SBS chapter 63

After the graduation ceremony, the graduates were still reluctant to leave the school. They went around asking teachers to take pictures with them, chatting with friends.

Ye Xi and Li Rui took photos in every corner of the school.

They even dragged along a very unwilling Zheng Yang.

But throughout it all, Ye Xi never once saw Sheng Yuhe among the onlookers, and this made him feel a little uneasy.

Looking at Li Rui’s bright, sunny smile beside him, he couldn’t help but feel a bit regretful.

He thought, if Sheng Yuhe were here, Li Rui’s high school graduation would truly come to a perfect close.

But before he could finish the thought, he suddenly noticed not far away a tall figure in a loose black T-shirt, arms folded, staring fixedly at them.

Who else could it be but Sheng Yuhe?

Ye Xi: “…”

What was this—some kind of special ability, think of someone and they appear?

Or maybe this guy just had superb stealth skills, arriving without a sound.

But that didn’t matter. Ye Xi immediately poked Li Rui and whispered, “Your future boyfriend is here.”

Li Rui whipped his head around.

“Ah!” he shouted, with no restraint at all. “Why are you only just getting here!”

He rushed over without hesitation, practically bouncing onto Sheng Yuhe.

Sheng Yuhe looked dead inside, but in the end, didn’t push him away.

Watching this, Ye Xi smiled softly.

How nice.

He really hoped that in this burning summer, his best friend would also find a love of his own.

After watching for a moment longer, he saw Li Rui already clinging tightly, so he didn’t disturb them, and instead went to hold Bai Yue’s hand.

“Let’s go. No need to bring Li Rui to dinner—looks like he already has plans.” He said with a smile.

Naturally, Bai Yue listened to him.

But Zheng Yang stared at the two of them with a strange expression, looking more and more confused.

Suspiciously, he asked Ye Xi, “Why aren’t we bringing Li Rui? Didn’t we meet that friend of his last time? Wouldn’t it be fine if he came too… wait, why is Li Rui touching that guy’s face?”

Idiot.

Ye Xi thought silently, and without hesitation dragged Zheng Yang away.

Better not let him cluelessly interrupt someone else’s romance.

…..

After the graduation ceremony, Ye Xi officially moved into Bai Yue’s home.

The next day, he returned to the Zheng residence to pack his personal belongings.

In that little room at the southeast corner, there wasn’t much left. Although he was the so-called second young master of the family, he’d always lived like a guest.

He preferred staying in the school dormitory, rarely coming back. He treated this place as nothing more than a temporary stopover. Aside from a few daily necessities, some comics, novels, clothes, and electronics, there wasn’t anything.

When he came downstairs dragging his suitcase, he ran into Ye Shuyue.

She seemed to have just returned as well, sitting on the sofa in the living room. Her brows and eyes carried fatigue. She was still dazzlingly beautiful, but no longer brimming with endless energy and ambition like in her youth. Now, she occasionally revealed signs of exhaustion.

Seeing the suitcase in his hand, she didn’t show much expression.

On the day of his graduation, Ye Xi had called his rarely-seen biological father, saying he wanted to be independent and would move out after finishing high school.

Zheng Lu had agreed without hesitation. He didn’t care where Ye Xi was going, how he’d live, or what university he’d apply for. He just transferred him some money.

That suited Ye Xi’s own plan perfectly. When he hung up, he only felt relief and a trace of ironic amusement, not the slightest disappointment.

But now, facing Ye Shuyue, his steps unconsciously slowed.

It had been a long time since they’d spoken. She’d been unhappy with the gift he received for his coming-of-age ceremony at the Zhengs—a trust fund and a piece of land, only accessible at twenty-five.

Compared with what Zheng Yang got—mansions, jewelry, a horse ranch, shares—it was paltry, not worth mentioning.

He didn’t mind, but Ye Shuyue had smashed a vase in anger.

After a long silence, she finally spoke.

Looking at him, she asked calmly for once, “You’re leaving, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

Ye Xi answered clearly.

Not just moving out as an adult—he would never come back.

Even if one day the Zhengs stripped him of everything they’d given, he would never return.

Ye Shuyue curled her lips faintly, a hint of mockery flashing in her eyes, but she pulled her shawl closer.

She said, “So your wings have hardened. You’ve even learned to act first and report later. Can’t wait to fly away, can you?”

Her gaze carried complicated emotions.

She couldn’t understand.

This was the child she gave birth to, who looked so much like her—yet why hadn’t he inherited any of her cleverness? Why was he always so unambitious, drifting along?

She had no choice but to give up on him and make other plans.

Ye Xi didn’t reply. He just dragged his suitcase two steps further down.

Standing at the bottom, he looked at Ye Shuyue.

There were things he wanted to tell her.

He wanted to say that his college entrance exam results had come out. Maybe not as good as she’d hoped, but he thought he’d done well.

He wanted to say he already had a target university.

That in college, he wanted to try learning guitar, and archery from Bai Yue. That in the summer, he wanted to see the great migration in Africa, to go whale-watching.

That he had many beautiful plans for the future, filling him with motivation like never before…

Once, he had wanted to share these things with her.

But now, looking at her, he only felt it was far too late.

They were simply a mismatched mother and son, wrong from the start.

No wonder she had thought of giving up on him back in middle school, planning to have another child instead.

His eyes fell on her thin arm, where there were traces of fertility injections. He knew that for all these years, she had never given up on trying again. But heaven hadn’t granted it.

He didn’t know whether to hope she would finally succeed, or to pray that heaven would spare another child from an unhappy family.

Blinking, he glanced at the hydrangeas blooming in the summer courtyard.

