Chapter 30: Until Sunrise

“Feiyang…”
Yan Rong appeared in the doorway, elegant and imposing as ever. Only after calling his name did she recognise me.
“Yijun?”
She looked surprised.
“Mum, go back inside. I’ll take her home.”
Beneath Ji Feiyang’s steady tone was a trace of fluster.
Yan Rong nodded and went in.
Once I was in his car, I called Uncle Qing to tell him I was on my way home.
“So you already had someone to drive you?”
“You’re the one who offered.”
I decided to be unreasonable.
“All right. I won’t argue.”
He tilted his head towards me, looking magnanimous.
I wasn’t about to thank him for his generosity. I was already in his car, we were already on the road, and I’d already sent Uncle Qing away.
It was too late for him to object.
“Ji Feiyang, have you ever done anything really crazy?”
He smiled.
“What are you planning?”
“Would you dare? Would you?”
I was deliberately provoking him.
He gave me a disdainful glance.
“There’s nothing I wouldn’t dare. But I’m not falling for that.”
“If you’re scared, just say so. Why make excuses? Well? Would you dare or not? Apparently not. What a coward…”
I kept needling him all the way, but he was far too composed to take the bait.
As we passed Beishan Park, crowds had gathered to watch the fireworks.
I put my hand out of the window.
Overhead, a burst of colour scattered countless bright sparks across the sky, weaving beautiful patterns as they fell.
“I dropped it!”
My voice rose in sudden alarm.
“Stop the car!”
The moment we stopped, I jumped out and hurried back along the road, looking at the ground.
“What did you drop?”
“It was… just…”
Too busy searching to answer him, I kept walking.
After a few steps, Ji Feiyang caught my arm and pointed at the fireworks overhead.
“If you want to watch, watch. Stop wasting time.”
He’d seen through me.
I hadn’t dropped anything.
Brilliant fireworks rose, blossomed and fell before our eyes, like countless shooting stars arriving to grant New Year’s wishes.
Perhaps the dreams we wished for tonight would come true in the year ahead.
Burst after burst lit the dark sky.
Secretly, I turned to look at Ji Feiyang.
As the fireworks flared and faded, light moved across his face. His expression remained calm, as always.
My wish tonight was to spend New Year’s Eve with him—to enter the new year by his side.
If I had to resort to underhanded tricks to achieve it, I hoped I could be forgiven.
Beside the park stood a tall white building with a café on the eighteenth floor.
I pulled Ji Feiyang upstairs. Luckily, we found a table by the window, with the fireworks blooming brilliantly beyond the glass.
“Just a little while. Then we leave,” he said firmly.
I agreed and leaned over the table to watch the bright flowers burning in the sky.
Ten minutes or so later, he said, “Time to go.”
I didn’t hear him.
I was asleep.
No matter how he called, I wouldn’t wake.
Realising he’d been tricked again, he prepared to leave without me. He’d correctly guessed that I would scramble after him the moment he walked away.
As he turned to go, my hand caught the hem of his jacket.
The rest of me remained sound asleep, as though that hand belonged to somebody else.
He tried to take another step.
I held on for dear life.
“Oh, all right. I’ll indulge you for one night.”
With a resigned sigh, he tapped the table with his knuckles.
I woke immediately and smiled at him.
“I’ll stay a little longer,” he said gently. “Don’t push your luck.”
“All night.”
Knowing he would object, I added, “You’ve forgotten you still owe me a favour.”
He thought back.
“I suppose I do. The ring?”
“Exactly. I haven’t forgotten. You’re not getting out of it.”
He seemed about to say something, then settled on, “A promise is a promise. All night, then.”
The café was full of couples, all waiting for the first sunrise of the new year.
When the fireworks faded, dawn would take their place.
During the night, Ji Feiyang and I rested our heads on the table and dozed.
The noise around us dwindled to murmured conversations, then silence.
At some point, I fell deeply asleep.
It didn’t seem long before someone shook me awake.
“Look.”
Beyond the window, the eastern sky had turned a pale, milky white.
“The sun’s about to rise,” Ji Feiyang said, his eyes bright with anticipation.
“The new year’s here,” I murmured stupidly.
He tapped my head.
“It’s been here for hours.”
