A few days later, Wu Man held an official press conference, which Zhui Ye also attended. The two briefly announced their marriage news, but when reporters asked about the wedding, they tacitly remained silent.

It wasn’t to create mystery—they didn’t plan to make their wedding public.

At that time they were still in Tokyo. On the day they got engaged, both were quite intoxicated. After returning, they drank more on the apartment balcony, still unsatisfied, chatting about the wedding.

“Does Elder Sister want something bigger or more low-key?”

Hearing Zhui Ye’s question, Wu Man lowered her head and pinched the beer can in her hand, making crackling sounds. For a moment, she didn’t know how to answer.

She had been a bride many times in movies, worn many beautiful wedding dresses, and even had weddings in creative locations: magnificent cruise ships, solemn and grand churches, gorgeous ancient palace buildings…

Over time, she had become very numb to this ceremony and couldn’t really say what kind of wedding she wanted.

She thought about it and said with difficulty, “I’m fine with anything. Perhaps like He Huiyu and them—rent a venue, hold a beach wedding or something?”

Zhui Ye pondered for a long while. “If it’s according to my idea, I think we could just keep it simple. Even if it’s just the two of us would be fine.”

Wu Man laughed. “Would that even be called a wedding?”

“A wedding is a ceremony of marriage vows, and getting married is just you and me, isn’t it? This is a ceremony that concerns only us.”

Wu Man was very surprised. She thought that with Zhui Ye’s personality, he would surely want a shocking, unique, and impressive wedding.

“But wouldn’t that feel very hasty?”

“Not at all.” Zhui Ye raised his head to take a sip of beer and leaned on the railing, his long arms swaying leisurely, retaining some boyishness. “Those movies, for dramatic effect, all rack their brains to fabricate perfect weddings. Elder Sister has experienced all that. So I want to create for you a small wedding that scripts wouldn’t even bother writing about. This is our life.”

Hearing this, she pressed the beer against Zhui Ye’s face. “This isn’t just my wedding. I don’t want you to give it to me. I also want to give you the best memories.”

Zhui Ye suddenly leaned over, kissing away the wet beer traces by her mouth, his gaze burning as he pressed close to her.

“Elder Sister… you’ve already given me the best.”

The more mysterious they were, the more the media wanted to find out about their wedding location by all means. This wasn’t some ordinary D-list celebrity wedding. These were two of entertainment industry’s biggest stars at the height of their fame. Just the marriage news alone had exploded traffic—if they could photograph the wedding scene, year-end bonuses would be secured.

The paparazzi put in full effort, using all their connections to inquire about five-star hotel banquet reservations. The most experienced paparazzi even flew abroad, strategically camping out at several wedding destinations that celebrities had loved to book in the past, trying to catch them by chance. But they all came up empty-handed.

No one would have imagined that these two people would forgo beautiful mountains and waters, quietly returning to that decayed and shabby small town—Qingling.

This was her first time coming to Qingling since they confirmed their relationship. She had wanted to come many times in between, but repeatedly gave up due to work reasons. And the last time she came was when she was nineteen years old.

Counting it up, it had been seventeen long years. Past events were blurry, and the small county town had also changed greatly. Although compared to other places it still seemed backward, without even an airport—they had to fly to the provincial capital then rent a car to drive to Qingling.

So they simply drove the brand-new RV, the two of them chatting and listening to music all the way, which also made it impossible for paparazzi to track their flight information. Most of the journey was driven by Zhui Ye, and when he was tired, she took over.

They drove for a good two days and two nights. The car entered the tunnel from the national highway, emerged after a kilometer, and gradually saw familiar signs of human habitation. Along the narrow road were old rolling shutter doors. Some people had moved dining tables outside where several bare-chested men gathered to drink and play cards, wearing slippers, cigarettes held in their hands grown so long they showed ash, which fell onto the slippery ground that had just been splashed with laundry water.

Wu Man withdrew her gaze, thinking, this is Qingling—it still retained some primitive, unrefined habits.

The impression left in her memory was backward and decayed. She didn’t know if her memory was confused or if her state of mind coming this time was already different. She actually felt that even though those rough things made it seem uncouth, in contrast, there was a carefree freedom.

One land nurtures one people—this was the place that raised Zhui Ye. She felt affection for it by extension.

The car passed through the gentle section and prepared to ascend the mountain toward Zhui Ye’s old family house.

The higher they climbed, the more desolate it became. Wu Man was amazed the house was built at such a steep grade—how inconvenient travel must be.

