Ji Yuxiao and Lin Luoqing had a meal together. Ji Yuxiao took a nap for a while and rushed back.
Lin Luoqing went back to the hotel and started to read the script.
Shi Zheng came late and called Lin Luoqing as soon as he arrived.
“Have you had dinner yet? If not, let’s eat together.”
“Okay,” Lin Luoqing agreed.
The two of them had been busy for more than half a year and had no time to get together. Now that they met, they would have time to chat.
Shi Zheng told Lin Luoqing that he would specialize in the movie industry in the future. Not counting Return to Jade, he had already filmed a movie and the crew he cooperated with felt good. They each had their own strengths. There was also a director who liked him and said he would look for Shi Zheng the next time he started a movie.
He felt that he might be more suitable for movies than TV series.
Lin Luoqing naturally nodded. The future Best Actor was more suitable for movies.
“You are different,” Shi Zheng said with a smile. “You blossom in TV series and movies. You have acted in Director Li’s movie. Once the movie is aired, you will be even more popular.”
Lin Luoqing smiled. “It is just good luck.”
He really felt that he was lucky. Peaches and Plums Don’t Speak was aired in advance and it just so happened that he gained fans, increasing his popularity. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to enter Director Li’s crew.
Then he wouldn’t know Ning Yu and naturally wouldn’t receive Ning Yu’s script. He wouldn’t have the opportunity to cooperate with Yu Jiayou.
Looking at it now, everything was intertwined and it was impossible to make the wrong step.
“It is the result of your own efforts,” Shi Zheng said.
He had seen Lin Luoqing filming and knew how serious he was about filming. He also knew how seriously Lin Luoqing treated others when he was on the set.
His current popularity and good reputation were completely deserved.
He spread kindness in this world and the world responded to him with kindness. This was normal.
Lin Luoqing was a bit embarrassed by these words and changed the topic. He talked about the movie Return to Jade and the two of them chatted about it.
The script of Return to Jade was a hazy, sad story.
Yu Jiayou’s sentences weren’t heavy. Some of it was light and humorous but when looking at it carefully, there was a lingering sadness.
There was a joke in Xinghua Village. Every time it was mentioned, everyone would laugh and some would say, “Don’t you think he is stupid? He is a fool.”
The joke in their mouths was Ye Yu.
The new daughter-in-law, who just married into the village, didn’t understand why he was a joke and curiously asked the people around her to tell her. Then Ye Yu’s story began.
Ye Yu was good-looking. He was the most handsome teenager in the village.
In the past, he didn’t use to be a joke in the eyes of others but the most promising person of Xinghua Village. It was because he was a rare high school student in the village. He took the university entrance examination and was just waiting for the admission notice to be received, becoming the only university student in the village.
Every villager who passed by Ye Yu’s house would ask with concern if his results had come out.
They would tell their own children that they had to learn from Ye Yu. At that time, Ye Yu was a golden phoenix in the eyes of others despite wearing clothes that were worn white from washing.
Then Ye Yu’s notice came and the results of his university entrance examination came out. Ye Yu unexpectedly failed the exam.
He couldn’t figure out how he could do so badly in the exam. He sat on the hillside and watched the sunset, unable to accept it. He decided to repeat it and take the exam again.
People in the village knew he hadn’t been admitted to university. At first, they were just surprised. Then some rumors slowly spread.
“I heard that his usual grades are from cheating?”
“Isn’t it said that he did that with little girls at school? Young… young, yes, young love. He engaged in young love?”
“I said from a long time ago that he can’t do it. The Ye family has been farming for generations. Can he really fly out of the chicken nest and become a golden phoenix?”
Everyone laughed while Ye Yu and his family were depressed and ashamed.
The bright August sun was scorching the ground. Ye Yu took out his books and started studying again. He was determined to get good grades this time. He would go to the university of his dreams and shut up those who looked down on him.
He was diligent and hard-working. He took the university entrance examination next year with confidence, waiting for his dream to take off this time.
He didn’t realize that what would be ushered in was another despair and shock.
His results were worse than last time. He looked at his scores in disbelief.
Ye Yu wanted to check his grades but he was just an ordinary person. He was a poor, ordinary person who could only change his life by studying.
He tried everything he could but he still couldn’t check his grades.
What he didn’t know was that he truly did well in the exam this time. However, his results became someone else’s results. The life he worked so hard for was stolen by others.
Ye Yu sat on the hillside again, watching the sunset. He was silent and quiet, like a beast that refused to admit defeat. He was determined to take the exam again.
However, following his failure of the university entrance examination again, the malice that was originally dormant in the darkness came to him in an instant.
Xiang Jiang was a gangster from the same village who was older than him. He took his younger brother to squat on the dead wood by the side of the road. He watched Ye Yu walk by and deliberately said, “Ye Yu, I heard that you weren’t admitted again this time. I’m afraid that your golden phoenix won’t be able to fly out.”
The others instantly laughed.
The mocking sound was ear-piercing and pierced Ye Yu’s self-esteem and shame.
