“Uncle… Uncle Zhao?”

Bai Yang was startled.

“You’re still Ali— you’re back?”

Zhao Bowen flashed him a grin. “Of course, I’m still alive.”

Old Zhao had left home in late October, gone for over ten days without a word, and vanished from the world. Just when everyone thought he’d been committed to a mental hospital, he suddenly returned—without any warning, just appearing in Bai Yang’s living room, bringing a group of people with him.

Bai Yang entered and changed his shoes, scanning the living room. Well well, it was like Judge Bao presiding over the Kaifeng court—Zhao Bowen sat in the center, with his deputies arranged on both sides, only missing the dog-head cleaver. A blue stapler on the coffee table could serve as a substitute if enlarged. Before leaving home, Zhao Bowen had boasted about bringing thousands of troops. Bai Yang counted—besides his parents, Uncle Wang, and Uncle Zhao, there were two people he didn’t recognize in the living room.

The two middle-aged men sat imposingly side by side on the sofa, wearing black hoodies. They were at least at the level of the Imperial Cat-Master Zhan Zhao. One cat was enough to strike fear into people’s hearts—now there were two cat masters at once. One held a disposable paper cup of tea, the other clutched thick documents. As Bai Yang observed them, they studied him in turn, whispering something to Zhao Bowen, who glanced at Bai Yang and nodded to them.

Bai Yang changed his shoes and headed toward his room with his backpack. Zhao Bowen stood to follow, and when he moved, everyone else moved too, gathering around.

Seems they were waiting for him.

“Where are your thousands of troops?” Bai Yang tossed his backpack on the bed and turned to ask Zhao Bowen. “Uncle Zhao, what happened to the promised army? Why just these few people?”

“Even if I had thousands of troops, I couldn’t bring them all into your living room, Yang Yang.” Zhao Bowen squeezed his shoulder firmly. “You wouldn’t believe how many people I mobilized, what an enormous project we completed. As Archimedes said, give me a lever and a place to stand, and I will move the Earth… I did move the Earth.”

Bai Yang studied him seriously for a moment. Zhao Bowen wore a smile, but he had indeed grown thinner and more haggard, with darker circles under his eyes.

“Where have you been all these days? Uncle Zhao, did you see the messages I sent?” Bai Yang asked.

“Can’t answer your first question yet—it has to stay secret for two more hours, until after midnight,” Zhao Bowen said. “I saw all your messages. Honestly, the information you provided was a huge help. Well done, Yang Yang—the whole world should thank you.”

He patted the youth’s shoulder as he spoke.

“Then where did you come back from?”

“That’s secret too.” Zhao Bowen waved his hand. “Can tell you after midnight.”

“Get out of my room, riddler.” Bai Yang pouted. If Zhao Bowen wanted to be all mysterious, fine, keep your secrets, just don’t say anything—but what was the point of keeping it secret for just two hours?

Why wait until after midnight?

“Let’s talk business. How’s the radio situation?”

“All normal,” Bai Yang answered.

“And BG4MSR’s side?”

“Also all normal,” Bai Yang said. “We’ve been spending time building the data transmission system. Almost succeeded.”

“I heard about that from your dad and Old Wang. You all did very well.” Zhao Bowen pointed at the Icom 725 amateur radio on the bookshelf. “Contact BG4MSR now. We’ve all been waiting for you to come back for this.”

Bai Yang glanced past Zhao Bowen’s shoulder toward the doorway. His dad, Uncle Wang, and the others were standing there, the two cat-masters staring at him with electric gazes.

He nodded, sat down in the chair, put on his headphones, connected the power, turned on the radio, and began calling BG4MSR as usual.

“Eh? The weather?” Ban Xia was startled.

She peeked outside. “The weather’s fine.”

“Good, BG4MSR. Now go somewhere where you can see the night sky, OVER.”

“Night sky?”

Ban Xia didn’t know what he wanted. They were supposed to test image transmission tonight, but BG4MXH said the test was postponed until tomorrow because tonight there was something more important to do—and that more important thing was going outside. Ban Xia didn’t understand, but she followed instructions anyway. The girl took her radio, left her room, climbed to the attic, and sat on the roof.