She asked puzzled, “Did you walk this road every day to and from school before?”

Zhui Ye drove casually responding, “Yeah.”

Wu Man clicked her tongue. “Other people at most climb five or six flights of stairs daily. You, on the other hand, climbed a mountain up and down every day.”

“Because this area was remote, the house was very cheap.” Zhui Ye prepared her. “These years I’ve had people looking after the house, but I haven’t changed it, so it’s still the same… very rudimentary.”

“So what?”

“I’m afraid you won’t be used to living there.”

“I’m not picky about beds anymore now.” Wu Man propped her hand on the car window, tilting her head to gaze at the young man driving. “Who told me to have such a solid embrace?”

The person in the driver’s seat smugly jerked his leg, pressing the gas pedal and speeding forward a stretch.

After about a few minutes, the car stopped in front of a very unremarkable old house.

This was the place where Zhui Ye had lived for over ten years.

Wu Man couldn’t wait to follow behind Zhui Ye, walking into this house. What caught her eye was a family portrait hanging on the wall.

In the photo, the background looked like an aquarium at a zoo. Little Zhui Ye was being held up on his father’s head making a little branch gesture. His mother held a dolphin plushie sold by the park in her hands, holding it Russian-doll style above little Zhui Ye’s head. She was also secretly making a little branch gesture, pretending it was the plushie doing it.

The photo had already yellowed, but floated with an incomparably nostalgic atmosphere.

Zhui Ye stood dazed at the entrance for a long while before coming to himself and pointing at the photo. “I was probably six years old then. Wasn’t I cute?”

Wu Man reached up to pinch his face. “That’s true. Now you don’t even have baby fat anymore.”

He cooperatively pouted. “Does Elder Sister not like it anymore?”

“Don’t like it anymore.”

Zhui Ye’s expression changed. “Don’t joke like that.”

Wu Man hugged his waist, her tone indulgent. “Not joking. Because now it’s not like—it’s love.”

Only then did Zhui Ye hum and tightly hug her back in return.

The two quietly embraced in the empty living room. Old sunlight sneaked in through gaps in the window ledge, mixed with the floating dust in the air, enveloping them—tender like an oil painting.

Wu Man patted his back. “Don’t just stand there foolishly. Continue showing me around.”

Only then did Zhui Ye reluctantly withdraw his hands, pulling her toward the second floor.

They stepped up the concrete stairs. The space was unobstructed, with a total of two rooms and a small terrace. Although it was now very barren, with nothing but an empty round table and two rattan chairs. But Wu Man could inexplicably imagine that when Zhui Ye’s mother was still alive, this place must have been filled with fresh flowers.

Sure enough, Zhui Ye mentioned, “My mom used to love growing flowers. She never had the habit of wearing perfume, but she always smelled fragrant year-round because she was always soaking here.” He sat down in the chair, demonstrating the posture for Wu Man. “Just sitting like this. Sometimes knitting sweaters, sometimes spacing out, sometimes sitting and chatting with my dad.”

“What about you?”

“How could I sit still? I was always running around outside playing wildly.” Zhui Ye embarrassedly touched his nose. “Sometimes I missed mealtimes, and she would stand here watching the slope to see when I’d come back. As soon as I appeared, she’d whoosh up, her face all stern, arms crossed, shouting my name loudly. I’d very obediently lower my head.” He smiled hazily. “But actually, behind her was a full bouquet of flowers—she had zero intimidation factor. I was just pretending.”

“Troublesome child.”

“I was quite troublesome.” He smiled, his tone flat. “So after age eight, I never played around carelessly again.”

At this moment, Wu Man felt like she was sitting on a seesaw, originally playing quite happily when suddenly a boulder fell from the sky, pressing down that end, and she was thrown high up, her heart suddenly contracting.

“Look, Elder Sister, I won so many awards.” Zhui Ye pushed open his room door. The wall was plastered with certificate after yellow certificate. “But so many, and they still couldn’t make my dad happy.”

The more relaxed his tone, the more it sounded like joking, the more it made her feel heartache.

She quickly adjusted her emotions, raising her head to walk before the certificates, looking at them one by one carefully.

“Sprint first place, cultural model student, triple-good student…”

She looked carefully through them all, then turned back and said, “My child was truly amazing.”

Zhui Ye stood at a loss leaning against the door frame, turning his head away.

