Back to the teenage years

Chapter 599 is a God
After Grain Rain, time strides forward to the Beginning of Summer.

The lush grass and chirping birds of April have unknowingly given way to the bright summer days of May. The wind carries the faint chirping of cicadas, the days are stretched long, and the sunlight begins to carry weight.

Wang Jinghua traveled from the cool, dry city of Yanjing across most of China to the lush, green city of Lijin, and then directly secured Li Yufei's first role in a film.

This film is a documentary about Hunan culture, produced and produced by Xiangnan Heguang Media.

Heguang Media was quite influential in the Hunan region. Its founding team and core members mostly came from the Hunan Broadcasting System, maintaining close ties with Hunan Satellite TV. It was essentially a market-oriented production force incubated within the system. Later, it participated in the production of several phenomenal variety shows, including "Happy Camp," "Day Day Up," and "I Am a Singer."

Wang Jinghua became acquainted with Liu Mingjun, the CEO of Heguang Media, through her relationship with Chen Daoming, and they had a fairly good personal relationship. Last month, Liu Mingjun had dinner with her and Wang Daoming in Yanjing. They talked about the Hunan culture documentary they were preparing and wanted to find a female lead with a clean and pure temperament. Wang Jinghua immediately thought of Li Yufei.

After Li Yufei nodded, the signing went smoothly.

Wang Jinghua then gave a detailed report to her boss Zhang Yunqi in the top-floor office of Huarong Jinhuishan. Zhang Yunqi didn't say anything, but only expressed one opinion: to arrange a female assistant for Li Yufei.

Wang Jinghua originally wanted to find an experienced assistant from Heguang Media, but Li Yufei's best friend Li Xiaoman volunteered, especially wanting to be the assistant, saying it would be a form of social practice.

Li Yufei was initially hesitant. After all, Xiaoman's father was the top official in Jiangchuan, and it seemed too much of a waste for him to be a mere assistant running around with her every day. But this girl wasn't spoiled at all; she had her own ideas, opinions, and was very determined, so she agreed. It would be good for the two of them to have each other's company.

After the contract was signed, Li Yufei quickly entered a busy filming phase.

The initial filming took place in places like Yuelu Academy and Orange Isle in Lijin.

Ancient trees tower in Yuelu Academy, their eaves silent. On the first day of filming, she wore a plain-colored cheongsam she had never worn before. She didn't have many lines and mostly just walked, looked, or stood quietly in various corners of the academy. But she liked this feeling very much. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, dappling the ground and moving quietly on her shoulders and the ancient brick floor. Her heart felt light and calm.

It took about a week to finish filming in Rijin.

Next, Li Yufei will travel with the production team to other cities in southern Hunan for filming, including Chuanshan's former residence in Hengyang and Zhou Dunyi's Lianxi Academy in Jiangchuan.

The day before her business trip, Li Yufei went back to the Huahe dormitory at the Normal University to pick up some clothes to change into, but she ran into Lin Lin in the dormitory.

They hadn't seen each other for a long time.

Art students already lead a life of constant travel; given the right resources, how many would stay at school? However, having those resources is not easy to achieve.

At that time, Lin Lin was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking out the window. Her face, which was usually dressed up exquisitely and beautifully, was not made up, and she looked very unwell. Her lips were pale, and she looked somewhat dazed, as if she had just recovered from a serious illness.

Li Yufei had never seen Lin Lin like this before.

She put down her bag, went over and asked, "What's wrong?"

Lin Lin glanced at Li Yufei, who had suddenly appeared, and twirled the hem of her skirt with her fingers. Perhaps even she herself didn't realize that her voice was hoarse: "I'm just feeling a little unwell, it's nothing. You haven't been back to the dorm for a long time, how have you been lately?"

Li Yufei said, "It's fine."

Lin Lin nodded: "That's good."

Li Yufei sat down on the edge of the bed, remained silent for a while, and said to Lin Lin sitting opposite her, "If there's anything I can do to help, you can tell me."

Lin Lin shook her head and forced a smile: "I'm really fine, I'm just a little tired."

Li Yufei did not ask any further questions.

She knew that Lin Lin was with a Hong Kong businessman.

The other girls in the dormitory had talked about it privately, saying that the man had a family in Hong Kong and was older, but Lin Lin chose this path herself, so what could others say?

The two remained silent for a while. Li Yufei got up to pack her clothes, but when she was halfway through, Lin Lin's voice suddenly came from behind her: "Yufei, sometimes I'm quite envious of you."

