Moonlight, Shadow, Night (4)

"Hey, why did you suddenly become dazed while walking?"

Song Shiyu's cry pulled him out of the vortex of memories. Xie Feng blinked his long, curly eyelashes gently, sweeping away the confusion that flashed across his eyes and calming down again.

"Do you really only consider Li Zhaoyue as a good friend? Why do I feel..." Song Shiyu was still asking when a figure quickly passed between them and headed towards Li Zhaoyue.

The green hem of the dress stirred up a gust of wind, and the goose yellow hairband drew a playful trace in the air. It was Xu Xing.

He quickly walked over to Li Zhaoyue and started talking to her with a smile. Since Xu Xing appeared beside Li Zhaoyue, Song Shiyu keenly noticed that Xie Feng's expression changed and his fists clenched.

She suddenly felt a little sympathetic towards Xie Feng and reminded him softly, "Aren't you going?"

What I mean is, are you just going to watch them get along like this?

Xie Feng remained silent and even slowed his pace. He was extremely tough in his attitude towards Song Shiyu and Fang Yu, and usually handled affairs in a similarly tough manner. Logically speaking, Xie Feng should be a determined person.

But……

Xie Feng stared at the ground covered with mist and whispered, "My relationship with her depends on what she thinks. As for me," he looked up at the sky, "I am not important."

Song Shiyu was still wondering why he didn't go find Li Zhaoyue. Hearing this, he asked, "What? What does this mean?"

Xie Feng didn't say anything, just looked up at the sky.

After a while, Song Shiyu's body suddenly stiffened, as if he realized something.

"My relationship with her depends on what she thinks. As for me, it doesn't matter."

These words were like a huge hammer, shaking her whole body.

Song Shiyu has always harbored a deep curiosity about humans, and the brothels she frequents are a hub of all kinds of desires and ugliness, filled with love, hate, separation, and hypocrisy. These colorful human desires and emotions are an incomparably novel experience for her.

A woman she knew said the same thing as Xie Feng. At the time, she had become the top prostitute in a brothel, enjoying immense fame and fame. Her beauty brought her countless accolades and fortunes. Some people spent their fortunes to see her, while others fought over her. But she was captivated by only one man.

"You ask me why? But there are always things that people cannot get." A trace of dejection flashed in the beautiful and charming eyes of the courtesan. Her nails painted with bright red nail polish lightly tapped the table, and finally hung down at her side.

"If you want something, you have to be willing to do it."

Song Shiyu looked at Xie Feng's profile and shut his mouth tactfully.

*

Although it was not a holiday, Li Zhaoyue seldom went out, so she felt that everything was new to her. She took Zhu Ming for a walk here and there. Xu Xing only had time to say hello to her before she disappeared into the crowd again.

Lou Yao and Xu Xing walked side by side, stealing glances at him from time to time, a faint smile always on her lips. Xu Xing walked casually, his eyes following the movement of the light yellow figure.

"I heard that your birthday is coming soon." She mustered up her courage and whispered.

Hearing this, Xu Xing turned his head, and his goose yellow hairband drew a clear arc in the air, slowly blown by the night wind.

"How do you know?" He smiled as usual, his eyes gentle. This look had a different meaning in Lou Yao's eyes.

Her face flushed as she whispered, "I heard about it from...from Senior Brother Wang Kun. He's very good at divination and often sets up fortune-telling stalls between various colleges."

Xu Xing's attention was completely focused on the goose-yellow figure in the distance. He gave a perfunctory "hmm" and remained silent. Lou Yao, thinking he had listened to her, was overjoyed and blurted out, "Do you have a gift you want?"

She regretted it the moment she said it. Xu Xing was gentle and good-looking, so naturally he had no shortage of people who liked him, and he could certainly sense the kindness others had for him. She was being too hasty.

Xu Xing chuckled, slowly retracted his gaze, and looked at the woman who looked extremely timid.

Her face flushed slightly, her eyes were flustered, and she would occasionally steal glances at him from the corner of her eyes. Anyone who wasn't a fool could see that she was interested in Xu Xing. Xu Xing slowly stopped, bent down deliberately, and smiled at her: "Do you want to give me a birthday present?"

Xu Xing was always smiling, but his most striking feature was his eyes. When those phoenix eyes glanced at her, Lou Yao felt her heart tremble. Those eyes, like a whirlpool in the deep sea, sucked her in tightly, making her involuntarily obey him, obey him...

By the time Lou Yao came to her senses, she felt a chill on her back. Xu Xing had already distanced himself from her, walking forward with his arms folded as if nothing had happened.

If she hadn't realized that she was standing still, she would probably have thought that everything that had just happened was an illusion.

Lou Yao gasped for breath and took a few steps back in a hurry.

Xu Xing had already read her memory during their previous eye contact. At this moment, the conversation between Lou Yao and Lou Daoye was playing in his mind.

"Destroy the trust between them, and I will help you leave Yiziyuan."

Xu Xing rolled his eyes, looking across the crowd and stopping behind Zhu Ming.

After a while, Li Zhaoyue suddenly stopped wandering around. Xu Xing followed her and saw her stop where she was. He took a step and was right beside her.

"What's wrong?" he asked gently. Just as he finished speaking, Zhu Ming, who was standing next to him, suddenly glanced at him, as if in a hurry. He hurried away, leaving the younger generation alone. Xu Xing quickly stepped forward, trying to pull Li Zhaoyue's sleeve, but she dodged.

He looked at her in surprise, but the girl only avoided his gaze.

