The National Day arrived as scheduled, yet the school remained under lockdown.
“Huh? It’s also the Mid-Autumn Festival today?” Early in the morning, Li Junchi received a collection of old-fashioned emoji images from his mom—[Red Lantern for National Day.jpg]+ [Wine Glass Happy Mid-Autumn.jpg].
“It really is,” Ren Feiyu scrolled through his phone. “The internet says National Day and Mid-Autumn only fall on the same day once every nineteen years.”
Xia Yang, still groggy, lay sprawled on his bed. He seemed to hear his two roommates chatting, but it went in one ear and out the other.
But there was no escaping a hardcore reminder—
“Ding!”
“Ding!”
“Ding!”
His mom sent three consecutive voice messages.
Half-awake, Xia Yang groped for his phone and instinctively hit play.
“Baby, are you awake yet?”
“Did the mooncakes I sent you arrive?”
“Yesterday, I got my hair permed. Guess what? This time, it looks amazing.”
After playing all three messages, Xia Yang was fully awake.
—Don’t be fooled by the first two; his mom’s main point was the third.
“The mooncakes arrived,” Xia Yang struggled to sit up, following protocol with a polite reply as a prelude, before finally getting to the main event. “Send me a selfie of that amazing hair; let me inspect it.”
Lying on his bed, Lin Wu listened to Xia Yang’s back-and-forth with his mom, which sounded almost like a comedy sketch, and nearly laughed out loud several times.
But when his eyes returned to his own phone, his smile faded.
His phone was quiet. No one sent him old-fashioned holiday emojis.
The only message on his screen was one he had typed himself: **“Happy Holiday.”**
It would only take one click to send, but Lin Wu stared at those four words for a long time before ultimately deleting them, letter by letter.
—
The day passed in a blur.
Despite the double festival and all the students staying on campus, the school—out of safety concerns—did not organize any celebratory activities like in previous years.
And so, the day came and went quietly. Night fell.
At 11 PM, the lights went out. Lin Wu lay back on his top bunk, unable to even remember what he did that day. Other than going to the cafeteria for meals, it felt like the entire day was spent in a haze of drowsiness and dozing off.
Yet now, when it was time to sleep, he was the most awake of them all.
In less than ten minutes, Li Junchi was already snoring. Xia Yang muttered a complaint before settling into steady breathing. Ren Feiyu, a man favored by the God of Sleep, was out like a light the moment his head hit the pillow—nothing could wake him, not even thunder.
Enviously, Lin Wu closed his eyes and tried to empty his mind.
For the past half month, insomnia had been tormenting him. No matter how he adjusted, nothing worked. Lin Wu never thought he had poor stress tolerance, but now he was starting to doubt himself. After all, everyone else in the dorm seemed perfectly fine, while he was the only one under so much pressure that he couldn’t sleep.
Tonight was worse than usual. Not only could he not sleep, but he couldn’t even lie still.
The moment he closed his eyes, it felt like two armies were clashing in his brain—sparks flying everywhere, leaving him tossing and turning in frustration.
Finally unable to endure it anymore, Lin Wu’s eyes snapped open, and he abruptly sat up.
The moment his body rose, he felt better. But it wasn’t enough. Lin Wu had the strange sensation that a voice was calling to him—somewhere out there in the night, distant yet persistent, stirring every cell in his body.
The darkness in his vision seemed to shatter under the call, breaking into soft, faint patches of light.
Lin Wu quietly climbed down from his bed, grabbed a random piece of clothing, and followed the voice.
Everything began to feel dreamy and surreal.
The night grew lighter.
Through corridors dappled with moon shadows, down the long, dim stairwell, avoiding the dorm supervisor’s window, Lin Wu moved like a mischievous little beast, finally throwing himself into the embrace of the night.
The moment he breathed in the outside air, Lin Wu felt completely at ease.
The moon hung silently in the sky, and the cool breeze swirled in the darkness, weaving through treetops and over low walls—sometimes whimpering softly, sometimes singing with joy.
Lin Wu couldn’t help but walk through the night wind, overcome by an unprecedented urge. He wanted to run freely, to release everything, to shout at the top of his lungs under the vast sky…
“You brats, stop right there!”
…Someone beat him to it.
Lin Wu jolted awake, his entire body and soul snapping to attention, only to find himself standing near the long corridor outside the dormitory area.
It would take at least ten minutes to get here from the dorm, but Lin Wu realized he couldn’t remember a single moment of those ten minutes. It was as if he had been sleepwalking, pulled by some mysterious force that led him here without his conscious thought.
But he should be in the dorm sleeping right now!
This place was a landscaped leisure area, filled with lush trees and winding corridors. It was a mix of ancient tranquility and vibrant natural charm. On normal days, it attracted solo studiers, couples on dates, groups in Hanfu taking photos, and cosplayers looking for the perfect shot.
But this was the first time Lin Wu had seen the corridors at midnight.
Unexpectedly, there were still a few students lingering around.
Of course, their fate was to be caught red-handed by the night-duty logistics teacher.
…At least Lin Wu wasn’t the one being caught.
He breathed a sigh of relief and quietly hid in the shadows of the trees, lest he be dragged into the mess.
The logistics teacher’s attention was fully on the group of boys:
“Why are you out running around instead of sleeping in the dorm at this hour?”
