It Looks Better with the Lights Off

"This girl is serious!!"

"I'm kidding, alright alright, I'm not afraid of you. Come on, if you're not scared, then come."

"It's my first time seeing someone take the initiative to offer themselves up like this."

Su Yang muttered a few words to himself and then replied: "You're something else, impressive, you're actually serious."

"Of course I'm serious! I said I never regret what I do!"

"Aren't you afraid I might be a bad person?"

"What bad person sings so well and is so handsome? You definitely don't look like a bad person," Zhong Qing replied.

Su Yang was amused by this: "You're still too young. People's hearts aren't as simple as you think~"

"I don't care, see you tomorrow in Licheng!"

Su Yang: "......"

"Oh, right, so you recognize me tomorrow, I'll send you a photo of me first~"

Zhong Qing really did send a selfie of herself.

Su Yang clicked to take a closer look. In the photo, Zhong Qing was wearing a black T-shirt, striking a cute pose, with a very sweet smile.

She looked pretty much the same as she did in her videos.

Apart from her hairstyle being different—in the photo, she had long twin tails—her other features were the same.

An oval face, willow-leaf eyebrows and large eyes, a slender, high-bridged nose, beautiful red lips, and fair skin. Put together, she was a total knockout.

Su Yang replied: "I've seen your videos before."

"Oh, right, you've browsed my profile. It's fine, keep this photo safe. I've never sent a selfie to any man other than my dad; you're the first."

Su Yang thought to himself: "Like I'd believe that~"

"Alright, alright, thank you then~"

"You're welcome. That's it, see you tomorrow!"

After exiting the chat with Zhong Qing, Su Yang rolled his eyes, pondered for a few seconds, and then decided not to bother about it anymore.

He scrolled through Douyin for a while longer before getting ready to turn off the light and sleep.

But his phone, which he had just put down, vibrated again.

He picked it up, frowned, and muttered in surprise: "Little Su?"

"Still not asleep?"

As he spoke, Su Yang opened the WeChat chat interface and saw a message from Su Qingci.

"Su Yang, are you asleep?"

Su Yang replied somewhat unexpectedly: "Not yet, what's up?"

"Su Yang, I... I'm sorry!"

"Huh? What's going on? What's with tonight?" Su Yang mumbled to himself, confused.

Then he typed a reply: "What's wrong with you? What do you mean you're sorry?"

"I... I took the wrong bag..."

"Ah? Wrong bag? How could you take the wrong one? Isn't your bag coffee-colored?"

"It is coffee-colored, but I didn't look carefully when you gave it to me earlier. I didn't pay attention after getting back to my room either. Just now, when I was about to take out tomorrow's clothes, I realized it wasn't my bag..."

"Whose is it then?"

"It should be Sister Ziyun's. I saw her earlier, and she seemed to have brought a coffee-colored bag too. It does look quite similar to mine."

Reading the message, Su Yang smiled helplessly: "Then I'll go get it for you. Wait for me in your room."

"Maybe I should come up to you, and you can give me the car keys. I'll go get it myself~"

"No need, I'll go."

"Okay, sorry to trouble you, Su Yang~"

"Don't mention it. Wait there."

Su Yang turned off his phone, got out of bed again, and pushed the door open.

It was already 1:30 AM, and everyone else was fast asleep.

Su Yang tiptoed downstairs, reached the villa's main entrance, opened the door, and went out.

Soon, he returned to the courtyard and went to the car.

He opened the rear door and rummaged through the pile of stuff again. Sure enough, at the very bottom, there was another coffee-colored leather bag.

It looked almost exactly like the one he had taken earlier.

Su Yang shook his head with a smile, put the other things back in order, took the bag, and quickly returned to the villa.

There were three guest rooms on the first floor of the villa.

Su Yang walked closer and checked under the gaps of the doors. Light was coming from under one of them.

He quickly approached and gently knocked.

Knock knock knock~

"Coming~" Su Qingci's voice came from inside the room.

Soon, the room door clicked open.

"Su Yang~" Su Qingci stood at the door and called out sweetly.

Su Yang handed the leather bag in his hand to Su Qingci and asked: "Take a look. This one should be right, shouldn't it?"

