42.1. Princess, do you want me to help you relieve some tension

If it weren’t for Luo Yue’s last sentence, Qin Zhaoyi would probably have lost herself in her repeated “Mei Mei” remarks.

Luo Yue called her in a casual manner, as if she called out whatever came to mind.

She would also adapt to the way Qin Zhaoyi addressed her.

Just like when she said Luo Yue was the villain in their relationship, Luo Yue would then call her “Noble Qin.”

This person held grudges.

But indeed, this song was not suitable for listening before sleep, because Qin Zhaoyi couldn’t fall asleep even after listening to it for an hour. Her mind was filled with explanations: Zhong Yu and I are really innocent.

Only later did she realize that the title of this song was “Unnecessary Explanation.”

It felt like she had entered a logical loop, unable to clear her mind even if she jumped into the Yellow River.

But she was surprisingly pleased that Luo Yue was jealous.

As dawn approached, a soft golden light shimmered on the distant sea surface. Qin Zhaoyi quietly sent a message to Luo Yue: [The way you get jealous.]

[QX: I like it very much.]

[QX: But there’s really nothing between Zhong Yu and me.]

[QX: I only like you.]

With both an explanation and a confession, Qin Zhaoyi felt she had handled it well.

She didn’t want Luo Yue to overthink or feel that she was fickle, fearing that Luo Yue would distance herself because of it.

Unexpectedly, Luo Yue never replied to her messages.

When they met on the road, they acted as usual, as if nothing had happened.

The events of that night seemed to have become an unspoken secret.

Occasionally, Luo Yue teasingly called her “Princess Qin,” sometimes “Miss Qin.” If she skipped meals, Luo Yue would still half-squint her eyes and call her “Qin Zhaoyi” with a hint of helplessness.

But this matter hadn’t passed in Qin Zhaoyi’s mind.

She thought that after that night, the two of them should have been closer.

But Luo Yue still maintained a certain distance, treating her with the appropriate politeness. Except occasionally, when they were alone, Luo Yue would lose control for a moment, squeezing her wrist or suddenly getting close to her, causing her to lose focus.

Qin Zhaoyi didn’t know what she was thinking, but she couldn’t find an opportunity to ask.

Because Luo Yue came and went early and late, spending most of her time at school. Occasionally, when Qin Zhaoyi wandered around on the streets, she would unintentionally wander into the school. A group of elementary school students would be playing happily on the playground, and through the window, she could see Luo Yue buried in homework.

This kind of day continued for nearly a week, making Qin Zhaoyi feel uncomfortable, but she couldn’t find a suitable way to break the ice.

She had even tried to be straightforward and ask Luo Yue what was wrong. That night…

Luo Yue just brushed it off lightly, smiling and saying, “I was a bit impulsive.”

Qin Zhaoyi said, “Your attitude towards me is very strange.”

To which Luo Yue replied with a smile, “Where’s the strangeness? Isn’t it still the same as before?”

Qin Zhaoyi: “…”

She couldn’t get anything out of her.

Seeing that she was still feeling uneasy, Luo Yue explained, “I’ve been overloaded with courses lately, very busy.”

But Qin Zhaoyi knew that even if she was busy, she still returned home as usual at night, turned on the lights, and cooked dinner.

She had never worked overtime even once.

Qin Zhaoyi was preparing to ask Luo Yue out to see a movie on Friday night. After watching it, she planned to subtly bring up the topic on the way back, as she couldn’t let their relationship continue in this lukewarm state.

It seemed like a good idea, but Qin Zhaoyi couldn’t sense any concern from Luo Yue, which was annoying.

But unexpectedly, Aunt Flo arrived on Thursday night. She felt a warm flow beneath her while sleeping, and her lower abdomen ached. Perhaps because of the previous incident, this time Aunt Flo was particularly painful, causing Qin Zhaoyi to toss and turn in bed in the middle of the night. She finally fell asleep but woke up the next day covered in cold sweat.

Unable to stand the stickiness of sweat on her body, Qin Zhaoyi hurriedly took a shower and went to Cheng Shijing’s place.

