The night before the lantern festival, an old craftsman insists on keeping to the old ways, while his young apprentice secretly makes a lantern of her own design.
Scene 1: The Rules of the Lantern Shop
城西的灯铺里，年过七旬的周师傅正眯着眼，把一根根弯成圆弧。
In a lantern shop on the western side of town, old Master Zhou, well past seventy, squinted as he bent the bamboo strips one by one into smooth curves.
Master Zhou
讲究的是，歪一分，灯火就斜三寸，这是祖上传下来的道理。
Making lanterns is all about following the rules. Let the frame tilt by an inch and the flame leans by three. That's a truth handed down from our ancestors.
他的徒弟阿月站在一旁，手里捏着几张画满奇怪花样的草图。
His apprentice, Ayue, stood beside him, clutching a few sketches covered in strange, unfamiliar patterns.
Ayue
师傅，今年灯会，我想试试在灯面上画夜空，行不行嘛？
Master, for this year's lantern festival, I'd like to try painting a night sky on the lantern. Could I, please?
Master Zhou
，老画的都是仙鹤，你这些花样，谁认得？
Nonsense. The old way is to paint peonies and cranes. Who's going to recognize these patterns of yours?
Scene 2: The Secret Lantern
夜深了，周师傅睡下后，阿月却悄悄点起油灯，重新糊起一盏灯。
Late at night, after Master Zhou had gone to sleep, Ayue quietly lit an oil lamp and began pasting together a lantern of her own from scratch.
她在薄薄的灯纸上，一笔一笔描出深蓝的天和细碎的星。
On the thin lantern paper, stroke by stroke, she drew a deep blue sky scattered with tiny stars.
Ayue
就算师傅骂我，我也得让大家看一眼，原来还能这么亮。
Even if Master scolds me, I have to let everyone see, just once, how beautifully a lantern can really shine.
她不知道，门缝里早已透出一道沉默注视她的目光。
She had no idea that, through the crack in the door, a silent pair of eyes had long been watching her.
Scene 3: A Confession at Dawn
天还没亮，阿月一抬头，竟看见师傅披着外衣坐在门口的旧凳上。
Before daybreak, Ayue looked up and was startled to see her master, a coat thrown over his shoulders, sitting on the old stool by the door.
Ayue
师傅，您……您都看见啦？对不起，我没听您的话。
Master, you… you saw it all? I'm sorry. I didn't listen to you.
Master Zhou
我年轻时，也偷偷在灯上画过山水，被你师爷狠狠揍了一顿。
When I was young, I too secretly painted landscapes on a lantern, and your grandmaster gave me a sound thrashing for it.
Master Zhou
可这盏星空灯，确实比我画了一辈子的要得多。
But this starry-sky lantern is truly far more lovely to look at than all the peonies I've painted my whole life.
Scene 4: The Lantern Festival
灯会那晚，长街上挂满了红，唯独那盏蓝色的星空灯被挂在最高处。
On the night of the festival, the long street was hung with red lanterns, and only that one blue starry-sky lantern was raised at the very highest spot.
灯火一亮，纸上的星星仿佛真的在夜空里闪烁，路人纷纷停下脚步。
The moment it was lit, the stars on the paper seemed to truly twinkle in the night sky, and passersby stopped one after another in their tracks.
A child
娘，你看那盏灯，里面装着一整片天呢！
Mama, look at that lantern! It's got a whole sky inside it!
周师傅站在人群后，把那块挂了几十年的“周记灯铺”，轻轻递到阿月手里。
Standing at the back of the crowd, Master Zhou gently placed the "Zhou's Lantern Shop" signboard, which had hung there for decades, into Ayue's hands.