Thousands of feet in the clouds.
The plane flying upward at an angle gradually became flat.
Jiang Que leaned against the porthole. The ear pain caused by the change in air pressure made him feel a little uncomfortable, but he had no time to care about it. He looked out the window at the cotton-like clouds that were so close to him with a heavy heart.
At one point, he held a line from Walden to be the truth: "Most of the time, I find solitude to be wholesome. I love solitude, and I have never found a better companion than solitude."
However, in the past two months, many of the things he once firmly believed in have been changing inadvertently, as if they were being eroded and disintegrated by some invisible force, slowly shaking their foundations.
He was once confused and bewildered about what this power was.
But just now, in the half minute when he and Song Yecheng stared at each other silently in the car, when the atmosphere of mutual understanding surrounded them, he suddenly became like a person who was blinded by a leaf, and finally peeled off the leaf in front of him -
He once thought that he was rational and calm, and that he, like Song Yecheng's millions of fans, could control his admiration and worship of his idol within a reasonable and appropriate range.
But at that moment, he suddenly realized that his deep desire was far more than that.
The seed planted many years ago has quietly sprouted, and has become increasingly uncontrollable by reason as it has been nurtured day by day. It has also given rise to feelings that are stronger than admiration and worship, and are difficult to express in words.
Realizing this truth was enough to make him feel uneasy, and when he caught a glimpse of the gentle, expectant, and even burning look in Song Yecheng's eyes, his uneasiness became even more intense.
This is actually contradictory and absurd.
The person who was originally out of reach was right in front of him. The extravagant idea that was almost wishful thinking received an unexpected response. He should have felt surprised and fortunate to be favored, but at that moment, a trace of sadness of fate could not be suppressed and spread in his heart.
Because to him now, the more beautiful something is, the more it is like a flower in the mirror or a moon in the water, illusory, fragile and unreal.
Yes, not true.
If there wasn't the sword of Damocles hanging over his head, if there wasn't the bell that would eventually ring at midnight, perhaps he wouldn't have to be so anxious, and perhaps this dream like Cinderella's ball could last a little longer.
The clouds outside the window cover the vast earth, weaving a dream like a soft hotbed, as if bewitching the foolish to step on it and fall into an abyss from which there is no escape.
Jiang Que withdrew his gaze, lowered his head, gently brushed away his sleeves, and looked at the watch on his wrist.
197:14:56:22
This string of numbers seemed like the fangs of fate, mocking him maliciously at all times, warning and reminding him not to have any unreasonable thoughts or make meaningless struggles.
Because everything will eventually come to nothing.
Eventually... the dream will be shattered.
It was almost eleven o'clock when the plane landed.
Jiang Que's suitcase was less than 20 inches and was not checked in, so there was no need to go around waiting for the luggage. After entering the terminal, he simply dragged the suitcase and followed the crowd to the exit.
When he was nearing the exit, he took out his cell phone and first sent a WeChat message to Song Yecheng to report his safety as agreed before, and then he went into the address book and dialed He Jingsheng's number.
The phone rang twice and then was connected, but before he could say anything, suddenly -
"Bai Ye Ling!"
A sudden scream startled Jiang Que so much that he almost dropped his phone. He looked up hastily and saw a strange girl with a flushed face running towards him not far from the exit.
Before Jiang Que could react to who she was, the girl's exclamation was like a drop of water splashing into a frying pan, instantly making the surroundings boil.
"It's really him! Bai Ye Ling!"
"Teacher Bai——!"
“Ahhhh Bai Ye Ling——!”
The originally still crowd suddenly turned into a flowing tide, surging towards him as if to swallow him up.
It's not like he hasn't seen such scenes before, but he has never been the protagonist in them.
Whenever he encountered this kind of situation before, Song Yecheng was always used as the anchor. At most, he just watched from the sidelines and never thought that one day he would become the focus.
He was stunned for a moment, then subconsciously took a step back. However, it was too late to react by then. In the short two seconds he paused, his way was blocked by the crowd in front, behind, left and right.
