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Many things happened when Shi Chu was nineteen.
His mother, Mrs. Zhang, had a legal dispute with a TV station, resigned from her director position at the children’s program department, and announced her entry into the entertainment industry as a manager.
His younger sister, Shi Min, was admitted to a top global university and flew abroad alone with her luggage to study.
As for him, while eating in the school cafeteria, he happened to look up and saw a fleeting smiling face on the TV.
Shi Chu dropped his spoon. All sights and sounds around him disappeared, leaving only the frantic thumping of his own heart, thump-thump—thump-thump—.
His face was expressionless, but his heart was racing wildly, roaring amidst a surge of adrenaline: “Who is she?! Who is she! Who is she!!”
It was a midday entertainment news brief from a certain TV station. Shi Chu came to his senses, grabbing his phone with trembling hands.
The slow internet speed drove him crazy. He didn’t bother eating; he ran out of the cafeteria, stood in the wind, holding his phone high, trying to get a stronger signal so he could rewatch this entertainment news segment.
He had to know this woman’s name!
The video was extremely laggy. Shi Chu shivered in the cold wind for almost half an hour before finally seeing the woman.
It was still a face that made him hold his breath involuntarily. She had an unyielding fire burning in her bones, a woman’s independent stubbornness and ambition, all hidden in her eyes, concealed beneath a faint smile.
She had an excellent face; her beauty lay in her bones, not just her skin.
Shi Chu’s fingertips traced her cheek in his mind, envisioning how to magnify her beauty, highlight it, and make her radiant.
Her current makeup was not good. It was clear her current makeup artist only understood current trends—a cheap, generic beauty that obscured the original charm of her eyes and brows.
She was inherently alluring but not vulgar, a woman with both wildness and tenderness, yet half-ruined by factory assembly-line makeup.
The news headline read: The classic play “Yan Gui” reopens, boldly featuring new talent and injecting fresh blood.
The voiceover kept introducing the play “Yan Gui.” After the introduction, Shi Chu finally heard the actress named Yang He say, “I’m very happy to perform with some veteran artists; I can learn a lot.”
A simple sentence, Shi Chu listened to it three times.
His face was frozen red, his fingers numb. Shi Chu blew on his hands and dialed Shi Feng’s number: “Dad, do you know about the play ‘Yan Gui’? Are there any shows for me?”
“It only plays at the National Theatre,” Shi Feng asked. “Are you interested in plays again?”
Shi Chu: “I’m coming back!”
“Aren’t you supposed to be taking exams?”
Shi Chu was studying at a medical university, and with exams approaching, the pressure was immense.
The second before he saw Yang He, he was still making a study plan for his exams. However, at the moment he saw Yang He, Shi Chu had an epiphany.
“What else am I studying for?” Shi Chu said. “I’ve found my life’s purpose.”
Shi Feng: “...What do you want to do?”
“I’ll tell you when I get back.”
________________________________________
Shi Chu quickly withdrew from school, returned to the capital, and watched “Yan Gui” for ten days straight before Shi Feng finally dragged him home.
Shi Feng was uncharacteristically angry: “What are you doing? You dropped out of school?!”
“I’ve enrolled in a training school,” Shi Chu said. “You don’t need to worry about me; I have my own ideas.”
“...Training school?” Shi Feng asked, stunned. “Drama performance?”
“Makeup and styling,” Shi Chu seemed to glow. He had achieved enlightenment in an instant. “I found my path, just from that one glance.”
“Which glance?”
“The most beautiful person,” Shi Chu said. “Dad, do you believe it? Some people, they just shine. I just took one look, and whoosh, my soul just ran away!”
Shi Feng had an “I understand” look on his face. He flipped through the list of drama actors and asked, “Which one caught your eye?”
“What kind of tone is that?” Shi Chu said, displeased. “What do you mean ‘caught your eye’? This is love!”
Shi Feng: “Hehe. This one? Yang He?”
In the program book, there was a headshot and introduction for Yang He.
She was a professionally trained, new-generation actress who had just graduated from university.
Oh, she’s already graduated from university... at least twenty-three years old.
Shi Feng then looked at his nineteen-year-old brat of a son, feeling speechless: “...”
As expected of his son, just like him, he fell for someone older the moment his heart stirred.
“Have you thought it through?” Shi Feng asked.
Shi Chu was surprised: “Dad, you’re so calm? I dropped out of school, officially. Now I’m going to learn makeup.”
“...And then?” Shi Feng asked, his expression unchanged.
“Then I’ll come to the National Theatre and be her exclusive makeup artist!” Shi Chu said, pointing at the headshot. “This makeup doesn’t suit her at all! I’m not exaggerating, the moment I saw her, I knew what suited her, what she needed! Dad, you’ll see, give her a chance, she’ll definitely soar high! She’s very ambitious, she has a kind of tension, tension, just like Mom!!”
Shi Feng slapped him on the back of the head: “Shut up.”
“I’ll make my own way,” Shi Chu said. “I have things I want to do, Dad, don’t worry!”
“Shi Chu,” Shi Feng said. “You’re being so reckless because you have the family as your backing. Do you know what you’re giving up?”
“I don’t care what I’m giving up,” Shi Chu glared. “Even if it’s a mountain of gold and silver, I’d give those up without batting an eye! Because I know what I want to pursue! She’s finally here, she’s my dream. I know you can’t understand, and I don’t expect you to understand. I haven’t even spoken to her, but I know, I understand her.”
“You’re crazy,” Shi Feng commented briefly. “So, to make you calm down, from now on, the family won’t help you even a little bit.”
