Chapter 40: Girlfriend

This light rain continued without end.

Both of their hair strands were dampened by the misty rain. Their eyelashes were moist, as if filled with water vapor.

Passers by nearby hurried past. Some opened their hands and spun in circles in the rain. Some companions linked arms and happily stepped on water splashes.

Some people tightly embraced each other on the unfamiliar foreign street.

Song Shiyue’s eyes were slightly red. Trembling, she had just uttered a single word: “Yes.”

She was immediately pulled into the embrace of the young man in front of her, who firmly held her shoulders.

The rain water was cold, but the body pressed tightly against hers was scorching hot. The hard shoulder bones under the boy’s clothes pressed heavily against her chin.

Breathing became disordered. Heartbeats pounded intensely and intertwined. Everything around seemed to sink into a wet seabed. At this moment, in the world, only the two of them remained.

Neither let go first. Time seemed to have pressed the pause button. Passers by could not help but feel curious. With smiles on their faces, they watched this pair of Eastern faced lovers embracing in the rain.

It was not until the burning surge of emotions gradually calmed down that Song Shiyue moved first. She buried her face in his shoulder, and her voice came out muffled: “Zhu Xingyan, let go of me first.”

She sensed the person in front of her pause for a moment before slowly releasing his hands. As if reluctant to part, his dark black eyes still quietly and affectionately gazed at her.

Song Shiyue could not quite bear this kind of gaze. It felt like some kind of soft and sticky sweet dessert, leaving a fragrant aroma between her lips and teeth.

She unconsciously swallowed and reminded him softly: “Do not keep standing in the rain. You will catch a cold.”

“Okay.” His Adam’s apple rolled. He responded gently, his voice inexplicably carrying a trace of hoarseness. His gaze still fixed on her.

“Then I will send you back to school first.” After Zhu Xingyan finished speaking, just as he was about to turn around, he thought of something. He turned back and took her hand.

Their ten fingers interlocked, and the warmth between their fingers pressed together.

Song Shiyue’s face instantly turned red. Even the rain water could not cool it down.

The distance from here to school was only a short stretch of road, but the rain did not stop. Their thin clothes gradually became soaked.

When they passed a shop by the roadside, Song Shiyue saw through the vintage display window the umbrellas hanging inside. There was a dark green long handled umbrella hanging on the shelf. She picked it up and took it to the cashier. Zhu Xingyan took out his wallet first to pay.

The two of them walked under the umbrella. This casually bought umbrella was wide and heavy, perfectly blocking the wind and rain outside. Their steps became unhurried, slowly walking through the misty drizzle.

“Do you remember, the first time we met, you gave me an umbrella, a black one.” Under the umbrella Song Shiyue looked up at him, her eyes dark and moist.

“I remember. Later you left that umbrella at the noodle shop and asked the owner to give it to me.” Zhu Xingyan lowered his eyes and looked at her.

“And later, on the day we met Lai Fu, you gave me the umbrella again.”

“This time, I did not return it to you.” Song Shiyue quietly looked at him. There was a smile in her eyes that slowly spread and curved upward from the corners of her lips.

“Later, I carried that umbrella from the bustling city to the capital city. I used it for many years.”

He paused in his steps, as if something had occurred to him. The fingers gripping the umbrella handle tightened uncontrollably, and disbelief rose in his eyes.

“In the year of high school graduation, I did not deliberately lose contact with you. But after my account was stolen, I intentionally did not try to get it back. I thought that after graduation, our classmate relationship had ended, and it was time for my dream to wake up as well.”

“Until I came back during last year’s winter vacation and found in the drawer the English poetry collection you had borrowed that year. Inside it, I saw the concert ticket you had placed in the middle.” Song Shiyue’s eyes grew quietly moist, the corners slightly red, yet she still smiled.

“Zhu Xingyan, so I gathered the courage again to find you once more. Fortunately you had not left and were still waiting for me in the same place.”

The dark green umbrella overhead fell to the ground. Zhu Xingyan could not hold back and pulled her tightly into his arms again. Dampness brushed against her neck; it was unclear whether it was rain water or something else.

“Song Shiyue…” His body trembled lightly. His throat tightened as he called her name.

“You little fool, you blockhead. Something as obvious as me liking you and you could not even see it.”

“The milk was specially brought to school for you. The hair clip was bought specifically for you. I wanted you to come watch my concert, so I invited the entire class. The last time I went to school before the holiday was also because I wanted to see you one more time.”

“Are you a wooden brain? How could anyone stand next to a blazing fire and not feel even a trace of warmth? I was almost burned dry by it.”

Details she had deliberately ignored in the past were now stirred up and surfaced one by one by his words. What she once thought were coincidences or accidents had all been intentional. He was right. How could anyone stand next to a blazing fire and not feel even a trace of warmth?

It was her own fault for undervaluing herself and having an elm wood head.

“I am sorry… Zhu Xingyan.” Her eyes were also unbearably red. She held back with all her strength to keep the tears from falling. The girl’s red eyes and red nose as she looked at him and apologized looked inexplicably pitiful. Zhu Xingyan had long since run out of room to blame her. He simply picked up the umbrella from the ground and once again shielded her from the wind and rain.

This time he held her hand firmly and tightly.

“Then you hold my hand tightly now and do not let go again.” The boy’s voice was steady as he issued the warning. Only the lingering red at the corners of his eyes revealed the unrest in his heart.

The road that usually felt very long was walked to its end in the blink of an eye. The rainy night was damp and the mist was thick. Zhu Xingyan sent her to the entrance of the dormitory building but did not go up.

They had just bared their hearts to each other, and now they had to part again. Song Shiyue held his hand and did not let go for a long time.

