Starlight Descends - 37
Spring Dream
The night deepened. Even car horns had settled into brief repose, but Qi Yao tossed and turned, unable to sleep. For some reason, she felt hot, persistently hot.
Maybe the blanket was too thick. She’d have to switch it out tomorrow, she thought.
Another sleepless half hour passed. Finally, she sat up, wandered to the bar counter, and gulped down a glass of water, but her throat still felt dry.
She opened her phone and tapped into the chat with the black profile picture. Seeing that concise message “Open the door” sat there in the conversation history, she immediately backed out again.
After scrolling aimlessly for a while, unsure who she could possibly bother at this hour, she finally messaged Ye Qingman.
[1]: He's definitely the type, you know, looks lean in clothes but ripped underneath
[1]: Carried me like I weighed nothing
[1]: Like he could lift me with one hand
[1]: What do I do, I can't sleep
[1]: I can still remember the feel of his back muscles flexing
[1]: Broad, warm, full of strength
[1]: What do I do what do I do what do I do, my brain is full of it right now
[1]: (Sa Beining inhaling oxygen.jpg)
The next morning, Ye Qingman, up early for makeup call: "?"
"From the way you're talking, people would think you two hooked up. Not that you accidentally got carried by him for five seconds."
Half an hour later, Ye Qingman received her response.
[1]：…How did you know.
[1]：I had a dream
[Ye Qingman]：？？？Qi Yao you’re so done!!!!
Two seconds later: What did you dream about?! Hurry up and tell me?!?!
Ignoring the barrage of question marks from the other end, Qi Yao slammed her phone face-down beside her and rolled over, burying her face in the pillow.
Darkness filled her vision, and that hazy dream surfaced again.
After finally managing to fall asleep, she’d ended up having a spring dream.
This very bed. These very clothes. A man's scorching breath against her ear, hands sliding up beneath the cream-white sleepwear, the soft mattress sinking in a continuous rhythm beneath them.
Qi Yao shot upright in bed, face red all the way to her neck, her thoughts a complete mess.
It had to be because the movie she’d been watching before he came over last night had contained some borderline scenes.
Yes. That had to be it.
After completing this round of psychological self-reassurance, Qi Yao changed clothes and headed out, only to run into Zhou Qi just as he came outside.
“Morning, Yao-mei.” Zhou Qi pressed the elevator button and yawned.
“Morning.”
Qi Yao scanned around discreetly. Once she'd confirmed no one was behind him, she relaxed and replied naturally. "Do you have class today?"
“Nope.” He looked half-dead with exhaustion. “I don't know what happened with my Ge. We were gaming last night and he suddenly went out halfway through, left me alone getting flamed by teammates.”
“I swear something’s up with him. He definitely went on a date! When he came back, his face was blank as always, but you could just tell he was in a good mood. Even his movement was light. He carried me to a win without a word. And then this morning he got up early to shower."
“In this weather. A cold shower!” Zhou Qi shook his head in disbelief. “I'm scared he'll start bringing someone home at night. Decided not to get in the way. I'm going to stay in the dorms for a couple days."
Qi Yao: “……”
“?”
Zhou Qi remained completely oblivious, yawning again before mumbling, “What about you? Dubbing?"
“No.” Qi Yao shook her head. “I have an appointment.”
Zhou Qi gave an absentminded oh.
Two seconds later, his pupils shook violently. His sleepy eyes snapped fully open as he discreetly studied her through the elevator mirror.
This wasn’t casual pretty. This was obviously dressed-up pretty!
A sense of crisis spread from the pit of his stomach.
After the elevator doors opened, the two of them walked out together and parted ways at the entrance of the residential complex. Zhou Qi waved goodbye, pretended to walk off, then immediately darted behind a utility pole to spy.
And watched Qi Yao enter the café across the street.
“Oh no oh no oh no!!”
Message notifications exploded one after another. The happy little buzzcut spammed dozens of voice messages in succession, each one a full sixty seconds, apparently attempting to break the app’s limits.
Yu Jiashu looked up from his project report, symbolically tapped one open, listened to the first three seconds, then lazily lowered his lids. With one long finger, he stopped playback and continued working.
Zhou Qi stubbornly called him directly instead, sounding frantic enough to count as a medical emergency.
