1979: My fiancée is a goddess

"what?"

Cheng Kaiyan was taken aback by Liu Xiaoli's sudden question.

Why did we suddenly get to this topic?
On second thought, it's probably because I'm about to see a movie.

Cheng Kaiyan chuckled.

This girl, she said she wasn't jealous...

However... Xiaoli has been very understanding of herself in this matter.

Cheng Kaiyan could not bear to do anything more to hurt her feelings.

Therefore, regardless of whether Ruixue replies or not, this will be the last time.

Think about this.

Cheng Kaiyan looked up calmly at the woman with quiet eyes and shook her head, saying, "There's no reply. I think... she probably won't reply."

"Sigh... there isn't any?"

Liu Xiaoli was somewhat surprised to hear this answer.

In the past two years, she had subtly inquired with Aunt Xiu a few times and learned a little about the past between Cheng Kaiyan and Zhao Ruixue. As a result, she also learned about Zhao Ruixue's stubbornness and willfulness.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Ruixue and Cheng Kaiyan broke off contact this time.

It seems that he was hurt too badly and too deeply last time...

But has Zhao Ruixue always been so clean, efficient, and decisive?

No wonder he is a high-achieving student who was able to decide to study abroad in such a short time.

If it were me, I wouldn't be so decisive when it comes to relationships. I struggled for a very long time when I wanted to break off my engagement with Kaiyan.

Liu Xiaoli couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration for this girl she had only met a few times.

In truth, there was no real grudge between them; they were simply grieving for the same man.

It's just one win and one loss.

If one were to put oneself in Zhao Ruixue's shoes, even the gentle and kind-hearted Liu Xiaoli couldn't help but feel sorry for this stubborn girl.

Heartache is heartache.

But Liu Xiaoli certainly doesn't regret it, and she's happy that Cheng Kaiyan kept her promise and stayed true to herself.

She hoped that her happiness with Cheng Kaiyan would be undisturbed by anyone else.

"Well……"

Thinking of this, Liu Xiaoli looked up and found that Cheng Kaiyan seemed to be somewhat silent.

Fortunately, she didn't dwell on it too much.

How could one easily forget their childhood sweetheart first love?

As long as he loves himself now, and loves himself the most, that's enough.

Now, all we need to do is distract him.

Liu Xiaoli looked at the bustling crowd on the street, smelled the unique, sweet aroma of roasted sweet potatoes, and said softly:
"Kaiyan, look, there's a place selling roasted sweet potatoes over there. Let's go see how much they cost. I haven't had roasted sweet potatoes in ages, I want some."

"You just ate."

Liu Xiaoli watched Cheng Kaiyan's expression closely. Sure enough, as soon as she said that, Cheng Kaiyan immediately broke out of her silence, looked up at her, and had an amused expression. "You're such a grown-up, yet you're still as greedy as a child."

"What's wrong with having a sweet tooth? It's okay to like eating delicious food, is that a problem?"

Liu Xiaoli reached out and took his arm, shaking it playfully like a puppy wagging its tail and begging for affection.

"Of course."

Looking at the girl in front of her who had suddenly become quite clingy, like a little wife, Cheng Kaiyan's previously low mood quietly improved and rose, and she smiled faintly.

With Liu Xiaoli's encouragement, the two walked forward with light steps.

The afternoon sun shone on them, warming their faces and making them slightly flushed.

Especially since the young couple had just finished lunch and had been pushing their bicycles for a while, even their fingers and toes, which are prone to getting cold, felt warm.

……

"Candied hawthorn berries~"

"Baked buns, Tianjin-style baked buns~"

The streets were bustling with people in the afternoon.

Because it was lunchtime, staff from various units and factories in the surrounding area came out to eat.

Vendors selling all sorts of winter snacks also came out all at once.

At a glance, the streets were completely filled with vendors, and the noisy, bustling cries of vendors filled the air.

There were quite a few straw bundles carrying them, each adorned with shiny, bright red candied hawthorns.

There was a stove set up next to the supply and marketing cooperative in the distance, where they baked sesame cakes.

Opposite was the source of the sweet aroma: a homemade oven made from a large tin barrel, burning honeycomb briquettes, with sweet potatoes and white potatoes, oozing sugary oil, pasted on the oven walls.

"Grandpa, how much are the roasted sweet potatoes?"

Liu Xiaoli took Cheng Kaiyan's hand and walked up to her, asking with a smile.

"I'll give you a discount, two for 15 cents each."

The old man answered fluently in a Beijing accent, his hands never stopping the baking process.

"I don't want two, I just want one."

Liu Xiaoli shook her head.

The old man glanced at the two of them and understood. He clicked his tongue and said, "Give me a dime, and I'll give you a plastic spoon."

"Hurry up and give me the money."

Liu Xiaoli shook Cheng Kaiyan's arm and urged her in a crisp voice.

"You want me to pay even a penny?"

