“The moon is always the moon, just no longer solely mine.”
After returning, Liang Yuanjing received a reply to that email.
Grayish-blue smoke rose, and he stared at the email for a long moment, unable to speak.
The lighter casually placed on the table also lay silent; back then, he had tossed it into her arms with a smile.
Was it impulsive? Quitting smoking for one person.
It was, but not entirely.
Liang Yuanjing tilted his head slightly, his gaze fixed on the pitch-black ceiling, yet her face involuntarily appeared before his eyes.
It turned out that he had already started liking her back then.
He had just realized it too late, missing the time they should have spent in love.
The two-month project came to an end, and as autumn arrived, Tao Shuran and her group prepared to head back to Fuqing City.
On the day they left, Liang Yuanjing did not show up.
It was his roommate Kang Bai who drove them to the airport.
Kang Bai grinned cheerfully; he was very easygoing, speaking like he was rapping, without pausing for breath.
Tao Shuran could not handle such an enthusiastic personality and tugged at Jin Boyu’s sleeve to have him deal with it.
Jin Boyu glanced over and unceremoniously kicked Gu Songnian’s leg.
Gu Songnian got the hint and immediately interrupted Kang Bai’s endless monologue.
“Brother Kang Bai, is pilot training usually very tough?”
“Do you even have time to date?”
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
The topic came to a halt. Kang Bai uttered an “uh” and said very softly, “No.”
Gu Songnian enthusiastically leaned in: “How about it? Want me to introduce someone to you?”
“What type do you like? Older than you or younger?”
Tao Shuran and Jin Boyu held back their laughter in the back seat, nearly bursting.
This was Gu Songnian’s ultimate move, which he deployed in situations with nonstop chatter to end the topic.
Tao Shuran lowered her head and chuckled softly. The moment she looked up, her gaze met Kang Bai’s in the rearview mirror.
Her heart gave a lurch as she thought, ‘This is bad.’
Sure enough, the next second, she heard Kang Bai ask her: “I don’t know, Teacher Xiao Tao, what type of guys do you like?”
Gu Songnian let out an “ah,” his mouth moving faster than his brain.
“You like ones like my junior sister?”
“What nonsense!” Kang Bai suddenly grew agitated, his words stumbling.
He replied dryly: “I’m asking for someone else.”
“Oh.” Gu Songnian was blunt: “For who?”
Under the seat, Jin Boyu kicked him again.
Gu Songnian shouted unhappily: “Senior Brother, why did you kick me again!”
Jin Boyu rubbed his forehead: “Because you’re dense.”
Seeing the situation spiraling, Tao Shuran spoke up gently.
“No specific type I like; liking is a feeling.”
Kang Bai thoughtfully hummed an “mm.”
He dropped them off at the airport and immediately sent a message to Liang Yuanjing.
“Bro, I asked for you. The girl said liking is a feeling, no specific person.”
Liang Yuanjing quickly replied—“Thanks, brother.”
“Will treat you to a meal back in Fuqing City.”
The politeness made Kang Bai scratch his head awkwardly: “No worries, bro. I didn’t really help much; you’re making me feel bad.”
Liang Yuanjing: “You did help.”
Liang Yuanjing: “No specific person means she doesn’t like anyone right now.”
Liang Yuanjing: “She might still like me.”
The successive messages distracted Kang Bai. He turned the steering wheel and, on the congested road, stole a glance at them.
After reading the three messages, he gaped in surprise.
Ha, as expected of his bro Liang—top-tier interpretation.
In the waiting lounge, Tao Shuran carried a bag of coffee drinks—four cups, one for each member of the Calligraphy and Painting Group.
“Teacher Lin, this one’s hot milk for you.”
Lin Tingzhou said unhappily: “I want coffee too.”
Tao Shuran smiled and sat beside her: “The doctor said you’re low on calcium, and coffee affects absorption.”
“Was it that kid A Jing who told you?” Lin Tingzhou took it and muttered, “He’s more nagging than his grandpa.”
Tao Shuran smiled, never imagining Liang Yuanjing would one day be the target of nagging complaints.
She said softly: “You haven’t been home for two months this time; your grandpa must miss you a lot.”
“He’s gone.”
Lin Tingzhou smiled faintly: “Passed last year; no one’s waiting for me at home anymore.”
Her words stirred a huge wave.
Tao Shuran dazedly recalled scenes from the entire previous year. She opened her mouth, words hovering unspoken.
Her memory finally settled on that exchange meeting in Jingbei last year.
“So that time on stage when you blanked out and forgot your lines, was it because of this?”
“Mm, that night I saw him for the last time in the hospital, on his deathbed.”
Lin Tingzhou’s face still held a smile, the wrinkles at her eyes full of the traces of years, but though the smile remained, her eyes reddened uncontrollably.
“He told me not to cry, and I promised him I wouldn’t in the days ahead.”
Tao Shuran’s eyes grew sour as she listened. She gently held Lin Tingzhou’s hand and comforted her: “Being together in love until old age is fulfillment in itself.”
“By the way, do you know that the flight we took back from Jingbei to Fuqing City that night
was piloted by A Jing?”
Lin Tingzhou gazed at her warmly: “A Jing always had a wish that his grandpa, who had Alzheimer’s, could see him fly with his own eyes. In the end, he fulfilled it—his grandpa, in his final moments, recalled his own glorious years as a pilot.”
