Chapter Thirty-Four: The Moon at That Time

  "Has mom left?"

  In the evening, Zhao Shuiguan called Tan Shumeng. After all, she was just a 19-year-old girl, and meeting with Tan's mother was like submitting homework as a primary school student - doing it carefully and nervously, expecting results while fearing they might not be as good as she had hoped.

  "Ah, it should be Beijing by now." Tan Shu Mo was wearing glasses and organizing the opening materials when he heard her soft voice coming from the phone, and couldn't help but smile gently as he glanced at the wall clock.

  "Oh" Zhao Shuiguan thought for a moment and then asked: "Did she say anything?" He spoke lightly, but his heart was actually tightly wound with anxiety.

  Tan Shu Mo immediately knew what she was referring to, "Did she say anything?" It should be "Did she say anything about me?"

  His slender fingers played with the pen, opening his mouth slowly: "There is"

  Zhao Shuiguang became anxious and asked: "Really? Not really, what did she say?"

  Tan Shu Mo listened to her tone, thinking that she must be sitting on the bed with her legs crossed, playing with the sheets, and said lazily: "She told you to go to Beijing for fun?"

  Zhao Shuiguan was so angry he wanted to scold someone, saying: "Is that it?"

  His voice came over: "Is that all? Is there anything else?" He paused and asked: "Don't you want to go to Beijing?"

  Zhao Shuiguang wanted to get a glimpse of his cold and stern expression on the other end of the phone, so he hastily said: "No, not that, go ahead!"

  Tan Shu Mo curved the corner of his mouth and said: "Alright, then let's celebrate New Year's next year."

  Zhao Shuiguang was stunned for half a day before realizing he had been tricked by that person again, blaming himself for not being strong enough. Every time it ended like this. He simply stopped speaking.

  She didn't speak, nor did he, the ink of the book was silent too. At night it was so quiet that all they could hear were each other's breaths on the phone, then suddenly a "swish" sound, like the door being opened.

  He took off his glasses and casually placed them on the windowsill, furrowing his brow.

  "After a long time, a warm and gentle voice came from the other end: 'Little fool, today's moon is very round.'"

  She sat up straight, moved to the window, pulled back the curtains and said: "Old fool, who are you calling a little fool?"

  The moon is indeed very round tonight, how come she didn't notice it before? His low and thick light laughter came over the phone, she scolded him with a hot ear: "Don't laugh!"

  The city's starry sky was not perfect, the stars were invisible, but that day's moon was exceptionally bright and clear. The fragrance of the old locust tree next to her house wafted over, scattered and dotted in the air. She and he didn't say much, but it seemed that as long as they had each other's breath, it was enough.

  It turns out that being with someone you like makes even the smallest things enjoyable and even the most ordinary things feel incredibly happy.

  It seems that all love is roughly like this. Countless details pile up into a moving profile.

  The hem of the skirt blown up by the rear rack of a bicycle, two earplugs on an earphone stuck in your left ear and my right ear, a square box of red tea drank together in the afternoon, a flattened straw, a twisted paper box.

  Those warm moonlights flow slowly along the wrinkles of time, turning into mercury, seeping into every crevice and wrinkle of the heart.

  Finally solidified into a thousand mirrors, transformed in the heart.

  Actually, Zhao Shuiguan didn't know that on the way to the airport, his mother said: "Xiao Mo, that girl is good, but she's a bit older than you, Mom is worried..."

  "Next thing was interrupted by Zou's words: "Mom, I have a measure, don't worry."

  Mom looked at her little son gripping the steering wheel tightly, his knuckles were slightly white, she didn't say another word.

  She has always let her son grow up with his own ideas, and the family's educational approach has been to develop freely. As a mother, she rarely worries about him. Her eldest son already has a fiancée and will get married next year during Chinese New Year. She is not in a hurry to urge her younger son to get married, but only hopes that he can find someone he truly likes. That child is polite and courteous, but which parent does not favor their own child? With such a young life, there should still be many variables. She is not concerned about what others think, but rather worries that her child's emotional journey has been too smooth all along, and doesn't want him to trip and fall in the end, only to find it harder to get back up than ordinary people.

  Never mind, everything goes with fate, there are still many days ahead, as long as the two of them are happy now, and mom thought about it and let go.

  These words about the book and ink were not told to Zhao Shui Guang, who in love doesn't have their own secrets? If these secrets can maintain the beauty of love, then it's better to keep them hidden.

  And Zhao Shuiguan was also driven away by the moonlight on that day, the last trace of shadow in his heart.

  The same moonlight, but the feeling in my heart is different. From tonight on, Zhao Shuiguan's heart has been imprinted with that patch of moonlight. In the future, no matter where she is, as long as she raises her head and sees the round moon, she will think of tonight, and still hear the man's voice calling her "little fool" with a tone of pampering. In an instant, my eyes are about to be burned by that pure white moonlight and shed tears.

  When school started, a group of girls from dormitory 513 gathered again, and in an instant, they swept away the things each brought from their homes, made their beds, hung mosquito nets, and chattered non-stop.

  Different from others, Yang Yang got a boyfriend during the summer vacation. Although they were in different places, they still exchanged text messages and their love was as sweet as honey.

  Zhao Shuiguang didn't understand how Yang Yang could exchange more than a dozen text messages with her boyfriend about what they ate for lunch. She wanted to talk about books and ink, but definitely not this topic. She narrowed her eyes and said: "Zhao Shuiguang, are you very free?"

