Starlight Descends - 15
Mockingbird
An awkward silence spread between the four of them.
...What White Horse Club?! I'm a respectable person!
And why, of all people, did it have to be him!
Qi Yao was so mortified her scalp prickled. She stood frozen, practically nailed to the spot. And if she didn't move, Lizi didn't dare move either.
Only when the elevator doors began sliding shut again, sensing no one entering, did Yu Jiashu finally lift a hand and press the button with his index finger.
That faintly ambiguous half-smile still lingered on his face. His tone was lazy.
"Not getting in?"
"Or," he paused, gaze sweeping meaningfully toward her. "do you have somewhere else to be?"
"..."
Qi Yao fell silent for two seconds.
At that moment, she genuinely felt the next elevator might suit her better.
But that was only a thought. She forced the corners of her lips into a strained smile and stepped inside.
Her movements were smooth and quick, striding in and turning around in one motion, eyes fixed firmly on the floor the entire time. Once she faced forward, she locked her gaze resolutely ahead, refusing to look at either of them.
Unfortunately, when the elevator doors slowly closed, the mirrored walls mercilessly reflected the image of all four people standing there, staring straight ahead.
Tall and short. Male and female. A ponytail, a buzzcut, long hair draped loose, dark bangs hanging over a forehead. Four heads lined up neatly together.
Every single one of them wearing the exact same awkward expression. Clearly, completely, inescapably visible.
Qi Yao: "..."
The elevator was cramped and oppressively quiet. Staring at the slowly descending floor numbers, Qi Yao decided to strike first.
"What are you doing here?" Qi Yao asked.
Zhou Qi had been practically bursting at the seams. He shot a glance at Yu Jiashu.
The man's eyes were lowered, dark lashes obscuring his gaze. His expression was neutral, and it looked, for all the world, like someone with no intention of answering. Zhou Qi hurriedly jumped in.
"I was nearby grabbing food, just hitching a ride back. My bro's here for... for..."
"Classes." Yu Jiashu interrupted lazily, cutting him off midway.
Zhou Qi's half-formed word had to loop back down his throat. "...Right. Classes."
He shot Yu Jiashu a bewildered look.
The man looked completely unbothered, gaze resting casually on the mirrored wall.
What exactly was he doing?
Happy Little BuzzCut was, once again, thoroughly confused.
"Hm?" Qi Yao looked up now, genuinely curious. "What kind of classes?"
"Marketing. Project management. A bit of everything."
Yu Jiashu's voice carried a natural drawl to it, though it never sounded sluggish. It was more like an ingrained ease, a sort of effortless composure. His gaze remained fixed straight ahead.
Qi Yao was standing in front of him.
She wasn't short, but the man stood too straight, too tall. The height difference between them was still obvious.
At the sound of his voice, she instinctively looked up and their eyes happened to meet in the mirror.
His brows and eyes were sharply defined, pupils dark as obsidian. It felt less like he was watching her through a mirrored wall and more like he was looking directly, straight at her.
The moment their eyes locked, Qi Yao's heartbeat stumbled violently.
The elevator space was far too narrow, they were standing too close. If she so much as turned her head, she'd brush right against him. The faint scent of cedar and mint enveloped her, magnified countless times within the enclosed space.
She heard his voice, tinged with amusement, drifting lazily from behind her, the tail end of each word drawn out in young-master indolence.
"But none of them taught as well as Teacher Qi."
"..."
He'd watched her interview!
Qi Yao realized it instantly.
For some reason, sitting across from the three interviewers hadn't made her nervous earlier. Yet here and now, a strange wave of self-consciousness swept over her.
"You flatter me." She turned her gaze away, visibly awkward.
Right then, the elevator doors slid open. Noise and fluorescent light from the lobby flooded inside.
Qi Yao lowered her eyes, taking back her mask and cap from Lizi. She stepped out first, then finally turned and waved lightly at them.
