“She was saying goodbye and she didn’t even know it.”
-the book thief
the last moments
Chapter 36 Goodbye
After spending three days by the Aegean Sea, they arrived at their final destination – Goreme.
In order to see the sunrise, Mo Zhen woke up very early in the morning. At 4:30 am, the hot air balloon company’s car was already waiting at the hotel"s entrance.
He had initially thought that the off-season would not bring as many tourists, but when they arrived at the destination, Mo Zhen was outraged at the amount of tourists with their hot air balloons.
The hot air balloon was deflated and lying on the ground when they arrived; as they waited for the hot air balloon to heat up, Mo Zhen casually took a few photos of the scenery.
When Ah Yao saw him raising his camera, her eyes came to a quick realization, smiling, she raised her hand in a V sign.
Mo: “…”
It seemed as if she wasn"t just good at acting, she had a strong modeling sense too.
Mo Zhen"s hot air balloon had the least amount of people in it, counting the pilot, there were a total of seven people. Of course, there was also a ghost that could not be seen.
Taking into account that the high atmosphere would mean a drop in the temperature, Mo Zhen specifically wore a coat today, and also put on the brown-sungla.s.ses he hadn"t worn for a while now.
Before the emergence of Mo Zhen, the tall handsome foreign pilots was the centre of everyone"s attention. But now that Mo Zhen was in view, everyone was excited to stare and whisper about him.
Mo Zhen had long been accustomed to this degree of onlookers, but what made him more uncomfortable was- why has Ah Yao been staring at the pilot for so long ah?
”Zhen Zhen, foreign men have really good taste ah!” Ah Yao visited the pilot and finally drifted back to Mo Zhen’s side. Mo Zhen gave a cold sound, and did not say anything.
The colorful hot air balloons slowly rose, like countless colored birds flying over Goreme.
Goreme’s landscape gradually revealed itself as the cloak of the night lifted, extending to the horizon, as the sunrise was integrated into the dark blue sky. Glowing in the dawn of the white clouds, the floating hot air balloons in the sky became a part of the beautiful scenery of Goreme.
Mo Zhen took a picture of the rare scenery, Ah Yao was floating at the edge of the Hot Air balloon basket, pointing to the hot air balloons and wow wow shouting. With this kind of view, the other people have finally turned their attention from Mo Zhen’s body to the landscape.
”Zhen Zhen look, I can hold a hot air balloon in my hands!” Ah Yao, using a certain angle, "held" the hot air balloons in her hands. Mo Zhen raised the camera and casually pressed the shutter.
It seemed as if Ah Yao was addicted to posing, and made another poking a balloon pose. Mo Zhen looked through the camera and smiled at the silly Ah Yao; the sun was shining right on her face, as if it was shy to reveal its face, it shone through a crack between the white clouds in the blue sky, basking everything in a warm gold.
Mo Zhen usual calm heart finally felt waves of emotions, his fingers moved and saved this picture into his camera.
He wanted to touch her.
He can always predict everything she was thinking in her heart; when she was happy, the corners of her mouth would rise, when she was angry, she would wrinkle her eyebrows, but there way no way to touch her – this in the eyes of ordinary couples, was the most simplest action.
”Zhen Zhen, what are you thinking ah?” The fluctuations of Mo Zhen"s emotions seemed to attract Ah Yao"s attention as she drifted back from the edge of the basket, inquiring as she stared at Mo Zhen.
Mo Zhen did not answer, and only shook his head. Hiding the real feelings in his eyes, Mo Zhen found a new point of view and was ready to take another self-portrait.
Ah Yao rushed when she saw Mo Zhen pressed the self timer and then once again swiftly moved into the picture, casting a shadow over Mo Zhen"s face as she drifted close to him.
A "Kacha" sound, it was as if time had frozen in this moment.
”Haha, Zhen Zhen we have a photo!” Ah Yao said, very excited, but also with a little bit of pride, as if she did not know that the camera could capture her in the first place.
Mo Zhen glanced at the photo, Ah Yao"s shadow wouldn"t really affect the overall background of the picture, but he still raised his camera and took another self portrait once again.
(TN: Mo Zhen"s taking these selfies for fans, so that"s why he"s concerned about Ah Yao"s shadow)
Like Ah Yao had said, it was their photo, the only one of them on their trip.
Flying in the air for an hour, this hot air balloon trip finally ended. After landing on the ground, the hot air balloon company also issued a flight certificate for them and opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate.
