When Bright Moon Encounter the Dark Clouds

I maintained my pleasant mood up until I checked Wu Miao’s grade four results; up until I discovered she had failed again. Looking at her poor grades, the anger inside me surged once more. I rushed into her room and found her curled up on the bed, enjoying a book with a brightly colored cover. She became startled when she saw me come in; intuitively, she tucked the book under her blanket. I grabbed the book and let out a bitter smile when I saw the cover.

The title of the book was pretentious and nauseating, while the author’s name was Qi Zhu. Thanks to Wu Miao, even I knew about this woman. On one occasion, Wu Miao had even tried to put up the case that this writer was a ‘god-level writer’. I felt dubious about it at that time, so I gave it a read. I stopped after a few pages because the book was all about mushy romance and overt displays of affection.

I should have known that Wu Miao would be hiding in her room reading her books. A nineteen-year-old like her would definitely lose interest in studying when she was reading this poison every day.

For a family like ours, we do not have the luxury of not working hard or studying hard.

With a stern look on my face, I turned and walked out. Realizing she was in trouble, Wu Miao quickly chased after me.

I never thought she would run into me while I was chastising a sobbing Wu Miao.

I saw her there the instant I turned my head. At that moment, a trace of regret cropped up in my mind. I never wanted outsiders to witness our family disputes, nor did I want her to see this.

I was speechless.

She had a strange look in her eyes as she looked at the book on the ground.

When she finally lifted her gaze to look at me, her lips curled into a sneer. After giving me a dirty look, she walked away.

I had no clue why she became angry. Perhaps she had misunderstood my relationship with Wu Miao?

After returning to the room, Wu Miao stopped crying. She sat in front of the table and started to recite her grade four vocabulary. She even poured me some water. I knew she was worried about me and was trying to curry favor with me. So with my voice strained, I said, “Didn’t you want to go hang out at the bar? I’ll bring you there after dinner.”

“Alright. Thank you, big brother,” she replied softly.

Even though my mood was mellow, I suddenly felt stuffy, so I left her room without saying anything.

The sun leaned close to the west, and it was almost time for my date with that girl. I sat at my desk, thinking about her expression at that time. She had even changed into a very beautiful dress. Was it for our date? I could not focus on my work anymore. I saw the clean glass ashtray on the table; I did not smoke. I picked it up casually; then I went to the balcony.

I gently tapped it against the metal railing outside. I knew she would hear the clear and rhythmic ‘clings’.

Sure enough, soon after, she came out angrily.

She questioned me, “What are you tapping at?”

I felt the urge to laugh when I saw how pissed she was. But I soon noticed that she had changed out from that beautiful dress and was instead wearing an old white T-shirt, shorts, and slippers.

Evidently, she had changed her mind about having dinner with me.

I stared at her and asked, “Why did you change?”

Bemused transiently, she probably had not expected me to ask about this. With eyes wide open, she asked, “What’s it to you?”

As though a different person, she was no longer kind and considerate. She became thorny, pricking my bewitched heart to its senses.

I tried to clarify. “Did you misunderstand something? The girl just now was not my…”

Right then, she glanced at me as if she was contemplating something. She seemingly knew what I wanted to explain, but she did not give me a chance to. Soon, she spoke with confidence, “Judging from the position of the calluses on your finger, I can tell that you write a lot. The wet ink on your wrist was from mathematical calculations. Typical engineering. Not forgetting to work on your vacation, what an abnormal person.”

I became dumbfounded. She is… observing and analyzing me?