Chanting sutras and worshipping Buddha, with smoke rising from the air.
Everywhere you look, the trees are lush and green... no, they are bare. Under these bare trees, Lu Yinbing and Xia Yitong sit on a stone bench, quietly watching the pilgrims passing by.
Lu Yinbing had just chatted with the Zen master in the temple and was about to leave for home. When she was about to reach the gate, she turned back and said she wanted to see some people. All living things are different.
At this time, a leaf should have fallen on her shoulder, making her face look calm and beautiful, but the leaves had already fallen, leaving only the endless cold wind ruffling her long hair. She pressed her hands to her ears and asked Xia Yitong, "Do you remember the last time I took you to the street to watch people?"
Xia Yitong: “I remember.” It was the time when she went to Northeast China to find her and was forced to cram for her acting skills.
"Those people, what's the difference between these people?"
"ah?"
"What's the difference?" Lu Yinbing repeated her question.
Different? Xia Yitong carefully observed the people passing by. Some of them looked down and out, some were distracted, some were full of ambition, some were pious, and some were neither happy nor sad...
She racked her brains and said after a while, "The middle-aged woman in the yellow down jacket, who was walking in a hurry and staring at the direction of the main hall, must have something to ask of the Buddha. The young man in the leather jacket, who was looking around, always looking at his phone and talking to people, was probably waiting for a friend. It's quite unusual for friends to meet in a temple. He could also be waiting for a girlfriend and praying for a marriage. That makes sense, but now the world has changed. He could also be waiting for a boyfriend. Ah, just like the two of us in love..."
Lu Yinbing laughed.
"Sorry for going off topic. The girl standing on the steps, neither going up nor down, I think she is looking for an angle to take a selfie..." Xia Yitong picked out more than a dozen people, young and old, in blue and green clothes. She felt a little thirsty, so she cleared her throat and asked, "Do you want to say more?"
"That's off topic." Lu Yinbing said, "I was asking you what's different."
Xia Yitong paused and said, "... I don't actually feel any difference. We are all human beings, ordinary people running around in the mortal world, for fame, for profit, and for love."
"Then what's the difference between me and you?" Lu Yinbing asked.
"You're prettier than me."
Lu Yinbing smiled and put his arm around her shoulders, hugged her neck, and pinched her ears: "You are so smooth-talking. I will report you."
"Will I send it to you after reporting it?" Xia Yitong said.
"Where else do you want to go?"
"In no mood."
"I dare you." Lu Yinbing threatened, and Xia Yitong took her hand from her shoulder and kissed her quickly while no one was paying attention. Turning to look at her, Lu Yinbing was smiling, a comfortable and calm smile extending from the corners of her eyes to her eyebrows.
There was a hint of sadness in her smile, so faint that it was almost invisible, as if it was engraved in her smile lines.
The smile on her face stayed for about three seconds. Xia Yitong counted them, and then Lu Yinbing stopped smiling.
"Don't run around for announcements recently," Lu Yinbing said, "You're not in good spirits. No one can control you when I'm not around."
"Hmm." Xia Yitong wanted to ask: What about you? But when the words came to her lips, they felt like a thousand pounds and she couldn't say them.
"When will "Mei Qi" be released? I..." Lu Yinbing paused and said, "Something delayed me. I promised you a cameo, but later I didn't have time. How is your performance as the third female lead?"
Xia Yitong answered her questions one by one: "Next summer vacation, Director Qin said we'll see if we can put it on the summer schedule. The post-production has been completed, and we're just discussing the issue of the TV station purchasing the copyright and network cooperation. As for the guest appearance, it's a good thing you didn't come. If you really came, I would definitely be overshadowed by you. Sister Laiying, the whistle is so good now that it can even attract horses. After the filming, she told me that she bought a horse from a friend's horse farm and named it Sun Zei."
Lu Yinbing smiled and said, "Every year she tells me that she will stop filming and retire in two years to open a milk tea shop in the county. Now she is doing very well. She won the Golden Crow Award again this year. She is such a big shot. She is already in her thirties and will be an elderly mother in the future."
Xia Yitong smiled and said, "She went to a new film set two months ago to play a..." She suddenly stopped talking and turned to look at Lu Yinbing.
Lu Yinbing smiled, not showing any abnormality: "Hmm?"
Xia Yitong was in a dilemma: "Play a... person."
Lu Yinbing pouted: "Isn't he acting a human or an animal?"
Xia Yitong smiled.
Lu Yinbing looked down at the ground and suddenly said, "Don't worry about me too much."
Xia Yitong: “Ah.”
Lu Yinbing: "Ah what?"
Xia Yitong: "Interjection, I don't understand."
Lu Yinbing raised her eyelids and squinted at the boy in the black jacket who was still waiting for someone. She rolled her toes on the ground and said, "I will adjust myself. You take good care of yourself."
Xia Yitong: “Ah.”
Lu Yinbing became irritated for no reason. The accumulated emotions were like gunpowder, exploding with a bang: "What are you saying again? Can't you just say it nicely if you have something to say?"
