Saturday morning, as Sang Ru came downstairs, she saw Zhou Tingzhao already waiting at the entrance of the hallway.

It was rare for Zhou Tingzhao to take the initiative to message her. Last night was the first time he’d proactively sent her a message, asking if she wanted him to pick her up so they could go to the library together.

Her efforts to pursue the handsome boy seemed to be bearing fruit. Sang Ru happily agreed.

They arrived a bit early today. After waiting for a few minutes, Lan Ting also arrived at the entrance with a pretty girl following behind him.

Sang Ru found her face familiar. Seeing how the girl kept smiling at Zhou Tingzhao, she finally remembered that this was the same girl who had stopped Zhou Tingzhao to ask for his name that day.

The four of them stood face to face, exchanging somewhat awkward greetings, then stared at each other for a while.

The girl examined their outfits, then stammered, “You two…”

Sang Ru looked at Zhou Tingzhao, then lowered her head to look at herself.

White shirt, jeans, white casual shoes—their coincidentally similar outfits could easily be mistaken for a couple’s matching clothes.

Her gaze met Zhou Tingzhao’s, and Sang Ru’s lips curved into a smile as she told the girl, “Just a coincidence.”

“That’s good,” Zeng Anyu looked as if she had breathed a sigh of relief, “Let’s go in then.”

As she spoke, she naturally walked to Zhou Tingzhao’s side. Sang Ru, appearing unbothered, automatically fell behind to walk side by side with Lan Ting.

“Zhou Tingzhao, we meet again!”

“Hello.” Zhou Tingzhao responded politely, then looked back to find the person who had just been beside him. Seeing the two chatting happily with bright smiles, he lowered his eyes and turned back to continue walking forward.

Sang Ru caught his movement from the corner of her eye but casually responded with a smile to what Lan Ting had just said.

The four found a table and sat down in pairs facing each other. Sang Ru and Lan Ting on one side, with Zhou Tingzhao directly across from her.

As they sat down, their eyes met. In the same place, sitting across from each other, they almost simultaneously recalled the circumstances of their last study session alone together. Sang Ru tilted her head, looking at him, while Zhou Tingzhao lowered his gaze to his test papers, appearing completely composed.

They hadn’t been studying quietly for long when Zeng Anyu began frequently attempting to ask Zhou Tingzhao questions. He tried to write all his answers on paper, occasionally exchanging a few verbal communications, but this inevitably created some mild disturbance.

Sang Ru found it irritating to listen to. A white piece of paper appeared before her.

It was from Lan Ting, who had written: “The library doesn’t seem suitable for discussion. Let’s study a bit more, then go to KFC. It will be about lunchtime by then anyway.”

Sang Ru nodded, and only then did Lan Ting turn the paper around for the others to see.

Zhou Tingzhao had certainly noticed.

Writing it first to show her, his intentions were written all over his face.

After a while, as they were about to leave, Sang Ru gestured that she needed to use the restroom first.

The three packed up their things while waiting for her. Just as Zeng Anyu leaned over to say something, Zhou Tingzhao’s phone vibrated twice in his pocket.

Opening it, he saw her avatar flashing. Zhou Tingzhao turned aside to open the message.

【Zai Zai の: Section I, 201-499】

A bookshelf location. He didn’t understand why, but something seemed to burrow into his heart along with this message, creating a restlessness that wouldn’t be calmed.

“I’m going to borrow a book,” he said.

Zeng Anyu immediately responded, “I’ll go too!”

“No need, just wait a moment.”

His tone was serious, and Zeng Anyu unconsciously sat back down.

Section I, the literature section.

Zhou Tingzhao didn’t think Sang Ru wanted to show him a great book, nor did he want to ask.

If she called him over, he would simply go.

When he found the corresponding bookshelf, she was holding a book and reading. Light streamed in from outside, half-illuminating her back. In this half-light, half-shadow, she seemed to perfectly match that restless something in his heart.

Zhou Tingzhao was momentarily stunned, but as she raised her head and looked at him from a few meters away, he involuntarily stepped toward her.

“I found a book I like,” she said.

“What is it?”

The distance was shortened to half a meter.

“‘Selected Poems of Borges,'” Sang Ru partially closed the book to show him the cover. “Do you remember what you owe me?”

Zhou Tingzhao paused slightly, then said, “A love poem?”

“Mm,” seeing that he remembered, Sang Ru was pleased, “isn’t it time to pay up?”

“Okay.” His agreement came promptly.

“Aren’t you going to ask what I want you to read?”

He had agreed so quickly, almost without thinking. The debtor seemed too eager. Zhou Tingzhao paused for two seconds, then asked, “What should I read?”

Sang Ru laughed softly, opening to the page she had just been reading, and handed it to him: “This one.”

Zhou Tingzhao glanced at it and slowly recited: “What can I hold you with?”

Sang Ru gave an affirmative hum, but Zhou Tingzhao suddenly closed the book.

“Can I recite another translation for you?”

“You know it by heart?”

Zhou Tingzhao: “I’ve read it before, so I remember it.”

Sang Ru: “…Go ahead.”

He gave her a deep look, and when he spoke again, it was as if he had laid out all his feelings.

“I offer you lean streets, desperate sunsets…”

He recited very slowly, keeping his voice low to avoid disturbing others. Sang Ru gradually reduced their half-meter distance to just inches, softly suggesting: “You should look into my eyes.”

Zhou Tingzhao paused, his Adam’s apple instinctively bobbing, then continued: “The moon of the ragged suburbs…”

He said this, but didn’t think it.

There was no moon in the desolate suburbs, nor the sky. Where was the moon hiding?

Zhou Tingzhao looked into the eyes of the person before him, as if he had found the moon’s dwelling place.

Sang Ru sank into his voice, also sinking into his gaze. She moved a step closer to him, then another step.

She secretly hooked her finger with his, lifted her head, and the distance between them was now mere millimeters.

As if testing him: “What’s the last paragraph?”

Zhou Tingzhao’s deep voice mixed with something else, sounding slightly hoarse as he began.

“I offer you my solitude…”

Sang Ru lightly stroked his finger with hers.

“My darkness…”

She raised her right hand and brushed along the line of his neck.

“The hunger of my heart…”

His voice struggled to suppress something that Sang Ru could hear. Hearing it made her happy, and she placed her hand on his cheek.

“There’s one more line,” she said.

“I’m trying to bribe you with uncertainty, with danger, with defeat…”

As he recited this, Zhou Tingzhao suddenly froze in place.

The word “you” wasn’t fully pronounced before she captured it between her lips. The poem he had unintentionally memorized remained incomplete in his recitation.

This kiss came unexpectedly, and the restless thing in his chest finally shattered in an instant.

On an ordinary day before noon, his moon rose for him.