Chapter 12: Dawn

Ye Yinyin felt that even ten years from now, whenever she remembered this scene, she would still burst out laughing.

When she picked up Zhou Mo by the roadside, the young lady of the Zhou family was holding a paring knife in one hand and a sketchpad in the other. A layer of wet oil paint was smeared across her light-colored sweater, her pretty face was a tear-stained palette of colors, and she reeked of turpentine. Squatting on the ground, she called out in a trembling voice, “Yinyin…”

If she hadn’t been afraid of getting beaten up, Ye Yinyin would have loved to whip out her phone and take a picture of this intensely memorable moment.

Ye Yinyin stepped forward to help Zhou Mo up, snatched the paring knife from her hand, and tossed it onto the ground.

Zhou Mo looked at her through tear-filled eyes. “Is He Chong okay?”

“He’s hurt pretty badly, but he’s out of danger now. Do you want to go straight to the hospital, or change your clothes first?”

Zhou Mo hiccuped through her tears. “The hospital.”

Ye Yinyin couldn’t stop laughing. She pulled a tissue from her bag and wiped Zhou Mo’s face. “Momo, how are you so adorable?”

At three in the morning, the hospital was dead quiet. Ye Yinyin led Zhou Mo to a stop outside the ward door, softly turned the handle, and pushed it open.

It was a three-bed room, and everyone inside was asleep. Ye Yinyin pointed to the bed farthest inside by the window and whispered, “He Chong is sleeping over there.”

Zhou Mo started to head inside without a word, but Ye Yinyin grabbed her back.

Ye Yinyin slid out the sketchpad Zhou Mo was still tightly clutching under her arm. “Don’t bring this inside. The smell is too strong.”

The lights in the room were off. By the moonlight filtering through the window, Zhou Mo looked at He Chong fast asleep on the bed, his head wrapped in bandages, and tears welled up again.

Ye Yinyin set the sketchpad down in the hallway outside, stepped back in, and gently tugged Zhou Mo’s hand. “Come to my place to shower and change,” she whispered. “You can come back tomorrow morning.”

Zhou Mo shook her head and choked back a sob. “I want to stay with him.”

Ye Yinyin thought for a moment, then slipped off her coat and draped it over Zhou Mo’s shoulders. “Then take care not to catch a cold. I’ll come back with Han Yu first thing tomorrow morning and bring you both breakfast.”

Closing the ward door, Zhou Mo pulled a chair over and sat down beside the bed. Lifting a corner of the blanket, she slid her hand underneath and tightly gripped He Chong’s hand.

His hand was dry and warm. She bowed her head like a devout believer, pressing her cheek against his palm.

In her memory, she had never seen He Chong like this. He had always been untamed, always free, coming and going like the wind. Yet now he lay here, breathing steadily and completely defenseless, looking as if anyone could easily hurt him.

Her nerves, strung tight all night, gradually relaxed. Resting her head on his palm, Zhou Mo leaned against the edge of the bed and slowly drifted off to sleep.

She didn’t know how much time had passed when his hand pulled back slightly, instantly startling Zhou Mo awake.

But it was only an involuntary movement; He Chong hadn’t woken up. Zhou Mo got up and pulled aside the curtain to look outside. The sky showed faint glimmers of light through a hazy fog. Dawn wasn’t far off.

Zhou Mo went to the ward’s restroom to wash her face, then came back and sat down by the bed. No longer sleepy, she sat in the chair as the morning quiet was gradually filled with coughing, footsteps, and chatter.

After a while, He Chong suddenly let out a soft groan.

Zhou Rong’s heart caught in her throat. She saw He Chong knit his brows, open his eyes briefly, close them again, and open them once more a moment later. His gaze drifted before finally landing on Zhou Mo’s face.

Their eyes met.

“You’re awake,” Zhou Mo said, her voice choked with emotion.

He Chong stared at her for a long time, then suddenly looked utterly confused. “Who are you?”

Zhou Mo froze.

What was going on? Had a severe head injury caused memory loss?

