Under the moon
Du Pianjian's fingers caressed the pipa strings, and the first note rang out, like a clear spring striking a rock, the water flowing into the mountains, gentle and tender, stirring the heart. Each string and each finger separated the strings, smoothing the silken moonlight into folds, her slightly lowered eyebrows moving slightly with her fingers.
Yu Zou closed his eyes and unconsciously hummed along softly.
After the song ended, Du Pianjian asked, "Why are you back so late today?"
"Tell me first, did you deliberately choose today to play for me?"
You know the answer in your heart.
Yu Zou stared blankly at the pipa, then sighed, "I should have recorded it. If you'd been willing to give me even a hint, I wouldn't have wasted my time going out with them."
"Who?"
"Zhao Junjie, Li Kuo."
"They celebrated your birthday?"
"Mmm." The last syllable of her voice was drawn out, and Yu Zou's slightly closed eyes were fixed on the pipa.
Du Pianjian plucked another string and said, "Why are you just watching? Do you want to try it too?"
"Is it okay?" Yu Zou sat up straight, his eyes shining.
"……Can."
Du Pianjian held his pipa still, so Yu Zou pulled up a chair and sat next to him. Du Pianjian plucked the strings, and Yu Zou imitated him, producing two completely different sounds. Du Pianjian plucked again, and Yu Zou tried to imitate him with a finger, but the results were still completely different.
Du Pianjian exclaimed "Eh?" and said, "Come behind me."
Yu Zou obediently stood behind Du Pianjian, and obediently reached out his hand to press the pipa according to Du Pianjian's instructions. He played it with Du Pianjian's hand, and it sounded good. When he let go, it sounded bad.
Du Pianjian laughed in exasperation: "How could this be?"
Yu Zou staggered two steps to the side, lying on the ground in a spread-eagle position, and closed his eyes resentfully: "Fine, I won't struggle anymore. No means no, no means no."
Du Pianjian, holding her pipa, stood beside his waist, leaned slightly over to look at him, and smiled, "What do you mean, 'I don't have'? What do you mean, 'I can't'?"
Yu Zou opened his eyes, the moonlight obscured by his own light, its gentle glow melting into his flawless face. A crescent moon rose before him at that moment. The alcohol had already seeped into his kidneys, rendering them unable to break down the excess toxins. Yu Zou opened his mouth but could not utter a word.
Du Pianjian straightened up and walked out. At the door, using the door as a cover, only half of her body was visible. She said softly, "The pipa needs maintenance, so I won't bother you tonight. Happy birthday."
Yu Zou lay on the ground, looking up as the door closed. In the quiet night, it took him a long time to hear the ticking of a clock, audible only from his own heartbeat.
The next day, a gunshot rang out, waking Yu Zou.
His heart was pounding wildly, and for a moment he couldn't tell if he was dreaming or if he was really hearing it.
He stood up from the floor, moved his stiff body, and walked into the bathroom.
Outside, the door to Du Pianjian's room across the street was wide open, the stained glass windows were shattered, and bright red fragments fell to the ground. A bullet was lodged in the incubator, having pierced through the pipa.
In that terrifying moment, Yu Wangyue instinctively pulled Du Pianjian away. Before she could even ask a question, Shao Yuan, who had heard the noise at the end, appeared. After seeing the two of them, he forcibly controlled his pace and walked to the door. However, the throbbing veins on his forehead and the clenched teeth in his jaw betrayed him.
Shao Yuan took out his phone to make a call, then pulled Yu Wangyue's arm to help her stand up. Yu Wangyue calmed down a little and called out to him, "A-Yuan."
As soon as the call connected, Shao Yuan immediately let go of her hand and quickly went downstairs.
Du Pianjian walked in, the broken pieces squeaking under his feet. The jagged, stained-glass window frame completely encircled his head, and cold air rushed in. He turned his head, opened the thermostat, and hugged the pipa to his chest. His fingers trembled before he plucked the strings; the precise physical balance had been disrupted, and the vibrations produced only additional, unpleasant noise.
Even a single scrap of paper couldn't change the situation.
A startled cry came from outside the door, followed by a helpless shout: "Mom!"
Du Pianjian cautiously walked to the door. From his position, he saw that Yu Zou's eyes were red and he was completely devoid of his usual composure. His complex emotions escalated, eventually turning into a suppressed question: "Did you stay here voluntarily?"
Yu Wangyue remained silent, only looking at her son with a slightly ingratiating expression, hoping he wouldn't ask. This only provoked Yu Zou, who couldn't help but press, "Why? Why? Mom! Have you forgotten everything? How did he betray us? How did he hurt you?"
Yu Wangyue's eyebrows fell, and his gaze was like a pile of fragments, only without the sharp edges. His soft voice, which had been falling before Yu Zouyi's tears since birth, said, "I remember, I remember everything. I'm sorry for hurting you."
"Why is it Mom who's apologizing? She should be the one saying it! Are you staying here because of his pheromones?"
"No……"
"Then why?!"
“How can I tell you, my child?” Yu Wangyue stroked Yu Zou’s hair with affection and tenderness. “Sometimes, I really wish I could give you everything I know and can do, but sometimes I know you have to experience it yourself. Yu Zou, your mother and you are two different people.”
