Back to the teenage years

Chapter 565 Love Must Be Selfish
Tokyo Love Story first aired in 1991.

Of course, this Japanese drama was introduced to the mainland relatively late.

It is adapted from the manga of the same name by Fumi Shibamon. It is set in Tokyo and tells the story of love, growth and regrets among several young people. The emotional story full of twists and turns between the heroine Akaname Rika and the hero Nagao Kanji is especially touching. It is hailed as "the pinnacle of the golden age of Japanese dramas" and moved domestic female college students to tears in the 90s.

The heroine of this Japanese drama, Rika, is a returned overseas girl working in Tokyo. She represents independent women of the new era. She is cheerful and straightforward, and dares to love and hate. She fell in love with the male protagonist Wanzhi at first sight and took the initiative to pursue him, so the two became lovers.

If the story ended here, it would be perfect, but no writer is willing to do that, and Chai Wenmen is the same. He insists on adding shit to the chicken soup.

The reason is simple. Perfection means boredom. Only imperfections can add a moment of beauty to the boring journey of life.

As for this shortcoming, it starts with the male protagonist Wanzhi. He is a shy young man who came to Tokyo from the countryside to work hard. He symbolizes traditional men, bound by responsibilities and old love, gentle, but indecisive.

Kenji has always had a crush on his high school classmate Sekiguchi Satomi. Although he got together with Rika due to her fierce pursuit, he could never let go of his obsession with Satomi. He was hesitant, hurt Rika repeatedly, and finally chose Satomi.

After learning about this, Rika was completely disappointed and said the most heartbreaking farewell line in the history of Japanese dramas: "Wanzhi, goodbye!"

This is the moment of imperfect beauty that Chai Wenmen wanted.

At that moment, the glory of the new-age woman represented by Rika was elevated to the extreme.

In short, this Japanese drama is full of "missed" and "regrets", "growth" and "relieving". The clash of values ​​between the couple reflects the emotional confusion of young men and women in the 90s when economic development slowed down. The controversial "scumbag" attribute of Wanzhi truly reflects the complexity of human nature. The story is not as perfect as a fairy tale, but faces the selfishness, cowardice and regret in love, which makes people see their own shadows.

Zhang Yunqi saw his own shadow.

In the Kempinski Hotel suite, his shadow was cast on the carpet in front of the sofa.

The suite is based on European style, with dark walnut carved furniture and silk embroidered soft furnishings. The carpet has intricate and heavy patterns, the floor-length velvet curtains have been closed, and the light of the gilded table lamp has been turned to the minimum. In the dim light, time flows quietly. Li Yufei, wearing a white dress, sits on the carpet, her hands on her knees, her expression focused, her straight nose resting on that beautiful face, which is particularly vivid. She watches "Tokyo Love Story" on the screen without blinking her beautiful eyes.

Li Yufei seemed to have watched this Japanese drama before. She didn't start from the beginning, but Zhang Yunqi didn't know which episode she had watched.

Zhang Yunqi was looking absent-mindedly.

He drank quite a bit of wine, chatting with Li Yufei while taking a sip of Old Yanjing from time to time.

Li Yufei suddenly said, "Yunqi, bring me a can of beer too."

Zhang Yunqi smiled and said, "You probably don't drink."

Li Yufei smiled and said, "I want to drink a little today."

Zhang Yunqi didn't say anything else. He opened a bottle of beer and handed it to Li Yufei. Li Yufei took a sip and the bitter feeling soon appeared on her pretty face. After a while, she suddenly turned her head and said, "By the way, what do you think of this Wanzhi?"

Zhang Yunqi took a sip of beer and said honestly, "Wanzhi is indeed not worthy of Lixiang. Lixiang shouldn't waste her time on him. Of course, I'm not saying that Wanzhi has no feelings for Lixiang at all, but this kind of feeling is selfish."

Li Yufei also took a sip of beer and smiled: "The question is what kind of relationship is not selfish? A non-selfish relationship means that the love is not deep enough. If the love is deep enough and you can let go, it means that the relationship has reached the point where selfishness is useless. In fact, in a relationship, the more desperate we are, the more decent we should be."

Zhang Yunqi thought about this for a while, and nodded: "This makes sense." Then he said: "You have never been in love, why do you see these things so clearly?"