"Ayue..." He put on a hurt expression and said in confusion.

Li Zhaoyue seemed a little unhappy, with drooping eyes. She glanced at him quickly and whispered, "I'm not feeling well today and can't take you back. Lou Yao is going the same way as you, so you two can go back together."

After saying that, I was afraid that he wouldn't believe me, so I added, "Just this once."

The girl's expression was pitiful, but her eyes still held a lingering trace of excitement and joy. Xu Xing felt as if his heart were being gently poked by a pair of hands, and his doubts immediately vanished.

It just so happened that Xu Xing was still pondering the true intention of that memory and wanted to get some other information from Lou Yao, so he agreed.

Li Zhaoyue did look uncomfortable. He wanted to ask what was going on, but then he saw Xie Feng pull Li Zhaoyue over and put her behind him.

"I'll take A Yue back, you go." He cast a cold look at Lou Yao and said meaningfully.

Song Shiyu also had a gloating expression on her face, which made Xu Xing furious. He was silent for a moment, then turned and walked away.

After Lou Yao and Xu Xingxing left, Li Zhaoyue spoke: "Let's go."

Xie Feng nodded.

"Hey, actually I have something urgent to do, so I'll leave first." Song Shiyu suddenly slapped his head, looking anxious, and ran away quickly while speaking.

Xie Feng knew, of course, that she was not in a hurry. He gave her a warning look and took Li Zhaoyue towards Yiziyuan.

Song Shiyu stuck out his tongue, rolled over and climbed onto the roof. He looked at the four departing figures, clicked his tongue, and looked like he was enjoying a good show.

Xie Feng and Li Zhaoyue walked side by side on the moonlit path, each preoccupied with their own thoughts. The faint moonlight cast two dark shadows, stretching ever longer.

In a trance, Xie Feng seemed to see two children, one in front and one behind.

"What's there to be afraid of, Xie Feng? Are you a coward?" A little girl in a goose yellow gauze skirt stood with her hands on her hips and scolded the trembling little boy.

The little boy remained silent, just holding the girl's hand tightly and refusing to take a step forward.

Yes, that was when he first arrived at Yiziyuan. Back then, he had just witnessed his mother's death, his father's cold-bloodedness, and the danger to the Xie family's bloodline. He constantly suspected someone was out to harm him, and not only was he unable to sleep for whole nights, he was also terrified of the dark.

Darkness is a breeding ground for the weak, a hotbed of death. He happened to be that weakling. Everyone thought he was gloomy, cruel, and cold-blooded, but only Li Zhaoyue was willing to get close to him.

No, she forced him to accept her.

"How can you overcome your fear if you don't try walking at night?" Li Zhaoyue continued yelling.

"I won't." He finally uttered two words. Although it was a rejection, Li Zhaoyue still jumped for joy.

"You finally spoke, that's great!"

The girl's excited smile brought out a cold emotion in his eyes. He looked at her coldly, still stubbornly refusing to move forward.

Li Zhaoyue pulled him forward like a tug-of-war, but Xie Feng, sinking his Qi into his Dantian, resisted the force with an opposing force, and neither of them could pull the other. She was so angry that her eyebrows furrowed and the smile on her face faded completely.

"What? You gave up?" Xie Feng asked sarcastically.

"Come again, use the same strength as before, not one bit more, not one bit less. I don't believe I can't pull you over!" Li Zhaoyue said angrily.

He did so, and from that moment on, everything changed.

Li Zhaoyue pulled his hand and gently let go, but because of his own strength, he was pushed back into the darkness.

The moonlight cast a cold light on the gravel road, and the shadows of the two intertwined. Li Zhaoyue's eyes were filled with a sly smile, laughing at his stubbornness and his innocence.

"Look, nothing happened, right?" The girl smiled and walked closer to him, and gradually, her figure overlapped with the girl in front of him.

Xie Feng hurriedly fell into those eyes filled with stars, and in that instant, his heart began to beat wildly.

Li Zhaoyue looked at him, her eyes filled with worry. "Afeng, I called you several times just now and you didn't respond. Are you okay?"

Xie Feng put away his chaotic mood and whispered, "It's okay. Maybe I'm too tired recently. I just need to go back and rest."

Li Zhaoyue then relaxed his brows, but after a moment, they frowned again.

"Afeng, have you ever had a strange feeling?" After a long period of mental preparation, Li Zhaoyue finally asked his question.

"What does it feel like?"

"When I see someone getting closer to another person, it feels like a huge rock is pressing down on my heart, making it hard to breathe."

As Li Zhaoyue spoke, a scene slowly appeared before her eyes. It was something she had accidentally seen on the street just now.

Xu Xing bent down and looked at Lou Yao, his eyes gentle and weary. The girl's face was rosy, the boy's gentleness and affection were undeniably a perfect match. They resembled the talented scholar and beautiful woman described in the storybooks. The heroines in the storybooks were all gentle and charming, almost identical to Lou Yao.

She suddenly felt that this scene was very glaring. This sour and unwilling feeling kept lingering in her heart, forcing her to impulsively question Xu Xing and order Xu Xing to push her away!

But... she obviously shouldn't have such thoughts. Such dark, selfish thoughts are not allowed.

This question made Xie Feng stunned for a moment.

Countless images flashed back in his mind——

Li Zhaoyue's brilliant smile towards Xu Xing, Xu Xing's focused gaze towards Li Zhaoyue, their subconsciously intertwined hands, their backs always walking side by side...

Too many, he has experienced too many such feelings.