The Moon Has Turned Pale

“A Yue, if I let you go, will you never come looking for me again?” Xian Lanyue would not answer him. Her love for him had worn away with every time he crossed another line. When he thought back to when they first met, she had been so different. She always smiled, the curve of her lips exactly the same every time, and her words never gave anything away. They seemed to share countless uncanny coincidences. After a gathering with friends, he had been drinking and deliberately teased her. She said it was fate. Gu Yiming kissed her lips and asked, “Is this fate?” They got together on Christmas. She was always so calm about love, as if simply reciting the expected lines, yet the little things she did left him dazed. … “Hong Kong is dazzlingly prosperous, but there’s always darkness in the corners of the city, just like you. You look bright and polished on the outside, but you’re rotten within. I see right through you. I will never set foot in this city again.” “That’s fine. I’ll head north instead.” And so, over the next year, he went north more than thirty times, each time coming close yet never reaching her.