Starlight Descends - 77
The Ring
In the end, he still got his way.
The movie was still playing on the screen. Mingled faintly with the soundtrack and dialogue of the latter half were other, more subtle sounds.
The curtains were drawn, shutting out the bright light and leaving the room dim.
The projector's beam was blocked by their bodies, leaving only tiny motes of dust drifting through the air, their overlapping silhouettes cast faintly against the white wall.
They were both sitting, facing one another.
The girl's waist was slender and graceful, the curve of her lower back pronounced, the shallow hollow caught firmly in the grip of a bony hand.
Their half-seated silhouettes swayed with the rise and fall, leaving the entire room steeped in an intoxicating haze.
***
Director Zhang still hadn't notified her when she was due to report for filming, so Qi Yao took another brief week off at home and discovered quite a few new hobbies, such as growing flowers and learning how to cook.
During that time, a certain boss surprisingly didn't go to work much either.
"Aren't you supposed to be the most hardworking boss ever?" Qi Yao was baffled, leaning against the doorframe watching him wash dishes. "When I first saw you again, you were still working overtime until two or three in the morning."
Now, forget two or three in the morning. On weekday afternoons at two or three, he was still at home, and every so often he would get a sudden whim and ask if she wanted to go camping in the mountains.
Qi Yao actually agreed. The two of them drove up and stayed in the mountains for a few days.
At first, she still had the energy to play in the snow and watch the sunrise. Later, she grew lazy, sleeping until she woke naturally, turning the heater in the room all the way up, then curling up by the window with a book while watching him bend over in the courtyard and assemble the barbecue grill in a few swift movements.
It was a small mountain resort with rows of connected villas, each three stories high. The courtyard downstairs was shared between two adjoining units.
The neighboring unit was occupied by a family of three. The couple looked to be around thirty and had a rather mischievous little daughter about the same age as Yu Qiuqiu
After wrapping her scarf securely around herself, Qi Yao went outside and sat in a white camping chair, hugging her knees as she watched the little girl next door walk her puppy.
Probably a Pomeranian. It was tiny, held by a leash, its eyes were round and bright, its fur pure white and impeccably groomed. As it ran, its fluffy coat billowed in the wind.
She sat like that, arms around her knees, quietly watching the interaction between the girl and the dog for a while. Then her gaze shifted, landing on Yu Jiashu.
Even standing there grilling skewers, the man somehow looked ridiculously handsome.
He was tall and lean, broad-shouldered and narrow-waisted, standing lazily in front of the grill. His lashes were lowered, his head slightly bowed, his long fingers pinching the bamboo skewers and turning them over every so often. He looked unhurried, yet completely in control.
An enticing aroma gradually filled the air, mingling in the wind with the fresh scent of snow-covered branches in the distance. For some inexplicable reason, it made her feel at peace.
Her heart contracted ever so slightly, then slowly unfolded again, soothed and comforted.
Sitting there, Qi Yao suddenly had a thought that came from nowhere.
It caught her completely off guard, without rhyme or reason, and yet somehow felt like the most natural thing in the world.
...She wanted to have a home with him.
Not a room shared with many others in the orphanage. Not a place with only her grandmother to depend on. Not the old residential compound where she had once lived alone. And not some grand, luxurious house that merely looked impressive from the outside.
A home that belonged only to the two of them.
A home that could shelter them from the scorching summer sun and keep out the biting winter wind. A fireplace blazing brightly in the hearth, logs occasionally crackling and popping, warm and cozy like the Gryffindor common room, a place that could keep out every storm and snowflake the world sent their way.
She hadn't understood it before.
Her parents' absence had left her distrustful of marriage and family for a long time. She found it hard to grasp why someone would willingly sacrifice a part of themselves to build a family.
Once, when she happened to talk about it with Ye Qingman, Ye Qingman would say, maybe you just haven't liked someone enough. Qi Yao had neither agreed nor disagreed at the time. Only now did she finally understand.
