New Year's Eve Snow
It has been two years since I last saw him. Back then, he was just a green young man taking his first stage appearance. Now, he has become an idol who shines wherever he stands. It feels like I am a little distant from him. That's where the sense of distance comes from.
The evening breeze was blowing, but it couldn't erase the distance between the two people.
But she didn't want to drift further apart, so she secretly glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. From the side, his handsome face, accentuated by the black mask, looked even more striking. The night was too quiet, and she didn't want to be in such an awkward situation, so she tried to find other topics to talk about, "Are you doing alright abroad?"
Zheng Ruoqian lowered his head, a smile in his eyes, and two snowflakes fell on his head. "Thank you for your concern, Jiajia. It's great to be able to stand on the stage. The harder I work to get closer to my dream, the more fulfilled I feel."
She looked up and saw a blanket of white. Her previously expressionless face softened with tenderness. "It's snowing, Zheng Ruoqian. It's snowing in Junzhou."
Without realizing it, I reached out and brushed a few snowflakes off his head.
His voice rose a half-tone at the end, "Yes, it's snowing. Shall we take a walk?"
Her gaze froze for a moment, as if she hadn't expected him to make such a request, but she still went along with him and canceled the taxi ride.
As they walked out of the party venue, still some distance from the Children's Palace, the two walked side by side with perfect understanding.
He pulled them to the inside of the sidewalk. Under the dim yellow light of the old-fashioned streetlights, the snowflakes seemed to be covered with a soft halo, falling on the two of them and gently enveloping them.
He also took the initiative to strike up a conversation with her, saying, "I've performed on quite a few stages in the past two years, have you seen them all?"
Xu Changjia was his first true fan, so of course she would keep an eye on him. From the moment she infiltrated his fan club, she knew about all his movements immediately. How could she not have seen it?
But how can she say she's seen everything at a time like this?
Her gaze drifted to the grass and trees weighed down by snowflakes, and she said vaguely, "I look at them occasionally when I'm not studying."
Seeing her reddened ears, he knew the real answer in his heart, and then asked, "So, do you prefer to watch me sing or dance?"
She didn't look at him, her voice low, having chosen neither option, and gave an answer he didn't expect: "I still like watching you play the piano the most."
Zheng Ruoqian's laughter rang out above her head. The moment she looked up at him, he pulled her left hand over. Before she could ask him what he was doing, she was led away and ran forward.
It was a cold winter night, but the warmth of her palm seeped through her fingers and was held tightly.
The snowflakes around them began to fall heavily, separating them from the ribbons of light streaming under the streetlights. Her gaze fell on his thin and stubborn back, as if the world had gone out of focus, and only he was clear.
She could hear his running footsteps, each step upward and powerful, not caring where the road ahead led; following behind him was a kind of madness she had experienced in this lifetime.
A dozen minutes later, they stood in front of the Children's Palace, in the same piano room where they had first met.
Without needing to exchange a word, the two tacitly pushed open one of the doors, turned on the light in the piano room, and lifted the cloth covering it.
He sat calmly on the piano bench and once again played the notes from their first meeting, as if the winter snow had transformed into the bright summer sun of six years ago.
Xu Changjia sat on the small stool behind him, resting his chin on his hand. After all, there weren't many opportunities to be in close contact with him like this anymore. Listening to him play the piano was a beautiful experience and a kind of spiritual redemption.
After the song ended, he turned around and smiled somewhat embarrassedly. Although he knew she would praise him and support him, he still didn't want to disappoint her.
"How was it? My piano skills haven't gotten rusty, have they?"
She smiled and shook her head. "You played very well. Compared to a few years ago, it has a different flavor now."
He leaned closer and asked, "What does it taste like?"
She just stared at him with her big eyes without saying a word, which made him lose his temper and stop asking questions.
He then played several songs from his album that he liked very much for her, and she could name each one.
She really knew everything about him, but stubbornly refused to admit it. Knowing what was going on, we tacitly refrained from exposing her.
The snow outside was falling quite heavily, and it was New Year's Eve. Xu Changjia's mother called to ask if she was trapped in the snowstorm and couldn't come back.
Upon learning that she was at the Children's Palace, she personally arranged for her father to drive over and pick her up to go home for New Year's Eve dinner.
When I picked her up, I saw a young man wearing a mask sitting in the back with my daughter. I couldn't help but peek at him through the rearview mirror. He took the initiative to say that he was her high school classmate and that we had kept in touch over the years.
Mr. Xu only knew Ou Liyao as a high school classmate, so he started the conversation by talking about her. When he heard that he was a big star who was even more famous than that girl, he almost got so excited that he had a close encounter with the car in front of him, but luckily the brakes were responsive.
Xu Changjia hadn't expected that a company CEO would lose his composure like this when facing a big star, and promptly interrupted their conversation, "Zheng Ruoqian, do you think your home is in that neighborhood over there? We haven't gone the wrong way, have we?"
"Yes, that's it. You have a great memory."
These two sentences made Mr. Xu start to have all sorts of thoughts again. After dropping her off at home, he didn't say a word on the way back. He started to wonder if it was because his daughter had fallen for this little star that she told him everything and never reported anything to the family.
