Chapter 147: Peace of Mind

"Why don't you scold him a few more times? Or you can kick him twice!" Seeing Julie's back as she left angrily, many spectators shouted in dissatisfaction: The loser who wasted food should be taught a lesson!

Although they don't understand the endless mysteries of the popular later meme "Chasing Wife to the Crematorium", most Chinese people are born with the ability to learn it and extremely like the cool routine of the bottom-level counterattack and slapping the face of the pretentious dog. Julie's continuous efforts in the early stage and Bryce's indifference in the early stage are in line with the plot premise of counterattack and slapping in the face in their minds.

"Xiaoying, you should learn from this too. You shouldn't marry a guy like this. Don't be fooled by that face..." Old Mrs. Li kept talking to her granddaughter Zhang Xiaoying, which made Wu Xiulan laugh.

Maybe everything will be like the stories in the movies, with good things coming after bad ones?

On the screen, after Bryce discovered that Julie really hated him, he began to do something that was completely unexpected to him in the past. In response, his inner monologue was "I found that making Julie angry with me is worse than the feeling of her making me angry."

The way she ignored me seemed to always remind me: I am an asshole.

Bryce thought so while pretending to be calm and holding the plate, trying to get closer to Julie.

As a result, as soon as he sat down in the seat next to him, Julie immediately packed up her things and walked away, leaving him sitting there with an awkward look on his face...

The audience burst into laughter: Yes, that's right!

Contrary to her usual behavior, the scenes of daily life quickly switched, from the classroom to the cafeteria to the corridor, Bryce tried every means to get close to Julie, but Julie was like a big boss who had mastered anti-reconnaissance skills. When she saw his figure from a distance, she ran away on the spot.

The more embarrassed and mortified Bryce was, the happier the audience was.

The kind where you ignored me yesterday, but I will make you feel out of my league tomorrow... it's just too great!

One day, when Bryce returned home, he found that his grandfather, who never smiled no matter how hard he tried to please him, was actually teaching and helping Julie to tidy up the yard.

He couldn't help but always peek at what was going on across the street, and eventually even Bryce's father found out that Grandpa was helping the neighbors across the street with yard work. When they gathered together to watch TV in the evening, he would sarcastically say that Grandpa was inactive at home but very active outside.

Grandpa quietly told the truth that Julie's family wanted to save money to treat their mentally ill family members, and explained that Julie's family rented the house, and Julie's parents were busy taking care of the family and making money, and had no time to clean up.

According to the laws here, the landlord should pay for the yard maintenance.

However, Bryce's father Steven had no sympathy or empathy at all. He said that every family has its own problems, but other people can also tidy up their yards and lawns. Julie's family is so shirking responsibility, sloppy, and affecting the image of the community. Maybe there is a genetic problem that caused the mentally retarded child.

This attitude obviously aroused the grandfather's anger, so the grandfather explained again that Julie's father's younger brother Daniel was suffering from hypoxia due to umbilical cord around his neck when he was born, otherwise he would be as healthy as Bryce!

This touched Bryce's mother. Thinking of how Bryce almost suffered from cerebral palsy because of this, Bryce's mother, with tears in her eyes, could not help but got up and went back to her room.

Bryce's father yelled at his grandfather angrily, then hurried back to the room to check on Bryce's mother.

At this time, Bryce's sister went outside to play with the band formed by Julie's twin brother, leaving only grandpa and Bryce in the room.

Bryce felt bad when he heard his grandfather say that the reason he didn't become the second Daniel was because the doctor who delivered him was very skilled and untied the umbilical cord in time, saving him from the disaster.

An old man and a child were walking under the shade of the trees at night. Bryce, who had always longed to be close to his grandfather, opened his heart to his grandfather for the first time and had a serious conversation with him on this special night.

