Chapter 175 That Bright Moon—His life's moon…
"Sweetie!" Jiang Yueming's eyes lit up as he looked at the girl on the screen. He quickly waved to Li Leshan, signaling him to stop what he was doing and come take a look.
"Brother! What was the surprise you said you had for me? Why didn't you come back with Mom? I ran so fast after school."
Years have passed, and that lively little girl has grown into a young woman. She's still wearing her blue and white high school uniform, her hair in a ponytail, waving at the camera.
"Sweetie?" Li Leshan gestured in sign language.
“Yes, she’s grown so much now, she’s probably around here by now.” Jiang Yueming gestured to herself.
"She probably doesn't remember me." Li Leshan was a little embarrassed. He hadn't seen Tian Tian for so many years that he couldn't even remember her anymore, and he guessed she wouldn't even recognize him.
“No way, she talks about you every day.” Jiang Yueming pulled Li Leshan over and brought him into the frame.
Li Leshan unexpectedly entered the frame, and the girl on the other side of the screen was stunned for a moment. He fell into Jiang Yueming's arms, looking at the screen with a hint of apology.
"Surprised? Look who this is!" Jiang Yueming laughed heartily.
"Brother Leshan!" Tian Tian blurted out, excitedly shouting at the screen, "You're back in Shengping!"
It had been so long since they last met that Li Leshan was momentarily stunned. She had truly grown into a young woman, almost unrecognizable from the tiny child he remembered. Her features had matured, and her once round face now possessed a clear outline. Only her bright, sparkling eyes remained exactly the same as when she was a child.
"Brother, do you still remember me? I'm Tian Tian." Tian Tian's eyes were a little red.
Li Leshan nodded. He glanced back at Jiang Yueming, who immediately understood his meaning and explained, "Of course he hasn't forgotten. He definitely remembers that he has a sister like you."
"Brother Leshan, my grades are really good now. I got into the top high school here. I'm very well-behaved now, and I can help out at home..." Tian Tian said a lot, as if she was trying her best to express that she had become more sensible and obedient since going to the South, and no longer caused so much worry. "I've grown up."
She looked at Li Leshan, smiled shyly, and said, "You have always been my role model, Brother Leshan."
Li Leshan's lips curled up slightly. If he could speak, or if Tian Tian could understand sign language, he would definitely praise her. Actually, he had always thought Tian Tian was very sensible and well-behaved.
"What's wrong?" Jiang Yueming glanced at Li Leshan and said with a smile, "I'm not your role model. Your brother is pretty amazing too, you know?"
"Of course you are too! When I go back to Shengping with Mom during winter vacation, I miss you guys so much, brother!" Tian Tian was still too excited to calm down.
“Be good over there,” Jiang Yueming said. “Listen to your mother, study hard, and I’ll give you a big red envelope for Chinese New Year.”
"Okay!" Tian Tian smiled too. "Mom wants to say a few words to you, I'll hand the phone to her..."
The camera shook slightly, and Lin Cuiqin's face appeared on the screen. Tian Tian was next to Lin Cuiqin, making a funny face in the corner.
"Moonlight, Leshan, I don't have much to say. It's getting cold lately, remember to wear more clothes and keep warm..."
Jiang Yueming put his arm around Li Leshan's shoulder and nodded cheerfully, indicating that they both understood.
After exchanging a few words, mostly things like "take care of yourselves," Lin Cuiqin had to take Tiantian out, so she hung up the phone, saying she'd have a proper chat later that evening.
After hanging up the phone, Jiang Yueming glanced at Li Leshan and laughed, "I told you, they've all been talking about you."
Li Leshan smiled and gestured, "I haven't forgotten either."
"Did I scare you?" Jiang Yueming looked at Li Leshan's reaction and saw him nod. "I haven't seen her in a long time, and I was shocked too. They say a girl changes a lot as she grows up, but she's probably changed eighty-one times. Several times more than others."
"Have I changed at all?" Jiang Yueming sat up straight, leaned closer to Li Leshan, and stared at him with bright eyes as she asked.
Li Leshan also looked at him, carefully tracing his face. The Jiang Yueming in his memory and the current him gradually merged. If there were any changes, there were some. His eyebrows and eyes had lost some of their immaturity, but his eyes were still bright, and his smile was the same as before.
He raised his hand, his fingertips gently touching the corner of Jiang Yueming's eye, then sliding down his cheek, and finally landing on the corner of his mouth.
"Not much has changed." Li Leshan shook his head, genuinely feeling that he hadn't changed much.
