The night sky shimmered with a thousand stars, but none as luminous as the full moon hanging above the village of Lianhua. On the eve of the Spring Lantern Festival, the streets glowed with red silk lanterns, each one whispering a wish into the wind.
Meilin stood by the bridge, her hands gently clutching a rabbit-shaped lantern. Her eyes scanned the crowd, not for the performances or the fireworks, but for a boy she had met one year ago on this very night—a mysterious traveler named Jun who spoke in poems and smiled like he carried a thousand secrets.
He had promised he would return.
A gust of wind fluttered her silk sleeves, and just as her heart began to sink, a voice called softly from behind, "Did the moon wait for me, or did you?"
She turned, and there he was—Jun, cloaked in midnight blue, his gaze steady as the moonlight.
"I waited," she whispered.
And the lanterns rose together into the sky.