When Bright Moon Encounter the Dark Clouds

That was my best friend, Zhuang Yu.

From afar, she looked exceedingly beautiful and elegant. Even though she had placed her hair into a casual ponytail, wearing a black T-shirt and leggings while having no make-up on, her beautiful appearance was still unconcealable. If she had permitted her pictures to be posted online, she would definitely top the charts for the most beautiful author.

It was just that… her growth seemed a little quick for a 19-year-old, so she had a mature woman’s charm. Using her own words, “F*ck me and my nubile appearance.” In fact, no one would suspect a thing if I said she was a beautiful and young married woman. That was why she and her nephew, Xiaohao, would always get the parent-child discounts at restaurants without fail, without presenting any identification at all.

This was one of Zhuang Yu’s pains. She was okay with her mature look, just not her overly feminine appearance; she had long, shapely eyebrows, a small, pointy nose, cherry lips, a 34C bust, and a 21-inch waist. Even with a 10 Yuan shirt on, she would still look like an alluring, young sugar baby. Obviously, this did not fit her gaming all-day, beer-drinking, sci-fi author personality. To quote her again, “F*ck! One of these days I’ll shave my head to prove my true self!”

When the dishes arrived, all of us started eating. Xiaohao was especially focused with his head lowered. Zhuang Yu and I started chatting, with her asking, “Didn’t you say you dreamt about the man on the ship? What happened next?”

“Why would there be a continuation to a dream? But something strange did happen. I met a guy that looked exactly like the man in my dreams.” I proceeded to tell her about my encounter with Wu Yu at the auto repair shop.

Abruptly, Zhuang Yu had a very serious expression.

My heart sank, and I asked, “What’s the matter?”

With a thoughtful look on her face, Zhuang Yu placed down her chopsticks and said leisurely, “Perhaps one of them came from a parallel universe.”

As I became dumbfounded, she had already let out a giggle and said, “But how could that happen! If that person really came from a parallel universe, why would he become a hardworking man with a poor background or a repairman? He would have gotten involved in the energy or the bio-chem sector to steal corporate information. Why would he bother with us?”

“Yeesh!” I knew this is just her sci-fi bullsh*t. They are two completely different people."

Zhuang Yu said, "You're not really into that repairman, are you? Damn, you have an extreme taste for men." Wu Yu's image briefly flashed into my mind as I said casually, "How is it extreme if I'm interested in a young and muscular repairman? It would be really extreme if I became interested in the boss of the repair shop."

Subdued by my strong and logical argument, Zhuang Yu nodded and said, "True that! You're still as mature as always."

I smiled gently and nodded.

Right then, Xiaohao exclaimed with excitement before putting down his chopsticks and rushing toward the window. Several children from the other tables also ran over. Zhuang Yu and I turned our gazes toward the source of the sound and found a flock of black-colored birds that had gathered before a piece of land in front of the restaurant. The flock was huge, a dense mass of black. Perhaps there were hundreds of them.

The birds were black from head to tail and were roughly the size of pigeons, with yellowish-brown eyes and long, straight tails. They were spread all over but had their gazes fixed upon the restaurant. One of the workers tried to chase them away, but they would come back after circling in the air a few times. The workers stopped caring when they saw that the birds were not harming the customers and even attracted the attention of passers-by.

"What are those strange birds?" Zhuang Yu asked. "Pigeons?"

"Have you ever seen pigeons like that?"

Naturally, the two of us were unworried and continued with our meal. After some time, I raised my head again and looked toward the window again. Coincidentally, one of the birds met my gaze, and we stared at each other.

Zhuang Yu asked, "Are you okay?"

"It's nothing," I said as I suppressed the strange feeling that I had. "I feel like I've seen these birds somewhere before, but I just can't recall where."

Suddenly, I felt as though I had forgotten something, but whenever I tried, I would only draw a blank.

The birds did not stay for long that day. After Zhuang Yu, Xiaohao, and I finished eating, I sent the two of them home and drove back myself. Everything that day was peaceful and joyous: Wu Yu, the news, the sunset, our time at the restaurant, Zhuang Yu, Xiaohao.

That was until I got back home.

After that night, my previously peaceful life was turned upside down.

My life which I thought was just a peaceful flowing river.