The boys hung their heads, realizing they couldn’t escape and decided to play along earnestly:
“Sir, we’re not fooling around. We came out to study. Even during holidays, we can’t relax…”
The teacher squinted at them: “Study?”
The boys nodded vigorously. “Yes, sir! We’re memorizing English words!”
The teacher scoffed. “You look like English to me!”
The boys insisted, “We’re really memorizing vocabulary…”
The teacher shot back, “And do I look like a vocabulary word to you?”
The boys: “…”
Lin Wu: “…”
No explanation could withstand such unbeatable logic.
As Lin Wu silently sympathized with the group of boys, a faint rustling sound reached his ears.
The sound was soft and scattered, seemingly coming from all directions.
At first, Lin Wu thought it was the wind. But when the night breeze paused for a moment, the subtle sounds continued.
Something’s not right.
Lin Wu turned his head quickly, scanning the surroundings, and froze.
He blinked hard in disbelief, then cautiously looked again.
There was no mistake—hidden within the shadows of the trees, people were everywhere!
Some were alone, others were in small groups of two or three, all like him, using the night’s darkness as cover.
Lin Wu quickly glanced around and estimated at least twenty or thirty people nearby. Looking farther into the distance, there were even more—faint silhouettes everywhere he looked.
…How many students couldn’t sleep and had come out for a midnight stroll like him?
Wait.
A sudden realization struck Lin Wu like lightning. This collective night wandering… Could it be some kind of nocturnal animal instinct?!
“Get back to the dorms, now!” The logistics teacher, oblivious to the large crowd hiding around him, continued supervising the boys as they reluctantly trudged back, looking over their shoulders every few steps.
The teacher growled in frustration, “If you move any slower, you’ll make it to morning!”
“Whoosh—”
A National Day firework streaked unexpectedly across the night sky, drawing a bright arc.
It wasn’t from the campus but close enough to seem almost within reach.
Everyone froze—whether it was the logistics teacher, the boys glancing back, or those hidden in the tree shadows.
For a brief moment, the entire world fell silent.
The firework exploded at its peak with a loud “boom”, filling the sky with cascading colors.
Then came the second, the third, the fourth…
The dazzling fireworks lit up the corridor as bright as daylight, leaving the night wanderers with nowhere to hide.
Lin Wu finally saw the crowd around him clearly and realized that, just a few steps away under the trees, stood a tall figure impossible to ignore.
As if sensing Lin Wu’s gaze, the person suddenly turned their head and looked directly at him.
Wang Ye.
Their gazes collided.
Another firework bloomed brilliantly in the sky.
Lin Wu: “…”
There was no need to set the mood this much, right?!
Thankfully.
It was the last one.
Fireworks fade quickly, vanishing in an instant, and the night once again draped over everything, concealing it all.
But just before the final glimmer disappeared, Lin Wu heard Wang Ye say, “Hey.”
The tone wasn’t too loud or soft, not warm or cold, just like a casual greeting you’d give to someone you recognize but don’t really know.
…No.
Lin Wu quickly shook his head—an illusion. He hadn’t heard anything.
Stepping back quietly into deeper shadows, Lin Wu turned on his heels and decisively retreated into the distance.
Don’t ask why he was leaving. The answer was love and peace.
He skulked along the edge of the corridor for about a hundred meters before stopping in front of a small bush, breathing lightly to calm himself.
But just a second later, he heard a voice—closer this time: “Hey.”
The sound was practically right behind him!
Lin Wu’s breath caught as he instinctively turned around.
Wang Ye stood there, relaxed and unhurried, as if he’d appeared out of nowhere, only a step away.
Lin Wu, still startled, blurted out, “Why do you walk like a ghost? No sound at all!”
Wang Ye frowned. “Why did you run?”
Lin Wu froze, his overheated brain cooling rapidly. His innocent façade switched on instantly: “Huh? I didn’t run.”
“Didn’t run?” Wang Ye glanced back toward the spot a hundred meters away. “I greeted you over there.”
“…”
When you can’t come up with a response, just skip the topic altogether.
“Oh, so you were saying hi to me?”
Wang Ye: “Who else?”
Lin Wu: “…”
When you can’t keep up with every reply, then what?!
Wang Ye really had just wanted to say hi. After all, last time at the school hospital, Lin Wu had been there the whole time taking care of his drowning friend. Wang Ye thought he seemed pretty loyal—good enough to leave a positive impression, though not a deep one.
Earlier, when the fireworks exploded in the sky, Wang Ye had turned his head and happened to spot Lin Wu. His first thought was how coincidental it was.
So he greeted him naturally.
If Lin Wu hadn’t run, they could’ve just nodded at each other and moved on—none of this extra mess.
That said.
Although Wang Ye didn’t even know Lin Wu’s name, it was rare for him to remember someone’s face after just one encounter.
Especially those eyes.
Lin Wu’s eyes were striking—when mischievous, they sparkled brightly, like a little beast. But now, in this quiet moment, they resembled a misty forest, veiled and serene.
More importantly, Wang Ye couldn’t shake the feeling that he had seen them somewhere before.
[mfn]You can support me if you like my translations by leaving a comment below, or by sending me a Ko-fi. Thank you and Enjoy reading! ❤️ -TL: Ysiad [/mfn]
