Qian Jiayue got accepted into high school, so Xiao Han gave her the prize he won in a speech contest—a fountain pen. Normally, the fountain pen Xiao Han uses is always leaking ink, but since his good friend got into a good school, he wanted to give her a gift. After receiving Chen Xiue’e’s present, Qian Jiayue was so happy that she couldn’t sleep. She heard Jeff Chang’s song “Love Like Tidal Waves” and wrote down the lyrics. Then she stayed up all night folding more than five hundred lucky stars. Each paper strip she used to fold a star had a number written on it, matching a number in the lyrics.
By daybreak, Qian Jiayue had stayed up the whole night. She brought a jar full of lucky stars to show her best friend, who got really excited by her creativity. Just then, Maotou arrived with Xiao Han. In a rush, Qian Jiayue put the jar of lucky stars into the wrong drawer, so Maotou ended up taking her lucky stars. But this oblivious boy dumped the stars out and used the pretty glass jar to hold his beloved cricket, “General.”
During the celebration banquet Chen Xiue’e held for her daughter, many neighbors came by. Even Maotou’s normally stingy dad showed up. Chen Xiue’e praised her daughter generously in front of everyone and read aloud a poem her daughter had written. The other parents listened carefully and suddenly felt the poem sounded very familiar—someone mentioned it might be lyrics from a song. Qian Jiayue was outside with her friend Carmen, wondering where the stars in the glass jar had gone. Then she heard her mother loudly reciting the lyrics at the table. On top of that, these lyrics were Qian Jiayue’s secret notes—she had scribbled them down and thrown them in the trash earlier. She couldn’t believe her mom had dug them back out and was now reciting them for everyone. It was mortifying!
Qian Jiayue rushed into the banquet and publicly said she couldn’t stand a mom who disrespects a child’s secrets. She also accused her mother of always being cheap. Then she ran off. Chen Xiue’e hurried after her, but Qian Jiayue was already far away. Xiao Han, who knew the places Qian Jiayue usually goes, comforted her, telling her not to see her mom in such a negative light. Although Chen Xiue’e can be tight with money, she is very kind. Every year she buys Xiao Han a pair of sneakers, but to avoid awkwardness with him, she claims they’re supermarket rejects that were on clearance. Xiao Han knows there’s no way a supermarket would have his exact size in clearance stock every single year. Hearing this, Qian Jiayue fell silent and realized she had misunderstood her mother.
Later, while Maotou was chatting with Xiao Han, he mentioned the sheet of lyrics. Xiao Han noticed a bunch of discarded folded stars in the trash and recalled Qian Jiayue’s embarrassment and anger at the dinner table. He opened one of the stars, saw the words inside, and immediately understood Qian Jiayue’s feelings.
By the next day, Qian Jiayue’s mother finally bought her a computer, and Maotou helped install the software. Xiao Han called Qian Jiayue outside and encouraged her to focus all her energy on her studies. He said three years would pass quickly and she shouldn’t get distracted at an age when she should be working hard. In other words, he was warning her against early romance and telling her to concentrate on her studies. But Qian Jiayue misunderstood this as Xiao Han accepting her feelings and promising to give her an answer three years later.
