Chapter 2: A Thousand Miles of Moonlight, An Old Friend Comes (Part 2)

The young man standing in the doorway wore a light blue wide sleeves robe and his hair was styled in a top-knot fastened with a plain silver crown and a simple silver hairpin. Even though his outfit was ordinary-looking, it was so perfect and suitable on him that he appeared too extraordinary to be standing in this humble, old house. His appearance was still the same, only more mature and older. There was still a cold glint in his unsmiling eyes but surrounding him was now an imposing air of excellence and enigma. Even though we have entered into our mid-20s, it felt as if time had stood still five years ago. But neither of us were our 18-year-old selves. Even though I had missed him so much over these few years, he was not the same person as the one I knew.

I froze at my internal monologue. No—I must have been too shocked by his unexpected appearance that I was having nonsensical thoughts.

I laughed wryly, my eyes darting about frantically not knowing where to look. "Yo, I didn't expect to see you here."

"I didn't expect you to be here either." He strode over and place the bowl in his hand on the bedside table. The scent of herbs informed me that it must be the actual medicine.

I pointed to the bowl distastefully. "Are you also a nurse here? Or are you my physician?"

"I am a physician here."

"What? Since when did you know Traditional Chinese Medicine?" I asked, wondering if he had picked up some skills from Miracle Doctor Jin Mu when he was in the Floating Lanterns, Autumn Moon universe.

"Ji Kai is a medical student. He's currently in his 5th year." Shuzhen rejoined with an almost smug look on her face. She spoke as if she was Ji Kai instead. Oh, if she was speaking for Ji Kai... her relationship with him must not be that simple?

"I took a few courses on TCM and the fusion of TCM with Western medicine in the course of my study." Ji Kai explained quickly, almost too rapidly, as if he did not want to have to deal with me. "Drink the medicine after you're done with the congee. Then I'll send you back home—to reality. You should also see a doctor when you get home."

"No, I won't drink it and I'm not leaving right now." I glowered at him defiantly. Who was he to suddenly appear again after vanishing for five years, only to interrupt a mission that I was deeply invested in?

We stared at each other for a whole minute, neither of us moving to break the deadlock. The tense silence weighed heavily on us, yet both of us were too proud to give in to the other.

"I'll go outside first and check on those patients with food poisoning," said Shuzhen, forcing a smile as her gaze moved from Ji Kai to me and back to Ji Kai again.

I followed her departing back with my eyes, taking the opportunity to end the impasse. Without sparing him a glance, I said in a clear, even voice: "Shouldn't you explain it to me first?"

Clearing his throat, Ji Kai rejoined in a frigid voice, "explain what—my absence? Isn't it natural that friends lose contact with one another over the years?"

I frowned at him and let out a harsh breath. "I'm talking about you being here when you're supposed to be on a road trip overseas. Shuzhen just told me that the both of you studied together in the same local university. But the last time we spoke over the phone, that was not the case. Why didn't you tell the truth?"

Dipping his chin, he avoided my eyes. The earlier displeasure that he had on his face vanished and replacing it was merely a lifeless expression.

Without waiting for his reply, I questioned with a burst of irritation—all my emotions from the past few years concerning this issued condensed into a single question. "Do you hate me?"

"No." His head snapped up, before bowing his head in his hands. "I—I have my reasons."

"And one of those reasons includes wanting to cut me out of your life? I thought that we were friends."

Ji Kai lifted his head from his hand, but his eyes remained closed. Turning away from me, he hesitated before softly sighing out: "No, I wanted to cut me out of your life. I didn't want to place you in danger. But I see now that it was all for naught. They still found you anyway."

Subconsciously, one of my hands reached out towards him wanting to comfort him. But catching myself, I pulled my arm back forcefully.

"What do you mean?"

"You already know that my family has been opposed to me pursuing my own dreams. They wanted me to study business to take over the family business. Even literature or journalism would have been good. But I want to be a doctor. So I told them that I was going to US to study business but I secretly applied to ZS School of Medicine, located in Guangdong province. It was considered far enough to be from the reaches of my family."

"And to prevent anyone from finding out about this, you cut off all contact. Even with me?"

"When I disappeared off the grid and my family started looking for me, they contacted anyone whom they knew was acquainted with me. One person that they looked really hard for was you because after you left Wan Shu Lou back then, word got out that an outsider who had a very close relationship with me had carried out the tasks of a Librarian to save me. Thus, they thought that we were—anyway, it got to a point where I had to cut off contact with you to remove any traces." Ji Kai shifted his position to gaze at me sideways, his ears reddening. With a slight tremor in his voice thick with emotions, he whispered: "I'm sorry that I've hurt you. I don't hate you."

I smiled a little. "Yea, you chose to do that in order to protect yourself."

"No," he interrupted, "they wanted to find you in order to force me to appear so that I will have to go back to my post as a Librarian. Just like what is happening now. That's why I really regret cutting off contact with you. There was no point in what I did. In the end, I still couldn't protect you."

Ji Kai suddenly sat down at the edge of my bed, still facing me. I subconsciously scooted to my right, widening the gap between us.

Ignoring my reaction, he continued his explanation earnestly. "Shi Ruijie contacted Shuzhen on the same day that you entered the book. He told her to relay to me that you agreed to help the library association. The moment I heard it, I was so furious with those people and took the next flight to Beijing. When I arrived at Shibao Ge, it was too late. At that moment, I was not sure what I was thinking. I simply agreed to help with their mission. After studying the book overnight, I entered the book and have been alongside the character Sheng Yi ever since."

I perked up with interest. There truly was a grander scheme of things behind the scenes. When I agreed to help Li Qin at that fateful lunch meeting, I had played right into the Library Association's trap. They must have been working together with Ji Kai's family. Ruijie had never planned to shadow Sheng Yi after all. Right from the start, the role was meant to be played by Ji Kai. This way, his four-letter message made sense.

"So they made me help with this mission, and you emerged from hiding because?"

"I don't want to drag you into this mess of an organisation," said Ji Kai with a revulsion displayed clearly on his face. My eyes narrowed curiously and I wanted to question why he seemed to hate the Library Association so much. Instead, I simply replied: "But what if I was willing to do it?"

"Why?" he asked with unfeigned astonishment.

Despite knowing what his reply would be and knowing that he would think of me as acting foolishly, I thought that he should be aware of my thought process. "Because maybe I could find you this way."

Ji Kai pitched-black pupils trembled in confusion but when he recovered, he gave me a melancholic smile. "And that's why you're a pawn in their game."

***

Author's Note: One thing I enjoy about Chinese dramas is that for VVIPs, there is usually a mass release of the last few episodes, in batches sometimes. :-) So here you go!