Kyoto Night Kiss

The room was filled with the sweet aroma of rice wine.

Senior Song pointed to a large vat on the table and said with great interest, "This is all homemade by my mother-in-law's family. It's not very strong and tastes exceptionally smooth. You should all try some."

Everyone nodded, but Qu Yun didn't respond. She kept her eyes down, pouring wine into her glass one cup after another.

She swallowed hard without even flinching.

Seeing her drinking like she was going to die, Senior Song laughed and teased Lu Junhe next to him, "Why don't you do something about her?"

"Could it be that we don't let her have a single drop at home, so she came here and drank like crazy?"

Lu Junhe held his hand in mid-air, trying to take the glass from Qu Yun's hand. He softened his tone and said, "Drink less. Even if the alcohol content is low, it's still alcohol. Drinking too much will upset your stomach."

As soon as she finished speaking, Qu Yun's wrist, which was gripping the rim of the cup, suddenly sank.

The empty glass slammed heavily onto the wooden table with a dull thud, making the peanuts in the plate tremble.

Qu Yun remained silent.

Lu Junhe swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue. He didn't dare to say another word to stop him and turned to his senior, saying, "It's okay, I don't drink."

"If she gets drunk later, I'll just carry her home."

Several men at the table cast sympathetic glances at him.

It's so pitiful that such a grown man is henpecked!

"Brother Lu, please eat more." Senior Song picked up some food and brought it over.

Lu Junhe looked at the mutton that had suddenly appeared in his bowl, and glanced at Qu Yun helplessly, but the latter completely ignored him.

She was the one who was supposed to bring him here.

With his injured hand wrapped in bandages, he had difficulty even picking up a peanut.

Lu Junhe sighed inwardly and helped Qu Yunjia.

He is at least somewhat useful.

Qu Yun eventually got quite drunk. She doesn't have a high alcohol tolerance, and she was unsteady on her feet when she walked out of her senior's house.

Lu Junhe's eyelids twitched, and he was about to go over to help her when Senior Song came out from behind and said that Qu Yun had forgotten to take her scarf.

He had no choice but to turn back, and by the time he caught up with her again, the little girl had already gone far away.

The night air carried a faint scent of hay.

Qu Yun slowed her light, ethereal steps. She tilted her head back, her pupils veiled with a layer of mist, fixed on the crescent moon in the night sky, her eyes remaining fixed for a long time without moving.

Lu Junhe walked over, saw her lost in thought, picked up the blue scarf in his hand, and put it around her neck.

He patiently wrapped the scarf around his neck, blocking any cold wind that might get in, and then pulled it a little tight at the end.

Qu Yun couldn't help but let out a soft burp.

Lu Junhe chuckled, pinched her cheek, and said indulgently, "Little drunkard, is that rice wine really that good?"

Qu Yun completely ignored his words, her unfocused gaze slowly drifting down from the moon high in the sky.

On the side of the road stands a cement platform that is more than half a foot higher than the road surface. It was left over from the construction of the irrigation canal many years ago.

Qu Yun suddenly smiled and said, "When I was little, I often walked on that, but I was scared, so my dad would always hold my hand."

Now, she clenched her fingers, but all she could grasp was air.

It felt like something was pressing heavily on my chest; it was impossible not to feel sad.

She no longer has a father.

Never mind, I should go home and rest early.

"What's the big deal?" Lu Junhe suddenly spoke up.

Qu Yun looked up, and before she could react, the man in front of her bent down, steadily picked her up, and placed her on the cement platform.

At a certain height, and perhaps because she had been drinking, Qu Yun felt unsteady on her feet.

Before she could speak, her cold hand was enveloped again.

Lu Junhe stood below the stage, his fingertips intertwined with hers, and said gently, "I'll lead you."

Under the moonlight, two dark figures walked in sync.

Qu Yun turned her head to look several times.

Lu Junhe caught a glimpse of her half-pursed lips out of the corner of his eye and stopped in his tracks. He took Qu Yun's hand and met her bewildered gaze.

He asked, "What are you trying to say?"

Qu Yun twitched her little finger, but couldn't pull it away.

She said earnestly, "You're holding my hand like this."

"Do you want to be my dad?"

Lu Junhe let out a low chuckle, shook their intertwined arms, and replied, "I want to be your husband, is that alright?"

Qu Yun stepped on a pebble, lost her balance, and fell down with a cry of "Ah!"

The expected pain of falling face-first to the ground did not occur.

Lu Junhe pulled her into his arms with one hand.

Qu Yun remembered that she had just felt a touch on the back of her head.

A man's magnetic voice then rang out above her head: "Is something on your mind?"

"Yunyun, don't feel awkward with me. You can tell me anything."

Qu Yun slightly raised her chin.

Led by the harmful effects of alcohol, she actually opened her mouth: "Why...don't we have children anymore?"

Just thinking about the expression on the man's face when he said those two words made her heart feel like it had been squeezed hard, but it was strange that she asked the question.

Qu Yun tried to explain, "I just wanted to ask... I didn't mean I wanted to have a child with you, or to get back together with you or anything... I just really wanted to know."

She's becoming increasingly incoherent.

The hand that was stroking her head stopped.

Qu Yun realized that she shouldn't have asked the question.

She closed her eyes in regret, wishing she hadn't been so greedy with so many drinks.

Suddenly, Lu Junhe's voice rang out: "Because I had a vasectomy."

Qu Yun was taken aback and looked up at him from his arms.

There wasn't a trace of lying about it.

"Why..." she couldn't bring herself to ask.

But she knew in her heart that their child was a reason for it.

There must be a reason for that.

Lu Junhe seemed unwilling to discuss the topic further, and lowered his hand. "Let's go, let's go back."

Qu Yun took a step forward, and a piercing pain shot through her ankle.

She looked down at her sprained ankle. Lu Junhe, who was even lower than her head, bent down first and squatted on the ground to let her get up.

Qu Yun actually fell asleep while being carried like this.

She slept soundly through the night until dawn, and when she opened her eyes, it took her a long time to realize that she was lying on the wooden bed in her own room.

There was no one around, and one pillow was missing.

Qu Yun rubbed her aching temples, not quite remembering what happened last night. When she got up and saw someone lying on the ground, she quickly pulled her feet back onto the bed.

Qu Yun frowned and looked over. "Lu Junhe?"

The man was still asleep. Perhaps because the ground was too cold, he was curled up slightly and breathing very shallowly.

Qu Yun stepped barefoot onto the ground and dared not utter another sound.

She pulled the blanket off the bed and covered Lu Junhe with it. When she walked out of the room and bumped into something soft, she was terrified.

"what!"

"What's wrong?" Mrs. Qu was startled, patting her chest and saying, "Are you trying to scare your mother to death this early in the morning?"

Qu Yun was stunned, and called out to the woman in front of her in disbelief, "Mom?"

Qu's mother laughed, "Silly daughter, when did you come back? You don't even recognize your own mother."

As soon as she finished speaking, Qu Yun hugged her tightly, a lump forming in her throat, "Mom, you're finally awake..."

Mrs. Qu felt as if her old bones were about to be broken. She gently patted Qu Yun's shoulder and looked into the half-open room. "Where is my son-in-law?"

"Is he awake too?"

Qu Yun remembered that Lu Junhe was still sleeping on the floor, so she immediately stepped forward and blocked the door. She shook her head and denied it, saying, "There's no son-in-law. Mom, you're getting senile."

"I'm still single."