I almost touched the moon

On June 6, the 15th International Astrophysical Congress was held in London, UK. Halfway through the meeting, Wen Song and Eirlys presented their research results on stage, and the audience burst into applause.

At that moment, they hugged each other tightly, with tears in each other's eyes. Two months of working late into the night, analyzing data again and again, and staying up late and resting after referring to the comet's disintegration, finally came to a perfect end at this moment.

After listening to their reports, the instructor finally showed a gratified smile on his meticulous face. After praising them, he smiled and said, "Now you can enjoy your vacation, have a good rest."

In mid-June, the UK welcomed a long-awaited sunny day, with the sun shining on the newly grown grass, casting a golden glow. The perfect temperature brought a little warmth.

Wen Song lay down on the grass, just like when he was in Munich, opened a book and covered his face with it, preparing to take a nap.

However, the moment she lay down, what came to her mind was two years ago, when she was sleeping on the grass beside the fountain in front of the main library of the University of Munich, and Cheng Che used his hand to block the sunlight for her. When she opened her eyes, she saw his smiling face.

Over the past two months, she has gradually gotten used to life without Cheng Che and still keeps to herself every day.

With the previous lesson, she no longer dared to skip meals. Although she had no appetite, she still went to the cafeteria every day, ordered takeout, or went to a nearby Chinese restaurant for a simple lunch and dinner.

She also discovered several good Chinese restaurants in Oxford. Although not as delicious as Cheng Che's, they were still tasty. After a while, she got used to the taste.

London is not short of Asian food. She drives to London every weekend to improve her diet. After so many visits, she can already write a guide to Asian food in London.

So, as she said before, there is no one in this world who cannot survive without another person.

The only thing that made Wen Song a little uncomfortable was that she still often dreamed of Cheng Che, and many times she woke up from her sleep with tears on her face. She used to be the sleepiest person, but now she always forced herself to stay up late to stay awake.

But it is not without benefits. For example, she never worked on weekends before, but now, in order to kill time, she even arranges a full weekend. She can complete a two-month research project in just 30-45 days.

Even her supervisor tactfully advised her that in addition to academic research, she should also enjoy life during her doctoral studies. Wen Song smiled and replied, "I'm just enjoying life right now."

Doing what she likes alone, focusing on academic research alone, occasionally going to stargaze, do experiments, and publish academic results with Eirlys and other classmates, without being disturbed by anyone, isn't this the life she has always longed for? So, how could she not get used to it?

After the holiday, Wen Song returned to Zurich. As soon as she stepped off the plane and stepped onto the familiar land, she felt an inexplicable sense of loss.

She still remembered that the last time she went back to Zurich, she was with Cheng Che. She also remembered the first time she met him at the airport, he ran towards her quickly and hugged her in his arms. There would never be such a moment again.

The driver of her family was waiting for her at the airport. After getting in the car, she leaned her head on the seat and dozed off, unwilling to look at the familiar scenery around her. Everything in this city would bring back memories that she didn't want to look back on.

A message popped up on the phone, from Felix, [Hallo Ilia! Ich habe von Eirlys geh?rt, dass du heute zuruck nach Zurich gekommen bist, wie w?re es, wenn du morgen Ski fahren gehst?]

(Hi Ilia, I heard from Eirlys that you are back in Zurich, how about we go skiing together tomorrow?)

Wen Song took a deep breath after seeing the message, and finally calmed down her bad mood. She replied calmly, "Nein, ich hasse Skifahren jetzt." (No, I hate skiing now.)

Felix immediately expressed his regret, but thinking that Wen Song always acted on his own will, he did not ask any further questions.

After returning home, the housekeeper welcomed her into the house very warmly and told her that Wen Yiheng had gone to Hawaii for vacation and would not be back until next month.

Wen Song nodded, said nothing, went straight back to his room, and fell asleep.

For more than a week, she did not leave the room. She suddenly felt a little afraid to go out. She knew Cheng Che would be training in Zurich in June. She was afraid of meeting him, but also a little eager to meet him.

