Zhu Xingyan had been completely out of contact with the outside world for forty eight hours.
Director Zhang Xunli was extremely strict about the filming requirements. Most scenes needed to be shot on location. The production team had searched again and again before finally finding this spot that perfectly matched the image in his mind.
Deep in the primitive forest on the southwest border, the entire crew entered and immediately lost all connection with the outside world. Every signal vanished. They relied solely on satellite calls to maintain basic needs.
Zhu Xingyan had taken several days off because of the college entrance exam, which made the filming schedule especially tight. The moment the plane landed, every minute and every second was used for shooting. It was like a tightly wound gear, turning under constant pressure.
He only got his phone back and turned it on several days later.
There was no signal in the mountains. Only after coming out did the phone receive the base station signal. The battery had already run out and shut down. Once it was fully charged and turned on, the phone was flooded with all kinds of messages.
Greetings and concerns from family and friends, work related follow ups, and various news media notifications.
He quickly skimmed through them, replied to a few, and while clearing unread chats, one message suddenly jumped into view.
「Moon」: 【Our class is having a graduation dinner tomorrow. Will you come?】
After several months, the yellow moon that had disappeared for so long reappeared in his chat box without any warning.
The surrounding noise seemed to vanish in an instant. Only the damp and slightly cool moisture remained.
Zhu Xingyan had no time to dwell on his feelings. His gaze swept over the message sending time — the evening two days ago.
His heart sank once again, bit by bit. He glanced at the date in the upper left corner. The graduation dinner had been the day before yesterday and was already over.
It took him a long time to gather his thoughts again. His fingertip slowly stroked the screen as he replied to the message, late.
「Star」: 【I was filming in the mountains with no signal. Sorry, I probably couldn’t have made it to the dinner anyway】
He sent it and waited almost anxiously. Fortunately, fate favored him.
The other side’s profile picture lit up and replied quickly.
「Moon」: 【It’s okay. Our dinner has already ended】
She followed up right away.
「Moon」: 【You focus on filming. We all watched your new movie. It’s really great】
「Moon」: 【Zhu Xingyan, I wish you will achieve your dreams soon and become the person you most want to be】
The two rather long sentences made Zhu Xingyan pause on what he had been typing. He did not get the chance to send “How did your exam go?” before she had already sent the closing words first.
「Moon」: 【I still have something to do, so I’ll log off now. Bye bye】
The yellow moon quietly turned gray before his eyes. Zhu Xingyan stared motionless at her profile picture going offline. His finger hovering over the screen froze. In the end, he slowly deleted everything he had typed in the input box.
He ultimately said nothing. Yet his gaze lingered for a long time on the now ended conversation, as if by doing so their time together could be extended.
Zhu Xingyan’s prolonged stillness while holding the phone caught Liu Yan’s attention. Following his gaze, Liu Yan glanced at the screen and saw the yellow moon opposite. Understanding flashed across his face, followed immediately by worry.
“Xiao Yan…” He began the same speech he had repeated countless times these past days, reluctant but firm. “You should know the current situation does not allow you to date. For an artist in their rising period, any romance rumor is fatal. Not to mention anything else, just look at the last made up news — how badly the girl was attacked online…”
“Stop talking. I’m not planning to date anyone.” Zhu Xingyan could not help frowning and cut him off. He lifted his face, his tone cold and sharp. “Even if I like her, she may not like me back. You don’t need to worry.”
He directly turned off his phone. The screen went completely black. The bathroom door beside him was pulled open. Moments later, cold water poured down over his head.
All restlessness and wild thoughts were washed away. His body was left with only quiet chill. Every emotion was sealed deep inside.
___
The living room at home was extremely lively at this moment.
Now that she had finished the college entrance exam, relatives from both sides of the family came over with their children to celebrate her rare long holiday.
It was a rare gathering. Song Qing was busy in the kitchen, while Zhao Siqian entertained the guests and asked Song Shiyue to play with her younger brothers and sisters. New chapters come out on novelping(.)com first.
Her aunt’s son was eight years old this year. He had zero interest in studying but was obsessed with online games. He was happily hugging the iPad and playing nonstop.
“Sister, I want to play QQ Speed.” Song Shiyue’s tablet was a new one bought this year. Electronic products had just gone through a new generation, creating a fresh trend among young people. Song Qing had also bought one for her, but Song Shiyue only used it to look up information and listen to English. She had not downloaded any games at all.
Hearing this, she took the tablet, found the app in the store, and installed it for him.
“Yay!” The little boy happily opened it, reached the login page, and handed it back for help.
“Sister, I need to log in to an account.”
She logged into her own QQ account on the tablet, bound it to the game, and let him in. The little boy jumped in excitedly and started playing. He was racing along when a new message suddenly popped up in the notification bar at the top.
His eyes paused for a second, but his hands kept operating the game. He mumbled, “Sister, someone called Star just sent you a message.”
“What?” Song Shiyue froze. She immediately opened her phone and logged into the app. Sure enough, in the chat list, that star icon had floated to the top.
The moment she clearly saw his reply, Song Shiyue first let out a breath of relief — so he had not deliberately ignored her. Then, just as quickly, she was overwhelmed by her own anxiety and overthinking.
For a moment, she actually felt a little disgusted with herself for sinking into this kind of emotion.
In this short period of time, Song Shiyue had figured out a lot of things. Looking back calmly, the indulgence and wild thoughts she had let herself have a few days ago now seemed especially ridiculous.
Let it end here.
This long farewell should also come to its conclusion.
