The moon hung like a silver plate, embedded high in the ink-black canopy of sky. Stars hung low, accompanying the brilliant lights throughout the entire street market, illuminating Yuquan Lake like ribbons of the Milky Way, flowing with radiant light. A gentle breeze arose, causing ripples on the lake surface. Gold-painted pleasure boats were moored in the center, surrounded on all sides by the sounds of strings and bamboo, soft music drifting melodiously.

Through the boat’s porthole window, Yuanxi gazed mesmerized at the night scene before her, feeling the prosperity and luxury were so beautiful it seemed otherworldly. Xiao Du sat down beside her, picked up a small piece of mooncake from the porcelain plate in front and fed it to her mouth, then followed her gaze outward, smiling: “This is the most beautiful face of the capital. You said you’d never spent festivals outside before, so I thought I must bring you to see what a Mid-Autumn night full of lanterns looks like.”

Yuanxi chewed slowly, feeling this mooncake was sweeter than any she’d ever eaten before, so she turned and smiled: “You have a piece too.”

She had specially worn red today and carefully dressed herself. Now with her eyes sparkling and lips slightly parted, her entire face bathed in the swaying brilliant lights, Xiao Du was somewhat entranced by the sight. Initially he had only found her pleasant-looking, but once he developed feelings and she entered his heart, every expression and smile of hers could generate soul-stirring beauty.

So he smiled with mischievous intent: “Look at you, you’ve gotten it on your lips again.” Before she could react, his arms had already pressed her against the cabin wall, his warm lips touching the corner of her mouth, ambiguously licking away the tiny crumb at the corner of her lips, then moving to her lips, her tongue, becoming entangled and tender, indulgent and intoxicated, insatiably drawing all the sweetness from her mouth. When passion reached its peak, he wished the two of them had been one body since birth, with even their breathing and heartbeats connected.

But at this moment, the door rang inopportunely, with someone outside calling: “Marquis, Madam, the crabs have arrived.”

Xiao Du reluctantly released her lips, satisfied to see her lips red and swollen from his kisses, even her earlobes turning red. Yuanxi shyly turned her head away, straightening her disheveled hair and clothes before calling: “Come in.”

Xiao Chun led several maids and servants inside, their trays holding blue and white porcelain plates piled with red, plump and delicious-looking hairy crabs, with two sets of eight crab-eating tools beside them. Another tray held a bottle of wine and two white jade wine cups. Seeing the scene before him and Xiao Du’s unsatisfied expression, Xiao Chun quickly had the others efficiently set down the food and wine, then tactfully led them away immediately and closed the door.

Xiao Du picked up a hairy crab, cracked open the shell and placed it beside Yuanxi, then poured her a cup of chrysanthemum wine, smiling: “Yellow chrysanthemums, fat crabs, and fine wine – everything must be complete to properly celebrate Mid-Autumn.”

Yuanxi’s body trembled slightly, her hand freezing in mid-air as her thoughts drifted away like a broken kite string: Once during a Mid-Autumn years ago, someone had also held up a wine pot, leaning casually against the artificial mountain behind the Imperial Academy, sipping wine while reciting: “Yellow chrysanthemums, fat crabs with fine wine – only then does one not waste the Mid-Autumn spirit.”

Yuanxi was grimacing as she tackled a crab claw when she heard this and looked up to see his face slightly flushed, his collar somewhat disheveled, his black hair blown wild by the wind. Usually the young teacher was always refined and scholarly, rarely showing such an unrestrained and bold demeanor. Yuanxi stared somewhat dazed, and after a while pouted: “But I don’t have any wine.”

Luo Yuan glanced at her and smiled: “What would a little girl drink wine for?” Seeing her puff up her cheeks as if very dissatisfied, he softened his voice: “Don’t be impatient. When you come of age next year, you can drink wine.”

Yuanxi finally extracted the crab meat from the claw and put it in her mouth, feeling that crab meat eaten without tools was indeed sweeter. She looked up with hopeful anticipation and smiled: “Will Teacher accompany me then?”

But Luo Yuan only smiled at her without answering. Yuanxi thought this must mean agreement. At that moment, she never imagined they might one day part ways.

Yuanxi slowly picked apart the crab meat, watching him half-recline nearby sipping wine, feeling peaceful and content inside. She suddenly thought of something and asked: “I read in books that every Mid-Autumn night, common people float candle boats on rivers to make wishes. The entire river would be filled with little boats carrying lights – it must be very interesting. Unfortunately I’ve never had the chance to see such a scene. Have you seen it, Teacher?”

