Chapter 455: The Moon Represents My Heart

The small building had three floors, and its architectural style was rather old-fashioned.

Li Heng climbed over the wall to get in. He stood in the center of the courtyard, looking up at the lit window on the second floor, lost in thought for a long time. Finally, he collected his thoughts, walked forward two steps, and reached out to knock on the door.

"Knock, knock, knock!"

"Knock, knock, knock!"

After six consecutive knocks, a figure finally appeared on the second-floor balcony.

When he knocked for the eighth time, the light on the first floor turned on. Then, the door opened from the inside, revealing Chen Xiaomi.

Looking at the man outside the door, Chen Xiaomi's expression was extremely complex. Instinctively, she wanted to scold him a few times, but those words were forced back down the moment they reached her lips.

It is said that the river flows east for thirty years and west for thirty years; never bully a young man because he is poor. Li Heng, standing outside the door, was the living embodiment of this saying.

The world changed too fast, faster than anyone could imagine. The Li Heng of this moment was no longer the boy from the summer before last who had let her scold him at will; he had become one of the country's top writers, and in the future, he might even be titled a "musician." Neither his reputation nor his social influence was something she could compare to.

It could be said that one was in the heavens and the other on the earth; their social statuses had long since swapped.

Furthermore, as someone in the cultural circle, Chen Xiaomi could feel Li Heng's hardships and terrifying nature even more than outsiders could. The oppressive feeling of that heaven-defying talent had made her feel suffocated more than once.

Of course, the most critical factor was that Chen Zijin loved him deeply and had no intention of leaving him, which was why Chen Xiaomi swallowed the words that had reached her lips.

She had already played the villain once during the summer vacation the year before last. If she were to play the villain again, it would be equivalent to completely ruining Chen Zijin's path of love.

Thinking of this, she dared not act rashly again.

Looking at each other across the door, Li Heng called out, "Little Aunt."

"Mm, you're here."

Chen Xiaomi responded, opened the door wide, and gestured for him to come in.

Li Heng stepped into the entryway and asked anxiously, "Where is Chen Zijin?"

Chen Xiaomi said, "Drinking on the second floor."

"Drinking?" Li Heng was surprised, yet not surprised.

Chen Xiaomi said, "I'm drinking with her. Her tolerance isn't very good."

After changing shoes and closing the door, the two walked one after the other toward the staircase.

As they were about to go upstairs, Chen Xiaomi suddenly stopped. She paused for a long while, turned her head, and asked him, "Li Heng, will you marry Chen Zijin in the future?"

Li Heng was stunned for a moment. A moment later, he gave a bitter smile and answered a different question: "Does Little Aunt know everything?"

They were both smart people. Having reached this point, Chen Xiaomi didn't play dumb anymore and said bluntly, "We went to the Drum Tower area tonight and saw Xiao Han. Chen Zijin also told me about your affairs, including Xiao Han, Song Yu, and also Teacher Yu from Shanghai."

She roughly recounted the process of going to the Drum Tower.

After finishing, she stared fixedly at Li Heng, wanting to see what his reaction would be.

Li Heng was silent, his face full of shame. After a long time, he opened his mouth and said, "It's all my fault."

Chen Zijin did not intend to let him off easily and asked further, "Will you marry Chen Zijin?"

Li Heng pondered for a while. He didn't tell empty lies and said honestly, "I have thought about it."

He had indeed thought about it.

It was still that same old saying: Chen Zijin, Xiao Han, and Song Yu—he could marry any of them; he wouldn't deliberately choose.

It was just that he felt he owed Song Yu too much in his previous life, so his desire to marry her was stronger.

But just now in the courtyard outside, he had reflected for a long time: Chen Zijin followed him, so why wouldn't she suffer? As the first woman to follow him, she had to face the obstruction of the Chen family and also face other women sharing his love. Which step had been easy?

Admittedly, in her previous life, she fought fiercely with Xiao Han—fought to the point where he sometimes grew weary and had to hide at Song Yu's house for some peace and quiet.

But why did she become like that?

Why would a perfectly virtuous woman turn into that?

Wasn't it all because he was a bastard?

In both his past and present lives, Chen Zijin had not had an easy time. At least Xiao Han and Song Yu still had their maternal families for support; she alone did not.

Thinking of these things, Li Heng's heart melted.

The phrase "I have thought about it" had a completely different flavor in Chen Xiaomi's ears.

