A Moment Too Late (GL) - Chapter 42

The ringing stopped.

“What happened?”

Xiao Yi looked at her, noticing that Shu Yubai seemed a bit anxious.

The noise in the restaurant covered up the earlier awkwardness. Shu Yubai glanced at the screen; Nan Xue hadn’t answered and had already ended the call. Turning around, she saw Nan Xue seated in a more secluded spot. The dim lighting made her features hard to distinguish through the carved screen.

“Just now, I called a friend back.”

Shu Yubai lowered her eyes and no longer looked in Nan Xue’s direction.

Why was she here? Was it a coincidence?

She frowned slightly, recalling the look in the person’s eyes just now—it seemed to contain some indeterminate emotion.

“How do you two know each other?”

Xiao Yi looked at them and smiled: “What a coincidence.”

Tang Ruoyan looked at her and smiled lightly: “We met at a gallery back then. I liked her painting, but it turned out not to be an original; it was a copy by someone else.”

“If Yubai hadn’t stopped me, I would have been fooled.”

Xiao Yi chuckled lightly.

“I heard you, like Xiao Yi, also studied painting.”

Tang Ruoyan picked up her tea cup and took a sip, her eyes reflecting the mist.

“Yes.”

Shu Yubai looked down and remembered: “I used to paint traditional Chinese art, but later my hands had some issues, so I couldn’t do detailed work anymore. I shifted to focusing more on composition and color in oil painting.”

Her hands?

Tang Ruoyan instinctively glanced at Shu Yubai’s hands resting on the table.

Her skin was very fair and smooth, the back of her hands delicate with faint blue veins visible, nails neatly trimmed and rounded, and under the cold light, her fingertips had a slight pink hue.

There were thin calluses between her fingertips and the spaces between her fingers.

At first glance, there didn’t seem to be any issue. Tang Ruoyan, curious, asked: “Can I see your hands?”

Shu Yubai was momentarily stunned and didn’t immediately understand. Xiao Yi explained: “She’s studying traditional Chinese medicine. She might be able to tell something just by looking at your hands. I don’t understand, but can she?”

“Yes.”

Tang Ruoyan said: “Let me see your hand.”

Shu Yubai lifted her hand and placed it in Tang Ruoyan’s palm.

Her palm was warm and soft. Shu Yubai looked up, and the woman across from her happened to be looking back. They exchanged a smile.

“Your hands are so soft.”

Tang Ruoyan smiled: “They’re both white and delicate, really beautiful.”

She held Shu Yubai’s hand, examining her palm.

For a moment, Tang Ruoyan’s movement paused. Just as she was about to lower her head for a closer look, she suddenly felt a cold, intense gaze fixed on her, as if being pricked by needles.

She looked up.

The restaurant was large, with one row of seats by the floor-to-ceiling windows separated from another row deeper in by a long wooden screen. The middle part was hollowed out, and under the dim light, she could vaguely see the people on the other side but couldn’t make out details.

To the right, at a diagonal table, there seemed to be a young woman.

She squinted instinctively.

Through the screen, she could vaguely make out her silhouette.

The wooden screen obscured her view, but she wore a moon-white silk blouse with a long knot hanging at her chest. Her black hair lightly rested on her shoulder, her skin dazzlingly white. Through the dim light, she could faintly see a pair of clear eyes, casting a cold glance before lowering her thick eyelashes.

“What are you looking at?”

Shu Yubai asked her.

“Nothing.”

Tang Ruoyan came back to her senses:

“I felt like the young lady at the adjacent table was staring at me.” She hesitated slightly, thinking she looked somewhat familiar.

Had she seen her somewhere before?

She couldn’t recall, and her memory was a bit hazy. Xiao Yi also wanted to look back to see, but Shu Yubai tugged at her sleeve: “No one’s looking; it’s probably just an illusion.”

“Right.” Xiao Yi stopped turning her head.

Tang Ruoyan refocused and looked down at Shu Yubai’s hands again, her eyelashes lowered. After a moment, she said: “That’s enough.”

Shu Yubai withdrew her hand, and Tang Ruoyan looked at her and said slowly: “Mainly, there is a lot of damp and coldness in your body. Also, have you been unable to adjust your mental state for a while?”

