Hard to Escape/In Love with a Counterfeit Tall Rich Handsome - Chapter 16

Chapter 16

When I made my way back, Su Lin Lin had already taken a seat back in the private room and talking with Yin Li . His expression seemed rather aloof . I sauntered over next to Yin Li and took the initiative to rest my head on his shoulder . Then, I crooked my head and looked at Su Lin Lin . Yin Li immediately ended his conversation with her and rubbed my head . Then he bent his head down to me, and his hair brushed against my forehead . In a low voice, he said, “When this gathering is over, I’ll bring you somewhere . ”

I agreed . Looking into his pair of beautiful eyes, I immediately lost all my interest in Su Lin Lin’s expression . Even up to when we finally left the hot pot restaurant, I was still lost in a dizzying sense of bliss .

Yin Li retrieved his car, and without any explanation drove on for almost half an hour . We even traversed some mountain roads before finally coming to a stop . The air atop the mountain was clear and fresh, but the night was a bit chilly . Yin Li took off his jacket and gave it to me . “I can’t drive any further from here . We might need to hike up the mountain a bit . ” Then he came over and took my hand . His palm was warm . “There’s a newly-built astronomical observatory here . Tonight the sky is clear, very suited for stargazing . ”

I’d heard of this stargazing observatory before, it had been mentioned in the news quite often . It had been under construction for some years, and was a rather large building . Next month it was set to open to the public . I never knew that Yin Li had the mind to leisurely go stargazing in his free time, in the middle of the night .

“Come over here . ” Yin Li called me over, then crouched down in front of me . Seeing me staring blanking at him, he shot me a glance . “I wasn’t prepared for you to be wearing heels . Next time, I’ll leave a pair of your slippers and sneakers in my car . For now just quickly come over, I’ll carry you up . ”

I was somewhat embarrassed . “This pair are wedges and the heel’s only a few centimeters . I can just walk by myself . ”

Yin Li unexpectedly gave me an unhappy look . “You want me to crouch here for nothing? Also, even though you’ve recovered from your car accident, you shouldn’t engage in any exercise that’s too strenuous . Wearing those wedges to hike up the mountain, do you want to end up in the hospital again?”

Only at this did I reluctantly climb onto his back . But once I was leaning against him, I didn’t want to get off . His back was broad and warm, and his stride was measured and steady . I rested against him as the starlight shone brightly down on us, illuminating the narrow path . Our surroundings were quiet and tranquil, with a sense of mystery about them . You could only hear the faint sounds of crickets chirping . The night air smelled of wet dew and fresh grass, with the subtle scent of tobacco from Yin Li’s neck mixed in .

In an absent-minded moment, a secret wish appeared in my heart: To walk together down this road without stopping, to continue on like this until we both grew old .

But Yin Li evidently wasn’t thinking of such sentimental things . He halted firmly in place and told me, “We’re here . ” Left with no other option, I rubbed my eyes and slid off his back .

As far as I could see, whole observatory building in front of me was white, and its glass doors were etched with constellation designs . Yin Li swiped a card and unlocked the door . Only once I walked into the main hall did I lift my head and notice with some surprise that the ceiling was spangled with constellations and star clusters . They had probably used some kind of fluorescent paint . In the darkness, it looked like a starry sky dangling from the heavens . I was transfixed and couldn’t look away . The whole main hall area had been designed to resemble an exhibition hall, they’d used entire sheets of glass for the walls . On this mountaintop, with no towering skyscrapers obscuring the view, the moonlight poured freely into the hall, reflecting off the hall’s milky ceramic tiles . The swirling light seemed to pool beneath our feet into a shimmering lake of moonlight .

At this moment, it was as if Yin Li and I stood amidst the cosmos, possessing both the moon and the stars .

While I was staring upwards, lost in my thoughts, Yin Li had opened the door to the observatory deck . He returned and took my hand to lead me over, saying, “Let me show you the real stars, they’re much more beautiful than the ones inside . ”

Yin Li brought me out onto the observatory deck . He bent over and began to fiddle with the telescope settings . “If it was a bit later in the night, we could’ve seen the stars even more clearly . ”

I moved over to the telescope and looked through the lens . Yin Li stood by my side, pointing out the stars in the Milky Way . It looked just like a sheet of clouds illuminated by light . I’ve never seen the Milky Way this close before, so I mostly felt that it seemed even more real to me now . The stars, separated from me by thousands and millions of light-years, made the universe feel grand and magnificent . I didn’t know much astronomy, so I could only feel deeply moved by the beauty and mystery of it all .

