Wen Zhan could no longer remember how long he had lived in this world. His life was torn into two parts. The first half was chaotic and vague, without any details. It could be summarized in just a few words, like pale fragments, without any sense of reality.
The second half is a long dark period. After he began to doubt the reality of this world, he fell into a painful state of wakefulness. Day and night alternated with no end in sight, as if it was as long as several reincarnations. He was the only one in the world, lonely and dead.
Gradually, he began to lose the ability to distinguish between reality and falsehood. While looking forward to his demise, he struggled countless times not to fall into chaos again.
Only the tearing pain brought by the memories of the day of awakening could remind him. His father was obviously a good ruler, but the dynasty still fell apart in the blink of an eye. He really didn't understand. When he was escorted out of the palace by General Wen to escape, he struggled to run back.
Everything was absurd. The palace, which was once as solid as a rock, became as if it were made of paper. The palace servants, who once loved the emperor, cursed his stupidity and incompetence. The queen mother, who once was kind and sensible, became a demon queen who colluded with the rebels.
They are like actors on the stage, playing their parts numbly.
It was not until Wen Zhan appeared before them that the queen mother, who had been laughing arrogantly, showed confusion and panic in her eyes. She raised her sword but hesitated to stab the emperor.
Her body was shaking, tears rolled out of her eyes, and she squeezed out two words with difficulty: "Go quickly."
It was as if a bolt of lightning had struck him, and Wen Zhan felt intense pain all over his body. The white mist in his head dissipated, and all the pain and absurdity was like a clock, ringing out a clear mind for him.
He wanted to shout, but suddenly a pair of invisible hands appeared in the air, strangling his throat, and he could no longer make a sound; he wanted to run towards his father and mother, but the hand in the air turned into an iron hammer, breaking his bones inch by inch, and made him curl up weakly on the ground, unable to move.
The queen mother cried, threw her sword to the ground, raised the torch beside her, and set the palace on fire.
General Wen arrived in time and pulled him out of the fire.
He escorted him out of the city amidst a sea of fire and corpses, and was seriously injured. He could only let his son Wen Jue take on his responsibilities.
Wen Jue was his study partner and also his childhood friend. Although he was not yet a grown-up, he already had the heroic qualities of his father.
He looked at Wen Zhan, and was so disappointed that he found countless doctors for him and explained his injuries to them: "My family suffered a great change, and I became mute due to my anxiety. I became sick all over and became a sickly person."
Halfway through the journey, Wen Jue heard the news. Wen Zhan overheard someone saying to him, "The previous dynasty is completely destroyed. The emperor and that evil queen died together, hacked to death by the rebels."
That's not true, they clearly died in that fire.
Suddenly, Wen Zhan felt severe pain all over his body. He fell to the ground in agony. Countless invisible swords and knives slashed at his body, each one cutting into his bones, but there were no scars.
Hacked to death...
At this point, he finally understood that he was just a restless chess piece, a character in a storybook. Because he shouldn't have woken up, he became a sickly mute. Because his wakefulness changed the fate of his father, the emperor, and his mother, the pain of being hacked to death was transferred to him.
He wanted to give up countless times, wanted to sink into chaos and play his role numbly, but in the end he gritted his teeth and held on, trying hard to remind himself to stay awake.
He didn't know why he did this, maybe because he wanted to see what kind of ending fate would give to the people of the world, maybe because if he forgot, this world would no longer be real, maybe... he was waiting for someone to come.
One dark night, the man broke in, let him down from the rope, held him in his arms, and looked at him with pity.
She said, "I am not the same person as before. I will not hurt you."
Then she filled in the blanks of his past, replacing them with real memories and feelings.
She gave him too many emotional firsts, the first time he was at a loss, the first time he was surprised, the first time he was touched; she gave him too many firsts in experiences, the first time he was hugged, the first time he was pulled out of the darkness, the first time he stayed up all night, the first time he celebrated his birthday...
He was awakened by pain, but felt the truth with happiness.
He had already guessed the ending, his own future, Wen Jue's future, and the future of the world situation.
