The pale moonlight

The pale moonlight

Some ideas, once they take root in your mind, are impossible to shake off.

For as long as she waited for the ride-hailing car, Shen Muwei played with her hair, completely unaware of the slightly smug upturned corners of the mouth and the gradually blushing cheeks of the person next to her.

The air conditioning in the car was on full blast, and Shen Muwei, who was wearing hot pants today, felt goosebumps on her long legs from the cold. She unconsciously rubbed her thighs. She didn't tell the driver, since they would soon be arriving at Xiang Zhixing's part-time job.

Xiang Zhixing noticed that he was wearing a white T-shirt with a white short-sleeved shirt over it. He quickly took off his jacket and tossed it to Shen Muwei before saying to the driver, "Sir, could you please turn the air conditioning up a bit? It's a little cold."

The driver glanced at the rearview mirror and saw the girl in the back seat huddled in a corner with a backpack, clearly looking very cold.

"OK."

The driver responded and adjusted the temperature.

Shen Muwei stared blankly at the white shirt on her lap, then turned to him with a smile and said thank you. Without any further ado, she unfolded the shirt and draped it over her lap.

Xiang Zhixing turned his head to look out the window, a smug look on his face, his mind replaying the series of actions he had just performed.

As the car drove through the tunnel, his upturned lips were reflected in the dark car window. If you tilt your head slightly to the side, you can clearly see the girl sitting quietly next to him.

The girl's hair obscured her profile, revealing a small, pert nose. The tunnel lights flickered, and her shadow was enveloped in a luminous, pale, moon-like shadow, blurring her entire figure, making her appear ethereal and dreamlike.

She remained in the same position, hugging her backpack, with his white short-sleeved shirt draped over her legs, the hem of the shirt swaying in the air as the car drove over the speed bumps.

Xiang Zhixing was so engrossed in watching that his eyes were slightly narrowed. Just as the car was about to exit the tunnel, the sky ahead brightened, and the figure became even more ethereal, as if it were about to disappear. So he sat up a little and moved closer to the glass, wanting to look at the figure more unrestrainedly.

Suddenly, the person on the other side of the window turned to look at him, and at that moment, the car drove out of the tunnel.

Since it wasn't fully under winter time, it didn't get dark so quickly, and the street scene was still bright. Soon, the figures on the car windows disappeared from sight.

He remained in his original sitting position for a long time before turning around and sitting properly. Only then did he notice that his phone had received a message from Shen Muwei.

Movie: [Is something evil following us?]

He was momentarily confused, a situation that had been occurring frequently lately. Sometimes, when he got carried away, he would suddenly forget what he had said. Fortunately, he remembered quickly.

So he was about to reply to Shen Muwei with no, but then he changed his mind and said something else.

xzx: [I must have misread it.]

After sending the message, he looked back at Shen Muwei and found her looking at him with concern.

Shen Muwei's phone screen lit up. She looked down at it, then looked up again, and gave him an "OK" sign to indicate that she understood.

The car arrived at its destination quickly.

When I got off the bus, I realized that this area was the old town, and there was construction everywhere. There were still places where work had not ended, and there was a lot of noise from the clattering of bells.

Xiang Zhixing's workplace was surrounded by renovation sites, so cars couldn't drive in and he had to walk there, passing through an old alley.

It's not really that scary here. The current urban planning of Hui City means there are no idle alleys. The goal is to maximize the commercial value of even empty alleys. So, this alley may seem like an unremarkable little lane, but once you step inside, you'll find it's full of surprises.

Inside, there was a small supermarket, restaurants, snack stalls, and jewelry stalls lined up in a long row.

It's only 6 PM now, and we're already seeing the bustling scene of this once-empty alley at night. I can only imagine how lively it will be in the evening.

Shen Muwei is a local of Hui City and knows this alley. She had seen it on the local section of a social media app a while ago, but coming from Hui University requires crossing districts, and besides, there are similar food alleys in the University Town that are more famous, so she didn't think of coming here.

Unexpectedly, by sheer coincidence, she ended up coming with Xiang Zhixing.

She had just been thinking about where she should go to relax if she had to wait for him to get off work, but this turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

She just couldn't understand what was so scary about such an alley. It was full of life and people at night, with lots of yang energy, so she shouldn't be afraid.

But upon closer reflection, he is different from others, after all, what happened before had a profound impact on him.

After passing through the alley, I quickly arrived at the company. Because the surrounding roads were under construction, the place looked quite dilapidated.

Shen Muwei even wondered if this was really a compliant company.

"I'll leave you here then. What time do you get off work? I'll come pick you up."

Xiang Zhixing looked at her and answered seriously, "9:30."

"Okay, I'll be there at 9:30." She checked the time on her phone, estimated the time, and decided to find a restaurant to eat at first, then do some shopping. She figured it should be about time by then.

But after she finished speaking, she didn't leave. She stood there for a while, hesitating about how to ask him for money. Then she thought that usually, he would only pay her after the work was finished.

Thinking this way, I decided it was best not to speak again.

Xiang Zhixing: "Then I'll have to trouble you. If you have any questions, just give me a call and I'll come find you right away."

"You can still come out even though you're at work?" Shen Muwei asked.

"If it's an emergency, the boss will understand. I don't want anything to happen to you because of me."

"He's a nice person," Shen Muwei thought to herself.

"Don't worry, nothing will happen. There are plenty of people outside."

Shen Muwei watched Xiang Zhixing enter the company building before leaving.

