Starlight Descends - 26

Cantopop

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The next day, Moments was lively.

Under Yu Jiashu's post, an army of spectators and gossip enthusiasts had gathered.

[Happy Little Buzz-Cut]: ??? 

[Happy Little Buzz-Cut]: Holy shit, what am I seeing. 

[Happy Little Buzz-Cut]: Grandma! The WeChat contact you added ten years ago just posted!

[Skinny Bai]: ? Something's going on, tsk tsk tsk. 

[Skinny Bai]: Still not asleep this late, watch your hair fall out. 

[Happy Little Buzz-Cut] replied to [Skinny Bai]: Don't measure a gentleman's hair by your own petty heart. 

[Skinny Bai] replied to [Happy Little Buzz-Cut]: Stop butchering idioms. If you've got that much free time, go dredge your school's septic tank.

[Happy Little Buzz-Cut] replied to [Skinny Bai]: I f\*#\*ing AWDHERTE%\^&\*\&...&#@%

[Li Xun]: Who's this meant for, I wonder?

[Chen Yinyin]: Who indeed?

[Liu Ping ping]: Definitely not you two. Go wash up and sleep.

[Yan Jiu]: /shocked

[Jiang Jinghan]: Strongly advise deletion. My wife commented on your post. I'm now displeased.

[Jiang Changwan]: ?

[Jiang Changwan]: Strongly advise you all to delete. This is bad for my mental health!

Yu Jiashu's mouth quirked up. He replied to Jiang Jinghan with a succinct "Piss off," turned off his screen, and ignored the rest.

"Young President Yu." There were two knocks before the door was pushed open. The secretary stood at the threshold holding a stack of documents. "President Yu is asking for you."

Yu Jiashu made a sound of acknowledgment and walked down the long hallway, taking the elevator up.

First day back after a holiday, the atmosphere was still slack, a sense of drowsiness hanging in the air.

At this hour, the elevator was nearly empty. Only two interns stood in the corner, chatting quietly. The moment they saw him enter, they snapped their mouths shut and stood ramrod straight, barely daring to breathe.

A long, slender index finger pressed the elevator button. Yu Jiashu looked down and thought: Am I really that intimidating?

Probably only she would actually believe he was just an intern.

The office was spacious. A solid redwood desk. A massive bookcase occupied an entire wall. Several potted plants dutifully served as the backdrop, their heavy branches cascading downward, meticulously maintained.

Yu Chongshan was past fifty but didn't show it; his every gesture carried the authority of a man long accustomed to power. He sat behind his desk, seeing his son enter, he removed his glasses, pinched the bridge of his nose, and leaned back.

"How's the progress?"

"On schedule." Yu Jiashu held a document between two fingers and slid it across the desk, then took a seat on the sofa. "No issues so far. We should release smoothly by year-end."

Yu Chongshan nodded, flipping through the document. After a moment he looked up and changed the subject. "The Hongtu acquisition all wrapped up?"

"Not that fast. The agreement was signed over the holiday. The registration change office isn't even back at work yet."

The sofa in this office was purely decorative. Or perhaps no one had ever cared to sit comfortably on it. The backrest was awfully rigid. Yu Jiashu rose slowly, kneaded the back of his neck in a lazy gesture, and poured himself a glass of water.

"You could really stand to replace this sofa."

Yu Zhongshan lifted his teacup, scraping the foam with the lid, and gave a cold huff. "I thought you weren't planning on speaking to me anymore."

"How could I?"

Yu Jiashu lowered his eyes and opened the cabinet, completely casual. "I'm still working for you, aren't I?"

The words were familiar, but they carried no real warmth.

As long as that subject wasn't brought up, everything was negotiable.

With practiced ease, Yu Jiashu opened the fourth small cabinet. Rows of tea canisters were arranged neatly, labeled with tags and even production dates.

He wasn't well-versed in tea. He was just a little tired and pulled out a canister at random to perk himself up.

"You've got a good eye. Wuyi Mountain Dahongpao, just delivered." Yu Chongshan said, his gaze sweeping over him. "Come home for dinner this weekend."

"We'll see."

Yu Jiashu dumped the leaves into a cup and poured in boiling water. Any tea lover witnessing this would have cried at the sacrilege.

"What do you mean, 'we'll see'?" Yu Zhongshan's expression hardened. "You slammed the door and stormed out during National Day. Your aunt hasn't been in a good mood since. You're still throwing a tantrum now?"

The tea leaves unfurled, branches and buds stretching open as the liquor gradually deepened in color.

