Chapter 132: Opening Up

Lin Xi led Lu Yuxiu to the glass room atop the building. Moonlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting silver streaks across the room, giving it a hazy, dreamlike quality.

“Look, look!” Lin Xi pressed a button, and the ceiling panel slowly retracted, unveiling a breathtaking panorama. The night sky was dotted with countless stars, their faint glimmers illuminating the horizon and framing the radiant full moon.

Here, one could gaze upward and see the entire celestial expanse, the twinkling stars seeming almost within reach.

Lu Yuxiu looked up, feeling a profound tranquility wash over him. This kind of peace relaxed the spirit, evoking a desire to linger in the moment and never awaken.

“It’s beautiful!” he exclaimed sincerely. The starry sky was enchanting and mysterious, like a world that belonged only in fairy tales.

He had never seen so many stars, each one dazzling and vibrant, bursting forth its most splendid colors in the night.

The two sat on a bench. Lin Xi gazed at the sky above, a smile gracing her lips as she said, “Whenever I felt troubled before, I’d come here to watch the stars. Seeing their brilliance would sweep away my melancholy. I realized then how small I truly am, just standing in a corner, looking up. The world is bustling and noisy—what do I have to be worried about?”

The soft glow of the lights caressed the side of her face, warm and gentle, like a spring breeze that stirred Lu Yuxiu’s heart.

Her skin was pale and smooth, as delicate as a freshly peeled egg. Her lashes were long and thick, her nose slender and refined. Her lips were gently pursed, curving into an elegant smile. Long hair cascaded down her back, flowing smoothly to her waist.

“You are the brightest star in my heart,” Lu Yuxiu said, his gaze fixed on her profile. Her handsome face was alight with joy, her dark, luminous eyes sparkling with emotion.

Lin Xi smiled back at him. He reached out, drawing her shoulder close, and together they looked up at the night sky.

After a while, a voice broke the silence.

“After I left school back then, did you try to find me?” Lin Xi nestled against him, whispering softly.

Lu Yuxiu gave a bitter smile. “At first, I thought you had taken leave for something. But when you didn’t show up for a whole week, I asked the teachers, and they told me you had dropped out! I was frantic, searching everywhere you might be. I even begged your uncle to help me find you, but your brother sealed off all information. It was as if you disappeared into thin air. My father later said I became silent and withdrawn from that moment on. I started living day by day, wondering if I had missed my chance with you. That was the first time I truly realized what it felt like to like someone.”

Hearing this, Lin Xi’s heart trembled slightly. She knew Lu Yuxiu had loved her from early on. If they didn’t speak openly, he would carry this pain in his heart.

She took his large hand, and he continued, “All these years, I’ve been waiting for you. Do you know what that feels like? We had no contact, no promises—you just left without a word. I couldn’t be sure if you would wait for me or even remember me. Yet I found no reason to let you go, no way to forget you. I was prepared for a lifetime of loneliness.”

Lin Xi looked at his uncertain expression, tears welling in her eyes. She had been loved so earnestly and passionately for so many years.

“Since becoming an adult, all my friends have found companions, making my loneliness even more acute and my feelings for you more resolute. But you kept not showing up. I could control not thinking of you during the day, but the sadness and desolation in the quiet nights left me helpless and broken. Sometimes I even dreamed of you—the you from childhood, the you I imagined grown up. God knows, when I recognized you that day and you didn’t remember me, how lost and desperate I felt. I thought all my persistence was in vain...” His voice choked slightly at the end.

Lin Xi’s heart ached unbearably, tears threatening to spill over.

With tear-blurred eyes, she sadly asked, “If—I mean if—I hadn’t returned to the country, if we had never met again, what would you have done?”

Lu Yuxiu seemed to have pondered this long ago. Without hesitation, he answered, “I would never stop searching for you. If you can’t see me from the highest place I stand, I’d leave everything behind, searching country by country, city by city. Even if it meant spending all my fortune, I’d do it gladly. If I can’t find you this lifetime, I’ll miss you for all my days and continue searching for you in the next.”

His resolute words made her heart tighten painfully, a bittersweet mix flooding her chest. Tears slid down her cheeks, and he gently brushed them away.

He had missed so many precious years of her youth. From now on, every moment, every second, he would be with her.

Lin Xi said nothing, only wrapped her arms around Lu Yuxiu’s neck, quietly resting in his embrace. They held each other tightly, seeking warmth without disturbance.

Once she calmed, her bright eyes were filled with him. “Yuxiu, we’ll celebrate festivals together, watch snow and build snowmen, have roasted sweet potatoes and milk tea, count down to the New Year side by side, be together for a very long time... I only want you by my side for every sunset to come.”

She was confessing her heart to him.

Lu Yuxiu put aside his lingering doubts and smiled—a rare, radiant smile. He kissed her pert little nose, teasing, “And where else would I want to be?”

Lin Xi grinned back at him.

“Fool,” he said, cradling the back of her head and showering her with kisses.

The stars above continued to twinkle as the two opened their hearts and talked through the night, their bond growing ever deeper and steadier.

Lin Xi had been in Y country for two days, nearly forgetting the business at hand.

The next day, she appeared on the red carpet of the Y Country Film Festival with the film "Starlight."

Wearing a gown by the brand Sun, she stepped onto the carpet.

The black evening dress hugged her curvaceous figure perfectly, adorned with dazzling diamonds at the chest. Her fair face was lightly made up, her long hair cascading over her shoulders, giving her a refined and striking appearance.

Flashes from the media’s cameras never ceased, and the red carpet buzzed with waves of admiring exclamations.

“Perfect girl!” “Look here, please!”

Back home, the excitement was just as intense:

@Ying: I call her the standard of international beauty—the perfect blend of Eastern and Western aesthetics.

@Xiao Momo: No wonder, she has a universally captivating face! Fits Chinese and foreign tastes alike, and of course, mine too. [heart]

Lin Xi’s beautiful Eastern features had set the world alight once again abroad.