Li Yufei turned her head to look at her.

Lin Lin smiled, but the light in her eyes was scattered: "Unlike me, it seems like I chose the easiest path at every step, and as a result, it got narrower and narrower."

Li Yufei didn't know what to say.

The afternoon sun shone through the window, casting neat patches of light on the ground. Dust particles floated in the air, like a silent snowfall.

She packed her clothes into her suitcase, and as she got up and dragged her suitcase to the door, she whispered, "Take care of yourself."

Lin Lin didn't look up, and simply hummed in response.

The following day, Li Yufei left Lijin with her crew.

For several days in a row, they visited Yueyang, Shaoyang, Changde, and Hengyang...

The dreamlike Peach Blossom Spring, the misty Yueyang Tower, and the serene Chuanshan Residence – as filming progressed, Li Yufei felt an increasingly profound sense of walking through a thick slice of history. The indignation or magnanimity that transcended time made her suddenly realize that in the face of the ceaseless flow of history, her personal joys and sorrows were truly insignificant.

Thinking about it this way, she felt much better.

Every day of filming was fulfilling and enjoyable, with her good friend Li Xiaoman by her side. After finishing work in the evening, she would text Zhang Yunqi to share interesting little things that happened each day, regardless of whether Zhang Yunqi would see them or not.

Once, Li Xiaoman leaned over to look at the screen and suddenly asked, "Did he reply to you?"

Li Yufei locked the screen and laughed: "It's not important!"

The last stop was Jiangchuan.

The location is Zhou Dunyi's Lianxi Academy.

Zhou Dunyi, who wrote the timeless masterpiece "On the Love of Lotus".

When Li Yufei and the camera crew arrived, the lotus flowers at Lianxi Academy had not yet bloomed, but the pond was full of graceful green leaves.

When the first day of filming ended, it was almost midnight. Li Yufei and Li Xiaoman wanted to take a walk back to the hotel to breathe in the fresh air of their hometown. However, a car was quietly following them from a distance, its headlights illuminating the dim road for them.

Li Xiaoman said meaningfully, "This car is here again, with a Hunan license plate (湘A)."

Li Yufei turned her head and looked out. The car window was down, and the driver was a young man in his thirties. She had seen this car and this driver in Changde, Yueyang, and Hengyang.

The driver got out of the car and politely said, "Ms. Li, Mr. Lu instructed me to make sure you get back to your hotel safely. He said you've worked hard, and this is his way of showing his appreciation; please accept it."

Li Yufei didn't get in the car. However, for the next few days, the car unsurprisingly stopped there on time every time. Quiet, proper, maintaining just the right distance.

For Li Yufei, this was like a silent shadow.

On the fourth night, just like before, the car was parked quietly in the distance, the young driver sitting in the driver's seat, the headlights on, illuminating the dim road. This time, however, Lu Yuanzhou appeared in the back seat, saw Li Yufei, and got out of the car.

Lu Yuanzhou wasn't wearing a suit; he was simply wearing a white shirt rolled up to his elbows and holding a light jacket. He walked up to Li Yufei, smiled, and spoke as naturally as if it were a chance encounter: "I'm in Jiangchuan on a business trip. I just finished some business."

Li Yufei looked at him for a few seconds, then suddenly said, "Let's take a walk."

Lu Yuanzhou nodded: "Okay."

The two walked slowly along the quiet road. The moonlight was faint, the night was cool, there were scattered lights in the distance, and the sounds of cicadas and frogs filled the air. The world was exceptionally peaceful.

Is filming tiring?

"It's alright, it's been quite fulfilling."

"Do you really like this job?"

“Mm.” Li Yufei smiled and said, “I can go to many places and see many different things.”

"That's good." Lu Yuanzhou nodded, and after a moment of silence, he suddenly said, "Your mother came to see me a few days ago."

"and then?"

"She wants me to take good care of you."

Am I still a child?

“You know that’s not what she meant.” Lu Yuanzhou smiled, his voice calm. “I told your aunt that relationships are your own business, and no one has the right to decide for you. I know you have someone else in your heart right now, and I don’t want to put you in a difficult position.”

Li Yufei said, "You've already put me in a difficult position."

Lu Yuanzhou stopped and calmly looked at her face, as if confirming something: "Yufei, there's something I've always wanted to tell you, but I'm afraid that if I say it, we won't be able to be friends anymore."