Ye Qingman had been right.
The couple next door came downstairs and greeted them from a distance. The sounds of the family of three echoed through the yard, lively and contented.
It made that thought come rushing at her even more fiercely.
She loved him so much.
She wanted to have a home with him.
It was warm by the barbecue grill. Even standing in the yard exposed to the wind, it didn't feel cold.
It wasn't until Yu Jiashu pulled out a sheet of paper to wipe his hands and turned around to speak to her that she finally came back to herself.
"Chili powder?" he asked.
Qi Yao paused for two seconds before slowly blinking. "Sure."
"Just a little." After a moment, she added.
Yu Jiashu seemed to laugh softly. He turned his head back, picked up the seasoning shaker, and sprinkled a tiny amount over it. "You're just like Yu Qiuqiu."
"What?" Qi Yao asked.
"Can't handle spicy food, but can't resist eating it," he said.
"......"
So she wasn't great with spicy food but occasionally craved it anyway. So what?
Qi Yao clicked her tongue, got up, moved her chair closer, and took the grilled chicken wing from him.
Crisp and golden on the outside, tender within. When she bit through the crackling skin, juicy meat was revealed underneath. As she ate, Qi Yao couldn't help wondering, was there anything this man couldn't do?
Yu Jiashu glanced down at her, as if he could read exactly what was going through her mind. He added, unhurriedly,"Nothing."
Qi Yao looked up. "?"
"There's nothing I can't do," Yu Jiashu said. He turned around, dragged over a chair, and sat beside her, setting the plate of grilled food on the camping table before lazily adding, "Your boyfriend can do everything."
"......"
Qi Yao said, "Could you be a little modest?"
Yu Jiashu laughed. "I'm just telling the truth."
Qi Yao made another dismissive sound at him, but genuinely couldn't find a rebuttal, so she didn't bother arguing further.
He really didn't seem to have anything he couldn't do.
The two of them sat in the courtyard chatting about this and that while eating until they were about half full. When Yu Jiashu reached over to brush the loose strands of hair away from her temple, he suddenly heard her call his name.
"Yu Jiashu."
"Hm?" he answered.
Qi Yao was silent for a while, her lashes lowered quietly. She took a sip of yogurt through her straw before finally speaking in a soft voice, asking him one word at a time.
"Have you ever thought..."
"Excuse me, could we bother you for a moment?"
She was interrupted halfway through.
Probably drawn by the smell, the little girl next door was hungry and said she wanted barbecue too. The couple felt embarrassed about interrupting them, but came over to ask whether he could help set up their grill because they weren't very good at it.
The question was really directed at Yu Jiashu, of course, because Qi Yao couldn't do it either.
While he assembled it, she simply sat beside him reading. She hadn't worried about it in the slightest.
The woman was very polite and seemed apologetic about disturbing them. After asking, she quietly waited off to the side.
Yu Jiashu turned his head and glanced at Qi Yao, one brow lifting slightly in a silent question. Qi Yao hurriedly waved him off. "Go ahead."
"We'll talk later."
Yu Jiashu stood up.
Qi Yao remained in her chair, watching as he put the other couple's grill together in a few quick movements and politely responded to their thanks.
The couple made polite conversation, asking things like whether he and his wife were also there on vacation and saying that the hot springs behind the mountain were quite nice. He answered with a few neutral remarks, neither overly friendly nor impolite, his clean-cut profile looking calm and focused.
After confirming everything was set, Yu Jiashu turned and walked back toward her.
That interruption had scattered the impulse she'd had to speak.
So when he came back and told her to continue, Qi Yao thought for a long time, then stammered her way around it.
"Go on," Yu Jiashu said, sitting down. "Thought about what?"
"Have you ever thought..."
Qi Yao fell silent for a moment, her gaze lingering on the barbecue grill. Then, suddenly struck by inspiration, she said, "When you retire, have you ever thought about setting up a barbecue stall?"
"......"
The air fell silent for two full seconds.
