Fifteen years ago, midsummer.
Cicadas chirping, pond.
Ice cold strawberry milk.
Two pairs of dangling legs on a park bench.
"If my mother saw me drinking this kind of milk drink, she would definitely scold me." The boy broke the can, "and I sneaked out."
"Then don't let her know." The boy opened the pull ring for him.
Cicadas chirping.
"Does your mother still send you to dance every day?" said the boy.
"It's so hot in the summer, I don't want to go dancing. I pretended that I sprained my ankle - awesome, isn't it!" the boy said happily, then got frustrated. "Although I don't have to dance anymore, my mom asked me to use the time I spent dancing to practice my lines. And every day after school, my mom would pick me up, so I had no time to sneak out... Last time I was ten minutes late leaving school, and my mom got mad again. Why does she control me like this?"
"…Yes. Because Xiao Xia is mom's pride. Mom said that you look like her and have talent. You will definitely fulfill her wish and become a big star in the future." said the boy.
The boy has no talent.
When my brother becomes a big star, will my mother end her struggle and take back his custody
Drops of water fell from the can and dripped onto the ants that crawled by.
"But do I have to be a big star?" the boy said ignorantly, "Brother, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
The afternoon sun was a bit dazzling. The boy looked at his brother's face, which had everything but was innocent, and suddenly felt disgusted.
"I'm going to the Children's Palace later. Xiaoxia, go back by yourself." said the boy.
"What does the Children's Palace look like?" The boy was diverted.
“The Children’s Palace is…”
It was the place where I was abandoned by my grandparents and my father who never cared about me.
This is where mom focused on nurturing you and ignored me.
Mom said you are destined to be a big star, what about me
"Thank you, brother, for bringing me out and treating me to a meal," said the boy.
There was complete trust in his eyes.
He waved goodbye to the boy on the other side of the street. Before turning away, he hesitated for a moment and sent a text message to his mother using his PHS.
"Mom, can you pick me up this afternoon... and take me back to Grandpa's house?"
The sound of sudden brakes.
"A kid got hit by a motorcycle."
Injured, running, hospital.
A mother's slap and angry tears.
"How could you sneak him out and then let a child go back alone?!"
"I… "
Actually, you know you shouldn’t do this.
But the hatred and jealousy that suddenly arose in his heart at that moment made him think that his younger brother already had so much, so what was wrong with having one less brother to send him back
Through his dim tearful eyes, he saw the child on the hospital bed reaching out to hook his fingers. The child closed his eyes and seemed to be calling him.
"elder brother… "
His tears flowed at that moment.
Later, grandparents came and argued with mom, drew a line in the sand, and said the two children should never see each other again.
Separated hands.
Later, his father went bankrupt and went abroad. He was raised by his grandparents and taken to other cities.
Later, I met my old brothers again and kept seeing them on TV and in commercials.
Maybe that’s why I chose to become a journalist? I wrote down my major on the application form without knowing what I was doing. I was too emotional to meet my brother and mother. I accepted my ordinariness and chose to continue my ordinary life, which seemed to have no future.
But there may be some bright spots in ordinary life.
For example, in the future, I will suddenly meet my younger brother. I know that he wants to perform in a play without my mother's knowledge, and I know that my younger brother and mother have difficulty letting go of each other. I use the years of experience I learned as a reporter to resolve their misunderstandings, secretly buy my younger brother's play tickets and give them to my mother, so that they can give each other a surprise, so that they can finally reconcile with each other, and I can finally forget the guilt mixed with jealousy, sadness and unwillingness.
And during the interview, I had to say to my brother the words I had been thinking about for a long time.
"It's okay not to be a big star. Even if everyone thinks you are talented, even if everyone thinks you have enjoyed and wasted educational resources, even if everyone thinks you should be a star because you are born with talent, and you should be a star because you have the resources, and think that it is a waste if you don't become a star, and they envy and scold you for wasting resources and not contributing to the world..."
"But never, any time, when you don't want to be a big star."
"It will be all right."
One day many years ago.
Yu Rongshi was in the recording studio again.
A student named "Yi Wan" sits under the shade of a tree at the high school.
Chi Jixia started the performance with her mother on her back.
The former actress Chi Qiu finally came. Holding a play ticket sent by someone unknown, she stared at her youngest son in the center of the stage, who was in pain, struggling, yet extremely real and dazzling.
She walked out of the theater with mixed feelings. In the center of the square, she saw a missed call.
There was a voicemail message from the oldest son.
But who would want to listen to the message at this time? She just wanted to call back immediately and say thank you and sorry to her son who she had ignored for many years and had been in a cold war with for two months because of that persuasion.
So she made the call.
“Beep…beep…beep…”
At the same time, a street away, a figure jumped down from a building.
His shadow was getting faster and faster. Gravity supported the last image he left in this world. As long as it exceeded the speed of light, all time could be reversed.
But he didn't.
"Bang!"
"What's that loud..." someone said in the square.
The busy streets came to a halt, the colorful neon lights stopped flashing, and people stopped chatting.
The whole world seemed to be stuck for a moment, and then it returned to normal.
Even the person who was complaining just now continued walking.
It was as if nothing unusual had ever happened.
There is only one exception.
“Beep…beep…beep… The number you dialed is unavailable. Please try again later.”
At the moment when the "bang" sounded, the sound in the receiver changed.
