Starlight Descends - 43

The Field

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Fengxing's new product launch was scheduled for year's end.

The endorsement results hadn't been announced publicly yet. A few marketing accounts posted vague half-true rumors, but they didn't stir up much reaction.

Zhao Min, on the other hand, was well-informed. That very evening, she sent Qi Yao a congratulatory message on WeChat. Her tone was sincere and straightforward, without the slightest airs.

[Zhao Min] : Oh, right. About what we discussed before, have you given it any thought?

After a moment's reflection, Qi Yao first After considering it for a moment, Qi Yao thanked her for the congratulations first, then politely replied that she hadn't decided yet. She set the phone down, but her thoughts drifted.

Her contract was up next year.

To be fair, Qiu Lang hadn't treated her poorly. From the time they shot that first drama together when she was twenty, their career trajectories had practically been tied together.

Back then, he'd been director and screenwriter both, almost single-handedly shouldering the entire production. Later he built a company, signed artists, searched for resources, and slowly grew step by step.

She wasn't sure when it had happened, but the shirts and hoodies that once gave him a youthful student-like air had been replaced by tailored suits. His days became consumed by investor dinners. He was no longer the brilliant young director who sat behind an outdoor monitor and stunned the internet with a few sharp, concise words of guidance to rookie actors.

It's hard to walk away from people who walked with you when you were nothing.

Even though the company was becoming more and more commercialized, its methods and motives no longer pure, Qi Yao truly hadn't seriously considered leaving.

Still, people needed a backup plan.

Qi Yao let out a breath, checked her schedule, and went downstairs to hail a cab.

With Lizi on leave, things were inconvenient. She didn't want to survive on takeout for three straight days, so she planned to hit the supermarket for some ingredients and just cook something simple herself.

On the way, she got a message from Qiao Nian.

[Qiao Nian]: Did you really lose that D-brand bracelet? The brand liaison says remaking a limited edition is a massive hassle. Tons of approval paperwork. It might not be ready in time for your red carpet appearance the day after tomorrow.

Every word practically screamed, why don't you try looking one more time?

Qi Yao could only reply with a quick "Okay," then changed destinations and asked the driver to take her near No. 1 High School instead.

[1] : If I can't find it in two hours, it's really gone.

[1] : Reporting it now means they can start remaking it early, or you can have them prepare a regular model as a Plan B.

She typed with one hand while paying the fare and pushing the door open.

The street was narrow. The taxi had pulled over temporarily next to the white-lined parking spots to let her out. The gap was so tight, she was terrified of scraping the adjacent car. Even opening the door took extreme care.

The moment she closed the door and turned around, the car parked beside her looked oddly familiar.

Two seconds later, the window rolled down slowly.

Revealing a face she'd seen not that long ago.

Qi Yao: "...?"

"What are you doing here?"

Hooking a finger through his car keys, Yu Jiashu looked like he thought the question was ridiculous and cocked an eyebrow. "Taking a stroll?"

"..."

Qi Yao paused for two seconds, then caught on. "You came to help me look for the bracelet?"

Not confirming or denying, Yu Jiashu stepped out of the car and pressed the lock button with a click. He answered flatly, "Had nothing better to do. Thought I'd take a look."

He'd changed into a black jacket.

Tall enough that, standing beneath the warm orange streetlights, he cast a small shadow over her. Backlit by the glow, he looked even more imposing.

When she continued staring at him without moving, he lowered his eyes. "What, stunned speechless with gratitude?"

"..."

Qi Yao sniffed. "No. It's just, if I'd known you were coming, I wouldn't have bothered."

"Wasted twenty yuan of my taxi fare."

Yu Jiashu: "..."

Fine.

She's already comfortable at bossing him around now.

The school was quiet at night.

The lower grades finished evening self-study at eight o'clock. Only the senior-year students were still in their bright classrooms, heads bent over their books. From a distance, you could just make out the occasional figure moving in the teaching building.

The two of them followed the small path. The grey brick paving was spotless. Even the yellow fallen leaves had been swept into neat piles by the dutiful custodian.

Yeah, fat chance of finding it.

Qi Yao let out a very soft sigh.

"Was it still there when we were eating?” Yu Jiashu asked.

"I think so." Unconsciously stepping only on bricks from the same row, Qi Yao tapped her toe lightly while trying to remember. "If it fell off, it probably happened while I was walking."

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Yu Jiashu thought for a moment before moving several steps farther in.

