2:45 AM, in the tea restaurant kitchen.
The young owner was stirring the French fries in the stainless steel colander with chopsticks in front of the frying pan, while the girl was humming a little tune while making hot drinks.
"I'm such a genius!" the girl said, stirring her spoon excitedly. "How did I come up with the idea of closing the shop later today?"
The young man was very flattering: "Yes, yes, you are a genius, a modern-day Zhuge Liang."
The girl said happily, "If we closed at twelve o'clock like usual, how could we have such a good opportunity?"
Fifteen minutes ago, when the stage manager came to ask them what time they would close, the girl already had a vague premonition of something. When she saw a large number of crew members walking towards them, including Song Yecheng, she was so happy that she almost flew up on the spot and exploded into a firework!
What kind of heaven-fallen adventure is this?!
This is just a dream!
At this moment, the tea restaurant is packed with dozens of crew members. Some of them are holding hot drinks and chatting in low voices, some are leaning back on the sofa and taking a nap with their eyes closed, and some are lying on the table, eating French fries and browsing their phones.
The restaurant's regular chef had actually gone off work by this time, but luckily the crew didn't need a proper meal. They were content with just a cup of hot milk, hot cocoa, or hot coffee to comfort their frozen bodies. Snacks like French fries and onion rings were a pleasant surprise, so the limited cooking skills of the boss and his wife were completely sufficient for them.
The girl pulled a tray from the shelf and placed several freshly prepared cups of hot drinks on it. She put it down halfway through, lowering her head to adjust her clothes and hair. "Hey, is it okay for me to just go and take a photo like this? Oh no—I should have dressed up a little better today. This outfit is too plain!"
Boom boom boom.
Suddenly, there were several light knocks at the open door of the kitchen.
The couple turned their heads together, and when they saw the person outside the door, they were stunned.
Listen to the White Night?
At the same time, at the entrance of the tea restaurant.
Douzi, who had just dried a few costumes in the nanny car, pushed the door open with a cold look on his face. He saw Song Yecheng standing by the window in the corner and immediately walked towards him quickly.
Song Yecheng's hair had been blow-dried in the car, and he had changed back into his own clothes. He was now leaning against the table, leaning on his forehead to read the script. He looked up and saw Douzi coming alone, so he asked, "Where's Mr. Qi?"
"He said he wanted to take a nap in the car, so he won't be coming." Douzi sat down opposite him and looked around. "Where's Teacher Bai?"
Just as Song Yecheng was about to speak, he suddenly turned his head and sneezed. Douzi was startled: "Oh my god! Is it a cold? Should I go to the pharmacy next door to buy some medicine?"
Song Yecheng waved his hand nonchalantly: "How can I be so delicate? I won't catch a cold even if you catch a cold."
Douzi was about to say something when, just then, the proprietress, who had just finished delivering hot drinks to the tables next to him, came over with a tray. She placed the last paper cup on the tray in front of Song Yecheng and looked at Douzi and said, "What would you like to drink?"
"Whatever, anything is fine." Douzi said indifferently.
The girl nodded, but did not leave immediately. Instead, she turned to Song Yecheng again and smiled shyly: "Um...can I take a photo with you?"
This request was very common, and Song Yecheng almost didn't hesitate: "No problem, I'm sorry to have delayed your get off work. Thank you for your hard work."
"It's not hard at all! I feel super lucky!" The girl waved her hands happily, thinking that it was no wonder that people on the Internet said that Song Yecheng was polite and gentle, and his reputation was well-deserved.
Song Yecheng stood up and took a photo with her. The girl thanked him repeatedly with great joy, and then she even forgot to take the plate. She ran to the kitchen happily holding her phone.
"Hey..." Song Yecheng watched her back as she ran away. He gave up the idea of reminding her to get the plate and turned around to sit back at the table.
Douzi pushed the plate aside. Song Yecheng opened the lid of the cup in front of him and took a look inside. He was immediately choked - he originally asked for boiled water, but he didn't know if the girl was too excited or what, but she actually gave him a large cup of hot chocolate.
I could drink it, but I'd have to recite lines soon, and it would be too sweet and would make my throat sticky. Besides, while male actors aren't as picky about calorie intake as female actors, guzzling hundreds of calories in the middle of the night was a bit self-destructive.
Song Yecheng was just wondering whether to go get a glass of boiled water or just wait until work was over and go back to do a few more push-ups, when suddenly, a slender white hand reached out from behind him and snatched the cup from his hand.
Song Yecheng turned his head and saw Jiang Que holding the cup of hot chocolate in his left hand and handing him another paper cup with his right hand: "Drink this."
"Teacher Bai? Where did you go just now?" Douzi quickly moved in to make room for Jiang Que.
Jiang Que walked over and sat down: "I went to the kitchen."
Song Yecheng originally thought that he was going to wash his hands, but he didn't expect that he actually brought back a cup of something. He couldn't help but open the lid of the cup in his hand out of curiosity, and immediately smelled a strong fragrance coming towards him.
"...Ginger soup?" Song Yecheng said in surprise.
"Well, they happened to have ginger in the kitchen, so I made some for you." Jiang Que raised his chin towards the cup. "It's easy to catch a cold if you get caught in the rain, so drink it while it's hot."