She bought some painkillers, and Cheng Shijing was persistent in finding out what was wrong. Annoyed by his questioning, Qin Zhaoyi coldly said, “Are you always this talkative?”

Cheng Shijing placed the painkillers on the table. “I need to know what’s wrong with you. Taking random medication can be fatal.”

Especially for patients who clearly don’t follow medical advice.

Qin Zhaoyi grabbed the medication. “Have you never seen someone with menstrual cramps?”

Cheng Shijing: “…”

Rarely, Qin Zhaoyi saw Cheng Shijing blush from being choked.

Qin Zhaoyi was in so much pain that she didn’t even care about asking for a glass of water. She simply unscrewed the cap and swallowed the medicine, only to have Cheng Shijing take it away from her.

The man in the white coat frowned and muttered while pouring a glass of warm water, handing it over like a Tang monk, “You’re really mistreating yourself.”

Ignoring his criticism, Qin Zhaoyi swallowed the medicine in one gulp and drank half a glass of warm water, finally feeling a bit better.

After paying the money, she turned and left the clinic.

The painkillers cost sixteen yuan, but Qin Zhaoyi paid twenty.

Cheng Shijing called after her, “You’ve overpaid.”

Without looking back, Qin Zhaoyi waved her hand weakly and said in a feeble voice, “Consider it for the water.”

Cheng Shijing: “…”

He thought the princess was going to mention a tip.

Seeing Qin Zhaoyi walking with a floating appearance, Cheng Shijing unusually felt a twinge of sympathy for her. He leaned out of the window and shouted, “Do you want me to accompany you?”

Qin Zhaoyi waved her hand, indicating that it was unnecessary.

It was only a few minutes’ walk.

Cheng Shijing frowned as he watched her figure. Thinking of the rumors that Luo Yue had mentioned to him, he decided to give up. On this palm-sized Moon Island, any tiny matter could grow wings and fly into everyone’s ears. The rumors about him and Qin Zhaoyi had spawned countless versions, and even Cheng Shiyu had asked him about it.

There were even people who claimed to have seen Luo Yue and Qin Zhaoyi confronting each other in a café, saying that the two nearly came to blows over a guy.

Cheng Shijing: “…”

He felt wronged but refrained from commenting.

To avoid misunderstandings and protect Qin Zhaoyi’s reputation, Cheng Shijing decided not to wade into this muddy water.

However, as a doctor, he couldn’t just ignore a patient in need. So, he took a picture of Qin Zhaoyi’s back and sent it to Luo Yue.

Cheng Shijing: “Your girlfriend is dying from menstrual cramps.”

Luo Yue replied instantly: “???”

Luo Yue felt as if she had been struck by lightning the moment she received Cheng Shijing’s message.

It took her a while to react. Cheng Shijing operated the only clinic on the island, and she couldn’t blame Qin Zhaoyi for jumping to conclusions. Especially after returning, everyone seemed to be eager to share gossip about a fox spirit coming from outside, making her almost lose Cheng Shijing’s soul.

Once or twice didn’t matter, but as the frequency increased, Luo Yue felt a bit disoriented. This was probably a real-life demonstration of the saying, “A lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth.” Despite not believing it, Luo Yue couldn’t help feeling helpless against these persistent voices.

And there were people advising her to stay away from Qin Zhaoyi, saying she didn’t look like a good person at all.

Luo Yue didn’t know where to start explaining to everyone. On top of that, she had taken on a new task, helping Jiayi Affiliated Middle School with a set of practice papers.

During the day, she was busy catching up with the students’ progress at school, making up for the missed lessons. At night, she had to burn the midnight oil to prepare the exam papers. She was stretched thin and couldn’t find time to spend with Qin Zhaoyi.

In fact, she was unsure how to interact with her.

That night was too wild, too impulsive, and the night was just right, embellishing everything. With just a gesture from Qin Zhaoyi, she lost herself.

It wasn’t until she came to her senses that she realized she had acted inappropriately.

That kind of dark thought with punishment in mind was exposed thoroughly in front of Qin Zhaoyi.

