As expected, Chen Jingyue received no reply.
That dry, hollow message—*Where are you in Wencheng? I want to see you*—sat abandoned in the lonely chat box. She had deleted their previous conversation, and now, there was only silence.
She first called Zhao Man, telling her that Lin Yunsheng was in Wencheng and that she didn't need to worry. Then, she bought two high-speed rail tickets: one for that night from Jiangzhen to Wencheng, and another for the day after tomorrow from Wencheng to the airport.
Gathering her courage, Chen Jingyue knocked on Chen Fang’s door. A voice from inside told her to enter.
Pushing the door open, she saw her mother sitting on the edge of the bed, still holding a teacup that was already empty.
She walked over, gently took the cup from her hand, and placed it on the nightstand. "Mom... I want to go to Wencheng tonight."
Chen Fang looked up at her, then closed her eyes and let out a helpless, heavy sigh. Shaking her head, she asked, "Did Shengsheng tell you where she is?"
"No."
"I don't have time to wait for her answer. I’m going anyway... The day after tomorrow, at noon, I’ll be flying out of Dongpu Airport."
She didn't ask if Chen Fang would come to see her off. She felt too much shame.
Silence stretched through the room for an indeterminate time before Chen Fang smoothed the hair at her temples. "What time do you leave tonight?"
"The train is at nine..."
"Then eat dinner before you go."
Jingyue recognized this as an elder’s way of offering forgiveness. Chen Fang was truly following through on her word; she "couldn't control" them anymore and was letting her go.
This time, Jingyue didn't cry. She simply said, "Thank you, Mom."
As for what she was thanking her for... there was simply too much to name.
Four hours later, she and Chen Fang left the restaurant together. They took two separate taxis—one to the high-speed rail station, the other back to the hotel. As she saw Chen Fang into the car, Jingyue struggled with whether to ask for a hug. After all, she didn't know if this would be the last time she saw her for a long while.
In the end, she said nothing. She felt she needed a chance for a truly honest conversation with her mother later, rather than using a hug now just to soothe herself.
When Chen Jingyue stepped onto the platform at Jiangzhen again, exactly forty-eight hours had passed since her last time there. In those two days, she had processed so much information that her understanding of "love" had undergone a cataclysmic shift.
Where was that train now—the one that had carried the moonlight and her deleted messages? And where would this incoming train take her? What kind of ending awaited her? No one knew.
She only knew she could not remain unscathed within this self-reproach and the pain she had caused Lin Yunsheng. She couldn't selfishly walk away and ignore it all.
The train slowed to a halt before her. She stood behind the yellow line, her hair whipped up by the wind of the passing cars. The moon was absent tonight, failing to witness her anxious yet resolute heart.
She took a window seat again. Her eyes were reflected in the glass, and as she stared at herself, she thought of Lin Yunsheng’s tearful eyes.
She had seen them three times, yet she didn't dare imagine how many tears Lin Yunsheng had shed in private, known only to herself. As the train plunged into an unexpected tunnel, her ears popped. She took out her phone, opened her chat with Lin Yunsheng, and repeatedly pulled down to refresh the screen. Still, nothing appeared.
She knew Lin Yunsheng could see the messages; she was simply choosing not to reply. Because of this, Jingyue didn't call her directly to force a meeting.
She told herself she could wait through the night. If Lin Yunsheng was willing, it would be her turning point; if not, it would be her end. She would accept either.
It was 11:00 PM by the time Chen Jingyue reached Wencheng. she hailed a taxi to her hotel. It wasn't raining here, and the forecast predicted a clear day tomorrow—the only good news she had received all night.
After checking in, she took a photo of the room and sent it to her mother to let her know she had arrived.
The two chat boxes at the top of her list belonged to Chen Fang and Lin Yunsheng. Neither replied to her that night.
She spent a restless night, waking up early just after 6:00 AM. Her first instinct was to check her phone, but there were still no messages.
The sky was turning the color of a fish's belly. Soon, the sun would rise. The clouds were thin; it truly looked like it would be a beautiful, sunny day.
This was her first time in Wencheng. In fact, every place she had visited during this trip back to China had been a first for her. Her memories of North City were pure; South City was romantic; Jiangzhen was, for now, defined by hardship; and Wencheng... Wencheng might end up being a regret.
As she pondered this, the sun slowly climbed higher. The morning sun was soft and gentle—such a beautiful sight, yet it felt like it was all going to be wasted. She had told herself she would accept it if this was the end, but suddenly she wanted to find a reason to stay, if only to give the sunlight a chance.
She opened her phone again and sent her flight information to Lin Yunsheng.
With that, her remaining time in this city was down to twenty-four hours.
The sunlight began to grow piercing. Twenty minutes later, her phone gave a short vibration, a sound that jump-started Chen Jingyue’s heart. She scrambled to open the message. It was a string of text—an address followed by a room number. The sender: "Lin Yunsheng."
She quickly replied: *I’m coming right now, wait for me.* Then she checked out, called a car, and rushed through the morning sun toward a final confession before her departure.