I cooked some for you.
I cooked it for you.
for you.
Douzi watched as the corners of Song Yecheng's mouth began to rise subtly at a speed of one millimeter per second, as if even gravity could not hold back his inner drama that was about to burst out.
The next second, he suddenly coughed twice in an extremely artificial manner, touched his forehead weakly, and even his voice seemed to become a little hoarse: "Great, I thought I was going to catch a cold."
Douzi: “…” I’m going to catch a cold! Who was the one who just said he wasn’t that squeamish? Your acting is worthy of being an actor!
But at this moment, Song Yecheng didn't bother to pay attention to the twitching corners of Douzi's mouth. He leisurely held the cup with both hands, brought it to his mouth and took a sip with relish. After savoring it carefully, he sighed with satisfaction and even licked his lips with satisfaction. He looked like he was filming a top-notch tonic soup commercial, as if he was about to blurt out in the next second: You deserve this delicacy.
Jiang Que had never thought that someone could drink ginger soup and taste like bird's nest, snow clam, and Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. He couldn't help but laugh: "Is it delicious?"
However, Song Yecheng didn't answer directly. He looked at Jiang Que thoughtfully, as if he was pondering something interesting. After a moment, he suddenly asked meaningfully, "Do you think I've drunk the time I haven't met?"
The question was incoherent and worded strangely, sounding like a secret code for a meeting. Douzi didn't get the meaning at all, and looked at Jiang Que in confusion with a black question mark face.
Jiang Que's gaze froze for a moment, and then a look of surprise appeared on his face, because he understood, and it was precisely because he understood that he was even more surprised: "Have you seen "Since I Wander"? "
That was his third book, a story about several wanderers as the protagonists. However, because it involved some sensitive plots and he was unwilling to delete or modify them, it was ultimately not published in mainland China. It is considered the least well-known of all his books.
The words Song Yecheng just said come from this book. They are the lyrics written by a wandering singer in the book to an online friend who has been with him for more than ten years but whom he has never met:
If I wander to your side
Will you treat me to a bowl of hot soup?
Grind the stories into powder, and turn the years into ginger
Drink up the time we haven't met in half our lives
This book was written in 2014, which is actually a very long time ago for Jiang Que. If Song Yecheng hadn't mentioned it out of the blue, he would have almost forgotten that he had written such a sentence.
Song Yecheng actually read such an unpopular book?
Jiang Que was indeed a little surprised.
Song Yecheng's eyes sparkled, and a faint smile played on his lips. However, he didn't answer the question quickly. Instead, as if reminiscing about a vivid memory, he spoke slowly, like telling a story: "In 2014, I was filming in Taiwan. One day, it was already past two in the morning when we finished filming. I thought there would be no one outside, so I went to a nearby bookstore."
These words seemed to trigger a switch, suddenly opening a door in Jiang Que's memory palace: "Qingnian Road... Yueming Bookstore?"
Song Yecheng paused: "How do you know?"
Jiang Que blinked slightly: "Oh, I saw the trending search that time, saying that they met by chance in the bookstore or something."
Song Yecheng raised an eyebrow in surprise, as if he was surprised that he could still remember the trending search content from six years ago. Then he nodded and smiled, "Yes, that time. I went to the bookstore at that time because I wanted to buy that book. It's not published in mainland China, so I planned to buy the traditional Chinese version. But I didn't expect that I would be recognized even though I was fully armed that day. I was blocked and almost couldn't get back. It also became a trending search, so in the end I didn't buy the book."
He probably said this as a funny thing, and the last few sentences clearly contained a sense of amusement and helplessness.
If someone else had said this, Jiang Que would most likely have smiled and passed it off with a polite yet distant attitude. However, at this moment, he completely forgot to use his best response method. He just stared at Song Yecheng blankly, his heart filled with a complex and indescribable emotion.
He knew about the trending searches back then, or in other words, he knew all the news related to Song Yecheng over the years. He even remembered which drama Song Yecheng was filming in Taiwan, what role he played, and what clothes he wore when he went to the bookstore that night.
But what he didn't expect was that Song Yecheng went to the bookstore that day to buy his book, and he didn't expect that he would read the book carefully and even memorize every word in the book.
If I wander to your side
Will you treat me to a bowl of hot soup?
Grind the stories into powder, and turn the years into ginger
Drink up the time we haven't met in half our lives
When Jiang Que wrote these lyrics, he was hiding some secret hopes that could not be expressed in words.
If we could meet one day, would we talk about the past like old friends, dissolve the stories and years in a glass of wine, and drink up the time we had not met?
He once felt that this hope was distant and slim.
Especially when he had clearly touched the long-awaited opening, but the meeting began with a lie and he and Song Yecheng parted unhappily in that shabby little house, he thought that this hope had been crushed by his own hands and completely turned into dust.
However, at this moment, sitting in a rare warm corner on a rainy night, listening to Song Yecheng telling him about the past that he had never known before, he suddenly saw another way for their destinies to intersect -
It turns out that the bowl of soup I made with words has already flowed silently in your past.
It turns out that when I was looking at you from afar, you were also looking back at me quietly from the other side of the world.
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