2 Chapter 2
The moon always sets in the west.
In my memory, summers in high school were always bright and scorching. Perhaps it was because my classmates were young and full of vigor, or perhaps it was because the love of youth was open and passionate, forever burning like the blazing sun.
Zhan Xinyue and Xu Shen met that summer.
Because of that year's art festival, seventeen-year-old Xu Shen fell in love at first sight with seventeen-year-old Zhan Xinyue.
At an age when puppy love was considered a terrible thing, Xu Shen was almost completely open and honest about his affection for her. He pursued her for more than two years, doing everything he could to make her happy, and even went so far as to try to transfer to the same class as her.
Xu Shen's fondness for the crescent moon became an unspoken secret among all the high school students in that year.
Zhan Xinyue originally believed in the power of slow and steady love, and suspected that overly passionate relationships might burn out quickly. But Xu Shen proved to her with his consistent actions over the past ten years that his feelings were not just a passing fancy.
They got together after the college entrance exams and went on to attend the same university. He proposed immediately after graduation, and they married naturally. At the wedding, he shed tears, choking back sobs as he said she was his moon, once an unattainable dream. With everyone who had witnessed their journey together, he solemnly promised: "New Moon, I can't believe my life has come full circle. I swear I will love you until the end of my life."
The students in the audience burst into tears, and even some of the teachers from back then were moved to tears.
After their marriage, just as he had promised, he cherished her dearly. She disliked driving, so Xu Shen drove her to and from work every single day for ten years. She had no interest in business, and with her father getting old and needing someone to manage the business, Xu Shen quit his job to take over. Despite having no business experience, he was overwhelmed every day but never complained, until he gradually made her father's business thrive.
Even as Xu Shen's business grew and his net worth exceeded 100 million, he would still hold her hand and attend class reunions, which moved his old classmates.
"Are you two acting out a real-life idol drama? How can you two be such a perfect couple?"
Seeing you two makes me suddenly believe in love again.
"New Moon, how come you have such good taste in husbands? Teach us, okay!"
"..."
Amidst the envious gazes of everyone, Xu Shen grasped her hand tightly, and the two smiled at each other, just like the year they graduated from high school.
She always felt incredibly fortunate to be loved so deeply. The only regret was that the couple couldn't have children after their marriage. Back then, people around them often suggested that not having children was unacceptable, and that they should take advantage of the improved medical technology and try IVF. Xu Shen wasn't entirely unmoved; he actually loved children. However, when he learned about the various challenges women faced with IVF, he almost immediately gave up.
“I don’t want you to suffer like this.” Xu Shen said to her then, “With you, my life is already complete enough.”
The same applies to Zhan Xinyue; her life has already been fulfilling enough. As the saying goes, too much of anything is bad; perhaps leaving a slight imperfection in life makes the happiness we have now last longer.
Happiness can indeed last, if—
She didn't discover Xu Shen's infidelity.
Xu Shen, who had always favored her and pursued her relentlessly, the Xu Shen who shone brightly in her memory like sunlight, had long been rotten and decaying inside, unseen by her. In fact, he had been cheating on her for years and even had a child with someone else. And his mistress was none other than her best friend of many years, Xie Wanzhi.
The so-called deep affection of youth, the so-called match made in heaven, were nothing but a colossal lie to her.
so.
What is love?
"bell--"
The bell rang suddenly, briefly pulling Zhan Xinyue out of her painful memories.
As Xu Ying walked out of the classroom with her laptop, the once quiet classroom came alive almost instantly.
"Old Fang must be going through menopause, he's been wandering around every evening class lately," someone complained from the front.
"Yeah, they were almost done releasing the eggs!! If only he had come a little later!"
"This is so annoying, I don't want to go to school even for a single day..."
...
The saying goes that youth is unaware of sorrow; these young people's troubles are so trivial.
Zhan Xinyue watched them quietly for a while, then stood up amidst the noise and walked out of the classroom.
"Hey? Where are you going? Aren't you going to the supermarket?" Xie Wanzhi called out from not far behind. Zhan Xinyue didn't stop walking, leaving Xie Wanzhi far behind.
The moment she opened the classroom door, the oppressive heat from outside, accompanied by the drawn-out chirping of cicadas, rushed towards her.
Bright lights shone from the school buildings outside the classroom, casting lively shadows through the windows. The corridors were also crowded, with even more noise than inside the classrooms. Zhan Xinyue was momentarily lost in thought during this familiar yet long-lost night. She stood there for a moment, then her gaze gradually dimmed as she turned and walked down the corridor, passing each classroom one by one.
Many playful classmates brushed past her, but she didn't even glance at them, walking through them expressionlessly. Although she had been reborn back to her teenage years, she seemed to have forever lost that youthful spirit, now only filled with a lifeless desolation. For a moment, she suddenly wondered: had she truly been reborn, or had she already become a wandering ghost trapped in this school where their story began, unable to find peace?
After walking past several classrooms, her gaze suddenly stopped.
She spotted Xu Shen in the crowd at a glance.
Under the bright incandescent lights of the classroom, Xu Shen was smiling casually with his eyes crinkled. At this moment, he looked a few years younger than the adult version of himself she was most familiar with. The light made his hair appear lighter in color, with soft strands falling over his forehead, revealing his naturally bright, smiling eyes.
This is Xu Shen as a young boy, his eyes always curved when he speaks, full of youthful vigor.
At that time, he was still in Class 1. There were only two experimental classes in the grade, Class 1 and Class 10, which echoed each other from afar, separated by almost the entire grade.
Class 1 was also quite noisy, especially the last row. Xu Shen was right in the middle of the noise, not wearing a school uniform, but a white short-sleeved shirt. He was sitting on someone's desk, his hands on the table and his long legs casually stretched out.
