It's Okay, I Guess

“Not bad,” he would answer, seemingly without a care. Those three words were remarkably flexible, but what did they really mean?

Gou Dan was no dog’s egg. He still liked to say, “Not bad.”

At night, A Dan could never sleep. So, on many a long, sleepless night, he liked to stare out the window and daydream. He had forgotten how many times he had woken from a dream. Each time, his heart felt as if it were on its last breath! But he would never forget the conversations he had once shared with Mingyue.

Gou Dan longed to return to his dreams, because only in that dream world was Mingyue still lively and full of life, her face and voice still vivid.

Gou Dan drifted back to sleep in a haze. He thought he heard Mingyue ask him, “Are you doing okay?”

With tears in his eyes, Gou Dan replied, “Not bad!”

When night came, Gou Dan would still go out to look at the moon in the sky. Mingyue had once told him, “If you miss me, go outside and look at the moon on the horizon. Even though we’re far apart, if we just look up, we’ll see the same moon. From now on, whenever you see the moon in the sky, let it stand for me! Whether it’s sunny or cloudy, the moon will always be there...”