Under the moonlight

Huang Meng had been dreaming all night. When she woke up in the morning, she checked her phone and it was quiet. She opened WeChat, but there wasn't a single message from Liang Yuanyuan. It was a rare moment of peace and quiet! Huang Meng hugged her pillow, turned over, and continued lying down.

"Beep beep~" The phone emitted a WeChat notification sound.

Huang Meng picked up her phone and saw a message from Xu Ao: "Are you going to the company today?"

"I'm not going, not for now. I haven't received any message. What's wrong?" Huang Meng was a little surprised that he would send her a message at this time.

"Okay, let's have lunch together. I'll pick you up then."

"Just send me your location." Huang Meng thought that it would be much more convenient for her to take a taxi herself than for him to have to take a taxi to pick her up.

"I'll drive there, wait for me," Xu Ao's message came immediately.

When did you buy the car?

"Well, the car I drove before I went abroad has been with my dad. I'll talk to you later, I'm busy now."

Huang Meng didn't reply to the previous message. Since she was no longer sleepy, she got ready and got up. Just as she finished getting ready, her phone rang again.

She picked up the phone and looked at it; it contained several WeChat friend requests. Strange, could it be someone from her company wanting to add her on WeChat? She hesitated before clicking "accept," and while the other end was still responding, she put the phone down. It was already past ten in the morning; the sun was shining brightly. She put her clothes in the washing machine, changed the sheets and duvet covers, and finished tidying up. It was almost noon.

Huang Meng quickly picked up her phone. Fortunately, Xu Ao hadn't sent any messages yet. However, she saw several WeChat messages and froze in shock.

"Huang Meng, Huang Meng, it's me, Chen Xinxin!"

"Huang Meng, long time no see! I'm Peng Qiang!"

"Haha, long time no see, I'm Hong Ji-hye!"

"I'm Chen Yilin, hehe!"

As Huang Meng looked at these WeChat messages, she felt as if she were floating in mid-air. The feeling of unreality was even stronger than when she met Zhao Meng.

She stared blankly at the WeChat messages, unsure how to reply. These people she often thought about had suddenly barged into her life. How could she respond in a way that would seem natural?

Huang Meng paced back and forth in the living room with her phone in her hand for a few moments before finally sitting down on the sofa. Her fingers kept moving up and down the screen before she finally replied to each message: "Yes, this is Huang Meng. Long time no see."

After replying, she immediately put down her phone. She was looking forward to their reply, but she didn't want to wait foolishly. She wanted to keep herself busy but didn't know what to do, so she stood by the washing machine, staring at the still running machine and listening to the roar of the machine. Her heart was filled with anxiety.

Why would they suddenly add me on WeChat? Could it be Chen Zhi? But she was having dinner with Chen Zhi yesterday and was so busy chatting that she didn't give him her WeChat!

Huang Meng couldn't figure it out for a moment, when her phone received another WeChat message. She looked at her phone on the sofa, feeling both expectant and hesitant.

After hesitating for a moment, she picked up her phone and opened it. It was a message from Xu Ao: "Come downstairs. I'll be waiting for you downstairs."

Huang Meng glanced at the time and saw it was already past 12 o'clock. There was no time to reply to the message, so she quickly put on her coat, grabbed her bag, opened the door, and went out. As soon as she went downstairs, she saw Xu Ao.

"I'm sorry, I was washing clothes there and didn't see you. I didn't wait long, did I?" Huang Meng said somewhat apologetically.

"Yes, I just arrived. Let's go." Xu Ao took the bag from Huang Meng's hand and led her towards the entrance of the residential area. "What do you want to eat?" Xu Ao asked softly.

"Anything is fine, but I'm really hungry. I feel like I could eat a whole cow right now!"

For some reason, seeing Xu Ao made her feel like she had returned to reality. She felt grounded and real, and her mood was no longer as unsettled as before. Instead, she felt relieved.

