Lunar Diary

“Yan grass like green silk, Qin mulberry bends low on green branches.”¹

—Lunar Diary

—

Just then, fireworks burst across the sky, their bright, colorful light falling on the young woman’s fair face, making her eyes even clearer and more radiant.

Boom, boom—one after another.

A flicker of emotion crossed Xie Yuncan’s eyes as the fireworks exploded in the sky with a deafening roar.

The late autumn night was very still. So still that you couldn’t tell whether it was the rushing river water hitting hidden reefs, the turbulent undercurrents surging too violently, or the dazzling fireworks booming too brazenly.

Across the river, thousands of households strung their lights together in a luminous tapestry. On the far bank, long streets were crowded with silhouettes—many descended the steps, holding flower lanterns and making wishes.

The lanterns drifted down the river, their tiny flames scattered like stars. One by one, they reflected off each other, glowing brilliantly, and the calm river surface was instantly suffused with a thriving, radiant light.

Today should be Mid-Autumn Festival. Jingcheng had always had the custom of releasing flower lanterns to pray and make wishes on this day. Families would gather briefly for a meal together.

Xie Zhenting and Zhou Wanqing—one had a family outside the home, the other pretended not to know. Every Mid-Autumn, they’d put on a show of harmony, sitting down for a meaningless reunion dinner.

But in their sophomore year, Xie Zhenting and Zhou Wanqing broke from their usual act. Instead of pretending to be harmonious, they’d had a furious argument in the living room.

Xie Zhenting exploded: “I left the boy in your care, and this is how you manage him? How did he hurt his hand again? Did he run off with that Jiang kid to do some sneaky, no-good deed and get beaten up again? He’s about to be a senior, and he’s still loafing around like this! If you’re not ashamed, I sure am!”

“Xie Zhenting, watch your mouth! What do you mean by ‘sneaky, no-good deed’? And besides, is our son mine alone? You’ve never cared about us—never given a damn about whether we live or die. Now that something’s happened to him, you turn around and blame me? You have some nerve!”

Zhou Wanqing started crying. “Are you just waiting for something bad to happen to him? Waiting for me to die so you can give my spot to that woman outside? Don’t you wish we’d both died in that car accident!”

Xie Zhenting seethed: “Stop twisting my words!”

“Twisting your words? If you actually cared about your son, you’d know how he got hurt! The news has been running it for days. If you paid even a little attention to me and our child, you wouldn’t come storming back here to point fingers at me.”

Though the Jingcheng TV station hadn’t managed to interview Xie Yuncan, they’d aired clips of surveillance footage from nearby shops. The video was pixelated, but if you looked closely, you could still make out the figures.

Moreover, the elderly woman who’d lost the money was the family member of a fallen hero. Her only son had died in the line of duty a few years earlier, leaving only his daughter and the grandmother to rely on each other. The granddaughter was also unwell, undergoing chemotherapy in the hospital. On the day the money was stolen, the old woman had just withdrawn it from the bank to pay the hospital bills—when a thief targeted her and snatched it on the way.

At the time, the seventy-something woman had collapsed on the road, crying, unable to stand, desperately asking for help. But passersby mostly watched indifferently—no one stepped forward.

Fortunately, Jiang Mingyi and Xie Yuncan had just come out of a nearby convenience store. Jiang Mingyi rushed over to help, supporting the elderly woman.

Jiang Mingyi: “Granny, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, thank you, but my money…”

The old woman wobbled unsteadily, breaking down at the thought of her granddaughter’s medical bills. “That was for my granddaughter’s treatment. Now that the money’s gone, what’s going to happen to her?”

Jiang Mingyi was instantly furious, cursing under his breath. “Fuck, what kind of lowlife steals money meant for a life-and-death situation!”

Xie Yuncan frowned. “Granny, don’t worry. Do you remember where you lost the money?”

“I…”

The old woman thought for a long time. “I came out of the bank and took the bus here. My granddaughter’s been going through chemo lately—she’s lost her appetite and said she wanted that dessert place that’s been so popular recently. So I got off at Huafeng Road to buy her a cake. The money was still there when I bought it.”

Xie Yuncan zeroed in on the key detail: “So the money was lost here?”

The old woman nodded, then suddenly remembered something. “Oh, right—I just thought of it. When I came out of the dessert shop, a young man bumped into me. He helped steady me and even apologized. It wasn’t until I got here that I realized my bag had been slashed and the money was gone.”

Jiang Mingyi: “Granny, was the dessert shop MOTO on the F1 level?”

