Chapter 1 The Girl by the Moon Gate
The morning mist clung to the rooftops of willow moon town, drifting like pale silk banners between the narrow streets. The town wasn’t large just a cluster of stone houses, a winding river, and a crescent shaped market square but at sunrise, it felt like a world suspended gently between dream and waking.
Beyond the eastern path stood the old moon gate , a carved white archway weathered by centuries. Locals believed souls destined to meet again would be drawn to it regardless of time, distance, or even lifetime.
Lian hua never knew whether she believed such tales. She only knew that, every morning, she passed beneath that moon gate to gather herbs before the market opened. Her wicker basket bumped softly against her hip as she crouched near the riverbank, her fingers brushing dew from the wild lotus leaves.
The air smelled of damp earth and early spring blossoms. Peaceful, familiar. The kind of morning she had lived a hundred times.
And yet… something felt different.
A whisper of wind curled around her ear.
Come back to me.
Lian Hua froze, her heart gave a startled thump.
That voice again deep, warm, echoing like someone calling across a distance far greater than the riverbank.
She pressed a hand to her chest.
These strange moments had begun weeks ago. Fleeting visions of fire, a pair of dark eyes filled with sorrow. A hand reaching for hers through falling ash.
She shook her head gently. “Just dreams,” she murmured. “Nothing more.”
The townspeople always said she had a vivid spirit, too attuned to the unseen. Maybe being an orphan raised by the town healer had shaped her mind to wander where others didn’t.
“Lian Hua!” a familiar voice called. “Are you done with the morning herbs?”
She turned to see auntie zhao, one of the older vendors, waving from the path. “The market will be lively today. Don’t get lost in your thoughts again.”
“I’m coming,” Lian Hua replied softly.
She gathered the last of the herbs and made her way upward but her steps slowed as she reached the moon gate. Even in daylight, the arch seemed to hum faintly. A shimmer of energy pulsed through it, almost too subtle to notice.
Her breath hitched.
Something ,someone was drawing near.
A chill rippled across her spine.
She wasn’t afraid.
Just… expectant. As if she had been waiting for someone she had forgotten how to remember.
Lian Hua touched the cool stone of the moon gate, letting her fingertip trace the ancient carvings of lotus petals and drifting clouds. She had never questioned why the gate held her attention so tightly. Only that, each time she passed through it, her heart felt lighter and heavier at the same time.
A strange contradiction she couldn’t explain.
She stepped away and began walking toward town. The small stone houses emerged through the mist bamboo shutters opening, morning smoke rising from hearths, children chasing chickens down the lane. Everything ordinary. Everything safe.
And yet…
Lian Hua paused at the sound of distant footsteps.
Slow, uneven.
Approaching the moon gate from the forest path.
She turned.
At first, she saw only a silhouette moving through the thinning mist. A tall figure, shoulders slightly hunched, cloak torn at the edges as if he had traveled a long way. His steps faltered. He stopped beneath the moon gate exactly where she had stood moments ago.
The rising sun caught his face.
Her breath left her.
A stranger?
Yes.
And somehow… no.
His hair was dark as ink, tied loosely at the nape of his neck. His skin was pale beneath the thin layer of dust. But it was his eyes deep, gentle, tired that made her heart sway. They held a softness that didn’t belong to a wanderer. A sadness too heavy for someone young.
I know you.
The thought struck her before she could stop it.
The man swayed once twice then collapsed forward without a sound.
“Ah!” Lian Hua rushed toward him, dropping her basket.
She knelt beside him, sliding her arms under his shoulders to keep him from hitting the ground fully. His breathing was shallow, his forehead warm beneath her fingers.
Fever.
Her healer’s instinct took over.
“You shouldn’t travel in this state,” she whispered, lifting his head gently. “Can you hear me?”
His eyelids fluttered weakly.
And then barely audible.
He breathed a single word:
“…Hua…”
She jolted. “You… you know my name?”
But his eyes had already closed. He slumped forward, unconscious.
Lian Hua stared at him in stunned silence. How could a stranger speak her name? How could her heart tremble as if it recognized him?
Her hands shook slightly as she lifted his arm over her shoulder and heaved him up with surprising strength. She may have been small, but years of carrying water and herbs had given her steady endurance.
“Come on,” she murmured, breathless. “You can’t stay out here.”
As she guided him through the moon gate, the arch shimmered faintly. Almost like a sigh of recognition.
The town was already stirring, but no one noticed as Lian Hua half carried, half supported the unconscious wanderer toward her herbal clinic.
She had no idea who he was.
No idea why he felt familiar.
Why her pulse raced each time his weight leaned against her.
Why the moon gate seemed to respond to him.
But she knew one thing with absolute clarity:
Her world quiet, predictable, untouched for years had just changed.
And the name he had whispered…
Wasn’t just her name.
It was a memory.
A memory from a life she didn’t yet remember.