The outsider told him that his attitude of attaching great importance to status and preferring to fit in rather than stand out was actually very similar to Bryce's father; and Julie was taught by her father who was an expert in painting that when looking at things and people, one should not only look at the details but also look at the overall point of view, which was very similar to her grandfather's deceased wife.

Self-respect, love and responsibility, unconventional and considerate of others, independent personality and interesting soul

In this world, some people are shallow and ignorant, some are superficial and beautiful, but there are also some people who are as brilliant as rainbows. When you meet such people, you must cherish them well - this is what his grandfather taught Bryce in the end.

With Bryce's current experience, he only partially understood these words, but the profound truths contained in them were hard for him to forget.

So he subconsciously began to pay attention to everything about Julie that he had deliberately ignored in the past.

Compared to Bryce's own and his family's troubles, from Julie's perspective, it was a harmonious and warm dinner scene.

The twin brothers, played by Chen Boyang and Zhang Querong, came on stage singing the lively and refreshing "What's Your Name". Their voices arrived before they appeared. As the song started, the camera gradually moved to the faces of the two young men, who looked somewhat similar but each had their own unique style. Their typical traditional Chinese handsomeness and elegance drew unanimous praise from the audience.

Although poor, Julie's family is full of joy and warmth, unlike the depression in Bryce's family at all.

Julie proposed to use the money from selling eggs to tidy up the yard, but her father Richard rejected the idea outright, saying that it was her money and the landlord should pay for the yard tidying up.

When Julie's mother Trina heard this, she couldn't help but feel angry and aggrieved. She kept saying that they had lived here for so many years and the landlord had not paid for cleaning up the house. She was already showing signs of a quarrel.

Tracing back to the source, when Julie, who has always been well-behaved and sensible, was asked why she wanted to tidy up the yard, it was actually because her neighbor the Bryce family disliked her. The other four people who usually got along well with the Bryce family suddenly changed their expressions.

"Who cares what they think?" the two brothers said disapprovingly.

"I care!" Julie's mother immediately shouted, telling Julie's father to think about his child instead of just saving money and sending his brother Daniel to an expensive private nursing home.

But Julie's father had deep feelings for his brothers and would never allow his mentally ill brother to be left without proper care. For a while, the two quarreled fiercely.

Julie had tears in her eyes, like a child who had made a mistake, looking at her parents who were arguing with red faces, at a loss, wanting to persuade them but unable to do so.

"Sorry, Julie, it's not your fault. We will find a way to solve it." Seeing Julie's look, Julie's parents quickly stopped arguing, calmed down, and then said in a hoarse voice.

That night, Julie's father and mother came to Julie's room once each.

In addition to apologizing to Julie, Julie's father also told her parents that he had promised them that he would always take care of his brother.

Julie's mother said that she liked Julie's father's kindness and strength, but the poor couple's miserable life made her feel unexpectedly resentful.

"You are my blessing." After expressing her inner thoughts, Julie's mother gave Julie a goodnight kiss and said in her ear.

Julie lay in bed, feeling sad for her parents' difficulties; on the other hand, she was grateful that she had parents who respected and loved them, and felt very lucky.

In contrast, although the Bryce family lives a wealthy life, there are always various frictions and conflicts.

Between material wealth and spiritual wealth, Julie chose the latter without hesitation.

During a weekend vacation, Julie went with her father to visit her uncle Daniel.

After witnessing her uncle's sudden and unexpected seizure in the ice cream shop and her father's efforts to control and take care of him, Julie realized how difficult it was for her parents. In her heart, she turned the symbol "Daniel" into a vivid memory of her family.

As if she had grown up and matured in an instant, she finally understood deeply why her parents had always insisted on doing something.

It’s just for the word “family”, but it’s not just for the word “family”.

Just when Julie realizes what her family is, Bryce is in the library, speaking ill of Julie's uncle Daniel to his plastic friends just to save face.

At the two family gatherings that night, Bryce's subconscious attempts to please and get close to her were met with a cold shoulder from her. She bluntly said that she had heard Bryce mocking her uncle in the library, so she didn't want to pay any more attention to him.

