Chapter Sixty-Eight: Passion Amid the Winds and Moon

At the entrance to the Moon Gate, the crowd surged forward, so many people pushed inside that their feet barely touched the ground. Qin Xiaomo was among them, with White Dumpling and Fortune slipping through the gaps to keep pace right behind her.

The moment she passed through the Moon Gate, the throng vanished; bereft of their support and unable to take in her surroundings, she fell heavily to the ground.

“Are you hurt?” someone asked, helping her up. The voice was familiar—impossible for her to forget. Jiang Lang—her boyfriend from university.

He looked just as he did when they first met: thick brows, large eyes, a high-bridged nose, clad in a clean white T-shirt. His smile was warm beneath the sunlight. He picked up the book she had dropped and handed it back to her.

“Be careful next time,” Jiang Lang said, gently plucking a tuft of white fluff from her hair. He was so close that she caught the scent of jasmine and sun-warmed skin on him. How wonderful! If only she could linger in this moment forever.

Jiang Lang laughed and left with the other boys, giving them a playful push.

“Careful where you're walking! Hahaha!” his friends teased as they departed.

Qin Xiaomo glanced around at the youthful, innocent faces, the rows of poplars and ginkgo trees lining the campus.

Had she returned to university? Wasn’t she supposed to be taking part in Master Yangliu’s apprentice selection?

“That boy is pretty nice!” Jidou’s words brought her back from her reverie.

“Jidou?” Qin Xiaomo was still confused.

“Did you hit your head? We’re going to be late!”

Why? Why was she back at the moment of their first meeting? Was it so she could relive the beauty of the past? Or... was it to give her a chance to vent her anger? She had given him everything, only to discover she was just one among many girls he casually toyed with.

Suddenly, Qin Xiaomo understood what she had to do. She turned and ran after Jiang Lang.

“Where are you going, Xiaomo?” Jidou shouted after her.

Jiang Lang had a girlfriend in the Chinese department, a campus beauty in the music department across town, and another girlfriend who owned a bar outside the university. Each served a purpose: the Chinese major wrote his assignments and papers; the music student was his trophy in public; the bar owner funded his lifestyle. Qin Xiaomo herself cooked and cared for him like a housekeeper.

When Qin Xiaomo met him, he already had three girlfriends—though she learned this only later. She remembered how, shortly after their first meeting, he invited her to an amusement park by text. She was thrilled, thinking he’d noticed her long ago.

She followed him quietly at a distance, overhearing one of his friends say, “That freshman girl is pure and sweet—looks like she’s interested in you! Can’t you go easy on her, you veteran?”

Hidden amid the crowd, she went unnoticed.

“There’s a saying: ‘Pluck the flowers when they bloom; don’t wait till the branches are bare.’ Girls like that only want two things—romance and initiative.” Jiang Lang spoke like a true Casanova.

“How do you do romance, how do you show initiative?”

“Watch and learn,” Jiang Lang replied, tapping out a message on his phone and sending it.

Sure enough, a message arrived! Qin Xiaomo’s phone was set to vibrate, thankfully.

“Hello, freshman. I’m Jiang Lang. Forgive me for messaging you directly. I noticed you at the cooking competition and went to some trouble to get your number. I didn’t want to call and be abrupt, but after helping you up today, I finally found the courage to text you. Tomorrow, our drama club is going to the amusement park for a day. My roommate is unwell and can’t join, so the ticket can’t be refunded. Would you honor me by coming along? I await your reply!”

She remembered how she’d felt when she first received that message—so different from now.

“I’d be honored! See you tomorrow!” Qin Xiaomo replied earnestly, though now the message seemed bitterly ironic.

“Wow! You’re amazing! One text and you’ve got yourself a freshman! You’re the real Casanova!” Jiang Lang’s friends joked, bowing in mock admiration.

Qin Xiaomo stood back and watched them leave with cold eyes.

The next day, at the amusement park entrance.

Jiang Lang stood in the sunlight, his whole body shining as if edged in gold, his features handsome yet gentle. He smiled warmly as Qin Xiaomo approached.

Seeing this scene again, Qin Xiaomo’s heart still fluttered—but after the flutter came pain. If only he hadn’t been such a flirt, perhaps they could have lasted.

Happy moments always pass quickly. Qin Xiaomo glanced at her watch—eleven o’clock. “Senior, I want to ride the Ferris wheel.”

“Alright!” he agreed.

As they waited in line, a girl in glasses, wearing a pale yellow T-shirt and sweatpants, ran happily toward Jiang Lang, calling his name. Jiang Lang looked embarrassed for a moment, then recovered, smiling politely.

“And you are?” the girl in yellow asked, glancing at Qin Xiaomo.

“My roommate is sick. She’s a freshman standing in for him,” Jiang Lang replied calmly, as if introducing a stranger.

The girl pushed up her glasses and smiled. “Hello, freshman! I’m from the Chinese department—”

Before she could finish, a melodious female voice called, “Jiang Lang!” All three turned toward the sound.

A girl in a plaid skirt and red crop top, with chestnut waves, strode toward them. Sensing something amiss, she looked displeased.

“Honey, didn’t you invite just me? Who are they?” She immediately wrapped her arm around Jiang Lang’s and rested her head on his shoulder.

“I... I’m his girlfriend!” the girl in yellow protested.

“You look like a fossil dug up from the earth! Competing with me for a man? What a joke!” The girl in plaid sized up the girl in yellow.

At that moment, a loud slap landed on Jiang Lang’s face, silencing them all.

A woman in a black off-shoulder knit top, tight skirt, and red heels, a cigarette dangling from her wine-red lips, appeared.

“Leave him—all of you!” she said coldly.

Jiang Lang suddenly realized he’d been set up, though he didn’t know by whom.

Qin Xiaomo remembered the messages she’d sent the night before, and watched him shuttle helplessly between three women, until they all ended up hitting and cursing him together. That was enough—she felt no more resentment, and turned to leave.

Just then, Jiang Lang chased after her, grabbing her hand. “Don’t go! I’ll sort out all the others—I swear from now on I’ll only love you, only you! Stay, let’s be together, please?”

Stay? Qin Xiaomo wiped the blood from his lips and gazed into Jiang Lang’s earnest, soulful eyes. She wanted so badly to believe him, to give him one more chance.

A tuft of white fluff floated by, reminding her of springs past when the garden was filled with them. Jiang Lang used to say, “Spring is my favorite. If I remove the fluff from your hair, I can see your blushing face.”

She had been eighteen then. Now... there was no going back.

Suddenly, Qin Xiaomo felt at peace. She pulled her hand free and walked away. Jiang Lang’s lips curled into an inscrutable smile.

The scenery gradually blurred; Jiang Lang disappeared, and the sounds of fighting faded. She steadied herself and looked around. All was darkness. Before her, a lacquered red wooden door stood half open.