Starry Evening Lemon Lantern

The "Ning Lantern Bookstore" in the old city is hidden deep in Wutong Lane. The owner Yan Wan Ning has a special habit: every evening he lights up a paper lantern with a hand-painted lemon pattern and puts it on the window sill, saying he is "waiting for the stars to fall on the lamp, just like grandma did when she was still alive." In addition to books, there are also many old star map cards on the bookshelves in the bookstore, which were collected by her grandmother during her lifetime. Yan Wanning guarded these and his grandmother's instructions to "wait for someone who understands stars." One evening, a man holding an old star atlas opened the door of the library. His name is He Xingze, and he came here to find an out-of-print ephemeris related to the "Lemon Lantern" for his grandfather. As soon as he entered the door, he was attracted by the lemon lamp on the window sill. He touched the lamp paper with his fingertips and casually asked about the origin of the lamp. However, Yan Wanning just handed over a cup of lemon tea and smiled without explaining much. In the days that followed, He Xingze became a frequent visitor to the bookstore. He would bring the star atlas to compare with the old cards on the bookshelf, and help Yan Wanning repair the yellowed ephemeris; Yan Wanning would also polish the lemon lantern brightly in advance when he came, and occasionally chat with him about the story of "Stars falling on the lemon lantern" told by his grandmother. One snowy night, the window lattice of the study room was blown by the wind, and He Xingze came to repair it despite the snow. When the two of them were sorting out the star map soaked in snow, Yan Wanning said softly, "Grandma said that when the starlight is on, the starlight will help her see the people around me." Later, there was a small box on the window sill of "Ning Deng Bookstore", which contained the star map card newly drawn by He Xingze. People passing by always say that the night in this bookstore is the gentlest - there is the warm light of lemon lanterns, starlight embellishment, and two people who guard the old times, hiding the beauty of their encounter in every day when the stars shine on the lemon lanterns.