The moment her cold fingertips touched.
She didn't refuse. Pei Dai's clear eyes gleamed as he looked at Mei Yeqin.
Inch by inch, he wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes.
He held her, gently patting her back.
Mei Yeqin felt tired from the grief. In her drowsiness, a string in her mind, tense for years, finally relaxed.
Pei Dai's voice was clear, his song, crisp and clear, neither high nor low, slowly reaching Mei Yeqin's ears.
Gradually, following the rhythm of the music, Mei Yeqin fell asleep.
He had been planning to tell Mei Yeqin about today's meeting with Jiang Sui, but Pei Dai had put it on hold.
——
After Su Qing and Jiang Sui returned to Wuzhen.
Su Qing thought about her letter and worried something might go wrong that Su Rao had noticed, so she headed straight home after getting off the plane.
Perhaps it was because of meeting Pei Dai that her heart felt different from usual, now layered with a light sense of relief.
Fortunately, Su Qing's mother rarely entered Su Qing's room, hoping to give her child more freedom.
Nothing happened, which made Su Qing breathe a sigh of relief.
After that evening, after dinner, Su Qing was working on her English test.
As usual, even when the wind blew outside, she kept her window open. Perhaps because the sun was too scorching during the day, the night sky was incredibly blue, as if the stars and the moon were all gathered together.
The curtains by the window blew, and a cool breeze, a pleasant breeze, filled Su Qing's nostrils.
She put down her pen and gazed at the distant sky.
Suddenly, yet so casually, the boy's face seemed to appear in Su Qing's mind.
A faint smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. On the way home today, Jiang Sui had agreed with her to start the exercises at nine o'clock sharp, and see who finished first.
Whoever finished first would get a promise.
Su Qing looked down at her English test paper. She had finished, but her phone hadn't rang yet. She figured she'd finished first.
Suddenly, she felt an urge to call Jiang Sui.
The minute she dialed, the call was answered quickly, her eyes filled with surprise.
"Have you finished too?"
Su Qing's delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly as she spoke in a deliberative tone. "Jiang Sui, I called you first, and I finished first."
A chuckle emanated from the other end of the line.
It seemed like the wind carried it along.
She seemed to have been working on the test paper with exceptional seriousness and diligence ever since she'd promised him something that afternoon.
"What are you laughing at? Are you planning on backing out?"
Thinking back to that time in Jiangcheng, the boy's face had been sullen ever since they left the cafe.
Hearing Jiang Sui's chuckle, Su Qing's somewhat choked heart felt a brief respite.
"I won't go back on my word. What do you want me to promise you?"
The boy's clear voice, like an electric current, reached Su Qing's ears. For some reason, her heartbeat fluttered. She lowered her eyes and pursed her lips.
"Really?"
Su Qing's fingers slowly lifted the pen on the table and, without a trace of reason, wrote the words "Jiang Sui."
On the blank page, those two words seemed to speak from the heart.
"Really."
Although he disliked her questioning, he still answered Su Qing with certainty.
Slowly, silence descended.
Jiang Sui could only hear a deep breath in his ear.
"Jiang Sui, you have to promise me that while you protect me, you'll also protect yourself. Otherwise, I'll be heartbroken."
Her tone was so serious.
Even without Su Qing's presence, one could sense her seriousness.
The girl, blinking her eyelashes slowly, spoke again.
"Jiang Sui, if you don't protect yourself, I'll doubt you. You're incapable of protecting me."
She knew Jiang Sui too well. Even if she told him, he wouldn't follow her advice.
"Besides, I will protect you, Jiang Sui. Energy is conserved. How you protect me is how I will repay you. I hope we can fight side by side, not one leading the other. I may not be as good as you in many areas, but I will work hard. Of course, you also have many areas where you are inferior to me, and you must strive to catch up."
Her voice sounded as if it had been carefully considered, her words clear and coherent.
Every word was clear and distinct.
She demanded it of him, of herself, and of each other.
His girl was no dodder, much less a greenhouse flower. Jiang Sui had understood this from the moment he decided to take Su Qing to Jiangcheng. He had understood it long ago, but he had always been unwilling to face it. Perhaps he had hoped she could be in the world he had created for her, radiant and happy.
But as he thought about that, something clicked in Jiang Sui, and he completely agreed to her request.
He decided to be her strongest support.
The girl he loved was resilient, like a tiny flower in the frost, seemingly inconspicuous, even obscured by light, yet radiant.
"Okay, Jiang Sui promised to Su Qing."
He spoke so earnestly, so earnestly that Su Qing pursed her lips for a long moment, remaining silent.
As the wind blew outside, the light slowly drifted across Su Qing's face. She looked up at the moon. Though it wasn't quite round and looked like it was missing, she felt a sense of fulfillment within.
"Jiang Sui, walk to the window and look up."
The girl's voice was so powerful.
"Okay, I arrived."
The boy's voice was so light, so soft it seemed to fade away with the wind.
"Let's enjoy the moon outside together. I miss you, Jiang Sui."
For the first time, Su Qing said these words, and her cheeks suddenly flushed. Bewildered, she lowered her head and looked at the piece of paper she'd only written "Jiang Sui," now filled with the boy's name.
Her cheeks grew even hotter.
"Qing Qing, I miss you too. I want to see you. I want to hug you."
He was even more passionate than her, spouting words like they were free.
Su Qing's ears flushed red.
Her face felt as if it were steaming, steam rising.
"Jiang Sui..."
A sweet voice tried to stop the boy from talking.
Along with the chuckles from the other side, Su Qing heard a voice.
"Qing Qing, open the window, walk until in front of window, and look down."
Su Qing was stunned for a few seconds, then stared at the open window. She walked to the corner of the table, her heart pounding, yet stiff and impatient. She pushed the window open halfway and looked down.
The boy stood alone under the streetlight, his head tilted upwards, a smile on his lips as he looked at her.