His fingertips slid across the glowing screen, tapping out one message after another.
[Luo Qingchuan: Is everything okay?]
Ding.
[Su Yingsnow: Mm.]
[Luo Qingchuan: Where are you? I’ll come pick you up.]
Ding.
[Su Yingsnow: This time, you wait for me.]
He put his phone away and slipped it into his pocket, then walked into the courtyard in a slight daze.
The evening breeze was blowing.
Luo Qingchuan stepped out of the house and onto the empty long street.
There was nothing there.
He walked a few steps along the road, then spotted several drops of blood on the asphalt under the streetlight.
An ominous flame swept past and wiped the bloodstains away.
Luo Qingchuan returned to the front gate and looked up at the dark sky, rolling high above like a deep sea. Specks of brilliant stars shimmered, and a distant full moon hung alone at the edge of the heavens.
Su Yingsnow told me to wait for her...
Did she take a cab?
Luo Qingchuan remembered there really was a sports car worth millions parked in the villa garage. But he didn’t have a driver’s license.
He’d only bought it before for show. Otherwise, he’d have to fake a license and drive illegally.
That was kind of rough.
Ding.
Luo Qingchuan opened his phone and found that Chen Yanyu had sent him a whole pile of photos. A café, a plaza, a gift shop, and a new dessert store.
[Chen Yanyu: pic pic pic pic]
[Chen Yanyu: Luo Qingchuan, Luo Qingchuan, come look! I went to so many places this afternoon and took tons of pictures!]
[Chen Yanyu: The human world is really interesting!]
[Chen Yanyu: It’s gotten a little cold lately, so I wore a sweater. Does it look good?]
The snow-haired girl had taken a photo beside a plush doll. Chen Yanyu wore a black sleeveless turtleneck sweater and a light white jacket in a blazer-like style. With the sunglasses on, she gave off a bright, crisp, almost dashing air.
What a pity. Her crystalline, sacred golden eyes couldn’t be seen, nor those long, curling lashes. It was like dazzling diamonds hidden beneath a hazy veil.
As if waiting for the one she loved to lift it.
Chen Yanyu really seemed to like sharing her daily life.
[Luo Qingchuan: It looks good. More than that, it’s kind of cool.]
[Chen Yanyu: Wuwuwu really? Thank you!]
Luo Qingchuan pressed his lips together in a slight smile. He felt Chen Yanyu was really good at picking clothes.
When someone was that beautiful, everything looked good on her. No matter how she turned, she shone and stirred the heart.
Then Chen Yanyu started talking again, sending huge chunks of stories and little fun moments, as if she wanted to tell Luo Qingchuan everything she had seen and heard that afternoon.
At first, Luo Qingchuan thought her typing speed had improved.
Then he noticed a few typos and suddenly understood.
Chen Yanyu, on the other end of the phone, was probably using voice input.
The girl was chattering away while her phone’s smart system transcribed it into text.
What kind of expression did she have right now?
She must be smiling brightly, right?
It wasn’t often she got to come to the human world. He hoped she was having fun, Luo Qingchuan thought.
After a while—
[Chen Yanyu: Hah... I’m so tired. I’m gonna get some water.]
Luo Qingchuan smiled. He knew he’d guessed right, so he replied:
[Get some rest early.]
All of a sudden, Luo Qingchuan frowned slightly and lifted his head, as if sensing something.
Then—
The round moon and the night sky reflected in the boy’s eyes, and he froze without meaning to.
High above, a figure drew near from the distance.
A fairy descended from the heavens.
In the vast sky, a girl in a school uniform skirt was wrapped in soft moonlight. It was as if she had fallen from a violet-blue sea, as if she had stepped out from the distant moon itself, coming toward him.
“Luo... Qing... Chuan.”
Su Yingsnow’s eyes curved as she smiled. She opened both arms and threw herself into the boy’s embrace in the night.
Like a little fish swimming straight into the net.
She had flown here.
Luo Qingchuan caught the soft, fragrant girl, turned half a circle with her in his arms, and set her down.
