precisely because she had confirmed her own feelings, she could no longer pretend as though nothing had happened.

Yin Yunyi began making a conscious effort to control her reactions whenever she was around Yun Ye.

When handing out assignments and passing by Yun Ye's desk, the boy would be halfway through a problem, dozing off with his head pillowed on the arms, his right hand dangling a pen over the edge of the desk.

Yin Yunyi's school uniform pocket snagged on Yun Ye's pen.

Jarred by the movement, Yun Ye slowly straightened his upper body. With sleep-heavy eyes, he looked at the person in front of him, then glanced down at the pen in his hand, and muttered casually, "You want it?" He shoved the pen straight into her pocket. "Here."

"......Thank you."

Yin Yunyi clutched her stack of homework books back to her desk and pulled the pen out of her pocket to examine it for a moment. She scratched a couple of lines on a piece of paper, and before she even realized it, she wrote down those words.

[I like you.]

[Yun Ye.]

Snapping back to her senses and realizing what she had written, Yin Yunyi panicked and crossed out the two sentences. Hearing a classmate walking past nearby, she immediately slammed the notebook shut and shoved it into her desk drawer.

Xu Yao, who was in a different class, came over before dismissal and told her, "Yunyi, did you know that tons of people are handing love letters to Yun Ye? The teachers even called his parents in, worried that Yun Ye is getting into an early relationship."

Yin Yunyi reined in her emotions and asked, "So many people like Yun Ye?"

"Yeah, I wrote a love letter to him before too," Xu Yao said with a beaming smile. "He didn't pay attention to it, though, and before long I just ended up liking someone else."

She rested her chin in her hand, absentmindedly working on her problems. Glancing inadvertently out the window, she caught sight of a tall girl a few years older than them looking around anxiously, her eyes almost identical to Yun Ye's.

Could that be Yun Ye's "parent"?

Yin Yunyi stood up, walking over to take a closer look. At the corner of the stairwell, she saw the girl talking with Yun Ye. Yun Ye was leaning against the old, wooden windowpane behind him.

The girl asked him, "Those love letters—were they written to you by the girl sitting in front of you?"

Yun Ye: "......"

The girl sounded astonished. "It's honestly hard to believe anyone would take a fancy to my younger brother." She began to laugh. "And she's such a pretty girl, too."

After holding it in for a long time, Yun Ye finally spat out, "......It wasn't her."

With a tone of sheer exasperation, he added, "Yun Li, you're so noisy."

"Is your head teacher going to yell at me later?" Yun Li sighed. "Sigh, Yun Ye, can you please stop causing trouble."

"The worst they'll do is yell at me..." Yun Ye grumbled impatiently. Seeing Yun Li looking dejected, he struggled for a moment, then placated her with a sour face: "If you help me handle the head teacher, I'll treat you to dinner tonight."

Yun Li gave him a skeptical look. "Are you paying or am I paying?"

Caught red-handed, the corners of Yun Ye's eyes curved upward as he replied unashamedly, "You're paying."

Yun Li: "......"

After finishing their conversation, the brother and sister headed upstairs. Seeing this, Yin Yunyi shrank back and jogged back to the classroom.

Seated at her desk once more, her heart pounded wildly, plagued by a sense of guilt for eavesdropping on their conversation.

As she began to work on her assignments, Yin Yunyi drifted off into a daze.

The dynamic between Yun Ye and Yun Li just now looked so natural and intimate, just like her and Yin Yucheng.

She felt a tiny twinge of envy.

Not long afterward, Yun Ye returned to pack his backpack. In Yin Yunyi's mind, someone who had just been chewed out by a teacher should either wear a foul expression or be in tears. Instead, Yun Ye looked somewhat annoyed, exchanged a brief glance with her, and slung his bag over his shoulder, intending to walk straight out.

Yin Yunyi figured he was someone who kept his emotions tightly bottled up.

She pretended to be entirely engrossed in her studies for a little while, not wanting her inquiry to cause a commotion. After careful consideration, Yin Yunyi wrote a single sentence on a small memo card and, without turning around, passed it directly from her desk to his.

[I get criticized by teachers all the time too, don't be sad.]

