If life has many moments, a shooting star should be a moment everyone wants to grasp.
The instant Xu Zhi turned her head, behind her in the vast, pitch-black night sky, meteors like fiery rocket arrows once again carried people’s wishes as they burst through the void, suddenly streaking past behind her.
…
Chen Luzhou took several shots, capturing almost every frame. He lowered his head and slowly checked. Flipping through the connected photos was like watching an animation—the meteor and the moment she turned her head played over and over in his hands with ease. Xu Zhi had her hair in a high ponytail, her bangs looking especially messy under the starry sky. The most direct photo was a bit blurry, but it had a mysteriously lazy, hazy atmosphere that didn’t need any artificial blurring.
Behind her was a sky full of twinkling stars. Under the starry sky, the young girl had a bewildered look, but her eyes held a rare gentleness.
She was quite photogenic. Xu Zhi’s features and contours were soft and clean, except for those sharp and clear eyes. Her appearance was truly non-aggressive; at first glance, she looked like a gentle and obedient girl next door. No wonder Zhu Yangqi always called her “little sister.”
But she was cooler than the average “little sister.” She rarely smiled or got angry. She couldn’t even tell if he was being mean to her. Most of the time, she seemed to have no emotions at all.
Chen Luzhou had never met someone so indifferent.
Compared to the Pegasus meteor shower, this one was small. After a few scattered meteors, no one waited anymore. Fortunately, the weather was good today, and everyone could leave satisfied. The starry sky returned to its usual quiet brilliance. Mingling Mountain fell completely silent again. Birds stood lonely on the treetops, and the rustle of leaves could be heard clearly in their ears.
Perhaps because tonight’s starry sky was also rare, they weren’t in a hurry to leave. Cai Yingying, like Xu Zhi, was tinkering around, wanting to grill some fish here.
“You were taking photos of me just now?” Xu Zhi realized belatedly.
Chen Luzhou was now using a tripod, planning to take a panorama of the night sky. He gave a low “Mm” and said, “The angle was better on your side.”
“Then send me the photos. I want to post them on WeChat Moments,” Xu Zhi said.
Chen Luzhou’s long fingers held the camera as he turned the focus ring to infinity. He lowered his head and asked somewhat provocatively, “You post on WeChat Moments?”
Xu Zhi looked at the starry sky in his lens. He had a knack for finding angles. She glanced at him strangely, wondering why he said that: “Why wouldn’t I?”
Because I looked.
Before Chen Luzhou could respond, Xu Zhi seemed to realize something. “Oh, you looked at my WeChat Moments.”
“Just casually. No particular reason.”
“I know,” Xu Zhi picked up the lens cap from the ground, which she had knocked off earlier. “I set my WeChat Moments to different groups. You probably can’t see them.”
Chen Luzhou: “…”
No wonder. An eighteen or nineteen-year-old girl seemed so detached from worldly desires.
Xu Zhi took out her phone and said sincerely, “How about I add you to the group now? Then you can send me the photos? I’ll credit you as the photographer.”
Chen Luzhou, who never set his WeChat Moments to different groups, couldn’t understand why people who weren’t players would set their Moments to different groups these days. He suspected she had set up a “fish pond” group, but he had no evidence, so he just felt disdainful.
“If you want to add me, just do it. Why ask me?” Chen Luzhou had been adjusting the focus for a while without success and decided to switch to a longer lens. He skillfully removed the lens and reached out to her, his tone unfriendly, “Give me the lens cap.”
Xu Zhi said “Oh,” crouched down, and obediently handed it over.
Cai Yingying had just excitedly returned after cleaning the grill, ready to barbecue fish. Hearing their conversation, she glared at Chen Luzhou disapprovingly, “Why are you being mean to her again?”
Chen Luzhou took out a long lens from his bag, removed its cap, and ignored Cai Yingying. As he expertly screwed it on, he glanced at Xu Zhi with feigned kindness, “Was I mean to you?”
Xu Zhi nodded understandingly, “Yes, you were a bit mean just now. Is it because of the lens cap? Give me the model number, I’ll buy you a new one.”
Chen Luzhou: “…”
Even Zhu Yangqi, who was passing by them, couldn’t help but sigh heavily and pat Chen Luzhou’s shoulder. Brother, this isn’t just a long and difficult road; this is a wall.
