My girlfriend is from the future!

That afternoon, in Zhuguang Lane, at the Future Productions Director's Studio.

With all episodes of the TV series now available online and the variety show recordings completed, He Tianran has finally entered a period of relative peace after his emotional life was completely disrupted during this chaotic time.

There were no urgent phone calls late at night, no scandals that needed to be put out immediately, and no one he needed to expend his energy to deal with, appease, or hurt...

The talent agency is busy going public, the investment company is busy opening, and the company's new drama is busy setting release dates. All of this is huge and complicated, and in the end, it all needs to come to him, so that he can take charge and manage it.

Sometimes, the "writer" persona can make He Tianran, the original person in this world, feel a deep weariness.

Having finally reached adulthood and pursued a career I love, with no more shady pasts to hide, it seems I still haven't truly escaped the invisible cage called "family" or "belonging."

"A sense of belonging...?"

He Tianran faced the empty office, his voice low and hoarse, almost inaudible, like a weary sigh, or a powerless self-mockery.

"I've never experienced this feeling before..."

His gaze was unfocused as it fell on the azure sky outside the window, a blue so pure it was almost blinding.

How...can I help you?

This "you" floated lightly into the silent air, receiving no echo...

It's unclear who they're asking.

Does this refer to Cao Aiqing, who once demanded promises and a future from him?

Or perhaps, he was simply He Tianran, trapped beneath this successful facade, utterly exhausted...?

After finishing his work for the day, He Tianran leaned back in his chair and murmured these words before taking out a cigar from the cabinet.

He Tianran didn't used to like smoking cigars. It was a habit of his "writer" personality. He liked them only because cigars were different from cigarettes. They burned too slowly, so slowly that it was like a silent punishment, forcing you to watch time turn to ashes inch by inch, but you couldn't hold onto anything.

But this slow punishment might be a state that everyone who gradually grows old prefers...

He said he couldn't be sure.

He simply picked up a cigar cutter, trimmed one end, lit it, took a deep drag, and let the thick white smoke fill his mouth, swirl, linger, and finally be slowly exhaled.

At this moment, the afternoon sunlight slanted through the blinds, dividing his face into stripes of light and shadow. The office was well-air-conditioned, isolating him from the noise of the outside world. The only sound was the very faint hiss of the dark cigar burning quietly.

The man leaned back in his large leather office chair, watching the bluish-green smoke slowly rise, transforming into various indescribable shapes, and finally, without exception, dissipating into nothingness.

This slow, inevitable process of annihilation is a microcosm of his current situation.

"Knock knock knock... Brother Tianran?"

A knock sounded, and the door was opened a crack. A head popped in from the outside. It was Yu Hui, the company's first signed director and his junior from school.

"what happened?"

"Are you free? Let's chat."

The writer really liked this young man. Apart from Director Li Wang, whom he had met last time, he was one of the few people who could talk to him. This was because the two of them shared a common trait: purity.

He Tianran waved to his brother, straightened up, and Yu Hui walked in, sat opposite him, placed a script on the table, and then respectfully pushed it towards the man with both hands.

He Tianran lowered his eyes slightly and saw the title "Meng Yin" on the A4 paper cover, with the screenwriter's name below it, Yu Hui.

When was it written?

Yu Hui scratched his head, somewhat embarrassed, and said:
“Oh dear… this… this is way too early, back when we were still studying at HKU, we started writing it.”

He Tianran opened the title page, his gaze sweeping over the words:
"Was it only recently finished writing?"

"I finished writing it a long time ago, but I've been revising it for the past few years."

"Dissatisfied with the initial plot?"

"No, it's the content of my life that's constantly changing."

Upon hearing this, He Tianran paused, looked up, and gazed at his little brother.

"It's kind of interesting..."

He closed the script again, referring not to the contents of the script, but to the person's reply:

Tell me, what kind of story is it that keeps changing along with your life?

Not every director is as eloquent as He Tianran, but if someone can't even tell their own story clearly, they certainly can't be a director.