Yu Jiashu sat there, his movements frozen for a beat. He slowly raised one eyebrow.
"?"
***
On their last day in the mountains, the snow stopped.
The owner led a crew to sweep the snow out of the courtyard and said that since it was winter and there were fewer guests, he'd treat them to a whole roast lamb.
Qi Yao put on her hat and went to relay the message to Yu Jiashu. "The owner says he's treating us to roast lamb tonight."
Yu Jiashu was checking the road conditions. He lowered his lashes, gathered the papers on the table, folded them twice, and slipped them into his pocket. At her words, he looked at her. "Do you want to eat it?"
"A little," Qi Yao said.
"Then let's eat it." He laughed softly and put away his phone. "The snow just stopped, so the roads aren't very safe."
Having woken up late and eaten a leisurely lunch, she was stuffed. Yu Jiashu suggested they go out and wander around for a bit.
"Let's just walk, then." Qi Yao didn't think much of it. "I doubt we'll go very far anyway. Just a casual stroll."
"Then change your shoes," Yu Jiashu said.
"Why?" Qi Yao looked down at her new shoes. A slipper-like style, casual white, fluffy, paired with thick socks. They went perfectly with her outfit today.
Yu Jiashu also glanced down. He watched her hurriedly tuck her exposed toes back in and tugged at the corner of his mouth. With a faintly amused smile, he asked, "What do you think?"
"......"
Under the force of authority, Qi Yao changed them in the end.
Stepping carefully through the snowy patches in her thick snow boots, the two of them ambled along the mountain road toward the halfway point.
She had to admit, mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas always had a certain magic to calm the heart.
Thin layers of snow still clung to the continuous rows of cedar needles along the roadside, falling little by little.
The air carried the scent of rain, snow, and fresh grass, strangely familiar and wonderfully refreshing.
Qi Yao was bundled up warmly, but her hands were still a bit cold exposed to the air. She slipped one into Yu Jiashu's pocket and reached for his hand.
"I really love winter now."
Yu Jiashu turned his head to look at her. His long fingers shifted slightly inside the pocket, naturally lacing with hers. "Why?"
"Winter is so perfect for falling in love," Qi Yao said, blinking.
Yu Jiashu looked at her for a moment, then let out a very low laugh. "I think all four seasons are perfect for it."
Perhaps because the road was slippery and there were few cars, the two of them continued slowly down the winding mountain road without encountering another person.
"I can't walk anymore." Qi Yao looked back. The hotel at the mountaintop was almost out of sight. They had walked at least three kilometers.
"Just a little farther," Yu Jiashu said.
"Why?" Qi Yao was genuinely puzzled. "Wasn't this supposed to help us digest our lunch? If we keep going, I'll just get hungry again."
"......"
Yu Jiashu said, "Has your appetite's grown this much after staying home for a few days?"
"Hard to say. When I'm relaxed, I just want to eat." Even as she complained, Qi Yao pouted and followed him onward.
Her legs were aching badly, and before long she was leaning most of her weight against him, draping herself over his shoulder like a human accessory. Yu Jiashu finally told her he might as well carry her on his back, but Qi Yao was too embarrassed and hurriedly refused.
With all their back-and-forth, somehow they managed to walk another two kilometers and reach the halfway point of the mountain.
"You can carry me on the way back. It's too crowded out here, I'd be embarrassed..." Qi Yao was speaking when she tilted her head slightly, her gaze sweeping casually ahead. Then she suddenly stopped.
The words died halfway out of her mouth, along with her movement.
She stood there, staring blankly ahead.
There was less snow at the halfway point than at the summit, but sparse white patches still rested along the eaves.
It wasn't a holiday, and the courtyard entrance that was usually crowded with visitors was completely deserted.
The temple gate, made of natural wood, simple yet dignified, stood half open. Through it, wisps of white smoke drifted slowly from the incense burner. Thread after thread, intertwining, scattering in the winter wind.
Daci Temple.