She even appended a smiley face at the end [:)].

Yun Ye glanced at her, and after a long moment, picked up a pen from his desk, scribbled a couple of casual strokes, and as he passed her desk on his way out, tossed the memo card back to her with his usual deadpan tone: "See you."

Scrawled across it were merely two wild and unrestrained symbols—[:)].

Yin Yunyi's high school life became a continuous pursuit of Yun Ye's silhouette. She would secretly watch him play basketball, cheering and rejoicing over every point he scored. She would check his ranking first whenever exam results came out, her heart rising and falling with the numbers. And every day after school, she would time her departure to match his, "coincidentally" bumping into one another.

These occasional encounters were the maiden's nightly dreams made manifest during that period of her life.

During the high school sports meeting, all the students moved their chairs out onto the bustling playground. The athletic meet lasted for three days, and before long, the kids in the class started playing games right at their desks.

Whoever lost had to play Truth or Dare.

Yun Ye had just finished running the relay race and returned, breathing heavily, when he was hauled down into a chair. Wearing a sports tank top, his body had not yet finished growing, and the muscle lines on his arms were still far from distinct.

Yin Yunyi reached over and handed him a bottle of water.

Yun Ye took it and murmured, "Thanks."

As he drank, his Adam's apple bobbed up and down while droplets of sweat trickled down from his hair. Yin Yunyi watched for a moment, and feeling his gaze shift toward her, her heart hammered against her ribs as she lowered her head.

The game continued.

Having just arrived, Yun Ye cluelessly lost a few rounds, and the questions for Truth inevitably circled back to the same familiar few choices.

"Which girl on the field do you think looks the prettiest?"

Yun Ye had no desire to answer such a question. He brushed it off, saying, "Everyone has different aesthetics, I guess."

"Then which girl here fits your aesthetic the most?"

Yun Ye lifted his eyes and tossed out a name without missing a beat: "Yin Yunyi."

Other boys had directed that question at her before, but none of them carried the impact of Yun Ye's answer. Even though she hadn't exerted herself physically, she felt as though a light sheen of sweat had broken out all over her body.

"Do you think Yin Yunyi looks better with her hair tied up or worn down?"

Yun Ye let out an "ah," rocking his chair back and forth with his back leaning against the backrest, his eyes curving into a sunny smile. "I've never seen what she looks like with her hair down." When the others refused to let him off the hook, he added offhandedly after a moment, "Down, I suppose."

The girl sitting next to her teased, "Yunyi, you're blushing!"

A wave of nervousness washed over Yin Yunyi, but outwardly she maintained her composure as she met Yun Ye's gaze. "It's a bit hot out," she excused herself. "I'm going to the snack shop."

Standing in front of the snack shop, Yin Yunyi let out a sigh of relief, rejoicing that she hadn't given herself away.

She wanted to buy an ice cream cone, but the shop only accepted cash or online payments. Since Yin Yunyi only had money on her student ID card, she abandoned the idea.

The sports meeting's award bulletin board stood nearby. She paused there, scanning the rows of names for a moment until she found Yun Ye's.

Suddenly, Yun Ye's voice rang out beside her: "Did you see my name?"

Even though she had already spotted it, Yin Yunyi instinctively denied it. "I didn't... Where is it?"

"Right here." The boy stepped forward and pointed directly at his own name. Yin Yunyi looked at his face for a few seconds, then shifted her dazed gaze back to the two characters for Yun Ye on the notice board.

"I bought too many, you can have this." Yun Ye handed her the ice cream cone in his hand. Before she could process it, she reached out and took it. Biting into a popsicle and holding the stick with his hand, Yun Ye flicked it toward her and said, "I'm heading back."

"......"

Yin Yunyi's gaze followed the boy's receding back before shifting down to the cherry-blossom-flavored ice cream cone in her hands.

She couldn't wrap her head around how someone this good-looking could possibly exist in this world.

Yet, her strict upbringing from a young age forced Yin Yunyi to bury this deep affection firmly within her heart.

Perhaps, Yin Yunyi thought, much like Xu Yao's experience, this crush was merely a fleeting wave of youthful ignorance.

It would soon fade away.