Enthusiastic screams and cheers instantly surrounded him. The impenetrable wall of people made him lose track of his direction. Countless hands stretched out in front of him, holding papers, pens, books, and various small objects. The sound of cameras clicking and chaotic flashes made him almost dizzy.
However, in this dizzy moment, he was able to find some abnormalities.
Most of the things in these people's hands were books, and without exception they were all his books, as if they had not discovered him here suddenly, but had come prepared.
However, he discovered that these details were obviously of no help in changing the situation. All he could do was to "follow public opinion" and take the books, paper and pen that were stretched out in front of him. Amid the calls from those around him urging him to sign, he quickly signed one "Bai Ye Ling" after another.
This sudden "autograph session" seemed to have no end. Books, paper and pens were handed to him wave after wave. By the end of signing, Jiang Que could hardly write at all and could only continue the action mechanically based on instinct.
Finally, just when he was about to lose even this little instinct, a gap suddenly appeared in the crowd of people.
Jiang Que looked up and saw that the person coming was He Jingsheng. Behind him was a group of airport security guards who were standing in two rows and trying to separate the crowd.
Although he had the help of security, He Jingsheng had obviously gone through a fierce battle to squeeze in. The neat appearance he had when he went out was now a little messy due to the shoving.
After seeing Jiang Que, he finally showed an expression of accomplishment. He walked forward without saying a word, pulled his suitcase with one hand, and half pushed and half protected him with the other hand as he walked out of the passage blocked by security.
The two men squeezed out of the encirclement in a somewhat awkward manner, and the security guards behind them immediately formed a human wall between them and the large crowd.
Behind the human wall, shouts and flashes of light continued to rise and fall. The scene was no less exciting than any big-name airport reception. He Jingsheng and Jiang Que walked quickly out of the terminal amid the loud noise that blew off the roof.
Ten minutes later.
The airport terminal became a small square in the rearview mirror.
In the moving car, He Jingsheng asked teasingly while driving: "How is it, are you scared?"
Jiang Que leaned against the back seat and drank some water, then put the bottle down and said, "I'm fine, just a little dizzy."
Although the scene was spectacular, it was not frightening. It was just that Jiang Que's physical condition was not good to begin with. After experiencing such a siege and signing so many signatures, he was indeed physically and mentally exhausted.
"I was planning to wait for you in the parking lot," He Jingsheng said. "But as soon as I parked the car, I picked up my phone and saw, wow, your flight number has already been trending on search engines before you even landed!"
"Hot search?" Jiang Que's phone was in flight mode on the plane, so he naturally knew nothing about it.
He Jingsheng picked up his phone and was about to show him the trending searches, but just as he handed it back, he discovered that Jiang Que had actually lowered his head to look at his phone.
"Oh? I almost forgot that you can post on Weibo now, huh?" He Jingsheng teased.
In the past, Jiang Que didn’t even have the Weibo app on his phone, let alone posting on Weibo. The last time He Jingsheng saw him repost a photo with Song Yecheng, he was really surprised for a while.
Jiang Que ignored him and went to Weibo to click on the trending search. He soon found a bright tag:
【Meet Bai Ye Ling by chance at Yinling Airport】
The entry details contained a Weibo post posted by a passerby more than two hours ago:
Sweet Croissant: Wow! I saw Bai Ye Ling at the boarding gate! [Picture] [Picture]
The Weibo location shows "Yinling Le'an Airport T2 Terminal", and the attached pictures are two photos taken near the boarding gate, one is a long-range view, and the other is a close-up of the side.
In the close-up, Jiang Que lowered his head slightly, with the lower half of his face hidden in the collar of his high-necked sweater. However, the exposed upper half of his face still made it easy to recognize his appearance with his high nose bridge and deep eyebrows.
This Weibo post has already received over 10,000 comments, and in the hot comments there are countless smart people who deduced his destination and flight number in just a few minutes based on the boarding gate number and boarding time in the background of the picture.
So, all the fans of his book and his looks who happened to be near the Capital Airport were so excited that they rushed into the airport bookstore and bought out all his books. Those who didn't get any books prepared paper, pens and notebooks and waited at the exit to give him such a grand autograph session.
