The Moon Will Always Come to You - CH 2

Chapter 2: Dream

Carrying her luggage as she walked behind the crowd, Ruan Zhizhi idly thought about her worries.

Suddenly her hand felt light. She raised her head with a little suspicion, only to find that it was Chen Jiayan carrying away her suitcase of his own volition.

Before her eyes, the other party magnified his charming features with a brilliant smile: “How can I let a little girl carry such a heavy suitcase? By all means, don’t be polite with me, give me a chance to display my gentlemanly elegance.”

He smiled mischievously when he spoke, and there was a faint hint of coquetry in his tone. In an instant, it took her back to that midsummer seven years ago when she had met Li Sichen for the first time.

Seven years ago she had reported to the university as a first-year student. On such a large campus in an unfamiliar country, she went around in circles and eventually got lost. At that time, Li Sichen had also suddenly appeared halfway. Without allowing her to protest, he helped her carry the suitcase: “Hi, you’re a new student who just entered the school, so am I. Except I came a few days earlier than you. I’ve already figured out the specific routes around the school. How about it, are you willing to give me a chance to take you the girls’ dormitory to report?”

Perhaps it was the afternoon sun that was just right that day, or the timing of his appearance, or even the curve of his smile. In short, with just one glance, her heart was possessed. And from then on it was ups and downs, every day and every night.

It was really ridiculous to say. He was clearly the one who had approached her first, so how come in the end, it was her who couldn’t bear to part?

Perhaps because the memories were too vivid, Ruan Zhizhi didn’t respond, allowing Chen Jiayan to help her take the suitcase.

When she returned to her senses, she could only bite her lip in annoyance and trot to keep up.

All the way through the baggage check-in, boarding passes, security check, and arrival at the designated boarding gate, everything went smoothly.

The entire time, Chen Jiayan stood at her side, chattering continuously about topics such as the age he had started kindergarten to how open university students’ style was nowadays. It was simply an unceasing torrent. Ruan Zhizhi felt a little bored, but based on his good upbringing and accomplishments, she still listened carefully and responded with a few words from time to time.

From beginning to end, Shi Yan stood a few steps away from them. He remained silent, as if it had nothing to do with him.

In the airport, there were hundreds of people coming and going. He was undoubtedly the most eye-catching one.

It had nothing to do with the others. It was just because this man’s temperament was so distinct.

They arrived in Kunming and successfully converged with the local tour guide. On the way to the hotel, Ruan Zhizhi was so sleepy that her eyelids fought to stay open.

The atmosphere on the bus was actually quite lively. Their tour guide was a capable man in his early thirties. His style of conversation was witty and humourous. Currently he was talking about some local customs in Yunnan, making the young ladies on the bus split their sides laughing.

Letting out a yawn, Ruan Zhizhi rubbed her eyes in a daze. She could only see Shi Yan, who was sitting diagonally opposite from her. He was carelessly playing with a blue cigarette lighter in his hands. That pair of ink-black eyes reflected the light, then it was extinguished in the darkness. His mood was hard to discern.

Ruan Zhizhi gazed attentively at his fingers and tried to guess whether or not he was addicted to smoking.

After reaching the designated hotel, she didn’t know if she could be considered lucky or what. Thanks to one person not coming, Ruan Zhizhi happened to get a double room to herself.

Opening the door, she used the last of her strength to take a hot shower, hastily blow-dried her hair, then climbed into bed.

As soon as her head hit the pillow, she fell asleep immediately.

That night Ruan Zhizhi had an incredibly realistic dream. In her dream, she was shrouded in darkness and couldn’t even see the five fingers of her hand. Her surroundings were awfully noisy. Everywhere, people were screaming for help. The atmosphere was tense and stifling. Her palms were ice cold, and in the darkness, she tightly grasped the hand of the person beside her. She was trying to say something calmly.

That person was silent. From beginning to end, they didn’t say a word.

When she woke up the next day, the sky was bright. Ruan Zhizhi forgot the details of the dream from the night before.

She stood on her tiptoes in the bathroom to wash up, looking in the mirror for a long time before suddenly remembering that in her second year of university, her school’s chemistry lab had suffered a circuit failure. The door had accidentally been locked due to the negligence of a teaching assistant, leaving dozens of students who were experimenting with dangerous chemicals to be trapped inside for three hours.

That was the first time in Ruan Zhizhi’s life that she felt she was only one step away from death.

The atmosphere in her dream was very similar to the scene back then. It was the darkness in which she couldn’t see her hands, and the panicked screams of students from all over the world.

But why did she suddenly have this dream? It was truly strange.

Yunnan was overcast and rainy all year long, and the difference in temperature between morning and evening was vast. After washing up, Ruan Zhizhi took out the thickest black down jacket from her suitcase and put it on, then fully armed herself with a hat and scarf. Satisfied, she walked out the door.

As soon as she came out, she ran into Shi Yan and Chen Jiayan who were staying next door.

“Morning Zhizhi, how was your sleep last night?” Chen Jiayan beamed as he approached. First thing in the morning, he appeared very energetic.

“Yesterday I was so tired. As soon as I got to my room I fell asleep.” Ruan Zhizhi walked beside him and the two idly chatted.