“Oh, right. The new day started at midnight.”
Still drowsy, I stuck my tongue out at him.

On the third day of the New Year, I returned to work.
The hotel was bright with red decorations and festive cheer. Gold-edged Spring Festival couplets framed the entrances to every building, bearing wishes for prosperity, smooth sailing and abundant harvests.
Strings of small red lights criss-crossed the ceilings. At the stairways lay red carpets wishing everyone a happy New Year.
On the fifth day, Ji Feiyang accompanied me to the hospital to visit my sister.
Mrs. Huang had been discharged, so afterwards we went to her home to wish her a happy New Year.
Her building lay beyond a winding alley. We left the car outside and continued on foot.
The lane was narrow. After two turns, the noise of the main road fell away, leaving a quiet residential neighbourhood.
A voice called from one of the buildings beside us, clear in the stillness, like a bead dropping into a porcelain bowl.
Someone answered. Faint footsteps followed, then faded.
The alley became quiet again.
We walked briskly, side by side.
I loved that part of the journey. Our shoulders close, we moved forwards together, with nobody else around.
Ji Feiyang led me through the lanes as though through a maze. I lost count of the turns before we reached Mrs. Huang’s building.
It was seven or eight storeys high, its outer walls finished in cement.
His memory impressed me. Surely he hadn’t been here many times, yet he’d navigated those narrow, twisting alleys without a moment’s hesitation.
The staircase ran up the outside of the building, a welded iron frame with wooden boards laid across it.
At each landing was a door to somebody’s home.
I’d never climbed stairs like these.
Through the gaps between the boards, I could see the ground. The higher we went, the more frightening the view became.
The wood was old. Some boards showed signs of rot, shedding splinters beneath our feet. Others were so thin they’d already cracked, but still lay across the frame.
My steps slowed.
Noticing my hesitation, Ji Feiyang looked back and took my hand.
In the winter cold, his hand was wonderfully warm.
That warmth seemed to reach right into my heart, where it slowly grew hotter.
Mrs. Huang lived on the seventh floor.
When she opened the door, surprise and delight crossed her face. She invited us inside and hurried to pour us water.
Ji Feiyang set the gifts on the sofa.
“Oh, you shouldn’t… Why have you brought all this? I couldn’t possibly accept…”
She sounded flustered.
“They’re just a few ordinary things to help you build your strength back up. Mum asked me to bring them. Nothing especially expensive.”
“The chairwoman is too kind. I… I don’t know what to say.”
“Are you here on your own?” I asked.
A glance took in the whole place: two bedrooms and a sitting room.
“Your daughter isn’t home?” Ji Feiyang asked.
Mrs. Huang’s brow creased deeply.
With a sigh, she said sadly, “She hasn’t been back for days. Yesterday, she called and said she was coming home. Still no sign of her.”
Then she blamed herself.
“It’s my fault. Her father died when she was little, and I spoiled her. Now she’s completely out of hand, always running around outside.”
“A girl staying out all the time like that? That’s terrible,” I said.
Ji Feiyang smiled at me.
What was so funny?
I’d never spent my time roaming around and staying out night after night.
Well, apart from running away.
But that had been an exception. An exception forced on me by circumstances.
“She does need some discipline. What will happen if she carries on like this?”
Though Ji Feiyang was answering Mrs. Huang, he was looking at me.
How subtle.
“I know. But she’s sixteen now. I can’t control her. I’ve scolded her, I’ve talked to her. Nothing works.”
I felt sorry for Mrs. Huang.
A widow had worked so hard to bring up her daughter, only for the girl to turn into a delinquent.
“Perhaps… I could have a word with her?”
Both Ji Feiyang and Mrs. Huang stared at me in disbelief.
“Tang Yijun, don’t start.”
“I’m serious.”
“You still need someone to keep you in line. Now you want to discipline somebody else?”
“At least I’m older than her. And I’m much better behaved.”
Even I had to struggle a little to get that out.
I knew Ji Feiyang would laugh, but I honestly thought I could handle a sixteen-year-old girl.
If talking didn’t work, there was always force.
Surely I could take her?
As a little delinquent, she might have friends to back her up.
In that case, I could bring Zhou Guo.