She had just passed by a chain of popular stir-fry restaurants. The one in the city center was always packed with people, and she hadn't eaten there for more than half a year. She never expected to run into it here.

There were few people here, so Shen Muwei took a number and waited outside for her number to be called.

As lunchtime approached, the alleyway grew increasingly crowded. Young people, daring in their fashion choices, became a striking sight. Shen Muwei sat at the shop entrance, watching the beautiful women, a slight smile playing on her lips.

She was a little bored, so she simply looked down and played on her phone for a while.

A WeChat message lay quietly on the lock screen. She secretly bet with herself that the message must have been sent by Xiang Zhixing.

Upon unlocking, it was indeed him. There were no other text messages, only a red envelope (digital cash gift).

I clicked on it and saw it was two hundred.

She was stunned.

Just then, someone tapped her on the shoulder. Shen Muwei turned around unintentionally and saw Zhang Wenhao.

After the escape room incident that day, Zhang Wenhao came to ask her about the situation. She didn't reveal the specifics of Xiang Zhixing's actions, only giving a general overview. She resigned because she herself was frightened and had developed psychological trauma.

Zhang Wenhao would occasionally come to chat with her later, but the topics were always just ordinary daily greetings, and he didn't ask any deeper questions, so it didn't annoy her.

"It really is you! I thought I had mistaken you for someone else." Zhang Wenhao's face lit up with surprise.

Shen Muwei casually turned off her phone and smiled at him: "What a coincidence, you're eating here?"

"Yes, my friend and I are eating inside." He said, pointing to a table inside where men and women were looking over.

Zhang Wenhao asked again, "Are you alone?"

"Yes, alone."

"Would you mind if you ate with us? Our dishes haven't been served yet."

Shen Muwei wavered a little. She didn't know how long she would have to wait for a table by herself, but sharing a table with others would be much faster, and she was really a little hungry.

"Won't this bother you and your friends?"

"No, I was initially too embarrassed to come over and acknowledge you, but they asked me to invite you over to eat with us."

Since that was the case, Shen Muwei readily agreed.

Everyone at the table was very friendly to her. When they heard that she was Zhang Wenhao's friend, they called the waiter to bring her an extra set of chopsticks and a new menu and asked her what she wanted to eat. Since everyone had already ordered what she wanted, they didn't add any more dishes.

During our casual conversation, I learned that these people were all students at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), and they were classmates and had a good relationship.

Zhang Wenhao kept a close eye on Shen Muwei, since he was the one who invited her in, and he didn't want her to feel bored.

He talked to her about escape rooms, saying that many escape room levels have been reduced in terms of horror, probably because the owners are afraid of causing any deaths.

Shen Muwei chuckled awkwardly and picked up the water on the table to drink.

Someone nearby said they wanted milk tea, so Zhang Wenhao and another boy stood up to buy it for everyone.

Two people were missing from the table, leaving only three girls and one boy.

The girl next to Shen Muwei had been wearing a gossipy smile ever since Shen Muwei entered the restaurant. Taking advantage of Zhang Wenhao's absence, she asked mysteriously, "What's your relationship with the question mark?"

Shen Muwei thought carefully for a moment and then said seriously, "Former colleague."

This sounds too official, the girl thought, and was taken aback.

Another girl tugged at her arm and gave her a look, telling her not to ask silly questions lest she do something wrong with good intentions, before interrupting to ask her other questions.

The article mentions that the facilities at Hui University are better than those of several surrounding universities, and makes jokes about the university town that are circulating online.

The topic was quickly steered back on track.

The girl who started seemed to want to ask something, but was stopped by the girl next to her.

When Zhang Wenhao returned with the milk tea, Shen Muwei had already become friends with two girls and another boy. She seemed to have a natural ability to quickly become familiar with people.

The food was served, and the six of them ate and chatted until 8 p.m.

As she stepped out of the restaurant, a cool and refreshing breeze blew in her face, instantly snapping Shen Muwei out of her daze. She suddenly remembered that she seemed to have forgotten something, but before she could recall it, the aroma of the barbecue stall made her head spin again.

She must have fainted from carbon monoxide poisoning, she thought.

Overeating is bad, so Shen Muwei didn't buy barbecue. Instead, she bought sweet soup and went shopping and ate with a few other people.

The group was discussing whether they should move back to the university town to play Werewolf or a murder mystery game later.

Shen Muwei had a lot of fun tonight, and nodded with her eyebrows curved, saying, "Okay, okay."

This alley is actually quite long, and time flies by as you stroll around.

Shen Muwei didn't look at her phone, but suddenly remembered something and said to Zhang Wenhao, "By the way, I'll send you the money for dinner tonight. Can you send it to your classmates for me?"

Just then, an electric scooter sped past, almost grazing Shen Muwei. Zhang Wenhao reacted quickly, grabbing Shen Muwei's arm and pulling her to the side, narrowly avoiding a dangerous situation.

Shen Muwei quickly realized what had happened, her heart pounding. She patted her chest and said, "Thank you, you scared me."

Zhang Wenhao quickly released her: "You're welcome. Are you alright?"

She looked down and checked herself over, then waved her hand, saying, "It's nothing, it's nothing."

As soon as she finished speaking, her mind went blank for a second. She seemed to have seen someone during the check-up, someone very familiar.

She slowly turned her head to one side. In the bustling crowd, Xiang Zhixing stood tall under the street lamp, bathed in blue and white light, his eyes under the brim of his hat coldly watching her.

She seemed to remember why she came here...