When Bright Moon Encounter the Dark Clouds

Sitting at the noisy barbeque shop, with oils and smoke in the air, I felt as if everything around me was not there.

With my cigarette in hand, all I could think about was how Tan Jiao looked when she stood outside the repair shop.

Xiao Hua’s voice slowly became noticeable. “Brother Yu. Hey, Brother Yu… What are you thinking about? You seem out of it.”

“Thinking about my lady.”

The two of them were stunned, after all, they had never heard me talking about this. “Where’s your lady from?”

“Brother Yu, you didn’t go home because of her, right?”

I continued smoking and did not reply.

Xiao Hua said, “Speaking of which, brother Yu sure has some luck with the ladies. The beautiful lady that came to the shop today came to look for you the day you left the shop. She even looked sad when she heard you had resigned. How the hell did you get that kind of girl? There’s also that young married woman from the Hua Ting neighborhood. Do you remember her? She also came looking for you to wash her car…”

I felt a sting in my heart when I heard that.

“What else did Tan Jiao say that day?” I asked.

Xiao Hua probably did not hear me clearly. “Who?”

Just as I was about to repeat the question, the corner of my eye caught something familiar at the entrance of the shop.

I raised my face, and sure enough, it was her. Her gorgeous figure walked into the shop. Her head was lowered, and she seemed somewhat out of it. She sat down at the first table she saw and did not seem to notice me yet.

She had said that this barbeque shop was really nice and really close to her place. I just never expected to see her again so soon.

My hand holding the cigarette did not move, not until the hot ash fell on my finger.

The waiter passed her the menu, and she quickly started ordering. I saw everything clearly: six sticks of lean meat, six sticks of fatty meat, two sticks of prawn, two chicken wings, two sticks of squid, one mushroom, tofu, potato, green bell peppers… Her appetite is good today...

Perhaps I looked somewhat dazed, but Xiao Hua and the lot started poking fun at me.

“Brother Yu, Brother Yu, who are you looking at?”

“Brother Yu, are you letting your bros down again?”

Tan Jiao took notice and looked up. Our gazes met, among all the people in between, the noise, and the smoky oil in the shop.

From her clear eyes, something suddenly surged out. It was something I really did not want to dive into. However, that look faded away, and she quickly looked away, being very particular to not look toward my direction. Yet, at that time, I noticed her small hand clenching hard as if she was fighting something.

I took a deep draw from my cigarette.

I saw her latest post on Weibo recently and felt as if a hammer had smashed my heart while a surge of emotions filled my body. I packed my bags today and bought the earliest ticket back to Dali.

I arrived around noon. Looking at the blue sky of Dali, all I could think about was what she posted.

“The bright moon encounters the dark clouds. But the moon is unaware that the clouds have disappeared.”

Were all authors like this? Expressing themselves in unusual ways. Even though it was just a normal sentence, it somehow made me sad?

She looked exceptionally gorgeous today when I noticed her outside the repair shop. She was wearing an off-shoulder dress, and her long and lush hair rested naturally on her shoulders. She even put on some light makeup, making her already delicate features even more eye-catching. She was no longer that girl that ran around with me for the past few days. Her hair was in a ponytail, and she was wearing a plain t-shirt. She looked very approachable like that.

I did not understand why she would become like this. It seemed that her reaction when sad was different from other women’s. In fact, she was very hard to understand.