chapter 14
Many years later, Ruanruan graduated.
In Wu Lan’s former laboratory, she found a notebook.
It was Wu Lan’s diary.
[X Year X Month X Day]
[Today I went to eat steak with Ruanruan. I didn’t know how to use a knife and fork, and the waiter laughed at me. Ruanruan is a very gentle person. It was the first time I saw her get angry and scold the waiter, then she helped me cut up the steak.]
[X Year X Month X Day]
[The School held a mixer. I didn’t want to go; I don’t know how to dress up.]
[Ruanruan lent me her dress and helped me get ready.]
[That day, a few boys asked for my WeChat. I can’t remember exactly.]
[I only remember that Ruanruan was very beautiful.]
[She said she did a pure and seductive wildcat smokey eye makeup. I didn’t understand.]
[But she asked me if it looked good.]
[I nodded hard right away: It looks great!]
[That day Ruanruan drank too much, and dragged me to sing on the empty road.]
[In the distant view, there were neon lights and towering skyscrapers.]
[It was the first time I thought this city was beautiful.]
[X Year X Month X Day]
[Ruanruan fell in love.]
[I felt a little lonely.]
[But that time when I returned to the Dormitory, I heard her arguing with her boyfriend.]
[“Why are you talking bad about Sister Lan?”]
[Her boyfriend said, “Ruanruan, trust my intuition, Wu Lan really isn’t a good person.”]
[Ruanruan said, “I want you to tell me what kind of person she is? Do I have no eyes, no ears, or no brain?! We’re done, don’t let me see you again!”]
[… Silly Ruanruan.]
[So silly, I don’t even know what to do.]
[X Year X Month X Day]
[Ruanruan said, we should be friends for life.]
[Is that really possible?]
[Rotten, dark, dirty me.]
[And clean, beautiful, wonderful you.]
[Can we really be friends for life?]
[Don’t make promises to me lightly.]
[I’ll take it seriously.]
[X Year X Month X Day]
[On my birthday, Ruanruan asked me to make a wish.]
[I said, I hope I can take Ruanruan to my hometown someday.]
[It’s very rundown, but you can see stars you can’t see in the city.]
[The stars are bright, the stars are beautiful. When people are in extreme darkness, if they can see the stars, everything doesn’t seem so bad.]
[Ruanruan didn’t understand my metaphor. She said carelessly, what kind of wish is that, we can go anytime during the holidays.]
…
That summer, Xu Xiaoran and Ji Zhao met Ruanruan again.
She was traveling in the mountains with a group of backpackers and ran into the two who were working.
Ruanruan warmly invited them to drink beer together, still as cheerful as ever.
She didn’t bring up the past, so Xu Xiaoran and Ji Zhao didn’t mention it either.
That day the weather was clear, and they sat in the mountains, looking at the boundless night sky.
Many huge stars hung in the sky.
Ruanruan looked up, starlight shining on her face.
She murmured, “Such bright stars.”
Suddenly, she cried.
(The End)