"Yes, yes, this is it."

Su Qingci took the bag, opened it to check, and smiled: "Thank you, Su Yang~"

"Don't mention it, it's a small thing."

"Well, Su... Su Yang, would you like to come in for some water? I've troubled you twice tonight. I feel really bad."

Su Yang gave a faint smile: "Sure, I'm not sleepy anyway."

As he spoke, he stepped inside and closed the door.

Su Qingci swallowed, took the bag, turned back into the room, and placed it on the bed.

She picked up Tang Ziyun's bag and put it on the table before going to get water for Su Yang.

"Su Yang, have a seat."

"Okay~" Su Yang looked around the room. It was very different from his.

Compared to his, this one was much larger. Apart from a bathroom, his room had almost no other amenities.

The room Su Qingci chose was different. Besides the bathroom, the room had a fully functional tea/coffee maker, a coffee machine, a sofa, a rattan chair, a computer, a TV, and a huge balcony facing the Erhai Lake.

It looked much more comfortable.

But Su Yang didn't mind. When choosing rooms earlier, he had let the others pick the rooms facing the Erhai first.

He himself just picked one randomly.

He walked over and sat down on the small sofa.

Su Qingci brought over a glass of water for Su Yang: "Su Yang, here~"

Su Yang reached out, took the glass, took a sip, and smiled: "Why are you still up so late?"

"I usually sleep late. I can't fall asleep until a certain hour."

"Oh? Me too. I need at least until around two."

Su Qingci walked over and sat on the edge of the bed.

Su Yang turned his head and asked: "Are you the only one on the first floor?"

"Mhm, only this room of mine on the first floor faces the Erhai, so they all went to sleep on the second floor."

"Oh, I see. This room of yours is really quite comfortable~"

They chatted idly for a bit. Su Yang finished the water in one go, stood up, and looked towards the balcony: "Can I go take a look?"

"Of course~" Su Qingci agreed and also stood up.

She accompanied Su Yang to the spacious balcony. At this moment, the Erhai Lake before them was pitch black, and nothing could be seen.

Su Yang took two steps forward, stretched his arms, and said with a smile: "It must be really nice to pull open the curtains tomorrow morning, sit here, and have a cup of tea."

"Yes, I'll get up early tomorrow to see if I can catch the sunrise." Su Qingci followed him forward a bit.

She looked up at the sky and suddenly raised her voice a little: "Su Yang, look, there are so many stars in the sky~"

Su Yang looked up. The night sky was deep, filled with countless stars hanging on the curtain of night like twinkling gems.

"So beautiful. I didn't notice before. I didn't expect the night sky here to be this beautiful."

"Yeah, it's so beautiful~" Su Qingci said, covering her mouth with some excitement.

She suddenly turned and ran back into the room.

Su Yang asked, "What are you doing?"

"I'm just turning off the light~" Su Qingci said as she quickly switched off the room light. Then, she turned on her phone's flashlight and walked back slowly.

"It looks better with the lights off~"

"Really? Then maybe we should sit for a while and admire the stars at night."

"Okay."

As they spoke, the two sat side by side on a small sofa on the balcony, looking up at the starry sky.

After watching for a while, Su Qingci broke the silence and asked, "Brother Su Yang, do you think there are aliens in the universe?"

Su Yang thought for a moment and said, "I think there are. The universe is so vast; it can't be that life exists only on our planet, right?"

"Mhmm, I think so too."

Su Yang pointed at the stars in the sky and said, "Look at these stars. Perhaps on one of them, there are so-called aliens. Maybe on that very planet, two beings are sitting just like us, saying the same things."

"Oh? Hearing you say that makes it all feel so mysterious~ I'd really love to see what aliens actually look like!" Su Qingci opened her eyes wide, looking at the night sky with a sweet smile.

Su Yang tilted his head to look at her profile, then lifted his gaze back to the stars.

The two of them sat together like this, quietly admiring the vast expanse of stars.

After watching for a while longer, they both turned their heads to look at each other at the same time.

In the pitch-black night, under the meeting of their gazes, that subtle atmosphere rippled once again.

......