Chapter 4 Auntie’s Full Moon Banquet
“Auntie, I’m getting engaged next week.”
Ji Chuan—who never saw that message—was at his friend’s baby full-moon banquet.
He knew I would be there today too.
We hadn’t seen each other in three years.
He glanced past my name carelessly and pulled out a chair to sit.
Someone at the table brought it up.
“Song Zhong Zheng is getting engaged, you guys heard?”
“No way, he was single so long even media suspected his orientation—how’d he suddenly get hitched?”
“Blind date.”
Ji Chuan’s brow lifted slightly at the word.
He was a little sensitive to it today.
Someone asked, “What’s his fiancée like?”
“A bit like Lin Xia Yi.”
Ji Chuan’s gaze moved from the doorway to the speaker.
“So he likes that type,” the person teased, then asked Ji Chuan, “Didn’t you think of introducing Lin Xia Yi to him back then?”
Ji Chuan kept the indifferent face.
But cold wind blew in from the half-open window, messing his bangs and darkening his eyes a shade.
“I did introduce them,” Ji Chuan said. “She wasn’t interested.”
Song Zhong Zheng had that sharp, restless edge—completely different from Ji Chuan.
“In freshman year I kindly arranged for someone to send her home, created an opportunity.”
Ji Chuan spoke lightly.
“She even complained to me that Zhong Zheng was too fierce.”
Then his friend came over.
One of the few who knew about me and Ji Chuan.
He gave Ji Chuan an amused look and asked,
“Ever heard of ‘the darkness under the lamp’?”
Ji Chuan looked puzzled.
His friend didn’t explain, just narrowed his eyes and smiled at the gossipers.
“They say it was a blind date, but actually Zhong Zheng had a crush on her for years.”
“Too bad the girl was dead set on someone else. Finally got her chance to make a move.”
Everyone was shocked.
“No way. With his conditions he still steals someone’s wall?”
“Whose wall?”
His friend didn’t answer, just patted Ji Chuan’s shoulder.
“Did Zhong Zheng invite you to the engagement?”
“No.”
“Shouldn’t be. You two are so close.”
His friend’s smile deepened. “Want to see a photo of his fiancée?”
He pulled out his phone and shoved it toward Ji Chuan.
Ji Chuan lowered his head to look.
Someone shouted from the side.
“Lin Xia Yi, you’re here!”
His gaze snapped to me at the door.
I walked in wearing a beige knit dress.
His friend put the phone away with a meaningful look and said to Ji Chuan,
“Pretty, right?”
“Didn’t notice back in school how good Lin Xia Yi’s figure is.”
Ji Chuan’s calm eyes fixed on me.
Then looked away.
He knew.
The first snowy night we were together I wore a similar dress.
I stick to styles I like for a long time.
I’m long-loving toward everything.
But people aren’t like clothes.
I pulled out a chair and sat.
The familiar scent came close.
Ji Chuan didn’t speak to me. Didn’t even touch me once.
He was popular.
People toasted him round after round.
“When are you two getting married?”
A drunk classmate slung an arm around Ji Chuan’s shoulder and pointed at me and him.
“What nonsense?” Someone pulled the guy away.
“Oh, it’s Lin Xia Yi.”
“I thought it was Chuan-ge’s girlfriend.”
“You two wearing black and white—I thought this was your wedding.”
Ji Chuan gave a small smile, played it off charmingly.
He raised his glass and finished the drink in one go.
It was the first time he smiled tonight.