Xu Zhi, oblivious to the situation, took out her phone intending to transfer the meal cost to him. She believed that any relationship based on splitting costs equally would last the longest, though she wasn’t sure why. Still, she wanted to maintain this enduring dining companionship with Chen Luzhou.

Chen Luzhou’s WeChat dinged in his pocket. Xu Zhi said, “I’ve sent you the money.”

Chen Luzhou: “…”

Later, after returning to his team, Chen Luzhou grabbed someone – a handsome fellow, albeit on the darker, thinner side. Young, but rich in romantic experience, his name was Yan Letong.

“What does it mean when a girl insists on splitting the bill?” Yan Letong, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, analyzed confidently, “It means she doesn’t want to see you again. If she was interested, either you’d pay or she’d pay, giving a reason for the next meetup.”

Is that so?

Chen Luzhou was adjusting the drone for an upcoming aerial shot. He had been helping a motorcycle team with aerial photography for the past couple of days, introduced by Fu Yuqing. His friend’s motorcycle team was looking for an aerial photographer, and Chen Luzhou had agreed without hesitation. There were other photographers in the team, but Chen Luzhou was only responsible for aerial shots. The team was full of young people, and surprisingly, the other photographers were equally youthful. In just one evening, everyone had already bonded.

After finishing, Yan Letong found his analysis incredulous. Looking at Chen Luzhou standing there, seriously adjusting the equipment, he found it baffling. “Is it even possible for a girl not to be interested in you?”

Who knows. Chen Luzhou fixed the drone at the entrance of the U-shaped track.

Yan Letong couldn’t imagine it. After all, on Chen Luzhou’s first day with the team, the female photographers had completely transformed from their usual listless state, becoming extraordinarily kind even to them. How could he tell? Those female photographers were the team’s regular photographers, covering all their competitions. They usually got along well privately, having reached a calm and harmonious understanding. No one wanted to disrupt this balance, considering future collaborations. So they never wore makeup when coming to shoot. But hearing that a handsome guy had joined the team, the next day everyone showed up with exquisite makeup, looking both charming and homely.

Chen Luzhou crouched down, supporting himself with one hand, eventually sitting on the lawn. His other hand held the remote control as he looked up at the drone in the sky. He smiled and said, “She’s not an ordinary girl. No matter how you tease her, she won’t get angry. It’s quite interesting.”

Yan Letong, seasoned in relationships, smiled and educated him: “You don’t understand. Before dating you, a girl’s heart is as vast as the universe. No matter how you tease her, she can always accommodate and contentedly say ‘It’s okay, I can handle it.’ But once you start dating, her heart shrinks to the size of a needle’s eye,” he gestured confidently, “Then everything you do is wrong, everything can make her angry.”

Chen Luzhou sat on the grass, one leg stretched out, the other bent, resting his elbow on it. After a test flight, he brought the drone down. Without looking at Yan Letong, focusing on the remote control’s screen, he asked, “Do you know why that is?”

“Why?”

After landing the drone, Chen Luzhou put down the remote and said, “Because you become her universe. You fill her entire world, so naturally, her heart seems smaller. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself.”

Yan Letong had a sudden epiphany, tailing Chen Luzhou obsequiously, “Wow, bro, you’re so good at this.”

Chen Luzhou: “…It’s alright, go help me pick up the equipment.”

“Okay, teach me more in the future, bro.”

“Come on, I can’t even figure it out myself.”

Just as he finished speaking, his phone vibrated in his pocket. Chen Luzhou instinctively thought it was Xu Zhi, so he fished it out to check. Sure enough.

Xu Zhi: Chen Luzhou, Yingying just interrogated me. She knows I’m meeting you tomorrow and wants to come along. Is it okay to bring her?

Cr: Up to you.

Xu Zhi: …Our photographer… also overheard.

Already using “our” so quickly, huh?

Cr: …Whatever you want. How many times do I need to say it?

Chen Luzhou sent the message and tossed his phone into his bag, not wanting to look at it or respond anymore. He decided not to reply if she messaged again.

However, Xu Zhi didn’t message again. When she did, it was about half an hour later, by which time Chen Luzhou was already shooting. The motorcycle training ground was rented, with high daily fees. Their team didn’t have much funding, but for the club’s tenth-anniversary commemoration, to shoot a memorial video, the captain had emptied their coffers. So everyone cherished every moment there. The riders trained almost non-stop, wanting to showcase their best performance on camera.

