【32】Her way of comforting people seems a little special
As the sky grew darker, the last remaining crescent moon was almost completely gone, leaving only a faint outline. "I've never thought about it this way before," Liang Zhiyao said. "When I was a kid, my parents hadn't yet gone into business; they both worked for foreign companies. Back then, foreign companies were still real companies, and they'd get off work before five o'clock every day. They had plenty of time to spend with me, and they'd take me out to play during the winter and summer vacations." Tan Xu smiled faintly, "I must have envied you back then." "Maybe," she recalled. "I always thought my parents were the best parents in the world. Although they loved me and gave me the most precious companionship, they never forced me to do anything I didn't like. After I started elementary school, most girls my age were learning musical instruments, dancing, painting, and the like, but as long as I liked it, they unconditionally supported me in learning a less popular sport like snooker." He agreed, "It's not easy to devote so much effort and yet restrain your desire to control." "Is that so?" she smiled. "But I'm realizing now that, perhaps because I was so well-protected as a child, I seem to have a harder time adjusting to the world as an adult than others. Unlike you, I only discovered quite suddenly that not everything will go as I expected. Uncertainty is completely foreign to me. So even something as minor as ordering a dish that didn't go my way can make me a little annoyed." Tan Xu nodded, listening, a smile barely suppressed. Her way of comforting him seemed a little peculiar, perhaps a subtle indoctrination. She didn't force persuasion, but honestly shared with him what the other side of his longing might be like, whether, alongside the beautiful fruits, there were also thorns. In many personality traits and upbringings, they were indeed opposite ends of the spectrum. If this was an approach she approved of, then he could reciprocate and honestly share with her what the flip side of "relaxation" meant. "What's wrong?" Liang Zhiyao was puzzled by his expression, as if he wanted to laugh but couldn't. Tan Xu raised the corners of his lips. "Remember that morning when we were watching the maple leaves? You said that if something bad really happened, you wouldn't be so scared anymore?" "I remember." "That might sound a bit like chicken soup for the soul, but your parents' unconditional love for you might make you feel uncomfortable adapting to the outside world, but at the same time, it also allows you to always stay strong when faced with bad results that don't meet your expectations. So, those uncertainties don't seem so scary after all, right?" "Maybe you think it's better to relax a little now, but although my personality can also...
The sky was getting darker and darker, and the only remaining crescent moon was almost completely disappearing, leaving only a subtle outline.
"I've never thought about it from this perspective before," Liang Zhiyao said. "When I was a child, my parents hadn't yet gone into business; they both worked for foreign companies. Back then, foreign companies were still real foreign companies, and they'd get off work before 5 p.m. every day. They had plenty of time to spend with me, and they'd take me out to play during both winter and summer vacations."
Tan Xu smiled faintly and said, "I must have envied you at that time."
"Maybe," she recalls. "I always thought my parents were the best parents in the world. Although they loved me and gave me the most precious companionship, they never forced me to do anything I didn't like. After I started primary school, many girls my age were learning musical instruments, dancing, painting and the like, but as long as I liked it, they unconditionally supported me in learning snooker, a less popular sport."
He agreed: "It's not easy to put so much effort into something and not be so controlling."
"Yeah," she smiled. "But I've discovered now that maybe because I was so well protected since childhood, I seem to have a harder time adapting to the world as an adult than others. Unlike you, I suddenly discovered that not everything will develop as I expected. Those uncertainties are very unfamiliar to me. So even a small thing like ordering a dish that doesn't match my expectations can make me a little annoyed."
Tan Xu nodded and listened, but he couldn't suppress the smile on his lips.
Her way of comforting people seemed a little special, or like she was brainwashing people subtly - she would not force them to do anything, but would honestly share with them what the other side of their longing might be like, and whether, in addition to the beautiful fruits, there would also be thorns.
In many aspects of personality and upbringing, they were indeed at opposite ends of the spectrum. If this was a method she approved of, then he could reciprocate and honestly tell her what the other side of "relaxation" meant.
"What's wrong?" Seeing that he looked like he wanted to laugh but didn't, Liang Zhiyao was confused.
Tan Xu raised the corners of his lips. "Remember that morning when we were looking at the maple leaves? You said that if something bad really happened, you wouldn't be so scared anymore?"
"Remember."
