Starlight Descends - 44
Shiyi
Silence.
So the girl had been lying in wait for him all along, was that it?
The air hung still for several seconds before Yu Jiashu finally asked, "When did you see this?"
Qi Yao kept her head down and said, very quietly, "Just, um, freshman year. And sophomore year. And senior year. I saw it all."
Yu Jiashu: "..."
"You're not some undercover from the discipline office, are you?"
Qi Yao lifted her head to look at him. The streetlight reflected in her peach-blossom eyes like scattered stars. She swallowed, hesitated, and said nothing.
Yu Jiashu: "..."
He tilted his chin back, eyelids lowering slightly, his Adam's apple bobbing.
Fine. So she really was.
Qi Yao hurried to explain, "But I never reported you."
"No wonder." Yu Jiashu was quiet for a moment, things started to click in his mind.
Qi Yao looked at him, puzzled.
Yu Jiashu's face betrayed nothing and went on, "I always wondered how, every time we all climbed the wall together, I was the only one who never got turned in. Everyone else ended up standing on stage every Monday reading self-criticism statements.”
He paused meaningfully."Eventually people started saying I was Old Deng's illegitimate son."
"..."
Qi Yao hadn't known about any of that. She pressed her lips together, glanced at him twice, then ducked her head back down.
Like a little quail. Even her voice came out muffled.
"So are you still helping me get my bracelet or not?"
Yu Jiashu stared at the top of her dark head for two seconds, then laughed.
"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I?"
"Don't I have to repay Her Highness the Princess for sparing my life?"
Before the words had fully landed, his jacket, carrying that crisp mint scent, was draped over her head. Qi Yao hurriedly caught it.
The fabric fell, plunging her vision briefly into darkness. Residual warmth brushed against her bare skin. In her stunned daze, she saw Yu Jiashu plant his palm on the waist-high stone platform and push upward in one smooth motion.
His sleeve slid back, exposing a lean section of forearm. The muscles pulled taut, smooth and powerful. Faint blue veins surfaced beneath his pale skin.
Everything that followed happened in one seamless sequence.
His back muscles bunched and flexed with the exertion. His legs coiled and sprang upward, landing effortlessly atop the wall, arms bracing behind him.
The entire movement flowed like water, completed in a single breath. Before she knew it, he was already standing steadily on the other side of the railing.
Qi Yao: "..."
How was anyone supposed to tell this man had been out of school for years?
No one became that skilled without doing it hundreds, if not thousands, of times.
Yu Jiashu stood there, lashes lowered lazily, as if he hadn't just scaled a wall but merely stepped over a low curb. He brushed the dust from his hands with casual indifference, bent down, and picked up the bracelet.
The chain was extremely delicate, set with diamond chips that glittered faintly in the light.
Draped over his lean, pale wrist, it hung slightly loose, but there was an unexpected, effortless beauty to it.
Beautiful.
It perfectly suited her.
His jaw tightened slightly. His gaze lingered for two seconds, then he slipped it into his pocket. Without the slightest effort, he sprang back up onto the stone platform.
Crouching there, he looked ready to jump down when something suddenly occurred to him.
Lifting his eyes, he studied her for a moment before glancing back over his shoulder.
The view from the wall was wide. The entire campus spread beneath the glow of the streetlights.
The brightly lit academic building looked like a river of stars suspended in the night.
The sunsets from the sports field and outside the classroom windows had always been beautiful.
Usually at dusk, the broadcast station would play songs students had requested the day before. Mostly slow-tempo pop. Jay Chou and Mayday were regulars.
Boys would burst from the classrooms clutching basketballs, skipping dinner to claim courts, and burn off energy beneath the fading sunlight.
Girls would walk in twos and threes around the track, circling again and again, strolling under the sunset glow, talking about everything and nothing.
The curtain of youth peeled back. Memory after memory played like scenes from an old film.
After a brief pause, Yu Jiashu relaxed his posture and sat down on top of the wall. His long legs hanging loosely, he looked down at her from his high perch, his expression unexpectedly serious.
"Qi Shiyi."
"...Yeah?"
Qi Yao looked up at him, clearly thrown for a moment by the familiar yet unfamiliar nickname.
The girl's face was delicate and striking, her peach blossom eyes soft. The dim yellow streetlight painted shifting shadows across her features. The glistening brightness in her eyes outshone the diamonds on the bracelet.
Yu Jiashu's dark gaze settled on her, then he asked quietly,
"What was your favorite place at school?"
It took a long moment. Qi Yao's fine brows furrowed slightly. She clearly didn't understand why he was asking, but she thought about it seriously. Finally, she said.
