0013 013 The End of Summer: Evening Glow
As the start of the school year approached, someone gave Qi Yu two tickets. A new opera troupe was touring Jingyang, and he took Qi Shuyao with him.
She had read the story many times, and it didn't offer much new insight. However, after the performance that night, the creators paused before the curtain call. The spotlight shone on a half-box on the second floor instead of the stage. A young foreign man with medium-length curly hair took out a bouquet and a diamond ring and proposed to a girl with a Chinese face. The steps and design had clearly been coordinated with the theater. Everyone applauded and cheered, creating a joyful atmosphere.
Qi Shuyao clapped along, her eyes fixed on the girl's expression as she was being proposed to. Although she was far away and couldn't see clearly, she could guess that the girl was crying tears of joy.
Qi Yu didn't care about others; he only looked at Qi Shuyao's expression and spoke from the side.
"Envious?"
"It's not envy, it's just that I think she's quite lucky. Preparing all this must take a lot of effort, but it will still happen, it always will, there will always be someone doing it."
The ring was placed on the bride's hand, tears streaming down her face as she excitedly shared her happiness with everyone.
"I've been waiting for this day my whole life..."
She only said this one sentence before Qi Yu, holding Qi Shuyao's head, turned her around, his expression unfriendly.
"It's really sad if a girl grows up only to get married."
"Can someone who gets proposed to today tell strangers how many books they've read? Just enjoy other people's affairs and move on. Why are you making such a big deal out of it? You're getting more and more annoying."
Qi Shuyao's expression seemed indifferent; she appeared unconcerned about everything, yet her emotions were clearly distinct.
His expression suggested he wanted to say something, so she immediately reached out and covered his mouth.
"You only need to be my father, don't think about being someone else's father."
I'm talking about you.
"I know. Although I'm not the best student, I haven't fallen behind either. I've always worked very hard. You don't need to worry so much. I understand. I don't have a boy I like either."
"You think I'm long-winded now? You'll see later."
Qi Yu's voice drifted to the other side, and he turned his head slightly, his gaze also drifting elsewhere.
No one is perfect; everyone has their own insecurities. Qi Yu's only shortcoming is probably his education. Although the number of people coming in now is getting increasingly illiterate, he still ends up being the subject of gossip.
Qi Shuyao also did some research on her own, but she couldn't find any information about Qi Yu's schooling, let alone university or even primary school.
Her father is a very mysterious person, very mysterious.
The curtain call on stage proceeded as normal, and the father and daughter remained motionless. Qi Shuyao's arms ached before she realized that her hands had been resting on Qi Yu's face. When she got tired, she simply leaned down and rested her hands on his chest. This action was a bit excessive, so she quickly withdrew her hands and curled up in the large cushion. The theater was dimly lit, so no one could see her blushing face, nor could she see the look in Qi Yu's eyes.
The proposal delayed the end of the event for a while. When they were leaving, Qi Shuyao was so sleepy that she could barely keep her eyes open. Qi Yu took her hand and put his arm around her side. They went straight down to the parking lot through the VIP passage. When they were still some distance from the car, he picked her up and carried her over.
The driver's daughter is a year older than her and is going to college this year. The driver took leave to take her there. Recently, Qi Yu hasn't been able to get another driver to take over, so he's been driving himself. He put his daughter in the passenger seat, leaned over to fasten her seatbelt, and casually tidied her hair that was falling in front of her. His fingers brushed over her smooth little face and he couldn't help but rub it a few times.
Tomorrow is Monday, and the road back to Yangcheng is jammed with cars. Jingyang and Yangcheng are located in the south and north, respectively. Jingyang is above Yangcheng, and as the capital, it has many more scenic spots than Yangcheng. Many Yangcheng residents often come to visit on weekends. There are also many people like Qi Yu who work in Jingyang but live in Yangcheng, but they can't afford to buy a house in Jingyang. This black car, which is now part of the sea of cars, has just entered Yangcheng's territory and is heading towards the city boundary, crossing the mountains. After passing through a private tunnel, it will lead to their new home, a large manor by the sea.