  At night, the dormitory phone became Yangyang's exclusive line. She moved a stool to sit next to the phone and even washed her feet while busy talking on the phone. The other three people were not at peace, Xu Ying shouted: "Yangyang, phone, mobile phone ringing!" Yangyang waved her hand with the motionless mobile phone in her hand and glared at her fiercely.

  Peng Xiaoxiao shouted: "Yang Yang, the water is boiling, the water is boiling!" Yang Yang was so angry that he rolled his eyes and still had to speak softly into the phone: "No, really nothing, continue talking."

  Zhao Shuiguang just finished having a midnight snack with Tan Shumei in the dormitory, and quietly crept to the phone and said loudly: "Yang Yang, why are you talking on the phone with a boy again? Is it that one from noon?" After finishing speaking, she covered her mouth and started laughing.

  Yang Yang was furious, stretched out his hand to pinch Zhao Shui Guang's swimming ring on his waist, gritted his teeth: "You want to die, you just rely on me not daring to mention you in front of Tan Shu Mu, you wait and see, I'll deal with you tomorrow in class!"

  "Alright, alright, I'll help you clarify things," Zhao Shuiguang said while dodging and shouting into the phone: "Report, this is Zhao Shuiguang from 513. I testify that all the previous statements were rumors, absolute rumors!"

  The dormitory was filled with laughter, and Pu Shu and Fan Fan had both sung: "That burst of laughter reminds me of my flowers, quietly blooming for me in every corner of my life."

  Men are like this, women are also like this. Now in the vast sea of people, we have all forgotten the face that once made our hearts beat and shed tears, but still remember "my flowers", scattered in the ends of the earth.

  One weekend after the start of school, Zhao Shuiguan went to buy books alone. When crossing the road, she felt that a young man on the side kept staring at her. She endured it until finally, she was furious and walked to the intersection, glaring at him fiercely. The man looked back at her and laughed, shouting: "Zhao Shuiguan!"

  Zhao Shuiguang was puzzled and stood there for half a day, feeling that the person looked very familiar. The man said: "You are Zhao Shuiguang from Class 3 of Senior High School Attached to Beijing Normal University, right?"

  Zhao Shuiguan suddenly realized that they were high school classmates. After graduation, their class never had a reunion again. With nearly fifty people in the class, it should have been easy to run into each other in such a small city, but Zhao Shuiguan rarely met acquaintances. She wanted to call out the boy's name but couldn't remember it, luckily he spoke up again.

  "Where are you now?"

  Zhao Shuiguang said: "J Da, how about you?"

  That man scratched his head and said: "I graduated from junior college, now I'm interning." He swung his briefcase.

  Zhao Shuiguan only then carefully took a closer look, and indeed, he was wearing a suit and carrying a handbag with all the gear, she had just felt that there was something different about him, but couldn't quite put her finger on what it was, now she finally understood.

  She didn't have a deep impression of this boy, they were in the same class but rarely spoke, remembered that he was always causing trouble at that time, talking back in class, fighting after class, and his academic performance wasn't ideal.

  Zhao Shuiguang asked: "Is working hard?" She found it difficult to imagine that when she was still in the noisy university life, people of the same age had already entered society.

  That man smiled wryly and said with a mix of bitter and genuine laughter: "It's alright, we'll all end up like this anyway, it's just adapting earlier!"

  As people grow up, they experience some losses; as people mature, they accumulate some scars.

  The little brat who used to be so disobedient now wears a suit, ties a tie, buttons up his shirt, and turns around to greet his own journey.

  Zhao Shuiguan was suddenly very moved by this life, she smiled and said: "Add oil" is very sincere.

  He said: "Well, you too, I'm in a hurry and will leave first, bye." He waved his hand and left in a hurry.

  Zhao Shuiguan suddenly felt a little envious of such a life, she didn't understand what she had learned from this university, and in the future, she would also be struggling like this, but she wasn't sure if "International Trade" was really something she liked. Could she wholeheartedly engage in such a career with such uncertainty?

  It seems that everything was arranged, Shen Laoshi, who taught English in the International Trade Department, happened to be the head of the English department as well. From the first year onwards, she had always admired Zhao Shuiguan, often praising a girl from the International Trade Department for being exceptionally clever.

  Zhao Shuiguan also couldn't understand why he had never been liked by his math teachers since childhood, but got along particularly well with his English teachers.

  Teacher Shen asked Zhao Shuiguan to stay after class and said, "Zhao Shuiguan, the business school and language school of Maersk University in Canada are now recruiting for the undergraduate and graduate program, and I have recommended you and two girls from the English department."

  Zhao Shuiguang was completely stunned, and Teacher Shen patted her on the shoulder, saying: "The teaching conditions over there are quite good. In the future, when you come out, you can return to China to be a simultaneous interpreter, or just stay there. Think about it."

  Zhao Shuiguan felt that this news was like a bolt from the blue to her, and she was very happy when she heard it. She had heard about this project before, and generally, they only choose students majoring in English, she never thought it would be her turn, but after careful consideration, she didn't know what to choose, she said: "But..."

  But it's not over yet. Teacher Shen said, "I'm just recommending, there are other seniors and juniors who need to go through screening and training, you go back and fill out this application form first."

  Zhao Shuiguang blankly accepted the thin paper that felt like it weighed a thousand catties.