Ye Yu didn’t talk to them. He knew very well that they were different. He had his own dreams and Xiang Jian, a gangster who had already dropped out of school, wouldn’t understand it. He didn’t need Xiang Jian to understand.
Xiang Jiang shouted loudly and wildly. His voice reached the ears of the other villagers on the road.
Everyone couldn’t help looking at the golden phoenix who wanted to fly out of the village with doubt, confusion, nervousness or watching the excitement. Everyone’s eyes were different.
One by one, row by row, like different needles, they pierced Ye Yu’s sensitive and proud heart.
He didn’t look at them and continued walking on the road under his feet.
He just didn’t expect that after returning home and saying that he wanted to take the exam again, his parents would strongly oppose it. They thought that if the first time was an accident, he should be resigned to fate after the second time.
“There have been no university students in our village. Others can’t pass the exam and you can’t pass it either. Just give up.”
“You have worked hard but you don’t have the life of a university student. You have graduated from high school now and have learned enough. You can find a job and stop studying.”
Ye Yu didn’t understand why his parents were like this. They quarreled fiercely but none of them could convince the other. In the end, Ye Yu decided to make money by himself to repeat the exam.
In Ye Yu’s dream, kites often flew by. It was just like when he stood on the mountain as a child and would often see planes flying by.
He also wanted to fly. He had never been on a plane. He only learned the English for airplanes in books.
He learned that when flying by plane, he should say that the journey was against the wind, not with the wind.
He went to the town next door to find a job for himself. He worked and studied while saving money.
The workers didn’t know what he was doing at first. They felt he was a cultural person and treated him politely, not disturbing him.
Then with the arrival of Xiang Jian, they learned about Ye Yu’s affairs and started to persuade him to give in. They told him that there was no need to stick to the road of studying. After finishing university, wouldn’t he still have to find a job, get married and have children?
It was the same as them.
Ye Yu didn’t say anything. He just continued to study and save money.
He knew what his dream was and everything he did was to fulfill his dream. He had read books for so many years and knew that people shouldn’t come to this world for nothing. They should have ideals to strive for.
He wanted to go further afield.
It was just that the dream was beautiful but reality was cruel. The large amount of work squeezed into his studying time and made it impossible for him to review what he had learned.
Ye Yu did several test papers but his results weren’t satisfactory.
He looked at the score that couldn’t even get into a second-rate school and remembered the ridicule of the village, the resignation of his parents and the incomprehension of his co-workers.
He didn’t want to add more jokes to them, so he didn’t sign up for the college entrance examination this year.
He quit his job, took the money he had saved and prepared to take the exam again next year.
Ye Yu’s parents were relieved to know that he hadn’t taken the university entrance examination this year.
They were about to say that he had grown up but then they heard him say that he would repeat his studies for another year. For this one year, he wouldn’t go to work again.
Ye Yu’s father was so angry that he dropped the bowl and scolded him for having a heart that was higher than the sky.
“Do you know what the people in the village are saying about me and your mother right now? Do you have any idea what they are saying about you? Why can’t you just go to work? Exam, exam, exam. Are you stupid? Do you only know exams?”
Ye Yu’s mother also cried. “Forget it, Xiao Yu. Our Ye family has no fate. You can fight to death and you won’t be able to pass the exam. Just obediently go to work. Can’t you make money by working? It is better than being laughed at now.”
Ye Yu looked at his irritated father and crying mother. He felt it was strange and was confused.
He felt as if he had jumped out of his body and wasn’t in his body. He felt as if he couldn’t accept the restless and diverse emotions, so he could only stare blankly in a speechless manner.
Ye Yu went out before dawn.
Once he went out, he saw planes flying in the sky. He looked up and thought, ‘When will I be able to go on a plane?’
There was a special repeat school in the town. Ye Yu could only follow this level of high school for another year.
When people from the same village saw him, they laughed at him for taking the exam three times, saying he was delusional and had a heart higher than the sky.
“Their family still expects him to become a golden phoenix but he turned out to be a leper.”
The classmate laughed loudly.
Ye Yu felt that he was pierced and felt uncomfortable. He was now ashamed and flustered when he heard the words ‘golden phoenix.’
The student from the same village went back and told his parents, who turned around and told his neighbors.
The neighbor smiled at his daughter-in-law. “Look, it is as I said. I said he would also take the exam this year. I really know him too well.”
After a while, almost everyone knew about it and laughed.
Their envy from the beginning had changed to the current ridicule.
It was as if stepping on him at this time would make themselves look superior.
They saw Ye Yu’s parents approaching and asked, “Is Ye Yu still studying? How many years has it been?
Four years, right? It is time to finish university, haha.”
“It is taking the exam for four years and studying for six years. If he continues to study, it will almost be the same as how long the War of Resistance lasted,” someone corrected.
“Don’t say it. After studying for so long, doesn’t he just want to be a college student? Fan Jin can pass the exam in his 50s and so can Ye Yu.”