"I'll get going, then."
Her sleeves were slightly too long, hanging past her palms. Only five slender, pale fingers peeked out, spread lightly as they fluttered in the air like tender scallions.
Lizi looked like she wanted to say something, but glancing at the two men, she wisely swallowed the words and hurried after Qi Yao.
Zhou Qi watched her retreating figure. The cream knit top and matching wide-leg trousers outlined her figure beautifully. She looked gentle and elegantly slender.
"How does she look so good in just anything? Bet this outfit's gonna end up in another fashion roundup."
Yu Jiashu lowered his eyes and pressed the close-door button. The elevator slowly descended toward B1.
"Wait." Zhou Qi suddenly reacted. "Don't we live across from each other? Why are we going separately? Couldn't we just ride together?"
Yu Jiashu gave a low, dry laugh, fingers tapping lightly against the handrail.
"Does she look like she wants to be anywhere near us?"
***
Qi Yao had already walked out of Fengxing's main entrance when the realization finally hit her.
She stopped abruptly in her tracks.
Lizi, following right on her heels, nearly slammed straight into her shoulder and barely managed to stop in time, clutching her nose.
"Wait." Qi Yao turned. "Isn't our car parked underground?"
Now you realize?
Lizi pouted. "Yeah. I was going to tell you, but you ran off too fast.”
Behind her mask, Qi Yao let out a long sigh.
If she went back down now, she'd probably run into them again. That would be unbearably awkward. Might as well wait a little longer.
A rich, warm, sweet fragrance drifted from somewhere nearby. Qi Yao paused, looking around for a while, and wandered slowly to a street vendor.
Inside the roasting drum, chestnuts rolled and tumbled beneath fierce heat, constantly stirred as sweet fragrance spread through the crisp autumn breeze.
The scent of autumn.
Back in the car, Qi Yao held the heavy paper bag in one hand.
Warmth seeped through the thick paper into her palm. The sweet roasted fragrance filled the entire vehicle.
Outside the window, rows of orange osmanthus blossoms lined the streets.
Qi Yao tilted her head and snapped a photo.
The black car came to a slow halt at a red light white line. Leaning against the window, temple pressed to the cool glass, Qi Yao quietly watched the children playing at the street corner.
"Lizi," she suddenly remembered something. "Do I have a schedule this week?"
Lizi checked her memo app and reported back briskly: "Magazine shoot on Friday. Reality show filming Saturday and Sunday. And Monday, Nian-jie is bringing scripts for you to look over."
The car began moving again.
Qi Yao withdrew her gaze from the little boy crouched on the ground playing intently and hummed softly.
"Then let's go to the welfare home tomorrow."
Lizi paused, glancing back at her. "Okay."
The car fell quiet.
Qi Yao lowered her eyes, typed a few words into her phone, stared at them for a moment, then deleted everything and shared a song instead.
***
Just as Yu Jiashu entered his apartment, his phone lit up with a Weibo notification.
[Check out people nearby you might know!]
He was about to swipe it away absentmindedly when Zhou Qi suddenly said something to him. Yu Jiashu turned his head to listen, his finger slipping by accident.
By the time he looked back, he'd already clicked into the post.
The post had three pictures.
A steaming paper bag of candied chestnuts. Rows of orange osmanthus trees outside a car window. Even through the screen, you could almost smell the sweet fragrance of the blossoms mingling with the roasted sugar.
Yu Jiashu stared at the familiar stretch of road and the small glimpse of sleeve visible in the corner of the frame.
He paused for two seconds.
The sleeve was slightly too long, hanging over her palm, pinned down by the weight of the paper bag, leaving only a pitiful corner exposed.
The exact same one he'd just seen, waving before him moments ago.
His gaze lingered briefly, then he clicked open the third picture.
It was a page of a book, one corner slightly creased by its owner.
His eyes immediately landed on a line.
"Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do."
Yu Jiashu was still for a very long moment.