The times Qi Yao had visited before had always been in spring or autumn. She had ridden up the winding mountain road in a car, glimpsing flashes of spring through the dark-tinted windows. She had never come down from the mountaintop on foot, and she had never seen the temple eaves covered in snow.
After a long, stunned moment, she blinked slowly and turned her head to look at the person beside her.
Yu Jiashu was looking at her too.
His eyes were dark, his features clear and cool. After a few seconds, he picked up where she had left off, answering with a casual hum.
"Then I'll carry you when we get back."
His voice was low.
But Qi Yao didn't care about that anymore.
The wind howled around them. She pressed her lips together and said nothing more, the fingers tightly curled inside her pocket slowly flexing as she began to walk forward.
The snow on the road had melted halfway, still lay piled along the edges. Her snow boots made soft crunching sounds as she stepped over it.
Qi Yao looked down, staring at the shallow footprints beneath her shoes, letting her thoughts drift aimlessly.
No wonder.
No wonder he'd seemed so familiar with the route the whole way. At every fork in the road, he had always chosen a direction without hesitation. At the time, she had assumed he was simply picking at random.
So this had been the destination all along.
Nearly half a year after her last visit, she stepped through the temple gates again. This time, she was no longer alone.
Side by side, they walked past the main hall with its solemn, dignified Buddha statues. Through the winding corridors, to the meditation courtyard behind the temple.
The willows were bare in winter, nothing like the tender green leaves in her dream. But snow rested delicately along the branches, weighing them down with tiny fragments of white, while a thin layer dusted the blue-brick ground. It was another kind of beauty altogether.
A monk was chanting sutras in the courtyard, his voice unhurried and his enunciation clear.
Standing together far off beneath the willow tree, their two silhouettes seemed very small. And yet, framed by the mountain temple and the corridors and the willow, they also looked peaceful and perfectly complete.
A soft, gentle voice began to speak.
Looking at the traces of snow scattered across the blue-brick ground, Qi Yao quietly said everything she hadn't had the chance to finish saying in her previous dream, one sentence after another.
Yu Jiashu stood beside her, watching her, listening in silence.
Listening to her talk about recent work and life. Listening to her share funny stories that had stuck in her memory. Listening to her ramble aimlessly and relaxedly, following her whims, going wherever her thoughts led, like a child chattering away.
Until Qi Yao looked at him hesitantly, and Yu Jiashu understood.
She was about to talk about something involving him. The girl was shy, so he looked at her, raised his brows slightly, and turned away to give her some space.
There really wasn't much left to say.
She had already said it all in the dream.
"Grandma." Qi Yao finally sighed and spoke softly. "I really like him."
"I've liked him since I was fifteen."
"Being with him makes me so happy."
"You can rest easy now," she said.
After leaving the willow tree, Qi Yao picked up three sticks of incense as she always did and entered the main hall.
The Buddha statue was solemn, gazing down upon all living beings. She lowered her head and bowed once.
Unlike before, her mind was completely empty this time, filled only with a simple wish that was almost impossible to put into words.
Outside the door, smoke still curled gently from the incense burner. Qi Yao lowered her eyes and lashes as she slowly rose from the prayer cushion, then turned around and met his eyes.
Yu Jiashu stood there, tall and straight, almost as upright as the snow-covered incense cedars in the distance. He slowly lifted his lashes and looked at her.
Their eyes met.
There was nothing left to ask for, Qi Yao thought.
Every wish she had ever made up until this very moment had come true.
***
On the way back up the mountain, Qi Yao genuinely couldn't walk another step.
She had spent most of her holiday lounging around at home and hadn't gotten enough exercise. The slightest amount of walking left her calves aching.
Near the mountaintop, about a kilometer from the summit, there was an outdoor glass observation deck built outward from the mountain. Wreathed in cloud and mist, it was beautiful.
Qi Yao sat down on the bench at the observation deck and began to shamelessly protest. "I'm not walking anymore."