“Bro!! My goddess is going on a date! Bro!! What do I do?! Hurry up and talk me down!!"
Yu Jiashu paused for a second. The pen in his hand spun forward once, then backward once. He lifted his eyes coolly.
“Hm?”
***
The café.
Warm amber wall lamps cast dim, hazy shadows, soft background music drifted through the air.
It wasn’t a spacious chain café. The shop stretched deep and narrow along the alleyway, almost empty.
Lush potted greenery and low vintage brick partitions separated the round tables into secluded little sections. The seats at the very end of the corridor were enclosed on three sides, private and quiet.
Wrapped in her coat, Qi Yao followed the waiter inside and spotted the heavily disguised person sitting furthest within.
The man saw her, opened his mouth, and gestured a little awkwardly. “Should we find a restaurant instead? Somewhere with a private room. It’d be more convenient…”
"Whatever you have to say, say it here." Qi Yao sat down, cutting him off. "I have plans after this."
Her voice remained soft, but her tone carried unmistakable distance.
Gu Heng was silent for a moment. He removed his mask. "I came to apologize, Yao-mei."
Qi Yao said nothing. She ordered an iced americano, hoping to reduce the puffiness from her sleepless night, and only looked up at him after placing her order.
Gu Heng looked haggard. He'd visibly thinned in just a few days, faint stubble shadowing his jaw. All his former vitality was gone. His voice was hoarse as he spoke quietly.
"This whole thing was my fault. I didn't handle my personal relationship properly and dragged you into trouble.”
“I got greedy for the CP popularity. I didn’t clarify things immediately, and afterward I didn't even have the courage to face the fallout as it escalated. That’s why you ended up in this mess.”
“You shouldn’t have been dragged into this. That was never my intention. I was just…” He paused, then continued, "Too much of a coward."
Qi Yao simply sat there quietly, listening to him speak.
In the end, she didn’t offer any response or declaration. She just lifted her eyes to him, calm and clear, lucid in a way that didn't fit someone who'd been innocently dragged into scandal.
"If you genuinely wanted to apologize, you shouldn't have shown up at my doorstep at a time like this, unannounced, without giving me the option to refuse."
Gu Heng stiffened.
Yao's voice remained gentle, each word measured. She crossed her arms and studied him for a moment, then let out a breath.
“So. What do you want?”
Gu Heng stayed silent for a long time. His lips moved with obvious difficulty before he finally spoke.
“I don’t want anything. I’m leaving the industry soon, I just wanted to ask you…”
…
"I'm not ready to have a brother-in-law!!" Zhou Qi paced frantically at the complex gate, rambling at the man next to him.
“My feelings are so complicated right now. I’m happy for her but also resistant to it. What if she runs into one of those two-faced bastards who's all sweet to your face and trash behind your back?!"
Yu Jiashu narrowed his eyes slightly and kneaded the back of his neck with one hand. "How do you know she's on a date?"
"How could I not know? She was dressed so beautifully! Usually when she sees us she just throws on random clothes. Still looks great, obviously, but it doesn't have that... carefully put-together feeling."
"She even wore a necklace and earrings today! Jewelry! And her makeup looked really, really pretty, ahhhh.”
Yu Jiashu arched one brow and tilted his chin up. He said nothing, just started walking toward the discreet, unmarked shopfront.
“Ge! What are you doing?!” Zhou Qi was horrified. His brain worked at lightning speed. “Y-you’re not actually going to spy on them for my sake, are you? Don’t don’t don’t! Really! I’m already honored enough that you came down here to listen to me vent. It’s not worth it. What if we ruin my goddess’s love life…”
“Just buying coffee.” Yu Jiashu pushed open the door as he said it.
His tone was flat, emotionless.
But you look like you’re going to catch someone cheating!
Zhou Qi only dared think that internally. He suppressed all his myriad confusion, mulled it over behind him, figured he might as well follow, and gritted his teeth and went after him.
“Wait for me, wait for me.”
The café was unique. Tucked deep within the alleyway, long and narrow, without even a signboard.
Following behind Yu Jiashu, Zhou Qi whispered, “Ge, isn’t this kinda bad?”
Yu Jiashu gave a quiet hm, lowered his eyes to order two drinks, then said lazily:
“Then pull your craning head back in."