Bryce's extremely embarrassed face at that time made the audience feel relieved.

During dinner, Bryce's father was still foul-mouthed. He seemed to be concerned but was actually sarcastically asking the twin brothers about their future college studies. However, when he learned that they had been accepted by several schools, he was slapped in the face by the facts.

This face-slapping scene was so exciting that the audience almost laughed like pigs.

"But we still plan to make music first," said the twin brother.

Following this topic, Bryce's mother casually said that Bryce's father was also a very good saxophone player. The cheerful and generous twin brothers immediately asked him if he still played, and if so, he could play music with them.

Bryce's father fell silent for a moment, unable to even force a smile.

Seeing this, some of the older educated youth began to feel a slight sense of sadness that they could empathize with.

Until this moment, Bryce finally understood why his father had always mocked Julie's family: after compromising with interests, he gradually lost his original intention of holding on to his dream of music.

The young man who once had kindness and dreams was bent by reality and became the person he once hated the most.

Maybe deep down, what Bryce's father despised was not Julie's family who were pursuing their dreams of painting and music, but himself who had lost his kindness and dreams.

At the end of the dinner, Julie found Bryce and apologized for her previous bad attitude.

At this moment, Bryce felt even more sad.

Yaoyao looked at the backs of Julie's family walking hand in hand, and then thought of the helplessness and misunderstanding in his own family. In addition to the unspeakable sadness in his heart, he also felt endless entanglements.

But the story develops at a rapid pace and he has no time to feel entangled or sad, for he happens to be on the list of "basket boys" for the school anniversary.

This was a lunch auction held for charity, and each selected boy held a lunch basket and allowed his classmates to bid for it like a commodity... This made Bryce feel very humiliated and embarrassed.

But what made him most embarrassed and sad was that at the auction, Julie bought the basket boy numbered 8.

And his number is 9.

The tables of the two teams happened to be next to each other. Seeing Julie and the little nerd No. 8 chatting and laughing happily, he finally couldn't hold back the turmoil in his heart. He left the school beauty who took a picture of him and rushed to Julie's table to pull her out.

Then, he wanted to kiss the heroine like the male protagonists he saw in movies and TV shows - but before he could even get close to Julie, she dodged and pushed him away.

He staggered and held onto the back of a chair to steady himself. Amid the laughter of the crowd, Bryce ran out, but he still couldn't catch up with Julie, who was riding away crying.

His best friend chased him and scolded him, saying that the most popular girl in the school liked him but he didn't care, but instead favored Julie, who was known to be weird in the school... Bryce was so emotional that he had a quarrel with his best friend and broke up with him.

After that night's dinner, he realized that he should not laugh at other people's misfortunes, and he was very angry at his friend for laughing at Julie because of his inherent mindset.

His good friend Garrett also has a small part of Chinese ancestry, but unlike Julie, he does not have a normal view of his own bloodline. Instead, he wants to abandon this bloodline and strive to get close to the local people - this is why Su Yun chose Keanu, who has one-eighth Chinese ancestry, to play this role.

There are quite a few Chinese people out there who do not recognize their own origins. Compared to the discrimination from others, the backstabbing from their compatriots is more sad and infuriating.

Perhaps the stories that leave the deepest impression on people are always like this - beneath the seemingly endlessly beautiful illusion, there is always the hidden cruelty of reality.

On the way back with the basket, Bryce finally realized that he had fallen in love with Julie.

I don't know when the pounding heart started, this process is always hard to trace, like fingers running across glass, it is a feeling that is hard to describe but easy to understand.

Once you are moved, it's not just your heart that is moved.

He didn't want to find out the reason anymore, but after realizing his true feelings, he smiled from the bottom of his heart.

After being moved, the next step is action. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried, including knocking on the front door, the back door, the windows, and making phone calls, Bryce failed to convince the "heartless" Julie to turn around and pay attention to him.

