Starlight Has No Past

Untitled Part 35

Chapter 35 Part 1

Ye Qiao's grandmother's house was located in a residential community with large houses in an older style. The yard was designed to imitate the layout of the gardens from the Ming and Qing dynasties. There was a lotus pond near the front gate with colorful koi swimming between the lotus leaves.

Ye Qiao's mother came from a family of scholars and painters. Their ancestors had earned scholarly fame and official posts in the Qing dynasty. Ye Qiao's grandfather and grandmother were both leading authorities in their own fields. Even Ye Qiao's mother was a famous connoisseur of Chinese painting and calligraphy. When the obscure painter Xu Zang dated the daughter of the Ye family, he suffered under tremendous pressure from the Ye family. Ye Qiao's grandmother, Yu Deru, had vigorously opposed Xu Zang's marriage to Ye Qiao's mother. Finally, they were married with the condition that Xu Zang married into the Ye family. Unfortunately, the marriage didn't last long, ending with the early death of Ye Qiao's mother at the age of 35.

This was the reason why Ye Qiao carried her mother's last name.

Those were all bygones now though. Night had just fallen and only a light rain was falling on the ground.

The front gate to her grandma's house was ajar. It seemed the people inside were expecting a guest. Ye Qiao figured with the drizzle outside the car, if she dashed into the house she probably wouldn't get too wet.

Zhou Tingsheng looked at the warm light lit outside the house for Ye Qiao and a thought came to mind. He said: "I'll take you to the door?"

Ye Qiao wondered how he was going to do so without an umbrella. In that time, Zhou Tingsheng had already gotten off the car and circled to the other side of the car. He took off his jacket and lifted it up as shelter from the rain, then he called her: "Come out."

She watched the shoulder of his shirt gradually grow wet. She stopped hesitating and came out of the car to stand under the shelter that had been specially erected for her. Zhou Tingsheng hugged her shoulder and walked her towards the house. They had to cross the narrow bridge over the lotus pond and through a small path paved with flagstones to get from the front gate to the house.

The door to the house was closed. The fragrance of the antiquated door made of camphor wood, mixed with the sound of the rain drops, was rather soothing.

Ye Qiao touched Zhou Tingsheng's shoulder which was frozen to the touch and felt rather apologetic: "It's easy to catch a cold in this kind of weather."

Zhou Tingsheng smiled warmly: "It's nothing. No big deal."

Joyous laughter came from inside the house. Ye Qiao could tell it was from her uncle's family and her grandma. She kept turning to look at the doors, worried someone would come to the door. Zhou Tingsheng thought she was in a hurry to go in the house and stepped back one step and joked: "You aren't going to invite me in for dinner?"

Ye Qiao knew that even though he spoke in jest, he probably meant it to some extent. However Ye Qiao's family was very conservative. Her grandfather and grandmother were rather old fashioned. Especially after the death of her grandfather and her mother, grandma doted on her particularly. Anything about her would cause a big fuss in front of her grandma.

It would put her on the spot if she were to invite a man whom she couldn't even explain their relationship at the family dinner table.

Zhou Tingsheng understood her hesitation, dropped his smile, and waved lightly: "It's alright. Go in now."

Ye Qiao stood at the door and watched him slowly walk into the rain. The raindrops splattered onto the bottom of his leaden trouser legs. She felt guilty sending him into the rain but she didn't have the courage to call him back. Since she had lost her phone, she had no means to reach out to him. She could only watch him leave.