Competition Day
New Year's Day.
Yu Ran stroked Jiang Liu's sleeping face and looked out the window over his hair.
Under the nine-day sky, Country A's nightscape was devoid of human warmth, flickering like an overloaded circuit board. Yu Ran recalled his first visit to Country A, and it felt exactly the same as now. It took three years to finally emerge from the thick snow and freezing winter.
The hotel I landed at was the same one I stayed in before, which was purely a coincidence.
The competition day was on the 4th. After washing up, the two lay in bed to plan their itinerary.
After daybreak, we went to the competition venue to inspect and register. In the afternoon, we went to the streets and alleys to explore the local customs and practices. In case the theme of the event was related to the local customs and practices, we would be prepared.
…
The sky was brighter than usual. It had snowed all night. The snow was in the void, the world reflected by fish scales, the air was fresh. Jiang Liu opened his eyes and felt calm.
"Get up..." He stood up and shook Yu Ran gently.
Yu Ran opened his eyes. On the eve of the war, the quiet time seemed like an advance payment for the future when the clouds and fog would dissipate. Despite this, it still made people nostalgic.
"Baby, only those who make nice sounds are motivated."
Jiang Liu didn't think twice, "You call me baby, I'll call you baby, okay? Baby..."
"It makes me look like an old cucumber painted green."
"Brother? That's objective."
Yu Ran almost agreed, but Jiang Liu was so cooperative today, so he had no reason not to be greedy.
He closed his eyes and shook his head slightly, "Just objective? Without your subjective feelings."
"Huh?" Jiang Liu poked his face and fiddled with the two pearly dots on his earlobes. In the blink of an eye, two words slipped into Yu Ran's ears.
"husband."
Yu Ran embraced his lover who was making trouble in his ear. Jiang Liu felt dizzy. It might be a good idea to have a preview of married life.
It was already noon. After lunch, the snow stopped and I hired a driver to pick me up during the competition.
The event was held in Country A’s landmark building, the inverted pyramid-shaped Conlson Building.
In front of the venue, a red carpet led the way, colorful flags fluttered in the wind, and a massive banner displayed photos of several judges, creating an imposing presence. Reporters, impressed by the two men's impressive demeanor, chased them for interviews. They dodged and talked, but they didn't forget to visit the event's sponsors, which was a relief.
Entering the venue, Yu Ran completed the registration as an assistant. This meant that this time he would also have to experience the operation room firsthand.
After familiarizing themselves with the process, the two held hands and strolled down the street. Antique shops, carpet shops, tailor shops, the small street contained everything. Jiang Liu didn't stop until he reached a green-painted mailbox several meters high.
Yu Ran knocked on the metal sheet, and the secret door swung open, revealing a hidden world within the mailbox. Apparently, the shop had designed its main door to resemble a mailbox.
The store is decorated entirely in a French medieval style. What catches the eye is the floor-to-ceiling glass cabinet displaying hundreds of letters.
The envelopes come in all shapes and sizes, depending on the sender's habits. Some are reserved, using only basic brown paper to conceal their deepest thoughts. Others, impatient, cover their envelopes with kisses and graffiti.
A gentleman, seemingly of mixed race, stepped out from behind the bar. After a conversation, he opened one of the four mail slots. It was so narrow that an adult's arm couldn't fit through it, so he had to use a specially made mail clip. It had a slender handle with a bright silver embossing.
The two took the letter and said they would just share one copy. The gentleman nodded and led them to the special reading room.
"After reading this, you need to write a reply letter, and each of you can write a new one. You can freely choose the writing brush and stationery." The man left after introducing himself.
The reading room was bright and clean, and the two were in high spirits. The letter was quite heavy, and the corners of the envelope were a little soft and hairy, as if it was something they had worried about long ago.
The letter was from a Chinese man, and it was three months ago. Her long-distance relationship with her boyfriend had faced numerous setbacks, yet she still held out hope. Unfolding the letter, reading the words, felt like peeling a candy wrapper and eating it: expired, a melted, then solidified amber crust, a slightly unsettling experience. Jiang Liu wrote back, writing a half-page letter and handing it to Yu Ran for a follow-up. They shared anecdotes about their lives, wondering if lovers had finally found love. Being together was certainly a joy, but what if they broke up? Wouldn't this letter simply reopen the wound? After much deliberation, he finally arrived at a conclusion that satisfied both parties.
After writing the reply, the two smiled at each other, chose paper and pen, and tacitly retreated to a corner of the sofa to write their own letter.
Jiang Liu could feel that Yu Ran had slight pauses when writing, but the overall flow was smooth.
Yu Ran could notice that Jiang Liu and he stopped writing at the same time, it seemed that the length of the articles was about the same.
Neatly folded, the two men took the three letters out of the reading room and handed them to the man at the bar.
"Sorry, I need to take a look at these letters. Don't worry, I'll just take a quick glance~" He made a relaxed and helpless expression. It was too standard. He had done it to too many people. It was inevitable that he would be a little slick because he was so familiar with it.
This was to prevent someone with ulterior motives from spreading bad information in the letter. The two understood and went to the side to select the envelope.
After choosing the envelopes, Yu Ran chose a red envelope with gold sprinkles for his own, while Jiang Liu chose an ivory white envelope with embossed gold. They were both shy, with their hands behind their backs so as not to let each other see.
The man glanced at them and smiled without saying anything.
"We will send this reply to the other party. As for the new letter you two wrote, if other customers are lucky enough to see it, they will also reply as usual. If you change your mind and want to take your own letter, we will make a copy and you can take the original. Please understand."
After registering your information, you'll have to pay your own postage for the reply letter, and you'll also need to pay the staff a small handling fee. Then, I watched as the man, holding a long clip, placed the two letters neatly in the middle of the display case!
