SM Chapter 66

Chapter 66: Moon Letter, Red Thread

Even though it was the Little New Year, with the Lunar New Year approaching, the winter night was still filled with biting cold winds. The air moved slowly, the chill so intense that the night seemed to deepen. The moon in the sky was not full, the silent planets gazing at each other from afar, yet they emanated a gentle light.

Much like the person beside her.

Gentle, pervading her entire being.

Their arms intertwined, Zhu Shihao lowered her eyes, looking at their clasped hands. “Tan Zhi Xu, why did you say those things to Mom and Aunt Ting?”

She asked this, but in truth, she knew the answer.

She continued murmuring, her voice very soft, so soft it seemed to dissipate with the night wind the moment it left her lips.

“You don’t have to be like this.”

Tan Zhi Xu didn’t look at her, leading her towards the brightly lit house.

“Don’t have to be what?” he asked casually, seemingly unconcerned. “Aside from the part where I omitted that you tried to make a move on me but ended up being seduced by me, the rest is pretty much the truth, isn’t it?”

It was true that he had many concerns as her friend that he couldn’t voice. It was also true that he couldn’t help but blurt out his feelings when she went on blind dates, and it was even more true that he liked her very much and loved her deeply.

Every single thing was true.

Since that was the case, what was wrong with saying it?

After a long silence, Zhu Shihao finally reacted. “You’re twisting my words. You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Tan Zhi Xu, you don’t have to take everything on yourself. You don’t have to say that you were the one who pursued me.”

Opening the door, Tan Zhi Xu led her inside, and only when he turned around to close it did he lower his eyes to look at her, chuckling softly.

“Are you subtly accusing me of not pursuing you?”

She couldn’t help but glare at him, her emotions completely ruined.

Zhu Shihao changed her shoes. “Is that what I meant!”

“But I think everything’s fine except for the fact that I indeed didn’t go through the process of pursuing you. I regret that too, but having you is more important.”

Therefore, regret was regret, but he didn’t regret being pushed by his emotions to explode and say what he couldn’t before.

His gaze was very sincere, looking directly at her, as if confirming that he truly felt that way.

“But I couldn’t wait any longer, Shihao. It took us so many years to say it out loud, I don’t want to waste any more time.”

He couldn’t wait to be with her, to be able to embrace and kiss her without restraint in front of everyone in the world, with justification and legitimacy.

“Who pursues whom isn’t important. What’s important is that we both feel the same way, that we’re together now.”

As he said these words, Tan Zhi Xu didn’t have much emotional fluctuation, just like how he had been for the past twenty years.

He wasn’t particularly aloof, he was just casual and indifferent towards most things. If he didn’t say something out loud, he wouldn’t think about it too much in his heart.

But Zhu Shihao had always been the exception to this “most things.”

She had received too many special treatments from Tan Zhi Xu, and she could easily discern his emotions.

“Zhi Xu, Zhi Xu.”

Not knowing what to say or how to say it, she could only call out his name a couple of times in a somewhat foolish manner.

Tan Zhi Xu touched her face, his voice softening with a hint of coaxing.

“I’m making it easier for us to get married, Shihao. Just think of it as helping me out.”

Clearly, she was the one benefiting, yet he said to help him.

Zhu Shihao softly said, “Okay,” wrapping her arms around his neck, pressing her cheek against his. “I want to too.”

In the past three months, she had thought about marriage more than she had in her entire life. The only thing that could compare to such frequency was that never-ending love letter from her youth.

But back then, it was just a fantasy. Now, no matter how much she thought about it, it couldn’t be more appropriate.

She heard his deep chuckle near her ear, the vibration of his throat seeming to transmit from her pressed ear, causing her soul to tremble slightly.

Zhu Shihao only felt her body lighten as she was lifted off the ground. The sensation of leaving the ground made her instinctively hold onto him, his large hands cupping her bottom. Almost reflexively, she raised her legs and wrapped them around him.

Tan Zhi Xu used a posture akin to carrying a child, lifting her up face-to-face to go upstairs.

