Moon-Chasing Diary

“Boys at sixteen or seventeen are bold and untamed, like poetry written for a midsummer night—passion that never dies, romance that never fades, youthful spirit soaring high beyond the clouds.”

— Moon-Chasing Diary

—

They had arrived right during peak dinner hours, and the restaurant was completely packed.

If Shen Yi hadn’t been a regular customer who had greeted the owner beforehand, they probably would have had to wait at least another two hours just to get in.

But since they hadn’t made a proper reservation in advance, the only room left was a small corner room near the kitchen.

The hallway outside was filled with chaotic footsteps, while the kitchen behind the walls bustled noisily with activity. Woks clanged sharply beneath spatulas, producing endless metallic ringing sounds.

So no one noticed when he came in.

At that moment, even the noisy chatter around them seemed to gradually fade into the background.

It was as though the entire world had been muted.

She couldn’t hear anything anymore.

He stood close.

When his thin eyelids lowered to look at her, his gaze was clear and focused.

Qin Sang froze briefly, subconsciously lightening her breathing, panic quietly rising within her.

Thankfully, just before she suffocated from the tension, he withdrew his gaze.

Naturally and effortlessly, he pulled out the chair beside her and sat down.

The room itself was already cramped. Fortunately there weren’t many of them, otherwise they probably wouldn’t have fit at all.

When he sat down, the metal zipper on his jacket accidentally brushed across the back of her hand.

Cold.

Qin Sang silently covered the back of her hand.

Whether intentional or not, Shen Yi suddenly laughed lightly.

“God Xie’s charm really hasn’t diminished over the years.”

Qin Sang’s heart skipped violently.

Subconsciously, she glanced toward Shen Yi.

Behind his glasses, his eyes looked clear and composed. The smile on his lips seemed official enough, yet somehow carried an indescribable hidden meaning.

“Not bad,” Zhou Yihong said while stroking his chin. “Still a little inferior to me back in the day.”

“When I was in high school, I was way more popular than Junior Brother Xie. It’s only because I chose the wrong major in university and got tortured into looking haggard. Otherwise, would this ‘top courtesan’ title really have fallen to him?”

“If we’re talking about thick skin…” Xie Yunchen actually seemed in a pretty good mood and even bothered joking back.

His posture was relaxed as he replied lazily, “Senior Zhou is naturally unmatched.”

“You better believe it,” Zhou Yihong continued shamelessly. “Back in high school, I was famous at our affiliated school too.”

Shen Yi stabbed in immediately, “Dogtail grass is still grass.”

“You brat, do you have to argue with me over everything?” Zhou Yihong shouted indignantly as he pulled out his phone to search through photos.

“Come look. As if nobody here was young once.”

He actually managed to find an old high school graduation photo in his gallery.

And to be fair, he truly had looked pretty handsome back then.

Being from the north, he was tall and fair-skinned, so he naturally stood out in a crowd.

Zhou Yihong sighed dramatically with nostalgia.

“There were tons of girls writing me love letters back in high school. If I hadn’t chosen the wrong major and let university ruin my looks for four years, forget anything else—with this face alone, I could’ve easily become the male lead of some idol drama. Definitely no worse than Junior Brother Xie.”

Wasn’t there that saying—

“Kill someone in your past life, and in this life you’ll study civil engineering”?

Zhou Yihong had genuinely believed the nonsense back then.

When filling out university applications, he got carried away and chose civil engineering after being talked into it.

Later, he spent every day running around construction sites under the blazing sun until even his skin peeled from sunburn and his entire appearance became rougher.

He couldn’t stand spending his life covered in dust on construction sites.

That wasn’t his dream at all.

So he gave up his guaranteed graduate recommendation at his original university and buried himself in exam prep to get into Qing University instead.

Who would’ve thought that after climbing out of one deep pit, he would immediately fall into an even deeper one?

Honestly, his entire life had been a muddled mess.

Only after turning thirty did he finally understand what he actually wanted to do.

Shen Yi glanced at the photo before calmly twisting the knife further.

“The phrase ‘time is a butcher’s knife’ really manifests itself perfectly in Senior Zhou.”

Zhou Yihong laughed and cursed, “Get lost.”

Shen Yi adjusted his glasses leisurely before casually adding:

“I think your example isn’t convincing enough. If you’re comparing, you can’t compare using your absolute peak condition.”

