The Moonlight Never Falls

Part 3

09

Yang Jing Zhi took me to his house.

I stood at the entrance, refusing to go in.

"Xu Wan Xing will be angry."

Yang Jing Zhi said, "Do you still have the energy to care about others after falling into such a state?"

Besides the scraped hands, I was covered in dirty snow water.

"Also, Yu Ming, look at my room, does it look like a woman has been here?"

"You guys don't live together?"

"I've never been with her at all."

Yang Jing Zhi threw a contract on me.

"Six months ago she found me, proposing cooperation. She didn't want to be sexually harassed, asked me to pretend to be her boyfriend, and she would also help me deal with troublesome clients."

He paused, as if afraid I wouldn't understand, and explained further.

"Some clients like to push women into people's beds, thinking everyone plays that game, I'm annoyed, Xu Wan Xing helps me block those."

This contract was clearly written, not to interfere with each other's private lives.

Yang Jing Zhi took my hand, treating my wounds.

I saw a row of unopened hand creams on the shelf.

It was the brand I used to love, Yang Jing Zhi bought the whole set and kept it at home.

"Today, I asked your colleagues about you."

He spoke heavily.

"You don't have a boyfriend, you even said you were single at last week's company gathering.

Yu Ming, you deliberately lied to me, right?"

"I didn't lie to you."

"Then show me a photo of you with that man."

"We haven't taken photos together."

"You love taking photos, but you haven't taken any with your new love?"

"You reminded me, I'll take some next time and show you."

Yang Jing Zhi was amused by me.

He suddenly leaned on the sofa, completely enveloping me, the pressure intense.

I couldn't move, even through the sweater, I could feel his warm body temperature.

"I bought your time, you know what to do, right?"

"I'll return the money to you, Yang Jing Zhi, I really am getting married."

He traced down my shoulder, but stopped at my wrist.

"Getting married, but still wearing the bracelet your ex-boyfriend gave you, isn't that inappropriate?"

10

There was a bracelet on my wrist, dim and lusterless with time.

This was the first gift Yang Jing Zhi gave me.

When I was 19.

There was a week when, apart from attending classes, I hardly saw him.

He was running between various part-time jobs, busier than ever.

On my birthday, my parents held a party for me at a high-end restaurant, I told Yang Jing Zhi, but he didn't come.

I waited and waited, and finally, he called in the evening.

He said he was waiting for me outside the restaurant.

In the heavy snow, my boy stood tall like a pine tree.

He was covered in dust, just like me today, his yellow takeout uniform covered in mud.

At that time, I didn't understand anything, only complained that he came too late.

Yang Jing Zhi ruffled my hair, saying he brought me a birthday gift.

The bracelet was a basic model, not expensive, but also completely beyond his financial level.

I loved it, wore it on my wrist on the spot, and never took it off.

Later my parents called me, asking who I was talking to.

They didn't like Yang Jing Zhi, they felt he wasn't good enough for me.

When I turned back, Yang Jing Zhi had already disappeared into the snow.

...

To this day, I still occasionally remembered this scene.

—At least when I was 19, Yang Jing Zhi liked me, right?

That bracelet, he worked day and night to earn.

Was he also rushing and falling in the snow like me tonight, yet still fearlessly moving forward for that bracelet?

But now?

He's pressing me, forcing me.

He keeps the luxury goods I used to like at his house.

Is he still hung up on me, or is he humiliating me?

I can't figure it out, unconsciously my eyes moisten.

Yang Jing Zhi freezes, then starts to panic.

He has always been helpless when I cry.

This is still the same as before.

He clumsily wipes my tears: "Don't cry, don't cry, it's my fault, I was just scaring you. Today is your twenty-sixth birthday, I bought you a new bracelet."

"What?"

I had forgotten myself, today is my birthday.

Yang Jing Zhi pulls out a new gift box.

"Take a look, do you like it?"

He wants to help me change the bracelet.

"Yu Ming, can we—"

Before he could finish, the doorbell rang.

Xiao Hui stood at the door, a cigarette in his mouth: "Yu Ming? I've come to pick her up."

"Who are you?"

"I'm her fiancé, didn't she tell you?"

Yang Jing Zhi was stunned, the bracelet fell onto the carpet.