0047 047 A few specks of starlight embedded in the deep wall
When Qi Yu returned to Yangcheng, the sky was already beginning to lighten. The owner of the flower shop was rushing to the shop with a cart full of fresh flowers. He bought a bunch on the way and carried the pink lilies, still glistening with dew, home.
He quietly walked into the living room, intending to put the flowers in a vase, but suddenly turned around behind the sofa and caught sight of the small ball curled up on it.
She heard the sound, rubbed her eyes, looked up, and reached out her hand to him.
He didn't even have time to put down the flowers before he strode over and put his arm around her upper body.
"Why don't you go to bed? Come on, I'll carry you back."
"Wait...wait, come here first."
Qi Shuyao pulled him by the hand and sat him down beside her. She then wrapped her arm around his shoulder with difficulty and hugged him in her arms.
"Let me hold you for a little while."
Neither of them spoke, and the night quickly returned to its peaceful state.
Her breathing gradually calmed, and the damp chill of the early morning melted away in her embrace. She gently patted his back, buried her face in his head, and spoke in a muffled voice.
“I know you’ve been very busy lately, and I can’t help you much, but at least you can completely relax in front of me and not have to think about anything… I mean, you can rely on me, and you can be affectionate with me.”
After a brief silence, the man suddenly laughed.
Qi Shuyao was unhappy.
"What are you doing? Why are you like this... Oh dear, don't you know that frowning all the time will cause wrinkles, you..."
He reached out and enveloped her flailing little hands, then lowered them in front of him. His other arm tightened around her as he slowly slid his head down and lay on her lap.
“I know, I know all of this, but all of that disappeared after I saw my little Yao Xian.”
Qi Shuyao blushed in the darkness. She gently punched his shoulder and pinched his nose repeatedly.
"Where did you buy the flowers, and who are they for?"
Hearing her question, Qi Yu paused, his raised hand still. He looked into her eyes and said,
"This is for Han's mother, wishing her eternal youth."
"Oh, then you should go wait in the back. Han's mother will be getting up soon, so don't miss her first thing in the morning."
"You ungrateful little devil."
He turned his head, took a bite of her soft belly, and placed the bouquet in her arms. The fragrance of lilies filled her nose and mouth, and she closed her eyes to smell it a few more times.
Why did you buy this kind of flower?
Do you know what it means?
"I don't know, I don't know anything about flowers."
"I saw it by chance, and I don't know if it's true. It says that pink lilies symbolize 'May your life be smooth and successful'."
I thought you were going to say you love me.
They faced each other, one lying down, the other leaning over, their noses almost touching. Their pupils couldn't focus in the darkness, they could only feel each other's presence and breath.
Qi Yu stretched out his long arm and pulled her upside down into his arms. The bouquet fell onto the sofa, and he carried her upstairs.
That night was peaceful. Qi Shuyao hugged him and kissed him a few times before finally falling asleep, unable to resist her sleepiness. He held her tightly in his arms and stayed with her until she woke up. When he saw her big, sparkling eyes open in front of him, he leaned over and kissed her chin, then massaged her shoulders.
"Having you is enough for me."
Qi Shuyao wasn't fully awake yet and obviously didn't understand what he was saying. She raised her little hands to rub her wrinkled face, stretched her body on the bed, and brought up her schedule for the day.
"Today, Bei Huai and I went to visit the film set at his house."
"What's up?"
"Nothing much, he just invited me so warmly, so I thought I'd go check it out. A period drama set should be quite interesting."
“Bei Huai Si, you know Bei Huai Si…”
"Huh? Him? What are you trying to say? He likes me?"
Qi Shuyao lay on her back on the bed, observing Qi Yu's expression as he stood by the bedside, and then added fuel to the fire.
"Everyone knows what he's thinking, but he went through the fast track and even proposed to me."
The man took a deep breath, and just as he was about to pounce on her, Qi Shuyao quickly rolled over, threw herself onto the edge of the bed, hugged his leg, rubbed against it lightly a couple of times, and then raised her messy head.
"What's wrong, Secretary Qi? Do you not trust me, or do you lack confidence in yourself?"
"If someone proposed to me, what would you do?"
"I'm going to kill her."
She smiled brightly, without even frowning. After speaking, she giggled and pushed him away, stood up on the bed, and suddenly pounced on him.
Qi Yu was knocked back two steps before regaining his balance. He gently weighed her body in his arms. Qi Shuyao closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment. Before she could speak, Han's mother opened the door and came in.
"Miss, I've brought all the paints from outside in for you."
Qi Shuyao struggled and slid off Qi Yu's embrace, clinging to him frantically. From Han's mother's perspective, it looked like she was being unreasonable and pestering him. She quickly walked over and pulled her off.
"Miss, the master has been too busy lately. Let him rest for a while and play with you later, okay?
"Oh, I see. Mom, I'm going out with my friends today. Could you help me find some clothes?"
"Okay, I'll go now."
While Han's mother was still in the room, Qi Yu left without saying anything. After one of them went into the dressing room and the other went out, Qi Shuyao fell backward onto the bed. She helplessly kicked and pried at the bed for a while before fixing her hair and going inside to change her clothes.
The film set Bei Huiyi mentioned was in a remote ancient city outside Jingyang. When they arrived, it was already noon, and the actors were taking a break. He took her for a walk around. The set was unremarkable, with broken stones everywhere and a generally gloomy appearance.
Qi Shuyao walked around the dilapidated walls and broken tiles with disdain, then turned to look at Bei Huaisi.
"Is this what you call a big production, a huge investment, hundreds of millions spent on this place? Did they embed the money in stone?"