Li Yufei did not answer this question, or she did not want to answer it. After a while, she smiled and said, "I suddenly remembered a sentence Li Xiang said, and I like it very much." Zhang Yunqi subconsciously asked, "What did you say?"

Li Yufei tilted her head and glanced at Zhang Yunqi, but didn't stay there for long. She turned her gaze to the desk lamp on the side that was emitting warm light: "Wanzhi, I like you. Even if I like you so much that all the forests in the world fall down, it doesn't matter."

The luxurious suite became quiet, with only the sound from the TV. Zhang Yunqi picked up the beer and took two sips. Li Yufei looked away and said, "In fact, I have watched this Japanese drama once with a friend. She was so moved that she burst into tears, but I didn't feel as strongly as she did. At that time, I kept thinking that Wanzhi was secretly in love with other girls, but he was still with Lixiang. This is very selfish. Then Lixiang knew that Wanzhi liked other girls in his heart, but she still pursued Wanzhi and pestered him. Isn't this another manifestation of selfishness?"

Zhang Yunqi had to admit that the girl in front of him was extremely intelligent in terms of human nature. She could easily see through the essence behind complex emotions. What was even more commendable was that she was not paranoid, entangled, or easily pointed out things.

Zhang Yunqi said: "This view is very novel."

Li Yufei smiled, then she put down the beer can, leaned on the sofa, looked at Zhang Yunqi and said, "Yunqi, do you think I'm a little rash to let you watch TV with me tonight?"

Zhang Yunqi said: "How could it be."

Li Yufei propped up her fair chin with one hand and said, "I suddenly remembered something. Two days before I came to Yanjing, my uncle invited me to dinner. I went and met Lu Yuanzhou at the dinner. He actually took the initiative to bring up what happened in Jiangchuan. My uncle said a few words to you at that time."

Zhang Yunqi asked: "What did your uncle say about me?"

Li Yufei said directly: "He is reckless, rude, and vulgar, like an ignorant and uneducated upstart."

Zhang Yunqi took a sip from the beer can and said, "You told me all this, aren't you afraid that I will hate your uncle?"

Li Yufei said: "If you care about what others think, you wouldn't have been carrying a snakeskin bag all the way to today when you were in the first year of high school."

Zhang Yunqi didn't know what to say for a moment.

Li Yufei stretched her waist and sat up from the carpet. After a while, she smiled and said, "Actually, what my uncle said is not important. What's important is that Lu Yuanzhou actually spoke for you in that situation. He said it was just a temporary dispute between young people and that you have reconciled. You are still very outstanding. Are you surprised?"

Zhang Yunqi nodded. In fact, this girl could see through everything, but this was not necessarily a good thing. "The prime minister has a big heart and is so generous. He is much better than me."

Li Yufei smiled faintly, then stood up and walked to the 270-degree floor-to-ceiling viewing window on her smooth bare feet. She reached out and pulled open the velvet curtains. It was dark outside the window. The classical garden in the back yard of Kempinski was silent. The city skyline in the distance was an endless blackness.

She looked up at the black sky, her face smiling, her voice calm, as if she was talking to herself: "Yes, he is very good. My mother was there at the time. My mother thought he was better than anyone else. She thought he was handsome, successful in his career, from an excellent family, and graduated from a prestigious foreign university. He has a cheerful personality and is just the right age, only four years older than me. It seems that he has no shortcomings at all."

At this point, Li Yufei retracted her gaze and looked at Zhang Yunqi on the sofa again, her eyes were deep, as if containing summer dew: "After dinner, my mother even enthusiastically asked him to come to our house when he has time. I have never seen my mother like that before."

This should be the girl's deepest thoughts. In this silent night, Zhang Yunqi silently looked at the girl's slender figure under her white nightgown. On that smiling little face, there seemed to be a trace of indescribable emotions and a little bit of inexplicable helplessness.

At this time, light music came from the TV, and then the ending scene of "Tokyo Love Story" popped up.

The scene is many years later.

Kenji and Rika, an old couple who have already embarked on different lives, meet again on the street. Rika's smile is still bright until Kenji's back disappears into the distance. Then, the classic line that has gone down in the history of Japanese dramas is uttered: "As long as you participate in love, it is meaningful, even if there is no ending."

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