Yu Jiashu stood beside her and raised a brow. "Should I have the owner drive down and get us?"
"Forget it." Qi Yao hated being a bother. "The road really isn't safe for driving right now. Don't make him go to the trouble."
She thought for a second and added, "He might be busy with the whole roast lamb anyway!"
"......"
Great. This actress thought about nothing but food all day now.
Yu Jiashu had no answer to that. He sat down beside her. "You won't let me carry you, and you won't let me call someone for a ride. What do you want to do?"
"Let me sit here for a while." Qi Yao said, "Maybe I'll feel better after I rest."
"All right." Yu Jiashu leaned forward slightly and caught her ankle.
Qi Yao instinctively flinched and tried to pull away. "What are you doing?"
Yu Jiashu didn't react much. He simply lifted his eyes to glance at her, then, without giving her a chance to protest, raised her leg and placed it across his own. Through the loose fabric of her pants, he began massaging it in slow, absentminded strokes.
His long fingers curled, kneading the ache from her calf.
"Here?" he asked, lowering his eyes.
His expression was completely composed, without the slightest trace of embarrassment, perfectly at ease.
Qi Yao paused for two seconds, her fingertips curling slightly. She slowly adjusted her posture, bracing one hand against the edge of the bench before answering in a very soft voice.
"...Mm."
Some time had passed since lunch. They had wandered down from the mountain, lingered at the temple for a while, and now winter sunset was approaching.
The terrace was close to the summit, with a broad lawn and an elevation of nearly two thousand meters. You could see the outline of the opposite mountain range wrapped in clouds.
The ache in her calf gradually eased, as though all her nerves had gathered into one place, the tingling sensation traveling through her body bit by bit with every movement of his hand.
A long, lingering flutter went through her heart.
Qi Yao lifted her lashes and looked at him.
The man's eyes were lowered, his profile focused, the line of his jaw sharp.
"...Yu Jiashu."
She called his name again.
"Hm." He answered lazily without looking up.
"Did you..."
Qi Yao paused for a moment before softly continuing, "Did you send a letter to Grandma?"
Did you send a letter to Grandma?
The instant the question was spoken, Yu Jiashu's hand stopped for one second.
The air fell silent.
The observation deck was empty, with only the occasional call of a bird breaking the stillness.
A moment later, he resumed his kneading casually. His long, bony fingers moved slowly up her slender calf, massaging with gentle but firm pressure. But he still didn't speak, as if deliberating something.
For some reason, Qi Yao suddenly felt nervous. She held her breath.
After a long while, Yu Jiashu finally let out a low hum of affirmation, eyes still lowered.
Only then did Qi Yao let out a heavy breath. "I happened to see it."
When she had entered the room, Yu Jiashu had probably just finished writing. The pen and paper were still on the desk.
Though he'd quickly folded the letter and stuffed it into his pocket when he heard her, Qi Yao had still caught a glimpse of the opening.
It had been extremely formal: To Ms. Huang.
At the time, she hadn't understood. She hadn't realized that Ms. Huang was her grandmother's name.
Ms. Huang Chunying.
Now, Qi Yao suddenly wanted to laugh.
All those years ago, when he'd written her letters, they hadn't been this formal. Yet when writing to Grandma, he'd meticulously used the proper epistolary format.
Yu Jiashu turned his head to look at her, one eyebrow lifting slightly. "You figured it out that quickly?"
"No." Qi Yao shook her head. "I didn't think much of it at the time. It was when we came out of the temple."
She had knelt on the prayer cushion, her wish for her grandmother's peace and well-being still fresh in her mind. When she turned around, she saw him standing sideways, using the flame from the incense burner to set the paper alight.
The man stood beside the incense-filled burner and raised his hand. Flames caught one corner of the letter. The black handwriting disappeared beneath the curling fire, the paper crumbling into ashes that fluttered softly downward.
Even if she'd been the slowest person alive, standing at the temple gate, she would have known who the recipient of that handwritten letter was.
Qi Yao had just watched him then and thought.
