Song Shiyue was not entirely making excuses or finding pretexts.
During the rare long National Day holiday, Dali had arranged early on to come to the capital to visit her and do some sightseeing together.
Although she could already picture the crowded tourist spots, Song Shiyue still decided to “sacrifice herself to accompany the gentleman” for the flag-raising ceremony that Dali had sounded so excited about on the phone.
Xu Mi and Bai Jia had already started preparing early to see Zhu Xingyan. Over the weekend they went on a major shopping spree at the mall, bought piles of new clothes and skirts, and came back to try them on.
Bai Jia even went out specially to get her hair done. She looked completely refreshed from head to toe and no longer had her usual sloppy senior-student appearance. While walking on the street she even got asked for her WeChat by a junior boy.
She had been smug about it for quite a while. But when National Day arrived as scheduled, two days before the holiday her advisor suddenly contacted her online and asked her to join an industry summit together.
This counted as a form of extracurricular practice — acting as interpreter beside the teacher. It was a very valuable opportunity to accumulate experience.
Besides, the other party was her primary supervising instructor. She did not have the courage to refuse. If she were found out making excuses to skip it and run off to see a celebrity instead, Bai Jia would have no future in the school for the next three years.
The night she received the message, she wailed, cried, and roared in front of the computer. She drafted and redrafted refusal replies, banging her forehead against the desk again and again. After several rounds of unwilling and painful struggle, she finally lifted her head numbly, hair disheveled and eyes blank, and accepted reality.
Her fingers moved across the keyboard like a zombie. Bai Jia replied with a cheerful “Received!” and a cute handshake emoji sticker.
The moment the message was sent, she turned around like a grieving widow and looked at her two roommates. Trembling, she pulled open her desk drawer, took out the precious premiere ticket she had carefully kept between the pages of a thick book, and held it out to Song Shiyue with a mournful face.
“Shiyue~~” Her voice was a ghostly, sorrowful whimper. “It really is fate~~~”
Fate seemed impossible to grasp.
Song Shiyue had never expected that after all the twists and turns she would still end up with the ticket. What was even more coincidental was that the very next day Dali stood her up.
The girl cried and apologized on the other side of the screen, frantically sending little bowing apology emojis.
【Wuwuwuwuwuwu Moon I’m so sorry, our class suddenly organized a National Day trip together to Gulangyu to see the sea. It wouldn’t look good if I skipped alone… so… wuwu! I’ll definitely make it up to you next time!!!】
Song Shiyue stared at her phone for a moment, stunned. All kinds of complicated emotions surged up and churned inside her. Her heartbeat skipped two disobedient beats.
She had originally been thinking… if Dali came, she could use the excuse of accompanying her and naturally turn down the movie ticket.
But now, fate seemed to be pointing in the same direction, pushing her forward without allowing refusal.
On the day the movie was released, the capital — which had been sunny for many days — suddenly changed. From morning onward dark clouds gathered, showing clear signs of rain. Song Shiyue and Xu Mi left early. They reached the nearby mall by two in the afternoon, had lunch, and strolled around to aid digestion. The screening time was five o’clock, so they still had more than an hour.
Outside the mall the square was already packed with people.
They were all fans. Zhu Xingyan’s support color stood out the most, occupying more than half the square.
At some point the sky outside the glass completely darkened. Raindrops began to fall one by one. The fans did not hide or dodge. They stood in the rain, holding umbrellas, wearing raincoats, craning their necks toward the vehicle entrance with eager anticipation.
The movie tickets required early check-in for entry. Song Shiyue opened her umbrella and led Xu Mi over. The two of them sheltered under the large black umbrella, which completely blocked the wind and rain outside.
Xu Mi held her arm and looked at it a few times, then casually remarked, “Shiyue, you’ve been using this umbrella for a really long time.”
The capital rarely got rain, and most of it fell in summer. From her memory, ever since the start of freshman year Song Shiyue had always carried this same black umbrella on rainy days. She rarely let it leave her side and had never replaced it even after so long.
“I never lost it, so I just kept using it.” Song Shiyue smiled and spoke lightly, as if it were nothing special. But Xu Mi remembered one time when it rained. They were in the library. Song Shiyue had left the black umbrella leaning against the table leg. The two of them had only stepped out for a moment to get a cup of water. When they returned, the umbrella was gone.
At the time she had been so anxious her eyes almost turned red. She rushed out to the security office to check the surveillance. Before they could finish watching the footage, the library staff contacted them first. A classmate had accidentally borrowed the umbrella and forgotten to tell her. It had already been returned.
That day, Song Shiyue — who had never once raised her voice or turned red-faced at anyone — got angry for the first time. Her attitude was firm and uncompromising as she scolded the other person: “Taking something without asking is stealing. Please show more self-respect next time, classmate.”
The other party was a boy. His face flushed crimson. He stammered an apology, looking as if he wanted to bury his face in the ground.