“Fine!” Zhou Yihong immediately refused to admit defeat and turned toward Qin Sang.

“Teacher Qin, you’re neutral. Plus, you and Junior Brother Xie were high school classmates. Tell us honestly—what was he like back then? Was he this flashy too?”

Qin Sang froze slightly at the question.

Her thoughts drifted far away.

Back in high school, Xie Yunchen had been heaven’s favored child.

At First High School, he existed entirely in a league of his own.

For all three years of high school, the name at the top of the grade rankings never changed.

Back then, First High School was Jing City’s elite key high school.

Its annual admission rate to top-tier universities reached 99.5%.

Especially for Qing University and Peking University, nearly ten percent of the admitted students nationwide came from First High School.

In Jing City, almost everyone who successfully entered Qing or Peking University had graduated from there.

That was why the school had its famous slogan:

“Step through the gates of First High School, and one foot is already inside Qing and Peking.”

But the admission standards were incredibly strict.

Besides students directly promoted from the affiliated middle school every year, they only accepted local students from the district.

However, the year Qin Sang took the entrance exams, the school had received approval from the Education Bureau to expand enrollment, recruiting top students from surrounding counties and smaller cities near Jing City.

Qin Sang had been admitted during that expansion.

At the time, she lived in Ningjiang County, a small county town outside Jing City.

Her middle school grades had actually been quite good. Though she was somewhat偏科, her overall performance ranked near the top.

During the high school entrance exams, she performed exceptionally well and, by a narrow score margin, became Ningjiang County’s top scorer that year.

Qin Dahai was a local construction contractor.

Their family’s financial situation was actually fairly decent for a small county like Ningjiang.

Qin Dahai never pressured her about academics.

He often said:

“Grades aren’t important. The most important thing is that my daughter lives happily. Studying is about becoming a good and decent person. Scores don’t matter.”

That was what he said, at least.

But after learning she had become Ningjiang’s top scorer and had been admitted into Jing City First High School, Qin Dahai was so delighted he couldn’t stop grinning.

He hosted banquets for three straight days at the biggest restaurant in Ningjiang, proudly telling everyone he met:

“That’s right, my daughter got into First High School. Yep, the First High School in Jing City. They say getting into that school is like already stepping halfway into Qing and Peking.”

Though Ningjiang was small, the local atmosphere was far warmer and friendlier than big cities.

Everyone congratulated them enthusiastically.

“Sang Sang really has promise.”

“Looks like Ningjiang’s finally producing a female top scholar.”

“Congratulations, Old Qin. Your daughter’s basically a future Qing or Peking student already. You’ll be enjoying life soon.”

Qin Dahai was praised until he practically floated into the clouds.

And Qin Sang herself had also been full of hope.

But only after truly entering that legendary “devil school” did she realize—

There was always someone better.

Because she was Ningjiang’s top scorer, she had been assigned to the experimental class.

Nearly half the students there were local Jing City students, and many had directly advanced from First High School’s affiliated middle school.

There was no need to ask around.

The thing top students loved discussing most was grades and scores.

And since the entrance exams used the same citywide test papers, comparisons came naturally.

Only then did Qin Sang realize—

Her so-called excellent score was barely enough to rank at the bottom of the experimental class.

Everyone else complained about where they had unnecessarily lost points.

And during those conversations, one name was mentioned repeatedly:

Xie Yunchen.

That was the first time she ever heard his name.

Unlike her, Xie Yunchen was a local Jing City student who had directly advanced from the affiliated middle school.

In fact, he had practically been guaranteed admission into First High School.

Rumor had it that he had participated in competitions since elementary school—mathematics, physics, chemistry Olympiads—and had won numerous provincial and city-level awards.

In ninth grade, he had also won first prize nationally in the “Beidou Cup” Youth Aerospace Technology Competition.

Even now, his award photo still hung on the middle school bulletin board.

But on the first day of school, she didn’t see him.

She later heard he had gotten into a car accident during summer vacation and was still recovering in the hospital, which was why he delayed enrollment and missed military training.

Only after the month-long military training ended did he finally appear at the freshman assembly as the new student representative during the opening ceremony.

At that time, his hand still hadn’t fully healed.

His right arm remained in a cast.