Countless scenes flashed through her mind, all of them cliché movie tropes. Overwhelmed by a sudden surge of grievance and panic, she hurriedly grabbed He Chong’s hand. But before she could even ask, “Don’t you remember me?”, He Chong spoke again.

He said, “Is that my dirty little girl?”

Zhou Mo froze again, then burst into laughter through her tears. Swatting him in a mix of amusement and anger, she snapped, “Are you crazy?!”

“Of course I’m sick. Why else would I be lying in a hospital?”

He Chong laughed along with her. Reaching out, he caught Zhou Mo’s hand. His eyes, weathered by recent storms, gazed quietly at her, as if all words had suddenly become unnecessary.

Under his gaze, a lump formed in Zhou Mo’s throat. Her lips quivered, and she burst out crying. Afraid of disturbing the patient in the neighboring bed, she quickly ducked her head, burying her face in the blanket.

He Chong raised his hand, cradling her head to gently lift her face back up. “Don’t cry. I’m okay.”

Zhou Mo looked at him, tears rolling down her cheeks in heavy drops. “I’m sorry. It was my dad and Aunt Gu…” He smiled and said, “It’s been so long since we last saw each other. Aren’t you going to give me a hug?”

Zhou Mo pulled her chair closer, resting her head on He Chong’s chest over the blanket.

He Chong stroked her soft hair, unable to hold back a long sigh.

How long had it been since they last saw each other? Counting carefully, it hadn’t actually been that long, yet it felt like a lifetime ago. Last night, fighting one against eight, he was ultimately no match for that gang of thugs. In the end, a club struck him on the head, his vision went dark, and he crashed to the ground. Before closing his eyes, he saw the moon come out in the sky, its cold, clear light like a thin layer of frost.

At that moment, every regret in his heart had been about Zhou Mo.

He never expected that upon opening his eyes, the very first person he would see was the girl he longed for day and night. For a moment, he thought he was dreaming. Only now, feeling her real, tangible touch, could his heart finally settle back into his chest. He was still alive.

After holding her for a long time, He Chong asked, “How did you manage to get yourself looking so disheveled?”

Zhou Mo looked up at him. “I heard my dad and Aunt Gu talking about setting you up, so I had a huge fight with them!” She sounded remarkably proud of herself.

He Chong let out a laugh. “And then?”

“And then I grabbed my paintings and came out to find you.”

“Then the stuff on your…”

“The paint wasn’t dry yet, so it rubbed off on me.”

At that, He Chong couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst into laughter, only reining it in a bit when he pulled at his wounds.

“You really are silly.”

Zhou Mo glared at him. “You’re the silly one.”

She stood up and asked him, “Are you thirsty? Hungry? Are you in pain?”

“Now that I’ve seen you, I’m not thirsty, hungry, or in pain anymore. Isn’t that amazing?”

Even though she knew it was sweet talk, Zhou Mo still enjoyed hearing it. She smiled, tucked He Chong’s hand back under the blanket, poured him a cup of warm water, fed him half of it, and then sat back down to continue talking.

“I really didn’t expect my dad and Aunt Gu to do something like this.” Zhou Mo was still shocked and angry about the conversation she had overheard last night. It had practically shattered her understanding of how ugly human nature could be. “My dad might be strict, but I never thought he was a bad person.”

He Chong grabbed her hand and gave it a firm squeeze. “Human nature is complex. Even though your father did something like this, he still can’t simply be called a ‘bad person.’ The line between good and bad isn’t always so clear.”

“But I would never do something like that.”

He Chong gazed at her. “Do you know what ‘pure’ really means? Being pure doesn’t mean knowing less; it means knowing a lot while holding fast to even more. So, my little girl is a pure person. I’ve known that ever since the day you stood by my side without hesitation when I was still a complete stranger to you.”

He seemed to naturally know how to soothe her and make her happy. Hearing his words, she instantly didn’t feel so sad anymore.

By full daylight, the inpatient department resumed its daily operations and gradually grew lively. A nurse came by to perform the routine daily check.