When Chen Jingyue stood before her sister’s door, she didn't hesitate. She rang the bell immediately. It was only after the chime faded that her heart began to hammer with belated trepidation.
She heard footsteps approaching from behind the door. Then came the sound of the security chain being unlatched, the handle turning, and the door opening.
Lin Yunsheng showed little emotion upon seeing her. She gently propped the door against the magnetic stopper to keep it from closing automatically, then turned and walked toward the desk. She leaned against it, bracing herself with her hands behind her back, and looked at her younger sister.
It was just like the conversation they’d had in the bedroom on the night of her birthday.
Chen Jingyue saw her wearing a black sweater and loose trousers, her hair neatly clipped back as if she were preparing to go out. Jingyue walked inside, closed the door, and left her suitcase in the corner.
After days apart, she was finally looking at Lin Yunsheng again. She approached her step by step, each footfall feeling like a heavy beat against her own heart, until she stood directly in front of her.
Familiarity, strangeness, hurt, and exhaustion—all these feelings were tangled together, radiating from the woman before her. But the most devastating of all was the coldness.
Panic suddenly flared in Jingyue. She asked, "How have you been these past few days?"
Lin Yunsheng kept her hands in her pockets and watched her without speaking. Because she remained silent, Chen Jingyue didn't dare move; she could only feel her eyes growing hot and red.
"Are you leaving tomorrow?" Yunsheng’s voice was low, her tone flat.
"Yes..."
"Why did you have to come?" As she spoke, Yunsheng lowered her head. She stared at the tips of her own shoes, facing her sister’s white canvas sneakers.
"I have things I want to say to you..."
Lin Yunsheng lifted her left hand to check the time. "Fine. But I have to go out in half an hour."
In that moment, Chen Jingyue felt like a visitor in a professional setting, someone who no longer had the right to occupy Yunsheng's private time or the leverage to bargain.
Then she heard Lin Yunsheng let out a helpless, bitter laugh. "I thought you said everything you wanted to say three days ago."
"Lin Yunsheng..."
"I'm sorry." Tears began to spill uncontrollably from Jingyue's eyes. Seeing that the other woman didn't move to comfort her only made the pain worse.
"You don't need to say sorry to me, Xiao Jing. You haven't done anything wrong by me..."
She was saying the exact same thing Chen Fang had said. *There is no need to feel sorry.*
"I don't know if half an hour is enough. It probably isn't. Are you in a hurry? Where are you going?"
Lin Yunsheng fell silent again, as if unwilling to let her into her life.
In that silence, Jingyue’s heart was slowly carved away. She felt a weak, hollow pain, along with the crushing sense that she deserved this.
As her tears were about to fall, she quickly wiped them away. She asked, "Then what time will you be back? I can wait for you all day." *Any longer than that, and I won't be able to.*
She had no way of knowing that seeing her like this made Lin Yunsheng feel even worse than she did.
Lin Yunsheng looked at her sister. She wondered why this girl, who was so determined to leave—who had taken that photo and stripped away her last shred of hope—had appeared before her again after a few days, looking like this.
Yunsheng believed she had long since grown used to healing herself through repeated collapses. This time was simply taking longer, but that didn't mean she wouldn't be shaken by Chen Jingyue again.
Besides, such emotional turmoil was not so easily quelled. From the moment she saw the flight information, to the few steps she took toward the desk with her back turned, to this moment of seeing her sister’s tears—the waves had never stopped crashing.
"I’m going to Jingshan Temple to offer incense." Having said this, Lin Yunsheng shifted her posture, crossing her arms. She still didn't look at the person in front of her.
The mention of a temple reminded Chen Jingyue of that nonsensical comment back in South City about "going to a temple to pray on the third day of the New Year." But now, she lacked the confidence to ask if this trip had anything to do with that.
"Can I... go with you?" she asked timidly.
"Mm." Yunsheng let out a breath so faint it was barely audible, but she finally agreed.
Lin Yunsheng walked to the head of the bed to grab her phone. Chen Jingyue’s gaze followed her and landed on the nightstand. She saw two empty wine bottles, a bottle of melatonin, and... the perfume she had blended herself.
When Yunsheng turned back, Jingyue hadn't yet looked away.
Lin Yunsheng knew she had seen everything, but she made no effort to hide it. The empty bottles and the perfume were the vessels for her emotions over the past few days—the loneliness and the grief that felt like dying. After that sunrise where she never saw the sun, perhaps those feelings had lost their meaning anyway.
She didn't know what Chen Jingyue had gone to such great lengths to say, but the fact that she was leaving again tomorrow would not change.
From the moment Chen Jingyue entered the room, Lin Yunsheng hadn't asked when she arrived in Wencheng or where she had come from.
For a moment, even she felt a sense of dazed uncertainty. Regarding tomorrow, was she looking forward to it or running away from it?
Would her sister’s second departure bring liberation, or would it be another plunge into a dark, damp, endless night? She seemed to have given up the struggle, waiting only for time to grind over her and leave her however it would.
"Let's go." She took her room card and walked out ahead of Chen Jingyue.
***