He wasn’t wearing the school uniform, only a gray hoodie, looking as though someone had dragged him out of bed half-asleep to stand there temporarily.

He stood casually at the podium—tall and straight, yet somehow carrying a wild, untamed air.

He glanced lazily at the speech script prepared by the school before casually flipping it over and tossing it onto the podium.

Then he spoke lazily:

“You’ve all heard enough pretty speeches already, and I don’t feel like feeding you motivational nonsense either.”

“There are no shortcuts in studying. If you want rewards, you have to work hard first.”

“Of course…”

“Working hard doesn’t necessarily guarantee results.”

Then suddenly, his tone shifted.

Those sleepy-looking eyes lifted sharply.

Brilliant and sharp, yet not aggressive.

“But if you don’t work hard…”

“You won’t even have the chance to succeed.”

“All past experiences are merely a prelude.”

“Walk toward what your heart desires, even in plain shoes.”

“For the next three years, I hope all of you study for your own sake.”

“After all, you are the masters of your own lives.”

“What kind of future you want depends entirely on your own efforts.”

“But the world stands before us waiting to be created—not repeated.”①

“If we never dare display our ambitions, then we’ll only waste our youth.”

“No matter how fierce the storms become in the future, no matter how monstrous the waves…”

“We should still face them head-on.”

“Ride the winds into the skies and break through the clouds atop the waves.”

His youthful voice was clear and gentle, yet every word struck with force.

Broadcast through the microphone, those words echoed across the entire school field.

At that age, all of them had been confused and timid.

They feared the uncertain future approaching them.

Yet Xie Yunchen stood there like a fearless pioneer.

Always rational.

Always clear-headed and independent.

With just a few calm sentences, he swept away the fog clouding everyone’s hearts.

Because ever since they stepped into high school, people constantly reminded them:

“You must work harder in high school.”

“Study hard so you can bring honor to your parents and teachers through the college entrance exams.”

Everyone lived like tightly stretched bowstrings.

Just one more pull, and the arrow would completely lose control and shoot out violently.

Only him—

That arrogant yet impossibly clean少年—

stood beneath the bright blue sky and calmly told them:

Their efforts should be for themselves.

For the future they personally desired.

“Ride the winds into the skies and break through the clouds atop the waves.”

The少年 stood there full of ambition and spirit.

That was the first time Qin Sang ever saw Xie Yunchen.

Boys at sixteen or seventeen were bold and untamed, like poetry written for a midsummer night—

Passion that never died.

Romance that never faded.

Youthful spirit soaring high beyond the clouds.

After thinking for a long while, Qin Sang finally chose a relatively objective answer.

“Classmate Xie was very popular in high school. A lot of people liked him.”

And she herself…

had only been the most insignificant person within the vast crowd.

Most students at First High School were local Jing City children with excellent grades and privileged family backgrounds.

Meanwhile, she came from a tiny county town.

Standing before true heaven’s favored children, she was nothing more than an inconspicuous grain of sand.

At that time, she had just arrived in Jing City.

She wasn’t familiar with the environment, nor could she adapt to First High School’s elite, wolf-like educational system.

Besides monthly exams and major midterms and finals, there were weekly tests every Friday—not to mention countless surprise quizzes during class.

Under such pressure, she could barely breathe.

Her grades plummeted rapidly.

She had always been偏科 anyway.

Her entrance exam success mostly came from strong liberal arts scores.

She had only lost two points in English due to careless grammar mistakes, and her perfect Chinese essay had even become an exemplary model answer.

But she was terrible at math and science.

Especially mathematics.

Subjects requiring flexible thinking and logical reasoning were her fatal weakness.

In middle school, she had barely managed to keep up.

But after entering First High School, the difficulty increased dramatically.

And the experimental class was filled with top students.

She had barely taken her first step while everyone else was already nearing the finish line.

Many of the topics they discussed had already surpassed normal high school curriculum levels.

Gradually, Qin Sang felt herself falling behind.

The pressure became unbearable.

During the first monthly exam of freshman year, her results were still passable.

But by midterms, her ranking had dropped to near the very bottom.

She almost got removed from the experimental class entirely.

Unable to withstand the pressure anymore, she hid on the rooftop and secretly cried while calling Qin Dahai.

She wanted to go back to Ningjiang.