Cheng Kaiyan rolled her eyes at her, speechless. Clearly, she was the real little rich girl.

"Ah."

Liu Xiaoli proudly raised her chin, as if to say, "I'll give it to you if you tell me to."

Cheng Kaiyan was defeated and paid the money cleanly and decisively.

The main thing is that Xiaoli is so cute when she gets proud.

The old man picked up a roasted sweet potato, wrapped it in newspaper, and handed it to him.

The sweet potato's purplish-red skin is roasted until it is very crispy and thin, with tiny cracks on the surface revealing the golden flesh inside, which looks as if it is coated with a layer of honey.

It looks, smells, and tastes delicious, making your mouth water.

"Ouch, it's so hot!!"

Liu Xiaoli took it, and after a second or two, she was so burned that she struggled to move her hands up and down.

Although I was afraid of getting burned, I still endured it and used my slender fingertips, which were slightly red from the heat, to peel off the skin.

After peeling half of the sweet potato, Xiaoli scooped out a large mouthful with a spoon, blew on it several times to cool it, then brought it to her lips to test the temperature. Making sure it was okay, she proudly presented it to Cheng Kaiyan, grinning as she said:

"Hehe! Of course, the first bite should be given to our little Cheng!"

"Thank you so much, Sister Xiaoli, I'm so touched."

Cheng Kaiyan opened her mouth with a big smile and ate it, then said in an exaggerated tone, as if teasing a child.

"It's your turn! It's your turn!"

Liu Xiaoli urged him in a sweet voice, then pushed the sweet potato in her hand over.

"hiss!"

Cheng Kaiyan swallowed the sweet and mellow sweet potato, smiled and took it, then hissed softly from the heat, "You were waiting for me here! No wonder you were suddenly so kind as to let me eat first."

"whee."

Liu Xiaoli kept shaking her hands to cool down while watching him cover his mouth and chuckle.

"Naughty! I wonder where he learned that from!"

Cheng Kaiyan raised her hand and poked the girl's forehead, then discovered that she had a faint black finger mark on her forehead, which was very conspicuous against the backdrop of her fair and smooth forehead, which was as white as a piece of mutton fat jade.

Like Guanyin.

"Take a bite, and it tastes pretty good."

Cheng Kaiyan calmly scooped up a large piece of sweet potato, blew on it, and fed it to the girl's mouth.

"Aww...woof, incense~"

Liu Xiaoli greedily ate it in one bite. Because it was quite big, her pretty little face puffed up on both sides while chewing, and sometimes she would spit out hot air from her mouth, looking very cute. "Let's go, let's eat as we go."

Cheng Kaiyan found it amusing that she seemed completely unaware of the dark mark on her forehead.

The two ate as they walked, occasionally stopping to browse the shops and buy things, but their final destination was the movie theater.

……

Dahua Cinema, Dongdan North Street.

Several huge movie posters were hanging above the cinema, the most eye-catching of which was the color movie poster for "Love Letter".

A woman wearing a gray coat and scarf stood alone in the sea of ​​snow, with a withered tree swaying in the wind beside her.

The woman looked up at the sky filled with falling snow, and above her, a figure could be seen faintly.

On the side are two ink-wash characters in varying shades—"Love Letter".

It was only 1 p.m., an hour before the movie started, but a long line had already formed outside the cinema.

Most of them were young people: high school students in their teens, college students in their twenties, educated youth sent to the countryside, and many employees and factory workers who brought their partners to the movie.

"Wow, so many people! How long will it take to get there?"

Looking at the long line of people in front of her, Liu Xiaoli sighed.

Although I've heard my teachers and classmates discussing this movie a lot lately, it's only when you're actually there that you can truly appreciate how much people love and anticipate "Love Letter."

"We don't need to queue. A while ago, the Beijing Film Studio sent over ten movie tickets. Some were given out, and a few were kept. We can just take the tickets and go in."

Cheng Kaiyan took out two rather rough and simple movie tickets from his pocket, waved them in front of Liu Xiaoli, and explained.

"That's good."

Liu Xiaoli breathed a sigh of relief. She had practiced dancing for a long time that morning, and her legs were exhausted. She couldn't stand standing in line for an hour now.

The two found a teahouse, ordered a pot of tea and some snacks, and waited leisurely.

"Cheng Kaiyan! You! You're so awful, how dare you do that to my face..."

During this time, Liu Xiaoli went to the restroom. Afterwards, the girl, with wet hands constantly wiping her forehead, ran back angrily, hands on her hips, and questioned her.

"Haha! Who told you to be so slow to react?"

Cheng Kaiyan looked at the girl whose forehead was covered in water droplets and couldn't stop laughing.

"Still laughing! I'll bite you to death!"

Seeing how despicable he was, Comrade Xiaoli gritted her teeth, opened her arms and pounced on her hateful fiancé, her pair of cold, wet hands constantly trying to slip into his collar.

