9 She was destined never to know happiness. Or perhaps, she simply didn't care for such things.
Happiness was nothing more than a fleeting bubble, drifting in the air, iridescent and fragile, shattering at the slightest touch. *Yin Xiamo originally intended to go straight from the hospital to the wedding venue, but Yin Cheng firmly objected, insisting that his sister deserved to be a sweet and happy bride, and leaving for the wedding from a hospital would be terribly unlucky.
She found it amusing to hear the word "lucky" come from Xiao Cheng's mouth, but he ignored her teasing and somehow managed to persuade the doctors to let him go home for two days. So, the day before the wedding, she and Xiao Cheng returned to their house.
Zhen En dropped them off downstairs, repeatedly emphasizing her prior beauty appointment, needing to look stunning for Xiamo's wedding, before driving away. Opening the door, she expected the long-unused house to be thick with dust, yet it was surprisingly bright, immaculate, and spotless.
The floor shone like a mirror, the sofa covers seemed freshly laundered and replaced, and on the living room table sat a crystal vase filled with freshly blooming lilies. The black cat shot out from the balcony with an energetic meow, and Yin Cheng hugged it in delight, petting and kissing it.
It must be Ou Chen... Yin Xiamo surveyed the completely refreshed apartment.
She had given Ou Chen a set of keys, asking him to look after the cat temporarily. Was he truly such a meticulous man?
Had he changed in the six years since, or had she simply failed to notice it before? In the evening, Yin Cheng put on an apron, announcing he was ready to cook, saying his hands were itching to prepare a meal for her after so long.
She pulled him out of the kitchen, but he just smiled and squeezed back in, resulting in a compromise: they each cooked two dishes—she made what he liked, and he made what she liked. Over dinner, Yin Cheng was rather agitated.
He kept pestering her about the wedding preparations for the next day: could he truly walk her down the aisle? Did she need an elder figure to accompany her?
What if he stepped on her long gown? What if he couldn't bear to hand her over to Ou Chen?
The bouquet absolutely had to be made with fresh flowers, and he would rush to the florist early that morning to buy them! Yin Xiamo smiled as she answered his string of rapid-fire questions.
Only when she sensed his excitement might affect his rest did she order him to go to his bedroom immediately. Moonlight streamed through the living room window.
She gazed at the suddenly quiet house, feeling a calm echo deep within her heart, a resonance seemingly traveling from a great distance. She walked silently into her own bedroom.
The snow-white wedding dress lay beside her bed, bathed in the pale moonlight, giving it an almost sacred glow. She sat down on the floor.
She stared out the window at the moonlit night, utterly motionless, like a statue. After a long pause.
The black cat crept in quietly and nestled into her embrace. Her fingers slowly stroked its fur, but her mind was entirely blank.
She didn't know what she was thinking, or perhaps, she wasn't thinking at all. This was for the best, surely.
This was the best she could manage. The same moonlight.
Ou Chen stood on the balcony, his hands gripping the railing, the green lace on his cuffs fluttering in the night breeze. His eyes were dark green, like a deep forest.
Perhaps he would face retribution for the coercion he had imposed on her, but as long as he could marry her, as long as he could bind their names together, he was willing to trade anything. He offered a silent prayer to the heavens.
To grant him this final chance to keep her. The same moonlight.
Luo Xi sat in silence within the deep purple sofa. He had been sitting there for a full day and night, neither eating nor feeling hunger.
The moonlight fell upon him, rendering his face as white as a gardenia blossom, while his eyes were pitch black, resembling bottomless, dark abysses. Summer's Foam III