"No. I've made plans."

"Next week, then." Yu Zhongshan's face relaxed slightly, putting his glasses back on. "Has the series spokesperson been decided? Your uncle's had people asking me about it several times.”

"No." Yu Jiashu swirled the cup and took a sip. "Just tell him his little mistress didn't make the cut."

Yu Zhongshan glared at him but didn't argue.

"Take this seriously. This is your first project at Fengxing. Many eyes are watching."

"This project's outcome will, to a certain degree, demonstrate your capability, whether you can command respect, whether you can sit in this seat."

He patted the armrest of his chair.

Yu Jiashu lifted his chin slightly, his Adam's apple rolling. The words he wanted to say were swallowed down with the rich, mellow tea.

First day back, he didn't want to fight.

"Whatever makes you happy." He adopted an indifferent air, set the cup down, and turned to leave.

It was always like this.

Yu Jiashu's face was expressionless as he walked back through the hallway and downstairs, his bearing cool, the scent of cedar and mint sharp around him.

He stood beside the open office window for a while, letting the wind blow against him.

Then his phone chimed.

He took it out and glanced at the screen.

Da Bai was reporting the progress on the new product line. Along with the file, he'd casually added, "You're seeing someone on the side."

Yu Jiashu: "?"

"Who was that Moments post for? Confess honestly."

Yu Jiashu: "."

"Don't send me periods, spill! Or I'm coming over to mooch dinner tonight!"

"And I'm sleeping over!"

Yu Jiashu's mouth tugged. "Fang Qian kick you out?"

Bullseye. Da Bai immediately sent a barrage of crying cat emojis.

Yu Jiashu couldn't be bothered to reply. He tapped into Moments and scrolled. 

What he saw gave him pause.

Zhou Qi had posted last night around eight: "Fed a kitty outside the dorm. It's so cute.”

Attached was a photo, a tiny kitten, as blurry as a photo could possibly be, its head buried in a tube of cat treats.

Two hours ago, Chen Yinyin had sorted through the wedding photos. Solo shots, couple shots, group shots, all arranged in a long nine-square grid. The caption read: "Yes, I do."

The likes column was a long string of friends' names. A very short username had blended in among them, silent and unconspicuous.

Yu Jiashu pulled back to his own post, studied it for a long moment, then arched an eyebrow slightly, switching over to his chat window.

His long, defined fingers moved across the screen with easy nonchalance, typing.

[S]: Liking posts before and after

[S]: Just skipping mine, huh?

 

The tone carried a distinct note of accusation. 

When the message arrived, Qi Yao was reading scripts. She'd been underlining a line with a black pen, jotting down brief notes in the margins. She picked up her phone and looked.

"..."

After two seconds of pause, the tips of her ears begin to warm again.

No way.

This man must've had a ridiculous number of WeChat contacts. He'd broken his lifelong silence on Moments and posted something for the first time ever, the rubberneckers must be legion. And he'd still notice whether she'd liked it or not?

Qi Yao pressed her lips together, thought for a long moment, and typed back honestly.

[1]: ...Forgot.

[1]: Going now.

She clicked through from the black avatar into his Moments. That single line of text from the deep hours of the night sat there alone, pushing the gray divider bar down by exactly an inch.

After years of staring at that empty space, the sudden change felt strangely surreal. 

Qi Yao couldn’t quite name the emotion that swept through her. It felt as though a thousand feelings had rushed through her heart, only to leave behind a quiet, wistful sigh.

As though a dream she had carried for years had suddenly come true.

She swiped back and found another message from him. Indolent as ever and impossible to take seriously, it instantly scattered whatever wistfulness had lingered.

[S]: Great.

[1]: ?

[S]: Posted it for a certain someone, and I still have to beg her to even look at it.

"..."

Just listen to this sarcasm!

Lizi had just finished retouching the photos Qi Yao needed to post that day. She looked up and exclaimed in alarm, "Oh my god! Yao-mei, did you catch a cold from the wind yesterday? Why is your face so red?!"

"...no."

Qi Yao hurriedly waved a hands, but Lizi was already in a panic, rifling through cabinets for cold medicine. Qi Yao couldn't stop her. She called out twice, then gave up.

"I told you not to drink! Coming back that late, getting hit by the wind. Last night was freezing, and you were wearing so little..."

Qi Yao wanted to argue with Lizi's fussing. The words were right there on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't say them. She just bit them back quietly, her eyes straying to the black jacket draped over the sofa. "...I wasn't cold."

