Lately, in order to survey the land and observe the stars, I have been traveling through the eastern ridges of…
Lately, in order to survey the land and observe the stars, I have been traveling through the eastern ridges of the Taihang. One night in the mountains, I heard the cry of a child. Following the sound, I came upon an infant still in swaddling, lying in a gap among the trees where moon and starlight fell bright upon the ground.
I am a wanderer myself, with no settled place to belong, hardly someone fit to raise a child. And yet the moment I lifted the baby into my arms, the little one looked at me and smiled. Starlight shone in those eyes until they seemed almost to glow. Tiny hands reached upward, as though trying to catch the stars, and in the end only caught at my hair.
Yu once said that if we were ever blessed with a child of our own, we should name the child after a star. We argued over it for a long time, over which constellation it should be. He insisted it must be one with an auspicious meaning. I never put much faith in such things.
And now that the time has truly come to choose a name, I find myself at a loss.
I found this child on a south-facing ridge. In the southern heavens there is a Mansion of the Vermilion Bird, at the place where Wing and Chariot join, its form rising as though ready to soar. It is counted an auspicious sign, one of ascent and high flight. Within that region lies the Mansion Zhang. In the old star names, Zhang is matched with the moon and with the deer. Moon is yue. Deer is lu. So from the star name Zhang Yuelu, I thought to borrow Yuelu for the child. Zhan Yuelu... it seems a good name after all.
So in the end, I too have become a little superstitious.