Water Loong

Lunar New Year fell on Jan 27. Anyone born before that date belongs to the previous year (Rabbit).

People born in a Loong year let small things slide and refuse to compromise on big ones. There is usually a version of events in their head one size larger than the current one, and their eyes light up when they describe it, pulling the room along. Presence is real: they do not raise their voice, and people simply look over. The unseen cost is that they judge themselves brutally, remember only the missing tenth of a nine-out-of-ten job, and get faintly uncomfortable when someone praises them. They are also the one who quietly covers the bill and acts like it was nothing.

Ren is river-sized water, Chen the loong that can hold it and lift cloud. The water enters the reservoir, fills, spills, flows on, and does not stop for a day. People like this have long endurance and care little for speed, only for continuity. They rarely change direction; once started they keep going without announcing it. They look ordinary, and after a few years others turn around and find them much further down the road. They dislike meetings and declarations, letting people find out once the work is done.