But then she heard Qin Dahai’s cheerful voice over the phone:

“Baby, what made you think of calling Dad? Did you run out of money?”

He was still at the construction site.

The background noise was deafening—excavators rumbling loudly nearby.

Qin Dahai had an honest and enthusiastic personality, and the workers all knew him well.

Hearing him on the phone, several workers shouted teasingly:

“Old Qin, is your daughter calling?”

“Your daughter’s amazing. My kid says she’s become a role model at their school already.”

“Their homeroom teacher even uses her as an example to motivate new students.”

“You really did something incredible, having such a smart daughter.”

Qin Dahai’s pride practically reached the heavens.

Beaming proudly, he replied:

“Of course! My daughter’s nothing like me.”

“I’m just a rough construction worker.”

“But my daughter’s going to Qing or Peking University someday.”

“Go work already! Don’t interrupt my phone call with my daughter.”

Qin Sang held her breath.

Coldness spread slowly down her spine as sweat dampened her grip on the phone.

So when Qin Dahai finally moved away from the others and asked gently:

“Baby, did you call because something happened?”

“Are you adjusting well at First High School?”

“Is anyone bullying you?”

Her nose instantly stung with bitterness.

Tears welled in her eyes, though she stubbornly refused to let them fall.

She thought about Qin Dahai working tirelessly at construction sites every day.

Once, he had even fallen from a worksite and broken his leg, spending over two months bedridden at home.

Their family might have been considered wealthy in Ningjiang, but every cent had been earned through Qin Dahai’s hard labor.

Biting her lip, she forced her cowardly desire to retreat back down into her chest and answered softly:

“I’m fine.”

“Life at First High School is good too.”

“The teachers and classmates here are all very nice to me.”

“I just…”

“I miss you and Mom.”

Drifting alone in a strange city, she felt utterly insecure.

Ningjiang was small.

To make commuting easier for her, her parents had even deliberately bought a house close to school.

So whether elementary school or middle school, she had always lived at home instead of staying in dormitories.

Every morning, her mother woke her up personally and hugged her before sending her out the door.

Every day, she would kiss her and smile:

“Whose little girl is this beautiful?”

Qin Dahai drove her to school every morning before heading to work himself.

And every afternoon, rain or shine, he came back to pick her up.

Day after day.

Year after year.

The people in Ningjiang were warm too.

Neighbors all knew each other.

Everyone greeted each other whenever they came and went.

Her classmates had also been friendly.

They walked to school together, played together during holidays.

Unlike Jing City—

where everyone seemed busy surviving, busy making money.

Unlike First High School—

where teachers were strict and students remained cold toward one another.

She had lied.

After arriving at First High School, she hadn’t made a single friend.

No classmates spoke to her, whether in the dormitory or classroom.

One day in the dorms, she even overheard two roommates talking about her behind her back.

“She’s from Ningjiang, right? I heard she was their county’s top scorer.”

“What kind of top scorer is she? Her grades don’t even seem that good.”

“I overheard Teacher Chen saying her math scores are terrible. Her ranking probably isn’t high at all. She’ll probably get kicked out of the experimental class soon.”

Another girl asked curiously:

“Where’s Ningjiang? Is that even a real place?”

“No idea. Probably some tiny backwater town.”

The first girl sounded disgusted.

“So unlucky ending up in the same dorm with her.”

“Who knows if she has weird habits or diseases? I heard people from poor little places like that are poor and aggressive.”

“We should be careful not to provoke her.”

They didn’t realize she was inside the bathroom changing clothes.

Only after hearing the dorm door close did she finally come out.

She wasn’t dirty.

She didn’t have diseases.

Ningjiang was wonderful.

Its mountains were magnificent.

Its rivers were crystal clear.

Its people were warm and sincere.

She wanted to go back to Ningjiang.

She wanted to go home.

“Classmate.”

A voice suddenly sounded overhead.

“School’s over already. Why are you still sitting here instead of returning to the dorm?”

Qin Sang looked up.

The boy seemed to notice something interesting immediately.

“Oh? You’ve been crying?”

“What are you crying for? Tell your big brother about it.”

Suppressing her emotions with difficulty, she answered shakily:

“I…”

But the moment she opened her mouth, sobs rose uncontrollably again.

“I…”

“I just…”

“…miss home.”

“Miss home?”