"What do you mean, wasn't cold? When I got here this morning, you were even mumbling nonsense in your sleep," Lizi said, mixing a packet of herbal granules into a cup for her.

"Really?!" Qi Yao's eyes widened. She slowly accepted the cup.

"...What did I say?"

Lizi frowned, thinking. "Your voice was too quiet. I couldn't make it out."

Qi Yao said "oh" and lowered her eyes to drink the mixture. Brownish, slightly grainy, faintly bitter. Her heart was swinging uneasily.

"Actually, I did catch a tiny bit," Lizi hesitated for two seconds, visibly reining in her curiosity. "You were calling that person name."

"Quite a few times, actually."

...that person?

Qi Yao drank and raised her eyes at the same time. Lizi pursed her lips and lift her chin, pointing in the direction of the apartment across the hall.

"...!"

"Maybe you shouldn't be asking me. You should ask him."

The twenty-something pure-hearted girl was quite shy about the whole thing. She quickly took the empty cup from Qi Yao's hands and fled into the kitchen to wash it, the sound of running water filling the silence.

 

Qi Yao was left frozen in place, engulfed by a sudden wave of mortification. She buried her face into the soft cushions of the sofa.

...No way!

She had genuinely blacked out.

When she woke up, she was left with nothing more than a faint headache. The only fragments of the previous night she could remember were the ones she had pieced together from his Moments post.

As for anything else she might have done...

She had absolutely no idea.

Qi Yao buried her face deeper into the soft cushion, rubbing against it as her fingers tightened around the fabric. She wrestled with herself for a moment, then bit her lip and lifted her face. 

Reaching for her phone, she began typing, writing and deleting, writing and deleting. After several rounds of agonizing, she finally sent what she considered a carefully measured message. 

"I'm so sorry. Was I a huge trouble last night?"

Polite, yet not too distant.

A normal person would reply "Not at all," then she'd apologize again, and they'd tacitly never mention it again. The matter would be closed.

But this man refused to be normal.

Qi Yao watched the "Typing..." indicator flicker for two seconds. Then he delivered his cold words:

[S]: You really were quite a trouble.

Qi Yao: ...?

Why wasn't this man following the script?

[S]: Want to know?

He didn't actually wait for her answer. Messages popped up one after another, unhurried, leisurely enumerating her crimes from the previous night.

[S]: You asked if you sang well. I didn't answer, so you tried to lunge at me and hit me. I was very frightened.

[S]: You ordered me to go buy you a soda. Specifically demanded orange flavor. Said you're a big star and couldn't be seen going yourself, while I'm just an irrelevant nobody no one would recognize.

[S]: Once you got the soda, you started crying. Used my jacket to wipe your tears. While wiping, you kept complaining it smelled like someone else's perfume.

Qi Yao: "..."

???

No way.

How was that possible?

She might not remember, but that didn't mean she didn't know what kind of drunk she was!

Reading closely, he'd actually said "I was very frightened"???

This was a guy who, when caught by the dean of students while scaling the school wall, had just sat on top of the wall, greeted the dean with perfect composure, then braced his arms and vaulted cleanly over the other side. And now he was telling her he was very frightened?!

Qi Yao's breathing quickened, her chest heaved. She couldn't tell if it was anger or embarrassment, and began typing furiously.

[S]: Oh, also.

[S]: You insisted on playing me a song.

At that, Qi Yao paused typing her paragraph.

She quickly searched her memory. She was an actress. She'd never released a song, it couldn't possibly be hers. Deleting the lengthy message she had been composing, she chose to play along instead.

With a mixture of resignation and helplessness, she typed:

[1]: What song?

[S]: <Link> The other party shared a song.

Qi Yao froze.

Her fingertip hovered motionless over the screen, the cursor blinking.

People say that wine brings out the truth. Perhaps what that really means is that, drunk or merely tipsy, people borrow alcohol as a disguise, using it to do the things they would never dare do sober. Truth and pretense blur together until even they can no longer tell where one ends and the other begins.

Now, staring at the screen, Qi Yao felt her heart tighten with a strange ache, suspended high, then plunged.

 

Leslie Cheung's "For Your Heart Only."

It was the song that had drifted through her mind as she sat on the grass watching the couple exchange rings—the background music for her own wedding, in that aimless, wandering daydream.

"For your heart only, I pour out all my sincerity.

Please treasure this love.

Say to me then, 'I do! I do!'

I'm willing to make you happy for a lifetime..."

…. 

He had heard it after all.

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