After Cai Yingying cleaned the barbecue grill, she realized there were no fish left in the spring. Uncle Fu used to bring them here for barbecues often. The spring wasn’t deep; if you stepped in, it would probably only reach your knees. Now, some heartless person had thrown a coin in, and it had turned into a pool full of coins. Cai Yingying wasn’t ready to give up. She had spent so much time cleaning the grill; that they had to grill something.
“I’ll go pick some mushrooms,” Cai Yingying said.
Zhu Yangqi: “Do you even know how to identify mushrooms? And are the mushrooms in this mountain poisonous or not?”
“Xu Zhi and I have been picking mushrooms with Uncle Fu in the mountains since we were kids. How could we not know which ones are poisonous? If you’re afraid to eat them, then don’t. Otherwise, I’ve cleaned this grill for nothing.” With that, she walked towards the bushes.
Zhu Yangqi looked at Chen Luzhou, quite sensibly, “I’ll see if there are any pheasants or something.”
Only the two of them were left in the clearing. Xu Zhi thought she should go pick mushrooms too and had just stood up when Chen Luzhou called out to her casually, “Come here, I’ll show you something.”
“What is it?”
“A little shooting star I just caught.”
Xu Zhi curiously came closer, “There was another one just now?”
“Mm, just caught it.” Xu Zhi looked at the time, “Didn’t the meteor shower end? There’s a straggler.”
Chen Luzhou didn’t have time to start recording. When he was photographing the night sky, it suddenly appeared above her head, so he could only capture a few shots with the camera. He took the camera off the tripod and flipped through the photos for her.
His fingers quickly pressed a few times. Same angle and, the same background, the only difference was the angle of the meteor. Flipping through several times, the little shooting star was no different from a video, vividly appearing before her eyes, slowly streaking across the pitch-black night sky.
“This feels even more real than seeing it with my own eyes,” Xu Zhi honestly expressed her feelings.
Do you understand feelings?
“Mm, well, look who took it.” Compared to videos, Chen Luzhou preferred this kind of dynamic feeling in photos, because the atmosphere is hard to capture on video.
Over on Cai Yingying’s side, who knows what they were doing, but from far away you could hear them shouting and calling out from the bushes, seemingly having a great time. Xu Zhi glanced back but didn’t pay much attention, continuing to chat casually with Chen Luzhou, “You seem to really like photographing the night sky?”
Chen Luzhou was putting away his lens, lazily zipping up his backpack, and replied, “It’s alright. I prefer photographing people.”
Chen Luzhou saw her tilting her head, seemingly seriously pondering what kind of people he liked to photograph. Afraid she might misunderstand, and knowing how direct she could be, he immediately explained, “I photograph men, women, old people, children, African Americans, everyone. Don’t get any weird ideas.”
Xu Zhi made an “Ah” sound, “I wasn’t thinking anything weird. I was wondering if you might study photography when you go abroad.”
“Why are you so keen on knowing what I’m going to study?”
“Just curious,” Xu Zhi said. “It feels like you know a lot of things, but I don’t know what you like.”
Chen Luzhou packed up his things, took out a bottle of sparkling water from his bag and handed it to her, then sat down beside her. The two sat side by side on the picnic blanket.
Xu Zhi hugged her knees, while he sprawled out with his legs stretched, hands supporting him from behind, leaning back slightly. He looked at her for a while in the dim moonlight. Xu Zhi rested her head on her knees and looked at him seriously too, apparently genuinely curious. He said with some resignation, “I’ll tell you in the future. Sometimes people don’t necessarily do what they like. Do you want to study architecture because you like it?” Xu Zhi nodded.
Chen Luzhou looked at her: “Then go study it, regardless of what your relatives say.”
Xu Zhi turned her head back, looking at the spring in front of them. The shallow ripples seemed to match her current state of mind. “But my dad doesn’t seem to support it much either. He thinks it’s too tiring for a girl to study architecture. My mom studied architecture, and sometimes she had to go to construction sites. I quite like going to construction sites. Seeing your designs turn from blueprints into reality gives you a sense of achievement, doesn’t it?”
“Are you planning to stay in this city because of your dad?” Chen Luzhou could somewhat sense that Xu Zhi was very dependent on her father.
