Courtyard House: Time Traveler Not Yet a Ghost

Spring 1974, Hong Kong.

In the villa atop Victoria Peak, the pomegranate trees were in bloom again. Bright red petals, like tiny lanterns, adorned the branches. A damp, salty sea breeze blew by, causing the branches to sway gently, scattering a few petals onto the soft, smooth cobblestone path. He Damin stood on the second-floor balcony, the Longjing tea in his hand still steaming, its aroma mingling with the floral scent, warm and comforting. He gazed at Victoria Harbour in the distance; the lights on the water shimmered like scattered diamonds, dazzling his eyes, and filling his ears with the faint sounds of ship horns.

Six children surrounded him, their chatter even more lively than the cicadas chirping downstairs.

"Dad, what are we going to talk about tonight?" Yuan An clung to the railing, his nose brushing against the cold iron handrail, making him shiver.

"Talk about stars!" Yuanqing shouted on tiptoe, his voice making He Damin's ears ring.

"Talk about the moon!" Yuan Kang chimed in, his little hands scratching the railing, making a creaking sound.

"Talk about aliens!" Yuan Ning's braid swung onto He Damin's hand, feeling soft and squishy.

"Talking about UFOs!" Yuan Jing added, her eyes shining like freshly polished glass beads.

Yuan Ping didn't speak, his bare feet stepping on the scorching cement floor, his toes curling slightly—the warmth from the daytime sun hadn't dissipated yet. He looked up at He Damin, his eyes reflecting the twinkling stars in the sky.

He Damin smiled, placed his teacup on the stone table, and the bottom of the cup collided with the tabletop with a "thud." "Alright, tonight we'll talk about the stars. But not one by one, but the entire sky." He looked up, pointing to the whitish band of light in the sky, "Look, that band that looks like it's been sprinkled with salt, what's it called?"

"Galaxy!" The voices of the six children clashed together, startling the night herons under the eaves, their wings flapping loudly.

"Yes, the Milky Way." He Damin squatted down, picking up a small pebble from the cold floor tiles, its rough surface chafing his hands. "Imagine this is a star." He grabbed a handful more pebbles, his palms itching from the rubbing. "These are stars too. Scatter them on the ground, what do you see?"

"So many stars!" Yuan An rushed over to pick them up, but got hurt by a pebble and cried out "Ouch!"

"What a mess." Yuanping kicked the pebbles with his toes, making them roll around and the ground make a soft "gurgling" sound.

"Yes, it's a mess." He Damin arranged the pebbles into a winding ribbon, the pebbles colliding and making a soft "tap-tap" sound. "Look, doesn't it look like the Milky Way in the sky?"

"It's just like it!" The children's voices were full of laughter, and even the air felt warm.

He Damin stood up, his hand pointing at the Milky Way a little cold from the night breeze. "The Milky Way is just countless stars crowded together, light overlapping light. Our Earth floats on this band. How big is the Milky Way?" He opened his arms as if to embrace something, "So big that it would take light 100,000 years to travel from one end to the other."

Yuan An's mouth dropped open, and he almost drooled: "One hundred thousand years? How far is that?"

"It's so far that even if you took the tram from Tsim Sha Tsui to Causeway Bay, you wouldn't reach the end in ten thousand years." He Damin pinched his cheek, which was soft like a freshly steamed bun.

Yuanqing tugged at his hair: "Dad, what's outside the Milky Way?"

"Still stars." He Damin's voice drifted on the wind. "There are so many galaxies outside, some bigger than ours, some thinner than ours. When they're all squeezed together, they become the universe."

"Does the universe have an edge?" Yuan Kang rested his chin on the railing, shivering from the cold.

He Damin gazed at the distant horizon, where the lights and stars merged into one, indistinguishable from one another. "It's endless. You can run east all your life and never reach the end; you can run west and it's the same."

The children suddenly fell silent. Yuan Jing picked at the dirt in the cracks of the railing with her fingers, Yuan Ning's braids hung down to her chest, and Yuan Ping stared blankly at the pile of pebbles on the ground—the pile of pebbles seemed to have suddenly become very, very large, so large that it made people feel uneasy.

The sound of slippers slapping against the floor came from inside, and Chen Xueru came out carrying a fruit platter. Water droplets still clung to the red flesh of the watermelon on the platter, and the sweet aroma of cantaloupe wafted on the evening breeze, making Yuan An swallow hard. She placed the platter on the table, the wicker bottom rubbing against the stone table with a soft rustling sound. "Talking about stars again?" she asked, sitting down next to He Damin, her shoulder brushing against his arm, which felt warm.

"We're talking about the universe." He Damin helped her tuck her wind-blown hair behind her ear, his fingertips brushing against her soft earlobe.

Chen Xueru smiled, the fine lines at the corners of her eyes resembling crescent moons. "Don't go into too much detail, they won't understand."

"I understand!" Yuan An grabbed a piece of watermelon and stuffed it into his mouth, the juice dripping down his chin and neck, feeling cool and refreshing. "I understand everything Daddy said!"

Chen Xueru smiled and wiped his neck with a handkerchief, which smelled of fresh soap. "Then tell me, what is the Milky Way?"

With his mouth full of watermelon, Yuan An mumbled, "It's...it's a bunch of stars crowding together in a ribbon!"

"Anything else?"

Yuan An scratched his head, his palms covered in sticky watermelon juice. The other children looked at each other, but Yuan Ping whispered, "It would take a hundred thousand years to get from one end of the Milky Way to the other."