Meanwhile, backstage.
Chi Jixia took off her costume while sweating profusely.
"... Summer is so long." He squinted his eyes and smiled happily, "Isn't it..."
He paused.
"Um… ?"
"Who was I trying to talk to?"
"… It seems that it can only be the system. I deliberately refused its help to act like this. Will the system be angry with me?"
…
Yi Wan was running in the dark alley.
He could not look back, could not stop, because the pale moon was watching him. He ran under the shadows of trees, into buildings, and into every street that he was once familiar with but no longer familiar with due to renovations and expansions over the years.
—Can’t be caught by the moon.
The old town was eerily quiet late at night. As Yi Wan turned a corner, he stumbled.
He looked up and stared blankly at the building in front of him.
The familiar tube-shaped building.
His uncle and aunt’s former home, in the dark shadows under the moon.
The shirt stuck to my body, and the cold wind blew through my bones. I didn't know when the moon had been thrown away. The sky was gloomy, with only a few stars shining on the dark red wall.
How much does it cost to buy a building like this in City S
Yi Wan had an urge to go upstairs.
He would hold the handrail of the stairs and walk up. On the first floor, there were children running, aunties noisily eating sunflower seeds, the first floor was filled with the aroma of cooking, and on the third floor was the overly enthusiastic Mr. Wang who would always greet him. On the fourth floor, at the deepest point, he would hear the banging of pots and pans, and the sharp voice of his aunt.
"Shen Zhong, come out to eat!"
In that world, he would not flee in panic to avoid the moon just because someone called him "Shen Zhong".
“… It’s so cold.” Yi Wan said.
As long as you walk up to it, these illusions will come true.
Yi Wan couldn't help but go up.
moon!
moon!
The moon didn't leave!
What appeared before my eyes was still the dark corridor. There were no lights in the corridor, and no home. The pale moon hung behind me, like a silent mockery.
In fact, Yi Wan didn’t want much, he just wanted to go home.
Even though he had no home to begin with.
Yi Wan continued to walk quickly. He crossed the bridge over the Black River and slowly arrived at a quiet residential area. Yi Wan vaguely remembered that this residential area was where some cadres lived. Yi Wan didn't like to have much contact with public authorities, so he planned to bypass it and continue walking.
"Yi Wan?" Someone called him from behind.
It turned out to be Yu Qichen.
Yu Qichen had two huge dark circles under his eyes. He saw Yi Wan blinking slowly and said, "You... just got back from get off work?"
"What work? I've been temporarily suspended." Yu Qichen said.
This is something he would not tell Yu Rongshi. In his brother's eyes, everything would be fine at home.
Yi Wan: “Oh…”
He was stunned.
The moon disappeared.
In this neighborhood.
The moon... literally disappeared.
Why did the moon disappear here
Yu Qichen waited for a long time for Yi Wan to say the next sentence, but Yi Wan really just said "Oh".
Yi Wan looked at Yu Qichen in confusion, as if waiting for him to explain his pause. Yu Qichen had no choice but to say, "Isn't the way you speak a little strange?"
I don’t know why my brother seems to be bewitched by him.
Yi Wan thought for a moment and said, “I was diagnosed with mild Asperger’s syndrome when I was a child.”
So-called autism. I had it when I was very young.
Yu Qichen felt a little embarrassed, thinking that he had touched someone's sore spot. He saw Yi Wan looking up and looking around, so he asked him, "Why are you out here so late at night and not in the company?"
"We are going out to prepare the album." Yi Wan was talking when he realized that he had forgotten Chi Jixia and the others.
But anyway, Ding Biehan has done everything he can.
…
Ding Biehan, who was far away at AT, sneezed. At this moment, Brother Liu was furious.
Brother Liu: "Where are the others?"
Ding Biehan: …
I feel it’s better not to say it.
"Xiao Ding." The boss's secretary appeared beside him like a ghost, "The boss wants you to come over."
Ding Biehan:
atBoss... call him alone
…
"Going out to prepare the album..." Yu Qichen's eyes twitched, "It's almost eleven o'clock..."
He looked at his watch: "Is it convenient for you to take a taxi back?"
Yi Wan didn't want to leave the community for the time being - who knew if the moon was still outside. So he said, "The company dormitory has a curfew at 11 o'clock, so it might be too late."
Yu Qichen: "Ah... Oh... How about you stay at my house first?"
Yi Wan: “Okay.”
You agreed quite quickly.
But after all, he is an acquaintance of mine, so he won’t mind.
"You should know about my brother's affairs, but he specifically asked me to tell you that he is fine now and you don't have to worry." Yu Qichen looked at Yi Wan's calm face and doubted whether he was worried or not.
The best thing about Yu Qichen is that he talks a lot. He took the key and led Yi Wan upstairs, saying as he walked: "My cousin Yu Rongshi and I lived here until I went to college. We each had a house, one on the eighth floor and one on the seventh floor. Now my house has been rented out, and his house is still empty, used to store some things, and my brother also comes back to live here occasionally. Let's stay at his house today."
"Oh... what are you doing here?"
"Get some documents from the safe here... Here we go."
The elevator stopped at the eighth floor. Yu Qichen used the key to open the door of 801.
"My brother's family moved out after he debuted. But the house is still the same as before, and nothing has been moved. If you move in now, you might be able to find his childhood stuff, hahaha..."
The door opened. !