The roads were unusually congested today. Qi Shuyao was so asleep that she had turned over in her sleep. The car hadn't even left Jingyang yet, but Qi Yu wasn't in a hurry. He put one hand on the steering wheel and reached to the right with the other, grabbing a soft little hand. He rubbed the back of his hand with his thumb and then held the whole hand in his palm.
He held her hand tightly, one finger between each hand, until they stopped in his garage. He then carried her from the driver's seat to the bedroom, where the sleeping girl was placed in the princess bed, sinking slightly into the mattress, like Sleeping Beauty returning to her place, waiting for her prince.
Han's mother's footsteps came from the corridor. She was about to come in to help him change his clothes. Qi Yu quickly bent down and kissed her, then said "Goodnight" in a seemingly calm manner before sweeping away from Han's mother like a gust of wind.
Qi Shuyao turned over in bed and fell into a deep sleep.
With a week left in the holiday, Qi Yu no longer restricted her from going out, but Song Yusheng still couldn't get her to come out, so she went out alone, leaving her bodyguard and driver at home.
Less than 100 meters after emerging from the mountain tunnel, two young men leaning against a modified motorcycle, their helmets still on, saw her approach and tossed her a helmet. Qi Shuyao put it on and straddled one of them as the two motorcycles sped away.
They gradually merged into a small group, and Qi Shuyao in the back row also switched to her own motorcycle. There were men and women in the crowd, skillfully turning into the deserted path. The flashy skills, the cheering whistles, the unique brotherhood and playfulness of the teenagers, the attention they sought and their disdain, were all sprinkled in the midday sun.
Even when playing around, injuries and scrapes are inevitable. Qi Shuyao scraped off a little skin on the outside of her knee, but there wasn't much bleeding, so she didn't pay attention to it and went to sit down on the ground by the roadside.
"then!"
She looked up in response, and a bottle of ice water flew towards her. She caught it, and behind the bottle appeared a smiling, sunny face. She hadn't seen him for over a month, and he had gotten quite tanned.
"Miss Qi is so unfair! Now that we're on holiday, I can't even see anyone."
The boy slapped her shoulder hard, sat down next to her, and continued speaking loudly.
"But you look so haggard lately. You looked radiant when I saw the footage of Pei Yuzhou's funeral on TV last time."
"It's nothing. My dad said things haven't been peaceful lately, so he told me to stay home and not go out. My sleep schedule is all messed up."
"Sigh, being an official is such a hassle. My family can just make sure we're safe."
The speaker was Xiang Zhiyu, the leader of their group of friends. The Xiang family was the richest in Yangcheng and a rare breed of pure businessmen in recent years. This road was built by his father specifically for him to play on.
"By the way, all of you guys are coming, I have some big news to announce."
The squad leader waved his hand, and all the friends who were resting scattered around looked over.
“I won’t be in China when this semester starts. My dad applied for a high school abroad for me and used some connections to get me into university there. I probably won’t be able to come back for good for another four or five years.”
"School's about to start, when's your flight? Ugh, that's not very kind of you, why are you only telling me now..."
Her friends chattered amongst themselves, most of them also going abroad to study, just at different times. Only Qi Shuyao sighed silently again, feeling that her friends were leaving one by one. After a long while, she composed herself, raised her head, and spoke in a high-pitched voice...
"Let's go for a couple of laps of racing, as a way of saying goodbye."
Upon hearing this, Xiang Zhiyu pulled her up, his face full of disagreement.
"Little sister, it's not that I'm worried about the car, it's just that you don't have a driver's license yet, and the track is so dangerous. If you, a fierce warrior, charge in, I won't be able to control you."