So what should I do? I should ignore it? Or just ignore it altogether?
"You go live your own life and let me handle things here."
"But you'll die!"
"That was my own choice."
Yu Zou wrinkled his nose slightly, nodded resignedly, and after a long pause, said, "I'm sorry, Mom." Then he fled towards the stairs, and Yu Wangyue watched him leave.
After Yu Wangyue left, Du Pianjian walked out of the room and headed in the direction Yu Zou had left. Unexpectedly, Yu Zou was sitting on the bottom step of the stairs, holding his head, completely in the shadows.
Du Pianjian walked down step by step, carrying the pipa. When she sat down next to him, Yu Zou said sullenly, "Let me be by myself for a while."
Du Pianjian reached out her finger, adorned with an engagement ring, and touched Yu Zou's ring. With a clinking sound, the hoarse, mocking melody of yesterday's tune began to play. Yu Zou indeed raised his head, the hollow sound of the pipa extremely flamboyant.
After the piece was finished, Du Pianjian said, "This is my mother's pipa."
Yu Zou's expression changed slightly, clearly unaware of the existence and origin of the pipa. He softened his tone and said, "Leave it to me, I'll fix it."
"Can you fix it?"
"I'll find someone to fix it."
“It’s no use.” Du Pianjian touched the hollow part of the pipa. “It’s a whole instrument. Even if it’s repaired, it won’t sound the same as before.”
"Trust me, I have a way." Yu Zou stretched out his hand, resuming his usual tone, as if he really could turn the odds of zero into one in ten thousand.
Du Pianjian, holding her pipa, stepped aside slightly, her eyebrows and eyes lowered, making the tiny mole under her lip even more eye-catching when she spoke: "Yu Zou, can you do anything? If you keep thinking that way, I can't entrust it to you."
"If only I could do that." Yu Zou withdrew his hands and clasped them together. His gray, tufted hair was damp and extremely dull.
"What you can't do shouldn't be your problem in the first place. When Aunt Yu gave me this pipa, she told me not to be greedy for your pheromones, but I don't even know what it smells like. So there must be something else more important left here with her."
Yes, back then, his mother had already made a choice between herself and her pheromones. Glands are no different from other organs; they degenerate with age. Yu Zou closed his eyes. Of all the reasons, he chose the least likely one.
Yu Zou suddenly felt a glimmer of hope; perhaps his mother was also searching for a way out, and things weren't as he had imagined. He opened his eyes; it was snowing outside. Tiny white fluff drifted down, carrying away the dust in the air.
"Thank you."
Du Pianjian felt awkward and didn't respond to his thanks. Her eyes darted around, and an absurd idea started to bubble up: Would fighting poison with poison work?
Yu Zou had already stood up, smoothed his hair back, and reached out to Du Pianjian, saying, "Want to go out and play?"
"Sit down," Du Pianjian said without room for argument. Yu Zou was puzzled but did as he was told. The pipa was immediately stuffed into his arms. Following Du Pianjian's demonstration, he did the same. The terrible sound made Du Pianjian cover his ears, feeling disappointed and angry.
Yu Zou scratched his head and said awkwardly, "I'll buy you another one."
“I don’t need anything cheap. What do you want to do when you go out?” Du Pianjian rubbed his temples. “My window is broken, you can take care of it first.”
Yu Zou mentally calculated that it was about time to take Du Pianjian home, so he said, "The glass will take a while to be customized, let me take you home."
"And you? Going out to play?"
Yu Zou nodded. Du Pianjian didn't seem to want to go out, so he didn't press the matter further. He decided to find a good spot to enjoy the snow and clear his head. He Honghan's office was a good place, but he didn't know if he was on duty today.
"I'll pack my things, can you help me?" Du Pianjian stood up, picked up her pipa, and walked upstairs.
The broken glass in the room had been swept away, and the snowflakes that drifted in melted instantly. Du Pianjian was no longer in a hurry. She waited for Yu Zou to come in, walked closer to him, and whispered in his ear, "Shao Yuan went out. I think he probably went to find my father. Do you want to listen to the surveillance footage?"
Yu Zou hadn't expected him to say that, and nodded. Du Pianjian pushed the pipa into his arms and said, "Hold this for me, the incubator is no longer needed."
The next second, a bullet pierced Yu Zou's right arm, the pipa fell to the ground, and blood dripped onto the strings. The bracelet immediately sounded an alarm and activated the highest level of shielding. His arm bent unnaturally, blood flowing down his veins, Yu Zou's face turned pale, and he gasped for breath, only then realizing that the hole in the pipa was a bullet hole.
That gunshot wasn't a dream.
"Hurry up!" Yu Zou pulled Du Pianjian in front of him, led the people out of the room, hid in the corridor, took out his phone and called Li Kuo, but strangely the other end did not answer.
"Call the police! An ambulance!" Du Pianjian looked terrified; her fingers, pressed against Yu Zou's wound, were full of blood.
Yu Zou's vision began to blur, and he kept pressing the redial button. Finally, the other end answered. Yu Zou was covered in cold sweat and his voice was weak: "The other side has made their move."
Du Pianjian frantically used her bracelet to call the police: "He was shot in the arm and lost a lot of blood. I can't smell his pheromones."
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