Those years of absent praise, the divine compensated him in another way, compensating that little boy from back then who gritted his teeth to do everything best, hoping there could be more smiles on his father’s face.

Seeing him like this made Wu Man feel even more sad, thinking of when he was twenty years old, standing alone on the Cannes award stage, receiving the highest honor.

The world envied him, thus more easily overlooked that he might feel lonely. Heaven’s favored son—how could he deserve sympathy? But in fact, the people he most wanted to share this glory with were long gone.

At age six, running recklessly on the mountain slope, knowing someone at home was preparing hot dinner for him, also knowing that person, though angry, wouldn’t really get mad, would just put on an act standing on the terrace full of flowers to welcome him home.

A person in youth, dreaming without awareness. Waking to look back, the terrace already empty.

Wu Man suppressed her thoughts, pretending to be relaxed as she pounced over and ruffled Zhui Ye’s hair. “Feeling shy now?”

He took the opportunity to hug her, burying his head in her neck, acting spoiled yet stubborn. “No!”

Wu Man smiled and stroked his hair ends. The fluffy feeling was especially good—she fondly rubbed back and forth. “So hungry. Shouldn’t we eat dinner? Let’s go stroll around the street?”

“I’ll take Elder Sister to eat at my favorite restaurant!”

He immediately perked up, his stomach cooperatively growling.

“What is it?”

“A snack shop that makes meatballs. The pork balls and fish balls are especially delicious.” Zhui Ye licked his tongue nostalgically. “I saw that shop when we drove through just now—it’s still open.”

They rested briefly in the house, then went out wearing masks as night fell. Although this place wasn’t very up-to-date with the times, inevitably someone might still recognize them—better to be careful.

They didn’t choose to drive—too conspicuous. They just walked hand in hand down the mountain slope to the narrow street. The meatball shop Zhui Ye mentioned was at the street entrance. The shop front seemed to have expanded by half. Having passed dinner time, there weren’t many people, making it seem spacious.

Zhui Ye led Wu Man in with practiced familiarity, shouting toward the window inside, “Two family combo bowls, both no spicy, one with extra celery.”

“Coming right up!”

The boss inside, wearing an apron, shouted loudly and started the fire with clanging sounds.

“Want to sit outside?”

“Sure.”

The two walked out to sit at the extended tables and chairs, able to see the entire narrow street under the night sky. Like big cities, it flickered with neon, except this neon was shoddier, the colors garish and tacky, visible every few shops. Next door was a foreign trade clothing store, the clothes in the window seeming ready to collect cobwebs. To attract customers, the shop unscrupulously played a small advertisement: “Jumping off buildings! Clearance sale! Ninety-nine yuan for real fur coats!”

Wu Man propped her chin and smiled helplessly. “So noisy.” But it wasn’t a complaining tone. On the contrary, she found it had a particularly homey atmosphere—quite interesting.

Zhui Ye pointed next door. “It was even noisier before. When I was little, that place was a hair salon. Every time I ate meatball soup here, I could hear dance music blasting. Made me sweat buckets eating.”

“Is meatball soup that good? It made you persevere in coming to eat despite all that.”

“It’s good, and the key is it’s cheap—a huge bowl for just a few yuan.” Zhui Ye recalled, propping his cheek. “Sometimes when I was too lazy to cook, I’d drag my dad here to eat together. He liked beef balls, so I’d give him all the beef balls.”

Wu Man thought briefly. “So when you just told me the fish balls and pork balls are especially delicious, was it because those were the only two kinds left in your bowl?”

“…” Zhui Ye touched his nose again. “Elder Sister discovered even that.”

During their sporadic chat, the boss brought up two steaming bowls of family combo—three kinds total inside: fish balls, beef balls, and pork balls. Sprinkled with scallions, sesame, and celery, the aroma was overflowing.

Zhui Ye pushed the bowl with more celery in front of Wu Man and added some vinegar to her bowl, saying this would make it more flavorful.

Wu Man silently picked out all the beef balls and scooped them into Zhui Ye’s bowl.

Zhui Ye froze, his chopsticks poking at them. “Why are you giving them to me, Elder Sister? I have some in my bowl this time too.”

“Those are for little Zhui Ye. I’m making up for the beef balls he couldn’t eat back then.”

Hearing her say this, Zhui Ye made an “oh” sound and lowered his head, picking up a beef ball and biting into it whole. The white mist rising from the meatball soup wrapped around his face. He wiped his eyes, saying offhandedly, “The steam’s bothering me.”

