I Got a Happy Ending with My Childhood Friend's White Moonlight

The first time I read On the Love of the Lotus, all I could think about was Min Rong.

He was my uncle's only son.

My cousin, who had survived in the cracks between the cold and violence of our family.

From a young age, Min Rong was different from other children.

He was unusually quiet, gentle, even beautiful. Though he rarely revealed a cold edge, he still had the proud air of a lotus, "not to be touched irreverently." He was nothing like a child raised in that filthy family.

He always told me that reading could make a person wise. I would reply, "It can also make you fall asleep."

Every time, he would press his lips together and smile faintly.

I think sometimes I especially wanted to see him just for that smile. Min Rong rarely showed any particular emotion. He was always calm, as if he didn't care much about anything.

He didn't seem like a child raised by my uncle.

He didn't resemble him at all. Everyone said so, but I never expected those words to prove prophetic.

When he was fifteen, Min Rong's real father took him home.

We had nothing left between us but memories, and no way to contact each other. He was like a fragile, wistful dream from the summer of my childhood. No matter how many times I woke from it, it left not the slightest trace.

It wasn't until many years later, at an academic conference, that I saw that face again, the one I had longed for in my dreams.

Min Rong, Min Rong.

I silently repeated his name to myself, and saw the three clear characters printed on his name card: Lu Yunfan.

[Reading Guide]

A short story, happy ending, third-person narration

Other short stories in the author's collection: