As the sun slipped lower, the sky shifted into a long stretch of gold that softened at the edges into pink and muted orange. Shadows lengthened across the packed earth outside the restaurant. One by one the group began to stand, gathering junks, bottles, and the last scraps of conversation that did not need to travel with them.
Mo Xingxue took the handle of the stroller, then looked at the tiny figure in it. Mo Yan was wide awake now, small hands fretting at the edge of the blanket, phoenix eyes tracking the changing color of the horizon with open curiosity. Mo Xingxue laughed under her breath at the baby's serious inspection of the sky, then looked across the thinning cluster of people.