Before long, Han Yu and Ye Yinyin arrived as well.

Seeing He Chong looking so full of energy, Han Yu couldn’t help teasing him, “Yesterday when we brought you to the hospital, you looked half-dead. How are you alive and kicking again so soon?”

For once, He Chong didn’t bicker back. “I have to thank Boss Zhou for running around taking care of me all night.”

Han Yu was startled, then laughed. “Yo, ivory actually coming out of a dog’s mouth^[1]? Now that’s a rare sight.”

“There’s something I need to ask you two to help me with right now.”

Hearing that she was included too, Ye Yinyin hurriedly asked, “What is it?”

He Chong jerked his chin toward Zhou Mo, who was standing to the side looking exhausted. “Help me take my family back to get some rest.”

Zhou Mo quickly said, “I’m fine, I’m not sleepy!”

“Be good. Go get some sleep and change your clothes. I’m right here; it’s not like I’m going to run away.”

Ye Yinyin took Zhou Mo’s hand. “Go rest first. Boss He’s in serious shape, so if you want to take care of him, trust me, you’ll have plenty of chances.”

After some persuasion, Zhou Mo finally agreed to rest at Ye Yinyin’s place for a bit, leaving Han Yu behind to keep watch by his bed.

Han Yu stared at the hanging IV bag and suddenly said, “Old He, this is the second time I’ve looked after you like this, isn’t it? You must have dug up the ancestral grave of some rich family’s young lady to take such a brutal fall both times.”

He Chong smiled and said, “If Boss Han ever ends up in the hospital, I’ll be sure to wait on you hand and foot, too.”

“Pah, pah, pah! Who are you saying is getting hospitalized?”

Han Yu pulled back a chair, sat down with his legs crossed, and looked at He Chong. “Yinyin told me that when she met up with Zhou Mo last night, Zhou Mo was in a terrible state, holding her drawing board, carrying a knife, crying her eyes out. I realized that even though I’ve known the two of you for a long time, I still underestimated you, and I underestimated Zhou Mo too.”

Picturing that scene, He Chong felt a sudden tight pang in his heart. “This time I really didn’t do anything. She did it all on her own.”

“Without a Liu Mengmei like you, how could Du Liniang^[2] be coaxed into wandering the garden and having her dream?”

“Why doesn’t that sound like a compliment?”

“Without a Liang Shanbo^[3] like you, how could Zhu Yingtai be coaxed into dying for love and turning into a butterfly? Oh, wait, that sounds even worse.”

He Chong: “…”

“Anyway, you get the point. You don’t need to worry so much. This young lady of the Zhou family really isn’t as fragile as everyone thought.”

At noon, a well-rested Zhou Mo returned to the ward and took over Han Yu’s shift.

Zhou Mo patiently brought He Chong tea and water, chatted with him, and even went downstairs to buy a box of strawberries, which she washed clean and fed to He Chong.

Having never experienced such meticulous care, He Chong couldn’t help but smile and say, “I didn’t know you were so good at taking care of people.”

“I learned it from you.”

“Really? Did I teach you?”

“Of course you did. Don’t you peel apples really well?” Zhou Mo shot him a look.

He Chong burst out laughing.

Zhou Mo moved her stool closer to him. “He Chong, I want you to meet someone.”

“As long as it’s not your dad, I’m fine meeting anyone right now. How could we ever have a normal relationship with a father-in-law anyway?”

Zhou Mo glared at him. “In your dreams! I’ve already run away from home, so how could you possibly expect a normal father-in-law?”

He Chong’s heart stirred slightly. Thinking back to what Han Yu had said that morning, he reached out and took Zhou Mo’s hand in his. “How did you manage to run away?”

Zhou Mo lowered her eyes. “Only now do I understand that being obedient and playing nice is completely useless. If you don’t fight, you’ll never get what you want. Just like you said, you can’t take me anywhere. The only person who can do that is me.”

“Have you thought about what to do next?”