The store was flooded with customers. Jiang Liu and Yu Ran thanked them and said goodbye. The man stopped them and said, "Please stay. Here is a gift."
"Thanks."
I opened the gift box as soon as I got out of the door, and found a handheld mirror inside.
Carved with Cupid, entwined swans, and entwined ivy, Jiang Liu stared at it for a long time, then turned it over to look at himself. Yu Ran entered and kissed him.
The driver came to pick them up and took them to eat local specialties. They walked around until midnight before returning to the hotel.
It was midnight, and today was already the 3rd. Before going to bed, Jiang Liu made a plan, intending to stay in the hotel all day, researching, trying his hand, and keeping his hands hot.
To say he didn't want to speculate on the topic would be a lie. Looking back at past exam questions—chess, pocket watches, gourds, half a test paper—he saw the subtle connection between the questions and the venue. The two exchanged ideas, and Yu Ran briefly summarized before going out to buy four or five items.
Rattan baskets, oddly shaped rugs, a small oak wine barrel, a candlestick...
Jiang Liu scribbled freely, sketched out the design, and marked the key points of the flower shape and color matching and the design ideas.
Later, Yu Ran went to the stadium to make sure that the flowers that were airlifted in were safe. It was Yu Qionglin and Yu Lei who were in charge of checking them.
It was already late when I got back.
"What's wrong? Is there something delaying you?" Jiang Liu turned off the hair dryer, and her half-dry hair looked very charming.
"No, the flowers are all fine. I'll help you blow them..."
Jiang Liu, of course, understood his intention to gloss over the issue. Slightly dissatisfied, he pretended to slide his hand away, blowing the strong hot air towards Yu Ran's face.
With his golden hair flowing, Jiang Liu suddenly remembered Yu Ran's handsome appearance when he tied his hair into a high ponytail. He would definitely make him tie it up every day in the future.
The sky was just getting light, with no sign of snow. It had been a heavy snowfall in the past few days. Yu Ran ordered breakfast and came into the room, waiting for Jiang Liu to get dressed, then personally helped him put on the landscape pendant.
Jiang Liu was combing his hair. He saw Yu Ran wearing a new set of clothes through the mirror. He turned his head and asked, "When did you buy it?"
The new clothes and the one I was wearing had many similarities. But they didn't seem like ordinary couple's outfits.
"Didn't you think of buying clothes to match the Shanshui brand on your birthday? I secretly bought one of the same style." Yu Ran acted coquettishly and rested his chin on Jiang Liu's shoulder.
The similar clothing combinations are a good sign of their mutual understanding as they are about to enter the competition.
There was a lot of noise in front of the venue, and the heat accumulated from hundreds of winter jackets gathered in the air, slow and clumsy, like an artificial spring.
After signing in at the venue, florists from all over the world gathered in the lounge. Seeing someone arrive, some of them looked at them with a strange jealousy in their eyes.
This was Yu Ran's first direct confrontation with this group of people. During the Japanese competition, he had never been to the backcourt, only cheering for the team from the audience.
Sensing ill will, he responded to some people with glares that were no less hostile.
After a short break, we were invited to the opening ceremony. A large crowd of people came and went, signing their names on the backdrop and taking photos.
Jiang Liu, whose ears were callused from hearing the official language, was picking his nails out of boredom, but he also noticed the turn of events in the host's words. It was time for the main event, the test questions for this competition -
As soon as the echo of the microphone died down, the red velvet was removed, and a bright mirror hung high above the stage.
The dust-free mirror reflects the interlaced faces.
"As you can see, the question this time is the mirror," said the host.
Mirror?
An electric current suddenly surged around Jiang Liu.
I get it, I get it!
From chess, pocket watches, gourds, half a test paper, to this year's mirror, the pattern is actually not between the test questions and the venue.
Rather, the test questions of each session are related.
At first glance, it might seem like a no-brainer, but Jiang Liu's research wasn't in vain. While learning from previous winners, he also paid close attention to the works that placed 2nd to 8th. Works that finished too far down the list were eliminated for a variety of reasons and therefore lacked any reference value. The difference between the top-tier works and the top-tier winners often lay not in technical skill, but in the performance of their performance.
He finally understood why the second place was second - because his answers did not fit the test questions perfectly.
No, it should be said that it does not perfectly match the various stages of the test questions.
A game of chess changes rapidly.
A pocket watch, time ticking forward.
A gourd, from seed to fruit, from rough to jade.
Half of the test paper, the blank half page can be written on at any time, or the written part can be erased at any time.
All of the above emphasizes change.
The floral works of previous years' champions were just right to adapt to the on-the-spot changes in the test questions.
The chessboard will be overturned, time will move forward or stop, the gourd may be split open by the examiner, not to mention the test paper.
No wonder, no wonder, the champion of that year's gourd, half of the gourd ladle, burst forth from its round belly, overflowing all over the ground, gradually becoming a withered vine at the gourd's mouth, with only a single yellow and green leaf still swaying. The word "gourd" sounds like "fortune and luck," a symbol of good fortune beloved by men, women, and children alike. But is it truly the gourd's miraculous powers, or is it the power of human faith to overcome all odds?
The two halves of the gourd, when closed they are the former, and when separated they are the latter, not to mention that the champion made every possible preparation and carved a crack in the other half of the gourd. Even if the gourd is combined into one, it can better reflect the power of faith to break through everything.
Of course, a champion’s superb aesthetics and superb skills are both indispensable.
However, the second, third and even the last few places did not perform well in terms of integration.
In fact, the on-the-spot changes in the test questions also symbolize the growth and decay of flowers and plants over time.
Therefore, this mirror will either have various screens and scenery on the display stand to create a sense of change, or it will be broken.
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