"This may sound a bit like cliché, but the unconditional love your parents give you may make you feel uncomfortable when adapting to the outside world, but it also allows you to always be brave enough to face bad results that don't meet your expectations. In that case, those uncertainties don't seem to be that scary, right?"
"Maybe you think it's better to relax a little now, but although my personality can be labeled as casual, in fact, from childhood to adulthood, I have never had too strong emotional fluctuations in response to many things. To put it nicely, I am emotionally stable. On the contrary, you can also say that I am cold-blooded, indifferent, and lack empathy."
"Hey—" she said half-jokingly, "I admit that you have a high emotional intelligence, but you don't have to say that about yourself to comfort others."
"Oh," he said meaningfully, "So in your eyes, I'm tall, handsome, and emotionally intelligent? Is there anything else you haven't told me? Why not praise me all at once while I'm drunk? That way it'll be easier to deny it later."
“…”
Now Liang Zhiyao was sure that Tan Xu did it on purpose - he probably had some strange masked personality. Whenever he finished a serious confession, he would always add a frivolous and unrestrained ridicule, as if he was afraid that any one of his sides would gain the upper hand.
She was about to say something, but suddenly realized that the total lunar eclipse had begun.
The tiny crescent moon had completely disappeared without a trace, but another wonder called the "blood moon" or "red moon" soon appeared in the sky. It is said that this is an astronomical phenomenon that can only be seen simultaneously with a partial lunar eclipse, because the earth's thick atmosphere absorbs most of the purple, blue, green and yellow light, leaving only red light to penetrate and project onto the surface of the moon, forming this breathtakingly beautiful sight.
For a moment, no one spoke, just drinking and looking out the window. After several minutes, Liang Zhiyao realized that the cocktail was almost finished, so he switched to a highball glass and continued drinking red wine.
Maybe it was the effect of the alcohol or because she got tired from staring at one place for too long, but she looked at the moon for a while and couldn't help yawning.
"Are you sleepy?" Tan Xu asked her.
"A little... Actually, I was watching a movie at home before I went upstairs and felt a little sleepy."
"What movie?"
"It's an old movie, 'Before Sunrise,' have you seen it?" she said. "It's actually quite good, but the plot doesn't have much of a plot twist. It's probably not suitable as a wake-up call for a late-night snack."
"I've seen it," he nodded. "It's a bit like a documentary. It's really more suitable for quietly watching on the sofa when you're in a good mood."
"Right," she agreed, "but I still couldn't help crying when I saw them saying goodbye on the train at the end."
An American man and a French woman, from vastly different backgrounds, met on a train while traveling. They instantly connected, and on a whim, they disembarked in Vienna and spent an unexpected day together. The next morning, their story was about to end on the train, but they couldn't bear to see it end there, so they agreed to meet again at the station where they had parted six months later.
It was indeed a romantic and sentimental ending, but Tan Xu was still surprised: "Your tear point is so low? I don't think I've ever cried while watching a movie."
Her personality doesn't seem like the type to be easily moved by fictional stories in film and television works.
"Yeah," Liang Zhiyao said, a little helplessly. "Actually, I'm not that moved, but I'm the type who can't help crying if someone cries in a movie. It's not that moving, but as soon as the sentimental background music comes on, I burst into tears. I'm surprised myself. I wonder what this difference has to do with... Zodiac sign?"
He laughed: "So you still believe in horoscopes."
"Why don't you believe it?"
Perhaps because she'd drunk too much, her brain had become dizzy and she became bolder. She then teased him sharply, "A birthday in early November... Don't you fit the zodiac stereotype quite well? A cold-blooded, apathetic, emotionless Scorpio man?"
You could also add the grudge. The prejudice she had against him when they first met was often brought up again and again to accuse her of being arbitrary.
“…”
It was a rare sight for Liang Zhiyao to see Tan Xu choke on his words. For a moment, he felt a sense of pride, as if his roles had finally been reversed. The alcohol rising in his mouth made him even more smug. He added a disclaimer, "I didn't say any of this. It's all based on what you said. It's the exact words you used to describe yourself... so you can't refute it."
He raised an eyebrow and stared at her for a few seconds.
"You're so brave now? You're not as scared of me as you were a while ago."
"You are a little too self-conscious. When have I ever been afraid of you?" she muttered unconvinced.
"When we first met, you were very wary whenever I got close to you," he said. "But lately, it seems like things have changed."