A man who didn't believe in gods had, in the end, written a letter for her.
After a brief silence, curiosity still got the better of her. Qi Yao slowly moved her leg off his lap, blinked, and asked in a small voice, "What did you write?"
"Can you tell me?"
Her grandmother was an educated woman who had read plenty of books. If he'd written poorly, she wondered if Grandma would have corrected him?
"I can, but..."
Yu Jiashu turned his head and looked at her for a while. He watched those bright, sparkling eyes of hers and paused for two seconds.
"Are you sure you want to know now?"
"......"
Was there really something she wasn't supposed to know?
Had he said something bad about her in the letter?
Qi Yao's gaze shifted. She cautiously thought it over first, deciding that there was nothing she couldn't handle, before saying firmly, "Tell me."
Yu Jiashu looked at her for another moment.
Finally, he raised his brows slightly, as if to say, You chose this.
Then he lowered his lashes to glance at his watch and said quietly, "Wait another ten minutes."
Qi Yao blinked, not understanding why, but she obediently waited with him.
She turned her head to look out. The snow had stopped and the sky had cleared. The damp mist dispersed completely beneath the winter sunlight, revealing a clear blue sky.
The distant mountain ranges stood out sharply, rolling endlessly into the horizon as the sun gradually sank westward.
Around six o'clock, at the heart of the winter dusk, vast swaths of sunset spilled across the sky, bathing even the accumulated snow in the warm colors of the evening glow.
A mountaintop sunset.
A sunset with all the world spread out below.
The villages at the foot of the mountain were clearly visible beneath the rosy light. The sunset cast a warm orange glow, magnificent and brimming with vitality as it poured down over everything, bathing her in its radiance.
It had snowed intermittently for the past few days, and the sky had rarely been clear. Aside from the sunrise she'd gotten up early to watch on the first day, she had hardly seen such a magnificent sight.
Qi Yao blinked in a daze, staring at the grand spectacle unfolding before her. In the middle of her reverie, she heard him speak beside her.
"I wrote to Grandma and told her..."
His voice was as lazy as ever, his final syllables lingering, yet every word was pronounced clearly. Somehow, beneath that familiar casualness, there was an unmistakable gravity and sincerity.
After a two-second pause, he continued.
"I want to have a home with you."
Thump, thump.
Thump, thump.
Everything around her suddenly seemed to receded into the distance.
When those words reached her ears, even her heartbeat seemed to stop for a second.
She instinctively held her breath, stunned and disbelieving, replaying the sentence again and again in her mind. After a moment, she slowly turned her head, her gaze meeting his.
An earbud was placed into her right ear.
Yu Jiashu lowered his lashes and pressed play. A familiar piano introduction and the sound of cheering filled her ear, and it took her less than a second to recognize the song.
Leslie Cheung's "For You, I'm Devoted."
It was the live version from the millennium concert, the same song Qi Yao had once shared with him after getting drunk at a classmate's wedding.
A melodious male voice sang softly beside her.
"For you, I'm devoted, pouring out all my sincerity."
"Please treasure this feeling."
Still dazed, Qi Yao saw Yu Jiashu somehow produce a small, square box from somewhere.
Black, compact, and exquisitely made, with an understated yet luxurious brand logo engraved on the bottom.
After reading so many scripts and acting out so many important moments in other people's lives, Qi Yao knew exactly what this was.
Her breathing tightened. Her lashes trembled, her fingers curling unconsciously as she watched him slowly open it.
The narrow gap gradually widened, unhurriedly, until the contents were fully revealed, like a shell opening to expose a pearl. Resting against black velvet was a brand-new diamond ring.
Its finely cut facets caught the light, brilliant and dazzling beneath the sunset, glowing with an almost dreamlike radiance.
Unlike the ring that had fallen from the envelope during the fireworks that time, this time she could see it clearly. The softened light made the diamond's enduring beauty all the more striking, enough to make her heart tremble.
