Looking Up

He searched the entire first floor and was about to go up to the second floor when he found her at the stairwell window.

A person, thin and small, stood quietly, seemingly lost in thought, without moving an inch.

Yan Xu turned his head, and his body faced him as well.

She stood at the corner of the stairs, while he stood in the middle.

She was on top, and he was on the bottom.

Their eyes met, but it was as if they weren't. Yan Xu's gaze was empty and lifeless, his face dull and devoid of any spirit.

She was no longer just dejected, but stiff, as if she wouldn't show any expression even if she jumped off a building.

That's what makes it scary.

Shen Yi took firm but slow steps, climbing the steps one at a time, slowly approaching her.

He tentatively called her name: "Yan Xu?"

Yan Xu heard it, but she couldn't react, as if she was trapped in some kind of emotion.

Seeing her like this, Shen Yi felt a dull ache in his heart, and his chest felt like it was being crushed by a stone, making it hard to breathe.

She was such a nice girl, how did she end up looking like this?

Yan Xu's dull eyes gradually lifted as he continued to walk upwards.

How come this man encountered her when she lost control of her emotions?

But she no longer had the strength to refuse him; she didn't even have the strength to open her mouth and speak.

They shouldn't have done that.

Shen Yi should stay away from her.

Lost in thought for a moment, Shen Yi had already walked up to her, bent down to meet her gaze, and curled his lips: "How come you look so good even with a sullen face? How do you do it? Teach me."

"..."

They're never serious.

This time Yan Xu reacted, glaring at him before turning back to face him sideways, but still didn't say anything.

How come I never noticed before that he was so glib and smooth-talking?

"Hey." Shen Yi stood behind her, bent down and whispered in her ear, "Are you standing here as punishment? Or should I add you to the list?"

Yan Xu kept his mouth tightly shut.

Shen Yi, contrary to his usual self, started talking: "I've never been hit before, but I've been scolded a few times because I pulled up all the flowers my mom was growing and then took the petals to soak in the bath. My mom started scolding me for being stupid, and after she finished scolding me, she asked me why I took them to soak in the bath."

Do you know what kind of flower I picked?

Yan Xu turned her head this time, her eyes filled with curiosity. Because of her turning her head, the distance between the two of them was only about ten centimeters.

"Cough cough!" Shen Yi scratched the tip of his nose, straightened up unnaturally, and his burning ears betrayed him.

Yan Xu frowned, somewhat impatiently: "You haven't finished speaking yet."

Shen Yi sighed, "Ugh, it's chive blossoms. After taking a bath, I feel like I'm being pickled."

For a fleeting moment, Yan Xu's lips curled into a rare smile, but he quickly returned to normal.

Yan Xu said seriously, "Then you really are stupid."

"..."

After a back-and-forth conversation, Yan Xu quickly pulled himself out of his emotional turmoil, and at least felt much more relaxed.

"Shen Yi, thank you." It seemed like she was always thanking him.

Shen Yi accepted: "Yes, you're welcome."

The two stood by the window again, but this time he quietly accompanied her as they looked out.

The openwork window in the stairwell is like a picture frame, and the photo inside shows Yan Xu and Shen Yi looking into the distance.

The venue for the Torch Festival activities.

Yan Yan leaned against the door and window with one hand, watching the people below come and go.

"I don't know what's so fun about this! It's boring." She rolled her eyes at the tourists below, sat back down inside to drink tea, and said, "If my sister hadn't run away, I could have played with her for a while."

After saying that, his eyes revealed a sinister look.

The young man sitting opposite her, wearing a baseball cap, asked, "Still haven't found it?"

Yan Yan sighed dramatically, "No, my dear sister, please don't let anything happen to you, or I, your younger sister, will be very sad."

She and Yan Xu had somewhat similar faces, but their personalities were completely different.

One is a towering, unapproachable mountain flower, while the other is a roadside weed that sways whenever it sees someone.

The man picked up his teacup, took a sip of tea, and remained silent.

Seeing his reaction, Yan Yan remained silent.

......

Two hours passed.

Yan Xuzhen stood there as if he were being punished, as if he had often been punished before, without feeling tired at all. On the contrary, Shen Yi, a grown man, couldn't take it anymore.

His calves were sore and swollen, so he sat on the steps and rubbed them. "Why don't you go sit at the front desk? What if a customer is looking for you and you can't find them?"

After the guests were moved out of the guesthouse, Yan Xu finally agreed to move.

"Let's go." Yan Xu was fine going down the stairs, but he couldn't get any strength in his legs and could only walk down by holding onto the railing.

He secretly vowed to himself: I will never accompany you again...

He sent it halfway and then changed his mind.

Never mind, I'll stay with her.

As long as you can use your third leg, that's fine.

