Don't Wait Until the Blossoms Are Gone to Break an Empty Bough

"Oh, no." Zhou Yuwen had been ready to close his eyes and go to sleep, but he answered when he heard Chen Rongrong.

Chen Rongrong rolled over to face Zhou Yuwen.

Moonlight poured through the window onto her face.

Her long hair was smooth and glossy as silk, and her features were beautiful.

Rolling over had naturally brought her closer to Zhou Yuwen, though there was still some distance between them.

She smiled at Zhou Yuwen. "I can't sleep. How about we chat for a bit?"

"What do you want to talk about?" Zhou Yuwen asked.

Seeing that Zhou Yuwen wasn't particularly sleepy either, Chen Rongrong grew bolder.

She shifted a little closer to the middle of the bed.

Then she let out a comfortable breath and said happily, "The bed here is so soft!"

"Zhou Yuwen, you know what? At my eldest uncle's place, I sleep on one of those hard wooden beds."

"They couldn't bear to spend money on a mattress for me, so they just put down a few layers of old, worn-out quilts they didn't use anymore. It creaked whenever I rolled over."

"It's so uncomfortable to sleep on, but I can't even say anything about it," Chen Rongrong complained, pouting.

Zhou Yuwen shifted to the side and said, "Then enjoy it a little more tonight."

Seeing Zhou Yuwen give her such a large part of the bed, Chen Rongrong couldn't help letting out a giggle.

She suddenly felt that she must have been overthinking things.

"You don't have to stay so far away from me," she said. "This bed is so big."

"Mm." Zhou Yuwen acknowledged her, but didn't move.

The moonlight flowed like water through the window, spilling onto the bed.

It cast a pale light over the empty space between them.

This large space had originally been set aside as a natural safety zone, but now it made Chen Rongrong feel a little distant from him.

"Zhou Yuwen."

"Mm?"

"I've told you everything about myself. You should tell me about your family too," Chen Rongrong said.

"What's there to say about my family?"

"When did your mom and dad get divorced?" Chen Rongrong asked.

"When I was three."

"That early?"

"Mm."

"They got divorced when you were three?"

"Yeah."

Seeing how curious Chen Rongrong was, Zhou Yuwen gave her a brief account of his family.

His father had cheated.

It wasn't that he had only started cheating when Zhou Yuwen was three.

He had been cheating ever since he married Zhou Yuwen's mother.

Because of Zhou Yuwen, his mother had considered putting up with it.

But eventually, she could no longer bear it.

For the thirty-year-old Zhou Yuwen, his childhood memories had grown hazy.

But one image still lingered in his mind.

When he was very young, his mother had held him in one arm and a cleaver in the other.

She had charged into a dance hall to find his father, who was dancing there.

Before his mother had even gotten through the door, someone shouted:

"xxx! Your wife's here!"

Forewarned, his father immediately abandoned the dance partner in his arms, turned, and ran!

That image had remained in Zhou Yuwen's mind for more than twenty years.

Whenever his mother brought up divorce,

His father would kneel before her, looking deeply remorseful, slapping himself across the face as he declared, "I was wrong!

"I'll never do it again!

"Please give me another chance, honey!"

And so the two divorced once, remarried, then divorced again and remarried again?

Zhou Yuwen's family situation did make for a more eventful story.

As she listened to Zhou Yuwen tell it, Chen Rongrong couldn't help being drawn in. Her big, limpid eyes wide, she listened intently and edged a little closer to him. "What happened after that?" she asked.

"Why did they finally get divorced?"

Zhou Yuwen said that the man had gotten another woman pregnant.

"Oh."

Only then did Chen Rongrong understand, and she also felt she understood Zhou Yuwen.

She said innocently, "Then it looks like you've had it worse."

"I'd rather not have a dad than have one like that."

"Mm," Zhou Yuwen replied.

"Ah." Chen Rongrong sighed.

Zhou Yuwen asked why she was sighing.

Chen Rongrong said, "If I'd known you were so interesting, I would have become friends with you ages ago."

"Interesting?"

"Oh, that's a bit of a stretch."

Chen Rongrong laughed at herself. After thinking about it, she decided the word should be reliable.

Chen Rongrong said that, throughout their three years of high school, Zhou Yuwen had mostly kept to himself in class. He never showed his hand, so it was easy for others to overlook him.

"You felt like an NPC in a game to me," Chen Rongrong said with a laugh.

Zhou Yuwen grunted in acknowledgment.

"Dong Xue was the one who noticed you first." Chen Rongrong seemed to remember something all of a sudden. "Remember how I was chatting with Zhenzhen and Dong Xue that day? Dong Xue suddenly said, 'I've noticed Zhou Yuwen in our class is pretty handsome.'"

"Then we talked about you for a bit. Shi Zhenzhen said you were always a lone crane standing apart from the flock, and you didn't have many friends in class, so you had to be hard to get along with."

Chen Rongrong covered her mouth and laughed.

But Zhou Yuwen said, "I really don't have many friends."

"No, that's not-"

Chen Rongrong suddenly realized she seemed to have said the wrong thing and hurried to explain. "That's not what I meant."

"It's fine." Zhou Yuwen shook his head and said evenly, "I'm telling the truth. I don't have many friends."

"Don't say that," Chen Rongrong interrupted him. "Aren't I your friend?"

"From now on, you're my best friend!" Chen Rongrong's eyes were full of determination.

"Mm."

Zhou Yuwen nodded. By now, he had given Chen Rongrong most of the bed, leaving only a small space for himself.

There was still a buffer zone between them.

Zhou Yuwen found the conversation dull, so he said it was getting late.

"Let's get some sleep, okay?"

"Zhou Yuwen." Just then, Chen Rongrong called his name again.

"Mm?"

"Come a little closer. You're so far away from me."

"No need. It's fine like this," Zhou Yuwen said.

"I told you to come over, so come over!"

Seeing that Zhou Yuwen was unwilling, Chen Rongrong reached over and pulled him herself.

With no other choice, Zhou Yuwen shifted a little toward the middle.

To his surprise, Chen Rongrong actually lay down in his arms of her own accord.

"?" Zhou Yuwen froze and opened his eyes, which had been closed.

Chen Rongrong pulled the quilt over both of them,

Then leaned against Zhou Yuwen's arm. "Don't move. Let me hold you for a bit."

"Zhou Yuwen, I've just realized it feels so nice to be held by you."

Chen Rongrong nuzzled greedily against Zhou Yuwen's jawline.

She was only a young girl after all. Though she had a few more little schemes up her sleeve, she still had no one to rely on.

But leaning against Zhou Yuwen gave her such a sense of security.

At first, Zhou Yuwen did hesitate a little, but seeing how safe she felt lying in his arms, he said nothing more and naturally rested his hand on Chen Rongrong's waist.

"Let's sleep like this, okay?"

She did feel safe sleeping in Zhou Yuwen's arms. She draped one long leg over his and nestled into his embrace, closing her eyes.

It looked as though she was slowly drifting off to sleep.

She was sleeping comfortably enough.

But Zhou Yuwen couldn't sleep anymore.

After what had happened earlier, Zhou Yuwen had originally thought it was over and done with.

But she just had to do this...

As had already been said, Zhou Yuwen was at an age when his blood ran hot, and she was nestled in his arms.

Even though she was wearing a sweatshirt...

Zhou Yuwen felt that if he could still hold himself back now, he really would have been reborn for nothing.

And so the hand resting on Chen Rongrong's waist slowly began to move upward...