Ai asked out of curiosity, “Hey, I thought you didn’t trust feudalistic superstition. Why are you also making a wish?”
Lu Zhanke said lightly, “Following local customs.”
Ai snorted in contempt.
The two took the notes and wrote their own wishes.
Ai covered her note and hid it away. “No peeking. The person who steals a glance eats instant noodles without seasoning packets.”
Lu said with a smirk, “You have said your wish out loud. Do I need to peek?”
“Humph,” Ai said with a disdainful look on her face before she wrote down her wish.
Never had Lu looked so earnest and serious. He had never believed in superstition, but at this moment he hoped that wishes made by floating lanterns would be realized.
Ai had lied. In fact, her real wish was, “Lu Zhanke, do not get injured again.”
His last bullet wound really scared her. She hoped that after she left and was no longer with him, he would always be safe and sound.
When they had finished, they handed the notes to the shopkeeper and asked him to put them in the river lanterns. Then, they took the lanterns and went to the river.
Ai looked at the lanterns and asked, “Have you brought a lighter? Our lanterns haven’t been lit yet.”
Lu Zhanke did not smoke. Why would he carry a lighter with him? He looked around and saw that someone was lighting lanterns not far away. He said to Ai, “You wait here. I will borrow one.”
“Well, go ahead.” Ai watched Lu Zhanke leave, and then her gaze fell on Lu’s river lantern.
After a moment’s hesitation, she took out the note in the river lantern, opened it, and saw the words on it. Ai shed tears uncontrollably.
“Ai Changhuan, don’t leave.” This was his unspoken wish.
Holding that piece of paper, she sobbed but did not dare to cry out. Trembling and biting her lips, she folded the paper and put it into the lantern.
Two unlit lanterns stood beside her feet. Ai squatted on the ground with her hands folded around her knees, her cheeks buried into her knees. The warm liquid gushed out from her eyes and wet her clothes.
It was pretty awkward for her to cry in front of him. She tried not to let him see her tears. She took several deep breaths, desperately dried the tears with her sleeves, and squeezed out a stiff smile.
When Lu Zhanke returned with a borrowed lighter, he saw Ai sitting on the ground and immediately pulled her up. “Don’t sit on the ground. There’s a lot of water.”
“Hey, it’s because I’m tired.” Ai forced a smile. “Have you borrowed the lighter?”
“Yes. Let me light them.” Lu crouched down, lit the two lanterns one-by-one, and sat by the river holding hands with Ai.
“Are you ready?” Lu asked.
“Ready.” Ai seemed excited.
“Then let them go.” The two put the lanterns on the river at the same time, and then they squatted there watching the river lanterns slowly drift away.
Lu asked, “Will the wishes really come true?”
Ai looked at the lanterns anxiously but didn’t reply. Lu’s wish was destined to be unachievable, but she hoped her wish could be fulfilled.
No. No. Her wish would also be unrealized because if she left, Lu was bound to be injured.
Her eyes heating up again, Ai suddenly stood up and shouted towards the other side of the river, “Our wishes will be realized. They will!”
She was deceiving both herself and Lu.
Lu turned his head sideways to look at Ai whose nose had turned red. Then there was a long silence.
After a while, two people from downstream suddenly ran to them. They were Pei Mu and Du Yucheng.
Du Yucheng asked anxiously, “Have you seen Ouyang Zhenzhen? She seems to be missing.”
Lu frowned. “How could this happen? Hasn’t she been with you the entire time?”
“Yes,” said Pei Mu. “But for a moment, it was so crowded that when we squeezed our way out, we had lost her.”
“Did you call her?” Lu asked.
“Yes. Her phone is switched off,” answered Du Yucheng.
“Right now Anxin is waiting under the biggest lantern. Let’s look around quickly.” Pei Mu didn’t look well. After all, Ouyang Zhenzhen was the daughter of Commander Ouyang, and she was brought outside by them. How would they explain it to her family if she got lost? In case something bad happened … He didn’t dare to think any further.
“Okay.” Lu held Ai’s hand, and they walked together.
Ai said, “How can we find her if we stay here together? Let’s split up. If any of us finds her, we’ll call each other. If we don’t find her in half an hour, then we’ll gather under the big lantern. She shouldn’t have gotten lost in such a tiny place.”
“Be careful yourself.” Lu exhorted again, “Don’t go too far away. Call me immediately if anything happens.”
“Yeah, I know. You should be careful too.”
After discussing, they scattered and looked for Ouyang, calling her name.
