When I Meet the Moon - Extra Chapter 4

Extra Finale (Part 1)

1.
After obtaining their marriage certificate, Yun Li and Fu Shize moved into their new home. Spending nearly a month on both online and offline shopping, they finally finished furnishing the entire place.

Once Yun Li finished her shower, she noticed two tickets placed on the table by Fu Shize. They were performance tickets reserved by the school for faculty members.

Not long after getting hitched, Yun Li still hadn't fully adapted to the transition in her identity.

Staring at the distinct characters "Dependent Ticket" printed across the top, she couldn't help but smile secretly.

Seized by a rare and intense urge to show off, Yun Li snapped a photo, opened her Moments, and spent a long time editing a post. But the moment she thought about how a flood of people would reply, her enthusiasm fizzled out. She backed out despondently and opened her chat window with Yun Ye instead: [Yun Ye, look at this. The school issued this to my husband.]

Yun Ye: [?]

Yun Li: [Don't you think you're super envious?]

Seemingly deciding that she was being childishly boring, Yun Ye simply left her message on read.

After the sound of running water in the bathroom ceased, Fu Shize used a towel to dry his hair and walked into the living room. Catching sight of Yun Li beaming as she clutched the two tickets, the corners of his lips curved upward as well. "For you."

Yun Li examined the tickets closely. "So I really am your legal dependent now."

"Mhm." Fu Shize sat down beside her, pulling her close in an affectionate embrace. "Help your dependent dry his hair."

As Yun Li wiped away the lingering droplets of water around his ears, the man's lips curled upward slightly. Up close, she could clearly make out his porcelain-white skin, and even the shape of his eye sockets seemed deeply etched into her heart.

She glanced back down at the text on the tickets, still finding it all utterly surreal. The object of her adolescent worship had, somewhere along the way, unexpectedly and unbreakably become the person she loved most.

Her phone rang. Fu Shize picked it up casually and answered, murmuring a couple of soft acknowledgments.

Sitting right beside him, Yun Li heard the booming, hearty laughter of a man coming through the phone: "Professor Fu! A few of us teachers are grabbing food and drinks outside right now, care to come join the fun?"

Fu Shize paused for a fraction of a second. "Let me ask my wife."

He lifted his eyelashes, gazing toward Yun Li with a calm tone: "My colleagues are inviting me out to dinner. May I go?"

Yun Li didn't think much of it. He had just joined the faculty, so receiving invitations was entirely normal. Even though it was already eight or nine o'clock at night, she nodded understandingly.

Fu Shize placed the phone back against his ear.

As Yun Li gently dried his hair, she heard him chuckle softly, his tone effortlessly natural: "My wife wants me to stay home and keep her company tonight. Let's make it next time."

"Understandable, totally understandable. We all know the person running your household keeps a tight leash on you, Professor Fu. But as men, we still have to fight for our domestic standing!"

Fu Shize: "Let me consult my wife's thoughts on that."

Yun Li: "......"

Passing the blame entirely onto Yun Li without a shred of guilt, Fu Shize felt the pressure of the towel on his hair lessen. His voice dropped to a low, husky register, laced with a faint, elusive amusement: "What's wrong?"

"A teacher in the WeChat group said you were henpecked the other day......" Yun Li had initially found it strange, especially since she barely had any interaction with them, but at last, she understood the origin of all those teasing remarks.

Fu Shize nodded, a few strands of damp hair falling across his forehead. "Am I not?"

The person before her still carried that frail, sickly grace, the contours of his collarbones sharp against his skin, his eyes carrying a hint of lingering moisture.

He pulled this exact same trick every single time.

Yet Yun Li found herself completely helpless against it, utterly unable to summon any genuine anger toward this man. She rubbed his hair a bit more vigorously, as if punishing him for his behavior, and huffed, "Nobody actually admits out loud that they're henpecked."

Fu Shize let out a long, low hum of amusement. Reaching a hand toward the side of his head, his fingers slid through the gaps between hers and interlocked with them.