His side profile was sharp and refined, nose bridge high beneath lowered lashes. Nothing in his expression could be read.
Slowly, his fingers moved across the screen.
When the page refreshed, the number on his Following list flickered quietly from [0] to [1].
***
The next morning, the temperature dropped across the entire city.
Before leaving home, Qi Yao couldn't resist adding another layer. She bundled herself into a thick coat and pulled on a wool beanie.
Lizi stared at her from the driver's seat in disbelief. "...Anyone would think it's midwinter."
"It's seriously freezing." Qi Yao braved the biting wind, climbed into the car, slammed the door shut as quickly as she could, and collapsed into her seat. "Let's go."
"Did you bring everything?"
"Brought them, brought them." Lizi glanced back. Qi Yao was wrapped inside the oversized coat, only a small fair face remained visible. Delicate and stunningly beautiful.
What neither of them had accounted for was that today was National Day. The ten-kilometer trip took the entire morning in crawling traffic.
Waking up from a nap, Qi Yao opened her eyes to find the surrounding cars hadn't moved at all. They were still gridlocked on the expressway.
Resigned, she picked up her phone and made a call.
"Hello? Auntie Ren."
The woman's voice came through loud and chaotic, mixed with the noise of children shouting and playing in the background. "Hey, what is it, Yaoyao."
"I probably won't make it by noon. Don't wait for me for lunch. Let's just have dinner together."
Auntie Ren let out an "aiya." "But we have other guests visiting tonight…"
"Teacher Ren! Teacher Ren!"
Someone shouted urgently from the other end before Qi Yao could reply. Ren Dandan looked around hurriedly and rushed to end the call.
"It's fine, it's fine. We eat in the cafeteria anyway, it's all the same. Let's just eat together. I'm a bit busy now. I'll call you back later, Yaoyao."
And the line disconnected.
Qi Yao sighed. Before she could even lower the phone from her ear, the ringtone blasted again, startling her.
"Hello?"
"Yao! Yao! Yao! My scenes are all done! Now I'm just waiting for the main unit to wrap and head back to Hengdian. I'm flying back for National Day! Let's hang out!"
Qi Yao's ear was still ringing from the sheer volume. She held the phone farther away expressionlessly. "Hang out where? The White Horse Club?"
Ye Qingman burst into shameless laughter. "I was joking! Hahahahaha!"
You were joking, Qi Yao thought, but it caused me a world of pain.
"Oh right, how'd your interview go?"
"No idea yet." Qi Yao tilted her head, watching the traffic ahead finally begin creeping forward again. "They said results in three days."
"Hm?" Ye Qingman had just gotten her boarding pass on the other end. "Shouldn't take three days. Mine only took one or two days. The project lead added my manager directly on WeChat.”
"I'm not thinking about it too much for now,” Qi Yao said after a moment's thought. "No expectations, no disappointment."
"So philosophical." Ye Qingman clicked her tongue approvingly. "Anyway, make sure you're free to hang out with me tomorrow."
"Sure," Qi Yao agreed.
Finally leaving the expressway, traffic through the outskirts eased considerably, and the car gradually picked up speed.
The scenery outside changed slowly.
Towering skyscrapers disappeared, replaced by aging concrete buildings lining the roadsides. The farther they drove, the more barren the surroundings became.
The car eventually came to a stop in front of a relatively prominent building.
The structure had been renovated in recent years and looked much newer than before. Lush ivy climbed across the fences, and beside the gate hung a brass plaque engraved with: C City Children's Welfare Home.
"You're here." Having spotted their car long ago, the security guard, a man in his fifties, stood outside the booth grinning broadly.
"Uncle Lin." Qi Yao smiled back.
Lizi moved to unload supplies from the trunk. Uncle Lin hurried to open the iron gate and came out, taking the heavy bags from Qi Yao and Lizi.