“A few years ago, there were some changes in my family, and it was easy to feel depressed.”

Shu Yubai lowered her head, reminiscing:

“But recently, it’s gotten much better.”

Many things, probably, if one can slowly move out of them, the feeling of stagnation will gradually dissipate.

At that time, her parents had just divorced, and soon after, Shu Yubai’s hands also began to have problems. Every night, her hands hurt so much she couldn’t sleep, waking up at two or three in the morning to try and relieve it through massage. Lack of sleep, pressure at work, and the breakdown of her parents’ relationship… that period felt almost like living in complete darkness.

Now, however, things were much better.

“My hand only has occasional tingling now, and my sleep at night is back to normal. I’m not as anxious anymore.”

“I studied Traditional Chinese Medicine.”

Tang Ruoyan looked at her and said gently, “I used to work at the affiliated hospital of the medical university, but later I left to start my own practice and opened a physiotherapy clinic.”

“That sounds great.”

She seemed like a rather gentle girl, so it was surprising that she had such strong opinions about her career. Tang Ruoyan was very concerned about Shu Yubai’s hand, even more than she seemed to be herself, and hoped it would improve soon: “The body and emotions affect each other. You should try to be happier.”

“Whenever you have time, come by and I’ll take a look at it for you.”

“Thank you.”

After finishing the meal, they ended up discussing Shu Yubai’s hand problems quite a lot, and the topic of feelings was hardly mentioned. Tang Ruoyan joked that she had fallen into her professional habit and couldn’t stop once she started. Xiao Yi just smiled and didn’t take it to heart.

Xiao Yi drove her over, and after the meal, the three of them waved goodbye at the restaurant entrance.

“My car is over there. I’ll head out now.”

“Okay.”

Shu Yubai stood at the door, watching them leave.

••••

Outside, the cold air from the distant lake made the surroundings chilly. Shu Yubai gently covered her face with her hands. On this snowy day, a few sparrows flew down from the treetops in the nearby small park, searching for food in the grass.

She had been waiting there for a while, and then the girl from inside came out.

Seeing Shu Yubai still standing there, not having left, her eyes briefly brightened.

“Sister.”

“Mm?”

“Are you waiting for me?”

“Mm.”

Shu Yubai, with her slender waist, wore a lake-blue cashmere sweater and had her long hair down, giving off a soft and warm impression. She stood by the stone post at the entrance, gazing outside at the distant gentle lake, where the ripples moved with the wind.

Nan Xue approached.

Feeling a light touch on her shoulder, Shu Yubai turned around and saw Nan Xue’s red lips close by. Nan Xue had come close, trying to embrace her waist from behind.

But Shu Yubai took a couple of steps forward, immediately creating some distance between them.

She glanced at her watch; it was already one o’clock. The place was still crowded and noisy. Shu Yubai didn’t turn back but softly asked, “Shall we sit over in that park?”

Nan Xue agreed.

The park was quiet, with long benches by the lakeside. The two of them sat there in peace, feeling the chilly and soft wind mixed with the dampness of the lake. This place, usually bustling with winter tourists, was quieter since many had gone to rest at this hour.

“Why are you here?”

“Just a coincidence.”

“Call me if something comes up.”

“Uncle mentioned you were here, so I wanted to find you.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes.”

After a while of casual conversation, Shu Yubai looked back at her.

Nan Xue sat quietly, the willows on the lake shore were withered, leaving only a few scattered snowflakes on the branches. Her nose, slightly translucent from the cold, and her black-and-white eyes gazed at the distant lake. Her dark hair fell over her collarbone; she wore a moon-white shirt and a coat that was neither thick nor thin, making her appear a bit cold.

Shu Yubai sighed lightly and asked, “Can you tell me, by following me like this, what do you want to achieve?”

Nan Xue felt a pang in her heart. Her long eyelashes fluttered slightly, her gaze lowered, and her fingertips tightened, turning pale.

Nan Xue asked softly, “Do you still like me?”

No one answered her.

Nan Xue turned her head and stared intently into Shu Yubai’s eyes, afraid of missing any hint of emotion. She asked again, “Sister, do you still like me?”