He pulled out his phone and tapped the flashlight, aiming it across the other side of the railing.

There were no lights along the edge of the athletic field. Dense trees crowded the area, their shadows merging into darkness. A small patch of blue brick lit up beneath the beam. Rustling sounds erupted from the undergrowth, and a startled kitten darted away.

"You think it could've fallen in there?" Qi Yao leaned over beside him and pulled out her own phone.

She fumbled with it for a while. The new phone was unfamiliar, and she couldn't find the flashlight among the quick settings.

"Hey." Qi Yao called to him. "Where's the flashlight on your phone?"

Yu Jiashu tilted his head toward her and arched an eyebrow. "Are you treating me like a sales representative now?"

That said, he still bent slightly to accommodate her height.

Taking her hand, he used his long fingers to tap and swipe a couple of times, pulling the flashlight and a few other common tools onto her quick-access panel.

Standing by the railing, the two of them were suddenly very close beneath the night sky.

The shifting light from the phone screen illuminated his face. Looking up, Qi Yao could clearly see the dark sweep of his lowered eyelashes.

Strong brow bones and a high nose bridge. His strikingly sculpted features were right there, within reach.

The scent of cedar and mint carried through the autumn breeze, cool and refreshing as it lingered around her.

Qi Yao blanked for a second, then blinked slowly. Her thoughts drifted with the autumn wind.

When had it started?

When had a scent that once felt unreachable, and a voice that only appeared in dreams, quietly begun invading every corner of her life?

The memories of them standing side by side were already too many to count.

Like a generous gift bestowed by heaven itself.

"You..." Qi Yao began, choosing her words.

"Hm?"

Having finished adjusting her settings, Yu Jiashu lifted his gaze to look at her.

So close.

Whenever those dark eyes landed on her, whenever their gazes met, Qi Yao forgot half the words she meant to say.

"You..." She paused for two beats, tongue-tied. Then looked away. "Don't you think we look like we're about to break in and steal something?"

Yu Jiashu: "..."

"?"

Well. They were both dressed in black. Standing beside a fence, peering through a railing in the darkness.

Qi Yao's mouth twitched. Knowing she was talking nonsense and not wanting to elaborate, she awkwardly laughed it off and shined her flashlight around the roadside.

Yu Jiashu said nothing. He merely lowered his eyes and stared at the top of her head for a moment before casually waving his own phone. 

"Hey, hey."

Sometimes luck arrived when you least expected it.

Qi Yao glanced over and pointed at the brick he'd just lit up. "Is that something sparkling there?"

Snapping back to attention, Yu Jiashu adjusted the angle and scanned the spot. "Yeah, I see it."

Two heads leaned in close. They squinted through the gaps in the railing for a moment and confirmed it was indeed her missing bracelet. The clasp must have loosened while she was walking, and momentum had sent it flying inside.

The fact that it was still there was a miracle in itself.

"So how do we get it out?" Qi Yao straightened up, pressing her lips together, looking at him.

"Use the front gate." Yu Jiashu didn't even think about it. He rubbed the back of his neck and answered, "You weren't hoping I'd squeeze through these railings, were you?"

Well, no, not that.

Qi Yao was silent for a moment, weighing her words. "Has it occurred to you that maybe schools don't allow visitors in on weekdays?"

"..."

Right. He'd forgotten.

For a dizzying second, he'd felt like he was still in his uniform days, free to enter and leave whenever they pleased. But time flowed on. The school was still the same school, but they're not.

Yu Jiashu paused. "Then wait for the weekend?"

No. 1 High wasn't too strict about visitors. You could get in as long as you registered.

Qi Yao furrowed her brow. "But I need it the day after tomorrow. I can't wait until the weekend."

Yu Jiashu thought for two seconds. "Then we'll wait for the seniors to get out of class and ask one of them to pass it to us."

Qi Yao fell silent again for a moment. "...I don't think many senior-year students spend their evenings wandering around the field after evening self-study."

After thinking about it, she added,"Unless they're one of those couples who are secretly dating."

High schoolers wandering a pitch-black field in the middle of the night usually weren't there for purely innocent reasons. The two of them might end up scaring the kids. That wouldn't be good.

The air froze for a second. Yu Jiashu looked at her, eyes narrowing. Immediately identifying the most important part of that statement.

"How do you know?"

His jaw tightened slightly. One eyebrow arched. The expression on his face practically read: Have you done that with someone before?