She thought of the childhood sweetheart romance between her eldest niece and Li Heng, imagining the scenes of their vows under the moon and flowers. At that time, Li Heng must have had a firm heart to marry Chen Zijin. It was just that all of this had been destroyed by her three sisters and her sister-in-law.

The facts were indeed so; whether in the past life or the present, the incident during the summer vacation the year before last was indeed the turning point. If that storm hadn't been so big, if Chen Zijin hadn't gone to the capital and hadn't left him, would he still have accepted Xiao Han's love?

With Chen Zijin guarding by his side, given his conditions in the previous life, even if he liked Song Yu, he wouldn't necessarily have pursued her openly.

However, these could only be imaginations and assumptions. After all, in the previous life, all three of them were his women; how could he let go in this life?

The phrase "I have thought about it" made Chen Xiaomi feel many emotions.

She lamented that the moon of the Qin dynasty and the passes of the Han dynasty were long gone, and things were no longer the same. Nowadays, Li Heng's excellence had been noticed by many women, and he was being missed by many equally excellent women. He was no longer the only one by Chen Zijin's side.

A perfectly good marriage had been ruined just like that, and she herself was one of the participants. She suddenly felt incomparably heartbroken, incomparably embarrassed, and had no face to continue asking.

Turning around, Chen Xiaomi headed toward the second floor.

Li Heng stayed in place for two seconds, then quickened his pace to catch up. He was very worried about Chen Zijin now and wanted to see how she was doing.

Just as Chen Xiaomi said, Chen Zijin was indeed drinking, sitting on the sofa drinking alone. There were several braised dishes on the coffee table, as well as a plate of stir-fried vegetables and a simple scallion egg soup.

Hearing the sound from the hallway, she looked over instinctively.

When she saw Li Heng, she froze, stunned. She just stared at him blankly, and at this moment, her tears overflowed like a breached dam, spilling out uncontrollably.

In a short moment, her beautiful face was silently soaked with tears, full of sorrow.

Li Heng's heart throbbed violently; his heart ached to death. He immediately came to her side in two or three steps, subconsciously wanting to reach out to wipe her tears.

But Chen Zijin turned her head to avoid him, picked up the wine in her glass with her right hand, and downed it fiercely.

Li Heng held her right wrist and said gently, "Stop drinking. Your tolerance isn't good; you'll be drunk if you keep drinking."

"No!" Chen Zijin used force, breaking free from his hand for the first time ever, and muttered in a low voice, "Let me drink one more glass, let me drink one more glass."

As she spoke, she didn't care about anything, took the beer bottle from the table, poured another glass, and downed it in one gulp. When she poured the wine into her mouth, she even closed her eyes and swallowed it.

"Chen Zijin..." Li Heng called out.

"Leave me alone!" Chen Zijin suddenly turned her head, her voice slightly raised, and let out a low roar at him, something she had never done before.

Hearing this suddenly, Chen Xiaomi, who was sitting on the opposite sofa, was startled. It was the first time she had seen her eldest niece treat Li Heng like this.

After the low roar, Chen Zijin wept silently, drinking while saying intermittently, "Someone is drinking with you, but I haven't had enough yet."

Everyone knew who "someone" was; it referred to Xiao Han.

Li Heng sat for a while, having no choice, and finally could only take an empty glass, fill it with wine, and drink with her glass by glass.

Chen Zijin glanced at him, pursed her lips without speaking, and continued drinking. It wasn't until she finished another bottle of beer that she muttered, "Do you still remember the first time I went home with you to get vegetables after evening self-study?"

Li Heng nodded: "I remember."

Chen Zijin asked: "What month was it?"

Li Heng recalled: "That was the second semester of the first year of junior high, March 12th. My vegetables were finished. After the third session of evening self-study, you accompanied me back to get vegetables. It was already past 11 o'clock when we got home."

Chen Zijin asked: "Do you still remember the song you sang when we passed the graveyard?"

"Mm."

Li Heng answered quickly: "There was no one for three miles around the graveyard. At that time, we made simple torches out of straw. To overcome the fear in my heart, I sang a song by Teresa Teng, 'The Moon Represents My Heart,' for you."

Chen Zijin asked: "How many times did you sing it?"

Li Heng answered: "At your request, I sang it seven times."

Chen Zijin asked: "How did you sing it?"