For some reason, just seeing Qin Zhaoyi walking with someone else made her go crazy.

Luo Yue realized her own loss of control and became more fearful that her dark side would be discovered and seen through by Qin Zhaoyi, realizing that she was not as good as she had imagined.

So she had to step back and maintain an appropriate distance from Qin Zhaoyi.

Otherwise, she was afraid of revealing her even crazier side.

People only loved the gentle and vague moon, how could they love the scarred moon?

This was a truth that Luo Yue had understood very early on, so she always pretended very well.

But she didn’t expect to reveal her true self in front of Qin Zhaoyi, whom she had only recently met.

She took the opportunity during her busy time to organize her thoughts.

The almost humble words from Qin Zhaoyi that day touched her, she didn’t want to make people like this.

Qin Zhaoyi was a princess, she should be commanding and high above, how could she make such a request?

But Luo Yue selfishly wanted to claim her for herself.

Even that day, Luo Yue wanted to say, “If you promise to stay with me on Moon Island forever, then I’ll be your girlfriend.”

Endured and endured again, rationality triumphed over emotions, and Luo Yue suppressed all her words.

She only teased Qin Zhaoyi in a frivolous manner.

Perhaps now Qin Zhaoyi might feel frustrated for not becoming lovers, but one day she would cherish this undefined relationship.

Rather than defining it and then parting ways, breaking apart and never seeing each other again, never reminiscing.

That night, while sharing songs with Qin Zhaoyi, Luo Yue was also listening to music.

She looped a playlist of Cantonese songs she hadn’t listened to in a long time. There was a line in one of the songs: “How can love make Mount Fuji private property?”

Luo Yue buried her head in the blanket for a long time, and that playlist looped all night.

The next day, she deliberately put on makeup to conceal her fatigue.

Even she herself hadn’t exchanged many WeChat messages with Qin Zhaoyi, but now she saw Qin Zhaoyi’s name in Cheng Shijing’s chat history.

Luo Yue was a bit confused and somewhat excited.

Those three question marks expressed overflowing disbelief, leaving Cheng Shijing somewhat speechless. “She came to buy painkillers from me,” he explained.

Luo Yue: [Oh.]

Cheng Shijing asked again, “Did you two have a fight? Why does that little sister seem so listless?”

Luo Yue: [No.]

It’s precisely because there was no fight that she felt this way.

If they had fought, Qin Zhaoyi’s temper would have likely led to an argument the first day, and the second day she would deliberately walk around her, and she would deliberately try to coax her. Before long, they would make up.

In relationships, the worst thing is being stuck in limbo.

Stuck there, unable to move forward or backward.

And that was the state she and Qin Zhaoyi were in now.

Cheng Shijing said, “When she came just now, she seemed a bit unsteady. Why don’t you make her a cup of ginger soup later? It should help her feel better.”

Luo Yue: [You seem to care a lot about her.]

Cheng Shijing: […]

Luo Yue said, “I got it.”

Cheng Shijing reminded her a few more times, and Luo Yue responded one by one.

These days on Moon Island, the weather had been good, with clear skies and no clouds for miles.

The sun was warm on the skin, and it didn’t feel like it was scorching at all.

But Qin Zhaoyi felt cold. She struggled to walk back home, but in the yard, she ran out of energy and simply sat on the steps to bask in the sun.

She felt somewhat ethereal, as if she were walking on clouds.

The pain wouldn’t go away. She sat in the yard, holding her stomach, feeling annoyed by the sound of the waves hitting the rocks.

As she dozed off on the sun-drenched balcony, a figure appeared in front of her, blocking the warm sunlight.

Qin Zhaoyi didn’t even have the strength to lift her head.

A hand reached out and touched her forehead.

Qin Zhaoyi instinctively recoiled, finally lifting her head with half-closed eyes.

It was Luo Yue.

Luo Yue was wearing a white shirt, jeans, with her hair casually tied up, in a simple outfit.

“I’ll help you up,” Luo Yue said. “Let’s go inside and rest.”

But Qin Zhaoyi shook her head. “I want to sunbathe.”

Luo Yue still stood in front of her, looking down.