"Haven't I become any more obedient or well-behaved?" Jiang Yueming asked. He felt like he had changed so much, so much. "Haven't I become any better?"
“You were good before,” Li Leshan understood what he meant, “You’ve always been good in my heart.”
He had always been a good person in Li Leshan's heart—warm, sincere, like the midday sun in summer, so bright that it was impossible to look away. Therefore, Li Leshan felt that he hadn't changed at all.
"Oh dear..." Jiang Yueming was a little embarrassed by the praise. He touched his nose, feeling a bit guilty. "Is it really that good?"
Humility is a traditional virtue of the Chinese nation, humility is a traditional virtue of the Chinese nation... Jiang Yueming silently repeated to himself, trying to tell himself that he couldn't get carried away at this moment, he had to be humble, otherwise he would seem too arrogant and unable to withstand praise.
Li Leshan nodded, gesturing gently with his hand, "You are my...role model."
Jiang Yueming was stunned; he was truly dumbfounded.
Because this word was too heavy, at least in his heart, too heavy for him to bear.
Li Leshan believes that only those who excel in their studies, achieve high grades, and are good at everything can be called "role models."
He recalled that evening many years ago when Wang Hao bullied him, and Jiang Yueming rushed up to fight him; he recalled that when Li Yong caused trouble, Jiang Yueming always stood in front of him; he recalled the countless days when Jiang Yueming held his hand and walked through the streets and alleys of Shengping.
Looking at Jiang Yueming's back at that time, Li Leshan sincerely wanted to become like him.
Jiang Yueming's nose tingled, and his eyes began to redden. He smiled, but his voice was a little choked up, "You've been my role model for a long time..."
Li Leshan and Tian Tian didn't spend much time together. If we had to talk about role models, Li Leshan would first be Jiang Yueming's role model, and then Tian Tian's role model.
First, there must be a boy who, over the long years, with his perseverance and courage, leaves an indelible mark on the heart of another boy. Then, there must be a boy who repeatedly describes to Tian Tian how good, how amazing, how outstanding your brother Leshan is—only then can that image take root and sprout in Tian Tian's heart.
So that outstanding, always so calm boy became an indispensable, almost idealized figure in the heart of the mischievous Jiang Yueming, even though Jiang Yueming could never become such a person in her lifetime.
But Li Leshan, who was once like a mountain in his heart, is now someone he no longer needs to look up to, someone he no longer needs to desperately stand on tiptoe to stand shoulder to shoulder with.
Jiang Yueming and Li Leshan made a long-awaited trip to the Iron Pagoda Park. They heard that many amusement facilities, an artificial lake, and long walking paths had been built there in recent years. It was no longer the park that once only had a bare iron pagoda.
Shengping intends to develop tourism, since other industries haven't been able to thrive. The Iron Pagoda Park is one such project, along with the Lijiang Bridge, which is rumored to be demolished and replaced with a rainbow bridge, designed to resemble a rainbow, which will become a major tourist attraction in Shengping.
Today, the Eiffel Tower still stands tall in the center of the park. It's probably the only thing in Seongping that hasn't changed much, because it's a national tourist attraction, and any major changes would be illegal.
It stands here quietly, just as it did when Li Leshan first saw it more than ten years ago. The tower is exactly the same as it was when he first saw it more than ten years ago—even the marks left by wind and rain on the tower seem to be unchanged.
“Lele,” Jiang Yueming held Li Leshan’s hand with one hand and touched the low wall in front of the tower with the other, which had deep and shallow carvings, left by who knows when and by whom, “Do you still remember what I said when I was a child?”
Li Leshan's gaze shifted from Jiang Yueming to the iron tower, and he nodded as he looked at it.
He said at the time that if you walk around the Eiffel Tower three times, all your wishes will come true.
"Actually, I don't have any wishes left to fulfill," Jiang Yueming said softly, squeezing Li Leshan's hand.
He really has nothing left to achieve. Having come this far, what he wants is right in his grasp, and the person he desires is right beside him.
Li Leshan stood beside him, and he looked up at the spire. The tower was very tall, and birds returning to their nests flew around it, their wings cutting through the deep blue sky.
Actually, there's nothing he really wants to achieve anymore. Those things he used to pray for when he tossed and turned at night—a safe haven, companionship to end his loneliness, a home—he now has them all.
Jiang Yueming held his hand, and the two slowly walked back along the pedestrian path. Suddenly, he remembered something and smiled, "When Auntie and Tiantian come back for the New Year, shall we go pick them up together?"