"The open area in the southwest corner of the field."
Yu Jiashu remembered that place.
Right where the basketball courts met the teaching building. Open and bright. In the corner, banyan and parasol trees grew thick and lush, their green shade like a canopy. Every summer, they'd cast dappled shadows over the benches.
It was a beautiful place.
He looked down at her. After a long while, he made a low sound of acknowledgment.
"Got it."
Got... what?
Qi Yao only grew more confused. She blinked slowly and watched him jump easily down from the wall, his expression calm, hand extended toward her.
Her frame was so small.
Her wrist bones were delicate, her skin fair, smooth as porcelain.
Lowering his gaze, Yu Jiashu fastened the bracelet around her wrist. His long fingers brushed lightly across the back of her hand. When the clasp finally clicked into place, the motion was slow and almost reverent, as if he were putting something else entirely.
Neither of them spoke after that.
They walked side by side through the misty night streets, retracing their steps in the moonlight, back to the car.
His phone kept buzzing.
Yu Jiashu pulled it out and glanced at it. One eyebrow lifted slightly.
"Let me make sure I understand this correctly." His voice was even, his expression, lit by the white glow of the screen, was equally flat.
"You handed the letter directly to Wang Chen. He got ahead of himself, didn't bother to clarify, and rejected you. That's why the letter never reached me?"
Qi Yao was buckling her seatbelt. She made a soft, surprised sound and stared at him for two seconds. Only then did she vaguely recall that the chubby kid's name might have been Wang Chen. She pressed her lips together. "Right."
Yu Jiashu let out a cold scoff. Eyes lowered, his fingers moving across the screen as message after message continued pouring into the chat window.
The other side had been desperately urging him to log on and carry him in ranked matches.
The man shouting into the void for ages with no reply and had apparently resorted to endless spam.
[Wang Chen]: Shu! Use your smurf and carry me through the ranks!
[Wang Chen]: I wanna hit Star Rank, so I can impress girls hehehe
[Wang Chen]: This chick I've been e-dating is gorgeous. Her features, man, like a celebrity
[Wang Chen]: You think I've just got some kinda female celebrity luck in my stars?
[Wang Chen]: Back in school, there was this girl who confessed to me right at the start of the semester. I got all shy
[Wang Chen]: Didn't know how to appreciate it then. Later found out she became an actual celebrity. Sigh. Life's unpredictable. Full of regrets
[Wang Chen]: ?
[Wang Chen]: You there?
[Wang Chen]: You playing or not? Please, man
Two seconds later, the top of the chat finally showed the other party typing.
The response was concise and ice-cold.
[S]: Playing my ass.
[S]: Piss off.
Wang Chen: "..."
???
Yu Jiashu didn't look up, but you could practically feel that cloud of petty, irritated resentment rolling back in. His long fingers tapped the phone screen a few more times.
"He also asked you to walk around the field, right?"
"...Yeah."
Yu Jiashu let out another cold scoff. After jabbed at the screen a final few times, he tossed the phone onto the center console and rested one hand loosely on the steering wheel.
On the other end, the recipient was left deeply bewildered, mentally reviewing every bad thing he'd done in his life and still unable to figure out what had offended the guy off.
[Wang Chen]: Dude, bro, what's your deal???
Before he could send another message, a bright red exclamation mark appeared.
Several merciless words stood there in plain view.
"Message sent, but rejected by recipient."
Wang Chen: "...???"
Damn it!
***
Qi Yao remained blissfully unaware of all this. Once her schedule was sorted out, she seized the last of her break and rested at home for two days.
Being alone had never been an issue for her. Most of her time was spent sitting on the sofa reading scripts or books.
The only problem was the three meals a day.
That night, her grocery run had failed. By the time she got home, it was too late, and afterward she couldn't be bothered to go out again.
What she could make at home was pitifully scant. Boiled greens and chicken breast. After two meals of that, Qi Yao felt like she was one step away from shaving her head and become a nun.
As luck would have it, the apartment next door had hired a part-time housekeeper.
Once, when she went downstairs to grab a package, she noticed that the door across the way seemed to be deliberately left cracked open.
Ever since she'd caught the scent of food that first time, rich and subtle aromas alike somehow managed to drift through two separate doors and find their way to her.
Back home, Qi Yao stared at her boiled greens for a long, silent moment.
They were a little hard to swallow.
Just one person eating over there, and he hired a housekeeper anyway. What a waste.
Eventually the temptation became unbearable. Qi Yao gave herself a thorough psychological pep talk and began trying to mooch meals.