"That's called being valuable for its authenticity; their story unfolds in such a dilapidated place."
"Mmm, as long as you think your show is good, that's fine."
She looked around but didn't see a single actor. Instead, the producer came out and greeted her. Bei Hui introduced her as Han Dan, the producer of the show. She almost called her "sister," but then a burly man walked towards her.
“My mother decided on this name before I was born, and she won’t change it regardless of whether it’s a boy or a girl. I’ve gotten used to it over the years.”
The producer, as expected of the head of the crew, could chat with people he'd never met before and become familiar with them in a second. He surrounded Qi Shuyao, praising her for being prettier than female celebrities, and even dragged her into taking a photo together without her really understanding what was going on.
Qi Shuyao gave him a polite but awkward smile as she saw him off to other things. She then turned and pinched Bei Huaisi's arm, pulling him towards the door.
"I must have been out of my mind to agree to come out with you. Film set? This lousy place made me think you were going to sell me off."
"Alright, alright, my dear lady, let's go. Shall we go eat, or go somewhere else to play?"
She walked a few steps ahead and looked into the dilapidated old town from the edge of the alley. It was much more prosperous inside than it looked from here.
"Where is that? Is it a film set?"
Bei Huai looked in the direction she was pointing, identified the object, and then helped her answer the question.
"No, no one would dare to go in there to film. Do you know the Shu family when the Gu family was in power? They were called Prince Shu back then. That was the Shu family's courtyard, but it's abandoned now."
"Where are their family members?"
"They ran away. You can imagine that the Gu family is gone. They're not much better off. The Shu family only has one son, and he's a good-for-nothing who can't be helped. All he does is gamble and live a life of debauchery. He doesn't care about the family business or his career. His father abandoned him. All his friends became officials, and he was left behind. But it doesn't really matter. After Old Gu stepped down, they were all removed from their posts."
"Shall we go over and take a look?"
"What are you looking at, ancestor? It's extremely treacherous inside, and it's accumulated countless resentments. You can't go there."
"Hey, I've noticed you're quite superstitious. In the middle of the day, with the sun high in the sky, how can a ghost crawl out? If there is one, it's a ghost in your mind."
She shook off Bei Huai's hand and walked inside. He had no choice but to follow. After passing through a long ancient road and a sparse grove of trees, a rusty iron gate was revealed in its entirety before her.
The iron gate was so corroded that it crumbled at the slightest touch. They squeezed through the gaps and found a giant tree, so large that three people couldn't encircle it, uprooted and fallen inside the entrance. Its newly grown branches drooped naturally and had already taken deep root in the ground, forming a small grove.
"How many years has this place been abandoned? It looks like it's been bombed."
"It's been almost twenty years. Everyone says that the Shu family's antiques are more abundant than those in a museum. After the family members ran away, their property was confiscated, leaving the place in complete chaos."
How do you know this so well?
"Back then in Jingyang, this was a basic course, everyone knew it, it was no different from how people talk about Pei Yuzhou now, or even more so."
"You remember other people's things very well."
Continuing further in, the plants here have long since grown alongside the buildings, both dilapidated and breathtaking. It is a ruin, but also an extremely beautiful one, from which one can glimpse the former prosperity.
One porch leads to another, and from one side you can't see the other. Arches rise up, forming a giant manor. The marble walls are as black as if they've been smoked, but the new trees growing against them are a vibrant green. Unnamed saplings always sprout from strange cracks.
Passing through the woods and gardens, you arrive at the main building. A door and a window connect to a long corridor, which in turn connects to a narrow staircase leading to a higher door. There's one staircase here and another there; just one glance is enough to leave a lasting impression.
When she arrived, the wisteria was in full bloom. It was hard to imagine that it could bloom so well and so vigorously without anyone taking care of it. Clusters of small flowers growing downwards completely covered the second and third floors, and even higher up. When Qi Shuyao looked up, she couldn't help but imagine a scene.
The young lady, standing on the second or third floor, saw her beloved standing in the courtyard through the dense flowers. The flowers obscured her slightly flushed face, and the wind rustled the leaves and flowers, but his confession still reached her ears.
Just thinking about it made her feel so beautiful. She stood there lost in thought. After slowly pulling herself out of her reverie, she remembered that the Shu family only had one son, so she decisively left.
Turning to the back, a small window on the first floor wasn't closed properly, and you could see inside from the outside. It was probably a kitchen, with the kitchen utensils placed where they should be. After nearly twenty years of wind and rain, you could still see the printed patterns on the porcelain underneath through the thick dust and mud.
It's beautiful, even in its ruins, but it exudes a sense of decay, a decadent yet magnificent atmosphere. If music were to play here, it would be considered decadent. The air is filled with the smell of damp, rotting wood. The ancient scroll hanging in the main hall has yellowed and broken edges, and the peony carvings in the corner, once adorned with clusters of flowers, have faded. With a creak, the petals fall, revealing the rotten, worm-eaten roots beneath.
Perhaps long ago, it was already too weak to support the crumbling ruins here.
Bei Huaiyi muttered that this place was unlucky and wanted to leave quickly, but Qi Shuyao wandered around inside for a long time. The villa's gate had been pried open, but she didn't go in. She just stood downstairs looking up until it got dark.
Tonight, Jingyang was unusually starry, and a cool breeze was blowing. The sounds of leaves and flowers carried a special tone in the evening. Bei Huaiyi pulled her away directly, and they even tripped on the gravel when they ran out of the courtyard gate. Qi Shuyao steadied herself by holding onto the wall next to her. She looked back at the old house one last time, and then left, supporting herself with her hands.
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