Li Leshan nodded, his eyes crinkling into a smile.
“Then we’ll go shopping for New Year’s goods together,” Jiang Yueming continued. “This time I’ll definitely show them what I’m capable of. Oh, and Tian Tian is definitely going to set off fireworks, so we need to go buy them in advance.”
He kept talking, and Li Leshan listened quietly. They had had this kind of conversation countless times before—before, it was across a telephone line, then across thousands of miles, and now they could finally face each other and stand shoulder to shoulder.
“I miss Yin Guiying and Wu Jinzhong a bit. Let’s go see them another day, and Han Jiang and Xu Qing too. They said they absolutely have to come back for the New Year this year,” Jiang Yueming said, glancing at Li Leshan with a slightly sour tone, “In all these years I’ve been gone, have you and Han Jiang really gotten along that well? What, even better than with me?”
"I am innocent." Li Leshan felt wronged from the bottom of his heart.
"If he keeps exaggerating like that, he might even try to steal my men..."
As Jiang Yueming walked out of the park gate, she looked back. The iron tower stood quietly in the night, as if silently seeing her off.
It will always be here. Just like some feelings, some ties, and some people, once they take root in your heart, they will never leave.
The moonlight quietly bathed the two of them, stretching and merging their shadows behind them. It hung there silently, having witnessed his panicked departure by train at eighteen, the sweat that dripped from his sweat-soaked face as he struggled on the fifth-floor stairs during his repeat year, and all the unexpressed longing and guilt he had felt over the years.
Life is truly strange. What you thought you'd lost forever may one day reappear beside you. What you thought you could never go back to may simply wait quietly in the same place, waiting for you to go around in circles and finally learn to turn back.
Jiang Yueming once felt that the world was too big, so big that it made him uneasy. Standing on the busy overpass, he kept asking himself, "Why is nowhere my home?"
Now Jiang Yueming feels that the world is still very big, but he no longer has to wander aimlessly in the vast world, nor does he have to drift through the long years.
He looked up at the bright moon, its light as clear as water, and grasped Li Leshan's hand tightly. Their palms pressed together, their warmth mingling, and all the unspoken words, swallowed thoughts, and deep-seated feelings flowed silently in that moment.
Jiang Yueming suddenly realized—
The moon in his life was actually quite bright.
—End of text—
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Author's Note: It's finished!!!!! I'm so excited hh! Remember to leave comments, my darlings! Short reviews, long reviews, paragraph reviews, and a rating for the ending (those who have subscribed to the whole book can give it five stars!). Let's all recommend, promote, and share!
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I write ramblings in every book, and I feel like I'd feel out of place if I didn't write something in this one, haha. So this time I won't write as much! (Actually, there's still quite a bit to write!)
I'm quite satisfied with the story up to this point; I've done my best.
Thank you all for your support and companionship. You've all worked so hard! (bows deeply) Because this book has taken so long to write, and the process has been quite bumpy, I've been constantly doubting myself and struggling internally. Without you all, I might have given up a long time ago. Of course, giving up doesn't mean abandoning the book, but rather that I might cut back on the outline, take a break, or recuperate. In any case, it definitely won't end like this. It's because of you that I've come this far.
Thank you, Yueming and Lele. You are both the best kids. I will always be proud of you, and I hope you will always be happy! I will write the extra chapters, but I don't know when I will update them. Don't wait, if they suddenly appear, consider it a surprise.
My new novel, *The Prime of Life*, is currently in the draft stage. I'm trying to release it to everyone as soon as possible. I also highly recommend that everyone add *Traces* to their favorites, as it's very likely to be released earlier than expected. I'll try my best to write something sweet, and I'll also try to release some cheesy content for everyone. The progress will also be faster. If you haven't added it to your favorites yet, please visit my author page and add it to your favorites—it's extremely important to me!
Then, those who like similar childhood sweetheart stories can also visit Xiao Hui's column: The Love of Childhood Sweethearts (I will write them all seriously, Xiao Hui is a good girl who will fill in every plot hole [poor face]).
If you like my posts, please consider adding them to your favorites! It's a great encouragement for me and will motivate me even more! Also, you'll receive notifications when I post new content! I'll continue to work hard and try not to disappoint you.
Moonlight, Joy. I'm so lucky to have witnessed you two walk through more than ten years of each other's lives. I love you both, I love you so much, and I never imagined I would love you this much. Every day with you by my side is filled with happiness.
We've fulfilled the promise we made growing up together!
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