Along with her angry words, Xia Yitong also said: "I believe you."
Xia Yitong was stunned by her question before she could finish her second sentence. Then she hurriedly explained carefully: "I was slow to react, right... I was wrong."
Lu Yinbing covered her face with her hands, and her palms soon became wet. She kept shaking her head.
It’s not Xia Yitong’s fault, it’s her fault. It’s all her fault.
Xia Yitong said: "I am sick. I am not well yet, so I need some time to react. Don't be angry."
"I'm not angry." Lu Yinbing took a deep breath and pleaded weakly, "Please hold me."
"Okay, okay, I'll hold you." Xia Yitong hugged Lu Yinbing completely into her arms and coaxed her softly, "Don't be afraid, you still have me. No matter what time it is, you have me, don't be afraid, ah."
They were hugging each other in such a public place, and a few people who had nothing to do had already looked over. Thanks to their cell phones, they refocused their attention on their phones and had no interest in the two people in the distance who were fully armed and covered tightly.
"The person that boy is waiting for is here." Xia Yitong raised her hand and patted Lu Yinbing's back. Lu Yinbing's eyes were red and spread out, like a red plum blossom on the snow, shining brightly. She was slightly surprised and said, "It's actually a man."
Xia Yitong said: "Maybe he is a brother?"
Lu Yinbing looked at their backs and said, "Brothers usually don't hold hands, right?"
Xia Yitong continued, "We won't go to a place where no one is around and kiss secretly." She held her chin and thought, "Should we say that a lesbian can see gays, or have we trained our eyes to detect lesbians? Is this a lack of humanity, or a loss of morality?"
Lu Yinbing laughed: "It was you, not us. If you hadn't told me I wouldn't have noticed the black jacket."
"Okay." Xia Yitong also laughed for a while. The "case" was completely solved. The two of them left the temple, walked for a few minutes, drove down the mountain, and stopped at a supermarket near their home on the way to buy fruits, vegetables, and meat.
Xia Yitong went to push a cart. Lu Yinbing walked beside her with her head down and looked unhappy. Xia Yitong teased her, "Do you want to sit in the cart?" After she said that, she pouted, and several children sat in the carts and were pushed by their parents.
Lu Yinbing looked shocked and disgusted: "I'm not a child."
Xia Yitong moved closer to her and whispered, "Baby."
Lu Yinbing shuddered all over, and Xia Yitong followed suit, shaking his arms and swallowing his saliva. It was obvious that he couldn't stand this title either.
Seeing her exaggerated reaction, Lu Yinbing laughed instead.
There is no hard and fast rule for who cooks at night, just what they cook and buy. Xia Yitong is a homebody, and can cook home-cooked dishes, such as braised eggplant, three fresh vegetables, and bamboo shoots fried with meat, and she always picks vegetarian dishes. Lu Yinbing is a chef, and she usually doesn't cook, but when she does, it's a big dish, specializing in seafood and various meats. The two walked through the various areas, chatting and laughing in low voices.
Not far away, a young man wearing a brown jacket and short yellow hair was holding a mobile phone. He seemed to be chatting with someone, but in fact he was paying attention to Lu Yinbing and Xia Yitong's every move.
Today, it was purely by chance that I ran into him. Although the paparazzi Huang Mao was still intent on stealing, Xia Yitong's whereabouts were too unpredictable recently. After filming, he disappeared from the airport, so there was no place to follow him even if he wanted to.
Xia Yitong paused for a moment, then continued walking forward, but changed the subject: "Teacher Lu, there are paparazzi taking pictures of us."
Lu Yinbing: "Let him take the photo. We didn't kiss in public, so what are we afraid of?"
Xia Yitong: "I'm not afraid, I'm just telling you."
Lu Yinbing: "Where is he? I'll go over and say hello to him."
Xia Yitong: "The condiment area at the back right."
Lu Yinbing: "I just remembered that I should buy a bottle of oyster sauce for my family."
Before they could get over, the paparazzi ran away. Tomorrow's news would probably be about "Lu Yinbing and Xia Yitong appeared in the supermarket to shop". No one knew whether it was about the deep sisterly love or intimate behavior. After all, the sisterly love is sometimes not so omnipotent. But no matter what it is, the two of them don't care too much.
That night, Lu Yinbing's studio received photos from the studio of xx marketing account, paid some money, and then sent them to Lu Yinbing's email as a souvenir.
When Xue Yao called, Lu Yinbing was making spicy chicken wings. At first, he forgot to turn on the range hood and was choked by the fried chili peppers. "Ahem... Hello..."
Xia Yitong reached out and turned on the range hood. Lu Yinbing only heard Xue Yao muttering a few words beside her ear. She hurried to cook and quickly responded, "I know. I will definitely correct it. Plate."
Xia Yitong took her phone and handed her the plate, but the phone was already on standby mode.
Xia Yitong: "What did she say?"
Lu Yinbing shoveled the pepper into the plate, a bead of sweat on his forehead: "I don't know, anyway, just correct the answer."