Chapter Six The First Quarter Moon

  Li Qiu opened the door, and the room was originally a practice room. The interior was very simple, with only one bed, one chair, one desk, and one closet. There were no other decorations, and the soundproofing board that had been stuck on the wall had been removed and replaced with new wallpaper. It looked almost identical to her old room, except for one important thing missing. Li Qiu walked into the room and pulled out a long luggage bag from the closet. The bag contained nothing but posters, a large stack of them rolled up together. Most of them were individual posters of Lee Hyori, as well as some group posters. These were retrieved by Kim Min-hee from Lee Hyori when Li Qiu left Korea, and they were one of her most treasured possessions.

  Find a poster of Lee Hyori that you like the most, and then find a group poster. Li Qiu started to paste them on the wall facing the bed tail. After pasting, this room is just like the one in Seoul home...

  "Sister..." Gently stroking the face on the poster, her body couldn't help but tremble again...

  "Li Qiu, dinner is ready." After a long while, the voice of Cui Xiuying came from outside the door, bringing him back to his senses. He changed into casual clothes, put on an overcoat and walked out of the room, going downstairs to sit at the dining table.

  "Xiao Ya, when did you come back?" Jin Minying had already left the house in the morning to call Choi Soo-young and Lee Choo-jae, so he didn't know what happened that morning.

  "Yeah, I'm tired, so I came back." Bao vaguely replied.

  "Boa sister seems to be..." Cui Xiuying stuffed a fish ball into her mouth, just about to say that Boa came back last night, but the piercing gaze from Boa made her swallow the rest of her words. Her chewing motion also gradually stopped. "I don't know when she came back either." As soon as she finished speaking, Cui Xiuying immediately lowered her head and stuffed a big mouthful of rice into her mouth.

  "What's mysterious about it?" Kim Min-young asked BoA with a puzzled expression.

  "What's so mysterious, Uncle Min-young?" Boa glanced at Kim Min-young with a raised eyebrow and continued eating her meal, her gaze flicking to the side as she watched Lee Chiu walk by.

  "It's better if he doesn't know. This is Li Qiu, my brother's godson. Have you met him before, Xiaoya?" Jin Minying had just returned home and knew nothing about Li Qiu and Boa.

  BoA was drinking soup, and Kim Min-young's words made her think of last night's events. After hearing Kim Min-hee's introduction, the gaze that had been secretly peeking at him immediately returned, and a few drops of soup spilled from the corner of her mouth. BoA quickly pulled out a tissue from beside her and wiped it clean before saying, "I guess we're acquainted now."

  "Haha, let's get along well from now on, okay? Xia Qiu, can we?"

  "Hmm, I will. Where's Uncle Min-hee?" It was strange that even though it was already late at night and dinner had been served, Kim Min-hee still hadn't appeared. Lee Chuu couldn't help but ask a question, after all, he had only arrived at this house yesterday, in an unfamiliar environment, without anyone familiar around him, whoever it was would feel uneasy.

  "Oh, he's gone to visit an old friend, and might be back very late tonight."

  Kim Min-young's words fell, and the dinner table suddenly became quiet. Except for the occasional sound of chopsticks and bowls colliding, there was only the sound of chewing - Kim Min-young didn't know anything, no one spoke, he just wanted to eat his fill and rest; Choi Soo-young was scared by Boa's glance earlier and didn't dare speak again; Lee Qiu originally didn't talk much, facing three strangers, she had nothing to say; Boa didn't know what to say.

  ……

  The first and second floors each have a bathroom, the second floor seems to be used by the two girls, anyway Li Qiu took a bath on the first floor last night. Cui Xiangying washed up first and went back to her room to surf the internet, followed by Boa, who came out of the bathroom wearing a floral pajamas, wiping her wet hair, just about to enter her room when she found Li Qiu sitting quietly on the balcony, holding a book, surrounded by her favorite potted plants, looking intently at the moonlight on the balcony, the gentle evening breeze, and the memories of last night.

  "Li Qiu?"

  "Hmm? Hello, Boa-senpai." Li Qiu inserted a bookmark into her book and closed it.

  "How can I read a book here? It's still quite cool on an early summer evening in Japan."

  "Isn't it pretty good here?"