After reading the Weibo post, Jiang Que couldn't help but feel a little amused. He thought that he had reminded Song Yecheng to be careful of being surrounded before getting off the car at Yinling Airport, but he didn't expect that he would be the one who was surrounded in the end.
It's actually not his fault. Although he has been on the hot search several times before and he has noticed the increase in the number of fans, those were just "data" he saw through the screen. He has never experienced it in real life, so it is normal that he has no idea about it and is completely unprepared.
Jiang Que chuckled lightly and put the locked phone back into his pocket, but he heard a light "click" sound, as if the phone had hit something.
"Um?"
He clearly remembered that his pocket was empty, so he couldn't help but feel confused when he heard the slight sound. He reached down and felt a small cylindrical object.
When he took out the thing and looked at it, he couldn't help but be slightly stunned.
It was a cylindrical metal product, about the same length and thickness as a finger. There was a small button in the middle of the column and a movable ring hanging at the end, making it look like a keychain.
But Jiang Que knew it was not a keychain, because he happened to recognize it.
He Jingsheng, who was sitting in the front row, had just been drawn to his attention by his "Huh?" and couldn't help but glance back curiously. Seeing what he was holding, he wondered, "What the hell is this?"
Jiang Que pressed the button and saw a small laser-projected pattern appear on the back of the front seat. He finally confirmed his judgment: "Laser cat toy."
"Where did it come from?"
Jiang Que recalled for a moment: "Maybe someone put it in my pocket at the airport just now."
He Jingsheng didn't understand why, but he quickly thought of the cat he kept in his villa. He couldn't help but jokingly said, "Wow, your fans are quite thoughtful. They knew you had a cat and still gave you this?"
Jiang Que smiled in agreement.
He did feel a little warm in his heart, but it was not just because the fans liked it, but because the thing itself had extraordinary meaning to him.
A long time ago, someone gave him such a thing. It was like a light in the darkness, accompanying him through many sleepless nights.
He Jingsheng naturally had no idea of this, and Jiang Que didn't intend to explain further. He simply changed the subject: "Where are we going now? Directly to your company?"
He Jingsheng glanced at him in surprise through the rearview mirror: "How is that possible? You just arrived and I asked you to work, do you think I'm Zhou Paopi? Of course I'll take you to dinner first!"
Jiang Que said "Oh" obediently, leaned back in his chair, and gently put the laser stick in his hand back into his pocket.
Meanwhile, in the suburbs of Silver Ridge.
After Song Yecheng sent Jiang Que to the airport, he did not return to the villa by the same route, but drove directly to the cemetery in the eastern suburbs of Yinling.
There is a cemetery scene in "Searching for the Lantern". The time point is after Fang Qiao falls from the building. It happens between Fang Zhi and his wife, which is the rivalry between Song Yecheng and Xu Yi.
When Song Yecheng arrived at the cemetery, the crew members had just arrived. While they were setting up the venue and fencing the boundaries, the makeup artist finished his makeup and hair in the nanny car.
The cemetery is quite deserted on weekdays. Even if someone comes occasionally, it is to pay tribute to relatives and friends, and few are in the mood to watch the fun. Therefore, the crew's work was hardly disturbed and went very smoothly.
Song Yecheng and Xu Yi rehearsed their lines twice on the sidelines. After everything was arranged, they quickly began filming the scene.
It's been said that one of the many comforts of raising children is the understanding that youth doesn't fade away; it's simply passed on to the next generation.
When a parent dies, a child becomes aware of his or her mortality, but when a child dies, the parent loses the motivation to continue living.[1]
After Fang Qiao fell from the building, Fang Zhi, who was suffering from the pain of losing his son, lived in a daze for a long time.
Go to work, get off work, eat, sleep.
Everything seemed to have lost its meaning, and the whole person became mechanical and numb, like a walking corpse.
One morning, he went to the company listlessly as usual, but when he arrived at the door, he found that it was the weekend and the company was not open at all.
After standing there for a moment, he turned and left the building, but instead of going home directly, he wandered aimlessly along the empty road.
He walked absentmindedly for who knows how long. When he came to his senses again, he found that he had unknowingly walked to the suburban cemetery.