The late autumn night wind in November was cool. The girl leaned out, shivered, wrapped her clothes tighter, and then carefully found a spot to sit on the roof. Looking up, she could see the vast velvet dome of the sky.

“Okay, BG4MXH, I can see the sky now. What next?”

Ban Xia asked.

“Then… look at the stars?”

The girl’s eyes widened.

She didn’t understand what this was about. All that solemn ceremony just to have her sit on the roof and look at the stars?

Bai Yang didn’t know what this was about either. These were Zhao Bowen’s instructions. Old Zhao stood behind him giving orders—have her go out, find a place to see the night sky, look up at the stars. But he wouldn’t explain why, just being mysterious and self-assured, apparently having everything planned but incomprehensible.

“How long should I look?”

“Keep looking until the stars fall from the sky, OVER.”

Bai Yang repeated Zhao Bowen’s words exactly.

“Stars falling from the sky? You mean meteors?” Ban Xia was curious.

“Maybe, I’m not sure what it means. That’s what Uncle Zhao said, OVER.”

“Does Uncle Zhao know there’ll be meteors tonight? Can he see the future? But this isn’t meteor shower season… ah ah ah… achoo! The wind is so strong on the roof, so cold.”

Ban Xia hugged her knees, sitting on the roof as the strong night wind whipped her hair. She craned her neck skyward. The stars above looked like salt sprinkled on a huge black curtain. The girl began searching for familiar constellations in this great curtain. She first found the Autumn Square, formed by stars from Andromeda and Pegasus—four stars from these two constellations making a huge square, the signature of the late autumn sky.

“BG4MXH, do you know about Pegasus Square?”

“Pegasus Square?” Bai Yang asked. “What’s that? OVER.”

“It’s the Autumn Square. Four stars from Pegasus and Andromeda make a square, like a plaza, so it’s called Pegasus Square.” Ban Xia shifted position, reclining at an angle. “These four stars all have names. The teacher taught them, but I can’t remember anymore… Once you find Autumn Square, you can find Andromeda, and then following Andromeda’s extension, you can find Perseus. Every August there’s the Perseid meteor shower. The teacher and I saw it many years ago. BG4MXH, it’s such a shame you’ve never seen it.”

“Yeah, Nanjing’s lights are too bright,” Bai Yang said. “With such strong lights, how could we see meteor showers? OVER.”

Ban Xia froze. “But lights are good too. So many lights, like stars on the ground.”

“BG4MXH, why do meteor showers happen?”

“It’s because of comets, OVER.”

“Comets?”

“A type of celestial body with a tiny nucleus and a very long tail. They periodically visit the solar system, scattering material along their orbits. When this material enters Earth’s atmosphere, it becomes meteor showers, OVER.” Bai Yang explained.

“Where do they come from?”

“Outside the solar system, very very far away, OVER.”

“How far?”

“So far away that we could never reach it in our lifetime,” Bai Yang said. “OVER.”

“BG4MXH.”

“I’m here, OVER.”

“Why is the world so big?” Ban Xia asked. “That there are places we can never reach even in our whole lifetime.”

“It’s not that the world is too big, but that humans are too small,” Bai Yang said. “OVER.”

Ban Xia thought about it. BG4MXH was right—she was very small. Compared to this majestic, magnificent earth beneath her feet, compared to this boundless starry sky above her head, she was small.

A small person alone possesses this infinitely large world.

Ban Xia wrapped her clothes tighter and curled up on the roof, tucking her hands into her sleeves. The brick tiles were hard beneath her—she regretted not bringing a pillow to sit on. Since she could bring a pillow, why not bring her whole bed and blankets, and curl up in the warm covers? That would be most comfortable. The night wind on the roof was strong, quickly stealing body heat. The girl’s nose and cheeks soon grew numb with cold.

“So cold.”

“So cold… can I go back and put on more clothes?”

“Hold on a bit longer, BG4MSR, it’s almost time, OVER.”

“How much longer do I have to wait?” Ban Xia asked.

“How much longer does she have to wait?” Bai Yang took off his headphones and turned to ask Zhao Bowen behind him. “She’s very cold, and wants to go put on clothes.”

“Have her hold on a bit longer. If she goes to put on clothes, she might miss it. Then all our efforts would be wasted.” Zhao Bowen was anxious too. He turned to shout at the people by the door: “Specific time! Report the specific time!”