Xu Zhi didn’t know why, but she hadn’t talked about these things even with Tan Xu, yet tonight she could speak frankly with Chen Luzhou. “Partly, yes. I’m an only child, and our relatives are quite annoying. My dad is the type who doesn’t know how to refuse. He previously acted as a guarantor for some relatives, and after they died, all their debts fell on him to repay. He still likes to act rich in front of us, but he’s socially anxious and can’t win arguments with others. He doesn’t even dare to post online. Plus, if I went to school out of town, various expenses would probably be much higher than staying local. So after my mom passed away, I gave up on that idea. But what you said the other day had quite an impact on me. I’m wondering if I should choose a better school.”
“I was just suggesting,” Chen Luzhou lazily stretched his legs and said, “The specific choice is yours. It’s like today, you were waiting for the starry sky, while I was waiting for the autumn wind. Some people might persistently wait for flowers to bloom in the desert. Everyone has their own choices, their scenery.”
Xu Zhi: “Is it always scenery?”
Chen Luzhou leaned back on his hands, his whole body half-reclining, and lowered his head with a smile, “What are you doubting? Our future is our scenery. No one else’s opinion matters, only our own.”
Xu Zhi looked at the spring in front of her. The shallow ripples seemed to be getting stronger, making her dizzy. She could only shift her gaze, plucking a blade of foxtail grass. “Did you know you can use foxtail grass to catch crabs?”
“I didn’t know, and I don’t want to know,” Chen Luzhou had no interest in this topic. “But, going back to what we were saying earlier, from your father’s perspective, he probably doesn’t want you to choose Qing University because of him.”
“That’s why I’m thinking of working part-time to earn some money first,” Xu Zhi said, swinging the foxtail grass. “To be honest, I think your chat companion project isn’t very proper. Have you considered other projects? Like selling fish with me on the street corner.”
“Are you trying to raise startup funds from me?”
“We have no choice. We don’t have a rich younger brother to easily earn our first bucket of gold,” Xu Zhi joked, which was rare for her.
“It’s not the same. Having a rich younger brother isn’t enough,” Chen Luzhou added, “You need a rich and foolish younger brother. Alright, let’s settle the bill.”
Xu Zhi was taken aback, the foxtail grass now somehow between her teeth. She asked, confused, “What bill?”
Chen Luzhou carelessly pulled back one hand from behind, pretending to seriously look at his watch, and joked, “For the chat, you know, the one you thought wasn’t very proper. Fifty per minute, we must have chatted for at least ten minutes, right? Friend’s price, half off, two hundred and fifty?”
Xu Zhi caught on, “You’re the two hundred and fifty!”
The mountain breeze blew gently, their slanted shadows falling on the serene spring water. The ripples seemed like an impenetrable south wall, swaying gently in the wind. The bright moon was open, the clear breeze was open, and the youth was open too.
Chen Luzhou couldn’t help but laugh, his shoulders shaking. One hand still supporting him from behind, he leaned forward and pulled the foxtail grass from her mouth, “Isn’t that dirty? Don’t put everything in your mouth.”
Xu Zhi: “I used to eat it when I was little.”
“What, is eating grass something to be proud of?” He glanced at her sideways, “Should I pull a few blades for your breakfast? That patch over there, that patch is good. Zhu Yangqi just peed there.”
Xu Zhi: “…”
Even as they got into the car, Xu Zhi still felt nauseous, her face pale.
Zhu Yangqi, looking at her through the rearview mirror, felt an inexplicable chill seeing her expression. “What’s wrong with Sister Xu Zhi? Why does she look so unhappy?”
Cai Yingying, unusually, said to Chen Luzhou, “You’re amazing! You managed to make her angry!”
Xu Zhi hadn’t been angry for many years, not since her mother passed away. She had been indifferent ever since.
Xu Zhi ignored them both, her gaze unusually resentful as she looked at Chen Luzhou, “Drive slower, I might throw up.”
Chen Luzhou had been driving silently, not engaging in conversation, making Cai Yingying wonder if they had argued earlier. They were acting like a couple, and the atmosphere became increasingly strange.
Chen Luzhou felt that for the first time, his joke had gone too far. His usually lazy, indifferent voice now carried a hint of hard-to-describe gentleness: “Sorry.”
Zhu Yangqi pricked up his ears to listen. Look at you, finally saying something human.
“Should I make Zhu Yangqi get out?” he added.
Zhu Yangqi: ???
Zhu Yangqi: “…”