Su Yingsnow stood prettily on the ground. “Bet you didn’t expect that, did you?”
“Mm.” Luo Qingchuan smiled a little. “Congratulations on reaching Foundation Establishment.”
Su Yingsnow really was worthy of being one of the fated heroines.
Luo Qingchuan noticed that her eyes were slightly red. Her quiet elegance made her look heartbreakingly fragile.
“It failed, huh.”
“Yeah.” She leaned against Luo Qingchuan’s shoulder and murmured, “We fought again.”
Luo Qingchuan lowered his head to look at her, his right hand brushing through her smooth black hair.
“So this counts as running away from home?”
“Mm.”
Su Yingsnow let out a soft sigh and said with graceful composure, “My dad was actually going to agree. Then my mom started smashing things again. My dad shut himself back in his room to smoke. So I... I got scared and ran out... Suddenly I understood Douzi’s feelings a little more.”
Luo Qingchuan pulled her into his arms. The autumn night wind was cold to the bone.
“Will it be okay?”
“I’ll go back next time.” Su Yingsnow suddenly smiled sweetly. “You know, I was walking down the road crying, and I felt cold all over. I just really wanted to see you.”
“Mm. And then?”
“I wanted to see you so badly, I started flying.”
Luo Qingchuan blanked for a moment.
“It scared me too.” Moist tears shimmered at the corners of Su Yingsnow’s eyes. She clutched his sleeve tightly and looked up at him with her small face raised. “Xiaochuanchuan, am I amazing?”
“Xiaoxue is number one in the world.”
Luo Qingchuan gently wiped away her tears.
Su Yingsnow stayed silent. Her bright eyes studied the boy, tracing every line of his face, her gaze touching his slightly furrowed brows.
“You’re unhappy?”
“A little bit.”
“Luo Qingchuan, I want to take you somewhere. It’ll definitely, definitely be fun.”
“Where?”
“Will you come with me?”
“Of course.”
“Then hold my hand.”
Their fingers interlocked.
“Don’t let go, no matter what. If you let go of my hand, it’ll be dangerous.”
“Okay.”
Luo Qingchuan’s body suddenly felt light, and gentle spiritual energy wrapped around him.
He thought he understood.
He saw the girl pull him one step forward. He saw Su Yingsnow glance back at him with a lovely smile. He saw the scenery around them sinking away...
Beneath the endless, sweeping starry sky, the naturally beautiful girl pulled him up into the air.
Like two snowflakes drifting upward against the heavens, graceful as a dream.
The higher they went, the colder the air became.
The same was true of the ground below.
The pale lights, the poured concrete, the hard walls, the towering buildings that always had to be looked up at—
They were all too cold.
So it felt like they were escaping a city forest with no end.
“Luo Qingchuan, sometimes I really want to run away. But I don’t know where to go. Nowhere feels like home, and nowhere feels like the right time.”
“The starry sky?”
“I’ve always thought the starry sky was beautiful. So beautiful it makes you want to dive into it.”
Her words drifted through the mist-like clouds.
“A starry sky with you in it is.”
Su Yingsnow held Luo Qingchuan’s hand. Invisible spiritual energy flowed from their joined fingers, shielding him from the cold wind.
“Look, the moon. It feels like if we go a little higher, we can touch it!”
Su Yingsnow stretched out her slender hand as if she wanted to reach it. Her clear face was full of peaceful happiness. Her long hair streamed in the wind, and her bright eyes brimmed with feeling.
Weightlessness, the sense of hanging in midair, heights too great—
Those things should make people afraid.
But Luo Qingchuan couldn’t help smiling. Not only was he unafraid, even that faint pressure from earlier had completely vanished.
Su Yingsnow stopped reaching for the moon.
There in the high sky, she turned and wrapped her arms around Luo Qingchuan. The girl offered him her warm lips, her small tongue slipping out lightly.
The pure moonlight shimmered like ripples on water.
Dancing with a clear shadow beneath the moon—
how could this compare to the human world?
...