The two quickly finished the meatball soup at the stall, mainly because the advertisement next door was催魂—催魂listening to it a few times was still interesting, but after dozens of loops it became very maddening.

Wu Man wiped her mouth and said, “I want to go look at that record store.”

Zhui Ye recalled, “When I came a few years ago it was still there. Not sure if it’s still open now.”

“It must be open!”

Despite saying this, Wu Man felt a bit uneasy inside. Now was the era of digital imaging—people rarely bought discs and tapes anymore. They had become relics of the past.

Sure enough, when they found the address from memory, they discovered the record store had completely vanished, replaced by a bookstore. But even in the current era, business was dismal.

Since they were there, the two said they’d still go in and browse. The store was cold and deserted, with only two or three parents at the textbook and study guide section frantically selecting purchases for their children. Zhui Ye resolutely headed straight for where poetry collections clustered. Wu Man looked around idly on the first floor, then walked toward the second floor.

The moment she stepped onto the second floor, she froze.

Above wasn’t books, but still arranged as she’d seen years ago—row after row of audio tapes and discs. Each rack still hung large over-ear headphones for customers to preview.

She looked toward the counter. The person dozing wasn’t the uncle from back then who she had wheedled into letting her in, but rather a somewhat thin middle-aged man.

“Excuse me… is this the original record store?”

She tentatively spoke. The shopkeeper woke from his nap, yawning lazily. “Yeah, you’re an old customer? Business has been bad these years, so we merged with the bookstore downstairs. Pick whatever you want to buy yourself.”

After speaking, he leaned back in his recliner again.

Getting the boss’s confirmation, a joy of recovering something lost rushed to her head. Time had turned, but the ancient traces that witnessed their past remained—nothing was happier than this.

She walked deeper into the racks. Inside were aged ballast tapes from years ago, and some pirated foreign releases from back then that couldn’t be sold, piled here gathering dust. She was looking intently when, in the silence, a saxophone prelude suddenly sounded by her ear.

A large headphone descended from above, placed on her ears.

Wu Man was badly startled, her body unconsciously stepping back, falling into a solid embrace.

Zhui Ye hugged her from behind, gleefully chuckling after successfully pulling off his prank.

Wu Man removed the headphones, turned around glaring angrily. “So you’re at it again with your pranks!”

“Elder Sister, listen carefully to the song I’m playing.” Zhui Ye helped her put them on again while humming softly himself, “Met you by surprise. I didn’t realize. That my life would change forever.”

When we first met here, I hadn’t yet realized my life’s trajectory would change forever because of you.

“This is… ‘Reality’?” Wu Man understood. “Are you imitating ‘The First Kiss’?”

That was the old French film they watched together huddled in the attic. There was a scene where a girl attended a party for the first time, standing alone bored. A boy in a shirt did just this—secretly taking headphones playing this song and putting them on the girl’s ears from behind.

Unexpected, yet heart-fluttering.

But the movie featured a thirteen-year-old girl just beginning to bloom with first love, while she was thirty-six. Being bewitched by such tricks would be embarrassing.

She suppressed the restlessness in her chest, removed the headphones, and frowned with feigned disgust. “Only little girls would be moved.”

He suddenly crouched down, pressing his head to her chest, saying strangely, “Really? Whose heartbeat is louder than the song in the headphones?”

Wu Man rolled her eyes. Zhui Ye smiled and stood up. From the corner of his eye, he glanced at the dozing boss at the counter, then suddenly pulled her into the dead corner between racks.

No one could see them. No one would know what these two secretly did.

Only the two pairs of legs intertwined tightly and indistinguishably in the gap, and the slight sound of discs falling when the backboard accidentally bumped the rack, revealed some stirring impulse.

The headphones in the young man’s hands hung down carelessly. The song inside had reached its ending, the sexy saxophone still faintly circling, drifting through this forgotten second-floor record store.

In the ambiguity, someone suddenly came upstairs. Footsteps neither light nor heavy grew closer, creaking on the wooden stairs, also reaching Zhui Ye and Wu Man’s ears.

So just as the person walked onto the platform, they strangely saw two masked weirdos brush past their body running down the stairs.

They couldn’t see their faces clearly, but could feel the soaring happiness emanating from them.

The two bold wrongdoers ran out of the record store, then sprinted another distance before stopping breathlessly, looking at each other with knowing smiles they couldn’t stop.

Zhui Ye’s voice was hoarse, his heart racing. “Elder Sister, let’s hurry home.”