Luo Yuan had already finished a pot of wine and smiled as he straightened up: “What’s so difficult about that? If you want to see it, we’ll make our own.” He jumped down from the rocks, and when he returned, he had several candles in his hands. He folded lotus leaves from the lake into little boat shapes and placed the lit candles on top.

The pond water swayed gently, candlelight flickering among the lotus leaves. Though not as spectacular as it would look at night, Yuanxi was still delighted, excitedly lying by the pond edge continuously pushing the little boats inward.

After watching with interest for a while, she turned and asked: “What wish do you want to make, Teacher?” She tilted her head thoughtfully, then smiled: “Teacher said you’ll take the imperial examinations next year. I guess you must want to pass and achieve success, becoming a marquis and minister, right?” She thought scholars’ wishes would generally be like this.

Luo Yuan found her serious tone somewhat amusing. He shifted his gaze from her face to the distance: “Of course I want to pass the examinations, but I don’t want to become a marquis and minister. I only hope that after becoming an official, I’ll have the ability to do some useful things for the people.”

Yuanxi listened with half understanding, so she also closed her eyes to make a wish. Luo Yuan curiously asked: “What’s your wish then?”

Yuanxi opened her eyes and smiled: “I hope Seventh Concubine and Father can live to a hundred, free from illness and disaster, and I hope Teacher you pass the spring examinations successfully and achieve your wish.”

Luo Yuan was stunned, his gaze becoming even gentler: “What about yourself? Don’t you want anything?”

Yuanxi tilted her head thoughtfully and said matter-of-factly: “These are the things I want most.”

“Xi’er? Xi’er?” Suddenly a voice was calling her name. Yuanxi emerged from her memories, and the young teacher’s smiling face before her eyes became Xiao Du’s concerned expression. She was still in a daze when she looked down to discover her plate had been filled with picked crab meat.

She came to her senses and picked up her silver chopsticks, but her mood remained unsettled for a long time: Teacher had said he wanted to do useful things – what connection did this have with his volunteering to come to the marquis’s mansion? The Teacher she knew would certainly have long-term planning and calculations before deciding to do something, but she also remembered what Xiao Zhixuan said: “Big Brother was very angry and forbade Teacher from ever approaching the marquis’s mansion again.” Could it be that in the end, she had ruined his aspirations?

Thinking this, she felt bitterness rising in her heart, and the fine food and wine before her became hard to swallow. Seeing her melancholy expression, Xiao Du asked with growing concern: “What’s wrong? Do you have something troubling you?”

Yuanxi looked up at him, hesitating internally – could she discuss this with him? But she understood that if she spoke, the crack between them that had been so carefully repaired would likely split apart again. So she forced a smile, lifted her wine cup to sip: “Nothing, perhaps I caught some cold wind earlier and now have no appetite.”

Xiao Du took the wine cup from her hand, leaned over and stared at her gently: “I told you, I don’t like seeing you frown. I’m your husband – you can tell me about any troubles.” Seeing her glance toward the window where the market streets by the lake were bustling with voices and excitement, the contrast made the boat seem somewhat cold and quiet. He seemed to understand: “Are you finding the boat too stuffy? Then I’ll take you down to stroll around.”

So Xiao Du had the boat dock at the shore and took her hand to walk into the market streets. The roadside was hung with various lanterns, illuminating the crowds of visitors like daylight. Both sides of the street sold various trinkets and performed many interesting tricks. Yuanxi watched with fascination, finally temporarily setting aside her worries and showing excited expressions.

Xiao Du also showed a satisfied smile. Wanting Yuanxi to forget everything about the marquis’s mansion, he had the servants and guards behind them stay on the boat rather than follow. The two strolled casually through the streets hand in hand like the most ordinary couple. Yuanxi felt everything before her was fresh and new, constantly looking left and right, reluctant to miss any interesting sight. Then she saw a lifelike white rabbit lantern and quickly pulled Xiao Du forward, touching and examining it reluctantly.

Seeing her interest, Xiao Du asked the vendor: “How much for this lantern?”

The vendor was a white-bearded old man who only lifted his eyelids: “This lantern isn’t for sale, only as a prize. Ring toss costs five wen each. If you can ring twenty stakes without knocking any over, I’ll give you this lantern.”

Xiao Du frowned, only now noticing the wooden stakes several inches tall arranged on the ground with a stack of rattan rings beside them, while several children were happily queuing to play ring toss. His face turned somewhat green – was he supposed to compete with these little brats for ring toss? He raised an eyebrow and said to the vendor: “I’ll pay five taels of silver to buy your lantern.”