Resting his chin on her shoulder, his voice grew soft and lingering: "Then I'll own up to it—"

"When it comes to you, your word is law."

On the day of the performance, Yun Li dressed up with extra care. As she sat at her vanity table braiding her hair, Fu Shize walked up behind her and gently pressed his hands onto her shoulders.

His long, slender fingers slowly wove through her hair, every single movement executed with the utmost care, terrified of accidentally hurting her.

Once the braid was finished, he retrieved the pair of translucent white pearl earrings from the mother-of-pearl box. Leaning in close until the tip of his nose lightly brushed against her cheek, he carefully fastened them onto her ears.

The sudden intimacy caused Yun Li's heart to skip a beat. Staring at Fu Shize's cool, pale cheek and his slightly drooping eyelashes, a flush spread across her face as she gave him a light, flustered shove.

"I can put them on myself......"

They still had to head out soon, after all.

Chuckling softly, Fu Shize bypassed her protest entirely. "No."

Just when Yun Li thought something more might happen, Fu Shize simply finished securing her earrings and pressed a gentle kiss to the curve of her ear.

She let out a sigh of relief, though a faint trace of disappointment flickered within her. Standing up, she smoothed down the collar of his shirt and asked, "Do you need a tie?"

Fu Shize deferred to her judgment. "You decide."

Yun Li looked him up and down, assessing his outfit—a crisp white shirt paired with dress trousers. Deliberately reaching out to undo the topmost button of his shirt, she smiled. "Let's skip the tie. Wearing one makes it feel like I'm dating a high schooler."

Throwing cold water on the mood, Fu Shize remarked deadpan, "I started high school when I was twelve."

"......"

Yun Li paused to mentally process that. Dating a twelve-year-old high schooler.

Yeah, that definitely crossed into beastly territory.

When they headed out, Fu Shize checked her outfit and instinctively pulled her shoes out to set them neatly on the floor—a habit that had become second nature to him.

Yin Li slipped into her shoes at a leisurely pace, and the two of them rode the elevator down to the garage. Fu Shize pulled open the passenger-side door for her; his tall, upright posture, combined with the stark contrast of his white shirt against his fair skin, made his facial features appear even more striking.

Upon arriving at the venue, Yun Li linked her arm through his and quietly accompanied him inside.

They were practically the only couple dressed in formal attire at the entire event.

Dressing up formally for a simple date—Yun Li didn't find it the least bit excessive.

After all, dressing up elaborately during romance infuses every single date with a sense of ceremony, chasing after the warmth of romance and fluttering hearts.

Even after marriage, that same romance could still thrive.

She traced a small heart into the palm of Fu Shize's hand, feeling a thin film of sweat break out across his warm palm.

She thought to herself—even after marriage, hearts could still race just the same.


2.

Delaying for a full half-year, Yun Li finally uploaded her bridal shop vlog to Station B. Once the update went live, she stretched her arms overhead, stood up, and strolled out to the living room.

Fu Shize was sitting in a white chair out on the balcony.

During the home renovation, they had converted the large balcony into a garden terrace, packing it with potted plants and creeping vines. A small round table and two chairs completed the setup; whenever the weather was nice, they would sit out there together under the sunlight to read.

He was wearing a silk pajama top, though he hadn't bothered buttoning most of it. Hearing her approach, he lifted his gaze away from his book, his thick, pitch-black eyelashes sweeping upward as he asked softly, "Done?"

"Mhm." Yun Li naturally settled herself onto his lap, hooked her arms around his neck, and smiled. "Did you wait a long time?"

"No." Fu Shize instinctively wrapped an arm around her waist.

Yun Li's gaze drifted down to his thin lips, and unable to resist, she pressed a dragonfly-light kiss against them before adding defensively, "Just compensation for you."

Looking thoughtful for a moment, Fu Shize replied, "I must have remembered wrong. I waited a very long time."

He brought his face closer to hers. "One isn't enough."

"......"