"Ouch! It's so cold, sister, I was wrong, I was wrong!"

The young couple had a playful argument, which ended with Cheng Kaiyan apologizing, admitting her mistake, and ceding territory as reparations.

Then, as if she had won a battle, Xiaoli sat in his lap, her snow-white, delicate features drooping, and drank tea.

It was already 2 p.m. when a commotion arose at the entrance of the movie theater.

Cheng Kaiyan got up, took Liu Xiaoli's soft, warm little hand, and went out.

Holding the movie ticket, we quickly entered the cinema.

They bought some popcorn and relatively expensive Coke at the ticket window, and the two sat down in the middle seat of the third row in Hall 1.

The surging crowd quickly packed into the cinema, filling all the seats. Many even brought their own stools or stood to watch.

When the projectionist announced over the loudspeaker, "Comrades, our film 'Love Letter' is about to begin. Please keep quiet!"

The once noisy screening room fell silent.

"Woooo..."

Then the lights around us suddenly went out, and we could hear the wind and snow blowing, and the dry branches swaying and pattering.

Immediately afterwards, the movie screen in front of me lit up with a white light, and a snow-capped mountain appeared on the screen.

The camera zooms in from a distance, revealing tiny snowflakes falling gently from the dim sky.

Then the words "love letter" slowly appeared.

Sight, hearing, and body temperature in the cold winter months are all combined.

In an instant, everyone, including Cheng Kaiyan and Liu Xiaoli, was silently pulled into this snowy world.

"No wonder it's scheduled for release at the end of the year. It's so immersive. It would be perfect if it snowed today."

In the movie theater, a knowledgeable film critic suddenly realized what was going on and made a note of it in his notebook.

The camera continues to zoom in, and a tombstone appears on screen.

At the top of the tombstone is a black and white photograph of a young man, very young, probably only in his twenties.

Moreover, he has handsome and well-proportioned features, fair skin, and a somewhat aloof and indifferent expression, but he also has a head of medium-length hair with slight curls.

Below the photo, the words "Yang Liu" (willow) are engraved.

"Is this Teacher Cheng Kaiyan? She's so beautiful, even though this is a portrait of her in mourning."

Many viewers stared in amazement at the photos on the tombstones, expressing their feelings.

A pair of hands holding three lit incense sticks enters the frame and places them in front of the tombstone, then the camera pans to the next area.

A middle-aged woman and a young woman appeared before them.

"so beautiful!"

The audience was almost breathless with beauty at Zhao Ruixue's aloof and ethereal face, with skin as white as snow.

After paying their respects to the deceased male protagonist Yang Liu, the mother and the female protagonist returned home. At home, the mother showed the female protagonist the male protagonist's high school photo album.

Through a series of individually cropped photos, and with her mother's guidance, she discovered a girl who frequently appeared in the pictures.

She was slim, had fair skin, and most importantly, seemed to resemble me somewhat.

When her mother returned with the tea, the female protagonist curiously inquired about the girl's background, but her mother's words silenced her.

"Oh, I remember this child. She's also named Yang Liu. It's a coincidence that she has the same name."

The female protagonist noted down the school's address, and after returning to the capital, she wrote a letter to it.

But unexpectedly, they received this reply from heaven.

Suddenly seized by a last glimmer of hope, the female protagonist resolutely embarks on a journey to find him.

This unlocked a locked memory of youth and unearthed a beautiful first love that had been missed.

The scene in the movie where they arrive at the library.

In the afternoon, the boy read a book, the girl wrote, their gazes met, their palms were slightly sweaty, the curtains fluttered, and a cool breeze blew...

This moment creates the most beautiful scene, touching people's hearts.

Thinking about this misguided love, this love realized too late, the audience members present all had tears in their eyes.

The next moment, music started playing.

Gardenias, white petals...falling onto my blue pleated skirt~

"I love you," you whispered...

"That eternal night..."

"The night you kissed me in the midsummer of my fifteenth year."

"So that in the years to come, whenever I have something to say, I will always remember the starlight of that day."

"Why was love so simple back then, and why... when you're young, you have to hurt the one you love deeply."

The audience stared blankly at the young boy and girl stealing glances at each other in the screen, their sore and red eyes already brimming with tears.

Liu Xiaoli also bit her lip, her eyes filled with tears, her whole being enveloped in a faint sadness, deeply moved by this love and this song.

She clung tightly to Cheng Kaiyan's arm, refusing to let go.

"willow--"

As the female protagonist lies in the snow, calling out her lover's name and letting the snowflakes engulf her, the film finally comes to a close, plunging the entire theater into darkness.

But everyone was so reluctant to leave that they were completely immersed in it and couldn't tear themselves away.

Then the music started again, but this time it was a different song.

"sunny"

"Once upon a time, there was someone who loved you for a long time..."

"But then, the rain gradually blew the distance much farther away..."

"But at the end of the story, you seemed to have said..."

"Bye-bye..." (End of Chapter)