“Yes, it was on F1. I took the escalator up. I’m not sure about the name—it was in English, and I don’t read it.”

“That must be it,” Jiang Mingyi said to Xie Yuncan. “MOTO’s been crazy popular lately. Yan Yan asked me to run an errand there a few days ago. You don’t even know—the last time I climbed the wall, Qiu the Bloodsucker caught me because of that place. The line was ridiculously long at noon. I waited two hours, and not only did I not get anything, I was late getting back to school.”

He’d had the worst luck. Both he and Xie Yuncan were day students, and Yan Yan loved sending him on errands—buying this and that. He’d queued at that shop for two hours, and just when it was finally his turn, the staff said, “Sorry, sold out for today.”

Not only did he fail the errand, but he’d also been caught red-handed by Qiu while climbing back over the wall—got his ear twisted all the way to the discipline office, stood at the door for an afternoon of punishment, and was sentenced to cleaning the future experimental building for a week.

Xie Yuncan thought for a moment: “Do you remember what he looked like?”

An ordinary person, panicked, would have missed all the details. But the old woman’s son had been a criminal investigator, and she’d absorbed some experience by osmosis—plus, she’d actually gotten a good look at the man.

She recalled: “He was tall and thin, looked to be in his early twenties. Oh, and I remember—he had a very prominent mole on his face.”

Jiang Mingyi suddenly perked up: “A mole near his mouth?”

“Yes, yes, yes!” The old woman was astonished. “How did you know?”

Jiang Mingyi slapped his forehead. “That guy’s a MOTO employee. Last time I queued there, he was working the register.”

If not for that extremely conspicuous mole, he wouldn’t have remembered so vividly. And that day, he’d queued for nothing and got caught at school—such an unlucky day, it was hard to forget.

Jiang Mingyi urged them: “Come on, come on—let’s go over there now. Maybe he’s still nearby. We can catch him.”

When they got to the F1 level and took the escalator up, they spotted the young man in the black hoodie. He must have felt guilty—spotting them from a distance, he immediately bolted.

He ran fast, darting up and down, taking the opposite escalator down. Luckily, the building layout was open, so they could clearly track his movements. Before Jiang Mingyi could even react, a dark blur passed in his peripheral vision.

Xie Yuncan reacted fast—he vaulted over the escalator railing, leaping from the up escalator straight down. His movements were swift and sharp, like a sleek black panther, his explosive power astonishing. The bystanders gasped in shock.

Jiang Mingyi snapped out of it and jumped over to the down escalator, taking the steps three at a time, shouting as he ran: “The guy in the black hoodie with the mole by his mouth—stop right there!”

His stamina wasn’t great, and halfway through the chase, he’d lost them.

Xie Yuncan stayed on the man’s tail. Just as he was about to catch up, the thief, panicking, zigzagged into a dead-end corner—the shops there had all closed due to poor management, and the only exit was blocked off.

The young man was lean, but after such a long chase, he barely looked winded. Jiang Mingyi, who’d caught up later, was bent over, gasping for air, barely able to stand straight: “The hell are you, a rat? How can you be so good at squeezing into holes?”

The mole-faced man stared at them nervously: “What do you want?”

Xie Yuncan was very calm: “Return the money.”

“Money? What money?”

The mole-faced man kept his head down, his hands hidden in his hoodie pocket.

Seeing him still playing dumb, Jiang Mingyi’s temper flared. He cracked his knuckles. “Still playing dumb, huh? Stealing a granny’s life-saving money—do you have no conscience? Hand it over now! Don’t make me do this the hard way!”

As he spoke, he stepped forward, reaching for the bag the man was clutching. Then came the young man’s deep, steady voice: “Watch out.”

Jiang Mingyi had grabbed the bag strap, but he hadn’t expected the cornered thief to go extreme—pulling a dagger from his hoodie pocket. He froze for a split second—then saw a flash of cold steel.

The blade was sharp, cutting through skin.

Xie Yuncan was lightning-fast—his left hand seized the man’s knife-wielding wrist and twisted it outward with force. Crack—the bone dislocated, and the mole-faced man yelped in pain, the dagger clattering to the ground.

Jiang Mingyi snapped back to his senses: “Bastard! You tried to stab me!”

He kicked the man hard, twice, square in the kneecaps, until he collapsed in agony. Only then did Jiang Mingyi feel satisfied.

“Enough.”

Xie Yuncan stopped him.

He leaned against the wall, his right arm hanging limp, blood seeping steadily from the wound. His face was pale from blood loss.