“Just leave it to me, you just need to be happy.”

Perhaps it was because they were so unexpectedly declared in public tonight, they were joyful. No one didn’t want to declare their love in front of relatives and friends. Tan Zhi Xu was particularly excited. The close contact of their bodies, lightly damp with sweat, was filled with affection.

His eyes were deep, filled with love and desire, pressing heavily in his eyes, and Zhu Shihao fluctuated with the waves, like a flower branch swaying non-stop after being washed by the spring water.

“Look at me, Shihao.”

Her brain had already stopped turning, and when she heard his words, she looked at him.

Actually, she seemed to be looking at him all along, but her slightly unfocused gaze moved up and down, and now she focused to look at him.

Their eyes met, just like the two of them.

“Shihao, who do you love?”

This was probably a legacy of their “unconventional” beginning, he often asked this question at this time.

Having answered countless times, Zhu Shihao never showed impatience or perfunctoriness, even during their previously forbidden relationship as friends.

Or rather, at that time, she was grateful that there was still such an opportunity to tell him openly.

“I love you, I love Zhi Xu.”

Now, she could finally say the words that she had self-deceptively forgotten in the past, saying them to the sole recipient of her love for so many years.

He lowered his head, and their lips and tongues intertwined, then he continued downwards, nibbling on the small mole on her chest. Fragrant flowers were attracting him, moist and crystal clear, indescribably beautiful.

After several rounds of passion, both the air and the people became damp.

By the time Tan Zhi Xu finished cleaning up and came out of the bathroom, Zhu Shihao, curled up in his arms, still seemed to smell that decadent scent.

It might have been real, or it might have been psychological.

Holding her in his arms, Tan Zhi Xu rubbed his chin against her forehead.

The large hand gently patting her back made her feel sleepy quickly. In a daze, Zhu Shihao felt a soft touch on her forehead.

“If I had known you wouldn’t be scared away, Shihao, I would have definitely pursued you properly.”

Her eyelashes trembled twice, overcome with sleepiness, she still couldn’t lift her eyelids, and softly responded. In the end, she didn’t know if he had heard.

Tan Zhi Xu paused slightly, his lips rising, and then kissed her again, embracing her and closing his eyes.

A good night’s sleep.

It was already Sunday night, almost ten o’clock, when Zhu Suiyi called.

“Huh? You answered so quickly? I was afraid this time wouldn’t be convenient.”

That tone sounded sneaky.

Zhu Shihao lay on the bed, glancing at the bathroom, feeling somewhat guilty. “Cut the crap.”

Zhu Suiyi was also sitting on the bed, glancing at Jia Jia on the children’s spliced bed, reaching out to smooth the hair on her forehead, and touching the back of her neck. “Where are you? Still at Huating?”

Hesitating for a couple of seconds, Zhu Shihao honestly said, “At Shen Yi.”

She lowered the zipper of Jia Jia’s sleeping bag a little, with the blanket covering her stomach and exposing her limbs.

Zhu Suiyi hummed. “Speaking of which, every time I went to Ruili to find you before, you were with Zhi Xu, right? I thought so, every trash can was empty.”

The more she thought about it that day, the more evidence she found.

Zhu Shihao wrinkled her nose, not wanting to admit it, so she took the water glass on the bedside table and drank water, but her attitude of not denying or refuting was very obvious.

Speaking of which, something flashed through her mind, and this time, Zhu Suiyi grabbed it.

Her movements paused, she widened her eyes, and said in disbelief, “Zhu Shihao, be honest, it wasn’t about being seen with the password, was it? You were afraid of being caught in bed by us, weren’t you!”

After being sisters for twenty or thirty years, who didn’t understand whom?

Zhu Suiyi discovered the truth from this reaction, and then, with a flash of inspiration, she applied it to other things.

“So, who exactly is that 003?”

She now deeply suspected that it wasn’t their mother, Ms. Liu Ruoyin.

After the cough, there was silence.