Ai Changhuan went east, and Du Yucheng went west. But a few minutes later, Ai suddenly noticed that someone was behind her. She turned around and found that it was Du Yucheng.
She felt a little strange. “Weren’t you going over there? Why did you follow me?”
Du Yucheng said, “There is no way over there. It is a fence, so I came back.”
“Oh.” Without saying more, Ai went to ask the people next to her if they had seen a girl who was slightly shorter than her with big eyes and a round face. But those people all said no.
Du Yucheng saw this and said, “I didn’t expect you to care about Ouyang. Don’t you hate her?”
“I do hate her, but I can’t just sit by and do nothing if she’s missing.”
“Why do you hate her?” Du Yucheng asked again.
“Because …” When Ai started to answer, she looked up and saw the same face as Qin Zhan. Under the moonlight, not only did they look the same, but they also shared a similar expression. In a trance, she felt that the person in front of her was Qin Zhan, who stood in the moonlight and asked her to be his girlfriend at the top of the library building.
However, he was not, after all.
She looked away and continued to move forward.
“You haven’t said why yet.” Du Yucheng pressed on.
Ai felt a little ridiculous. She stood still and looked back at him. “Why do I hate her? Does it matter to you? Why do you have to know?”
Du Yucheng took a step forward and looked down at Ai with a cold look in his eyes. “Because you have fallen in love with Lu Zhanke, right? So you hate Ouyang who also loves him.”
“I …” Ai subconsciously shifted her gaze and even took a slight step back. “I… Why should I answer you?”
“You’re not answering me. Does that mean you admit it? Ai Changhuan, have you forgotten Qin Zhan?” A smirk appeared at the corner of his mouth. “You fell in love with another man so quickly. What is his place in your heart? Does he know that you play the field? ”
Ai froze all over with a faint chill in her heart. “I … That’s not … I didn’t …”
She clenched her palms fiercely, leaving some pale crescents.
“Then why don’t you dare to look at my eyes, the same eyes as Qin Zhan?” Du Yucheng moved closer again, and as long as Ai looked up, she would understand his pain and know exactly who he was.
But she didn’t. Ai was breathing hard, in a trance, looking as if she were avoiding something.
“Stop talking! Stop talking!” Ai yelled. She turned around and ran away.
Du Yucheng squinted behind her. The pain and despair hidden in his eyes would only be known by himself.
Half an hour later, Ai and others returned to the big lantern, only Lu Zhanke and Ouyang Zhenzhen had not returned.
Ai was anxious. “Did Lu Zhanke get lost as well? Did he call you guys?”
Everyone shook their heads, and Pei Mu proposed, “Shall we go find them again?”
Yang Anxin said, “Wait a little longer. Maybe he will be back in a little while.”
What she said made sense, so they did not move. But when someone passed by in front of them, they came forward to ask if anyone had seen Lu Zhanke or Ouyang Zhenzhen.
Several people were asked, but all said they didn’t know. When they were about to give up, one person finally said that he seemed to have seen Lu Zhanke.
Everyone was delighted. If they could find Lu Zhanke, Ouyang Zhenzhen might soon be found.
After discussing with each other, they decided that Yang Anxin should stay put. The other three followed the fellow villager to find Lu Zhanke.
Lu Zhanke had taken a very remote mountain road that was full of bushes and had no street lights. The villager said that he was going to his own field when he saw a tall man who was calling Zhenzhen. He just took a look and came back.
Hearing what the fellow said, Ai was relieved. Someone had seen Lu Zhanke, so they could find Lu Zhanke as long as they followed the direction that the man had pointed out.
They called the names of Lu Zhanke and Ouyang Zhenzhen while they walked about, and there were only their cries and the strange screams of some animals in the silent mountains.
Ai accidentally stepped in a puddle. If Pei Mu had not reached out to pull her in time, she might have been lying in the mud.
“Are you okay? Is it serious?” Pei Mu asked worriedly.
“It’s okay. I’m fine.” Ai gritted her teeth and stood up with the help of Pei Mu’s arm.
Du Yucheng said, “You should go back. There might be danger ahead.”
Ai shook her head. “No, I want to go with you. Come on, it’s okay.”
Because of her perseverance, Pei Mu and Du Yucheng said nothing more, but both subconsciously blocked in front of her to keep her from danger.
When they were walking, Ai suddenly heard someone calling for help somewhere in the distance.
“Did you guys… hear anything?” She stopped and asked the other three.
“Huh?” Pei Mu also paused, listening carefully as he held his breath. “There is a sound in the eight o’clock direction.”
“That’s right.” Du Yucheng turned around and rushed in that direction.