The people nearby gasped – this amount of silver could equal the vendor’s earnings for a month. But the old man stubbornly said: “This gentleman is generous, but I can’t break the rules, otherwise how could I do business in the future? If you want to buy a lantern, five taels could buy all the lanterns on this street. But if you want my lantern, you must follow my rules – ring twenty stakes and I’ll give you this lantern.”

Xiao Du was immediately frustrated, but turning around he saw Yuanxi staring straight at the lantern with longing in her eyes. At this moment, a little girl with pigtails said in a thick voice: “Uncle, are you playing or not? If not, let us play first.”

Xiao Du secretly glared at her, struggled internally, then reluctantly picked up a rattan ring from the ground. He was known as a marksman in the army with excellent aim. The ring flew out and landed steadily around a wooden stake without even touching the stake itself. The children nearby stared dumbfounded and began clapping: “Throw again! Throw again!”

Xiao Du turned proudly to see Yuanxi watching him with a smile, and felt this childish game wasn’t so hard to accept after all. He simply picked up three rings in one hand, aimed and threw them. The rings arced differently through the air before all landing around the same wooden stake.

The children were even more amazed, immediately cheering, and more and more people gathered to witness this miraculous ring-tossing skill, inadvertently pushing Yuanxi toward the outer edge.

Yuanxi looked up to see Xiao Du standing tall in the center of the crowd, spirited and distinguished, impossible to look away from. With the crowd’s continuous exclamations, he quickly completed all twenty rings and raised his chin proudly to the vendor: “Now you can give me this lantern.”

The vendor also smiled, taking down the white rabbit lantern and handing it to him. Xiao Du quickly turned around, holding the lantern high, only to discover Yuanxi had been pushed to the outer edge of the crowd, smiling at him admiringly from afar.

Xiao Du hurriedly tried to push through the crowd toward her, but then someone shouted: “They’re releasing lantern boats! Quick, go look!” The crowd immediately stirred and surged toward the river, carrying Yuanxi farther and farther away from him.

Xiao Du felt anxious, but he was still holding the lantern, surrounded by people, with several children tugging at his clothes wanting to learn ring toss from him. Afraid of hurting these children, he could only push outward with effort while shouting: “Wait for me by the river!”

Yuanxi was dizzily carried by the crowd to the riverside. Just as she turned to catch her breath, she suddenly saw a painfully familiar figure standing on the opposite bank – clear as the bright moon, pure as a jade tree – crouching down to place a small boat carrying candlelight into the river water.

At that moment she suddenly forgot many things and called out desperately: “Teacher!”

The day Teacher left the Imperial Academy, she had been running a high fever and had begged Seventh Concubine through her delirium to take her to see Teacher off, but Seventh Concubine had insisted on keeping her home.

This time, at least let her have the chance to say goodbye to him.

But her voice was quickly drowned in the noisy crowd. Luo Yuan seemed to sense something and looked up toward this side, but only saw constantly moving heads. Yuanxi felt urgent and panicked, quickly lifting her skirts to push toward the bank, but someone stepped on her shoe and she fell to the ground. Before her eyes were chaotic figures, and she could no longer find any trace of that person. Yuanxi sat on the ground staring blankly at her embroidered shoe that had fallen beside her, finally crying in frustration – she still couldn’t even say a single word of farewell.

Then she saw the crowd before her part, and Xiao Du approached with an anxious expression, carrying the lantern. Seeing her condition, he quickly handed the white rabbit lantern to her, crouched down to pick up her shoe, grasped her ankle and carefully helped her put it on, shaking his head and sighing: “How are you always so careless?”

Yuanxi stared at him blankly. Some people are like the bright moon in the sky – they once so gently illuminated one’s heart, but ultimately remain unreachable. Some people, however, always stand behind you to put on the shoe that has fallen off.

Yuanxi stood up with his help and for the first time, ignoring the gazes of those around them, threw her arms around him, pressed close to his ear, sniffled and said: “Let’s consummate our marriage, alright?”

Xiao Du’s hand shook as he stared at her in shock, replying dazedly: “Now?”

Yuanxi couldn’t help laughing, hooked her arms around his neck and said softly: “Let’s go home.”

Under the bright moon, tiny lantern boats covered the water surface, making the river sparkle like the Milky Way. And at the other end, someone gazed longingly at the two embracing figures under the lights on the opposite shore, softly saying: “Goodbye…”