After returning to the hotel in the evening, Mo Zhen as per usual, updated his Weibo once again. He had taken more pictures today so he sorted out a few of the pictures he was most satisfied with- putting them into a chart. Located at the very end of the chart, was the self-portrait without Ah Yao he had taken.
At this time, Chen Qingyang was coding while scrolling through Weibo and was one of the first to see Mo Zhen"s newly updated post.
Goreme, hot air balloon.
She felt that she was going crazy!
”Emperor Mo went to Goreme and sat in a hot air balloon !!! [frightened] @ItsDaLinotDaLi I"m sorry, I shouldn"t have laughed when you said you wanted to sit on a hot air balloon TAT, so when you wake up we will immediately march in Emperor Mo"s footsteps to Goreme okay? [Tears] I will ask for you the largest and most beautiful hot air balloon for you QAQ"
The reason why Chen Qingyang would @ Li Yan, was completely due to a subconcious move from excessive excitement and habit. But for people who had aspirations, this was a very valuable piece of information.
Mo Zhen raised his eyebrows, and clicked onto @DaLinotDali"s Weibo.
The most recent post was dated on June 4th of this year, the day Li Yan had graduated from university.
Li Yan wore a clean graduation outfit as she stood in front of her university"s library with three other girls standing beside her; one was Chen Qingyang and the others Mo Zhen did not recognize, but he could guess that they were Li Yan"s roommates.
The smiles on the four girls were bright, belonging to the youth of unique purity and vitality.
The image of the unconscious Li Yan in the hospital bed flashed in Mo Zhen"s mind, his mouth moved as he scrolled through the page.
Li Yan did not often update her Weibo, and most of her seventy-something posts were forwards of Boiled Lemon"s Weibo post. Occasionally she would post a self-portrait, usually they were pictures of her and her roommates going out for dinner taking revenge on society.
(TN: revenge on society = 報復社會的照片, it"s some kind of trend?)
Mo Zhen glanced at the day she had registered- the beginning of last year. A year and a half had pa.s.sed and yet she had only posted 74 posts, but the number of her followers had exceeded 500.
(TN: pff that"s nothing, xixi has 6 posts on IG)
Mo Zhen clicked on her followers lists, the majority of her followers were people who went to the same university as her- male students.
Ha ha.
Mo Zhen sneered coldly and then quietly clicked on Li Yan"s profile picture to study carefully.
Li Yan’s profile picture was not a picture of herself, but instead it was a picture of a cute G.o.dzilla that matched Boiled Lemon"s profile picture. Mo Zhen stared at her profile picture for a moment, and thought that stupid cute expression really did look similar to Ah Yao"s.
As for the people she followed, Mo Zhen was most interested in the people she followed.
Li Yan followed a very small amount of people, and most of them were her relatives and friends; when Mo Zhen scrolled through it he was a little surprised, she did not pay attention to any celebrity- whether they were domestic or foreign.
It seemed that Li Yan did not like to chase stars. Mo Zhen’s mood suddenly became complicated.
Was his own charm not enough to arouse Li Yan"s interest?
He was seriously considering whether to find someone who could break into Li Yan"s account, and then use her account to follow his own.
”Zhen Zhen, are you visiting the small yellow network?” Ah Yao floated back from the balcony and in a blink of an eye, she appeared beside the computer screen.
Her sudden appearance gave Mo Zhen"s heart quite a scare, and the computer was once again brutally shut down.
But this time Ah Yao managed to look clearly, it was not a small yellow network, but it was Weibo. She looked at Mo Zhen and asked: “Who"s Weibo page are you looking at? It isn"t Teacher Cang right?”
(TN: Teacher Cang = Sola Aoi, a j.a.panese AV star)
Mo: “…”
Wasn"t she uninterested in chasing celebrities? How did she know Teacher Cang then!!
”No, it is Teacher Ozawa.” Mo Zhen stood up from the couch and walked into the bathroom.
(TN: xixi"s never searching up these names ever again on google, aka Teacher Ozawa = p.o.r.n star)
Ah Yao stared at his back as her mouth moved; he had just watched Teacher Ozawa, and now has to go the bathroom, was it … … to solve physiological needs?
Breathing heavily as she laid on the bed, Ah Yao"s two large eyes stared and blinked, and moved her gaze away from the bathroom door..
When Mo Zhen came out from the bathroom, Ah Yao was still in this position.
Glancing at Mo Zhen walking out, Ah Yao"s eyes flashed with some surprise: “You"re so fast?”
Mo: “…”
How long does does a shower take?
This misunderstanding would finally be resolved in the distant future- with Li Yan’s personal experience.
