APTnovel Chapter 49 The Starry Sky
Chapter 49 The Starry Sky
Song Huan looked up at the sky.
The city's night sky was mostly devoid of stars, with only a hazy patch of clouds tinged with a dark orange by the distant neon lights.
"The moon is quite bright tonight," he said.
Lin Yue also looked up and saw a crescent moon hanging between the clouds, its edges clear, like a clipped fingernail.
"Mmm," she said.
[What does it matter to him whether the moon is bright or not.]
[Is he just making conversation for the sake of it?]
[Or...is he deliberately trying to start a conversation because he sees I don't want to talk?]
"Lin Yue," Song Huan suddenly turned her head, "smile."
Lin Yue was taken aback. "Now?"
"Um."
She tugged at the corners of her mouth and gave a smile.
The smile wasn't unpleasant; the eyes curved into crescents, and the corners of the mouth turned up—a standard smile.
But when Song Huan looked at that smiling face, something seemed to tug at her heartstrings.
The smile was perfect, the curve of the corners of the mouth was right, the curve of the eyes was right, like a well-painted picture, with every stroke in its proper place, but looking at the whole picture, something was missing.
He heard her heartfelt words.
[What's so hard about smiling?]
[Laughter costs nothing.]
[After laughing, how much longer do you have to walk? Until he gets annoyed, then you can go home. Back home, it's still the same house, Mom is still the same, and Dad… that person is still nowhere to be found.]
[Laugh out loud, it won't kill you.]
Song Huan looked away and said nothing more.
The two continued walking forward.
The streetlights cast their shadows on the ground, which stretched out in varying lengths, sometimes overlapping and sometimes separating.
Lin Yue's slippers made a soft rustling sound as they rubbed against the cement floor, while Song Huan's sneakers made steady, rhythmic footsteps.
Two kinds of footsteps, one light and one heavy, alternated, like a rhythmless beat in the night wind.
When Song Huan reached the entrance of her residential compound, she suddenly stopped.
Lin Yue also stopped and looked back at him.
Song Huan stood under the streetlight, took a deep breath, and her chest rose and fell.
He looked at Lin Yue, a serious expression suddenly appearing on his face.
It wasn't the casual, nonchalant expression from before; instead, it was as if he had made up his mind, and even his eyes brightened a little.
"Lin Yue".
"Um?"
"How about we do something tonight?"
Lin Yue blinked.
Her expression shifted from confusion to even greater confusion; her brow furrowed slightly, her mouth opened and closed abruptly, finally uttering only a soft, "Huh?"
The "ah" was drawn out a bit, with the ending note rising, accompanied by a standard clear yet foolish expression.
With his eyes wide open, he stood there blankly, like a kitten suddenly called in the middle of the night.
"What...what are you going to do?" she asked.
Seeing her expression, Song Huan smiled and then turned and ran into the residential area without saying a word.
His strides were long and fast; his silhouette flashed a few times under the streetlights before disappearing around the corner.
Lin Yue stood still and tilted her head slightly.
[What can I do?]
What can you do in the middle of the night?
As she was thinking, she heard the sound of a bicycle chain rattling in the neighborhood.
Immediately afterwards, Song Huan came out of the community gate pushing a bicycle.
It was an old-fashioned 28-inch motorcycle with a black body. In some places, the paint had been worn away, revealing the dark gray sheet metal underneath.
The rubber sleeve on the handlebars was crooked, and there was a dent on the front wheel fender, but the whole bike was very clean, and the chain still gleamed with the shine of freshly applied engine oil.
The back seat is a rectangular metal frame with a thin sponge pad on top. The edges of the sponge pad are worn and frayed, but it still looks quite soft.
Song Huan patted the cushion on the back seat, raising a small patch of dust under the streetlight. He grinned.
"Get in the car."
Lin Yue paused, looked at him, then at the bicycle, and asked, "What are we going to do?"
Song Huan gripped the handlebars, one foot on the pedal, the other on the ground, and turned to look at her.
The streetlights shone from behind him, framing his silhouette with a warm, fuzzy glow.
"Go do something that makes you happy."
When he said this, his voice carried a confident and unquestionable lightness.
That lightheartedness wasn't feigned, nor was it something he forced to do to make her laugh. It stemmed from his genuine feeling that what he was about to do was something he was happy about, and he also genuinely believed that she should be happy too.
Lin Yue stood there, watching him straighten the bicycle and fix the crooked rubber sleeve.