As they walked inside, he peeked into the bags packed full of food, daily necessities, and a bit of everything. He sighed, deeply touched.
"Yaoyao never forgets where she comes from. Every year you bring back so much.”
Qi Yao's eyes curved. "I figured, at your age, you should cut down on smoking." She took out a box of tea leaves and placed it on the desk inside the security booth. "So I bought tea instead."
"Good, good." Uncle Lin's beamed so hard his eyes nearly disappeared. He helped carry the supplies up to the office at the far end of the second floor.
The first floor held the cafeteria and activity rooms. While the second floor housed the classrooms where preschool-aged children normally received their early education. Since it was school break, aside from the older students boarding at school, most of the children were gathered upstairs. Some were reading, others doing homework.
As Qi Yao passed by, a few sharp-eyed older children, around eleven or twelve, spotted her through the window and immediately shouted out.
"Sister Yaoyao!!!"
Qi Yao quickly pressed a finger to her lips, signaling them to be quiet.
The little ones are napping next door. She mouthed to them: "I'll come play with you guys later."
The children nodded excitedly and sat back down, though they were clearly too distracted now to focus properly, slouching and scribbling nonsense into their workbooks.
She'd deal with them later.
Qi Yao pushed open the office door first.
The director’s office was sparse and plainly furnished. The walls were stark white, the floors bare cement. Aside from a large desk, a bookshelf, a small coffee table, and a sofa, the room held little else.
The desk itself, however, was piled with chaos. Stacks of files teetered precariously beside homework waiting to be signed. In the middle sat a half-knitted sweater, four knitting needles crossing through unfinished rows of yarn.
"What do you mean by this?" Ren Dandan sat behind the desk, in the middle of scolding someone. Hearing the door open, she glanced briefly toward Qi Yao, motioned for her to sit, then turned back again with a stern expression.
"Your teacher says you don't pay attention in class, sleeping in the back row. You don't interact with your classmates, and now you've come back here and started throwing tantrums too?”
Standing in front of the desk was a boy around thirteen or fourteen years old.
He stood stiffly like a stubborn gourd, head lowered, neck rigid, refusing to say a word.
Qi Yao took a seat on the small sofa, placing her things on the coffee table. She observed the two figures, one standing, one sitting.
Auntie Ren had visibly aged over the past few years. Her figure had softened, fine lines deepened around her eyes, silver strands threading increasingly through her hair.
At this moment, the usually warm and gentle face was drawn tight with an undeniable sense of bitter frustration. The kind a parent feels for a child who just won't live up to their potential.
"Speak!" Ren Dandan slammed a hand against the desk.
The boy's neck stiffened even further, veins standing out faintly beneath flushed skin. He stubbornly clung to silence.
"Not going to talk? Fine." Ren Dandan rummaged through the files for his records. "I'm calling your teacher right now, applying for you to board at school full-time. If you're not going to study properly, don't bother coming back here.”
Qi Yao saw the boy's body go rigid. His chest heaved violently. After several failed attempts to suppress it, the anger finally exploded, fists clenched, he yelled:
"I just don't want to study anymore!"
"They all say I came from the welfare home! That I have no mother and father! What's the point of an orphan studying!”
His voice cracked rough and hoarse with puberty. The words crashed through the office like thunder.
At his words, silence fell instantly.
Ren Dandan froze for a long, long moment.
Shock, disbelief, hurt, disappointment, flashed rapidly across her face. Her chest trembled heavily before she finally found her voice again.
“Is that all?” Her voice trembled. “Is that really all, Sun Wenbo?”
She pointed sharply toward the hallway outside. "Go look at the children out there!"
"The little baby with Down syndrome can't even get out of bed. Little Pang covered in fibromas from head to toe. How many children with congenital heart disease are waiting every single day for surgery? Not just one or two!”
Emotion thickened her voice, the corners of her eyes glistening. "So what if you're an orphan?! Your arms and legs work perfectly! Your brain works perfectly! You have books to read! You have school to attend! So what if don't have biological parents?!"