“But that night he told me that life is always full of regrets.”
Tao Shuran followed up: “What was his regret?”
“You.”
Lin Tingzhou recalled: “That night, he held his grandpa’s hand and knelt by the bed. For all these years, it was the first time I saw him dejected, full of defeat as he said—”
“Sorry, Grandpa, I couldn’t bring the girl I like to meet you.”
“I lost her.”
The tears welling in Tao Shuran’s eyes could no longer be held back; a large drop rolled down from the corner.
She took a deep breath and said slowly: “So that time, he was in Jingbei too.”
That was their one and only intersection.
All these years, they had kept missing each other.
When she was in Fuqing City, he was training in Jingbei.
Later, when she came to Jingbei, he went to another city.
Hustling through the crowd, they never met again.
“The palm and the back of the hand are both flesh; how you two kids handle this relationship is up to you—I won’t interfere.
“But there are a few things I still need to tell you.”
Lin Tingzhou took a sip of milk, her tone slow.
“After starting grad school, your first Mid-Autumn Festival in Fuqing City—you had a big fight with your family and spiked a fever in the dorm. I got a call from your roommate at home; that night, it was A Jing who bought medicine and took care of you.”
“That New Year’s when you saw fireworks rising into the sky mid-flight, he set them off for you.”
“And every year on your birthday, the amusement park kept a ticket for you to the Ferris Wheel.”
“These years, you’ve always been in his heart.” Lin Tingzhou turned to look at her, her voice gentle.
“What about you? All those times you habitually looked up at the sky—were you just looking at the moon, or waiting for his plane to pass by?”
Tao Shuran twisted her fingers in her hem, habitually biting her lower lip.
Lin Tingzhou smiled and patted her shoulder, handing her the coffee nearby.
“It’s okay if you can’t give an answer. It’s been five years; I think A Jing has the sincerity to wait slowly.”
She joked: “Besides, for a man to chase a pretty girl, doesn’t he have to go through a thousand hardships and dangers?”
Before boarding the plane, Tao Shuran recalled the night before parting, when Fang Qingyi had held her in a long all-night talk.
She had asked: “You and Liang Yuanjing really have no chance?”
After so many years apart, it seemed many people sighed over their ending.
But only Tao Shuran knew their love had never begun; those enviable details were just her own bitter one-sided crush.
She said slowly: “Mm, probably not anymore.”
“After all, life isn’t just about love.”
As she boarded the flight back to Fuqing City, Tao Shuran still clearly understood.
She and Liang Yuanjing had an impossible gulf between them.
Halfway through the flight, a violent turbulence suddenly hit, plunging the cabin into a noisy atmosphere.
Tao Shuran removed her eye mask and heard the flight attendant over the broadcast reminding passengers to stay safe and refrain from using the restrooms.
After a while, the turbulence subsided, and the plane returned to smooth cruising.
A deep, rich male voice slowly came over the broadcast—
“This turbulence has passed smoothly. Welcome aboard Flight G7311. I am Captain Liang Yuanjing. Wishing everyone a smooth journey: though mountains and rivers stretch far, we shall meet again.”
Hearing the familiar voice, Tao Shuran incredulously lifted her head, almost thinking she had hallucinated it.
Lin Tingzhou beside her chuckled lightly: “That rascal really chased after us.”
Though mountains and rivers stretch far, we shall meet again.
In that moment, Tao Shuran understood this was his answer to her “no more seeing each other.”
In the cockpit, Liang Yuanjing quickly pressed the PTT button to request a descent from air traffic control while immediately lighting the “fasten seatbelts” sign.
“North City District control, Jinghang 7311.”
“Jinghang 7311, North City District control, go ahead.”
“North City District control, Jinghang 7311—we’ve encountered sustained turbulence at 7,500 meters; requesting ascent to 9,500 meters.”
Communication complete, Liang Yuanjing glanced at the situation and calmly took over.
“I’ll handle the controls.”
Feng Ruoji, in the PF position, immediately responded: “You handle it.”
The first second after the response, Liang Yuanjing gripped the yoke and, amid the violent turbulence, guided the plane to the new altitude with gentle, steady speed.
After Liang Yuanjing’s broadcast, Feng Ruoji could not help but praise.
“Bro Liang, that was a flashy maneuver.”
“Such a romantic broadcast—trying to flirt?”
“Mm.” Liang Yuanjing’s lips curved slightly.
“Ex-girlfriend’s on board.”
Returning to her long-absent home, Tao Shuran let out a long breath.
Pushing open the door, it was not the warm tidiness she imagined; the house was practically buried in trash.
Cardboard boxes from deliveries sprawled from the dining room to the living room, leaving no room to step, and several empty wine bottles sat on the coffee table.
Zhao Yanyun walked out of the kitchen with a fruit plate and calmly said to her, “Right, your dad and I have separated.”
Tao Shuran was stunned at first, then felt it was only natural.
They had been arguing nonstop for the past two years; the emotions suppressed since her Gaokao year had fully erupted in this time.
Human emotions were like hidden waves at the seaside, impossible to conceal forever.
Sooner or later, they would burst forth in unimaginable giant swells.
Tao Shuran knew this deeply.