Just when Julie thought that the annoying guy Bryce had finally given up and stopped causing trouble, he actually went to Julie's yard with a shovel and started digging a hole.

"Is this guy trying to dig a tunnel?" The audience who had experienced the tunnel warfare in the past wondered.

Having experienced so much and learned so much from the two protagonists, they now somewhat forgive this young man who admits his mistakes and corrects them, and want to see a happy ending.

Julie passed by and saw Bryce destroying the lawn she had worked so hard to cultivate. Just as she was about to roll up her sleeves and go out to teach him a lesson, Julie's father stopped her and said, "I allowed him to do this."

Julie looked at her father in confusion, then looked out the window - Bryce, who had just finished digging the hole, was carrying a small tree to the side of the hole.

That is a small sycamore tree.

All of a sudden, the old memories of standing on the paulownia tree, listening to the wind and nature, as well as everything that happened in the past, all came flooding back to my mind.

As they knelt on the ground and planted the sapling with their own hands, the greenness of the sapling and Bryce's blue-green eyes merged together, and she seemed to see the beauty she had been pursuing before.

She had wanted to join Bryce in guarding the chopped-down sycamore tree, but he had only flashed his beautiful eyes and had not come.

Now, Bryce, who has experienced a lot and grown a lot, appears in front of her again and plants a new sycamore tree with her.

The boy who was once greater than the sum of his parts, at this moment, has finally grown into a boy whose whole is also moving.

Living in this world, people will always encounter various things, good and bad. The journey of growth involves not only young boys and girls, but also various families waiting for mutual understanding and adjustment.

The main plot of this movie is not only the growth of two young boys and girls, but also the growth story of two families.

The film also talks about many details such as homesickness, respect and understanding, family and responsibility, self-esteem and self-love. In the last line "I am still grateful for the day I met you", it presents a beautiful and ideal state of love, family, the world and the future.

Only those who have experienced darkness can appreciate light more.

Like most people of their generation, they are growing every moment, from individuals to families to the country.

When they fell behind the rest of the world due to past historical factors and were exhausted from trying so hard to catch up, someone brought them all the information from the outside world, but at the same time carefully reminded them not to indulge in the prosperous dreams of the outside world, but to root themselves in reality and look to the future - one day, everything they expected and hoped for would come with their efforts.

Such ideological guides are a ray of light on their confused life path, illuminating the way forward and giving them peace of mind.

Before leaving, Su Yun left the Shanghai Film Translation Factory with her Hong Kong mailing address so that the educated youth who served as film narrators could write to the film translation factory if they had any feedback. When the staff of the translation factory went to Hong Kong to pick up the film as scheduled, they could also report back on the situation of the film after it went to the countryside.

Although communication between the two places is still not very convenient nowadays, there are still many letters written from the heart. After a long journey and a long time, when the sweet fragrance of the bauhinia flowers was about to fade away with the sunshine in late spring and early summer, the letters came into Su Yun's hands with full of emotions.

"Please allow me to express my gratitude to you. It is you who allowed us to see the prosperity of the outside world through the beautiful dreams woven by light and shadow during those confusing years..."

"At the same time, you also let me finally know that no matter how good other places are, this is my home where my heart is at peace."

"On this red road, we will no longer be alone because of the green mailbox on the street."

“Even though we are thousands of miles apart, I still believe and hope that the light of the shining red star will eventually reach the harbor of sunset and bring back the most dazzling pearl in the East after a century of baptism.”

"With the most sincere emotions, I wish you all the best."

"I hope that when we meet again someday, the five-star red flag will soar into the sky."

In the silence of the night, Su Yun looked out the window at the letters full of heartfelt words and deep affection. He seemed to vaguely see the glorious birthday after a hundred years of wind and rain, when the five stars and bauhinia flowers shone together and turned into a sea of ​​red.