Qin Zhaoyi said, “You’re blocking my sun.”

Luo Yue stepped aside, and the silence became somewhat eerie.

After a while, Luo Yue asked, “Still in pain?”

Qin Zhaoyi glanced over, and their eyes met.

The sunlight fell on Qin Zhaoyi’s face, illuminating the tiny hairs on her face vividly. Her face was pale, even her usually rosy lips were very white, like a female ghost from a horror movie.

Luo Yue felt like she could faint at any moment and couldn’t help but furrow her brow. “Is it hurting badly?”

Qin Zhaoyi suddenly laughed, her smile seeming weak, her tone even colder. “Do you still care if I live or die?”

Luo Yue: …

Qin Zhaoyi chuckled lightly, even more cutting. “I thought you wanted me dead.”

Luo Yue pressed her lips together. “What are you saying?”

“The truth.” Qin Zhaoyi looked at her, her gaze complicated. “Isn’t that what you’ve been doing these days?”

Taking advantage of the physical pain at this moment to tear open the wounds in her heart.

Pain and pain might cancel each other out.

Luo Yue shook her head. “I haven’t done anything.”

Qin Zhaoyi chuckled, a low laugh that seemed to drain her energy.

Luo Yue reached out to pull her. “Let me help you to the room.”

“No need,” Qin Zhaoyi said. “You didn’t do anything before, so why do you care now?”

Luo Yue knew she was in the wrong, but she didn’t want to argue with her in the yard.

With people coming and going, and everyone showing extra concern for Qin Zhaoyi, the “outsider,” recently, she didn’t want her to become the subject of gossip.

“Let’s talk inside,” Luo Yue said.

Qin Zhaoyi shook her head. “It’s cold inside.”

Luo Yue pressed her lips together, silent. She didn’t know how to explain her retreat to Qin Zhaoyi.

She had thought that Qin Zhaoyi was just a passing breeze in her world, so she could indulge herself.

Luo Yue had fooled herself with that rhetoric. After all, playing emotional games with such a beauty wouldn’t result in a loss no matter how you counted it.

But she hadn’t expected Qin Zhaoyi to dive in headfirst and drown deeply.

So she became afraid, fearful, and withdrew.

Qin Zhaoyi didn’t look at her again, lowering her head, their shadows nearly overlapping in the sunlight.

But it seemed like there was a great distance between them.

Qin Zhaoyi asked calmly, her voice ethereal, “Why didn’t you reply to my messages?”

Even her questioning was gentle.

Luo Yue was briefly stunned, not realizing what she meant until she spoke again. “I replied.”

Qin Zhaoyi said bluntly, “That night.”

Luo Yue froze.

Unfazed, Qin Zhaoyi continued, “The night you kissed me.”

Luo Yue looked at her, her eyes momentarily flustered. She glanced around, making sure there was no one nearby before whispering, “Let’s talk at home.”

Qin Zhaoyi stared at her directly. “Afraid of others finding out?”

Luo Yue pressed her lips together.

Her long-held secret was being exposed bit by bit, and Qin Zhaoyi was still acting stubborn, as if she wouldn’t let this matter rest until there was a resolution. Luo Yue’s voice turned cold. “If you’re not in pain, I’ll go first.”

She had come to care for her, and she seemed fine. She still had the energy to argue with her.

Saying that, she turned to leave.

Qin Zhaoyi watched her back stubbornly, not expecting her to leave so decisively.

As she was about to leave the yard, Qin Zhaoyi couldn’t help but call out to her, “Luo Yue.”

Luo Yue paused, and Qin Zhaoyi softened her tone, “I’m weak, help me a bit.”

Luo Yue turned around, looking at her against the light. “Can we talk properly?”

Qin Zhaoyi hesitated for a moment before nodding slowly in the sunlight. “Yes.”

In these past few days, Qin Zhaoyi had indeed felt stifled by Luo Yue’s aloofness, so when Luo Yue took the initiative to approach her, she wanted to pry something out of her.

But she hadn’t expected that when she pushed a step forward, Luo Yue would retreat ten steps.