One of the cat-masters flipped through his documents. “Estimated time November 14th 23:55 to November 15th 00:10 passing over Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, 88 degrees elevation!”

Bai Yang and Zhao Bowen simultaneously focused on the clock—it was now 11:49 PM.

“Have her look up at the sky, it’s right above her head!”

Zhao Bowen leaned in, lowering both his body and voice. Bai Yang could see sweat forming on his forehead.

“BG4MSR! BG4MSR!”

“I’m here.”

“Look up! Look up at the sky! It’s right above your head!”

Above her head?

Ban Xia had been looking up all along. Above her head was still just the silent starry sky.

She saw nothing.

“Nothing at all?”

“Nothing at all,” Bai Yang nodded. “She doesn’t see anything.”

“Then wait… wait a bit more…”

Time ticked by minute by minute. Zhao Bowen grew increasingly anxious. The clock’s minute hand pointed to 55—they’d reached the estimated time, but there was no change from BG4MSR’s end. The minute hand reached midnight, and still no change from BG4MSR. Zhao Bowen started pacing around the room.

“Did something go wrong somewhere?” Zhao Bowen paced back and forth, muttering to himself. “No one can be certain. After all, so much time has passed. If there’s an error it’s normal—it could be hours early, or hours late…”

Everyone watched Zhao Bowen, who alone was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, but others didn’t know why he was so anxious.

“Ask again what’s happening, Yang Yang, ask again,” Zhao Bowen said.

“I did ask, everything’s normal.”

Bai Yang was asking every minute. It was already 12:20 AM.

“BG4MSR, anything happening? OVER.”

“Nothing happening.”

“BG4MSR?”

“Nothing happening.”

“BG4MSR?”

“Nothing happening… can I go back now? It’s cold here, I want to go put on clothes.”

“Wait! Wait more! Have her wait more!” Zhao Bowen shouted, spreading his fingers. “I’ll count to five! It will come! Five—! Four—!”

“Three—!”

“Two point nine—! Two point eight—!”

Bai Yang shook his head. “Uncle Zhao, counting like that, you could count till next year.”

“Two! One!” Zhao Bowen’s face reddened. “It’s here, don’t believe me? Go ask.”

“BG4MSR, BG4MSR, is anything happening on your end?” Bai Yang put his headphones back on and called out.

“Nothing’s happening. Right now I just want to return to my warm little nest, back to my cozy little blanket, that’s where he… heavens!”

The girl’s sudden exclamation and scream burst through the headphones. Bai Yang shot upright.

Zhao Bowen abruptly stopped pacing.

“Heavens, oh my heavens!”

“BG4MXH! BG4MXH! Meteors! Look, they’re meteors!”

Ban Xia’s mouth gaped as she looked skyward. Above her head, a long meteor streaked across the heavens, so bright and dazzling that it outshone all the brilliant stars the moment it appeared. It came so suddenly, catching everyone off guard, as if someone had carved a narrow, straight gash across the velvet background of night, bursting with white celestial light.

The first meteor took a full five seconds from appearance to disappearance, its trail lingering long in the atmosphere. Then came a sight that left the girl speechless—in the direction the meteor had come from, second, third, fourth, and more meteors broke through the darkness. The girl had never seen such dense, bright, magnificent meteor showers. They lit up the earth as they crossed the sky—blue meteors, purple meteors, red meteors, green meteors. Like swords, like spears, they majestically spanned the airspace below Pegasus and Andromeda, as if deities had dipped brushes in paint and boldly swept magnificent, grand strokes across the autumn night’s celestial sphere.

The meteors swept over Ban Xia’s head, exploding thunderously in the sky, transforming into gorgeously blooming flowers of every color.

The girl stood dumbfounded on the rooftop, watching the brilliant flowers burst open in clusters above the empty city, and suddenly began to cry.

On a late autumn night, Ban Xia witnessed the most spectacular fireworks in human history.

They didn’t rise from the ground, but descended magnificently from the highest heavens like lightning piercing the sky!

At twenty minutes past midnight on this night, a wanderer who had left home twenty years ago returned from four hundred million kilometers away, re-entering the atmosphere at 11.2 kilometers per second.