“……” Zhou Qi straightened up, though his eyes still stubbornly peeked inward. “I’m just… curious.”
Before the freshly brewed coffee was even ready, someone emerged from inside.
A man came out first, tall and upright, wearing both a mask and cap. The brim was pulled low, hiding his face, but even from his subtle movements it was obvious his mood was terrible.
Zhou Qi watched him disappear into the distance, then wrapped his hands around his brown paper cup. "Was that him? He looks kinda familiar."
“Why does he look unhappy?”
What kind of trash man goes on a date with my goddess and still looks unhappy?!
Zhou Qi fumed. He took a bold, indignant sip of his drink, burned his tongue, and grimaced for a moment. "Why is this hot milk?"
Yu Jiashu said nothing, leaning against the counter, expression cool, shooting him a sidelong glance with a clear "drink it or don't" attitude.
Great. Now the catching-a-cheater vibe was even stronger.
His assigned role was apparently the wrathful spouse.
That thought popped into Zhou Qi’s mind again. He coughed awkwardly, shut up at once, and lowered his head to obediently drink his milk.
About ten minutes later, Qi Yao came out.
She was looking down, adjusting her mask. Head slightly bowed, long dark lashes trembling faintly, she didn’t notice them at all.
Yu Jiashu had always been largely indifferent to how people dressed, but even he could tell she looked especially beautiful today.
Not restrained beautiful.
A knee-length dress, slightly flared at the hem, fitted through the bodice, tracing the narrow curve of her waist. Her legs were straight and slender. A fine pearl necklace rested against her collarbones, the delicate chain making her seem even gentler and more refined.
The kind of beautiful that turned heads on the street.
Qi Yao walked straight past them. Just before reaching the exit, a boy from a nearby table suddenly stopped her, face red to the ears, stammering as he asked for her WeChat.
Yu Jiashu just leaned there, watching, tapping the wooden counter twice with his fingers.
He watched her wave politely and decline. Then, the moment she stepped outside, the heavily disguised man from earlier returned and started speaking to her beneath the awning.
The glass doors were dark-tinted yet spotless, clearly reflecting the two figures beneath the eaves.
"One more thing, Yao-mei."
Qi Yao hadn’t expected Gu Heng to still be there, or rather, to come back after leaving.
“What is it?”
They stood beneath the awning.
"Even though this whole thing ended so badly between us, I still wanted to say..."
Gu Heng pressed his lips together.
"Last year, when I said I wanted to stay on set and spend New Year's with you… I meant it.”
He lowered his eyes to the ground, then lifted them back to her face. "Every word I said to you back then was sincere. Including the interviews and fan meetings where I talked about my ideal type.”
“At first, the idea of pushing the CP wasn’t actually proposed by Qiu Lang. I was the one who suggested it.”
"I know two-timing was wrong, but by then I'd already tried to break up with her once. It just didn’t end successfully, so I never talked to you about it.”
Qi Yao stood there without expression, listening in silence. Not even the slightest ripple appeared in her peach blossom eyes.
The glass door behind them opened with a soft sound, bringing a faint gust of wind. Qi Yao stepped aside to make room for the person exiting. In that drifting moment, she caught a faint scent of cedar and mint.
Adults confess affection with careful restraint. They always left themselves a line to retreat gracefully.
Gu Heng saying he liked her amounted to nothing more than: “What I said to you back then was real.”
“So I want to ask…”Gu Heng paused for a very long moment, then asked quietly, "If I had been single back then… would there have been any possibility for us?”
Silence hung in the air for two seconds.
Qi Yao paused. Before she could answer, she heard someone call her name.
"Qi Yao."
The voice was low, its tail slightly drawn out, carrying a note of cool impatience.
Yu Jiashu stood behind her. The black hoodie emphasized his broad shoulders and narrow waist. Backlit by the light, his shadow stretched all the way to her feet.
His narrow eyes were faintly narrowed. He tilted his head back just slightly, his gaze sweeping coldly past the man behind her. His voice was flat and deep as he called to her.
“Come here.”
***
Author’s Note:
Shu: You cheating piece of shit. One of these days I'm going to throw a sack over your head and beat the hell out of you.
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