The evening breeze blew again, blowing her hair onto her face. She reached out and brushed it away, her fingers touching her cheek, which felt a little cool.
[Something happy.]
What are happy things?
When was the last time someone told me to do something fun?
[I can't remember.]
She looked at Song Huan, hesitated for a few seconds, and then took a step and walked towards him.
"Hurry up, I can't wait any longer." Song Huan patted the back seat cushion and urged.
"Then...then I'll sit down."
"Hurry up," Song Huan said.
Lin Yue turned sideways and sat in the back seat.
The foam cushion was softer than she had imagined, and she sank in slightly after sitting on it.
She put her feet on the footrest, her hands still gripping the seat frame, her knuckles turning slightly white from the force.
She was still wearing that pink cotton nightgown, and when the night breeze blew by, the pant legs rode up a little, revealing a small section of her smooth ankles.
Song Huan glanced back at her, his gaze lingering on her hand gripping the metal frame for a moment, then turned back without saying a word. He pushed off with his foot, and the bicycle slowly started moving.
He started riding very slowly, and the bike bounced slightly on the uneven road surface.
Lin Yue gripped the metal frame, her body swaying gently with the movement of the vehicle.
Her hair was lifted by the wind and flowed backward, while the sleeves of her pajamas billowed in the wind, making a soft whistling sound.
"Slow down...don't go too fast..." Lin Yue whispered, her voice broken by the wind.
Song Huan didn't answer, but her footwork became lighter, and the car maintained a steady, unhurried pace.
Lin Yue hesitated for a moment, then released her grip on the iron frame and slowly, slowly reached forward to wrap her arms around Song Huan's waist.
Her movements were very light, as if she were afraid of breaking something; her fingers only touched his coat very lightly.
Song Huan glanced down at the pair of slender white hands around his waist, said nothing, and didn't move. Only after she confirmed that she had held his small hands tightly did he slowly quicken his pace.
The bicycle rode onto the main road, and the scenery on both sides of the street began to slowly recede into the distance.
Camphor trees lined the roadside, one after another, their canopies forming a blurry silhouette overhead.
The night breeze became gentle, carrying the smell of asphalt that had been baked by the sun all day, mixed with the sweet fragrance of osmanthus flowers planted on someone's balcony.
Lin Yue's hair was flying in the wind, and a few strands got tangled on Song Huan's shoulder. She quickly reached out and brushed them away, then carefully put her hand back on his waist.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
Song Huan's voice came from the front, slightly muffled by the wind, but every word was still clear: "Let's go to a place with beautiful scenery."
He paused for a moment, then said, "I used to go there often when I was in a bad mood, so it should be a good place for you."
Lin Yue was silent for a moment, then asked, "Do you also feel bad?"
Song Huan laughed, the laughter coming from the front, tinged with a hint of self-deprecation, "Of course. When my grades weren't good, I wanted to cry every day. My parents put too much pressure on me, so I would go out by myself to see the scenery and stuff."
He spoke casually, as if he were talking about something very trivial, but every word he uttered was substantial, and not a single word seemed to float around.
Lin Yue sat in the back seat, listening silently. The wind blew the stray hairs on her forehead to both sides, but she didn't reach out to brush them away, letting them sway in front of her eyes.
[He doesn't seem to be talking about current events.]
[But he's number one in his grade now, does he ever feel like crying?]
How did he become like this?
Lin Yue's fingers unconsciously clenched Song Huan's clothes lightly.
She could feel the body temperature under the coat; it was warm through the thin cotton fabric, and felt especially real in the October night breeze.
The bicycle gradually drove away from the city.
The spacing between the streetlights along the road is getting wider and wider, and the light is getting thinner and thinner.
The camphor trees are gone, replaced by tangled weeds along the roadside and the occasional crooked old locust tree.
Cracks began to appear on the cement road surface, and in some places it broke into small pieces, making a cracking sound when the wheels rolled over it.
The buildings on both sides became lower, from five or six-story residential buildings to two or three-story self-built houses, and then there were no houses at all, only large areas of wild land and dark mountain shadows in the distance.
Lin Yue, however, was not afraid at all.
She leaned her face against Song Huan's back, and the sound of the wind in her ears became long and soft, as if someone was humming a wordless song from a very, very far away place.
She closed her eyes briefly, her lips moved, and without thinking, she whispered, "Song Huan, would this count as a date?"
She regretted it as soon as the words left her mouth.
But the wind blows forward, and the words are spoken from behind, so maybe he can't hear them clearly.
"What?" Song Huan's voice came from the front.