The boy looked baffled.

“I thought something huge happened. Won’t you be able to go home at the end of the month anyway? Why cry over that?”

“I seriously don’t understand girls. Why are you all so sentimental?”

“I’m not from Jing City.”

Her home lay over two hundred kilometers away.

Competition at First High School was brutal.

The experimental classes voluntarily attended extra lessons even on weekends.

Most weeks effectively had no breaks at all, with only two days off each month.

Local students could still return home easily.

But for Qin Sang, traveling between Jing City and Ningjiang took two or three hours by bus.

She didn’t want Qin Dahai exhausting himself traveling back and forth.

And buses back home only departed twice daily.

One at 9 a.m.

One at 2 p.m.

Even if she left Saturday morning, she could only stay one night before rushing back Sunday afternoon.

Unless holidays were longer, she practically couldn’t return home at all.

The boy looked confused.

“You’re not from Jing City? Then where are you from?”

“Ningjiang.”

The moment she said it, she remembered the mocking words from her roommates.

Her grip on the phone tightened unconsciously until her fingertips turned pale.

Lowering her eyes, she remained silent.

Then suddenly, the boy shouted behind him:

“Hey, Yun! What was the name of that place you went sketching at last time?”

After only two months at First High School, Xie Yunchen’s name had already spread across the entire campus.

Everyone knew there was an incredible freshman in the experimental class—cold, arrogant, yet unbelievably brilliant.

And just like his personality, his face was dazzlingly aggressive too.

As though he had been born to stand out.

Qin Sang froze slightly.

Only then did she realize there was someone else on the rooftop.

She had no idea how long they had been there.

Her gaze landed on the figure lying atop the rooftop tower.

His legs were so long they seemed to have nowhere to rest.

One leg bent upward against the edge while the other hung lazily downward.

Apparently awakened from a nap, he casually pulled the white baseball cap covering his face away and sat up.

Wind blew from behind him.

The blue-and-white school uniform shirt clung lightly against his lean waistline.

His hair looked slightly overgrown and messy, fluffy like soft fur.

Probably annoyed from being woken up, he glanced at her lazily, brows knitting faintly before answering in a hoarse post-sleep voice:

“Yiling.”

Yiling was Ningjiang’s famous tourist attraction—a national 4A-level forest scenic area known as a natural oxygen bar.

Every year, countless tourists visited from other cities.

Qin Sang hadn’t even fully reacted yet when she suddenly saw him jump effortlessly down from the rooftop.

Gray dust rubbed against his blue uniform pants.

Then, with his uninjured left hand, he suddenly pressed the white baseball cap onto her head.

Her vision instantly went dark.

The brim lowered over her forehead, blocking her face.

All she could hear was his lazy voice:

“Wear it. Cover yourself a little.”

Only later, after returning to the dormitory and looking in the mirror, did she understand his intention.

She had cried too long.

Her eyelids were swollen and her nose red.

Anyone seeing her would immediately realize she’d been crying.

If a teacher spotted her, they would definitely question her.

But at that moment, her mind had been completely blank.

She had even forgotten to say thank you.

When she finally lifted the brim of the cap, all she managed to see was the少年’s retreating back.

The setting sun dipped low into the horizon.

Golden-orange light scattered across him like shattered gold foil.

The other boy chased after him, draping an arm over his shoulders teasingly.

“I say, ancestor, you’re really generous today.”

“That cap was signed by LeBron James. Usually you won’t even let me touch it.”

“And now you just gave it away?”

“Since when did you become so considerate?”

Even from far away, she still heard the少年 lazily reply:

“Get lost.”

That evening, the wind rustled softly through the trees like a harmonious melody.

The sunset stretched gloriously across the sky.

The orange-red heavens resembled an ice-cold bottle of orange soda, condensation slowly sliding down glass while bubbles fizzed endlessly inside.

She removed the cap carefully.

The white fabric was soft.

An embroidered logo decorated the front, while a black marker signature was written along the side.

Only inside the inner brim, stitched with black thread, was a tiny embroidered character:

“昀.”

Her fingertips touched that tiny embroidered name.

And her heart quietly grew warm.

① Quote adapted from Pablo Picasso.

—

One day after they got together—

Sang Sang pointed at the condom wrapper.

“Put it on. Cover yourself a little.”