He Tianran gently placed the cigar in his hand on the edge of the ashtray, letting the wisp of smoke rise on its own. He leaned forward, his arms crossed on the table, displaying a rare focused posture.

Encouraged, Yu Hui's eyes brightened, and he organized his thoughts before speaking:
"In the beginning... it was a very simple story."

A young man, burdened by his family's expectations, was in great pain and wanted to escape, feeling that the outside world was bigger. But after wandering around and suffering setbacks, he realized that nowhere was easy, and in the end... he went back, perhaps as a kind of reconciliation?

He spoke somewhat vaguely, but He Tianran listened patiently.

"And then what happened? How did things change?"

Yu Hui licked his slightly dry lips and continued:

"Later... after experiencing more, I felt that the idea of ​​'going back' was too idealistic, even a bit... cowardly. It's like going around in circles and finding that home is still the best, so you just accept your fate. So in the second version, I had the protagonist... 'smash' that home."

He used a very strong word, and his eyes sharpened for a moment.

“It’s not about smashing in a physical sense, it’s about tearing apart and breaking down everything he thinks binds him, is hypocritical, and suffocates him, thinking that this will liberate him and make him free.”

"The results of it?"

Yu Hui gave a bitter smile: "In the end, we found that after it was smashed, there was an even greater void. He did not get the freedom he wanted. Instead, he lost his roots and became like a lost soul. When I wrote this ending, I felt very desperate."

The office was quiet, with only the faint sound of cigars burning slowly, and the sunlight outside the window shifted a few more degrees.

"And what about this version now?"

He Tianran unconsciously tapped the cover of "Mengyin" with his fingers.

Yu Hui took a deep breath, his eyes becoming complicated, a mixture of confusion, struggle, and a hint of not yet fully formed understanding.

"Now... I think the first two possibilities are too extreme. It's neither about going back to compromise nor about smashing everything without a care."

He paused, as if searching for a more precise expression, "Now I feel that the real way out... might be 'reconstruction'."

“Rebuild?” He Tianran repeated the word.

"Yes, rebuild."

Yu Hui's tone became more certain:
"It's not about going back to the past, nor is it about complete destruction."

It means acknowledging those things—good, bad, what you love, what you hate—they are part of you, the 'shroud' of your life, and also potentially your 'blind spot'. You have to stand inside them, but stay clear-headed, and then… find your place within them, even try to change them a little bit.” After he finished speaking, he seemed a little embarrassed and scratched his head:
"Of course, it's easier said than done. I'm currently stuck on how to write about this 'reconstruction' process in a way that makes it seem authentic..."

After all, I haven't fully figured it out myself yet.

He Tianran fell silent.

He did not immediately evaluate the story's merits or demerits, nor did he offer any writing suggestions.

“Mengyin…” he murmured the title of the script, “It’s both shelter and obscuring; it’s a good name.”

He picked up the cigar again, took a puff, and let the smoke linger in his mouth for a long time.

“So what you changed wasn’t the story,” He Tianran slowly exhaled smoke, his gaze piercing through the blue mist and landing on a certain spot in the void, “what you changed was your own understanding of the word ‘home’.”

Yu Hui paused for a moment, then nodded emphatically: "Yes! You could say that!"

He Tianran suddenly smiled, a smile that carried a hint of weariness, yet also a rare warmth.

“That’s good.” He said, his tone unreadable, whether it was a sigh or something else. “Some people figured things out through writing screenplays; others… ha…”

He stopped speaking and simply put the cigar down again.

"By the way, Brother Tianran, there's actually... another very important detail in the script."

"what?"

"The protagonist is actually... an illegitimate child."

He Tianran's fingers, which were unconsciously tapping on the cover of "Mengyin," suddenly stopped.

He raised his eyes, his gaze returning to the slightly uneasy Yu Hui across from him.

The rare gentleness and ease that had been in his eyes earlier had completely vanished, leaving an unfathomable depth, like a deep pool where a pebble had been thrown in, yet not a ripple could be stirred.