He lifted his suitcase and walked past her.

As they brushed shoulders, he said quietly, “Since there’s nothing else, I’ll be going. Take care of yourself… Mom.”

It was a farewell.

No earth-shattering rupture, no recounting of past grievances.

Just as if he were leaving for a trip.

And with that, he walked away without looking back.

Outside, Bai Yue was waiting. Ye Xi hadn’t let him come in—he didn’t want him to see unpleasant scenes.

Now, as he stepped out the gates of the Zhengs, he left behind the “home” he had lived in for ten years.

Bai Yue was leaning against the car, keeping watch. When the guard opened the gate, he spotted Ye Xi at once.

The guard tried to carry the suitcase, but Ye Xi refused politely.

“Goodbye, Uncle He.” Ye Xi smiled at the guard who had worked there seven or eight years.

Then he turned and jogged toward Bai Yue—toward his brand-new future.

Bai Yue caught him steadily, suitcase and all.

“Let’s go.”

He didn’t ask questions. He just took Ye Xi’s hand.

He had known the Zheng family’s grudges and seen how Ye Xi had often been unhappy there. Back then, he had no right to interfere, only able to occasionally visit under Zheng Yang’s name.

But now…

Ye Xi clutched his hand tightly, leaning against him.

He would never let Ye Xi go back.

In the car, Bai Yue fastened Ye Xi’s seatbelt, leaned closer, and kissed him on the lips.

Smiling, he asked, “Shall I take you to that café on Wuhu Road? The one with the butterfly pastries you said you wanted again?”

Ye Xi’s eyes lit up, and he nodded happily.

“Okay.”

…..

Over the next two months, after finishing gatherings with classmates, Ye Xi and Bai Yue went abroad for vacation.

They visited the Maldives, then South Africa, and finally Italy.

Bai Yue had a charming little manor in a town there. Sitting by its carved fence, they watched the sunset spill across the lake—more beautiful than anything Ye Xi had ever seen.

Ye Xi even learned a few phrases of Italian, and he spoke them quite convincingly.

For example, Te amo—which means “I love you.”

In the evenings, strolling the streets together, they passed a small silver shop, where Ye Xi bought many pure silver photo frames, to hold the pictures of him and Bai Yue.

Back then, he only had eight photos with Bai Yue, and he always had to rack his brain for excuses, then pretend it was all unintentional just to slip next to Bai Yue.

But now, even two albums weren’t enough to hold all their photos together.

In September, as college students gradually began their new semester, Ye Xi also returned to Changhuan City together with Bai Yue.

This time, he had performed extraordinarily well in the college entrance exam. Without hesitation, he ruthlessly abandoned his plan of applying to Changhuan College of Languages, and instead went to the neighboring Changhuan University of Foreign Studies—though his major was still history.

Li Rui, on the other hand, went to Lixian Academy of Arts right across the street. With only one road separating the two schools, it was easy for the two close friends to visit each other.

For Ye Xi, this was an unexpected delight.

On the very first day of school, he hugged Li Rui tightly. Even though he already knew what school Li Rui was going to, he still couldn’t help being overwhelmed with excitement.

As for Zheng Yang, he naturally became Bai Yue’s junior, and his name was written on the high school’s honor roll that year as well.

But Bai Yue showed no intention of looking after his new junior. He didn’t take Zheng Yang around the campus or offer him any advice as a senior. Instead, he dragged Zheng Yang along to help Ye Xi clean up his dormitory.

Although Ye Xi was already living with Bai Yue, he still wanted to stay in the dormitory for a while to experience university life and get familiar with his classmates.

He even brought gifts for his roommates when they first met. When asked who the two handsome guys next to him were, he glanced at Bai Yue, then at Zheng Yang, feeling a little guilty but also a little happy as he replied, “They’re my brothers. Both of them.”

But Zheng Yang didn’t hear him. Carrying a bucket, he stared at the freshly mopped floor and fell into deep thought.

He felt as if all the karma from bullying Ye Xi during childhood had now come back to him.

When the cleaning was done, Ye Xi, Bai Yue, Zheng Yang, and Li Rui went together to a restaurant at the school gate for dinner.

The sky outside was filled with evening glow, and almost all the seats in the restaurant were taken by students.

It just so happened to be Bailu, the White Dew in the lunar calendar.

Their table happened to be the hundredth customer of the day, so they were given a complimentary pizza.

The four of them raised their glasses across the table.

The glass cups clinked softly.

On this night, as autumn approached, it felt like the toll of a lucky bell.

“Wishing everyone a happy start to school,” Bai Yue said with a light smile, as the only upperclassman among them.

Ye Xi took a sip of his lemon cola and smiled as well.

In the blink of an eye, he had known Bai Yue for ten years.

He was only eighteen, yet Bai Yue already occupied nearly half his life.

When he had just started dating Bai Yue, he had been full of insecurity, living day by day as if this love had been stolen, something he might have to return at any time.

But now…

When he looked at Bai Yue again, he thought of last night—how Bai Yue had read him Shakespeare’s sonnets under the lamplight, just like he used to read him bedtime stories when they were kids.

The heart that had once drifted aimlessly, with nowhere to rest, suddenly found peace.

He knew, he and Bai Yue would still have a long, long future together.

He was only eighteen.

His world had only just begun to unfold.

In this little family restaurant, with gentle countryside music playing, surrounded by his lover, his friends, his family—

He knew with certainty that he would have a life that was joyful, beautiful, and brilliant.

Because in that small, beautiful estate in Italy, under the lush green grapevines, he had once made a wish upon a shooting star.

And he believed the star had heard him.

【End of Main Story】