It was as if she had never gone through countless twists of hesitation and sleepless nights. As if nothing had ever happened. Just like every ordinary chat before, she sent a message and ended the conversation.
Zhu Xingyan, may your future be filled with blooming flowers and smooth paths all the way.
I will stop here first.
Song Shiyue did not wait for any further reply from him.
She logged out of the account.
She turned off her phone, suddenly feeling tired and wanting to hide in her room.
Outside, the house was noisy and lively. The adults chatted, the children were fully absorbed in their games, and the sounds of talking, television, and game effects mixed together. Then, all at once, everything seemed to be muted.
She pulled the blanket over her head and slowly felt a dull, slow ache.
Song Shiyue’s QQ account had been borrowed by her little cousin. He was still too young to have registered his own account and had recently become deeply addicted to QQ Speed. That day, before leaving after dinner, he had clung to her tablet and refused to let go, reluctant to part with it.
Only when Song Shiyue offered to lend him her account did he jump up happily and skip out the door with light, joyful steps.
She suddenly felt a little envious. Children’s happiness was so simple.
After the college entrance exam ended, the long holiday brought a sudden sense of disorientation.
Years of waking up early for study had already set her biological clock. Even on vacation, she still woke up very early every day. With no homework to do, an inexplicable emptiness followed.
This state lasted only a few days. Song Shiyue quickly adjusted. She started getting up early every morning to run with Song Qing, downloaded English materials online to practice, and even took advantage of the holiday to learn swimming and driving. On the day she got her driver’s license, she could not help posting an update.
Zhou Zongbai commented underneath.
【Extremely impressive Song Shiyue】
Since the day they had cleared the air between them, the two had kept a gentleman’s friendship. They would occasionally like or interact on posts online, but they almost never chatted privately again.
Song Shiyue replied to him with a smiling-face emoji and exited the page.
At the end of June, the college entrance exam scores were released.
As expected yet somewhat unexpected, she had done even better than anticipated. Her score was more than twenty points higher than her usual mock exam results. Admission was now a sure thing. Teachers and friends all sent her congratulatory messages. Song Shiyue sat in front of the computer, staring at the score, still somewhat unable to come back to her senses. The long-awaited result had suddenly appeared before her eyes, like the gift she had longed for in her childhood dreams finally placed in her hands. Visit novelping . com for the full chapter.
She held it cherishingly and filled in her ideal university in the application column.
With this, fate had come full circle. The dream she had as a child was realized by her today.
Song Shiyue felt a lightness she had never experienced before, yet she also carried another kind of weight. She still had a longer and farther road ahead, about to face new unknown challenges.
The latter half of the holiday was as busy as if she had returned to the time before the college entrance exam.
After the admission notice arrived at home, Song Shiyue joined the freshman group. A counselor was sharing school-related materials inside. She logged onto the official website, looked up past years’ course lists, and began preparing to study in advance.
In the bottom right corner, the green icon flashed. Zhou Zongbai had sent her a message.
【Do you want to go to registration together when school starts? It’s not very safe for a girl to go alone.】
During the period when the college entrance exam scores were released, Zhou Zongbai’s name was mentioned frequently. He was the top science scorer in Fan City. Every time one passed by Fan City No.1 High School, they could see the large red banner hanging outside with his name prominently displayed in the middle.
Late one night before filling in their applications, he suddenly messaged her. He was planning to apply to Tsinghua University and asked if she had changed her target.
Song Shiyue replied that she had not.
He sent back a smiling-face emoji.
【Then for the next four years, please guide me well.】
This year, everyone started using a new chatting app — WeChat.
The class created a new group on WeChat. Everyone added each other’s new contacts. The sharing of QQ Space updates gradually began shifting toward WeChat Moments.
Song Shiyue’s QQ account was still frequently logged into by her little cousin to play games. Sometimes she was slow to check messages, so she also registered a WeChat account, and their chatting slowly moved over there.
Seeing the invitation sent by Zhou Zongbai, she barely hesitated and politely declined.
【My mom and dad are planning to send me there. Sorry about that.】
The other side replied quickly as well.
【Haha, okay. As expected, girls need to be pampered. Someone like me is just left to fend for himself at home.】
Followed by a bitter expression emoji.
She could not help smiling and sent him a comforting reply.
There was still the last small half month left of summer vacation. Her little cousin suddenly had not sent any requests to log into the account for a long time. Song Shiyue found it strange. She glanced at the date and simply assumed his family had ordered him to stop because school was about to start and he needed to catch up on homework.
Until two days later, she suddenly needed to log into QQ for something. She entered the password, but it suddenly prompted an error — login failed.
She was stunned for a moment and quickly called her aunt to ask.
Her little cousin was called over to take the phone. After asking just a couple of questions, he hesitantly revealed the truth. It turned out he had argued and made enemies with someone in the game, and the other party got angry and had his account hacked.
Song Shiyue was caught between laughter and tears. She dealt with a few apologetic words from her aunt. Not long after, she heard the little cousin’s miserable crying from the other end.
She did not say much more, hung up the phone, and could not help feeling relieved in her heart. Good thing all her classmates had re-added each other on WeChat.
Thinking of this, a name that had been placed in the corner for a long time surfaced. A dull pain came over Song Shiyue’s heart, very much like that afternoon when she had hidden under the blanket.
She inexplicably stared into space, lost in thought for a long time, until the sunlight from the window grille moved and shone on the back of her hand, bringing a burning sensation to her skin.
Song Shiyue suddenly came back to her senses. Regret and relief appeared at the same time, as if heaven was making the decision for her.
She could not help smiling a little, then quickly returned to normal. She exited the app and did not try to log in again.