When Bright Moon Encounter the Dark Clouds

——Tan Jiao——

I opened my eyes abruptly to find myself lying on my sofa at home.

My brain froze.

I recall hearing the rain tapping away at the window and could even feel the chilliness of a rainy night. However, the familiarity I felt reminded me of where I am—the room, the sofa, and the cupboard.

After I sat up and drank some hot water I poured from my thermal flask, the sensations I felt gradually seemed real.

So I took a nap just now and dreamed about the trip from a few weeks ago? Yet, the dream felt extremely real, down to every little detail. Every word I said and all the sensations I felt were still fresh in my memory. Even the sensation of the fine-sand-textured curtains on the balcony lingered on my fingertips.

I looked up at the clock and saw that it was only ten something in the morning. Leaning on the railing of my balcony while basking in the sun, my heart calmed down as I thought to myself, This shouldn’t be. I never met up with that guy after having that heated argument on the first day of boarding that ship. Nor did I contact him after the trip.Like a floating cloud, he vanished without a leaving trace. So why would I have this dream that left a deep impression?

I went back to the living room, turned on my computer, and shared my doubts with my best friend, Zhuang Yu.

Zhuang Yu, whose real name was Zhou Xiaoyu, was also a web novel author. Zhuang Yu was famous for her thriller science fiction stories on the internet. We both stayed in the city of Dali, but she was younger than me and was still in college. Our friendship was perfectly harmonious, and our thoughts were always synchronized. There was nothing we could not talk about when we were together.

I asked her, “Yu’er. Why did I dream about that ship and him?”

Zhuang Yu replied, “The identity is not important. The fact is you dreamt about a guy.”

Zhuang Yu continued, “You’re thirsting for some love, virgin Zhu.”

[TL note: Female lead’s pen name is Qi Zhu.]

I replied calmly, “Hehe… You’re speaking as though you’re not a virgin.”

“... Why are we in for a tit-for-tat?”

“Hahaha, blame it on our hollow writer hearts.”

After making an appointment with Zhuang Yu for lunch tomorrow, she went offline to continue with her studies. As for me, I went on the net for news articles as usual; this was one of the ways I found inspiration.

Living in the city center, I stayed alone in an apartment that I paid the down payment for using all the money I received from my best-seller last year. (In fact, it was the book that that jerk threw to the ground).

I slept until I woke up naturally, and then I went for a stroll downstairs to look for food. That was my daily life. I work at home during the day: reading, researching for materials, or writing. In the evening or on the weekend, I would go shopping or have dinner with my friends. Sometimes, I would simply stay at home all day and play games. As for trips like last time on the ship, it would depend on my mood. When I have an impulse, I might just sign up for a trip and go on vacation.

That was why it was not completely unreasonable to say that people like us were empty and thirsty for love.

A netizen exposed that the son of a wealthy man was caught during an anti-pornography operation. I lost interest after taking a brief look at the photo of the young master; not only was he ugly, but he was also old-fashioned.

According to a public account, a murder case allegedly occurred in a small neighborhood in the city a few days ago. The victim, who died a gruesome death, was a woman in her forties, and there were even signs of sexual assault. My curiosity aroused, I took a look at the blurry photo of the victim; it showed a corpse covered in numerous wounds of unknown cause. It was rather terrifying.

However, a netizen swiftly came out with a logical explanation, claiming that the photo was photoshopped. Others were even trying to scare people by saying that this was not the first case, but rather a series of homicides. They claimed that a man in his thirties had died similarly; they even posted his name and workplace. Yet, another netizen came out strongly saying, “Bullshit! XX and I were colleagues working in the same company. He died in a car crash…”

That was how news on the internet was—a mixture of truth and falsehood that left everyone intoxicated. With my daily consumption of such food for thought, it is no wonder that I am unable to find a boyfriend.