Li Heng answered: "I sang it while holding your hand."

Hearing this, the hand Chen Zijin used to hold the wine glass began to tremble, and she choked up, saying: "I want to hear it. Sing it for me."

"Now?"

"Mm."

Hearing this, Li Heng did not hesitate at all, cleared his throat, and sang a cappella:

You ask me how deep my love for you is,

How much I love you,

My feelings are true,

My love is true,

The moon represents my heart.

You ask me how deep my love for you is,

How much I love you,

My feelings will not waver,

My love will not change,

The moon represents my heart.

A gentle kiss,

Has already moved my heart,

A deep segment of love,

Makes me miss you until now.

Past events were vivid in his mind. Thinking of the scene of the two of them holding hands and going home to get vegetables that night, and walking ten miles of mountain road together to overcome their fear, Li Heng's eyes moistened as he sang.

His eyes were moist, and unknowingly, Chen Zijin had turned her head to look at him.

Looking at him infatuatedly.

Looking at him with deep affection.

She also remembered the events of that night, remembered that after passing the graveyard that night, she took the initiative to stand in front of him, closed her eyes, and offered her first kiss.

The singing continued:

You go and think about it,

You go and take a look,

The moon represents my heart.

When the last sentence faded and the tail of the last word ended, Chen Zijin gradually leaned softly into his arms, her eyes full of love, and she looked up and said: "Li Heng, kiss me."

Li Heng glanced at Chen Xiaomi on the opposite sofa: "Little Aunt is here."

Chen Zijin didn't care and acted coquettishly: "Kiss me, just one."

Unexpectedly, Chen Xiaomi did not get up to avoid them at this moment, but wiped the corner of her eyes with her hand, then opened a bottle of beer and drank it straight from the bottle.

Chen Zijin's tears flowed down, more fiercely than before, and she even cried out loud: "Think about how good I used to be to you. Kiss me, okay?"

Seeing Little Aunt's gaze drift toward the ceiling, Li Heng, who could no longer suppress his emotions, cast aside all shackles. To hell with whether there were people around! He lowered his head.

He kissed her.

At first, the two only kissed gently, telling each other their feelings in a slow rhythm, as if the warmth of that scene after walking through the graveyard many years ago had reappeared: the two novices bit each other, their teeth clashing. She was still shy, yet they lingered with each other with great relish for a long, long time.

As the light boat passed the gorge, the two red tongues became faster and more urgent. The atmosphere in the second-floor living room changed suddenly, becoming incomparably ambiguous, the air becoming heavy. Suddenly, Chen Zijin bit his lip, then asked with red eyes and deep affection: "Does it hurt?"

These words were so familiar.

During their first kiss, she had also accidentally bitten him and asked him if it hurt.

Li Heng repeated the words from back then: "It doesn't hurt."

After speaking, he kissed her again just like back then.

Being intimate, under the dual stimulation of the singing and the past events, Chen Zijin was completely moved. Her hands slowly rose, hooked around his neck, and her red lips opened and closed, trying her best to cooperate with him.

I don't know how much time passed, but the bottle of beer in Chen Xiaomi's hand was finished, and her gaze fell from the ceiling onto the two of them.

Across an 80-centimeter-wide coffee table, Chen Xiaomi watched the two kissing quietly, watched the two lingering and entwined quietly.

At this moment, love was materialized.

This night, Chen Xiaomi completely understood Chen Zijin's love.

Especially when Li Heng was singing, Chen Xiaomi was inexplicably moved; she was moved by the singing and also moved by the love between the two. She thought to herself: In that situation, if a boy held her hand and was willing to sing "The Moon Represents My Heart" for her repeatedly, she would also fall hopelessly in love with the other person.

Love is often just that simple, often just that plain, coming quickly, coming fiercely, taking root and sprouting, and never separating for a lifetime.

Just as Chen Xiaomi was watching the two in a daze, at a certain moment, Chen Zijin pulled away from his mouth.

Chen Zijin stared at him stubbornly and unyieldingly, saying: "I will not give you up. You were the first one I set my eyes on; you are my man, and no one is allowed to snatch you away from my side."

"Mm." Li Heng hummed and hugged her tightly.

The two hugged each other tightly. As they hugged, under the influence of alcohol and the great stimulation of this night, Chen Zijin could no longer hide her love and whispered softly in his ear: "Carry me to the room, the one on the left by the window."