He said calmly, “Call the police first.”

Jiang Mingyi’s mind was spinning. His hands trembled as he held his phone, his voice shaky even when speaking to the police.

He’d felt deeply guilty—Xie Yuncan had been hurt because of him.

Afterward, they’d only had the wound roughly dressed before returning to school. No matter how much Jiang Mingyi pleaded, Xie Yuncan just said calmly that he was fine.

Later, at the hospital, they learned the wound was quite deep—six stitches—and his fingers couldn’t bend properly, couldn’t even lift. The doctor said they’d have to wait for the inflammation to subside before determining the extent of nerve damage.

The worst part was his previous car accident had left lingering issues in that hand. At the time, they’d said it was just a fracture, but actually, his hand had been pierced by glass shards, damaging the ulnar nerve. If this recovery didn’t go well, he really could end up permanently disabled.

During the time Xie Yuncan was recovering, Jiang Mingyi visited every couple of days, or at least called to check in. He skipped class so often that his father found out and gave him a thorough beating with a horsewhip.

But he was used to getting beaten—his body was tough. Two days later, he was back to his usual energetic self.

When Jiang Mingyi called at just the right time, Xie Yuncan had just showered, wearing white loungewear. His skin still held a hint of moisture, his hair wet at the ends, his bandaged right hand resting casually on the table.

Xie Zhenting and Zhou Wanqing were arguing at full volume—loud enough that Jiang Mingyi could hear everything clearly through the phone.

“…Who told him to rush in and play hero? At this crucial time, he goes and causes me trouble! If his hand doesn’t recover, what about the gaokao? What will people think? That my son, Xie Zhenting’s son, is a cripple—a useless waste!”

“Pfft! What a piece of work!”

Jiang Mingyi couldn’t help but spit in disgust. But when his gaze swept over Xie Yuncan’s bandaged right hand, he fell silent. After a long pause, he asked anxiously, “Your right hand still can’t bend?”

The biggest problem was that his fingers wouldn’t bend and couldn’t exert strength. That was why he’d been recovering at home all this time—he was due to start rehab in a few days.

Jiang Mingyi was full of regret: “It’s my fault. If I hadn’t charged in blindly, you wouldn’t have…”

Xie Yuncan interrupted calmly: “Did you video call just for this?”

Jiang Mingyi blinked, then remembered: “No—I wanted to tell you the monthly exam results are out.”

Xie Yuncan gave a faint “Mm.”

Jiang Mingyi was puzzled: “Aren’t you curious how you did this time?”

Seeing his expression unchanged, Jiang Mingyi stopped drawing it out: “Well, no surprise—you’re still first, as always. That lunatic Tong Junjie was at school today spreading rumors, saying you faked your scores.”

“If I weren’t still recovering, I’d have beaten him up for sure. But—”

“Today, some female classmate actually stood up for you and gave him a good verbal lashing.”

He rubbed his chin, uncertain. “I thought she looked familiar, like I’d seen her somewhere before. I think she’s in our class—that one…”

He closed his eyes, frowning hard, tapping his head a few times before finally remembering: “Right! She’s the girl from Ningjiang County, isn’t she? You gave her that James-autographed cap, right?”

“What’s her name again?”

Jiang Mingyi might seem friendly and easygoing, but at his core, he was just like Xie Yuncan—he didn’t pay much attention to others.

Besides, the experimental class was cutthroat, with an elimination system. Those who ranked last in each monthly exam were kicked out, so the roster changed frequently, making it hard to remember everyone.

He thought for a long time before finally recalling: “I think her surname is Qin… Qin Sang, right. Yeah, that’s it. Didn’t Li Bai have a poem? How did it go—’Yan… something spring…'”

At the thought, Xie Yuncan’s gaze wavered. The sensation of her fingertip tracing his palm was still fresh—soft, gliding lightly, carrying a slight ticklishness.

Suddenly, his Adam’s apple bobbed slightly. He let out a very quiet laugh, his voice inexplicably low and husky: “Yan grass like green silk, Qin mulberry bends low on green branches.”

“Mm? What did you say?” The fireworks on the opposite side were a bit loud—Qin Sang hadn’t caught his words clearly. She turned back reflexively, not expecting him to be so close.

Caught off guard, their eyes met.

The man’s gaze was deep and clear, a faint curve at the corner of his lips as if casting a hook—subtle yet alluring. “I was saying—how should I repay Classmate Qin’s kindness toward me?”

¹ Quoted from Li Bai’s Spring Thoughts