In the end it was still Zhu Xingyan who motioned for her to go upstairs.

“You got wet earlier. Hurry up and take a hot shower so you do not catch a cold.”

“Then you…” She hesitated, looking at him. As if he could read her thoughts, Zhu Xingyan raised his hand and gently stroked her head — this time openly and without any need to suppress or restrain his desire.

“Go back and sleep first. We will talk about tomorrow’s matters tomorrow.” He smiled at her reassuringly.

Song Shiyue found it almost impossible to fall asleep that night.

Her mind felt as if it were playing a slideshow, flashing through scene after scene from high school days to everything that had happened tonight. Memories crossed and overlapped, and her emotions rose and fell like a roller coaster.

Until the phone placed beside her pillow flashed gently.

She felt something in her heart and quickly picked it up and opened it.

It was a message from Zhu Xingyan, short and simple.

【Go to sleep soon. Good night.】

She slightly curved the corners of her lips. The miscellaneous thoughts in her heart seemed to dissipate instantly. Song Shiyue turned off her phone, closed her eyes, and a slow, drowsy sleepiness gradually washed over her.

The next day, while checking in for her flight, the airport staff informed her that someone had upgraded her seat. Song Shiyue found her seat according to the number on her ticket. When she saw Zhu Xingyan sitting beside her, she finally understood the deeper meaning behind his words when they parted last night.

The teachers and classmates were all in another cabin. She was the only one seated at the very front, sitting alone with him, separated only by a simple armrest.

“…Why are you here?” Song Shiyue felt she had asked an obvious question. Her face showed slight embarrassment. This flight to another continent would take a full seven hours, which was not exactly an enjoyable journey.

“I happened to be free. It seems our fate is very deep.” The boy stood up to let her in, allowing Song Shiyue to sit inside. His words carried a few traces of teasing, yet his expression remained proper and serious.

“………What a coincidence that our seats are right next to each other.” She was a bit at a loss for words and could only sit down following his gesture.

“A match made by heaven.” The person in front of her answered with a straight face.

“…………” She fell completely silent.

“Alright, I will stop teasing you. I happen to have two days off, so I will accompany you on the flight there.” Zhu Xingyan returned to his usual calm demeanor, though the lightness in his brows and eyes could not be hidden.

“But it is going to be a very long flight.” Song Shiyue said softly, worry appearing on her face. “It will be tiring.”

“How could I ever feel tired when I am with my girlfriend?”

…Girlfriend.

Song Shiyue’s face turned red from his sudden term of endearment. Only then did she fully realize their current relationship. They were now… officially a couple.

Just this realization alone made the air around her feel stiflingly warm.

The person in the seat seemed to shrink into a little quail, keeping her head down and silent. Only her slightly red, fair earlobes revealed her thoughts. Zhu Xingyan stopped teasing her and simply picked up the blanket from the seat to cover her properly.

“The air conditioning is cold. Do not catch a chill.”

A long haul flight is never an easy thing. On the flight when she left the country, Song Shiyue had already experienced what could be called torture. However this time, perhaps because Zhu Xingyan was beside her, time passed faster than ever before.

Song Shiyue fell asleep. When she woke up, the entire cabin had already darkened. At some point she had leaned her head on Zhu Xingyan’s shoulder. The boy was wearing earphones, and a silent movie was playing on the screen in front of him. The faint changing light and shadows flickered. The only sound in the entire cabin was the subtle humming of the flight.

She had just moved slightly when the person in front noticed. Zhu Xingyan instinctively reached out to protect her head. He turned his face, eyelashes lowered: “Awake?”

“Yes.” They were extremely close. Song Shiyue felt a bit uncomfortable. She lifted her head from his shoulder, sat up straight, rubbed her eyes, and asked in a muffled voice,

“How long did I sleep…”

“Only a little over an hour. Do you want to sleep some more?” His tone was gentle. For some reason, Song Shiyue seemed to hear a trace of expectation in his words. She shook off the strange association in her mind and shook her head.

“No more sleep. I am awake.”

“Then shall we watch a movie?” He invited her by handing over one earphone.

Song Shiyue took it. When she looked at the screen, she realized the movie was familiar.

It was the movie released in his third year of high school.

Startling Spring’s Death.

Later, it was also with this movie that he swept all the major and minor awards in the country.

“Why are you suddenly watching this movie…” Song Shiyue hesitated. In her impression, Zhu Xingyan rarely watched his own movies. The DVDs collected at home were all various representative works from home and abroad, including quite a few niche films.

“I suddenly remembered that this movie was released right during the third year of high school.”

She looked at his gaze, as if understanding something, and smiled slowly. She explained: “I went to see it. I went to the cinema alone on a weekend.”

A soft sigh came from beside her ear. In the dim and blurry light, Zhu Xingyan gazed at her: “You watched it and did not say anything to me.”

“Actually… I wrote a film review for you.” Song Shiyue thought for a moment and told him honestly. Even now, recalling it, she still clearly remembered what she had written at the time.

The regret from that summer that had never been spoken aloud was now, at this moment, personally told to him face to face once again.

—“The movie was very good. You were amazing. Everyone is proud of you.”

“I heard it.” The boy responded with a smile.

“Classmate Song Shiyue, thank you for your encouragement. I will continue to work hard.”

“And, I am very happy that you came to watch my movie.”

The plane landed and the flight ended. Song Shiyue held Zhu Xingyan’s hand as they walked out of the airport passage together.

Outside the glass was brilliant, dazzling sunshine, exactly like the midsummer in her memory filled with endless cicada chirping.

The boy she had silently blessed in her heart back then was still shining with boundless radiance. The only difference was that he had stepped out from that dazzling world and come to her side.