Out of the corner of her eye she inadvertently glanced at Shi Yan, only to discover that he was coincidentally wearing a black down jacket as well. Though his was short, giving off a clean and cool look.

He didn’t speak as usual, remaining silent as he walked beside them. Even so, the innate exquisiteness of his appearance simply couldn’t be ignored.

Ruan Zhizhi felt that this was the kind of person you couldn’t do anything about.

Everything was concealed in his heart, and nothing was revealed to others.

Sitting on the bus to the Stone Forest, the group tour guide surnamed Zhao earnestly began to arrange the five-day itinerary. Today, they would be going to the Stone Forest in Kunming. In the evening, they would arrive in Lijiang, where they would stay for two days before finally going to Shangri-La.

Ruan Zhizhi was very pleased with this itinerary. After all, 90% of the young people who came to Yunnan as tourists generally wanted to visit the ancient city of Lijiang.

The legendary city of romance.

“The cliffs of the Stone Forest are tens of thousands of metres high. Only by climbing up can you see all the strange formations, such as the Ten Thousand Horse Cavalry and the Perilous Ledge-Chasing Cave. According to legend, in the depth of winter, someone saw two plum trees in the stone from afar. The plum trees had red fruits. They weren’t able to pick it in time, and the next day it could no longer be seen. This became known as Liziqing. This Liziqing I’ve mentioned is what we recognize as part of the Stone Forest today. It is also called the Greater and Lesser Stone Forests, but Liziqing is one of the earliest descriptions of the Stone Forest in historical records.”

The tour guide’s voice came out distinctly through the microphone. Ruan Zhizhi sat in her seat and listened quietly. From time to time she would turn her head to admire the elegant scenery along the way. She suddenly felt that it wasn’t bad to go on a trip like this once in a while.

En, she wouldn’t give Gu Nian a hard time.

True to its name, the Stone Forest was a veritable “forest” composed of rocks. The landscape was beautiful, and the air was fresh and clean. Ruan Zhizhi carried her backpack and followed behind the tour group. Along the way, there were many strange rocks standing together. They were towering and lofty, each with its own unique posture.

After walking to the famous Ashima Peak, the tour guide turned around. Holding his loudspeaker, he began to tell everyone the touching yet mournful love story between Ashima and Ahei.1 Ruan Zhizhi listened with interest, then took out her cellphone to take a few photographs.

The three young girls in the group were standing not far behind her, whispering.

“I asked my dad last night. He said that Shi Yan’s a gold medal professor from their university’s psychology department. He’s only twenty-six this year, but he’s won various awards, too many to count. He’s worthy of the label ‘genius’.”

“My aunt told me that he studied abroad.”

“He’s that amazing? It’s the first time I’ve seen an attractive person with inner qualities.”

“Except no one knows if he has a girlfriend.”

“He shouldn’t. My dad told me that he and Shi Yan have been colleagues for three years, and he’s never seen him together with anyone of the opposite sex.”

“Don’t scare me, he wouldn’t happen to be gay, right? Or…does he have an unmentionable illness?”

“Pfft, hahaha, really, what are you thinking about?”

……

The girls broke out into a fit of laughter. Although Ruan Zhizhi felt that she shouldn’t listen to their rude behaviour, their voices were too loud for her to pretend not to hear.

His line of sight locked onto the crowd effortlessly. Shi Yan put one hand in his trouser pocket. His eyes were dark, and he raised his head slightly to look at the towering Ashima Peak in the distance.

He was clearly standing amongst a sea of people, but the temperament he exuded was so alienated, as if he was dissociated from the lively crowd.

Such a one-of-a-kind, high-quality man was actually still single. Although it was a bit unkind to think so, apart from what those girls had just said, there seemed to be no other reason.

Because Ruan Zhizhi and the others in her tour group were quite special, their degree of freedom was relatively high. When it was time for lunch, everyone agreed to settle it on their own. It seemed they’d already had enough of the tour group’s poisonous food.

Ruan Zhizhi stood there and thought for a long time, unable to decide what to eat. At this moment, Chen Jiayan happened to be beside her. He skillfully pulled her away, telling her that he would treat her to a meal.

She followed him to a nearby, popular seafood restaurant. Ruan Zhizhi was instantly heartbroken when she saw the shop sign suspended above.

It was incredibly unfortunate. She was allergic to seafood.

At her side, Chen Jiayan looked especially pleased with himself. He spoke incessantly: “This seafood restaurant was specially recommended to me by a friend who’s traveled to Yunnan. He said this place has a long-established reputation. The seafood tastes incredibly delicious and authentic. If you want to eat here, you first have to make a reservation before you can get a seat.”

She couldn’t bear to refuse the other party’s good intentions. Thinking that it would be fine to eat something other than seafood, Ruan Zhizhi obediently followed after him, climbing up the restaurant’s creaky wooden staircase.

Their private room was on the second floor. After entering the room, she realized that apart from Shi Yan, there were also the three girls from the group.

Shi Yan was playing indifferently with his blue lighter. When he saw her walking in, he simply raised his eyes, his face calm.

Ashima Peak