"..."

Qi Yao shot back instantly. "Just because I've never eaten pork doesn't mean I've never seen pigs run!"

Yu Jiashu squinted at her for a moment, as if evaluating the credibility of her defense. "So? Did you or didn't you?"

Their gazes held.

Two seconds later, Qi Yao surrendered first and looked away awkwardly. "...Someone did ask."

"But I didn't go." She didn't even know why she was feeling so guilty and added the clarification immediately.

Yu Jiashu made a low sound. He tilted his chin up and asked, all casual-like, "Who? Someone I know?"

Qi Yao hesitated for a while before answering softly, "You probably... do."

"Probably?"

Yu Jiashu repeated the uncertainty in her tone with alarming precision. His face remained indifferent, his dark eyes did not. 

Qi Yao choked for a second. After an internal struggle, she finally said, "I'll tell you, but don't get mad."

Yu Jiashu gave a distracted grunt. It didn't sound especially trustworthy, but it was at least a guarantee of sorts. Feeling somewhat reassured, Qi Yao began explaining.

"It was that short chubby guy from your class. The tanned one."

"I don't know his name."

As she spoke, she carefully monitored Yu Jiashu's expression.

"Back then, didn't I mistake him for you? At the beginning of school, I even handed him a letter in person."

The moment she said that, the atmosphere seemed to drop several degrees. She could practically hear the faint scoff through his nose, and immediately wanted to stop talking. 

Yu Jiashu lifted his eyelids. He grunted. His tone was flat. "Go on."

Qi Yao steeled herself to continue. "...He didn't accept it. So I just figured, you didn't want to get to know me. After that, I stopped writing."

Not accepting the letter was putting it mildly.

The chubby kid, who didn't seem blessed with much emotional intelligence, had just stood there, staring at her with wide eyes and loudly declared, Classmate, love at first sight isn't fashionable anymore.

Half the students passing by had stopped to watch and join the commotion.

Yu Jiashu probably knew exactly what that guy was like. His jaw tightened, a low snort escaped him.

Qi Yao assumed the derision was aimed at her and scrambled to salvage the situation. "But then later, that day the power went out, in the auditorium. That's when I knew I'd gotten the wrong person."

"Yeah." Yu Jiashu exhaled slowly, his Adam's apple bobbing. "And then?"

"And then, in sophomore year, he came by my class one day and, like, asked if I wanted to go walk around the field after school."

The reason Qi Yao had been so unremarkable in high school was probably because she'd been far too thin.

The food at the welfare home and the community middle school hadn't exactly been good, and her appetite had been tiny. She stayed small, barely growing, and spent years standing in the first or second row during school assemblies.

 

Then, somehow, puberty finally caught up with her. During the second half of her sophomore year, she suddenly shot up to one hundred sixty-five centimeters. She filled out a little, too.

Gradually, her beautiful features began to emerge.

Even though she spent most of her time alone at her desk, reading, writing, not much of a talker, quiet as she was, that slowly blossoming beauty naturally drew attention.

Especially "the girl who'd confessed to him right at the start of school."

One night, the chubby boy had stopped her in the hallway. He'd swallowed nervously and asked if she wanted to go walk around the field with him.

Hearing this, Yu Jiashu's neck shifted slightly, a tiny, controlled roll. He shifted his weight onto his left leg, leaning against the railing. His eyelids drooped lazily. His expression was lazy and cold.

Deeply, profoundly displeased.

"I didn't agree." Qi Yao immediately clarified. "I really didn't."

Yu Jiashu said, "I know." Then lowered his eyes and looked at her for a moment.

Her face was small and pale, nervousness practically overflowing from those expressive eyes of hers. So well-behaved it made a person's heart go soft.

That knot of irritation unraveled all at once.

After a two-second pause, Yu Jiashu turned his head and let out a very soft laugh. He pulled the conversation back on track.

"So. How do we get the bracelet?"

Qi Yao had just let out a breath of relief, only to tense up again. She lifted her eyes to him, then dropped her lashes once more, a clear ‘I want to say something but I'm not sure I should’ look.

Yu Jiashu, with sharp awareness, realized she might have thought of some method. He straightened up from his lazy slouch and said flatly, "Say it."

Qi Yao kept her head down, staring at the toes of their shoes facing each other. Her voice came out very quiet.

"...I saw you climb the school wall once when we were in high school."

Yu Jiashu: "..."

"?"

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