“Okay, I understand.” Zhu Suiyi rolled her eyes, her tone sarcastic. “Okay, okay, Zhu Shihao, you’re really awesome.”

But a bright mind would find a second key point after discovering one.

Zhu Shihao’s silence didn’t stop her train of thought from unfolding. Zhu Suiyi remembered something, and exclaimed “Huh.”

“Wait, that’s still not right. Be honest, how long have you guys been together? I remember you changing the password was a long time ago, right?”

Zhu Shihao: “…”

Continued silence.

Both sides of the phone were silent, maintaining this state for a full ten seconds. Zhu Suiyi almost laughed out of anger. “Fine, fine, fine, Zhu Shihao, you’re something else!”

Zhu Shihao felt that she had to say something. She thought for a second. “So-so?”

Even though she knew she couldn’t see it, Zhu Suiyi raised her thumb and said “Amazing” three times in a row.

“Okay, let’s skip the time issue. I can understand not telling the family in the early stages of a relationship, although your situation isn’t quite the same as ordinary couples, but I’ll Strong persuade myself.”

Zhu Suiyi paused for two or three seconds, and when she spoke again, her voice was noticeably more serious.

“Shihao, what exactly is going on with you and Zhi Xu? It’s not as simple as he said, is it?”

Yesterday, after discovering that she had been fooled, Zhu Suiyi watched her parents questioning them with great interest, and therefore didn’t miss the small actions they made at that moment.

No matter how unreliable she usually was, Zhu Suiyi was essentially a reliable person. Throughout, the two sisters had had a very good relationship, and her understanding of her younger sister was even higher than their parents’.

The little thoughts that were once difficult to tell adults were all secrets they whispered under the covers.

“Difficult to say? Or don’t want to say?” Her intention wasn’t to make things difficult for or force Zhu Shihao.

The bathroom door was still tightly closed. Although it shouldn’t have been locked, with such a door between them, thinking of Tan Zhi Xu taking a shower, and hearing the sound of water in her ears, she suddenly felt a sense of security that allowed her to speak.

“Suiyi, Zhi Xu wasn’t wrong when he said he liked and loved me for a long time.”

Zhu Shihao had never doubted Tan Zhi Xu’s words, nor had she doubted that Tan Zhi Xu loved her less than he said.

Knowing that he couldn’t hear her, she subconsciously lowered her voice.

“But, I liked him and loved him for even longer, from very, very early on.”

That love letter that was never sent already contained her youthful innocence and first heartbeats.

From the moment she knew the meaning of love, from the moment she fantasized about her future partner, she had never thought of anyone other than Tan Zhi Xu.

Ever since Tan Zhi Xu’s face clearly appeared in her mind, Zhu Shihao had thought a lot, even finishing thinking about their whole lives.

Confessing to him, getting together, they would get married, and they would have an even more intimate rest of their lives together.

But everything ended in that conversation on the radio.

Silence came to Zhu Suiyi’s side. At this moment, she was just a sister, inevitably thinking more.

So she asked, “How early is early?”

After hesitating for a moment, she still asked, “Shihao, was it that love letter?”

At this moment, Zhu Shihao was also thinking about that love letter. She was silent for a couple of seconds, and softly replied.

“Suiyi, don’t tell them, they don’t know yet.”

Zhu Suiyi remembered the love letter incident very clearly.

That was almost the only thing that her younger sister, who had a quiet and steady personality since she was a child, had done in the so-called rebellious period.

Even if the consequences of that love letter were just two hours of lectures and guidance on “the student’s duty and youthful feelings,” it was rare enough to have happened to Zhu Shihao.

Zhu Suiyi was concerned about something else. “Does Zhi Xu know either?”

Zhu Shihao nodded. “No, only you and I know now. Maybe Mom will figure it out later.”

She said it easily, her voice still gentle, but it suddenly made Zhu Suiyi feel sad, and the churning sourness in her heart was all for her sister.

“But Shihao, the person who reported you with the love letter back then–”

Her throat became dry, and the words were slightly difficult to say.

“Was Zhi Xu.”