This was once one of the most unfamiliar places in the city to him, but now it has become a place where pain is buried.
He hesitated in front of the door for a long time, and finally stepped in.
He walked along the road that he didn't want to remember but was already unforgettable to the deepest part of the cemetery, and after walking up the stairs for a while, his footsteps suddenly stopped.
Not far away, there was a person sitting in front of Fang Qiao's tombstone, and he was very familiar with the person's back.
It’s Qiao Min.
After Fang Qiao passed away, the couple hadn't had a good conversation for a long time. Both of them seemed to have suddenly become busy, going out early and returning late every day, as if they had reached some kind of tacit understanding and tacitly maintained a false balance.
Fang Zhi never expected to see her in the cemetery. He couldn't help but stand there for a moment, but finally chose to keep moving forward.
Beneath Fang Qiao's brand new tombstone were some of her favorite fruits and desserts. Qiao Min sat in front of the tomb with her knees hugged, her long hair loosely tied into a ponytail. The wind blew her sobs and whispers into pieces.
"Qiao Qiao...it's all Mom's fault...I shouldn't have taken you to such a dangerous place...and I shouldn't have failed to protect you..."
"But...but Mom really didn't mean it...I regret it every day...If I had sent you home first that day...If I had let Dad pick you up that day...it wouldn't have happened...it wouldn't have happened..."
Intermittent cries carried by the wind, saturated with Qiao Min's collapse and helplessness, like a rusty and blunt knife, hurting Fang Zhi's already numb heart.
In fact, he knew very well that the reason why accidents are called accidents is because no one can predict their occurrence, and when they really happen, all that is left for people are endless "whys" and "ifs".
Fang Qiao's departure not only hurt him, but also tortured Qiao Min. And precisely because she was there at the time but failed to fulfill her duty of care, the self-blame and regret she endured were actually even heavier than his.
Fang Zhi's bloodshot eyes gradually turned red. He sighed and exhaled a breath of hot, foul air, walked slowly to the grave, bent down and sat down next to Qiao Min.
Qiao Min didn't notice his arrival until this moment. She raised her tear-soaked eyes from his arms and looked at him in disbelief.
Fang Zhi raised his hand and touched the back of her head. The deep sorrow in his eyes was filled with a hint of pity, like silent comfort, or empathy.
Qiao Min stared into his eyes with sobs, unable to suppress the surging sadness and pain any longer. She leaned over and buried her head in his shoulder, clutching his clothes tightly, trembling and sobbing.
The two people, who were equally scarred, snuggled together under the gloomy sky, like trapped animals licking each other's wounds.
The sound of the wind, accompanied by sobbing, lasted for a long time, blowing past the stacked tombstones, past the dense shade and grass, and swirling up to the distant sky.
After this scene was finished, even Song Yecheng took some time to calm down.
It wasn't because of anything else. The atmosphere of the cemetery itself was depressing and heavy enough. In addition, when he habitually turned his head to look at the sidelines, he didn't see the familiar figure. He suddenly realized that Jiang Que was not there. It was as if he had received a fatal basic attack out of the blue when he was already low on health.
Tsk, habit is indeed a terrible thing.
Song Yecheng raised his eyebrows and sighed.
At this moment, Douzi came jogging from the sidelines and handed him his phone: "Brother Cheng, Teacher Bai sent you a message, and——"
Before he could finish his words, Xu Yi, whose eyes were as red as a rabbit's, noticed that Jiang Que was gone and asked curiously, "Eh? Where is Teacher Bai? Why didn't he come today?"
Her assistant, Xiao You, had just followed Douzi and quickly replied, "He just got off the plane at the Capital Airport!"
Song Yecheng was a little surprised, because as far as he knew, only he and Zhuang Yan knew that Jiang Que had returned. He didn't expect Xiao You to report his itinerary, and he couldn't help but glance at her strangely.
Xiao You was inexplicably panicked by this look and quickly explained, "He he he he he...he's on the trending search!"