Seeing her radiant smile, Xu Ao suppressed his doubts. After their last meal, she had opened up to him, sharing many stories from her past. How could he possibly dwell on her past? But that Zhao Meng…

"Hmm, with your cat-like appetite, you still ate a whole cow~" Xu Ao stopped his daydreaming and teased her, while reaching out to pinch her waist.

Huang Meng exclaimed in surprise, reaching out to firmly press his restless hand onto her waist, giving him a reproachful glare. At that moment, the sunlight was warm and gentle, the autumn breeze pleasant and not cold, everything was so real and beautiful, and the warmth from his hand on her lower back reached deep into her heart. Huang Meng admitted that at this moment, she had a down-to-earth sense of happiness.

After the two finished their meal, Xu Ao drove Huang Meng back. He still had work to do, and it was already quite difficult for him to squeeze out time to eat at a restaurant instead of ordering takeout. Huang Meng understood, and seeing his somewhat anxious expression, she repeatedly reminded him to drive carefully.

Huang Meng strolled home alone. No one was ever home at noon; her parents usually ate lunch out on their own. After getting home, she hung up the laundry and then sat on the sofa to watch TV, feeling bored.

It wasn't until she picked up her phone again that she noticed several WeChat messages on it, which she opened one by one.

"Huang Meng, it really is you! We didn't believe Xu Ao when he said he ran into you in the middle school chat group yesterday!"

"Come on, let's join a WeChat group and chat there!"

These were messages they sent her while she was eating. Huang Meng quickly joined the WeChat chat group—"Ladies," a rather unique name for the group.

"I was eating and didn't check my phone." Huang Meng saw that everyone else had posted various emojis after joining the group, but she was the only one missing, so she quickly said something.

After a while, the phone remained silent, without making a sound. At this moment, the person must be eating or resting.

"Haha, everyone's finally here." Huang Meng quickly picked up her phone to check the WeChat message notification. It was from Peng Qiang. A smile unconsciously crept onto Huang Meng's lips, and she replied with a smiling emoji.

“Yeah, I’m eating right now. You’ve all already eaten? Great, kids who don’t have to work overtime!” Chen Yilin sent a message with an angry emoji.

"Haha, I just ate too, let's eat together!" It was Hong Ji-hye.

Watching them chat in the group, Huang Meng felt as if she had returned to that year when they were in school together, each holding a boxed lunch, picking out their favorite dishes from each other's lunchboxes. Back then, they seemed to have no worries at all.

As Huang Meng chatted with them, her initial worries gradually faded away. These were friends she had made since the beginning of her youth!

Although many years had passed and she had lost contact with them, they accepted her once again, just as they had when she was isolated years ago. Their words held no curiosity or probing; their tone was as relaxed and comfortable as before, making her feel no distance between them. It was as if they had always been the same, always there, never changing, their only alteration being the age that had increased with the relentless passage of time.

Their authenticity gradually opened Huang Meng's heart. She chatted with them for a long time, and the corners of her mouth never left her lips. She couldn't wait to share this with Xu Ao.

"You know what? The friends I told you about when I was studying in X city have gotten back in touch with me!" She was incredibly excited, and Xu Ao was the first person she thought of to confide in.

"You know, it feels like you accidentally lost your favorite toy, and then it suddenly reappears in your life, and it's still perfectly intact. Isn't that amazing?" Meng put down her phone after sending him the message, feeling that Xu Ao would definitely understand her feelings.

"Yeah, that's really good." After a long time, Xu Ao's message finally came through. Looking at the simple words on the screen, even through the screen, I could feel his calmness. Why was it different from what I had expected?

Huang Meng thought he might be busy with work. Although she felt disappointed, she still replied, "Yeah, that's right!" After hanging up her phone, Huang Meng felt like she had fallen from the clouds to the ground. It turned out that for others, this was as simple and mundane as meeting an acquaintance on the street and exchanging greetings.

Is it the same for the other girls? Or is it that I'm the only one still stuck in the past and haven't moved on?