At first, she was too embarrassed, so she put on an act. Around mealtime, she'd go over with her phone and ask about this or that, dragging things out until staying for dinner became the natural outcome.
Yu Jiashu helped her seriously the first few times. By the third or fourth, he'd caught on.
He lifted his eyes to look at her, one brow arched. His face all but screamed: Are you sure you're a person living in the 21st century? and Do you honestly think I'm that stupid?
Qi Yao just played dumb. She draw upon her professional acting skills and looked back at him with pure, puzzled innocence.
Her fine brows furrowed, appearing sincerely confused.
No one could wake someone pretending to sleep. After staring at her for a while, Yu Jiashu finally gave up.
He clicked his tongue. As if in surrender, he reached out and took her phone. While helping her update the system, he threw out a couple of needling comments with practiced, offhand laziness.
"The boss of the country's dark-horse semiconductor company, playing phone repair for you?"
Look at that, laying on the titles!
"...What's wrong with that?"
Qi Yao kept up her innocent and clueless act. Leaning closer, widening her peach-blossom eyes, she asked with complete sincerity, "Is that not allowed?"
Her voice was warm and soft, but the tiny trace of triumph and delight underneath was impossible to hide. There was a fox-like cunningness to it.
Yu Jiashu paused for two seconds. One elbow resting loosely on his knee, he looked up at her.
The proximity was too close. The man's pupils were pitch black, his eyebrow arched. That stare was enough to make a person feel thoroughly seen through.
Qi Yao fought not to show weakness. She held her breath unconsciously and held her ground, refusing to retreat.
Thump. Thump. Her heartbeat accelerated.
A long while passed.
The air itself seemed to grow warm with unspoken tension
Yu Jiashu seemed to laugh. Tilting his chin slightly upward, he spoke slowly, "I'm willing."
The words carried a faint breath of air that grazed her cheek.
Her mind blanked. For a moment she forgot how to breathe.
Before Qi Yao could recover from the tidal wave of those three words, Yu Jiashu mimicked her posture, bending forward slightly, leaning in.
His sharply defined face moved closer. The usual coolness around his brow was now tinged with teasing. He watched her unblinkingly and spoke slowly. "But..."
"Qi Xiao-Yao."
His enunciation was crisp, drawn out with lazy smile.
"Aren't you getting a little spoiled lately?"
"..."
Qi Yao bit her tongue. In that instant, her breathing ceased. Her heart stuttered, and a scorching heat bloomed from the base of her ears.
He could just say her name. Why did he have to say Qi Xiao-Yao!
Her body leaned back instinctively. After two deep breaths, she tore her gaze away and scrambled to her feet. "Auntie’s calling us to eat!"
Yu Jiashu just sat there, leaning back, watching her flee in disarray. He clicked his tongue and laughed.
Qi Yao made it to the dining table just as the housekeeper emerged with the last dish. Thin slices of fish mixed with generous chunks of pickled cabbage. The fragrance was irresistible.
"Come, come." The housekeeper peeled off her gloves and waved her over warmly. "Xiao Yu said you're pretty particular about staying in shape, so everything I made is low-oil, low-salt. Fish won't make you gain weight. Eat up."
Qi Yao's eyes curved as she answered. Then she caught the implication and froze, chopsticks hovering midair.
"?"
How did Yu Jiashu know she'd be coming over to eat?
She had clearly only shown up at 11:30. By then, the housekeeper was already slicing the fish.
Qi Yao looked up, puzzled. The man was ambling over slowly and sat beside her.
"You knew I was coming to eat?"
"No idea." Yu Jiashu didn't even lift his eyelids and picked up his chopsticks. "I'm not a psychic."
His tone was casual, matter-of-fact, as if she'd asked something very stupid.
"...Alright." Qi Yao said.
Just then, the housekeeper hurried out of the kitchen while removing her apron and shutting the door behind her. She called out, "Since the little girl's here now, there's no need to let the food smell drift outside anymore, Xiao Yu. I'll close the door."
"December's almost here. Big temperature drop's coming. You can't afford to catch a chill. Leaving the door open makes it too easy to get sick..."
"..."
The housekeeper kept chattering about the importance of staying warm in winter, but neither person at the table was listening anymore.
Qi Yao replayed the first half of that sentence in her head. "The little girl's here" and "No need to let the food smell drift outside anymore". Put together, it became painfully obvious exactly who that "little girl" was.
Slowly, she turned to look at him. One eyebrow lifting very slightly. Word by word, she asked.
"What was that you said?"
"Yu. Dong. Dong?"
Yu Jiashu: "..."
———
Author's Note:
Shu: Chasing a wife. How can that be called talking nonsense?
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