On his first day, Chen Luzhou realized the conditions here were quite harsh. Except for the few female photographers staying in small hotels, the men all slept in a large dormitory upstairs. The work meals were mostly vegetarian, but that was manageable. The main issue was the shooting environment. Although the training base was in the suburbs of a neighboring city, without many high-rises around, surrounded by dilapidated low-rise buildings, sparsely populated and overgrown with weeds, there was a military zone nearby. Drones couldn’t be flown freely; flight paths needed approval before shooting was allowed. Moreover, most daytime flights were prohibited, with permission granted only after 9 PM.

So once the intense shooting schedule began, the entire team operated like clockwork. No one would stop to wait for anyone, especially not the riders. The riders’ peak performance was fleeting. If missed, it might take two more months of practice to achieve the same results. Just yesterday, because a photographer was distracted and missed capturing a rider’s best performance, the rider was so angry he got into a fight with the photographer. They still haven’t spoken since.

…

Chen Luzhou saw Xu Zhi’s later reply when it was almost midnight. He had just finished work and was processing the last few empty shots in the shed, exhausted. He took out his phone for a final check of messages.

Xu Zhi: Well, if it’s not convenient, let’s cancel tomorrow. You focus on your work, and we can meet when you’re back in Qingyi. It’s all the same.

“Bang!” The phone was slammed onto the table in the shed. The photography shed was right next to the racetrack, convenient for editing and touching up. They had set up a temporary shed where they could edit videos on the spot after the shooting, allowing for reshoots if unsatisfied. The facilities in the shed were basic, with just a few tables, a power strip, and several computers. In just a few days, the charging cables had become an indistinguishable tangle. So when Chen Luzhou slammed his phone on the table, the shirtless editor sitting nearby nervously glanced at the power strip, fearing it might get unplugged.

There was no air conditioning here, just a few standing fans. When the female photographers weren’t around, the well-built editors usually worked shirtless. Only Chen Luzhou stayed fully clothed. The younger guys in the team teased him, asking if he was too embarrassed about his poor physique to undress. Chen Luzhou would either joke back – “My body’s too good, I’m afraid you’ll get jealous” – or simply ignore them. He was generally even-tempered. Since joining the team, despite the harsh conditions, with some photographers complaining after just a few hours of shooting, threatening to leave, or demanding more pay, Chen Luzhou had shot for over ten hours a day without a word of complaint.

So when they saw him lose his temper, even the usually aloof editor couldn’t help but ask with concern, “What’s wrong? Family issues?”

The moon hung dutifully in the sky, illuminating the mountains, the earth, the lawn, and the young man’s burning heart.

“It’s nothing, carry on,” he shook his head, having no desire to confide. It wasn’t something he could easily explain; after all, he wasn’t even anything to her yet.

The editor didn’t press further, but tossed him a pack of cigarettes, “Do you smoke? If you do, feel free to have some of mine.”

Chen Luzhou forced a smile, thanking him for the gesture, but he truly didn’t smoke. He didn’t say anything more, just leaned back in his chair in a self-reflective manner, his long legs planted on the ground, rocking back and forth on the chair legs. He tilted his head back, staring at the bare, crudely installed incandescent bulb on the shed’s ceiling. The light wasn’t particularly bright, probably just about fifteen watts, but staring at it for a while made him dizzy. When he picked up his phone from the table again, his emotions were back under control. He had been a bit too harsh earlier.

Cr: Are you asleep?

Xu Zhi: No, are you done with work?

Cr: Yeah, what are you doing?

Xu Zhi: Watching a show you posted on your Moments. It’s quite interesting.

Cr: You’ve been scrolling through my Moments?

Xu Zhi: Mm-hmm.

Chen Luzhou wanted to ask, what does this mean? Why are you looking through my Moments? What’s your angle? Xu Zhi immediately sent another persistent message, seemingly afraid he might misunderstand, explaining:

Xu Zhi: I really couldn’t write my article, so I thought I’d find some inspiration from your Moments. Given your level of eloquence, I think you could handle this job.