With a compassionate attitude, he watched numbly as everything in the world proceeded according to the arrangement of fate.
Until her arrival changed everything, pulling him out of the darkness time and time again, making him greedy. He no longer wanted to be a bystander and wanted to experience the prosperity of the world with her.
Wen Zhan was standing on the bridge holding a bunch of lanterns. He felt heavy, sad and bitter in his heart, but also very happy and excited.
He thought, this might be an emotion called heartbeat.
Lu Yunchu thought he had been standing there stupidly for too long, so he reminded him, "Put down the lanterns, let's go eat something delicious!"
Wen Zhan immediately held the lantern tightly, feeling reluctant to let it go.
He behaved particularly childishly today, like a little kid who got candy but was unwilling to give it away.
Lu Yunchu smiled and said, "But how can we carry such a large amount of them through the streets?"
Wen Zhan understood this truth, but he still couldn't let it go.
Lu Yunchu saw how much he cherished the lanterns, so he gave him some advice: "Then give the lanterns away. You are the birthday star, and the lanterns you give away will also bring good luck to others."
Wen Zhan looked up at her in surprise, feeling a little flustered and expectant for no reason.
How could a man like him have any good luck
But her tone was so firm that he was easily convinced and was eager to try.
So she pulled Wen Zhan and stood at the bridge head, presenting beautiful lanterns to the children passing by.
Lanterns are not unaffordable, but ordinary people rarely spend money to buy them for their children. Wouldn’t it be better to use the money to buy some food
Therefore, for the little children wearing patched flowery jackets during the Lantern Festival, lanterns are extremely precious gifts.
They gathered in a group, not even half as tall as Wen Zhan, and craned their necks to look at him eagerly.
At Lu Yunchu's signal, Wen Zhan took down the lanterns and gave them to them one by one.
"Thank you, brother." Childish voices came one after another.
They touched the lanterns, carefully depicting their exquisite shapes, feeling the soft glow emanating from them with their hands, their eyes filled with deep surprise and joy.
More and more children were running towards this side, followed by their helpless parents.
They looked at Wen Zhan's immortal appearance and guessed that he must be a powerful person in the city. They shrank and pulled the child, whispering, "Don't go to that young master to offend him."
The child refused. Although he was a little timid seeing Wen Zhan's appearance and dressing, he could not resist the temptation of the lanterns. He broke free from his parents and came in front of Wen Zhan like a fish into water.
He had to crane his neck to see this particularly handsome brother clearly.
As if sensing his gaze, the brother turned sideways, smiled, bent down, and handed him a lantern.
The child saw the scar on his body and smelled the cool medicinal fragrance coming from him. He took the lantern stupidly and thought blankly, it turns out that even the gods in heaven can get hurt.
He heard the sound and his parents came after him, as if they were going to pick him up and spank him as punishment for his naughtiness.
He held the lantern and ran away quickly. Halfway through, he suddenly turned back and rushed in front of Wen Zhan.
He held up the lantern and smiled happily: "Brother, I will protect it well."
Wen Zhan looked at his earnest and sincere expression, was stunned for a moment, suddenly chuckled, and nodded slightly at him.
The little boy was stunned, blushed, and ran away in panic.
Many years later, when the naughty child grew up, the lantern was still placed in the house. The lantern had long been eroded by time and was tattered, leaving only the brittle bamboo frame, which seemed to fall apart at the touch.
He had a naughty child, but he was not like his parents, who would use the money from buying lanterns to buy candy. Every Lantern Festival, he would buy a lantern for his child, take him across the carved bridge, and tell him about the god-like brother who appeared on that Lantern Festival.
…
After distributing the lanterns, Lu Yunchu took Wen Zhan’s hand and walked down the carved bridge, buying things along the way.
They stopped in front of the candy figurine stall and watched an old man knead syrup into strips, insert them into molds, puff up his cheeks and blow them. The syrup swelled up like balloons and turned into two adorable figurines.