"You say you don't have a parent. Fine, I accept that. But when you say you have no mother, did you ever think about how I feel? About how all the aunties here feel?”
"You study so you can leave this place one day! So you can get into a good university, find a good job, and stand on your own feet! Who'll still care whether you grew up in an orphanage then?!"
Tears slipped uncontrollably down her finely-lined eyes. Her voice had grown thick with nasal congestion, almost desolate in its exhaustion.
Sun Wenbo remained standing there rigidly, fists clenched so tightly veins bulged across the backs of his hands. But his nose had turned red too. He bit his lip so hard it had gone pale.
The office sank into heavy silence.
Then two tissues quietly appeared in front of Ren Dandan.
Qi Yao had walked over at some point. She gently rested a hand on Sun Wenbo's thin shoulder and tugged lightly, easing him away from the confrontation stretched tightly between him and the older woman.
Half-crouching in front of him, she could feel the faint trembling beneath his shoulder. She gazed at him calmly, the corners of her eyes curving in a small smile.
"It's only been a year, and Xiaobo's already gotten so tall.”
At the familiar praise, Sun Wenbo loosened the lip he'd bitten white and murmured quietly, "Sister Yaoyao."
Qi Yao gently nudged his shoulder, guiding him toward the sofa.
Then she crouched in front of the shopping bags and rummaged through them. "Coca-Cola or Pepsi?"
"...Coke."
"Here." Qi Yao handed the can to him, tilting her face to look at him. "Now, can you tell me about what's going on at school?"
Most of the children in the welfare home were either orphans or children with disabilities. Some had congenital illnesses like fibromas or heart disease and could only remain under specialized care at the home.
Those who were physically healthy and of normal intelligence attended nearby primary and secondary schools.
But the welfare home was located on the outskirts of the city, where educational resources were already limited. Coupled with social prejudice and the children’s own emotional burdens, very few of them were able to achieve outstanding academic results.
Most eventually attended Community Middle School a kilometer away.
Sun Wenbo was no exception. And schools like that inevitably had all kinds of students mixed together.
"They ignore me," he muttered, staring downward. His fingers twisted tightly into the hem of his shirt. "They say I came from the orphanage. That I'm dirty. That I carry diseases and will infect people.”
"Mm." Qi Yao simply nodded, as if it weren't anything particularly surprising. "Is it the whole class saying this? Or just a few specific people?"
"...Just some boys in my class."
Qi Yao hummed softly. "Look at me."
Sun Wenbo blinked twice, his lashes fluttering. Slowly, he raised his head and met a pair of peach blossom eyes. They were gentle and calm, yet somehow held an immeasurable strength.
"Are you dirty?" Qi Yao looked into his eyes.
Sun Wenbo’s breath caught. He instinctively wanted to look away, but the glimmer in her eyes held him fast, leaving him unable to break free.
Qi Yao's expression was calm. She continued.
"Are you sick?"
Silence stretched through the small office. Sun Wenbo looked at her, didn't know what to say.
"...I'm not dirty. I shower and change clothes every day.”
His throat tightened painfully. "...And I don’t have a disease.”
"Then isn't that enough?” Qi Yao's voice remained steady.
"As long as you know what kind of person you are. That's enough.”
"Most people you meet in middle school are only passing through. Honestly, most people in life are."
"Your life is long. Don't let a few careless words derail your future."
She looked up at him earnestly and spoke softly, word by word.
"You grew up in an orphanage. So what? You have Auntie Ren. You have Uncle Lin. You have over twenty aunties who care for you. And you have me. We all love you."
"So, so much."
Outside the window, autumn wind brushed gently past the chimes hanging beneath the eaves, stirring soft, delicate ringing.
The younger children must have woken from their naps. Their laughter drifted faintly through the hallway, softening the heaviness inside the office.