Chen Xueru's eyes widened in surprise, and the handkerchief in her hand fluttered to the ground. "Really?"

He Damin picked up the handkerchief; a bright red pomegranate petal was stuck to it. "Really. Light can circle the Earth seven and a half times in one second. How far do you think 100,000 years is?"

Chen Xueru shook her head, her hair falling down and obscuring her eyes: "I can't figure it out."

"I can't figure it out either." He Damin tucked a flower petal into her hair. "Anyway, it's very far away."

Yuanping suddenly leaned closer to the railing, the night breeze making his hair flutter. "Dad, where is Earth in the Milky Way?"

He Damin squatted down, drew a circle on the ground with his finger, his fingernail scraping against the tiles with a "sizzling" sound. "This is the Milky Way." He then added a small dot around the edge of the circle. "We're here, in the outskirts of the Milky Way."

"The suburbs?" Yuan An laughed, his voice echoing through the night sky. "Even stars are divided into urban and suburban areas?"

"Of course." He Damin patted his butt. "There are too many stars in the city, it's too crowded; it's quiet here, the stars are sparse."

"What's in the city?" Yuanqing's voice was filled with curiosity, like a kitten's claws scratching at someone.

He Damin gazed at the brightest part of the Milky Way, where the light seemed denser. "There's a huge black hole there."

"What is a black hole?" Yuan Ning's voice trembled slightly, her small hands gripping He Damin's sleeve tightly.

"She's such a glutton." He Damin pulled her into his arms, her hair brushing against his chin, tickling him. "She eats everything, and nothing escapes her. So you can't see her, you can only see the stars spinning around her."

The children held their breath; they could hear even the rustling of the wind through the pomegranate trees. Yuan Jing's teeth chattered: "Will the Earth be eaten?"

"No." He Damin ruffled her hair, which was as soft as cotton. "It's a long way off. By the time the black hole reaches us, the sun will have already burned out."

"The sun can burn out too?" Yuanqing's eyes widened like copper bells, and the cantaloupe in his hand fell to the ground with a "thud".

"Yes, it will." He Damin picked up a piece of melon, which was covered in dirt. "The sun is a big fireball; it will burn and then it will be gone."

"What about Earth?" Yuan Kang's voice was choked with sobs, tears welling up in his eyes.

"The Earth will be gone too," He Damin said softly, like a feather floating in the air. "It's only billions of years from now. By then, you'll all be stars."

The children suddenly fell silent. Yuan An's fingers dug into the railing, rust etched under his nails. Yuan Ping gazed at the stars, which seemed brighter than before. Yuan An suddenly sniffed, his voice hoarse: "Dad, do people really turn into stars when they die?"

He Damin's heart clenched suddenly, as if gripped by something. Chen Xueru's hand also suddenly turned cold, and she gripped his arm tightly. The children all looked up, their eyes shining like stars, staring at him without blinking.

He Damin gazed at the stars in the sky, their light seeming to travel through decades, shining on the night he had just transmigrated—when he lay in a dilapidated house in Kowloon Walled City, the roof leaking rain, the stars seeping in through the holes, cold and clear. He remembered his master's appearance before his death, the green grass on his parents' graves, and the faces that had vanished in the flames of war.

"Yes, it will." His voice trembled slightly, like wind blowing through rusty iron bars. "Everyone will become a star, hanging in the sky, watching over the living."

Yuan An's eyes suddenly lit up, like lit lanterns: "Then will Dad become a star someday?"

"meeting."

"Does Mom do that too?"

"Yes, it will too."

"Can we see you?" Yuan Jing's voice was soft, like a marshmallow.

"Yes." He Damin picked her up, her little arms wrapped around his neck, warm and cozy. "Just look up, the brightest one is it."

Yuan An nodded heavily, his chin hitting He Damin's shoulder, which stung a little. The other children fell silent, all looking up at the stars. Chen Xueru's tears fell onto the back of He Damin's hand, burning hot.

"Brother Damin." Her voice was wet, as if it had been soaked in water.

"Um?"

"You spoke very well."

He Damin smiled, his chin brushing against her fragrant hair. "It's not that I'm saying it well, it's just that the stars are naturally beautiful."

Night deepened, and the shadows of pomegranate blossoms swayed on the ground, like dancing. Yuan An yawned, his drool almost dripping onto He Damin's clothes, carrying a hint of watermelon. "Dad, tell me one more, just one."

"No, I have to go to school tomorrow."

"Tomorrow is Saturday!" Yuanqing's voice suddenly rose, startling the cicadas in the trees into starting to chirp again.

He Damin scratched his nose; it felt cool. "Then let's talk about the solar system. The sun and the stars that revolve around it: Earth, Mars, Jupiter..."

"Jupiter?" Motoyasu's eyes lit up. "Is it a star made of wood?"

He Damin laughed out loud, his voice carrying far through the night. "It's not made of wood, it's a giant fat man, thirteen hundred times bigger than the Earth."

"You must tell him tomorrow!" Yuan An hugged his neck tightly, like a koala.

"must."

The children finally left reluctantly. Yuanping walked last, his bare feet making a "pat-pat" sound on the steps. As he reached the door, he suddenly turned back: "Dad."

"Um?"

"Thank you." Yuanping's eyes curved like crescent moons. "I want to be an astronaut when I grow up and fly to the stars."