Lu Yunchu paid the silver, held up the sugar man and compared it to Wen Zhan, and laughed: "They don't look alike at all."
Wen Zhan smiled with his lips pursed, afraid that the stall owner would hear him, so he hurriedly dragged her away.
"Hey, candied haws!" Lu Yunchu was halfway through his walk when he was attracted by the candied haws and bought several strings.
The red hawthorn is covered with transparent sugar coating, one of which is a flat piece of sugar. It is crunchy when bitten. The hawthorn is very fresh, with sweetness wrapped in sourness, and the sourness is filled with fresh fruity flavor, leaving a lingering fragrance on the lips and cheeks.
She handed the candied haws to Wen Zhan's mouth. Wen Zhan reached out to take it, but was bumped by someone behind him. Before he could react, she had already fed the candied haws into his mouth.
Wen Zhan bit off a candied haws stiffly, and the crispy sugar coating burst in his mouth, with sour and sweet flavors alternating, mixed with the cool sweetness of mountain spring water, and the taste was refreshing, which made people think of the scene of farmers picking dew-dripping haws in the early morning before dawn.
"It's delicious." Lu Yunchu praised, "It turns out that wild hawthorns are so sweet, and the fruits are big."
Wen Zhan nodded in agreement, how sweet.
The sour aftertaste came up, and Lu Yunchu bared his teeth again: "It's so sour."
Wen Zhan swallowed the candied haws, and before he could recover from her feeding him, he blinked blankly. Sour
Lu Yunchu turned to look at him, and he nodded quickly.
Sour... It should be sour.
Brown sugar cakes, sticky bean buns, donkey meat sesame cakes...the two of them ate as they walked, until their stomachs were bloated and they really couldn't eat any more.
The excitement of the Lantern Festival is like the brilliant lights, and it seems that it will never fade away.
The two of them didn't know how long they had been strolling around the lantern festival until late at night when they took a bus back home.
Lu Yunchu also drank some fruit wine sold in the market. It was not strong, but very sweet, so sweet that she felt dizzy.
She felt that she was walking unsteadily, so it was natural for her to hold Wen Zhan's hand.
His body was big enough to wrap around her entire body.
He led her to the courtyard. Tonight, even the night breeze was gentle, not cold, and only carried the scent of medicine from his body.
She kept stealing glances at his profile without looking at the road. When she finally reacted, she found that Wen Zhan had led her to the bottom of the tall building.
He pointed to the tall building.
Lu Yunchu was puzzled. Why go up there
But she still followed Wen Zhan's footsteps and climbed up the pavilion.
The view here is clear, with no tall trees blocking the view. In front of you is the endless night sky, like a roll of dark blue silk, with the lights of the bustling streets in the city stained at the bottom. Even the bright and flowing moonlight cannot compete with it.
She turned her head to look at Wen Zhan: "What are you doing here, are you here to enjoy the lanterns?" It can't be that he is here to enjoy the moon. Such a incomplete moon is really irritating to look at.
Wen Zhan smiled at her gently, held her hand, and led her forward a step.
He looked up at the sky, as if waiting for something. When the time came, he suddenly shook her hand, signaling her to look up.
Lu Yunchu's puzzled gaze shifted from the distant lights to the bright moon in the sky.
The light clouds dispersed, the fog disappeared, and the waning moon appeared from it.
Suddenly, light and shadow flowed, the waning moon changed, lightly and softly, like a drop of ink falling into the water, gradually becoming round and blending, turning into an incomparably bright and perfect full moon.
Like fireworks exploding, the moonlight tilted down, brighter than the lights and stars, illuminating everything in the world in an instant.
She stared in amazement.
Wen Zhan turned to look at her, his smile growing even wider.
This world is absurd and pale, but you are always sober and gentle.
I never thought of keeping you, but I couldn't think of a farewell gift for you.
I have nothing to give you. Chaotic order, sad waning moon, desperate reincarnation...
I can only give you a bright and flawless full moon. Day after day, year after year, I gazed into the night sky for a long time and found the full moon that would appear on this day and at this time.
A full moon like you.