In the evening, the bonfire party of the Torch Festival began, and the enthusiasm of the tourists soared.

In contrast, Zhenyunxuan was deserted; not a single tourist passed by, as everyone had gone to the bonfire party.

Yan Xu advised him, "You should go too; it's a rare opportunity to participate."

There's no need to stay here with her.

Shen Yi said in a low voice, "I don't like crowds."

Yan Xu: "Then forget I said anything."

Shen Yi: "Okay."

"..."

"Whoosh—" Shen Yi received a message: [The fireworks show is about to begin.]

Shen Yi curled the corners of his lips and faced the sky outside: "The fireworks show is about to begin."

Yan Xu coldly replied, "I advised you to go, but you refused. You can't see the fireworks show from here."

Based on the direction, the fireworks show should be located to the right of Zhenyun Pavilion, but the main entrance faces south, so it cannot be seen.

Shen Yi ignored what she said, pushed her directly to the doorstep, and said gently, "Look up."

"Three, two, one."

Sudden.

A sharp "whoosh" pierced the sky.

Yan Xu looked up and saw colorful fireworks scattering like stars in the sunset, dazzling and spectacular.

What a nice view.

A beauty that cannot be expressed in words.

The orange-red sunset originally carried a sense of melancholy, but the fleeting fireworks transformed it into a romantic spectacle.

Human romance and nature's romance overlap at this moment.

Then fireworks rose into the sky one after another, so beautiful that she couldn't take her eyes off them.

Yan Xu couldn't help but exclaim, "So beautiful!"

They fell like shooting stars, clusters of tiny, shimmering lights as they plummeted downwards.

Shen Yi stood beside her, silently watching her, and mimicked her tilting her head back in admiration: "Yes, very beautiful."

She is very pretty.

Yan Xu is very beautiful.

It's more beautiful than fireworks or a sunset.

"But why was the fireworks show suddenly moved to a different location? I didn't get any notification," Yan Xu said, puzzled. "How did you know?"

Shen Yi remained calm and composed: "That's called connections."

Yan Xu raised an eyebrow, looking quite smug.

"I'm pretty lucky, I was able to see it right at the entrance." Yan Xu, who rarely sees fireworks, was in an unusually good mood, and even talking about the past was less gloomy. "I've never had my own fireworks display, but my sister has one every year. My dad would set them off for her, a lot of them, on her birthday."

What do you call this? Same father, different fate.

"This fireworks display is just for you," Shen Yi said, tilting his head back. "So you'll have your own fireworks display from now on, and it'll definitely be prettier than your sister's."

Because the fireworks used this time were a newly developed, one-of-a-kind product, and the production process was too complicated, there was only one box available, and once it was used up, that was it.

"You can't say that," Yan Xu corrected him. "This is a fireworks show specially prepared for the Torch Festival. Just because it happens to be visible from the shop entrance doesn't mean it's yours. That's just deceiving yourself."

"Yes, it's precisely because it's right in front of the store and we happen to be standing in the best viewing spot that this fireworks display can only be yours."

Because there aren't that many that are exactly right.

As for the others who saw it... consider them spectators.

Yan Xu couldn't explain it to him; let him say whatever he wanted.

Messages kept coming in the Zhenyunxuan group.

Xiao Tong: [Sister Yan Xu, did you see the fireworks? I just heard from the staff that they changed the location of the fireworks display because they were worried about accidents. I wish I had gone back to Zhenyun Pavilion.]

Xiaotong: [I missed it, I'm so sad, sob sob.]

Yan Zheng comforted her: "These fireworks were originally sponsored by the organizers; it's good enough that they were even able to set them off."

Aunt Chen: [I just saw it at home, I'll send you a picture.]

Next up were the fireworks photos taken by Aunt Chen, which were beautiful, but the angle wasn't as good as Yan Xu's.

Yan Xu typed into the chat box: 【Everyone starts work at 2 PM tomorrow, have fun!】

Yan Zheng: [Wow!! Thank you, boss!]

Xiao Tong: [The most conscientious boss of the 21st century, bar none. Love you, Sister Yan Xu, mwah~]

Aunt Chen is still using her "Blooming Flowers and Wealth" emoji set.

Everyone in the group was very happy.

She's happy today too.

"Shen Yi." This time, Yan Xu looked up at him.

Unlike fireworks, Shen Yi wasn't unattainable. He would bend down to look her in the eye, his gaze gentle: "What's wrong?"

Yan Xu calmly asked, "What were you doing when you went out around 10 PM last night?"

"..." Shen Yi suddenly stood up straight, feeling a sense of panic as if he had been caught doing something sneaky. He pointed to the sky and said, "He probably went to set off fireworks while sleepwalking."

fine.

Yan Xu did not ask any further questions.