"It's nothing."
Lin Yue pressed her face against his back again. Her ears were a little hot, but the wind was cool and quickly took the heat away.
The bicycle turned a corner and went from the asphalt road onto the dirt road.
The jolt became a little stronger, and Lin Yue instinctively hugged him tighter, her arms wrapped around Song Huan's waist, feeling his ribs through his school uniform.
Song Huan slowed down and shifted gears ahead, the wheels making a soft crunching sound as they rolled over the small stones on the dirt road.
Ten minutes later, the car stopped.
Song Huan kicked off the footrest, gripped the brakes, turned around, and said, "We're here."
Lin Yue peeked out from behind him.
Then she froze.
Before us lies a lake.
The water surface isn't large, but at this moment in this season, it's so beautiful it seems unreal.
Moonlight poured down from the sky, shining on the water's surface, where it was broken into countless shimmering fragments by the gentle breeze, spreading from the shore all the way to the heart of the lake.
The shimmering waves gently rippled under the night sky, each ripple reflecting the moon's silvery light, as if someone had grabbed a handful of loose silver and scattered it into the lake.
Across the lake was a low hill, its trees silhouetted against the night sky in varying shades of light.
The lakeside was covered with vast stretches of grassland, where wild grasses grew lush and were gilded with a fuzzy silver by the moonlight.
From time to time, a few soft chirps of insects could be heard from the grass, the sound gentle and rhythmic, like the breathing of the night itself.
Lin Yue got off her bicycle, stood still, and stared at the lake.
Her eyes were wide open, reflecting the moonlight on the lake. Her lips were slightly parted, and the cuffs of her pajamas swayed gently in the breeze.
"So beautiful..." she said, her voice very soft.
Song Huan parked the car, stood smugly next to her, put his hands on his hips, and looked around at the lake. "How about it? I didn't lie to you, did I? Jiangcheng has such a beautiful place."
Lin Yue turned to look at him. "Did you used to come here often?"
"I used to come here when I was in a bad mood," Song Huan said, lifting her foot to walk towards the lake. She found a small path that had been trodden by people along the roadside. It was a bit uneven, with moss growing in some places. "Go down from here, come on."
He stretched out his hand.
Lin Yue hesitated for a moment, then offered her her hand. Song Huan took her hand and led her step by step down the path.
Her hands were small, and when held in his, they were a little cool, with soft knuckles.
As she watched his back as he walked ahead, clearing away the weeds for her, she suddenly felt as if this scene had happened a long, long time ago, but she knew it hadn't.
They sat down on the grass by the lake.
The grass was soft, still warm from the day, and you could smell a faint scent of fresh grass when you sat on it.
Lin Yue curled up her legs, hugged her knees with both hands, rested her chin on her knees, and stared blankly at the lake.
Song Huan sat next to her, her hands resting on the grass behind her, looking up at the sky.
The night breeze blew across the lake, carrying the unique coolness and moisture of the water, and felt like a cool hand gently caressing my face.
A bird called out from the hillside across the lake; the sound was crisp and short, and then it was gone.
The whole world was so quiet that only the faint sound of the lake water lapping against the shore could be heard, one after another, as if it were gently counting the beats.
Lin Yue raised her head and looked at the sky.
After leaving the city, the number of stars in the sky suddenly increased.
Not the kind of one or two you can barely see in the city, but a dense, overwhelming array covering the entire night sky, some bright, some dark, some large, some small, scattered across the velvety deep blue expanse.
A few particularly bright ones hung on the eastern hillside, twinkling as if someone had lit a few small lamps in the sky.
The Milky Way stretched faintly overhead, like a pale band of light, hanging there in a hazy, dreamlike state.
Lin Yue was mesmerized. Her lips moved slightly, and the moonlight and starlight in her eyes mingled, fragmented and bright.
"Song Huan," she suddenly spoke.
"Um?"
I want the stars in the sky.
When Lin Yue said this, her voice was very soft and gentle, as if she were talking to herself, or as if she were trying to express a wish that she knew was impossible.
She didn't look at him, but instead looked up at the sky, starlight falling into her eyes. Her expression was serene, as serene as the lake.
Song Huan was stunned for a moment.
He turned to look at her, stared for two seconds, then lowered his head and thought for a moment.
"Your request is a bit difficult," he said, frowning as if he were seriously considering some world problem. "The sky is so high, I can't reach it."
Lin Yue didn't speak, but the corners of her mouth curved slightly.
Then Song Huan stood up.