Shu Yubai, with her smooth long hair falling, looked down, her hair obscuring her profile. Nan Xue could only see her fair, smooth forehead and long eyelashes, which curved gracefully and trembled lightly under her gaze.

Nan Xue couldn’t help but move closer.

If she were just an inch closer, she could kiss her forehead.

Shu Yubai suddenly raised her gaze, looked at her, and said softly, “It’s not possible for us.”

She spoke with such certainty.

Nan Xue asked, “Do you still want to be with me?”

Shu Yubai replied, “No.”

Nan Xue asked, “Just want to be friends?”

Shu Yubai answered, “Mm.”

Nan Xue abruptly stood up and said, “Alright.”

After saying this, she turned and left, her tall figure wrapped in an ankle-length coat, adjusting it slightly against the cold wind, carrying a somewhat desolate air.

Shu Yubai watched her retreating figure.

Was she really leaving without looking back?

Shu Yubai leaned against the cold stone bench, looking at the distant lake, feeling more bewildered. How could they be together? She couldn’t imagine it, and her confession at that time had been somewhat impulsive.

She closed her eyes.

After a while.

A voice suddenly sounded beside her.

“Sister, do you want some juice?”

Shu Yubai opened her eyes, surprised to see Nan Xue had returned.

Nan Xue’s eyes brightened slightly as she held a transparent small bag with two cups of freshly squeezed juice inside, a light pink color.

She handed one cup to Shu Yubai, saying, “Here.”

“You went to buy juice?”

“Mm.”

Nan Xue explained, “I just saw that store. Don’t you like these?”

Shu Yubai replied, “…”

“No, it’s fine.”

She pushed the juice back into Nan Xue’s hand, somewhat helplessly, “It’s too cold; drinking it might upset my stomach.”

“…”

The light in Nan Xue’s eyes dimmed immediately.

••••

After finishing the meal, Shu Yubai returned to Ying Ran’s place and resumed painting. Her routine seemed to revert to how it was back in school: a simple, repetitive life centered around painting.

It was a kind of enjoyment to focus solely on creating a clean, beautiful world in her art, without worrying about anything else.

Meanwhile, in the living room.

A porcelain vase was placed on the bamboo coffee table. Nan Xue’s father was placing a bunch of plum blossoms into the vase. The plum blossoms still had some snow on them, as if they had just been cut from the yard.

“Dad.”

Nan Xue sat on the sofa watching him.

“Is there something?”

Nan Mingzhu arranged the flowers, creating a layered arrangement before sitting down to rest.

Nan Xue flipped through a few pages of the book she was holding and said softly, “In a few days, I want to go to Uncle’s place.”

“Uncle?”

Nan Mingzhu looked at her in surprise and said, “Ying Ran? It’s been years since you’ve been in touch with him. What do you want with him?”

Nan Xue’s parents divorced early. After she went to live with her father, she didn’t have much contact with her mother’s side of the family. The relationship between Ying Ran and her father was quite distant.

Fortunately, when Nan Xue was young, her uncle had cared for her.

It wasn’t related to blood; it was simply because he found her cute.

“I want to find him… to learn how to paint.”

Nan Xue held a book in her hands. Her father glanced at it and swiftly took it away. The cover read: *Appreciation of Monet’s Works*.

Nan Mingzhu flipped through a few pages. The book was about color ink painting and was quite heavy. “When did you start liking painting?”

“Not long ago,” Nan Xue replied.

Her father looked at her with some doubt and asked, “Did you get influenced by Xiao Shu? She likes painting, so you want to paint too?”

Nan Xue did not deny it.

When she was young, Shu Yubai learned to play the pipa, and Nan Xue, in a fit of temper, had her father sign her up for piano lessons. Now, one wanted to pursue painting, and the other also wanted to get into the arts?

Nan Mingzhu pondered for a moment.

His daughter might be a bit immature in handling things, but she was reliable in her work, so he wasn’t worried about her taking over the family business. If she had some free time to pursue painting and cultivate her temperament, it wouldn’t be a bad thing.

He gave her a glance and asked, “Does your uncle agree?”