They went to school in the same year, but Xiang Zhiyu was a year older than her. He took the driving test at the beginning of the year and, although he had driven without a license before, he still showed off his driver's license in front of them.
Qi Shuyao pretended to be angry, put her hands on her hips, and turned away. He then lowered his head and leaned closer to say something nice.
“I’m not afraid your dad will find out. Last time we came down from the bridge, you forgot about when you ran into your dad and hid in the trunk.”
“He’s so busy he doesn’t even come home, he doesn’t have time to take care of me. You’re such a coward.”
She crossed her arms, supported herself with her uninjured leg, and swung her other leg back and forth on the ground.
She really wanted to know how Qi Yu would react if he knew what she had done.
Or rather, he couldn't spare a day to see her and know all of this.
Qi Shuyao's melancholy was seen by Xiang Zhiyu as a dejected feeling of not being able to seek excitement. He casually put his arm around her shoulder and raised his other hand to greet everyone.
"Let's go back to our childhood and have a trip to the amusement park today."
She suddenly turned around and looked at him.
Some had to go home, some had plans with their partners, and in the end, only four people remained. Xiang Zhiyu drove his new car and took his friends to the amusement park. Qi Shuyao sat in the back left seat, looking at the glass with a somewhat dazed expression.
She said it many times, but no one believed her. She had never been to an amusement park since she was a child. She didn't go out when she was little and didn't know that amusement parks existed. Later, when she found out, no one had time to go with her.
Now that I've actually stepped into this place, there's nothing particularly special about it. The late summer sun is even more intense, and the air is even more stuffy. Sweat always trickles down my temples, and my forehead is covered with fine beads of sweat. Xiang Zhiyu found an umbrella somewhere. Although it can only protect against rain, it also blocks a lot of the sun when placed over my head.
Roller coasters, Ferris wheels, carousels, bumper cars, long queues, equipment with peeling paint, safety valves that broke down just a seat away, and impatient megaphones used by staff to maintain order—after an afternoon of this, all four of us were exhausted and squeezed into a small corner of the restaurant to eat an even more expensive and unpalatable dinner.
After finishing their meal, counting the grains of rice, Xiang Zhiyu, who had been fiddling with her phone, suddenly clapped her hands and led them toward the less crowded southeast area.
A princess castle was built in the southeast area before, which attracted a lot of people. However, after the initial hype died down, it quickly faded away because it didn't have its own IP. Now the castle is not open to the public.
But the young master, through some unknown connection, led a few people directly to the rooftop of the castle, where they sat on the faded, glossy rooftop, with the iconic slender chimney right beside them.
Looking through the ash-covered glass of the chimney, you can see the "princess's little attic" that countless children yearn for.
Another girl among the four laughed and leaned over to say to Qi Shuyao,
"I saw photoshopped pictures of this castle online, and they made it look really good. But when I got closer, I realized it was actually solid, made of stacked bricks."
"This is an adult's fairy tale, using a gorgeous shell to contain the dreams of one's childhood, but in reality it's just a pile of cement."
The only adult among the four, Xiang Zhiyu, concluded with a final remark. Just as he finished speaking, the sun set, and they were closer to the sky, with the afterglow of the sunset shining upon them first.
Qi Shuyao tilted her head back, braced her hands on the edge of the roof, and dangled her legs in the air. A child ran up to her and pointed at her, asking his mother if the princess had come out.
Behind her, her friends were chatting about the future, and the future always revolved around academics, career, love, and family. She thought about her own future, but had no clue what to do.
At the tender age of seventeen or eighteen, in Jingyang, he seemed like the setting sun, about to bid farewell to his carefree childhood and be pulled into boundless darkness.
Who knows when they'll get together again, and even if they do, will they be able to act as freely as they do now?
Just before the sun completely set, a cool breeze blew by, carrying a lush green leaf to Qi Shuyao's side, ruffling her hair before brushing past her. When she looked back, the wind and the leaf had disappeared into their companions.
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