While Yun Li was busy putting on her makeup for her evening live stream, she noticed through the vanity mirror that Fu Shize, who had been reading by the bedside, frowned as he tapped on his phone before setting it back down on the nightstand.

Halting her handiwork, she turned around, resting her arms against the back of her chair. "What's wrong?"

Fu Shize: "Got into an argument with someone."

Finding it impossible to picture him arguing with anyone, Yun Li stared blankly for a long moment before asking, "Who?"

Fu Shize idly flipped a page of his book and replied offhand, "Someone who likes you."

That single sentence instantly put Yun Li on edge. Rapidly scanning her recent interactions with any male acquaintances in her mind and confirming she had no ambiguous entanglements with anyone, she asked, "Who are you talking about?"

"The person who left a comment for you."

Hearing that reply, Yun Li froze for a few seconds before pointing out, "The person leaving comments could just as easily be a girl."

Picturing the scene in her head, she couldn't help letting out a laugh. "You're getting jealous over a girl?"

"......"

Teased by her laughter, Fu Shize seemed to realize his own behavior had been somewhat childish, falling into a quiet silence.

Having finished teasing him, Yun Li offered, "I'm doing a live stream tonight, do you want to make an appearance?"

Judging by the tone of her voice, she clearly viewed him like a toddler who had lost a fight with someone, requiring Yun Li to come buy him a piece of candy to cheer him up.

Without a word, Fu Shize shook his head, picked up his book, and silently retreated to his corner.

Before starting the broadcast, Yun Li glanced through the comment section and finally understood what Fu Shize had meant by an 'argument.'

Ever since she posted her bridal shop vlog, the barrage comments and comment sections had been flooded with variations of the word 'Wife.' One user had even written: [Wife, wife, are you two getting married?]

Efe: [Mhm. Marrying me.]

Any fan who had followed Yun Li for a decent length of time knew the existence of the account 'Efe,' prompting a flurry of replies mocking him for being delusional, wishful-thinking, and daydreaming in broad daylight.

Scrolling down further, Yun Li saw that Fu Shize hadn't replied to any of them. His so-called argument sounded a lot more like getting collectively mocked by a crowd.

While this was standard for comment sections where fans bantered back and forth, right at that moment, Yun Li felt an overwhelming sense that Fu Shize had been deeply wronged.

Pondering how best to clear his name, Yun Li distractedly launched her live stream, and the viewer count rapidly crossed the ten-thousand mark.

After chatting with her fans for a bit, a viewer dropped a message in the stream: [Did a guy just walk past in the background behind Xianyu?]

That single sentence stirred up a storm. Other viewers chimed in immediately to confirm it. Feeling puzzled, Yun Li glanced backward over her shoulder, only to see Fu Shize still sitting quietly by the sofa, reading his book without moving an inch.

Shifting her gaze back to the camera lens, she looked somewhat perplexed: "You guys must be seeing things. Although......"

A figure strolled leisurely past behind her, and he even 'accidentally' dropped his book onto the floor. Snatching at the chat feed, fans began screaming in caps: [IT REALLY WAS A GUY!]

[Wuuu, my wife has been stolen!]

[Women are all liars, give me back my wife!]

[I'm done with early puppy love romances, unfollowing!]

Catching sight of these comments, Fu Shize tilted his head, casting a sidelong glance at a speechless Yun Li.

With absolute calm, he announced, "Wife, I dropped my book."

The moment the man's face appeared clearly within the frame, the live stream chat fell into absolute, stunned silence for several seconds.

[Damn it, why am I actually kind of digging this dynamic?]

After 'accidentally' strolling through the frame, Fu Shize ambled into the kitchen to pour Yun Li a glass of milk. While waiting for the microwave to heat it up, his phone vibrated.

A notification banner popped up: [Xianyu Dida Jiang replied to your comment~ Go check it out~]

Beneath that comment filled with replies mocking his delusions, two prominent badges now marked the content creator's official reply.

Xianyu Dida Jiang: [Mhm...... We actually did get married.]

Xianyu Dida Jiang: [From now on, he's exclusively her one and only wife ^^]