A few days later, her family informed Yin Yunyi that Yin Yucheng's job had been transferred to Xifu City, meaning she would have to transfer schools.

Upon hearing this news, the very first thing that popped into Yin Yunyi's mind was the boy who had awakened her romantic inclinations.

Unable to keep her emotions in check, she broke down and cried upon hearing the news.

Since Yin Yunyi's temperament was usually gentle and steady, Yin Yucheng had no idea what had happened for a moment and rushed to comfort her.

After taking a good while to calm down, she sniffled and said, "The school over there isn't as good as this one. I need to get into a good university."
Zhen Yucheng chuckled aloud. "With our Yiyi's stellar junior high entrance exam scores, your older brother has already helped you secure a spot at the best high school in Nanwu."

"I won't be used to the food over there."

"Mom and Dad are moving over too. We'll have them cook Xifu dishes for you."

"I haven't finished my cram school courses yet."

"Your brother will transfer your cram classes to Nanwu."

Yin Yunyi kept trying to push back: "All my friends are here."

Yin Yucheng comforted her, "Your brother knows you're reluctant to leave your friends behind, but our Yiyi will make brand new friends at the new school."

"B-But......"

Yin Yunyi's voice choked up.

Over all these years, she had only ever crossed paths with a single boy like Yun Ye.

She kept wiping away her tears. With both her parents and her brother leaving Xifu City, she wasn't going to throw a selfish tantrum and obstruct the move simply because of her hazy, unrequited crush.

Even so, she was heartbroken.

She would never get to see Yun Ye again.

Yin Yunyi told Xu Yao the news of her transfer. Word spread quickly, and classmates she had spent over a year getting along with came over one after another to bid her farewell, many handing her parting gifts.

Except for Yun Ye.

For a young girl, a budding affection she intended to keep sealed away forever without ever letting the other person know.

On the day she left the school, mindful of her emotional state, Yin Yucheng personally came to pick her up. Yin Yunyi walked quietly along the path, and as they drew near the basketball court, she heard the sound of footsteps and a bouncing basketball.

Catching a glimpse of that familiar figure, Yin Yunyi paused in her tracks.

Yin Yucheng asked her, "What's wrong?"

She shook her head and walked on with her head down.

"Yin Yunyi—"

From far away, she heard Yun Ye's voice echoing across the empty playground.

Yin Yunyi immediately spun around. Yun Ye was standing by the edge of the basketball court, too far away for her to read his expression clearly, yet she was utterly certain he was looking at her.

Tens of seconds later, that tall, lean figure raised a hand and waved at her.

She whispered under her breath, "Let's go."

Her smooth, soft hair fluttered gently in the breeze.

This was the first time she had ever worn her hair down at school. Perhaps it had merely been a joke spoken out of youthful ignorance on his part, but she had taken it to heart.

She wanted Yun Ye to see her.

...

At Nanwu High School, Yin Yunyi sat in a single-row seat by the window. She had no deskmate—only the sunlight of Nanwu keeping her company.

She would occasionally stare blankly out the window, remembering how back in junior high, if she glanced out toward the courtyard, she could see Yun Ye dribbling and running across the basketball court downstairs.

She didn't own a cell phone, and her family strictly limited her internet access. During her few precious minutes online over the weekend, she would open QQ and stare at Yun Ye's primitive penguin avatar, utterly at a loss for what message to send.

She gradually adapted to the new school, her life falling into an unchanging routine.

Until she received a postcard mailed all the way from Xifu Experimental Middle School.

At a single glance, Yin Yunyi recognized Yun Ye's handwriting. The postcard contained no information concerning him personally, telling her only: [The class prepared a birthday gift for you and asked Yun Ye's sister to bring it over to Nanwu City. Yin Yunyi, happy birthday.]

When Yin Yunyi accepted the gift from Yun Li's hands and saw those neat, crisp characters written across the box—[—To Yin Yunyi]—she recognized Yun Ye's handwriting instantly.

Her heart pounded like thunder, and she stole a nervous glance at Yin Yucheng.

Once home, Yin Yunyi took the box back to her bedroom and carefully unwrapped it.

