“2018.07.01 The moon hung high”
Afraid even friends couldn’t be.
—Excerpted from Tao Shuran’s Diary
Tao Shuran held a can of green plum sparkling water in her hand. She had just tilted her head to take a sip when she heard those words, and she staggered again.
She was rushing outward at that moment. She stood striding on the shore, keeping a safe distance from him.
Liang Yuanjing hugged his arms as he sized her up. His pair of eyes opened round and wide, a bit like…?
Oh, like that grape from the vineyard they passed on the road when driving here, the one that accidentally got caught in his car window.
“Such a coward?”
He slowly walked to the shore. He pulled his deep gray jacket up to the top, leaving only a pair of eyes as black as stars.
The scene behind them was a complete mess, like a pot of porridge. The crowded barbecue stalls were at their peak bustle. Zhao Zhengnian squeezed through the crowd looking for seats. Fang Qingyi looked emotionally off; she hugged two bottles, popped the caps with her temper, and drank straight from them.
Liang Yuanjing did not want to get involved, so he stood in place adjusting the viewfinder to look.
He casually struck up a conversation with her: “Still learning to have a crush like others?”
Tao Shuran stood beside him and unconsciously lightened her breathing, minimizing her presence.
She muttered softly: “It’s exactly because I’m a coward that I have a crush. Haven’t you heard that having a crush is a coward’s game?”
“Is that so?”
Liang Yuanjing lifted his head. Now his entire face was revealed, with a jawline so perfectly angular it was beyond reproach.
He tilted his head slightly toward her and said in a very serious tone, “I don’t think so.”
For some reason, Tao Shuran felt like she was drawing closer to Liang Yuanjing because of the topic of liking someone.
It was a wondrous feeling.
She drew closer to him because she liked him.
With an earnestness like discussing an academic topic, Tao Shuran asked: “Then what do you think?”
“Have you heard this saying?”
Liang Yuanjing did not lift his head. His fingers fiddled with the camera on his hand, his temperament still coldly aloof as ever.
“Love is the moment of self-abasement, abandoning the darkness for light—self-abasement, either sinking deeper step by step into the cave of self-abasement, or turning around to await liberation on the path of love.”
“Human emotions are quite limited. If you can selflessly devote the positive feelings symbolizing affection to someone unrelated, I think that’s pretty brave.”
Tao Shuran burst out laughing with a ‘pfft’: “Me liking someone else, and you make it sound like I’m so great.”
“Aren’t you?”
Liang Yuanjing thought for a moment and said: “On the contrary, I think people shouldn’t focus their attention on the object of the crush. If a person’s life is surviving in a dark cave, then love is the torch that is lit. You like someone, so you willingly light a torch for them. Whether they accept that beam of light or not, you have truly illuminated a stretch of the path ahead.”
So a crush could be understood this way.
Tao Shuran had always thought a crush was a relationship of looking up and being looked up to, forgetting the subjectivity of self-worth.
And Liang Yuanjing was someone with perfect subjectivity.
He was passionate, unrestrained, and casual. The innate freedom he possessed seemed able to infect everyone.
From the first moment she saw Liang Yuanjing, Tao Shuran secretly vowed in her heart that she too would become someone who could bring a beam of light to others.
She had not expected that her very existence was already a beam of light illuminating others.
She felt deeply moved: “Liang Yuanjing, you really are a good person.”
Liang Yuanjing finished adjusting the tripod. When he looked up, he saw this girl staring at him with teary eyes, and his heart skipped a beat.
He had just said it casually, so how did he end up making her sad.
To liven up the atmosphere, Liang Yuanjing leaned down, pinched two fingers to his lips and slid them across, making a swiping card gesture.
His smiling eyes looked at her: “Beep! Linchuan Affiliated Flight Class’s Liang Yuanjing has received your nice guy card.”
Tao Shuran was amused into hearty laughter.
It was right at that moment that Liang Yuanjing mounted the camera on the tripod and lifted his chin toward the distance.
“Look, the moon is hung high.”
Lotus Capital Resort Hotel had shares invested by Liang Yuanjing’s mother, something Liang Yuanjing had never mentioned to anyone else, and no one else knew.
After the evening gathering ended, he leisurely made his way alone to the “Darkroom” on the negative first floor of the hotel to develop photos.
Previously, Madam Li Wan had brought him to dine with the hotel owner twice. The owner was an outright photography enthusiast, and speaking of it, Liang Yuanjing’s hobby had been guided by him.
Zhao Zhengnian could not sleep in the middle of the night, so he insisted on coming along no matter what.
With no other choice, Liang Yuanjing could only bring him.
He glanced back. Zhao Zhengnian immediately got the hint.
“Don’t worry, I absolutely won’t say a word to disturb you.”
Liang Yuanjing took the key and opened the door. He had just sat down for not even a second when he heard him ask, “Do you think Fang Qingyi has someone she likes?”
“Are you a pig? You can’t even tell who the girl you like has a crush on?”
Liang Yuanjing closed his eyes deeply and finally could not hold back from cursing out loud.
Zhao Zhengnian racked his brains over there: “Weren’t there just the three of us guys present—you, me, and Fu Changpei? Did she ask that question because the person she likes was there?”
Liang Yuanjing gave an “mm” and used tongs to clip the photo paper out from the developer. His hand paused in midair waiting for the residual liquid to drip dry. His response to him was obviously perfunctory.
Zhao Zhengnian asked: “What are you looking at?”