Sun Wenbo's eyes had gone completely red. The rims and the tip of his nose were flushed a blotchy crimson. His fingers twisted the hem of his shirt, no longer bristling like a hedgehog with all its spines raised.
"Sister Yaoyao, did you go to Community Middle School too?"
"I did." Qi Yao dug out a pack of orange jelly cups from the bag. "People said bad things about me back then, too. But now my photo's hanging on the distinguished alumni wall, isn't it?”
"That's true. I've seen it before," Sun Wenbo suddenly remembered. "You're a star. Lots of girls in my class watched your drama during summer break."
"Is that so?" Qi Yao smiled. "Well, then, in a bit, we'll ask Sister Lizi to bring some photos over, and I'll sign a few. When you go back to school after the break, you can give them to your classmates."
Sun Wenbo mumbled his agreement. But a moment later he remembered he’d just declared he wasn’t going back to school anymore.
"I..."
"Hm?"
Qi Yao was currently struggling to peel open the jelly cup lid. The tip of her finger had already rubbed red again.
For some reason, she suddenly thought about the roll of tape Yu Jiashu gave her, her mind drifting for a second.
At twelve or thirteen, children were naturally rebellious. Meeting force with force only made things worse. But sometimes a few gentle words were enough to dissolve all that anger.
Sun Wenbo watched Qi Yao lower her head and sip her jelly. The refusal that had been on the tip of his tongue was swallowed back down.
Instead, he said softly: "Then I'll go back and study hard too. Like Sister Yaoyao. I'll get into a school in Beijing."
Qi Yao paused for two seconds. Her fingers brushed lightly across the orange packaging before she looked up at him seriously.
"Go wherever you want to go. Don't follow others.”
Sun Wenbo nodded obediently, though it was obvious he didn't fully understand.
His face was still too young. Too naive.
Qi Yao exhaled softly, feeling she might have overcomplicated things for a child his age. What would a kid understand?
She lowered her head again and resumed eating her jelly.
After crouching for over ten minutes, both her legs had gone numb. She braced a hand against the coffee table and prepared to stand when Sun Wenbo suddenly shouted excitedly:
"Brother Zhou Qi!"
"Hey."
The familiar voice came from directly behind her. Qi Yao's heart gave a small, startled leap. Her hand froze where it pressed against the coffee table.
She hadn't noticed the numbness while she was still. But now that she moved, both legs felt heavy as lead, prickling painfully, she couldn't move.
Qi Yao inhaled sharply, fingers gripping the table edge, and summoned all her strength to pull herself upright.
Footsteps approached. Zhou Qi saw a person but didn't pay much attention, he teased Sun Wenbo as he walked inside, "What about him? Don't you know how to greet him?"
The boy's grin grew even wider. His eyes were squinted shut in pure excitement.
"Brother Yu!"
The numbness in Qi Yao's legs surged like electric current. She barely managed to stand. At the sound of that name, her breath caught sharply, and her balance wavered.
"...Hey! Careful!"
Zhou Qi lunged forward in alarm, trying to catch her. But he could only watch as Qi Yao tilted backwards—
And fell directly into someone's embrace.
The moment her back made contact, Qi Yao forgot how to breathe.
In that instant, all her other senses seemed to fail completely. The dizziness from losing balance, the aching soreness in her legs. Gone. All she could feel was the violent pounding of her heartbeat.
She'd taken off her thick coat after coming inside. Only a thin fitted top remained between her and the man's chest behind her.
She could almost feel his body heat. His heartbeat.
Warm and alive. Right there behind her.
The scent of cedar and mint flooded her senses, amplified a thousandfold, both achingly amiliar and strangely unfamiliar all at once.
The air felt like it had been sucked into a vacuum. Every sound became distant and muffled. All she could hear was the overlapping rhythm of two heartbeats, hers and his.
Slowly, Qi Yao turned her head and looked up.
Straight into a pair of dark, deep-set eyes.
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