“...” Shi Chu closed his eyes, then nodded immediately. “As expected. Goodbye, Dad.”
“How much money do you have on you?”
“Enough to live,” Shi Chu said, then he smiled. “Dad, I’m off to pursue my dream!”
________________________________________
Shi Min returned home for Chinese New Year and went to the National Theatre to see Shi Chu.
He was now an apprentice makeup artist at the National Theatre.
The backstage dressing room was small and very cramped.
Shi Min saw Shi Chu with a belt of makeup brushes around his waist, holding an eyeshadow palette, speaking hoarsely, his voice raspy.
Shi Min quietly stepped back, bought a bottle of water, twisted open the cap, and offered it to Shi Chu. Shi Chu chugged half the bottle in one breath.
“You’re back!” Shi Chu pulled her closer and introduced, “Sister Yang, look, this is my younger sister. She’s studying abroad and is back for the holidays.”
Shi Min frowned and asked, “Where are you living now?”
“We’ll talk later, you go wait outside for a bit.” He pushed Shi Min out, whispering in her ear, “I’m using a pseudonym. If anyone asks, don’t say too much.”
Shi Chu rented a nine-square-meter room in the suburbs.
Shi Min secretly slipped him some money, asking him to move to a better place.
“Only this much?” Shi Chu counted the money, scoffed, “This isn’t enough to cover the rent. I’m not earning money right now, so this money is better used for improving my living conditions.”
That was the most difficult period for Shi Chu and Yang He. They relied entirely on their own efforts, shamelessly fighting for resources, seizing every opportunity, and working themselves to the bone. Both were fanatical for their dreams.
However, Shi Chu’s dream was Yang He, while Yang He’s dream was acting itself.
Later, Yang He was noticed by a renowned director and got the opportunity to play a supporting role in a big-budget movie.
Yang He’s condition was: “Bring Chu Yang along, give him a chance to be the on-set makeup artist.”
That was Shi Chu’s pseudonym.
The director agreed.
It was from this movie that their careers truly took off.
And it was during this movie that Yang He, in the rising phase of her career, admitted to her relationship with the rising makeup artist.
When Shi Chu was twenty-two, he and Yang He established themselves firmly in the ever-changing entertainment industry. After Yang He won her first Best Actress award, he reverted to his original name, brought her home, and asked Mrs. Zhang to come out of retirement to be Yang He’s top agent.
Yang He signed with the largest entertainment company, surrounded by the best makeup artist and a top agent with prime resources.
She entered the soaring period of her career, a golden, dreamlike professional phase.
However, when Shi Chu took her home again to meet his parents, she said, “I want to break up with Shi Chu.”
Shi Chu was not surprised in the least, merely smiling, listening quietly from the side.
Mrs. Zhang frowned: “Why?”
She was with Yang He every day; she knew that the girl and her son still loved each other.
“Because it’s unfair to him,” Yang He said. “All that he is, is me, but I cannot give him everything. I’ve chosen for a long time between my pursuit and him, but no matter how I choose, it’s unfair to him. I don’t love him as much as he loves me. Better a short pain than a long one; I must leave.”
“What about Shi Chu?” Mrs. Zhang looked at her son.
Shi Chu said faintly: “...I respect her choice.”
Because he knew that Yang He still loved him, and he also knew that what she pursued was something even better.
Everyone has dreams. Some people’s dreams are love, like him. Some people’s dreams are career, or the art of performance itself, like her.
On the path of pursuing her dream, she chose not to sacrifice him. She was right, and she was gentle.
“I still like you,” Yang He said.
Shi Chu chuckled: “I know.”
________________________________________
When Luo Mingjing threw that bouquet, Shi Chu’s hands were trembling.
He strained to reach, looking at that dazzling bouquet. He absolutely, absolutely had to...
Amidst the guests’ hushed gasps, his and He Xi’s fingertips brushed the bouquet. The roses flew out, soaring towards Yang He’s direction.
Yang He instinctively reached out and caught the bouquet of roses.
Shi Chu’s voice trembled: “Hezi...”
He was scared. He had never been so scared. He feared she would give the flowers away.
Yang He remained stunned for a long time, then walked up to Shi Chu.
“Here you go.”
Yang He said, “Take it, aren’t you... always hoping?”
“...Is there, is there hope?” Shi Chu nervously asked.
Yang He smiled: “What do you think?”
She didn’t give an answer, and the guests didn’t dare to guess wildly.
Only Shi Min gently said to Luo Mingjing, “It should happen this year.”
“...Why did she suddenly change her mind?”
“Because she...” Shi Min smiled and said, “discovered something on my brother, something my brother had been carrying all along.”
________________________________________
During Yang He’s severe injury and recovery period, she woke up one day in a small hospital in the frontier and saw Shi Chu asleep slumped beside her hospital bed.
The frontier was freezing cold, yet his coat was draped over her bed.
Yang He slowly pulled the coat, wanting to cover him, but her hand was poked by a corner of a pocket inside his chest.
Those were... two wedding rings.
Yang He was shocked.
They were the wedding rings he had bought back then, and it had been... ten years.
He carried them every day, keeping them in a pocket close to his heart. If a piece of clothing didn’t have a pocket, he would sew one himself, just like this coat.
Every day, without finding it troublesome.
A warm current surged through her heart, overflowing her eyes.
“Shi Chu,” she gently called, “You’re so good, how can I ever repay you?”
Life is just a few decades long. Her initial dream, boundless and infinite, she would spend her entire life and still not reach its end.
“Shi Chu, I have a new dream.”
From now on, my dream is you.
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