The Entertainment Industry in Turmoil: Young Actresses All Want to Rise to the Top

The next morning, Li Yitong, with her hair in a mess as usual, groggily opened her eyes.

She habitually reached for the bedside table, her fingertips touching the familiar oil paper package and the warm plastic cup.

Soy milk and fried dough sticks.

She rubbed her eyes and sat up, looking at the same breakfast every day, but a strange feeling crossed her mind.

Today... seems unusually quiet?

Shen Mo, that living alarm clock, didn't come to pull off her blanket or make any noise in the living room.

She shuffled around the room in her slippers, munching on a fried dough stick.

Sure enough, Shen Mo's door was wide open, and the room was empty; his usual suitcase was also gone.

"Strange, you're at the company so early?"

She muttered to herself, not thinking much of it, assuming it was some kind of urgent meeting.

After she leisurely finished getting ready and washing up, put on some light makeup, and arrived at Mohen Capital on time.

As I passed the reception desk, I casually asked, "Olivia, where's General Manager Shen?"

The receptionist looked up and gave a standard smile.

"Good morning, Mr. Li. Mr. Shen hasn't arrived yet."

Li Yitong paused in her steps.

Didn't come to the company?

A strange premonition, like tiny vines, quietly crept into my heart.

She stood there, her brows furrowing unconsciously.

Today is September 7th!

Li Yitong's eyes widened suddenly; she seemed to know where he had gone...

My heart skipped a beat, as if I had been unexpectedly struck by something.

Let's rewind to the early hours of the morning.

After lying down in his room, Shen Mo was wide awake.

The neon lights of the city outside the window cast flickering shadows on his face through the blinds.

The hustle and bustle of the daytime birthday party subsided.

In "Snow Lodge," Li Yitong's eyes, reflecting the moonlight, held a sincere, all-or-nothing quality.

And the phrase "You are my only audience" kept replaying in his mind.

However, beneath this overwhelming warmth, another scene also inappropriately and stubbornly emerges.

A girl with a sweet smile entered his world, singing "Super Star" in the karaoke room.

"Little Tian'er..."

He murmured unconsciously, his heart pounding with a mixture of piercing pain and bewilderment.

That girl with the white beret, the shallow dimples when she smiled, who firmly said on her 28th birthday that she would marry him...

Today happens to be the "anniversary" of their first meeting.

He knew he shouldn't go.

Reason told him that Tian Xiwei was just a fourteen-year-old middle school student whose life trajectory had nothing to do with his.

The woman he loved was Tian Xiwei, with whom he had grown up and with whom he shared a deep soul connection.

Rather than a stranger who needs to be "spyed on".

However, an impulse surged within him like an undercurrent.

He picked up his phone, swiped his finger across the screen quickly, and booked the earliest flight to Chongqing the next morning.

After doing all this, he leaned against the headboard and let out a long breath.

His eyes held a complex mix of emotions: struggle, relief, and a hint of confusion that even he himself couldn't fully decipher.

The next morning, before dawn.

Shen Mo got up quietly and, as usual, went out to buy soy milk and fried dough sticks, which he gently placed on Li Yitong's bedside table.

He looked at her slightly pouting cheeks, completely unguarded in her sleep.

He paused, a barely perceptible hint of guilt and tenderness flashing in his eyes.

In the end, he did nothing but gently close her door.

Carrying simple luggage, I disappeared into the still-sleeping morning mist of the capital.

He's going to Chongqing.

Let's take a look.

The autumn wind rustled, swirling and falling to the ground along with the yellowing sycamore leaves.

At the entrance of Wudu Tongzhong Middle School, the iron gate is tightly closed, separating the tranquility inside the school from the hustle and bustle outside, creating two separate worlds.

The campus was deserted, with only the occasional sound of students reading aloud carried by the wind proving that it was not deserted.

Across the street, Shen Mo stood quietly.

He stood tall and straight, wearing a simple dark coat. His outstanding appearance and temperament occasionally attracted the attention of passersby.

But he was completely unaware, his eyes unfocused as he stared at the tightly closed school gate across the street, his gaze seemingly penetrating, able to pass through the walls and sweep across the playground.

He landed precisely on the classroom he had never set foot in, yet had imagined countless times in Tian Xiwei's nostalgic narration.

He stood there for a long time, so long that the shopkeeper behind him couldn't help but peek out and curiously examine the man who had been standing there for hours.

Shen Mo knew that he most likely wouldn't be able to run into Xiao Tian.

The school gates, tightly shut, would not open for a stranger like him.

Even if he had extraordinary abilities to get in, what could he do?

Should you walk up to the window of a certain eighth-grade class and say "hello" to a fourteen-year-old girl with a ponytail who is engrossed in her studies?

Absurd, and... cruel.

For her, and for herself.

So, what is the point of rushing here, looking so weary, and standing here like an idiot across the street?

Is it to commemorate a relationship that was destined to end?

Is it to give oneself a seemingly solemn farewell ceremony?

still is……

It was only because of the indelible mark in his heart called "Tian Xiwei" that he was driven to come to this time and space coordinate point.

he does not know.

My thoughts were a jumbled mess, I couldn't make sense of them, and all that was left was a feeling of emptiness and bewilderment.

When Li Yitong arrived, this was the appearance of him.

She didn't call or text him to ask where he was.

An almost instinctive intuition, or rather, a deep-seated understanding, guided her to this place.

She knew he must be here.

I had heard Tian Xiwei talk about her school days, her hometown, and her alma mater before.

She had just arrived in Chongqing by plane, hailed a taxi at the airport, told them the address, and they found her there.

She stopped several dozen meters away and did not approach any further.

The autumn wind blew the stray hairs on her forehead, bringing a touch of coolness.

Looking at Shen Mo's back, which seemed to blend into the bleak autumn scenery, exuding loneliness and confusion.

Her heart felt as if something had gently tugged at it, causing a slight pain.

She understands.

I understand he doesn't want to be disturbed at this moment.

I understand that he needs this private space to process those complex and indescribable emotions.

He came here not to find that young girl, but to mourn the past that could not be undone, and more like... to give an account to himself.

Therefore, she doesn't get close.

Just as he simply wanted to take a look at her, the one who resembled her in this time and space.

She simply wanted to be with him.

He stood quietly in a corner where he couldn't see him, at a distance where he didn't need to respond.

Just as she had done countless times over the past two decades when he needed to be alone.

But she only wanted him to turn around.

Let him know that she is still with him.