Simon, flustered and guilty, swallowed the dessert, then let out a shaky breath that dispersed into a thin mist in the cold night air. Su Xiangli stood up from behind him, took off her headphones, and walked in front of him.
Simon: "You made a wish, can you tell me what it was?"
Su Xiangli put a finger to her lips. "Shhh, your nose is dirty."
Simon couldn't help but step back. "What bad idea have you come up with now?" His heart was wailing in helplessness. Normally, he could naturally handle the teasing of such a young girl, but now he couldn't. In front of her, he was vulnerable everywhere, especially after realizing his own despicable thoughts, he felt an immense humiliation.
Simon realized he was truly too impulsive. He couldn't even properly face his feelings for Su Xiangli, but sometimes his emotions were just uncontrollable.
The adult soul inside him mocked him mercilessly.
"[Lu: What's wrong, great romantic? Finally realized? You're just taking advantage of the little girl's innocence. When she grows up, she'll realize you're nothing special, never achieved anything remarkable in your life, and your dream is still to stay home and play games. Hahahaha, how could any woman like you?!]"
Su Xiangli slowly approached Simon. He was still backing away, but she grabbed his arm. Simon awkwardly tried to cope. "I'm still holding a bowl. Don't mess around right now."
Su Xiangli ignored him. She couldn't guess Simon's thoughts at all, but she was very clear about her own. The boy in front of her, sometimes so close, yet she felt miles apart; sometimes she didn't see him, but she would think of him again. It was his name, Lu, a stag, magnificent and hidden deep in the forest mist.
But what Su Xiangli liked most were his eyes.
Although often gentle and lazy, once teased, they would become exceptionally lively and amusing, as if a child was hidden in his heart. Su Xiangli liked the usual Simon, and she also liked the teased Simon, as if she liked two people at once.
Simon spread his hands wide, holding the porcelain bowl far away to avoid Su Xiangli bumping into it. With his guard down, Su Xiangli placed her hands on his shoulders, approaching him expressionlessly.
Behind Simon was the attic ladder; he couldn't retreat any further, nor did he want to.
Su Xiangli lightly stood on her tiptoes. Simon's gaze had already lost focus. Through the skylight behind her, the orange-red signal lights of the aircraft flickered like dead eyes, passing by. In the starfield far from the jungle of steel and glass, he no longer knew where he was.
In any case, what he saw was a graceful cluster of flowers on an icy platter: Su Xiangli's eyes were two peacock feathers, her blush a pair of oleanders, her nose a cluster of hostas, her soft, flowing long hair tangled, wet seaweed, and her lips, hesitant crabapples, moved upward.
Simon's vision scattered with his fragmented thoughts.
The stag roamed the valley, eventually converging on the ethereal crabapple. He trembled, his handsome antlers closing, vaguely encircling the moon, but daring not to embrace it.
The flower shadow in the moon continued to move upward, and she was expressionless. Finally, it rose, passing Lu's chin, his philtrum.
She leaned her face close, and the soft moonlight sprinkled on his nose, still sparkling with specks.
Su Xiangli stepped back. Simon lowered his hands, stunned, smelling a faint sweet fragrance, a spring glow as soft and ethereal as a dream.
"Your nose has milkshake on it, it's red bean flavored, hahahahaha!" Su Xiangli's feigned cold expression instantly melted. She burst into laughter, but dared not laugh too loudly, afraid of attracting Great-Grandfather's attention downstairs.
Simon's mouth twitched. "Ew, that's so unhygienic."
Su Xiangli tilted her head. "This is unhygienic? Wow, do you have a virus on you?"
"No!" Xiao Lu puffed out his cheeks, indignant.
Su Xiangli happily spun around like a joyful swan. "Woo-hoo, hahahaha, Simon is a big dummy, so naughty, so very naughty!"
Simon placed the bowl on the stacked cardboard boxes in the attic. He was still conflicted, but one thing he was certain of: he truly liked Su Xiangli, no matter what kind of liking, he just didn't want to be separated from her.
This feeling was something his girlfriend from his previous life had never given him.
Please, can I forget you? I want to start a new love now, please, Xu Yuanqi.
In a daze, Simon felt someone gently embrace his neck from behind again. After leaving that desolate, cold and snowy train station, Simon had grown tired of sharing his life with another person.
If he couldn't fully control a relationship, how could he invest his complete sincerity? But once everything was truly clarified, love was just a right-or-wrong math problem. Life wasn't a game, everyone was a protagonist. Simon couldn't treat Su Xiangli as a tool to fill his inner emptiness, even if he could learn mind-destroying techniques from the system, he wouldn't.
Su Xiangli suddenly exclaimed, stopping her dance. Simon quickly leaned over. "What's wrong?"
"Sand in my eye."
"Which eye?"
"Left eye."
"Just blink a few times, it'll be fine."
"No, it still hurts so much, blow on it for me." Su Xiangli pouted, very unhappy.
At this moment, the old comrade Lu Xuefeng, awakened by the laughter, had silently arrived beneath the attic trapdoor. Faint noises came from above. The old man tilted his head and listened, and sure enough, it was those two little brats. Not sleeping in the middle of the night, hiding in the attic – were they going to perform an opera?!
Su Xiangli urged again, "Hurry up, it's uncomfortable." Simon was still hesitating. "[Lu: Don't be like a woman, hurry up, Su Su's eye hurts!]"
"[Lu Xuefeng: Slowly types a question mark.]"
"Alright, alright..." He surrendered to his inner will, walked over, and cupped Su Xiangli's face. "Open your eyes."
Su Xiangli's eyes were misty with tears; it seemed she really had been irritated by the wind and sand. "Hurry up."
"[Lu Xuefeng:???]"
"Don't rush me, oh, your face is so heavy."
"I'll kill you!" Su Xiangli angrily tried to scratch Simon's face.
"[Lu Xuefeng: ε = ε = ε = ┏ (゜ ロ ゜) ┛]"
Simon gently exhaled. Su Xiangli's eyeball floated in the teary light like a beautiful lake in the wind; there really was a speck of sand.
The doe delicately picked up the scattered duckweed. The warm, moist touch made Su Xiangli laugh.
Just then, with a "boom," Great-Grandfather rocket-launched into the attic, landing a powerful Vajra Palm strike on Simon's head.
"You unfilial descendant, die for me!!!"
...
Simon clutched his head as the morning light streamed through the window. A new day had arrived.
Su Xiangli sat by the bed, drinking red bean milkshake. "You're awake?"
"How did I fall asleep?"
"Great-Grandfather treated you like a scumbag."
"...Then how long did I sleep?"
Su Xiangli said nothing, pointing to the raisins on the nightstand.
"Raisins? Wait, are you trying to say these were originally fresh grapes that sat here for several months and turned into raisins?"
"No, I want to eat raisins, can you hand them to me?"
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