"illegitimate child?"

He repeated those three words, his voice low and flat, yet it made the surrounding air inexplicably heavy.

Yu Hui seemed to freeze for a moment from the sudden chill in the atmosphere. He subconsciously swallowed, sat up straighter, and hurriedly explained, his tone carrying the instinctive excitement of a creator discussing their character's design, mixed with a hint of unease:
"Hmm...that's why he was so conflicted and tormented. He had the blood of that family flowing in his veins and longed to be recognized, accepted, and to find a sense of belonging, yet he also hated the place that gave him an identity but forever regarded him as a stain and an outsider."

All his struggles, whether it's escaping, destruction, or the kind of 'reconstruction' I'm trying to write about now, all stem from this... He wants to tear off this label, yet he also wants to be recognized by the system that this label represents.

This feeling of being torn apart, I feel... is very powerful.

He Tianran remained silent.

He simply looked at the afterglow, at the clear, even naive, creative passion in the young director's eyes, a passion devoid of any probing or allusion, only a focus on the story itself.

But this purity, at this moment, feels like a cold needle...

This reminded He Tianran of He Yuanchong.

That person with an awkward identity, raised outside since childhood and only later brought back to the He family, was always like a shadow to him.

That... younger brother who tries to prove himself in various ways, but seems to be forever unable to shake off the label of "illegitimate child".

He Tianran leaned back in his chair, picked up the nearly burnt-out cigar, took one last drag, and the faint red glow of the cigarette burned intensely for a moment before he forcefully stubbed it out in the crystal ashtray…

The movements were swift and decisive.

The smoke completely died down, and the last bit of warmth in the office seemed to vanish as well.

"Why...did you think of using this setting?"

When he spoke again, his voice was a few decibels lower than before, as if he were carefully weighing something.

A strange glint flashed in Yu Hui's eyes, but he quickly replied:
"I just feel that... this kind of dramatic conflict is more intrinsic and more extreme! The natural awkwardness of identity, the sense of original sin and desire brought by bloodline, this innate struggle is more difficult to overcome than external difficulties, and it can better expose the complexity of human nature."

He paused, his tone sincere:
"Moreover, Brother Tianran, I always feel that perhaps it is precisely those who live in the 'shadow' who understand more than anyone else... what true 'light' is, and yearn to establish a pure sense of belonging that belongs to them."

"Let the shadow find its place...?"

He Tianran chewed on those words in a low voice, his gaze shifting from Yu Hui's face to the script, his eyes drifting away as if he could see far away through the title.

There was silence for a moment.

Just as Yu Hui was becoming increasingly uneasy, wondering if she had said something wrong, He Tianran suddenly chuckled very softly. The chuckle was short and almost inaudible, carrying a complex meaning that was hard to describe.

He raised his hand, not to pick up the script, but to rub his temples, a gesture that made him look tired for a moment.

"Leave the script with me."

He said this, his tone returning to its usual calm, but seemingly more distant than before.

"Hey, okay, okay... Brother Tianran... Actually, I..."

Yu Hui felt as if he had been granted a pardon and quickly nodded, but at the end he seemed to hesitate and had something else to say.

"Anything else?"

He Tianran looked up at him, his gaze already conveying the message of dismissal.

"No, that's all! Brother Tianran, you're busy!"

Yu Hui immediately stood up, almost tiptoed out, and gently closed the door behind him.

The office returned to silence.

He Tianran did not move.

He sat there alone, his gaze fixed on the cover bearing the words "Beneath the Shade," and remained there for a long time.

After a long while, he slowly reached out and turned the cover page again.

His gaze swept over the words, but he didn't really read them.

His fingertips lingered on the three paragraphs where the word "illegitimate child" appeared, gently tracing the texture of the paper.

"Ding-a-ling-ding-a-ling--"

The office landline rang, interrupting the man's thoughts.

"Hey?"

"Director He, did you have an appointment with Teacher Bai Lingye this afternoon? She came to see you. Are you free now?"

"Let her in." (End of Chapter)