“I have,” Zhou Mo said with a firm expression. “I won’t be going home for now. I’ve already found what I want to do, and no one can stop me.”

He Chong felt deeply relieved. “I was thinking that if we couldn’t figure out any other way to solve this, I’d just have to learn from those before us and elope with you. But this is even better…”

“Elope? Elope to where?” Zhou Mo’s eyes lit up.

He Chong raised an eyebrow. “You want to elope with me that badly?”

“We artists are always a bit rebellious.”

He Chong couldn’t stop laughing.

Toward evening, the person Zhou Mo wanted He Chong to meet, Duan Yongzhou, came to visit the hospital. He even brought a fruit basket, impeccably polite.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Duan Yongzhou asked Zhou Mo softly, “Could I speak with Mr. He alone for a moment?”

Zhou Mo nodded, squeezed He Chong’s hand, and stood up to leave the ward.

Duan Yongzhou walked over to the window, opened it a crack, coughed twice, and then turned back to face He Chong. “Mr. He, my main purpose for coming today is to talk with you about a potential partnership between my family’s business and your garment factory. Part of our business involves fast fashion, and this year we intend to expand production. We’ll be setting aside a substantial amount of capital to establish or merge production lines with garment factories. If you’re interested, we can discuss the details.”

He Chong had investigated Duan Yongzhou because of Zhou Mo, but had never actually met him. The two were complete strangers, so He Chong didn’t believe Duan Yongzhou had stumbled upon his garment factory by pure coincidence. If it wasn’t a coincidence, then…

“What kind of agreement did Zhou Mo reach with you?”

“She signed with my art investment company. I’m going to turn her into a professional painter.”

He Chong paused, remembering Zhou Mo had once told him that she didn’t like painting under constraints.

“Was she willing?”

“Admittedly, part of the reason was to help you, but it was mostly her own choice to walk this path.”

He Chong fell silent.

Duan Yongzhou understood his thoughts clearly. “I don’t believe relying on the help of friends or loved ones is anything to be ashamed of. Zhou Mo cares for you deeply. This comes from her heart.”

Over the years, He Chong had grown accustomed to going it alone. No matter how big the problem, he was used to solving it by himself. But when walking alone, there were bound to be times when the road ahead felt long and hard.

Duan Yongzhou added, “Although we’ve never met before, I’ve heard about what you’ve been through. Striking a rock with an egg; I would rather stand on the side of the egg. This is my own gesture.”

Duan Yongzhou’s words were airtight, leaving He Chong no room to refuse. Even setting aside all personal connections, partnering with the Duan Family would naturally be a hundred times better than his old days of worrying night and day about canceled orders, returned goods, and cutthroat competition.

He Chong smiled. “Alright, I’m willing to discuss the details.”

Zhou Mo walked in from outside, saw Duan Yongzhou downstairs to the entrance of the hospital, and then returned to the ward.

She was wearing Ye Yinyin’s clothes: a Klein blue trench coat with high color saturation that was strikingly vivid, making her look bright and lively.

He remembered how, not long ago, he had questioned whether she had truly thought through a life of luxury bound by heavy constraints. Yet in the blink of an eye, while he was overwhelmed with his own troubles and had not been watching, she had quietly transformed, standing graceful and mature.

His mood was unexpectedly like the joy of watching a daughter grow into her own.

He Chong reached out his hand to her. “Come here.”

Zhou Mo took two steps forward and placed her hand in his.

He Chong clasped her fingers, gently swaying them, and smiled with mock seriousness. “Little girl, don’t forget me when you strike it rich^[4].”

Zhou Mo shuttled back and forth between the hospital and the university, all while needing to complete the paintings for Duan Yongzhou. Yet she did not feel tired at all, spinning around happily like a little top.

Around noon that day, after finishing class, she was just about to go to the hospital to see He Chong when she stepped out of the academic building, only to be blocked by Tang Shulan.

Tang Shulan was wearing a gray skirt suit and sunglasses, looking elegant, sharp, and imperious.

Zhou Mo involuntarily straightened her back, her lips pressed into a tight line.