Cr: …Thanks, Xu Zhi, but not everything needs an explanation. Sometimes when the wind blows hard, flowers and trees can’t reason with it. It’s all just natural phenomena, I understand.

Xu Zhi: Oh, right.

Cr: That question you asked me last time, I’ve been thinking about it.

Xu Zhi: What question?

Cr: You asked what to do if the wall in my heart falls.

Xu Zhi: Oh, do you have an answer?

Cr: Want to hear it?

Xu Zhi: Yes, tell me.

Cr: I won’t say it over WeChat. Come over tomorrow, I’ll tell you in person.

Xu Zhi: Okay.

**

The next day, Chen Luzhou was originally going to pick her up, but Xu Zhi declined. Thinking that the three of them coming together should be fine, he didn’t insist further. He sent her the location and told her to call him when they arrived at the base.

Xu Zhi then realized she didn’t have Chen Luzhou’s phone number; they had only been in contact through WeChat. Without her having to ask, Chen Luzhou proactively sent over a string of numbers.

Chen Luzhou: 1838991xxxx, call if anything comes up, can’t hear WeChat.

As Xu Zhi saved the number, she silently recited it. Feng Jing, sitting in the passenger seat, didn’t yet know who they were going to meet, but the number sounded familiar. He just couldn’t remember whose it was, but he had seen it somewhere before because the last four digits were sequential. Such numbers were rare back then; when he applied at the mobile company, they only offered numbers that were hard to remember.

When the car arrived outside the training base, Chen Luzhou was already there. He stood with his hands in his pockets on the edge of the flowerbed outside the base.

At this moment, Feng Jing didn’t recognize who the handsome guy by the flowerbed was, but Chen Luzhou recognized him at a glance. Although they hadn’t met formally, they had video chatted a few times and greeted each other twice through Zhu Yangqi’s phone.

“Feng Jing.”

As soon as they got out of the car, Chen Luzhou walked over to Xu Zhi, his tall figure naturally shielding her, but he greeted Feng Jing first.

Feng Jing stared at him for a long while. The sun was beating down, and Xu Zhi felt like she was about to melt. Finally, Feng Jing belatedly reacted, but Chen Luzhou had already introduced himself, “I’m Chen Luzhou, you should know me. Let’s talk more inside.”

Then he looked down at Xu Zhi, “Hot?”

Xu Zhi nodded, “The neighboring city seems much hotter than our place. Yingying even got heatstroke yesterday.”

Chen Luzhou led them inside, “There’s no air conditioning in here, but it should be a bit cooler than outside. I’ll find a couple of fans for you later. I have another group to shoot, so you can look around first. I’ll find you when I’m done.”

Feng Jing was still exclaiming behind them, a series of “Holy shit” unable to calm his current mood. Cai Yingying’s ears were about to go deaf from his shouting, “Feng Jing, that’s enough. I didn’t get this excited even when I saw Andy Lau.”

“That’s different, okay? We have a common connection called Zhu Yangqi, but we’ve never met each other. I’ve always heard Zhu Yangqi bragging about how awesome he is, and Zhu Yangqi was planning to introduce us, but I didn’t expect we’d meet ahead of time!”

Cai Yingying: “Didn’t you notice that Chen Luzhou doesn’t seem very interested in meeting you?”

Even Cai Yingying could hear a bit of coldness in that “Feng Jing” earlier.

Feng Jing: “Impossible, he recognized me at first glance. He must have been looking forward to meeting me for a long time too.”

Cai Yingying rolled her eyes in exasperation.

There were quite a few people at the base. Before coming, Xu Zhi had heard from him about the general situation. It was a motorcycle club, mostly guys, except for a few female photographers. As soon as Xu Zhi walked in, she could hear the roar of engines from the track outside. Someone must be training. Chen Luzhou led them to the editing shed. It was rare for Chen Luzhou to bring people over, especially two beautiful girls.

In any other place, this would have caused a stir, but this base was special. One group of men only loved cars, another only loved photography, both immune to beautiful girls. Instead, seeing Feng Jing with a camera around his neck, they felt a sense of meeting a kindred spirit in a foreign land, and patronizingly said, “How is it? This job is tough, right? Brother, let me advise you, you’re still young, change careers while you can.”