In the end, she followed the steps Luo Yue had provided.

After returning to the room, Luo Yue covered her with a blanket and brought her hot water bottle from home, placing it under the covers—one hot water bottle for her feet and one for her stomach. Only then did Qin Zhaoyi feel a bit revived.

Luo Yue ran around busily, bringing her ginger tea and closing all the windows in the room. She even watered the flowers in her room before sitting quietly on the edge of the bed.

Qin Zhaoyi struggled to drink half a cup of ginger tea; she didn’t like the taste of ginger and would never touch dishes with ginger in them. But because Luo Yue had gone through the trouble, she managed to drink half a cup.

Looking at the remaining tea, Luo Yue asked, “What about the fish?”

Qin Zhaoyi replied, “What fish would swim in ginger tea?”

Luo Yue paused, not expecting Qin Zhaoyi to respond so reasonably. “Mermaids.”

Qin Zhaoyi was taken aback, then chuckled.

The awkward atmosphere was eased by the cold humor. Taking advantage of the improved mood, Luo Yue asked, “Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?”

Qin Zhaoyi shook her head. “Tired.”

Luo Yue handed her the ginger tea. “Drink this and then sleep.”

“What if I need to use the bathroom halfway through?” Qin Zhaoyi asked.

Luo Yue paused. “You’re young. Your kidneys should be fine, right?”

Qin Zhaoyi, “The body’s still okay.”

This nonsensical conversation, punctuated with awkward punctuation, only served to highlight the awkwardness.

“Go to sleep,” Luo Yue compromised, placing the cup on the table, her voice gentle. “You’ll feel better after a nap.”

Qin Zhaoyi had tossed and turned all night, and now she really couldn’t muster the energy to get up, feeling dizzy lying in bed.

But Luo Yue was by her side, and she didn’t want to sleep, even if it was just to say something simple.

Luo Yue took out her phone and fell silent.

“What about you?” Qin Zhaoyi asked from under the covers.

Luo Yue hesitated slightly, then slowly replied, “I’ll leave after you fall asleep.”

“Can you… wait for me to wake up before leaving?” Qin Zhaoyi pursed her lips, making an unusual request.

Luo Yue paused. This request seemed a bit unreasonable, as no one knew when Qin Zhaoyi would wake up.

Qin Zhaoyi looked at her directly, waiting for her response.

Afraid that Luo Yue would refuse too quickly, Qin Zhaoyi added, “I’ll just take a short nap, won’t be too long.”

Caution and discretion.

For some reason, these four words suddenly popped into Luo Yue’s mind.

Qin Zhaoyi lay pale on the bed, the scorching sunlight shining through the glass, enveloping her in light. Her face seemed as if it had been carefully sculpted by the Creator, inherently meant to wreak havoc on the world. Yet at this moment, she looked at Luo Yue nervously and cautiously.

Luo Yue’s heart softened and swelled at the sight, even muttering a few curses to herself in her heart.

Facing Qin Zhaoyi like this, Luo Yue couldn’t bring herself to say she wanted to leave.

Unconsciously lowering her voice, she said, “It’s okay. You sleep a little longer.”

“I’ll stay here,” Luo Yue said.

Qin Zhaoyi still seemed full of distrust towards her, her eyes seemingly speaking—reminding her of the times Luo Yue had shown two different faces.

Luo Yue patted her shoulder in reassurance, pulling the covers up to comfort her. “I promise you’ll see me when you wake up.”

Qin Zhaoyi closed her eyes, struggling to stay awake and chat with Luo Yue. She was at her limit.

But the end of a strained effort couldn’t last long. Her voice became faint and ethereal as she said softly, “I’m afraid of having nightmares.”

After saying this, her breathing became even and prolonged.

Luo Yue’s hand was still suspended in the air. It wasn’t right to pat her anymore, but not patting her also felt wrong.

After a few seconds, Luo Yue gently patted her shoulder again, like coaxing a child to sleep, and said softly, “I’m here.”

It’s okay.

I’m here with you.

The issues that had been troubling her for so many days suddenly seemed to have been resolved at this moment.