Tang Shulan looked at her from behind her sunglasses, her voice icy. “Haven’t you made enough of a scene? Are you coming home or not?”

“I’m not going home.”

Tang Shulan measured her up from head to toe. “You certainly excel at causing trouble for everyone around you. Come back with me and apologize to your father and Aunt Gu. You’re not a child anymore, why are you being so…”

Zhou Mo countered coldly, “Why do you think I would apologize this time for something I didn’t do wrong?”

“Because you eat my food and use my money! Because I raised you for twenty years!”

“I won’t spend another cent of the Zhou family’s money.”

Tang Shulan scoffed, took off her sunglasses, and looked at Zhou Mo with disdain. “If you don’t spend the Zhou family’s money, whose money do you plan to spend? He Chong’s? Relying on your family first and then on a man, with so little ambition, why pretend to run away from home?”

Zhou Mo’s lips trembled with anger. She realized arguing with Tang Shulan was completely pointless. Tang Shulan was forever arrogant, forever prejudiced, and would never try to understand the actual truth.

Clenching her fists, she suppressed the mixture of hurt and anger inside her, turning to leave without any intention of speaking to Tang Shulan further.

How could Tang Shulan let her walk away? She grabbed Zhou Mo’s arm in a vice grip.

Zhou Mo struggled twice, casting a cold sideways glance at Tang Shulan. “Are you planning to get physical at school?”

Tang Shulan cared deeply about saving face, so she naturally wouldn’t do something like that. But Zhou Mo’s refusal to cooperate made her grow increasingly irritable. “Be good and come back with me. Otherwise, see if I don’t freeze your credit cards.”

Zhou Mo didn’t care in the slightest. “Suit yourself.”

Tang Shulan choked on her words for a moment, but still suppressed her anger. “Do you really intend to stay with that bastard named He? Zhou Mo, don’t say your mother didn’t warn you. If you get taken for a fool, don’t come running back home crying.”

“If I get deceived, I’ll have no one to blame but myself.”

Tang Shulan finally felt a sense of crisis, a panic born of losing control over Zhou Mo. Today’s Zhou Mo was indeed different from before. Having raised Zhou Mo for twenty years, she had always thought of her as an easy, obedient child, and had never seen such a fierce, resolute side to her character.

“Also, if you keep making trouble for He Chong, I’ll spread what I heard that night to everyone. I mean what I say. You care about saving face, but I don’t.”

“Zhou Mo, I’m giving you one last chance. As long as you apologize to me…”

Zhou Mo didn’t even look at her as she walked away.

Tang Shulan chased after her. “Zhou Mo!”

Zhou Mo stopped in her tracks. “Mom, you might never understand how I feel right now, and I don’t plan on forcing you to. I’m not going back unless you tie me up and lock me away for the rest of my life. And once you lock me up, you’d better not give me a single chance, because I will find a way to escape. I will use every means possible, even if it costs me my life.”

There was a fierce, bridge-burning determination in Zhou Mo’s eyes.

Tang Shulan finally realized that in this conversation, she had suffered a total defeat.

Zhou Mo waited for a moment. Hearing no further sound from Tang Shulan, she withdrew her gaze, thrust her hands into her coat pockets, walked around Tang Shulan, and left without looking back.

After recovering for over a week, He Chong was discharged from the hospital. He freeloaded off Han Yu for another ten days or so until he was mostly healed, then headed back to Yannan Town. It was Saturday, and Zhou Mo went along with him.

The apartment on the second floor of the garage had been vacant for so long that it was covered in dust. Without a word, Zhou Mo rolled up her sleeves, ready to start cleaning.

He Chong hurriedly stopped her. “Hey, your hands aren’t meant for this.” He pulled out his phone, made a call, and hired a housekeeper to come over.

Leaving the work upstairs to the housekeeper for now, He Chong led Zhou Rong downstairs.

He Chong looked around, then suddenly said, “In a little while, come with me to the city to look at houses.” As a man, he was used to roughing it and could make do with anything. But making Zhou Mo suffer in a run-down place like this was out of the question.