Inside a transparent spherical glass globe sat pristine white and pale pink cherry blossoms.

Noticing tiny specks of starlight glistening upon the petals, she switched off the light and saw that they were coated in white fluorescent powder. The preserved flowers glowed faintly on her desk.

Staring at the gift, Yin Yunyi's thoughts drifted to the boy far away.

Perhaps she was fortunate; at least the person she liked was the one behind preparing all of this.

At first, Yin Yunyi assumed it was sheer coincidence, until she realized that every single one of the frequent postcards arriving in the mail bore Yun Ye's handwriting.

Yin Yucheng caught onto it even sooner. Seeing that Yin Yunyi still hadn't come clean to him, he waved the stack of postcards in front of her and asked, "Does your old class have someone specifically assigned to write letters to you?"

Yin Yunyi offered him the same gentle smile without answering.
Zin Yucheng proved far more perceptive than she had anticipated. Pulling up a chair beside her, while his pen moved steadily across his workbook, he observed Yin Yunyi's calm expression and asked offhandedly, "Does this little boy like you?"

The lead of her pencil snapped in half.

Feigning composure, Yin Yunyi tapped the tip of her mechanical pencil and replied, "What?"

"His name's Yun Ye, right?" Yin Yucheng continued probing. The hand holding the pencil on the workbook froze. Resigning herself to her fate, Yin Yunyi lowered her head. "Ge, please don't tell Mom and Dad."

"Still, this isn't a good idea," Yin Yucheng said, turning slightly more serious. "We need to treat other people's feelings with sincerity. If we don't feel the same way about someone, we should clearly reject them, otherwise it'll end up hurting them."

After staying silent for a brief moment, Yin Yunyi obediently replied, "I know."

"Then use the computer a bit longer this weekend and make things clear with him." Letting the matter drop, Yin Yucheng neatened up the postcards and placed them on her bookshelf.

"Mm," Yin Yunyi acquiesced obediently, lowering her head to continue her homework.

Over the weekend, Yin Yucheng extended her internet time to half an hour. When shutting down the computer later, Yin Yunyi forgot to perform the secondary confirmation, leaving the machine in standby mode.

Placing a fruit platter on her desk, Yin Yucheng asked gently, "Did you finish talking with him?"

Yin Yunyi: "Yes."

"Did the little boy take it hard?" Finding himself with time to spare, Yin Yucheng sat down in her room. Seeing she didn't answer, he added a moment later, "How did he react?"

"......"

Yin Yunyi was working on that exact college entrance examination practice workbook he had seen her use countless times. Raising her head, she glanced toward her bedroom door. "Ge, I don't have time right now."

Kicked out of the room by his younger sister, Yin Yucheng wandered back to the study with nothing to do. Noticing the host computer hadn't been powered down, he flicked on the screen and saw that Yin Yunyi's account was still logged in.

Worried her wording might have been harsh, Yin Yucheng opened up her chat window to take a look. It was a conversation from that afternoon.

yyy: [Yun Ye]

yy: [?]

Yun Ye had replied instantly. Yin Yunyi had spent ages pondering her next line before sending it.

yyy: [What are you doing?]

yy: [Doing the 5-Year College Entrance Examination book. You?]

yyy: [I'm doing it too. Which book are you working on, and how far along are you?]

yy: [The Chinese one, Classical Chinese test point 4.]

yyy: [Oh, I'm going to go work on that then.]

Half an hour later.

yy: [Bye-bye.]

Judging purely by the nicknames, Yin Yucheng could barely tell who was who: one used a primitive male penguin avatar, while the other mirrored it with an equally innocent primitive female penguin avatar.

Speechless for a moment, Yin Yucheng immediately deduced the truth—the two of them were harboring mutual feelings for one another.

He shut down the computer and never brought the matter up to Yin Yunyi again.

This was the first time Yin Yunyi had ever lied to her family.

She had no idea she could lie with such an unblushing expression.

Yin Yunyi couldn't pinpoint the exact reason why she had done it.

She thought of the scenes she used to witness walking into the classroom over the past few years: Yun Ye lounging lazily across his desk, one arm stretched out in front of him as he absentmindedly clicked a ballpoint pen back and forth.