A few boys surrounded him, chatting and laughing every now and then. Xu Shen was in the middle, laughing so hard his head was tilted back, his chest heaving, and his eyes seemed to shimmer with light.
She stared at his smiling face, almost grinding her teeth to powder. This smiling young man, the man who had gazed upon her with such fervor countless times, had betrayed her completely after finally winning her all his love and sincerity. He had trampled on her love and dignity, showing her through his actions that love was nothing but a lie, an illusion.
She thought she should hate him; after all, they say the deeper the love, the deeper the hate. Thanks to him, she had been through a near-death experience, riddled with wounds, while he remained unaffected, smiling obliviously. She imagined that when she saw him, she would rush in and slap him hard, curse him, kick him, and wish she could repay him a thousandfold for the pain she had endured…
However, she didn't. She gazed at his smiling face, when suddenly a violent churning in her stomach overwhelmed her, and a strong feeling of nausea made her gag. Before she could vomit, she covered her mouth and rushed into the bathroom.
In the classroom, Xu Shen, who had been smiling, seemed to sense something, and his smile paused. He suddenly looked up and gazed out the window.
The view outside the window was empty, except for the occasional hurried figure passing by.
“Strange…” Xu Shen raised an eyebrow and muttered to himself.
"What's strange?" a classmate asked, puzzled.
He said absentmindedly, "I have a feeling that someone is watching me."
"Look at you? Are you a boy or a girl?" the person teased.
Xu Shen snapped out of his reverie, looked at them, and a casual smile gradually appeared on his lips: "They must be girls."
"Come on, are you saying girls come to peek at you during breaks? You're so narcissistic!" Everyone burst into laughter.
"How is that narcissistic?" Xu Shen remained lazy, leaning back slightly. "I'm quite handsome, aren't I!"
The person next to him immediately poured cold water on his enthusiasm: "If you ask me, it's probably someone from the student council who saw you weren't wearing your school uniform and was just watching you as they wrote your name in their notebook!"
Xu Shen's expression froze instantly, a look of dread on his face. He bent down towards the row in front of him, reached out and grabbed his school uniform jacket, quickly putting it on. "It can't be that bad, I only took it off five minutes ago."
His movements, however, were not actually panicked; it was as if he was teasing everyone.
"Just you wait, you'll be in the reprimand tomorrow too." The group burst into laughter.
"Okay, looks like I'll have to write my self-criticism before the next evening class," Xu Shen said half-jokingly, his smile still on his face. "I'm going back to my seat now."
He waved and left, leaving behind the brief feeling of unease he had just experienced.
Zhan Xinyue vomited violently in front of the sink; she was so upset that she almost threw up bile.
Ironically, she never imagined that one day she would feel disgusted upon seeing Xu Shen.
She turned on the tap, and the running water flowed freely, but it couldn't wash away the bitterness in her heart. Leaning against the sink, she looked at the mirror in front of her, and for some reason, the scene of Xu Shen proposing to her years ago suddenly flashed into her mind.
That was her college graduation party in her senior year, and it was the last time she stood on the university campus stage as the host.
As she read her closing remarks, "Classmates, tonight's party is coming to an end. Happy graduation!" enthusiastic applause erupted from the audience. She smiled, but as the applause gradually subsided, an overwhelming sadness welled up inside her. With the end of this party, her student days officially came to a close.
She stood there, quietly waiting for all the cast and crew to come on stage for their curtain call. Suddenly, the applause, which was about to end, erupted into another climax, becoming even more enthusiastic.
Confused, she suddenly realized that her partner had disappeared without her noticing, and beside her, Xu Shen was kneeling on one knee, holding flowers, gazing at her.
Amidst the rising and falling screams, she heard Xu Shen's slow but firm voice.
"As the new moon appears, our student days have come to an end, and we are about to embark on a new chapter in our lives. I still want to spend this next stage of my life with you."
"I love you. I will love you with the rest of my life and with all my heart. Will you marry me?"
At that moment, the stage lights were dazzling, but his eyes shone even brighter than the lights.
The moment she said "I do," thunderous applause erupted from the audience, and she saw tears welling up in his eyes for the first time. He said, "New Moon, it turns out that people really do shed tears when they are at their happiest."
Among the crowd below the stage, her parents and Xu Shen's parents, along with their friends, walked out hand in hand, smiling and applauding for them. She then realized that his proposal that evening wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision, but rather a long-planned gesture. Witnessed and blessed by all the most important people in her life, she felt something similar to Xu Shen: it turns out that people really can feel dizzy from being too happy. Perhaps it's because the happiness at that moment was so intense that it felt unreal, and the brain momentarily went blank.
Those were the most cherished memories of her life, as if their happiness was witnessed by the whole world. The sadness of graduation and parting faded, replaced by a tangible happiness that filled her heart. One phase of her life had ended, but he told her that happiness awaited her in the next. So she reached out her hand to him, and together they solemnly made a promise to walk hand in hand for life.
Later, she felt dizzy again due to overly strong emotions when she discovered that Xu Shen was having an affair.
Such intense pain.
Zhan Xinyue stared at herself in the mirror and laughed, laughing so hard that her whole body trembled, and large tears rolled down her cheeks.
It hurts, it hurts so much.
The excruciating physical pain she felt before dying in her previous life seemed to engulf her once again. Discovering this unbearable truth drove her to the brink of madness, resulting in a car accident that claimed her life. Lying in a pool of blood, the pain was so intense she couldn't utter a sound, yet it couldn't alleviate the agonizing agony in her heart.
He clearly said that she was his moon.
But perhaps she forgot that the moon always sets in the west.
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