Her voice was not loud, but the night was deep and the living room was too quiet, so Chen Xiaomi still heard it.

What she meant by these words could not be clearer.

Li Heng had never been to the second floor in his previous life, so he subconsciously glanced at the room Chen Zijin mentioned, and then looked at Chen Xiaomi opposite.

After pondering for about 10 seconds, he stood up holding Chen Zijin and walked toward the bedroom on the left by the window.

The door opened, the door closed.

Li Heng carefully placed Chen Zijin flat on the bed.

When Chen Zijin asked for a kiss just now, Chen Xiaomi didn't move; but this time, she moved.

Watching the two enter the room and watching the door close, Chen Xiaomi reached out to take the bag on the sofa, stood up quickly, and then walked downstairs with a calm expression.

As the sound of footsteps echoed in the silent night, not long after, the door downstairs opened, then the courtyard gate opened, and then the sound of a van starting up came.

Finally, the courtyard gate downstairs was locked, and the sound of the van went far away until it disappeared.

When the area outside the window fell into silence again, the two on the bed looked at each other sideways in the moonlight. At a certain moment, moved by passion, they each opened their mouths and kissed each other.

As their bodies became increasingly hot, he turned over and pressed on top of her, and she reached out to hug his waist in return.

The Chen family.

When Chen Xiaomi entered the door, it was already 11:39, and it was not far from 12 o'clock.

At this time, Zhong Lan was sitting on the sofa in the main hall, staring blankly at the television, which was playing advertisements.

Seeing her sister-in-law come in, Zhong Lan regained her senses, turned her head, and asked: "Where is she?"

Chen Xiaomi said: "She slept at my place."

Zhong Lan frowned.

Chen Xiaomi said: "She drank a little wine."

Zhong Lan asked: "Why did you come back?"

Chen Xiaomi said: "I have something to discuss with Dad."

It seemed as if they were all waiting for her; it was this late, and the whole family hadn't slept yet.

Chen Zitong poked her head out sneakily from the room. Seeing her mother's gaze sweep over, she was so scared that she shrank back immediately.

Chen Laoyezi Chen and Chen Gaoyuan were playing chess in the study, and the electric light shone through the crack in the door.

Seeing her sister-in-law get up to go out, Chen Xiaomi stopped her: "Don't worry, Li Heng is accompanying her there."

With one sentence, Zhong Lan at the door seemed to have been hit by a freezing spell. Her chest heaved violently a few times, and she turned around and asked: "Did you come back because you were afraid of disturbing the two of them?"

Chen Xiaomi did not deny it and smiled self-deprecatingly: "I'm single and have no man; I can't bear to hear any wind or grass moving."

Zhong Lan frowned again, turned off the TV, and returned to her bedroom.

Chen Xiaomi waited for a while, then pushed open the study door and walked in.

Chen Gaoyuan glanced at his younger sister and asked: "How is Chen Zijin?"

"She's fine."

Chen Xiaomi sat down beside him and said to her eldest brother: "Sister-in-law's complexion isn't very good; you should go comfort her. I have something to discuss with Dad."

Chen Gaoyuan nodded, put down the chess piece in his hand, didn't ask for any reason, walked out, and closed the door.

Chen Laoyezi Chen remained as steady as a mountain. His daughter came, his son left, and he had no reaction, his gaze still focused on the chessboard without blinking.

After a long while, Chen Xiaomi spoke: "Dad, I want to talk to you about Li Heng?"

"You want to talk about those confidantes of his outside, right?" Chen Laoyezi Chen didn't even raise his head.

Chen Xiaomi's eyes showed surprise, and she didn't react for a while. After a long time, she straightened her body and asked: "Dad, you knew? When did you know?"

"It's nothing to be surprised about." As he spoke, Chen Laoyezi Chen placed the chess piece in his hand onto the chessboard. After a long while, he slowly raised his head: "Who are you worried about? The daughter of Secretary Xiao in the town? Or that Song Yu from Dongting Lake?"

PS: Seeking monthly tickets! Seeking subscriptions!

Updated first, edited later.

I went to visit the ancestors' graves today and didn't get home until very late, so I could only update this much. Sorry. I just calculated the word count; sigh, this month is still a few hundred words short of 280,000 words. Forget it, I'm afraid everyone has been waiting for a long time, so I'll update first as a sign of respect.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 456 =====