By Zephyria 
The sudden ringing of a phone echoed from the nearby entrance hall.
The conversation between the two on the sofa was abruptly interrupted.
Mr. Ren stood up. The video screen at the entrance connected to the outside, but the property management could also call in.
It was unclear whether it was a phone call or a visitor, but given his current appearance, it wasn’t suitable for receiving guests. Jing Mian, holding an ice pack, quietly slipped on his slippers and headed upstairs.
To celebrate making it to the semifinals, he had promised to stream until midnight tonight.
Ren Xingwan pressed the answer button.
“Hello, resident, this is the security office.”
“Sorry to disturb your rest, but there’s an elderly man here who left something and insisted on leaving. He said it’s for… Mr. Jing.”
The security guard lowered his voice slightly, “He accurately provided your unit number and address, so I stopped him. He doesn’t seem like a thief.”
“He uses a cane and seems to have a disability in one leg. He said his name is Li Chang’an and that he used to be Mr. Jing’s driver… Would you like to receive it, resident?”
The man glanced at the empty living room before replying, “I’ll be right there.”
Security guard: “Alright, I’ll wait for you.”
Li Chang’an had already left despite the security guard’s attempts to stop him. Hobbling on his cane, he couldn’t hail a taxi for a long time, so he hadn’t gone far beyond the neighborhood gates when Ren Xingwan caught up with him.
The old man’s condition was worse than the last time he had met Jing Mian.
When Ren Xingwan saw him, Li Chang’an was alarmingly thin, almost unrecognizable. Even in the dim night, his exposed, withered skin showed an unnatural yellow tint. Despite wearing a loose shirt, his protruding belly was unmistakable, ascites from his terminal illness that couldn’t be drained.
Driver Li first noticed the thick bundle in Ren Xingwan’s hands, wrapped in several layers of newspaper. Suddenly realizing who the man before him was, he stopped in his tracks, his voice hoarse: “Inside are bank cards and some cash, totaling over 300,000 yuan.”
“It’s money Jing Mian has been sending me over the years. I spent some of it, but not on treatment. My illness is incurable. But I know this is the kid’s hard-earned money, bit by bit.”
He said, “I won’t live to see the end of this summer.”
“It’s better to give it to you… Jing Mian would never take it back. He’s always felt guilty toward me.”
Ren Xingwan looked at him calmly, then suddenly asked without warning, “Why did you take a detour that day?”
Li Chang’an froze.
Then he asked, “…What?”
“The night of the accident, Jing Mian was on his way to Changlin Club to find me.”
“But the crash happened on Hengshan Street, which wasn’t on the direct route to Changlin Club.”
“You drove there, taking the longest detour.” Ren Xingwan’s expression remained unchanged as he asked, “Why?”
To an ordinary person, it might have seemed like an innocuous question.
But at that moment, Li Chang’an’s face instantly paled.
The old man’s lips trembled uncontrollably as he stammered, “H-how do you know…?”
It took him a few seconds to process the man’s words. His cloudy, yellowed eyes suddenly cleared with shock and realization. Driver Li’s voice shook as he asked, “Are you… that person?”
The brother the kid had been trying to find back then?
The one Jing Mian had wanted to deliver the stars to?!
And now…
They were married?
The other’s silent nod was answer enough.
The sudden surge of blood and overwhelming emotions pushed the elderly man beyond his physical limits. Gripping his cane, he gasped for breath, taking a long time to calm down. His eyes reddened as he spoke hoarsely, “At that time, Jing Guozhen and Li Qiao were entangled in their affair.”
“I took the longest detour to give them enough time.”
And it was precisely then that young Jing Mian, in his innocence, asked to deliver stars to his brother, unwittingly providing Li Chang’an with the opportunity to take that detour.
To buy time for Father Jing and Li Qiao, Li Chang’an chose the longest route, the one passing through Hengshan Street. In the end, at the second intersection, his car collided with an out-of-control truck.
…
Ren Xingwan slowly clenched his fists.
His slender knuckles turned white from the pressure.
He pleaded softly to the old man, “Don’t tell him.”
“I’ll give you all the money,” he repeated hoarsely, “…Don’t tell MianMian.”
…
The night wind grew desolate in an instant.
Cold and sharp, it whipped against their clothes, making the fabric rustle loudly.
Amid the heavy silence, Ren Xingwan suddenly spoke in a low voice, “MianMian had an episode recently.”
“On the stage he loves most.”
“He took off his wedding ring, left me only a letter, didn’t even put on his shoes properly. Later, I found him by the sea.” Ren Xingwan didn’t seem lost in memory, those moments were as vivid as if branded before his eyes. The man continued, “Even when he saw me, he had no intention of staying. Holding back tears, he listed all his sins one by one.”
“He said goodbye to me, told me he couldn’t think of a single reason to keep living.”
Mr. Ren lowered his gaze and said calmly,
“My heart shattered.”
Li Chang’an listened, his eyes reddening, slowly filling with shock and trembling.
“What would I do with your money?”
Mr. Ren held the stack of cards and cash wrapped in newspaper, lifting it as if it weighed a thousand pounds: “This money, he earned it through endless training, competitions, and countless livestreams.”
“He hasn’t even turned twenty, yet half his life has been spent atoning.”
For sins that never belonged to the boy in the first place.
Ren Xingwan’s world had no daylight, only by chance had he glimpsed a sliver of a crescent moon through the faintest crack.
The most beautiful crescent he’d ever seen, as if bathed in mist, pure and luminous, glowing softly.
Often, it obediently followed his footsteps, casting a slender shadow.
Later, he wandered for half a lifetime, all to weave a grand and radiant night for that moon.
And when he finally touched what was once beyond his reach, he discovered—his moon was covered in scars.