Song Shiyue paid no attention to saving face. She took the umbrella back, carefully inspected it from top to bottom in front of everyone, and only then left without another word.
That day they had just finished a sudden oral interpreting exam. The topic had been very difficult — simultaneous interpretation of video footage of diplomats’ speeches at a United Nations conference. Everyone’s performance had been poor and scores were low. Even Song Shiyue, who always ranked first in the class, had received the lowest score in her entire academic history.
At the time Xu Mi had thought it was because she had done poorly on the exam, which put her in a bad mood.
Now, as the two of them reached the cinema entrance, when Song Shiyue folded her umbrella and took out a tissue to carefully wipe the water droplets from its surface, Xu Mi suddenly realized the truth. This story is hosted at g.com.
So that was why she cherished this umbrella so much.
“Shiyue, is this umbrella a gift from someone very important to you?” Inside the hall the small lights were on and people were entering one after another. Xu Mi leaned close to her and asked softly.
Their seats were ordinary ones in the back rows. They found them quickly and sat down. Only then did Song Shiyue explain in her usual calm way, “When you use something for a long time, you naturally develop feelings for it.”
“Okay.” Xu Mi shifted her attention away, adjusted her sitting posture, and looked forward at the big screen full of anticipation.
“I wonder when the main cast will enter. There were so many fans outside when we came in. I think Zhu Xingyan will probably avoid the crowd.”
“Would he sneak in while we’re watching the movie? The lights are all off, it’s pitch black, and then when the screening ends and the lights come on, I turn my head and he’s sitting right next to me?!” Xu Mi’s beautiful fantasy had not yet ended when the seat beside her moved. A couple sat down intimately together.
Her expression immediately turned unlucky. She turned her head wordlessly, stayed quiet for a few seconds, then seriously began discussing the movie plot with her.
“The Cliff seems like a serious drama. I wonder if the style will be boring… but just looking at Zhu Xingyan’s face I should be able to last two hours.”
Her words were slapped in the face the moment the movie began.
The first shot cut in was a deserted mountain-top cliff. The boy’s face was youthful, yet his eyes were silent and mature beyond his years. He quietly stared down at the bottom of the cliff. The sky was azure blue. A strong wind blew, lifting his shirt. The boy spread his arms and leaped.
The screen went black.
Beside her, Xu Mi got so scared she nervously grabbed her hand and shuddered. The next second the shot switched to a lively and prosperous urban village.
The boy opened his eyes and woke up from a simple bed.
The movie was a full two hours long, yet it felt like it passed in the blink of an eye. When the lights came on, Xu Mi was still savoring it, lingering over the plot. On the stage in front of the large screen, a line of people walked up.
In the center, the boy holding the microphone was none other than the male lead from the movie just now. He had shed the resolute expression from the film and now looked at the audience with a quiet smile. He greeted them warmly.
“Hello everyone, I am Zhu Xingyan.”
The moment his voice entered her ears, Song Shiyue’s heart trembled and she felt dazed. She could not remember how long it had been since she last heard his voice or saw him.
The entire theater was filled only with cheers and screams. Countless people clapped excitedly and shouted his name loudly.
“Zhu Xingyan——”
“Zhu Xingyan——”
“Zhu Xingyan——”
The waves of sound surged like a tide, overwhelming the boy at the center of the stage. The scene was somewhat out of control. The host quickly stepped in to manage the rhythm.
“Alright, alright, we know everyone is excited, but can we let the main cast finish their greetings first? Later our ‘Ji Wuming’ will interact with everyone more.”
The host emphasized the name of his character in the movie. The audience gradually quieted down. The boiling sea of people slowly calmed. Song Shiyue’s gaze stayed fixed on that spot. Slowly and quietly she relaxed her tense shoulders and back.
She breathed gently, hidden in the dim corner of the lights, gazing from a far distance at the person under the flashing lights in the center.
After nearly two years, seeing him again, the distance between them seemed even greater. From classmates sitting in the same classroom, they had become the protagonist on stage and the audience below.
The gap between them was now so vast it was hard to cross.
The meet-and-greet at the movie premiere was very short. From the moment they entered until they left, it lasted only a little over ten minutes. After the main cast finished sharing about their roles, there was a media interview segment followed by a brief audience interaction part.
The microphone mostly went to the front rows and only two or three lucky audience members were selected. One of the questions was completely unrelated to the movie.
The young male fan looked like a university student. Under the gaze of the entire audience, he held the microphone excitedly and nervously and asked loudly, “Zhu Xingyan! Are you into guys or girls? Are you still single right now?! Would you consider me or Chen Zhixun?!”
The whole theater burst into laughter. The senior actor and director sitting beside Zhu Xingyan looked at him with amused smiles. Faced with such a question while being watched by everyone, the boy maintained a calm and steady expression. He slightly pressed his lips together, and his voice came through the microphone.
“As for my relationship status, I said a long time ago that if I start dating someone, I will make it public.”
