011｜(Ten) Bitter Moon
As the Qixi Festival approaches, the crescent moon, half-hidden in the clouds, casts a hazy, indistinct light, a phenomenon colloquially known as the "hairy moon." It's like looking through a veil at a beautiful woman's furrowed brows, causing a sense of unease.
The boy who made Xie Qingyan grit his teeth stood below the gate, his tall and upright figure almost blending into the shadow of the tree, the longest point of his shadow stretching all the way to Xie Qingyan's feet.
His face was hidden in the shadows, obscuring his features.
"Move aside." Xie Qingyan was carrying the takeout food on a thin rope. She had been sleeping during the day and working at night for several days, and only got up in the afternoon. She had only eaten one meal so far, and her stomach was rumbling loudly.
She knew her strength was limited and that discretion was the better part of valor; she didn't intend to confront him directly.
With a frown and a cold expression, she couldn't bear to look at him even once, and waved her hand to brush aside the obstacle blocking her way.
Unexpectedly, Su Xingmao reached out to her, naturally picked up the heavy takeout, slightly shifted his chin, and turned halfway to wait for her to open the door.
Xie Qingyan immediately became alert, snatched the takeout food, and, with a protective look, raised her eyebrows and covered the keypad lock: "You are not welcome in my home."
Su Xingmao remained unmoved, his tone calm and indifferent: "Xie Qingyan, are you avoiding me?"
Avoid him?
"Who said I was avoiding you?" Xie Qingyan stubbornly denied it: "It's too hot, I'm too lazy to go out, okay?"
"Besides, I get annoyed just looking at you." She rolled her eyes, her teeth chattering, and her eyes frosty.
The night was deep, the moon was soft and warm. The villa area was quiet, even the wind was whispering, and only the cicadas chirped loudly in the woods on the back hillside.
Su Xingmao lowered his eyes, his face almost expressionless: "Aunt Xie will probably be home the day after tomorrow. Before that, you still have ten math tests, five physics tests, and a biology and chemistry workbook."
?
Damn it, how come this bastard remembers it even better than she does?
Xie Qingyan's lips twitched.
As he said, with the summer vacation coming to an end, Xie Qingyan had barely touched a pen in the past two weeks, except for the few papers he had completed under his supervision at the beginning.
However, she has always been a serious procrastinator and is extremely good at cramming at the last minute, only getting anxious when things are urgent. She had planned to bribe the class monitor Shen Huaixu and the math representative Zhou Hanyu tomorrow to copy everything before Xie Jinyu returned...
She had a good relationship with those two people and had copied their homework quite a bit at school. Thinking of this, she felt very confident and put her hands on her hips.
Threaten her with the homework?
"What's it to you! Don't think you can act tough in front of me just because you have my mom as a shield." Xie Qingyan sneered, tilting her head back aggressively: "You're not the only one in our class with good grades. There are plenty of people who are willing to let me copy their homework."
Su Xingmao was a competition student. He was supposed to transfer to the competition class after the class placement exam in the second semester of his first year of high school. However, he was like a leech, sticking to the elite class and refusing to leave. He also held the title of class monitor and was always around. I would have to see his face again next semester. In particular, there was another annoying thing - the thought of having to teach him the homework first when school started made me even more annoyed.
Su Xingmao remained calm and ignored her words.
The moon hangs high in the sky, casting a pale yellow glow on the ground. Moonlight falls on the flowers, filtering through the sparse shadows.
He stood like a bamboo stalk amidst a sea of flowers, upright and motionless, his jawline sharply defined by the light and shadow, his profile distinctly undulating.
His head was lowered quietly, his eyes, like two black beads, drooped their eyelashes and watched her silently.
His gaze was calm and indifferent.
But he clung to her and didn't move.
She belatedly realized that Su Xing was quite high... Xie Qingyan took half a step back.
When did the constellation Mao grow so tall?
She was a picky eater when she was little, so the two of them often ate together.
Ms. Xie Jinyu hated Xie Qingyan wasting food, picking and choosing from the dishes, and even putting food that Xie Qingyan deliberately didn't want into her bowl.
She made a face, her eyebrows furrowed and turned into a V-shape, and used her chopsticks to poke little eyes, round holes, into the carrot slices, refusing to eat them, staring at them blankly.
Taking advantage of Xie Jinyu turning around to answer the phone, Su Xingmao swiftly grabbed his chopsticks and scooped out all the celery, broccoli, and diced radish that he didn't like into his bowl.
His blue-green eyes were wide open, like two crystal-clear glass marbles. He said fiercely, "You finish eating!" Su Xingmao had never liked to talk since he was little. He didn't utter a sound even when half a bowl of food was poured into his bowl. He just stared at the bowl. One piece of carrot was very conspicuous. Xie Qingyan took half a slice of the red carrot and left a row of small teeth marks.
She was going through the process of losing her baby teeth, and her teeth marks were crooked and uneven. Su Xingmao didn't even look up, like a little mute, silently eating his rice. He picked up the piece of carrot that had been gnawed into a jagged shape, stuffed it into his mouth without expression, chewed it up, and swallowed it.
Carrots are sweet, so why doesn't she like to eat them?
That's probably true. Su Xingmao has never been picky about food since he was a child. He'll eat whatever he wants. Every time he stayed at her house for a long time during holidays, he was never seen ordering a dish from the nanny. He always followed her preferences.
With a balanced diet, it's no wonder he's so tall now.
With broad shoulders and long legs, standing like a pine tree, it stood upright before me like a heavy, lifeless stone wall.
It can't be pushed away, nor can it be avoided.
The intense pressure from the height difference made Xie Qingyan uncomfortable.
The constellation Mao, standing in the dark night, is quite different from usual.
She felt a chill run down her spine, her confidence waning, and her instinct was to make him disappear as quickly as possible and get away from him.
The summer evening breeze was hot and dry. Xie Qingyan couldn't stand it for long in the outer room. Her forehead was covered in sweat. She was too lazy to waste any more time with Su Xingmao. She covered the keypad door with one hand, trying to hide it from him, and opened the door with the other hand. The cool air from the air conditioner rushed towards her.
Xie Qingyan squeezed inside as if no one else was there. Just as the door was about to close, a foot got stuck. She pressed her whole body against the door, trying to push it, but a hand easily held it in place, and she couldn't budge it.
Xie Qingyan stamped her foot in frustration: "What are you doing?"
He paused for a few moments, then said, "I can't sleep."
"What do I care if you can't sleep?" she practically yelled, her face a fierce yet cowardly expression: "Get out of here, or I'll—"
Her response was the sound of the door being pushed open with even more force.
My mind was buzzing, like a broken TV screen, a static-filled display that flickered back and forth without any picture.
The last scene on the retina was the figure of Su Xingmao suddenly bending down and approaching.
The mountain wind ruffled his clothes, and his handsome features were shrouded in a thin mist halfway up the mountain, giving him a touch of melancholy.
His face loomed larger and larger in her retreating gaze.
Tonight's moon has a bitter, thick, and unyielding coffee flavor.
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