After taking a shower, Mo Zhen felt even more exhausted; he had gotten up at 4 am in the morning and also played all day outside, all he wanted to do right now was sleep. After a few days of travelling, his face no longer changed colours when he and Ah Yao slept in the same bed.
Lying at the side of Ah Yao, Mo Zhen closed his eyes and no longer spoke. Ah Yao tonight was also particularly quiet, the only noise that could be heard in the silent room was Mo Zhen"s calm breathing.
She didn"t know how many minutes had pa.s.sed when Mo Zhen’s voice suddenly came from the side: “Ah Yao.”
Ah Yao was currently trying very hard to fall asleep, when she heard Mo Zhen call her name, she immediately raised her right hand: “Here!”
Her voice was crisp and loud, contrasting against the quiet room.
Mo Zhen was silent for a moment, before finally opening his mouth: “We will go back home the day after.”
They were cold words, not a bit of emotions could be heard in his voice.
Ah Yao stared at Mo Zhen"s face, but he did not open his eyes, his expression remaining calm. Slowly putting down her right hand, Ah Yao softly gave a cry: “Oh.”
She knew that going back meant that she was leaving. This trip was the last gift Mo Zhen was giving to her.
Unfortunately, time did not stop in this world; with every beautiful journey, there would be a sad parting as well.
Mo Zhen’s eyes moved, but he did not open his eyes, he was afraid that if he opened his eyes, he wouldn"t be able to conceal the expression in his eyes.
The atmosphere was heavy when they went back, Ah Yao went into the tail ring without any words.
Tang Qiang was the one picking them up from the airport, when Mo Zhen walked out of the airport gate, he raised his head and saw the car parked at the side of the road.
Originally, he had thought that since Mo Zhen had been travelling abroad, his mood should be very good when he came back; but Tang Qiang once again discovered that he really couldn"t see through Mo Zhen.
Why was his expression even uglier than when he left?
On the way home, Mo Zhen did not speak, Tang Qiang tried to bring up a few topics but when he received no response, he finally decided to shut his mouth. Pressing on the gas, Tang Qiang just wanted to quickly send this big Buddha home.
Mo Zhen was carrying his luggage into the living room when he discovered an uninvited guest on his sofa. Looking at the man lying on the couch with his eyes closed, Mo Zhen’s eyes could not help but jump in surprise: “Master, how did you get in here?”
Should he be complaining about Kensini Villa"s security system?
When Master heard him speak, he opened his eyes and stared at Mo Zhen, sitting up he said: “I’ll send your little ghost home.”
Perhaps it was because she had heard Master"s voice, but Ah Yao finally came out from the tail ring: “Master, the time is so soon?”
Lowering his head as he laughed, his eyes were clear when he lifted his head again, “It"s time,” He took off the bracelet on Ah Yao"s wrist and put it in his palm. “Close your eyes, do not open them before I say so.".
Ah Yao and Mo Zhen were slightly surprised for a moment, they were aware that they would be separated soon, but they never expected that the separation would come so soon.
But they had no room for bargaining.
”Zhen Zhen.” Ah Yao glanced at Mo Zhen, her eyes were a little moist, “When I"m not here, you have to eat well, or else your stomach will hurt again”
”…En.”
”Do not always bully Tang Qiang, he cares a lot about you.”
”…En.”
”Do not go on the small yellow network so much, and shop less, they are bad for the body.”
”…”
”I will miss you.”
Mo Zhen bit his lip, he was silent for a long time before nodding: “I will miss you.”
A yellow talisman was ignited in Master"s hand, Ah Yao turned her head, and closed her eyes in the midst of the fire. Mo Zhen watched as Ah Yao"s body turned more transparent, and as the yellow talismen burned, Ah Yao"s body disappeared completely from its place.
He had lived in the villa for so many years now, but this was the first time Mo Zhen felt that it was a little bit empty.
”If you want to cry, then cry, I will pretend to be invisible.” Master patted Mo Zhen’s shoulder earnestly.
Mo: “…”
He glanced at the place where Ah Yao had just disappeared, the sound of his voice was low: “She went back?”
”En,” Master raised his head and looked at the dull sky outside, and faintly confirmed.
”Oh.” Mo Zhen suddenly did not know what to say, he could only stay frozen in place. Master turned his head to look at him. “Pretend as if it was … all a dream.”
A dream?
Mo Zhen"s mouth transformed into a smile; if everything was just a dream, then it would be one of the most beautiful dreams in the world.
please cry with me in the comments, i’m already deceased
when a journey ends, another one begins.
goodbye ghostie Ah Yao, we will miss you.