  "What's so good about it?" This balcony has been occupied by her all the time, and she just uses it to raise flowers. For two years, nothing good has been found. If you want to enjoy the view, this is only on the second floor. What can be seen? To see the moon, one still needs to look up with their head. Is it because of these potted plants of her own?

  "It feels good." Li Qiu raised her head and gazed at the crescent moon above, responding faintly. The reason Li Qiu was sitting here reading a book was because of this moon. For some unknown reason, he had an unusual interest in Chinese, and many things that Koreans found difficult to understand, such as ancient poetry, he could grasp with just one look. Of course, he also knew what the moon represented. Even though they were separated by a sea strait and thousands of miles apart, he wanted this moon to connect him and Lee Hyori together.

  "Really? Let me take a seat and have a look!" Boa squeezed over to make room, smoothed out her nightgown, sat down beside Li Qiu, placed the towel she had been using to dry her hair on her lap, lifted her head, gazed at the crescent moon, and stared for a long time. She still couldn't see anything special, "I don't feel anything, right? Last night..."

  "Sorry." Alright, last night, he actually mistook her for his own sister, but her embrace, although unfamiliar, was able to calm his mind...

  "I asked Xiuying, it was Minying uncle who let you sleep, although I hate others sleeping in my bed, but I still forgive you. However, can you tell me, your sister..."

  "Sorry..." She said, I'm not even worthy of being her brother, then what qualifications does he have to discuss her?

  "I can actually guess a lot." Last night, Li Qiu only said two sentences, one of which was just a greeting, but the second sentence already made Boa guess many things. The words "picked up" and "chased away" could be associated with many events.

  Boa rested her head on the towel on her knee, hugging her calves with both hands, gazing at her toes peeking out from the gap between her slippers. Her toes were as delicate as jade stones, and on top of them, a few water droplets sparkled under the interplay of moonlight and lamplight. The mischievous water droplets slowly slid down the jade-like skin as Boa gently swayed her feet, dripping onto the slippers.

  It was a little cool on the late summer evening in Japan, and Boa, who had just taken a bath and was only wearing her nightgown, couldn't help but rub her arms due to the goosebumps from the chill. Just as she thought of getting up and going back inside, someone put a jacket over her shoulders. "Thanks."

  "It's nothing." As if repaying the tranquility he brought to himself last night. Li Qiu was not that kind of warm-hearted person, and Boa was also just met for the first time last night, no, it should be today, if it wasn't for Boa hugging him and letting him sleep soundly for a night, he wouldn't have been so calm.

  "This crescent moon is so beautiful! But the whole night sky, solitary and pitiful. " Boa lifted her head again, smiled slightly at the corner of her mouth, gazing up at the half-missing moon, and sighed. Loneliness is like a slender and sharp knife, if you're not careful, it will cut your heart with a slash, whether it's painful or pleasant, only you know."

  "Hey, Boa, do you know? In China, there's an ancient poem that says 'the ends of the earth are like neighbors', meaning as long as you have someone in your heart, it feels like you're shoulder to shoulder, back to back. And another one says 'thousands of miles share the same moonlight', meaning even if you're thousands of miles apart, you can still share the beauty of the moon together." Does he feel lonely? Li Qiu never felt lonely because his heart has always been with the person he cares about most, and it's never left.

  After listening to Li Qiu's words, Boa raised his head and lowered it, thinking for a while before turning to Li Qiu. His bright eyes blinked repeatedly, staring at Li Qiu for a moment, then he lifted his head again, gazing at the crescent moon, "The horizon is like a neighbor..."

  "Mmm." The tip of her nose, continuously emitting the fragrance from Boa's body, refreshing and warm after a bath, through the moonlight like water, in the late spring evening breeze, floating amidst the flower-filled pots.

  What a crescent moon! So captivating...

  "Haha, when did I become so sentimental! By the way, are you studying Japanese?" Bao wiped away tears from the corner of her eyes and turned to pick up a book that Li Qiu had put aside earlier after taking off her jacket.

  "Uh-huh."

  "I'll teach you!"

  "Minying uncle said you are busy, he asked Xiu Ying to teach."

  "I'm starting to be less busy today and have a fairly long vacation."

  "Oh."

  "Alright, let's get started! First, I'll teach you this, sis!"

  This crescent moon is so captivating...

  ……