Zhou Mo froze for a moment.

He Chong smiled at her. “I can’t let you live in a dump like this with me for the rest of your life.”

If he hadn’t brought it up, she might not have thought of it, but his words reminded Zhou Mo of how he had tricked her into thinking he was just a mechanic, and she couldn’t help bringing up old scores.

He Chong chuckled and said, “Did I lie to you? At most, I just didn’t deny it. I always thought it was fun and didn’t want to spoil it, so I could use it to tease you every now and then.”

“Was it fun?”

“Pretty fun, yeah,” He Chong said, grinning broadly. “While we’re at it, why don’t you figure out how much you owe me, your hourly worker?”

Zhou Mo declared with complete confidence, “I’m not the young lady of the Zhou family anymore. I can’t afford your wages!”

“Ah,” He Chong feigned deep sorrow. “I knew it. Sooner or later, I’d end up with unpaid wages and nowhere to appeal.”

Whenever the two of them chatted, they bantered back and forth like a volley in a volleyball match, as long as neither stopped.

He Chong looked at Zhou Mo, his expression suddenly turning serious. “Seriously though, I’m not getting any younger. It’s about time I settled down and built a home in Xicheng.”

“But I… I’m not even twenty-one yet. Getting married now…”

He Chong laughed out loud. “In a few years, once you’ve seen more of the world, who knows if you’ll still want to stay with me.”

“Then what will you do if I abandon you?”

“What else can I do? I’ll just have to put up a banner and sit in protest outside your art academy’s gates.”

Zhou Mo laughed. “Can you be serious for once?”

“I’m seriously waiting for the day Miss Zhou Mo matures, grows up, and achieves success in her career.”

“That’s still a long way off. I only have this much money on me right now,” Zhou Mo gestured a number to him. “I have to pay rent and cover my daily expenses. I’m so stressed.”

He Chong raised an eyebrow. “You don’t sound stressed at all. You sound eager to take on the world.” Zhou Mo giggled.

“Don’t worry, don’t you still have me?” He Chong reached out and pulled her into his arms. “Even though I’m just a poor mechanic, providing for my girl won’t be a problem at all.”

“I don’t need you to support me. I’m going to become a great painter.”

He Chong smiled and said, “Then when your net worth hits hundreds of millions, remember to settle the wages you owe me.”

After cleaning the house in the morning, the two of them went out shopping in the afternoon. He Chong took Zhou Mo to the town’s largest supermarket. She eagerly browsed and picked out a bunch of seemingly useless items, but he didn’t stop her, letting her have her way.

Back at the repair yard, Zhou Mo unpacked everything she had bought: a beautiful matching tea set, a light-blue wide-mouthed vase with no flowers to put in it, air fresheners in every scent because she couldn’t decide which one she liked best, and a whack-a-mole toy. Zhou Mo spent the entire afternoon playing whack-a-mole.

In the evening, He Chong took Zhou Mo out to dinner. Under the orange-red glow of the setting sun, the bustling street exuded an intoxicating warmth of everyday life.

For the first twenty years of her life, her existence had been exquisite, neat, and orderly, but also dull, stifling, and devoid of change.

Only after meeting He Chong did she realize she didn’t dislike the life her parents had described as “dirty and noisy,” the life of so-called “lower-class people.” Not only did she not dislike it, but she was also filled with an endless enthusiasm for exploring it.

After dinner, they returned to the repair yard, and Zhou Mo took a shower first. She had long hair, which took a while to dry after washing.

While He Chong was taking a shower, Zhou Mo took out the toy and played whack-a-mole for a bit longer.

When He Chong came out from his shower, he found that she had put the candles she bought at the supermarket to use. She had lit two of them along the edge of the coffee table and was squatting beside it, completely immersed in her game of whack-a-mole.

He Chong handed her a dry towel. “Dry your hair a bit more. The lights are on, so why did you light candles?”

“These candles smell really nice. If you think it’s wasting electricity, you can just turn off the lights.”