Liang Yuanjing narrowed his eyes and used an iron to smooth the photo paper. Once the photo developed, he looked at Zhao Zhengnian through the paper.
Without mercy, he said: “Looking at you, you idiot.”
As soon as he cursed, Zhao Zhengnian immediately had a realization.
“Fang Qingyi likes Fu Changpei?”
“A frozen moment in a photo can capture many emotions.”
Liang Yuanjing pointed with his finger: “For example, in this one, the way you look at Fang Qingyi is practically bubbling over.”
Zhao Zhengnian snatched the photo and stuffed it into his pocket, laughing and cursing: “Scram, don’t go blabbing outside.”
Liang Yuanjing: ……
He looked up somewhat speechlessly: “Does it even need me to say it?”
“Everyone in the world knows. Besides, that’s how people look when gazing at someone they like.”
“If you’re saying it that way, in this one, the way Tao Shuran looks at you is also like she likes you.”
Zhao Zhengnian pulled out a single photo. It was a group shot, probably taken when someone suddenly suggested everyone gather for a group photo while shooting the moon.
At the time, Liang Yuanjing thought it looked just like those tourist group photos and had wanted to refuse. But he saw Tao Shuran’s eyes bright and expectant, so he casually took one.
When developing photos, he had developed them all along the way. He himself had not even noticed yet.
Now looking closely, she was actually a pretty girl. After graduation, she no longer tied her hair in a ponytail; her shoulder-length hair hung obediently on both sides. The evening breeze slightly lifted the bangs on her forehead. She turned her head, her gaze falling completely on his face.
Just a coincidental candid shot.
Liang Yuanjing stood up to pack his things. He placed a hand on Zhao Zhengnian’s shoulder and told him in a tone full of earnest advice.
“Machines can never replace manpower. Even time-lapse photography struggles to capture the most perfect instant.”
“Not to mention she already has someone she likes.”
He did not understand the profound stuff in front. Zhao Zhengnian’s face scrunched up. Now his heart ached, and he desperately tried to find more clues in the photos.
How did Fang Qingyi end up liking Fu Changpei?
In the end, this look really let him discover a secret.
“A Jing, don’t go. Look at this one, and this one—Fu Changpei has been looking at Tao Shuran the whole time.”
Zhao Zhengnian’s mouth gaped open, looking like he had uncovered a earth-shattering secret: “The person Fu Changpei likes is Tao Shuran?”
A likes B, B likes C, C likes… X?
Zhao Zhengnian blurted out: “Then Fang Qingyi must be so heartbroken.”
He had not expected that just developing photos could stir up this kind of trouble. Liang Yuanjing’s temples throbbed faintly.
He snatched all the photos from Zhao Zhengnian’s hands. His first reaction was to think of Tao Shuran—her feelings of loss from liking someone were already wistful enough.
Now dragged into another emotional whirlpool, would her sensitive heart hurt even more?
“Time to go back to sleep.”
Liang Yuanjing grabbed him by the collar and dragged him outward, brainwashing him like: “You discovered nothing tonight.”
“How did I discover nothing?”
Zhao Zhengnian followed him out with a wooden expression. As if reaching some emotional tipping point, he suddenly shouted in agony:
“I got dumped!!!”
……
At the same time, in room 1802 of the hotel, Fang Qingyi cried and shouted that she had lost her love while her phone’s NetEase Cloud played a playlist of “Happy Breakup.”
Tao Shuran sat there listening for a bit, then silently switched it to “Good Luck Comes.”
The atmosphere came to an abrupt halt. Fang Qingyi’s crying finally stopped too.
She looked at Tao Shuran with teary eyes: “Ranran, I lost my love.”
Tao Shuran thought for a moment and said: “Him not liking you doesn’t mean he has someone he likes. And him not liking you now doesn’t mean he won’t like you in the future.”
“Does me comforting you like this… make you feel a bit better?”
“Yes.”
Fang Qingyi bit her lip: “But just thinking that I might not even be friends with him anymore afterward makes me so sad.”
Confessing failure led to this outcome.
Once the other party noticed your feelings, it meant the relationship dropped to freezing point—everything starting over from scratch.
No, perhaps not even the chance to start over.
If the other party did not like you, they would not give you the slightest opportunity to get close.
At this moment, Tao Shuran empathized deeply. Her heart ached with each throb. She gently wrapped her arms around Fang Qingyi’s shoulders and comforted her in a soft voice.
“To be honest, Little Yi, I think you’re much braver than me. At least you dared to ask that question. I wouldn’t dare do it at all.”
Fang Qingyi asked: “So you plan to keep it this way forever?”
“Keep what way?”
“Maintain the status quo. Liang Yuanjing will like someone someday. Are you just going to watch him like someone else without batting an eye?”
Previously, Tao Shuran really had thought that way.
At first, she just wanted to get closer to him.
Human desires always slowly nurtured. She shook her head and only said, “I’d feel a bit regretful.”
Fang Qingyi suggested: “Then why don’t you try pursuing Liang Yuanjing? Slow and steady wins the race—maybe at the right moment, it’ll happen.”
Tao Shuran’s heart was filled with all sorts of mixed feelings.
She feared getting too close would mean they could not even be friends. Every choice in life seemed like this—risk and opportunity coexisted.
So, was she prepared to bear the cost of that risk?
In the midst of her back-and-forth hesitation, a “ding” notification sound from her phone pulled back all her attention.
Seeing the message, Tao Shuran’s pupils suddenly contracted.
“Liang Yuanjing”: Asleep yet?