Solar Eclipse Shadow

"Welcome to Morning Trivia, today our Lan City will witness an astronomical spectacle that I'm sure everyone has heard about. In ancient folklore, it was referred to as 'the heavenly dog devouring the sun,' which in modern terms is what we call a solar eclipse."

"I remember the last time we in Lan City could observe a solar eclipse was ten years ago..."

The distinctive broadcast leisurely sounded in Craftsman Street, reverberating above the quaint yet bustling neighborhood.

The sound of the broadcast floated into a window and lingered near Ji Yun's ears.

For many years, Ji Yun had only regarded this broadcast as a sound, indecipherable in its actual content, forgetting it as soon as it ended.

Equivalent to the melodious sound of an alarm clock.

Ji Yun climbed out of bed and, propelled by muscle memory, headed to the bathroom to freshen up.

Last night's class reunion coerced the customarily abstemious Ji Yun to finally break protocol and indulge in a drink, with only fragments of the evening's events remaining in his memory afterward.

Turns out he had been subjected to yet another humiliation by the person he least respected.

After all, among his classmates, he had become an unremarkable side dish, untouched and unappreciated.

It seems he even used the drunken haze to seek out the answer to a question long past from his White Moonshine...

"Bang bang bang!!"

Three knocks on the door – the pattern and force made it clear to Ji Yun who it was.

The same guys who lived here, having not been relocated for demolition, and had started to lazily persist in adulthood—Wu Kai.

"Ji Yun, emergency!" Wu Kai shouted through the door.

Ji Yun grabbed the motorcycle helmet from the table along with a piece of bread. Nibbling on the bread, he walked outside.

"Get to the airport expressway entrance as fast as you can, there's work!"

"On the bike!"

...

A finely detailed silver gray, like the sun hidden by clouds at this moment, a Triumph Tiger660 paused at the airport expressway exit, resembling a silent silver cheetah lying in wait by the roadside.

Ji Yun lowered the black kickstand, his gaze fixed on the expressway toll gate.

He was here to pick up a delivery, a matter of absolute urgency and great value, although the person on the other side of the phone hadn't made clear what it was.

"Here, a Shanghai housewife's peach and pomelo tea drink. Want some?" Wu Kai, seated behind him, offered Ji Yun a drink.

Ji Yun's expression darkened as he looked at the cup of fruit tea passed over by Wu Kai, leftover from the day before.

"Those bastards yesterday were just setting you up on purpose. Don't take it to heart. I swear, it wasn't me who blabbed about you working odd jobs at the Moon Bamboo Restaurant. I had no idea that damn Luo Yao would choose Moon Bamboo for the class reunion!" Wu Kai said.

"Forget it, there won't be much contact in the future anyway. Let's talk about what's happening today," Ji Yun waved off, pushing the events of the previous night to the back of his mind.

"I'm not quite sure myself, just that we have to wait here, and they're very strict about the timing. We two were the closest bikers available, so I took the job," Wu Kai explained.

Ji Yun and Wu Kai were members of the local Rescue Association's motorcycle team, and this task had been urgently dispatched by the association.

Waiting at the airport expressway exit likely meant an escort mission requiring the use of motorcycles.

Under such circumstances, it was usually not a patient requiring urgent surgery, as they couldn't possibly be expected to endure a ride on a bouncing, swaying motorcycle.

Possibly vital medical equipment needed in the operating room waiting for this delivery to arrive.

Of course, it could also be some special medication, urgently required by a patient, shipped from overseas and every second counts!

"Weird, it's early morning, but why's it getting dark all of a sudden? It's not about to thunderstorm, is it? We just had a full day of rain yesterday..." Wu Kai kept on chattering.

Ji Yun also glanced at the sky.

There were no dark storm clouds, and the atmospheric pressure was stable; a thunderstorm seemed unlikely.

But the darkness was unusual, even an overcast sky wouldn't reduce distant mountains to mere black outlines.

"Oh man, I almost forgot to tell you, guess who I ran into yesterday?" Wu Kai's mouth seemed impossible to silence.

"Your long-admired mature beauty, Teacher Zhong?" Ji Yun teased.

"Nonsense, I was coming back yesterday and saw the house at the end of the street all lit up. I went over and discovered there was a program crew doing some very professional filming, like some sort of celebrity memory record!" Wu Kai said with exaggerated expressions.

"Oh? Do we have celebrities from Craftsman Street, too? Could it mean there's hope for demolition now?" Ji Yun said with a smile.

"Aren't you curious about who was being interviewed?" Wu Kai asked with wide eyes.

"Who was it?"

"Lou Yu! It's that Little Mushroom Head, the one who's always called you 'Brother Ji Yun' since she was little. That Lou Yu!" Wu Kai said.

Lou Yu??

A name from a distant past.

Almost forgotten.

In Craftsman Street, there were many children, plenty of those the same age, who played together, went to school together, but as they grew up, they went their separate ways, living dazzling lives—with rare instances like Ji Yun and Wu Kai, who stayed put in their dilapidated little houses, laying low with no proper jobs.

Lou Yu was one of them, except her family had moved away early, and she hadn't been seen for nearly ten years.

The ugly duckling turned into a swan??

Well, it seemed his vision wasn't that great after all.

"They'll probably be filming for a few more days. You should go say hello when you get the chance... who knows... heh, back in school, she had a crush on you," Wu Kai said slyly.

"You've already said she's a big star now. If we go to say hello, we might just be mistaken by her prince charming as stalkers looking to make trouble," Ji Yun shook his head.

He was still bothered by last night's reunion and didn't want to seek out further discomfort.

"How would you know if you don't try? Maybe she's still single, and filming here shows she's nostalgic for old times..." Wu Kai persisted in tempting him.