Ru Feng recognized him—Ning Yuan, and the sweater she had knitted. Her voice softened, “The person I like is someone like him. Look carefully.”
Then she quickly turned and left, a tear sliding down her cheek.
Encounter
Meeting the person you love most on such a beautiful dusk warrants gratitude to the heavens. Yet, Ru Feng could only lament that when the heavens wish to torment someone, they are relentless.
After leaving Qiu Chi, she walked with her head down, not expecting to encounter Ning Yuan after turning two corners. Was this fate or karma?
He stood under an old pagoda tree, hands in his pockets, watching the occasional falling flowers. Ru Feng hesitated but found herself walking toward him, yearning to get close despite knowing she could no longer love.
Just before reaching him, Ru Feng stopped, her hands stiff from gripping too tightly, grateful to maintain a safe distance where she could almost touch him.
Ning Yuan turned around, his clear eyes misty with deep-seated desolation. A grip tightened around Ru Feng’s heart, and it hurt.
“Brother Ning Yuan, can you tell me why you, who have the love you desired, look so lonely?”
Where was the Ning Yuan who smiled like sunshine, who could intoxicate people with his warmth? His gaze blurred as he looked at the woman before him, who gently placed her hand on her heart.
She liked to do this when laughing or feeling sad; it was her habitual gesture. She mentioned that when emotions were too intense, the heart’s burden felt heavy, so she needed to support it with her hand.
A faint smile appeared at the corner of her mouth. She was a quirky woman, always saying unexpected things that made people laugh.
He asked, “Are you afraid the heart’s burden is too heavy?”
Ru Feng was stunned, looking at her habitual action. She had forgotten that she was Qiu Ru Feng now, no longer the fragile person of her past, no longer so weak that she couldn’t bear emotional fluctuations.
Lowering her hand, she shook her head, “No, just a wrinkle in my clothes that I’m smoothing out.”
Ning Yuan withdrew his gaze and continued to look up. How could there be another woman like her? She was unique and irreplaceable.