She thought of him looking wild and unbridled on the basketball court, leaning against his knees to catch his breath after sinking a basket, occasionally glancing upward as though searching for her in the crowd.

She thought of their five years of familiarity masking unfamiliarity, where they would bicker like normal peers while maintaining a basic distance between boy and girl.

Yun Ye and she had never truly grown close; the closest they ever came to touching was when their fingers brushed as she handed him an eraser.

Back then, Yin Yunyi had assumed it was a one-sided heart-flutter of her own.

Until those stacks of postcards arrived from the boy.

Every single word attempted to conceal his true feelings, yet every single word betrayed them completely.

As it turned out, her crush wasn't one-sided after all.

And so, normally obedient and honest as she was, she chose to lie to her family about this one thing.

Using her own quiet method, she carefully safeguarded this tender, newly sprouted romance.

With both of them facing the college entranceexaminations, Yin Yunyi didn't act rashly to pierce through the veil of their feelings.

Yet she had no intention of letting the boy bear the emotional burden entirely on his own either.

She made up an excuse to borrow ten yuan from Yin Yucheng; he saw right through it without exposing her and handed her the money anyway.

At the Nanwu High School convenience store, Yin Yunyi picked out a set of attractive postcards.

After hesitating for a long time, she still wrote at the very beginning—[To the classmates of Class 15, Grade 2].

It wasn't until Yun Ye rushed over to Nanwu during the winter break and Yin Yunyi saw the boy face-to-face that she conveyed her feelings to him in the most obscure yet sincerest way possible.

She gave Yun Ye a gift, labeling it in the exact same manner—[To Yun Ye].

For the period that followed, to prevent her parents from finding out, Yin Yunyi mailed postcards to "Class 15, Grade 2" and "Class 15, Grade 3" for a year and a half, borrowing ten-yuan bills from her brother countless times. She could finally sign her own real name to her letters, while Yun Ye had to keep using the class designation as a placeholder.

Yin Yunyi's grades lagged slightly behind Yun Ye's, but she made a pact with him to get into Western University of Science and Technology together. She stopped going on holiday trips with Yin Yucheng, pouring every ounce of her energy into exam preparation.

Fortunately.

She earned admission to her dream university just as she wished.

And she earned the right to attend the exact same university alongside Yun Ye just as she wished.

Once the college entrance examinations concluded, Yin Yunyi truthfully informed Yin Yucheng of her plan to attend the same university and major as Yun Ye.

Fearing her brother might lecture her about being boy-crazy, she was surprised when he simply cast a few meaningful glances at his younger sister, took a sip of a crisp, fizzy soda, and said with a hint of melancholy, "I want a campus romance too."

Yin Yunyi: "......Ge, you're already twenty-eight."

"Does a twenty-eight-year-old old man not deserve a campus romance?" Yin Yucheng muttered gloomily. "Can you ask your little boyfriend to come give your brother some pointers?"

"We aren't even dating yet," Yin Yunyi retorted immediately.

"Back then, our Yiyi was the one sleeping on a hospital's iron bench for her little boyfriend," Yin Yucheng teased. Yin Yunyi's face flushed red, yet she showed no hesitation in admitting, "I was willing to do it."

She was willing to do many things for Yun Ye, just as she knew full well Yun Ye would do the same for her.

After the acceptance letter from the Western University of Science and Technology arrived, her family bought Yin Yunyi a smartphone as a gift.

Every single day, Yin Yunyi used that phone to send messages to Yun Ye.

The summer vacation following the college entrance exams was agonizingly long. Every day, Yin Yunyi previewed her university coursework in her room, unable to find any pretext to ask her parents for permission to visit Xifu.

She noticed that the two phrases she wrote down most frequently on paper were—

[Yun Ye]

[So bored]

Reciting the two words together in her mind for no particular reason, the person far away suddenly seemed to spring to life. Staring at the words she had absentmindedly penned, she couldn't help laughing out loud to herself.

Perhaps he was just as bored out of his mind at home; maybe he was thinking of her too, wishing to see her.

That was the day she received a phone call from Yun Ye—

"I've come to Nanwu.”