The Mid-Autumn Festival arrived with more noise than usual.
By noon, the streets were crowded enough that people had to turn sideways to pass each other.
Children ran between food stalls carrying paper rabbits on sticks. Vendors shouted over one another. Somewhere farther down the street, someone was playing an old folk song on an erhu, and every now and then the melody disappeared beneath laughter.
For the first time in weeks, the city sounded alive.
The Zhang family's dumpling shop had been busy since sunrise.
Yulan's father barely looked up from the stove.
"Three pork. Two cabbage. One shrimp!" he called.
"I heard you," Yulan answered, already wrapping another row of dumplings.
"You answered after I shouted twice."
"I answered after you shouted once."
His father snorted.
"That's because you're stubborn."
A Rare Smile
By late afternoon, the rush finally slowed.
Chen Hao collapsed onto a stool dramatically.
"If one more customer asks for extra vinegar, I'm quitting."
"You don't work here," Yulan replied.
"Exactly. I'm quitting a job I don't have."
Yulan laughed.
Not loudly.
But enough.
Chen Hao looked at him for a second.
"There you are."
"What?"
"You laughed."
Yulan looked away.
"I laugh."
"Not recently."
Before Yulan could answer, his father walked over carrying three bowls of sweet rice dumplings.
"No talking," he said.
"Eat."
For a little while, they did.
No conspiracies.
No family politics.
Just warm food while the evening lanterns slowly appeared outside.
Across the City
The Li estate was quiet.
Not peaceful.
Quiet.
Li Wei stood inside the family archive, where decades of ledgers and contracts were kept behind locked cabinets.
He had permission to be there.
Which was exactly why no one questioned him.
He wasn't looking for financial records.
He was looking for names.
His uncle's meetings had become too frequent.
Too carefully timed.
People disappeared from company records only to appear again under different businesses months later.
It wasn't coincidence.
It was organization.
A soft knock interrupted his thoughts.
Lin Meiyu stepped inside.
"You've skipped dinner."
"I wasn't hungry."
"You never are lately."
She closed the archive door behind her.
"I found something."
She handed him a folded document.
Not official.
Personal correspondence.
A shipping manifest.
Li Wei scanned the page.
Then stopped.
The warehouse.
It appeared again.
Only this time...
It wasn't listed as abandoned.
It was owned through three shell companies before ending in the hands of someone with a familiar surname.
Li.
But not theirs.
Questions Instead of Answers
"Do you know him?" Lin Meiyu asked.
Li Wei shook his head.
"No."
That bothered him more than if he had.
Someone was using the family name.
Or someone had been hidden from the family altogether.
Evening
The festival reached its brightest just after sunset.
Lanterns floated above the canal like tiny stars drifting across black water.
Yulan closed the shop with his father.
His father stretched his back and smiled.
"You should go."
Yulan blinked.
"Go where?"
"Walk."
His father gestured toward the lights outside.
"You're twenty, not sixty."
Chen Hao immediately appeared beside him.
"I volunteer as emotional support."
"You volunteer for free food," Yulan said.
"Those two things can both be true."
The Lantern Seller
The streets were packed.
Children tugged at their parents' sleeves.
Young couples argued over which lantern looked prettier.
An old woman sold hand-painted rabbit lanterns from a wooden cart.
Chen Hao picked one up.
"How much?"
She named the price.
Chen Hao looked horrified.
"For paper?"
"It's painted."
"I'll admire it from here."
The old woman laughed.
"So poor."
Chen Hao placed a hand over his chest.
"I came here for mooncakes, not insults."
Even Yulan laughed at that.
A Familiar Figure
As they continued walking, Yulan stopped.
Not because someone called his name.
Because he recognized the posture before the face.
Across the canal.
On the opposite bridge.
Li Wei.
He wasn't alone.
Two family attendants walked several steps behind him.
Far enough to look respectful.
Close enough to make escape impossible.
For a brief moment...
Li Wei looked up.
Their eyes met across the water.
Neither smiled.
Neither waved.
There were too many people between them.
Too many eyes.
Too much distance.
But neither looked away.
Not immediately.
It lasted only a few seconds.
One of the attendants leaned toward Li Wei, saying something too quiet to hear.
Li Wei lowered his eyes.
Then continued walking.
The crowd swallowed him.
Chen Hao followed Yulan's gaze.
"...You saw him."
Yulan nodded once.
"Yeah."
Chen Hao waited.
Expecting something.
A chase.
A decision.
Instead, Yulan looked up at the lanterns floating overhead.
"They're beautiful tonight."
Chen Hao understood.
He wasn't talking about the lanterns.
Elsewhere
Inside a quiet study, Li Wei unfolded the shipping manifest once more.
This time, he noticed something written in the margin.
Not ink.
Pencil.
Almost erased.
Moon Warehouse – Seventh Dock
He read it twice.
Then carefully tore off only that corner of the page and slipped it into his sleeve before anyone could enter.
For the first time in weeks...
He had a real lead.
End of Chapter 40