"I wasn't planning to do it today." Yu Jiashu turned his head to look at her and laughed softly. "You were the one who made me say it now."
His expression slowly sobered, taking on a hint of seriousness. "But I figured you probably don't like those big scenes with crowds of people anyway."
The familiar song continued playing beside her ear. After a sluggish pause, her heart began pounding wildly inside her chest, almost as though it might leap out.
Qi Yao looked at him almost helplessly, her lashes fluttering again and again as she followed his words.
"What if you guessed wrong?"
"Then I'll make it up to you.” Yu Jiashu looked at her, his expression calm and his voice even, yet his words made a piece of her heart suddenly cave inward.
He said it so casually, as if this wasn't even something worth puzzling over.
"On a mountain, by the sea, at sunset, or at sunrise."
He spoke each word calmly.
"Wherever you like, that's where we'll do it."
"A thousand times. Ten thousand times."
"Until you're satisfied."
Her breath caught sharply.
Her heart felt like someone was seizing it. Sore and aching and unbearably full. Qi Yao couldn't control the sting in her nose. She felt a surge of heat welling up in her eyes.
So she was worthy of being loved openly and without reservation.
So there really would be someone willing to prepare a thousand, ten thousand different ways to tell her he loved her.
The afterglow of sunset fell over them, tracing their figures with a beautiful golden edge.
After a long, long moment, Qi Yao sniffed, slowly curved the corners of her eyes upward, and shook her head.
"I'm already very satisfied."
Yu Jiashu looked at her for a while, then laughed. "Why are you crying and smiling at the same time?"
Qi Yao's voice was tinged with a nasal note as she pouted. "I was just thinking, I barely had a chance to wear the last ring, and now there's another one."
"I'm not an octopus."
Yu Jiashu laughed too. "Well, I didn't bring that other ring, did I?"
"You didn't look that happy that day, so I had another one made."
Qi Yao paused for two seconds, ignoring that casual young-master flair of that statement. She simply stared at him and asked in a daze:
"...You knew what I was going to say that day?"
That day, sitting in the courtyard watching someone else's family of three, the words she'd wanted to say had been interrupted. She'd never brought it up again afterward.
"Wasn't hard to guess." Yu Jiashu looked at her quietly.
"Because when I saw them, I had the same thought."
"Qi Shiyi."
He called her name with something approaching reverence, speaking with solemn sincerity.
"Of course I've thought about having a home with you."
Her heart gave another heavy thump.
Qi Yao didn't understand why. She merely blinked twice, very lightly, and tears slipped from the corners of her eyes.
She frowned slightly and looked at him, explaining in a small voice, "I don't want to cry."
"I know." The corners of Yu Jiashu's eyes curved gently. He lowered his gaze, holding the ring between his fingers, and answered her earlier question as though joking.
"Wear them on rotation. This bigger one's for showing off."
"......"
"You're such a weirdo." Qi Yao was coaxed into a laugh again. Her fingers curled twice, and then she slowly extended her hand.
When the cold, hard ring slipped onto her ring finger, her lashes trembled. Her gaze moved upward from where their hands touched.
Yu Jiashu's lashes were lowered. He'd shed his usual air of casual indifference and looked exceptionally focused, exceptionally earnest.
As though this tiny ring, slowly making its way toward the base of her finger, was the most important thing in the entire world to him.
When it reached the base, both of them paused for a moment.
The perfectly fitted ring rested quietly around the base of her ring finger, like an unbreakable vow.
Her wrist turned gently, their fingers interlaced tightly.
Their side profiles, facing one another beneath the last traces of sunset, were bathed in the softest, most tender glow.
In her earbud, the song randomly shuffled to the next track. Janice Vidal's "Even If the World Has No Fairytales."
Rising to walk side by side toward the highest point, Qi Yao lowered her eyes and thought.
It didn't matter.
Even if the world had no fairy tales.
The person beside her would always grant her everything she wished for and make every beautiful dream come true.
---
Comments
Post a Comment