Ye Yu’s parents yelled at them in an embarrassed manner. The other person threw the melon seed skin in his hand and said in a sarcastic voice, “What are you shouting about? It wasn’t like we didn’t prevent your golden phoenix from flying out. Isn’t it that your golden phoenix couldn’t fly out? After so many years, I”m afraid he isn’t a phoenix but a chicken that has shed its feathers…”
Ye Yu’s parents were so angry that they fought with the villagers. After the fight, they were sad because of Ye Yu’s ignorance.
They found the school and persuaded Ye Yu to give up. However, Ye Yu insisted on it and Ye Yu’s father slapped him hard. His father said he wasn’t sensible, never considered the situation of his parents and never saw himself clearly.
Ye Yu received this slap in front of the teacher in the office. He looked at his impatient and anxious parents and felt the teacher’s gaze on him.
He felt he must be very pitiful now, at least in the eyes of the teacher.
He was uncomfortable and couldn’t bear it, but he also seemed to have jumped out of his body and was watching a play. He stood in a dumbfounded manner and didn’t know how to respond.
He eventually didn’t leave the school.
He still wanted to fulfill his dream, to go to a place he had never been before and take a plane that he had never taken.
But occasionally, when reviewing the papers, he would also think of his parents’ pained feelings and remember Xiang Jian laughing at him, “How many times is this? Four times, right?” He remembered the people in the village who said, “Their family is like that but they still want to produce a university student. They really want to smoke their ancestors’ graves.” He thought of his parents saying, “It is your fate. Accept it.”
As the exam arrived, Ye Yu became sick. He dragged his sick body to the examination room and answered the test paper in a blurry manner.
He vaguely felt that he was back in the village. From the beginning of the village to the end of the village, from the end of the village to the beginning of the village. He didn’t know what he was doing. He walked around in circles but couldn’t seem to get out.
He saw the kite had fallen. He ran to pick it up but he found that the kite had no strings and he couldn’t make it fly.
He answered the questions in a daze and there was always noise in his ears.
Sometimes, it was his parents saying that his heart was higher than the sky and sometimes it was the people in the village sarcastically calling him a ‘golden phoenix. Sometimes, it was his workmates persuading him to go to work, get married and have children.
Everyone was pulling him and telling him to stop.
One year, two years, three years, every year.
Ye Yu didn’t understand it very well. He just wanted to realize his dream. Why did they laugh at him?
He tried hard to ignore them and walked forward firmly alone, but found that he seemed to be walking slower and slower.
Ye Yu’s consciousness slowly became chaotic. His pen was still writing the answer but his mind could no longer think accurately.
He wrote the word ‘fate’ on his final composition. He didn’t know what his fate was but… but what?
He didn’t even know what he was writing the word for.
As he expected, he still got poor results this time.
The people in the village were used to it, Ye Yu’s parents were used to it and even Ye Yu himself seemed used to it.
Once he ran out of the money he saved, he went to find a job. He started to continue earning money and studying.
He crouched on the side of the road, watching the sun sink as the day came to an end.
Every time was the same, every day was the same and every year was the same. Everything seemed to have never changed.
It was the same when he was 18. Now he was 22 and he had been repeating it for four years.
Xiang Jian came out of the garage, saw him and called out to him, “Yo, golden phoenix. Why aren’t you going back to study today?”
Ye Yu watched him smoking a cigarette and standing in the sunset. Even Xiang Jian’s ridicule was the same as when he was 18.
Ye Yu stood up and walked back.
For the first time, he started to doubt if people needed dreams.
Perhaps without dreams, people could live more easily.
Ye Yu threw away his books and set fire to his exercise books. He learned to smoke, drink and play cards with everyone.
His parents were delighted to find that their son had become normal.
They patted him on the shoulder and said, “This is good, this is good.”
Ye Yu’s voice was loud but his heart was very sad. He smoked a cigarette all night in the flower-filled yard and raised his head in confusion, but he never saw planes flying in the sky again.
He never dreamed of kites again.
At the age of 25 years old, Ye Yu got married. His marriage partner was a girl from a neighboring village.
She wasn’t highly educated but was beautiful. Xiang Jian patted him on the shoulder and said he had made a profit.
Ye Yu also laughed and said he had made a profit.
They talked about the past and Xiang Jian said, “Think about it, how stupid were you at that time? You insisted on going to university. If you had given up early, you would’ve had a wife and children long ago.”
“That’s right.” The others laughed.
Ye Yu saw them laughing and laughed along with them.
The laughter was open and bright and the scene looked very festive.
It was snowing outside the window and a thick layer accumulated in just one night.
When Ye Yu sent them away, he suddenly remembered his former self. That night, he squatted down in the vibrant summer and smoked all night. He cried and laughed, longing to die in this summer, in the boundless night.
However, it was far away, like something from his previous life.
He looked at the white snow and stood quietly.
Heavy snow fell and landed on him. He was like a stagnant snowman who couldn’t think.
After a long time, Ye Yu took out a cigarette and lit it.
He took a puff of his cigarette. Finally, the smoke went out and his story ended.
Proofreader: Jesse
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