After staying at home for two weeks, Wen Song went out again, rode a horse along the lake, and walked all the way to the Limmat River. She even walked to Bahnhofstrasee, which was not far from Cheng Che's home. I don't know if it was muscle memory or a yearning in her heart.

There she saw a French dessert shop that specialized in croissants, so she went in and bought a piece. The moment she put it in her mouth, tears suddenly flowed down her face.

This is the store where Cheng Che always bought her kohlrabi. He never told her the name of the store. He said that if he didn't tell her, Wen Song would immediately think of him when she wanted to eat kohlrabi. But she still found this store and still thought of him.

She put Keluli down and quickly walked out of the store. She would never like Keluli again.

After returning home, Wen Song suddenly felt that in this big world, there seemed to be no place for her to go. Europe, the United States, Canada, Japan, China... everywhere was filled with their memories, and even this home that belonged to her and her mother had traces left by Cheng Che.

For example, after she returned home, Zhou's mother once asked her, "Will your son-in-law come back with you?" She was speechless and didn't know how to answer. She could only perfunctorily say, "He has returned to China. I don't know when he will be back."

Wen Song went to Spiez and lived there for more than a month, completely isolating herself from the outside world. Only there were no memories she and Cheng Che shared.

On August 16, she saw the calendar reminder on her phone and remembered that in two days, it would be the anniversary of Cheng Che's mother's death. She had promised him that she would go with him to see her mother every year. Cheng Che could break his promise, but she didn't want to.

Before going to Hangzhou, she received a call from Qiu Xuanyan. Her voice on the other end of the phone sounded a little anxious, "Songsong, tell me the truth, has something happened between you and Cheng Che?"

"It's okay." She forced a smile and said in a casual tone, "It's just that he and I have been too busy recently and don't have much time to meet."

Qiu Xuanyan didn't believe her words. Instead, she said angrily, "You can hide it from others, but not from me! See for yourself!"

Soon, Qiu Xuanyan sent her a screenshot of an entertainment news article on May 5 this year, which is a very ambiguous date in the Chinese context. Cheng Che was photographed entering the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Beijing with the famous female singer Shen Xiangzhu. After nearly three months, neither party responded.

The moment he saw the title, Wen Song felt dizzy and he didn't even notice his phone slipping and hitting his foot.

That's why he decided to break up and leave. Cheng Che has no shortage of people who love him. As long as he wants, there will be thousands of people who love him, and each one of them is more passionate than Iseylia. She should have understood this long ago.

She even smiled, and thought with a wry smile of relief that it was a good thing that Cheng Che went to the hotel instead of taking her directly back to his home in Beijing, the home where they had spent their happiest moments and had so much love and passion.

If he was photographed going there with his new girlfriend, Wen Song thought, maybe she really would lose her mind and might really go crazy.

On the other end of the phone, Qiu Xuanyan's tone became even more anxious and angry, "Song Song, tell me the truth! What happened between you two?! I thought it was just a rumor at first, or that woman was hyping it up, but Cheng Che didn't respond for three months. Did he really cheat on you, or what? If he dares to do anything to let you down, I will never let him off. And this woman, I'm going to have someone ban her now."

"Forget it..." Wen Song smiled bitterly and said to Qiu Xuanyan as calmly as possible, "We broke up at the end of March. He didn't cheat on me, so it's not a seamless transition."

After that, she told Qiu Xuanyan everything that happened before and after the breakup. Her tone was surprisingly calm, without a trace of ups and downs, as if she was just telling someone else's story.

"He has been single for a long time. It is his freedom to be with whomever he wants, so don't worry about it. I can't bless him, but I can do nothing to interfere."

After hearing her words, Qiu Xuanyan also fell silent. After a long time, she slowly said, "Bao, where are you now? I'll come to accompany you right away."

"No need." Wen Song smiled. She was no longer the naive little girl she used to be, and she shouldn't let others be so busy because of her affairs. "I'll come to Hangzhou tomorrow. Can you pick me up at the airport?"

She said the last sentence with a tearful tone. She was really sad, and only in front of Qiu Xuanyan could she show her sadness without any scruples.