Song Yecheng was stunned for a moment, then quickly unlocked his phone and opened Weibo. After entering the trending search page, he saw a lot of very familiar words:
【Beijing Capital Airport White Night Listening】
【Bai Ye Ling's signature】
【Meet Bai Ye Ling by chance at Yinling Airport】
Before he clicked on the details, Song Yecheng had already slapped his forehead with a "tsk" sound, because just by the arrangement and combination of these entries, he had already deduced the general course of events. He couldn't help but curse himself for being so careless.
If Jiang Que was not on guard because of his inexperience, then a veteran like him should not make such a low-level mistake. How could he not have thought that he would be recognized given his current popularity?
But it was obviously useless to worry about this at this point, and his eyes quickly caught another more conspicuous entry at the top of the list:
[A mysterious handsome guy picks up Bai Yeling at the airport]
This entry was like a fish thrown in front of a hawk's eyes, instantly attracting all of Song Yecheng's attention.
Mysterious handsome guy?!
He quickly clicked on the details and soon saw a very popular Weibo post:
[Kyoto Gossip Headlines: This morning, Bai Ye Ling appeared alone at Beijing Capital Airport and was immediately surrounded by enthusiastic fans asking for autographs. He was later rescued by airport security. A mysterious handsome man also appeared with the security guards. The two seemed very close and left the airport together in a luxury car.]
Below the text was a set of nine grids. The first six pictures showed the "grand occasion" of Jiang Que being surrounded by onlookers. The seventh was a frontal photo of the "mysterious handsome guy" as he squeezed into the encirclement, taken from the perspective of a fan in the crowd. The eighth was a photo of him pulling Jiang Que's suitcase and holding his arm as he walked out from the security center. The ninth was a photo of the two of them boarding the same car outside the terminal.
What a mysterious handsome guy.
Song Yecheng complained in his heart.
Isn't this He Jingsheng? What's so handsome about him?
Also, what does "seemingly very intimate" mean? How can you tell if they're "intimate"?
Song Yecheng rolled his eyes covertly, but continued to swipe his finger into the comment section.
Netizens' curiosity about "mystery" and "handsome guy" is endless. If these two words happen to collide with each other, the effect will increase exponentially:
[Pick up roots in Lanzhou without lighting a fire: Who is this, who is this, who is this? Why would they pick up Bai Yeling at the airport? Wasn't Bai Yeling with the crew in Yinling? Why did he come back? Is the filming finished?]
[Ergo: How is that possible? We've only been filming for a short while. They just came back to do something, right?]
[The Investiture of the Gods has been updated: Don't interrupt, don't interrupt, who is this handsome guy? He's wearing all the latest brand names and an Aston Martin, the standard outfit for a rich young man, right?]
[Will the Fence-Sitter Fall?: Ahhhhh, I'm curious about his relationship with Bai Yeling! Don't you think the way he protects Bai Yeling is hilarious?]
Mayfly Day: Hahahahaha what the hell, what does hehehe mean? Explain clearly, Wei! 】
[Don't force me to use my ultimate trick: I know this question! — A handsome writer is trapped, a mysterious rich man rushes to his rescue, a large number of bodyguards forcefully clear the way, a domineering grab is made to grab the man's shoulder and drive him away, a luxury car escorts him out of the airport, and then... hehehe, I've already imagined a 100,000-word essay!]
Seeing the last message, Song Yecheng narrowed his eyes dangerously, clicked reply without hesitation, and typed out three words.
Douzi, who had been closely watching his movements, immediately noticed his actions, his eyes widened and he stopped him, "Brother Cheng! Calm down!"
Before the word "quiet" was uttered, Song Yecheng had already pressed the send button in a swift and decisive manner.
Douzi sighed, covering his face with his hands, and looked up to the sky, his heart crying out, "Oh my god!" Impulse is the devil! It's the devil! Do you know that as soon as you say these three words, Brother Ming will fire at me again!
However, Song Yecheng had no awareness of lighting a firecracker. After posting, he immediately exited Weibo and opened WeChat.
The "I'm here" message Jiang Que sent when he landed was right at the top of the dialog box, but he didn't click on it. Instead, he went into his friend list, found another person, and sent him a message:
[Song Yecheng: Are you in the company?]
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