Even when Zheng Ruoqian respectfully wished him a Happy New Year as he got out of the car, he pretended not to hear it, simply rolled up the car window, and coldly stepped on the gas and drove away.
When they got home, Aunt Chen had already prepared the New Year's Eve dinner and left, just waiting for them to come back so they could eat.
In her memory, it was rare for the family of three to sit together and have a happy meal, especially on a major holiday like New Year's Eve. Maybe it would happen once or twice every three to five years.
The last time was when she first entered high school, and now, in the blink of an eye, she's about to graduate from university.
If they hadn't visited her in Nan'an last time, they probably wouldn't have known about her taking the postgraduate entrance exam, or they might have even forgotten what year she was in college this year.
Mr. Xu was still wondering if his daughter was dating that minor celebrity, and he ate quietly at the dinner table. Mrs. Xu, on the other hand, was all smiles and chatted with her affectionately, occasionally putting a few pieces of fish and shrimp into her bowl.
She got back quite late, and the second half of the New Year's Eve reunion dinner was spent watching the Spring Festival Gala. She even saw a fleeting clip of "Youth Dream Factory" on the Gala stage, and Ou Liyao's image was prominently featured.
After lying on the sofa with her parents for a while, she said goodbye to them and went back to her small room to browse Weibo. Unexpectedly, she received a lot of private messages.
The reason is simple: her post analyzing offline postgraduate entrance exam preparation institutions went viral recently, and many junior students asked her to help them check whether the ones they chose were reliable, or they directly asked her to recommend the institution she had enrolled in.
She doesn't want to see these private messages right now, so she posted another Weibo post saying she would reply to them one by one in a few days, and at the end she wished everyone a happy new year.
Less than a minute after he posted it, a big star liked it and commented: Happy New Year!
It seemed unremarkable, but it still gave netizens a glimpse of gossip, and many of them switched their allegiance to her Weibo account.
Xu Changjia left, unaware of the raging storm that followed. He opened WeChat and sent a message to Ou Liyao, saying that she had actually seen her on screen during the Spring Festival Gala today.
She glanced at the "typing..." chat window for a long time, and if she waited any longer she was about to send a question mark, when her phone suddenly rang.
Originally, she was just choosing a management company and was very conflicted. Unexpectedly, when the CCTV Spring Festival Gala aired tonight, even though it was just a fleeting shot, it was CCTV! Many people sensed the business opportunities and job security there, and even more people approached her.
She never expected that becoming famous would bring so many troubles. She's never been one to think things through, but her parents kept pressuring her on these important matters, which annoyed her to no end. All she could do was call them on New Year's Eve to vent her frustrations.
Xu Changjia was both amused and exasperated. On one hand, she was genuinely happy that her best friend had become a big star, but on the other hand, it also meant that Ou Liyao's fame brought her one step closer to completing her mission of survival.
However, the memory book told her all this, but never offered her any substantial help. She wondered if she could ask it for advice.
The moment the thought crossed her mind, alarm bells rang in her head, turning into a yellow exclamation mark with a red background, sounding a warning to her.
Indeed, it's better to rely on yourself than to ask others for help.
"So what are you planning to do in the future, Yao Yao? We can't just keep dragging this on."
Today is Lunar New Year's Eve, a prime time for her parents to work overtime and boost their sales figures. After having dinner with the other members of the travel agency, she started researching her own career path. Following Zheng Ruoqian's advice, she selected three decent entertainment companies to show her father.
She thought it was almost over, but before the Spring Festival Gala had even finished airing, her phone was almost ringing off the hook again. In addition to the few agencies she had just selected, the producer and director of "Youth Dream Factory" had just given her a bunch of contact numbers and told her to handle it herself.
Sure enough, she needs to sign with a company soon and get an assistant and agent so that someone can help her handle these things.
"Jiajia, I'm really on the road to becoming a big star. Will you drift further and further away from me from now on?"
Xu Changjia leaned against the bed, beginning to ponder whether it was right or wrong to push them all onto the path of stardom. She had a second chance and lived a different life, but what about them?
Do they really want to become big stars?
Zheng Ruoqian is someone who has always been determined to become an idol, and has never backed down on this path.
As for Ou Liyao, she only entered the entertainment industry out of curiosity. And Zhang Yuning, such a proud academic genius, only got a little bit involved in the field and didn't get too close.
And what about Wenxue Chang and Yunhe Gege? Is their path really to stardom in the entertainment industry?
For the first time, she questioned the destiny that the memory book had laid out for her, and even wanted to give up on the tasks that followed, but giving up meant certain death.
Her mind was in turmoil, and she couldn't seriously discuss the subsequent issues with Ou Liyao. She only made an appointment to come to the travel agency the next day to accompany her to look at the contract, since her parents were also busy with work and couldn't find the time.
But as she stayed up late to welcome the New Year, the sound of firecrackers outside was deafening, and she couldn't fall asleep because she couldn't find the answer to her question.
I pushed open the door and went out to pour myself a glass of water. I saw that the living room light was still on, and my dad was sitting there smoking.
His silhouette looked somewhat lonely and forlorn.
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