"But for me, it's no problem. You wait and see."
Lin Yue turned her head and looked at him curiously, blinking her eyes.
Under the starlight, her eyes sparkled with a mixture of curiosity and anticipation.
She didn't know what method Song Huan could use to pluck a real star from the sky.
She knew it was impossible; the sky was so high, the stars so far away, no one could pluck them down.
But she couldn't help wondering what he would do.
Will he pull something out of his pocket?
Or will you take yourself to a place where you can see things more clearly?
Then she saw Song Huan walk to the lakeside, bend down, rummage through a pile of debris by the lake, and pick up an empty mineral water bottle that had been discarded.
The bottle was already somewhat deformed from being trampled on, and it was covered in mud. Song Huan shook the bottle, unscrewed the cap, and then ran into the woods by the lake without saying a word.
His figure disappeared into the dark shadows of the trees. Lin Yue craned her neck to look in that direction, only to see branches moving and hear a rustling sound.
After a while, Song Huan came out.
He had a smile on his face, holding the plastic bottle in his hand, the cap already screwed on tightly.
He jogged back to Lin Yue's side, squatted down in front of her, held the bottle up to her face, a smug look on his face, and a small leaf was still hanging in his hair.
"Here you go," he said, "the stars in the sky are for you."
Lin Yue lowered her head and looked into the bottle.
Inside the bottle, a firefly rests quietly on the bottom.
Its tail glowed and faded, emitting a faint, greenish light inside the transparent plastic bottle.
The light was very faint, so faint that it could only be seen in the dark, yet it was still bright.
Soft and gentle, each blink is like a tiny star twinkling.
A flash, then darkness; a flash, then darkness.
The light shone through the plastic bottle, casting a faint green halo that spread across her palm and adorned her fingers with a soft glow.
Lin Yue looked at the tiny insect, at the flickering light at its tail, and suddenly felt a lump in her throat.
It's not sadness.
It's that kind of sour feeling, the kind that makes you inexplicably want to cry after being treated gently just once.
She reached out and took the bottle, holding it carefully in her hands as if it were a rare treasure.
The twinkling fireflies reflected on her face, from her chin to the tip of her nose, and from the tip of her nose to her eye sockets.
Her eyes were glistening with tears, but the corners of her mouth were curved upwards.
She watched the fireflies for a while, then looked up and gazed at the stars in the sky.
The stars in the sky are very far away, cold, and eternal.
The one in my hand, so close, so warm, lasted only one night.
"Thank you," she said, her voice a little hoarse.
Song Huan sat down again next to her, picked the leaves from her hair, and patted the dirt off her hands. "You're welcome."
The two sat side by side, neither of them speaking.
The lake water was still gently lapping against the shore, the chirping of insects echoed from near and far, and fireflies flickered in the bottle.
Lin Yue placed the bottle on her lap, wrapped it around her with both hands, rested her chin on her lap, and looked at Song Huan's blurry profile through the bottle.
After a while, she suddenly raised her head and looked at the sky again, her voice soft.
"Song Huan, if one day I leave this place and am no longer in this school, will we ever meet again?"
Song Huan was stunned for a moment.
He slowly turned his head to look at her.
Her profile appeared exceptionally serene under the starlight. A gentle breeze ruffled her hair as she gazed into the distance, her eyes holding a hint of bewilderment mixed with a touch of anticipation.
He did not answer immediately.
He also looked up at the sky.
There are so many stars in the sky, densely packed, no two are exactly alike, and no two are truly next to each other. They each shine with their own light, separated by countless light-years.
Then he spoke.
"have no idea."
He spoke slowly and earnestly, as if he had weighed each word in his mind before uttering it.
"But at least when we look up at the sky, we see the same starry sky."
Song Huan's gaze fell on her face, and she smiled, "So wherever you are, whenever you want to see the stars, just look up."
Lin Yue remained silent.
Her eyes were a little redder than before, but no tears fell.
She looked at the firefly in her hand, then at the sky.
The stars in the sky are cold and distant, hanging on the horizon.
The firefly in my hand was still warm.
The night breeze blew across the lake, across the grass, across the two children sitting side by side, across the shimmering bottle in Lin Yue's hand, and made the reeds by the lake sway gently.
The Milky Way lay silently across the sky, and the fireflies flickered in the bottle, reflecting in her moist eyes and illuminating his profile as he gazed at the stars.
Many years later, Lin Yue looked up at the starry sky many nights.
But never has any spot been brighter than the one that was that night.