He had already answered the last question in his previous reply. Even when clarifying, his wording was gentle and appropriate.
I am heterosexual.
Not “My sexual orientation is normal.”
The premiere ended amid everyone’s reluctance to let it finish. The person who had just appeared before them felt like a brilliant yet brief dream in summer — gone before one could fully savor it.
As they walked out of the screening hall, Xu Mi looked dazed and absent-minded. Only the hand tightly gripping Song Shiyue’s arm revealed the unrest in her heart.
“My god, Zhu Xingyan in person is really like this. He looks so gentle and has such a good temper. His real-life features are so exquisitely beautiful it’s unreal, and his aura is incredible. It’s like… a deer running out from a dark forest before dawn when the mist hasn’t yet dispersed, quietly looking at you with those pitch-black eyes… mysterious and captivating.”
“I don’t know if my description is accurate. My brain is a bit overheated right now… I can’t control myself from rambling…” Xu Mi took Song Shiyue’s hand and placed it on her own chest. Her face was red and her eyes were moist as she stared at her seriously.
“Shiyue, feel this. Is my heart about to jump out?”
Song Shiyue only felt a handful of soft flesh. She tried to push away distracting thoughts and seriously felt it. Thump, thump. The heartbeat was violent. For a moment, she could not tell whether the sound was coming from Xu Mi or from herself.
Just as the two of them were about to exit the cinema, Xu Mi received a message from the friend who had given her the ticket. The other person had also just come out of the screening hall and had managed to get a signed item from Zhu Xingyan through connections. They had specially gotten one for her and planned to bring it over.
Xu Mi jumped up on the spot in excitement. Only after the thrill passed did she remember Song Shiyue beside her and feel a little embarrassed. “Shiyue… my friend probably can’t ask for too many…”
“It’s fine.” Song Shiyue answered with calm generosity and a gentle smile. “I was lucky once before and already got one a long time ago.”
“Really?! You never mentioned it!” Xu Mi looked ready to ask for every detail, but her friend’s rapid-fire messages kept bombarding her. She had to say goodbye in a hurry and leave, reminding Song Shiyue to be careful on the way back.
The distance from the cinema to school was quite far, and the taxi fare would be painfully expensive. Song Shiyue headed toward the nearby subway station. The road was slippery in the rain. She wore small leather shoes and was afraid the hem of her skirt would get wet, so she walked very carefully.
The street from the cinema to the subway station was long. In the rain it felt endlessly stretched, and the distant buildings blurred into hazy shadows under the dim lights.
She walked silently under her umbrella. Occasionally a few hurried passers-by went by, but she alone moved at an unhurried pace. Her slender figure was graceful, the skirt swaying softly around her calves, beautiful and serene like a painting.
A black car turned from the corner of the street and approached without a sound. In the instant it passed her, Zhu Xingyan in the back seat seemed to lift his eyes by chance.
His gaze instinctively swept outside the window and caught the figure holding the umbrella. In the car’s swift motion it quickly shrank into a tiny black dot.
In his mind the image lingered. As if possessed, an inexplicable sense of familiarity surged up.
That umbrella… looked very familiar.
The fleeting thought took root the moment he remembered she was now studying in the capital city. It lodged firmly in his mind and refused to move.
Zhu Xingyan came back to his senses and spoke urgently to the driver. “Uncle Zhang, please turn back for a moment.”
“We can’t make a U-turn here…” the driver said, hesitating as he checked the road conditions. By the time he found a place to turn around at the next intersection, the girl on that street had already disappeared.
Zhu Xingyan suddenly lost all strength. He slumped back against the seat and stared blankly out the window.
Liu Yan beside him took in the entire scene. This was already who knew how many times he had suddenly told the driver to stop on the road, only for his repeated checks to end in disappointment.
Unable to bear it any longer, Liu Yan finally spoke up to persuade him. “Xiao Yan, if you really want to see her, we can just go straight to her school and find her.”
“You don’t understand.” Zhu Xingyan kept his eyes lowered and replied softly. “If she doesn’t want to contact me, everything I do will be meaningless and will only bring her trouble and burden.”
“But the way you’re doing it now…” Liu Yan started to speak but stopped. Even an unrequited crush should have an end. In his view, it was better to let it burn brightly and die than to fade away unclearly.
Zhu Xingyan raised his eyes again and looked out the window. He spoke softly, as if talking to himself or making a promise to someone.
“I’ll give myself one more year. If she still doesn’t reply to me…” The rest of the sentence was swallowed between his lips. Liu Yan did not catch the following words. He wanted to ask but did not dare. In the end he could only turn it into a silent sigh in his heart and stay quiet.
Inside the car it was dim and still. Outside, the heavy rain poured down.
Raindrops beat loudly against the car roof and umbrella surfaces. The car and the pedestrian moved in opposite directions, heading away from each other.
The long night continued, and the rain kept falling.