Tonight is Mid-Autumn Festival — a grand occasion.
I don’t know whether you’ve already reunited with family or are still on your way home. Either way, I’ll be with you in spirit.
Whatever the case, I sincerely hope that in the months ahead, you’ll move forward smoothly and safely — guided by the bright moon overhead — and see out 2023 free from illness and hardship.
That alone would be more than enough.
Take Mr. Xu, who was taken down just yesterday — once impossibly powerful, yet his story ended in shadow all the same.
Tell me: do you think he envies your freedom right now?
And over these past several months, I’m sure you’ve witnessed more than enough of life’s joys and sorrows, its sudden turns and falls.
And gradually come to understand: a quiet, ordinary life is the real thing.
That’s the right realization. Happiness was never about the endless zeros in your bank account.
It’s waking up each day with a body and mind at ease, trading moves with this lively, smoke-and-fire world — sometimes it gets the better of you by half a step, sometimes you come out ahead by seven.
There’s struggle and reward, frustration and heartache, sweetness and meaning, family and income and joy.
Life, when you strip it down, is just one colorful, noisy, relentless hustle.
As for me, tonight I’m skipping the restaurants — it’s a home dinner.
Home-cooked dishes, a few hairy crabs, cups of Shaoxing rice wine, and a whole molten custard mooncake.
Everything else — all the worries and loose ends — can wait. Let’s eat and drink our fill, celebrate this festival properly, and deal with the rest later.
A mind free of troubles is the life of an immortal.
I hope the same for you. Let your worries go, don’t carry grief without reason — use tonight to share a few drinks with family and close friends, and make this evening a happy one. That’s what truly matters.
A friend once asked me: “Master Chi, why do you push yourself so hard on ordinary days, yet lie back so peacefully when the holidays come?”
I laughed and said: “Striving on ordinary days means honoring my responsibilities. Resting on holidays means honoring myself. After all, how many Spring Festivals and Mid-Autumn nights does a life contain?”
Because when you reach the second half of life, the most precious wealth you carry is the collection of beautiful memories you’ve made.
Well, I’m getting wordy again. Let’s celebrate.
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival. I love you — my brothers, my sisters.
One last thing: tonight, never cut a mooncake with a knife. If you can’t finish a whole one, break it apart with your hands instead.