When Bright Moon Encounter the Dark Clouds

It really was Tan Jiao. Her cheeks were red as she leaned on my chest, looking somewhat panicked. Wu Miao stood a short distance away, made a face at me, and then ran away giggling.

Immediately, Tan Jiao got up and moved aside. “Wu Miao pushed me.”

I did not want to let go. But in the end, I controlled my urge.

“She’s just being mischievous.”

The two were probably playing beside me when I was asleep, and then Wu Miao pushed Tan Jiao onto me. The two of us stayed quiet for a while before Tan Jiao said, “I’ve told Wu Miao to contact Shen Shiyan after she gets off the ship. I told her to tell him she’s a friend. Shen Shiyan is someone reliable, and as soon as he discovers something suspicious, he’ll investigate it. I figured one more person to look after her would be better.”

I did not expect her to say this. “Thank you.”

Tan Jiao chuckled and said, “It’s nothing.”

I felt like her attitude toward me had changed somewhat. Compared to the past few days of coldness and thorniness, she seemed to have recovered her natural smile. I was not sure what had caused her to change her attitude, but I was sure the stuffy feeling in my heart had slowly dissipated.

“Wu Miao found out about me smoking and wants to tell my mother,” I said somewhat casually.

Tan Jiao smiled gently and said, “You deserve it!”

The sun shone on us while the gentle breeze brought the smell of the lake and grass to us. The two of us did not speak.

“It’s time to go!” the guide yelled from a far. We looked up and saw that several people had already returned to the ship. At some point in time, Wu Miao had returned to the ship. Currently, she was waving at us from the deck. There were still other people that had not returned.

I stood up and said, “Let’s go.”

“Okay.” Tan Jiao stood up as well but frowned and looked down all of a sudden. I looked down as well and saw a shallow cut on her foot.

“I probably hit a rock when Wu Miao pushed me.”

Immediately, U said, “Let me take a look. Sit down.”

“Oh,” she replied and obediently sat down.

I kneeled down before her and was surprised. Thinking back—no, it was in the future, —she and I would meet again like this at that football field one year later. At that time, I had also checked her wound.

Even though it had happened quite recently,it felt like a distant matter now that I thought about it. Perhaps she thought about the same thing, but she lowered her face as well and said nothing.

I picked her foot up and took a look. It did not seem too bad. Her foot was now resting on my hand, moving ever so slightly. As a result, I could not ignore her beautiful, slender, and pale foot. Although her foot was pale, there was a healthy red glow underneath.

I held onto her foot and did not move. There was absolutely no one around us, just the gentle breeze blowing by.

“Does it hurt?” I asked.

Perhaps she was nervous or shy about it, but her toes suddenly flexed. I subconsciously held onto her foot and looked up to find her slightly red face and watery eyes.

“It hurts, Ah Yu,” she said gently.

My heart jumped all of a sudden as I felt a dryness in my throat. I looked at her eyes, let go of her foot, and said, “Bare with it. We’ll be on the ship soon. You should be fine.”

She got up and said nothing.

We walked toward the ship, and after a while, she muttered, “Don’t worry. I wouldn’t want you to carry me. After all… men and women shouldn’t be so close.”