"You say it."

“You’re a very intelligent girl, and you should know very well that I like you, but you’ve never reciprocated my feelings. To be honest, this is the first time in my life that I’ve ever done this. I, Lu Yuanzhou, have never failed to get what I want in my life, but anyway, I’m willing to respect your feelings, and you don’t have to reciprocate my feelings. I want to be friends with you, or you can just pretend I never said anything.”

The camphor trees along the roadside rustled.

Li Yufei raised her head, and the moonlight fell on her exquisite face, making her skin appear porcelain white.

After a long while, she looked away and turned to Lu Yuanzhou, asking, "Can you tell me what you like about me? I still haven't figured it out. Is it because you saw me at the restaurant at the beginning of the year? Love at first sight? I've seen and encountered far too many cases of this kind of affection."

Faced with this question, Lu Yuanzhou seemed to have no intention of explaining at all. His tone was very firm: "Yes, it was love at first sight."

Li Yufei's face remained expressionless: "Did you think I was pretty at first glance? Or that I was the perfect person to stand next to you, making your perfect man look even more perfect!"

The smile on Lu Yuanzhou's face slowly faded: "Love is an irrational thing. Some people spend their whole lives and still can't find the answer, while others know it's the answer at first sight. You are my answer!"

Under the moonlight, Li Yufei's eyelashes trembled slightly.

After a long while, a faint smile appeared on her beautiful face, which was so stunning that even the moonlight seemed to dim: "Perhaps we are the same kind of people. Because we haven't gotten it, it seems exceptionally good; because we can't get it, we obsessively want it. But, this is not love."

Lu Yuanzhou's voice deepened: "I will prove to you what love is!"

"Can love prove it?" The girl's smile was incredibly poignant. Her eyes gazed at the night sky, which was tinged with gray by the city lights. Her voice was soft in the night wind, as if she were talking to herself: "If I could, I would like to try it. I really want to try it."

The night was deeper.

Moonlight filtered through the clouds, serene and still as snow.

The girl finally looked away and said to Lu Yuanzhou, "Actually, I know about your sincerity, your efforts, and all the little things you've done for me, and I'm very grateful. But, I'm really sorry, starting tomorrow, please don't come anymore."

After saying that, she turned and left without looking back.

Lu Yuanzhou stood still, his shadow stretched long under the streetlights, like a silent sculpture.

Li Yufei returned to her hotel room.

She sat on the edge of the bed, lost in thought for a while. Feeling that the air was a bit stuffy, she got up and opened the French windows. The night breeze rushed in, carrying the familiar, moist scent of grass and trees.

She took out her phone and spent a long time typing a message in the text message box: "Yunqi, are you resting? We finished filming today and went back to the hotel. We filmed at Lianxi Academy in our hometown. The owner of the academy is Zhou Dunyi, who wrote 'On the Love of Lotus.' You must know him. The scenery is beautiful, the lotus leaves are very green, so pretty."

Oh, right! I suddenly remembered a funny thing about you from our first year of high school. Our homeroom teacher made you do a reading comprehension exercise on "On the Love of Lotus," and you said something surprising: "Where in this world can one truly remain untainted by mud? It's just that they're stained, but others don't see it." At the time, I thought you were just trying to get attention, not cute at all… Now, I think it's kind of true. But anyway, maybe we can try to live more authentically, like the lotus leaves at Lianxi Academy, knowing the mud beneath their feet, yet still growing towards the light.

After clicking send, she turned off her phone.

She didn't expect Zhang Yunqi to reply to her message.

She leaned against the window, resting her fair chin on her hand, gazing out at the blurry outline of Lianxi Academy. A little further out, she saw the sleeping Jiangchuan City and the winding Chunjiang River.

Suddenly, fragments of her past life in this small southern town floated into her mind, but deep within each memory lay the figure of that young man.

She didn't try to erase that image from her mind, because she had tried countless times.

Can't do it.

Perhaps that's just how people are.

Some unforgettable moments from youth, even after a long, long time—long enough that you've experienced life and have stories to savor alone during sleepless nights—you've lost your naivety and even gradually come to understand the sorrows of life and the equanimity of death. You finally understand and accept with peace of mind that no matter how good, excellent, or outstanding he is, he's just a person, no different in essence from anyone else.

But, for some reason, you still have a lingering attachment, like a kind of superstition.

The temple collapsed, but the god is still the god!

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