Before he finished speaking, he turned sideways, and the distance between them was suddenly shortened to a mere millimeter. He looked at Liang Zhiyao's face, which was so close to him and flushed with alcohol, with ill intent.
He chuckled, "I can see you haven't been drunk before, otherwise you'd know that for some people, this isn't a gradual process."
"What do you mean?" Liang Zhiyao subtly felt that his tongue was a little out of control and his speech became slower.
"What it means is that by the time you realize you're drunk... it might be too late to get downstairs and go home."
Her senses were mostly numb, but she could still vaguely sense the danger this sentence implied. Tan Xu's gaze seemed to have a temperature, burning her face intensely.
At this time, Liang Zhiyao finally panicked a little, realizing that he had been too relaxed before: "Then... why didn't you remind me at the beginning?"
"What do you think?" The corners of his lips curled up. "You're right. Comforting others shouldn't belittle yourself. Actually, what I said just now was a bit exaggerated. I might not be that cold-blooded and indifferent. I can also be very emotional. Do you want to experience it?"
Too close, his hot breath sprayed on her face. She smelled that familiar fragrance again, but the smell of perfume was masked or half-mixed with the smell of alcohol, turning it into a new smell in between.
Alcohol amplifies people's senses and weakens thinking and reaction speed. This is an indisputable rule that has been verified by countless people, because Liang Zhiyao vaguely heard Tan Xu say several sentences in a row, and she was almost unable to think about such a long sentence.
At the same time, her vision did not become blurred, but became clearer.
She saw Tan Xu holding the cocktail in his hand, the gradient colors all melted together. Because there were a lot of ice cubes in it, the condensed water vapor kept dripping from the bottom of the glass, soaking a small part of his shirt.
The clothes were very thin, and when they got wet, you could almost see the texture of his skin underneath the clothes through the fabric.
He just looked at her mischievously, then swallowed a mouthful of wine as if nothing had happened, his Adam's apple rolling up and down, making her feel that her breathing had slowed down.
"...Come to think of it, I've found that being drunk doesn't seem to cause blackouts that easily," she paused for a moment before hastily answering the question, "I just feel really sleepy, dizzy, and want to sleep, that's all... I won't go crazy."
After she finished speaking, she pretended to feel sleepy and calmly leaned her head back on the sofa, thus finally increasing the distance between them a little.
"Really?" Tan Xu noticed her nonchalant expression as she tried to change the subject, and felt like laughing: "I can see you're sleepy, but... you can't sleep yet, Liang Zhiyao."
Then he slowly lowered his head, as if he was afraid of alerting the enemy, or perhaps he was deliberately testing her, giving her some time to refuse and react, slowly and methodically shortening the distance between them.
When they were sitting, their heights weren't that different, but she was so drunk that she fell back on the sofa. She could only blink blankly, looking at his suddenly enlarged face at a loss.
The only remaining focus in his eyes fell on the two pale lips that were getting closer and closer.
My heart began to beat violently. Something in my subconscious seemed to be sounding an alarm, but the alarm, fueled by the alcohol, seemed to be coming from behind several doors, so blurry that I couldn't hear it clearly.
The moment the overhead light was blocked by him, Liang Zhiyao subconsciously closed his eyes.
“Ding-ling-ling—”
The inappropriate system default alarm sound came from the phone, the volume was high, and it was ringing and vibrating at the same time, making it impossible to ignore.
That was the alarm Liang Zhiyao had set in advance to prevent himself from accidentally falling asleep. It rang at 1 a.m. on the day they had agreed to meet.
But she forgot that after the switch from daylight saving time to winter time, the clock was forcibly turned back one hour, so dramatically, the alarm clock that set at one o'clock rang for the second time after the time went back.
The piercing ringtones instantly dissipated the charming atmosphere. She woke up from her confusion, quickly distanced herself from the other person, and sat up straight from her slumped body on the sofa.
This change happened so quickly and suddenly that she even began to feel guilty, wondering if she was really unconscious a moment ago or just pretending.
Author's Note
Reversible light path
author
07-31
Old joke refurbished -w- I googled it specifically, and the alarm will really ring twice. After all, the timeline of the two people's heartbeat is misaligned, and Tan Gou won't succeed so quickly hhh Zhiyao also needs some time to figure out his own thoughts.
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