Cai Yingying and Xu Zhi were completely ignored. Cai Yingying felt defeated; it was one thing to lose to Chai Jingjing, but now she couldn’t even compare to Feng Jing.

Seeing that Chen Luzhou hadn’t left for a while, Xu Zhi said to him, “Go ahead with your work, don’t worry about us. If we really can’t stand it later, we’re thinking of looking around nearby.”

“There’s only a military zone nearby, don’t wander around aimlessly. Wait for me here,” Chen Luzhou got two bottles of Huoxiang Zhengqi water from someone and put them on the table, “There’s no doctor in the team, if you feel unwell, drink some of this first.”

Xu Zhi sat in his usual editing spot, took the bottle, and looked up to ask him, “When will you be done?”

“About an hour,” Chen Luzhou tossed her his PSP, “Play with this for a while, I’ll call you for dinner.”

Xu Zhi made a sound of agreement.

Then Chen Luzhou left. Xu Zhi sat in the shed, looking in the direction he went, and immediately recognized his drone. His machine and equipment were all by the racetrack, with a male photographer and a female photographer standing nearby, chatting casually as if waiting for him to start work. As he walked over, the girl smilingly offered him a bottle of water. Chen Luzhou didn’t take it, instead bending down to pick up a bottle of water from the ground before starting up the machine.

The setting sun sank on the horizon, disappearing behind the mountain ridge, emitting its last glimmer of light, like a doll with its makeup and hair removed, exuding a kind of withered vitality. The editing shed didn’t smell very pleasant, and as the dusk wind blew, the stench became overwhelming.

But in the crow-filled twilight, that last glimmer of light was like someone gently tearing open the sky, tentatively caressing the young girl’s face.

Today, there was a one-hour window for aerial photography during the day, which had been approved. The race car driver was still frantically warming up nearby, trying to bring out his best condition, while Chen Luzhou, in his usual lazy posture, sat on the lawn with his elbow resting on his knee, head tilted back, doing a final check for any interference nearby.

After he finished confirming, there were still five minutes before the exact flight time could begin. The race car driver still hadn’t stopped, continuing to seriously and rigorously exercise his muscle memory. Xu Zhi hadn’t expected the atmosphere to be so tense before coming. The editing big brother nearby explained to them—

“It’s like this, Chen Luzhou and his team are responsible for shooting the 10th anniversary commemorative video for this racing team. This big displacement bike rider is particularly hard to please, and very picky. A few days ago, he even got into a fight with one of our photographers because the shot wasn’t good, broke his nose bridge. Chen Luzhou specially applied for daytime flight routes to supplement a few aerial shots for him, and it’s said that he has adjusted his condition to the best state, saying that he will achieve his unprecedented best performance today. To be honest, I’m nervous for Chen Luzhou.”

Indeed, no wonder Xu Zhi felt such an oppressive atmosphere as soon as she walked in. The whole scene looked even more tense than an international competition. Seeing that race car driver frantically training over there, even the few observing big brothers in the editing shed couldn’t help but hold their breath for him.

However, in these last five minutes, even Xu Zhi’s heart tightened, while Chen Luzhou was calmly playing with his phone for four minutes over there.

He was wearing a black T-shirt and black pants. Different from usual, it wasn’t sweatpants but fitted black work pants. On his head was still a black baseball cap, though with a different logo. He probably had many such caps. It accentuated his clear jawline and truly superior bone structure. The whole person looked clean and sharp. He loved to wear all black, so the lines of his body were the most crisp.

Cai Yingying couldn’t bear to watch anymore and said anxiously, “At a time like this, how can Chen Luzhou still be in the mood to play with his phone?”

Feng Jing didn’t know if Chen Luzhou had a girlfriend, and boldly guessed, “Is he replying to his girlfriend’s messages?”

Probably in the last few seconds before the shooting began, Chen Luzhou finally put away his phone with a “dark clouds pressing the city but the city doesn’t rush” attitude. Immediately after, Xu Zhi’s phone unexpectedly dinged.

Cr: That question you asked me the other day, I thought about it yesterday. If the wall in my heart collapses, I think I would build a stronger castle; if all the rivers in the world dried up, I would use my tears to melt glaciers and mountains; if the sun no longer rises, I would try to light up all the lamps.

Cr: Whether the moon is full or not doesn’t matter, I will always be by your side.