But Yin Li didn’t seem to be the type to take up astronomy as a hobby in his free time . My gaze turned away from the night sky to focus on him . I couldn’t repress some doubt from arising in my heart . Why did this man bring me to an observatory in the middle of the night? It definitely wasn’t to take me stargazing or to help me treat some neck problem .

I looked at him .

Yin Li was also looking at me . As graceful as always, he spoke neither urgently nor slowly, “The closest star outside our solar system that is visible to us is 4 . 2 light years away from Earth . The furthest one we can see is 13 . 7 billion light years away . The universe is filled with different, unique stars . Some are young and still forming . Some have already died, but their light still shines on in the vast universe, searching for a companion . ” After this line, Yin Li finally made a movement . I saw him reach a hand into the pocket of his pants, taking out a black, velvet-covered little box . Then he stared into my eyes as he got down on one knee before me .

“These stars aren’t in the same galaxy, aren’t in the same region of the universe, and furthermore don’t even exist in the same time frame . Yet their light is still has the chance to cross paths with each other in our eyes . ”

I stared into Yin Li’s eyes, which were even more beautiful than the stars . At this moment my mind was like a vast universe, in which newly forming stars were rattling around, the bright, glittering lights growing stronger and stronger . I watched him open the box, revealing a beautiful diamond ring .

“You’ve lost your memories of the past, lost the past we once shared . Perhaps my existence in your eyes may never catch up to where yours walks in mine, and perhaps our two worlds may never align . But no matter if its the you in the past or the you in the present, I had the chance to meet and reunite with you . I love you . We’ve crossed time and space to be able to meet like this . ”

After saying this, Yin Li gave me a strong and steady smile . Then he took out the ring, pulled my hand forwards, and slid it on . Finally, he kissed my ring finger with a feeling of devotion . “You are the splendid, shining star I intercepted from orbit . ”

“Yan Xiao, marry me . ”

The stars in my mind finally detonated with a loud BOOM, the newly-formed stars explosively colliding with each other . The chaos created a vast cloud of cosmic dust and lightning, obscuring the entire universe . Its destructive power was immense . Yet I somehow felt that the violence of these young, exploding stars held a beauty of their own .

My muddled head finally formed a thought—in front of a proposal like this, rather than focusing on how many carats this diamond was, my mind had drifted away to the universe’s Big Bang . There probably was something wrong with this brain of mine .

Fortunately, on the descent down the mountain the cold wind blew me back to my senses . Yin Li piggybacked me again . I leaned against his back, still immersed in the moment of that proposal . The first immense wave of joy that crashed over me was immediately followed by an immense wave of hesitation and indecision . After Yin Li had finished speaking, I had been at a complete loss as to what sort of expression I should make in this sort of situation, but Yin Li had remained calm . He stood up and kissed my cheek, then said soothingly, “I only wanted you to know my feelings . My promise to you won’t change, but you don’t need to rush yourself to give me a reply . I know you need time . ”

It was already almost midnight . I lifted my head and gazed out the window . Even without the telescope, I could still clearly see the stars shining brightly . Yin Li calmly stood by my side, also staring up at the tranquil night sky . Our thoughts at this moment were probably completely different . One person that had just proposed and one person that had just been proposed to .

Yin Li had always been a considerate person . I did indeed need some more time to digest this . He was naturally very understanding, which put me at ease .

On the way down the mountain, I repeatedly played back that proposal scene in my mind . The more I thought about it, the more I that my character was indeed quite noble .

Even in front of such a dazzling diamond ring and such a handsome face, I was still able to hold my ground . For exhibiting a modern-day woman’s elegance and detachment, I really was worthy of praise .

The whole way back my thoughts were full of self-admiration . When we got home, I fell asleep the instant my head touched the pillow . But perhaps this New-Age Woman’s Aloofness had become too excessive, for that night in a strange dream, I coldly rejected the man kneeling before me proposing marriage . The details of this dream obviously weren’t realistic . This man held a red box and the design of the ring looked different . He even spoke beautifully fluent French . Only, I couldn’t see his face clearly, but it clearly wasn’t Yin Li .