He Chong actually turned off the lights.

Zhou Mo paused, only then realizing that the atmosphere had shifted. With the lights off, the subtle fragrance from the candles seemed even stronger than before, their flames flickering gently. He Chong looked down at her with a half-smile.

She quickly buried her face in her arms.

He Chong didn’t come over, but instead sat down on the sofa and asked her, “Are you cold? Do you want to put on one of my jackets?”

Zhou Mo shook her head.

He Chong glanced at her. “Aren’t your legs tired from squatting like that?”

Zhou Mo hesitated for a moment before getting up to sit beside He Chong. The moment she caught the damp scent of body wash lingering on him, her heart accelerated. Terrified that He Chong might notice, her hands moved even faster across the toy. Yet the little moles still kept popping up from their holes, one after another.

She heard He Chong chuckle softly.

Zhou Mo found the atmosphere almost unbearable, her heart racing uncontrollably. Racking her brain for a topic, she blurted out, “Can you tell me about you and Qin Xi?” The moment the words left her mouth, she immediately regretted it enough to bite her own tongue off.

Yet He Chong’s expression remained calm. “Do you want to hear it? If you do, I’ll tell you.”

Zhou Mo shook her head. “I guess I don’t really want to know that much. After all, it’s all in the past.”

He Chong fell silent for a few seconds before reaching out and taking the whack-a-mole toy from her hands. Grasping her hand, he pulled her closer to him. “It’s all in the past.” He leaned in toward Zhou Mo, caught sight of her eyelashes trembling slightly from nervousness, and lowered his head to kiss her.

The kiss began gently before turning rough, almost possessive. He Chong pressed his hand against her back, pulling her tightly into his embrace. Her body melted like water, her arms wrapping around his neck in gentle submission. A restless urge burned intensely in He Chong’s chest. His hand gripped her waist, and after several moments of hesitation, he finally pushed her away. Looking at Zhou Mo’s flushed face, he lightly brushed his lips against hers, sighed, and pressed her head back into his chest.

She tilted her head, her half-dry hair falling behind her back.

He Chong lifted her hair and suddenly froze. On her neck was a butterfly with fluttering wings, and looking closer, a character was hidden inside it.

He Chong felt a tickle in his throat. He reached out and gently touched her neck, making her shrink back immediately.

“What is this?”

Zhou Mo blinked slowly. “Does it look good?”

He Chong said nothing more. He lowered his head and pressed a kiss onto the tattoo. He had been ready to let her off, but this tattoo was like a spark igniting a fuse, burning away his very last shred of restraint.

Dimly lit by candlelight, the vast room felt like the deep ocean floor, and Zhou Mo was like a fish trapped in a gentle vortex.

He Chong pulled her completely into his arms, his voice coming softly as if through flowing water: “Don’t be afraid. If you’re scared, look at me.”

She opened her eyes. If you’re scared, look at me. She felt as if a ray of light had pierced the primordial chaos of her heart, and then panic, fear… a rush of tangled emotions and physical pain churned the dark, quiet depths like a wave.

Sky and deep sea inverted, and she was drawn into a deeper storm of restless waters…

“Do you hear singing?” Zhou Mo asked suddenly.

“Is there?”

Zhou Mo propped herself up and pulled the curtain open a crack. Dim daylight seeped in from outside, carrying the distant sound of a song, seemingly an old tune.

He Chong chuckled and pressed her back onto the bed, brushing his lips against her neck. “Are you tired?” he whispered. Her hair was dry now, but her body was slick with sweat.

Zhou Mo’s cheeks burned. She buried her head in the covers, ignoring him.

He Chong pulled her into his arms. His body was hot, like a blazing furnace.

Perhaps he ought to say something at a time like this, he thought, but then felt that rather than words, he would prefer to put his promises directly into action.

In the silence, both of their eyelids grew heavier and heavier until they could no longer resist the heavy waves of sleepiness.

As the night deepened, they slept side by side, ready to welcome the dawn of another spring day.