When the electric scooter circled back to the record store after a big loop, those three people were already gone, but the record store was also about to close.

The owner was holding a cigarette, about to pull down the rolling door, when Wu Man pressed down on his hand.

She clasped her hands together: “Boss, could you be flexible and extend it for ten more minutes?”

The owner was stunned. Looking at her pleading expression, he only hesitated for a second before pulling the rolling door back up and jerking his chin: “Come in.”

No one could refuse nineteen-year-old Wu Man.

Zhui Ye wanted to follow in, but she ordered him to guard the electric scooter: “Help me watch the vehicle, I’ll be right back.”

“…Oh.”

So he stood guard by the electric scooter, like a loyal knight.

In less than ten minutes, Wu Man came out. Zhui Ye didn’t notice anything extra on her.

“Didn’t elder sister find what you wanted?”

She shook her head regretfully: “No.”

“Our county town is too small—we don’t have many popular tapes.”

“It’s fine. I’m leaving tomorrow anyway, I can look elsewhere.”

At this topic, Zhui Ye’s mood immediately sank.

Until dawn, there were only four hours left.

After four hours, she would leave this place, like a released fish drifting from a river pond toward lakes and seas.

There were billions of people in this world—not everyone had the chance to meet even once, let alone reunite.

Those briefly forgotten pains returned along with these chaotic thoughts. Zhui Ye clenched his fists, trying hard to hold back the impulsive tears welling up.

He had already promised elder sister he would become a reliable adult in the future.

So he couldn’t cry at every little thing anymore.

The electric scooter had been depleted after most of the night and was almost out of battery. For the last four hours, they pushed the vehicle, slowly walking toward the seaside, returning to the spot they had left earlier.

The coastline before dawn already had a blurred outline, like a painting by Matisse. The black and blue between heaven and earth were used just right, from dense to light, revealing the calm sea surface beneath the night curtain.

The photograph that had been floating and sinking in the sea had long since disappeared.

They sat shoulder to shoulder on the shore, waiting for daylight to arrive.

Not long after Zhui Ye sat down, the fatigue throughout his body wrapped around him like a cocoon. Children couldn’t endure staying up late, much less after such a thrilling day and night.

He felt utterly exhausted, his eyelids fighting each other, until finally both sides called a truce and peacefully closed together.

When he woke again, Zhui Ye felt warmth on his back.

The sun had already come out.

He was dazed for a moment before realizing he had missed the sunrise, and Wu Man beside him had also disappeared, along with the electric scooter.

She hadn’t left anything behind, making Zhui Ye suspect he had just been too heartbroken, cried himself to sleep by the sea, and had a pipe dream.

Until he reached into his pocket and felt a small hard object.

—It was a blank tape.

In those few minutes she had entered the record store, she had actually recorded “Little Jasmine” for him.

“Little jasmine

Please don’t forget me.

When the sun comes out,

I will come to visit you…”

Twelve years later, Little Jasmine indeed hadn’t forgotten elder sister.

Only Little Jasmine had been forgotten.

*

Los Angeles, midnight.

Wu Man noticed Zhui Ye’s cigarette ash falling onto his leg without him realizing it, and called out to remind him: “What are you thinking about?”

Zhui Ye came back to his senses, flicked off the ash, his voice hoarse: “I’m thinking, can you really not sing ‘Little Jasmine’ anymore?”

“…Why bring this up suddenly?”

“You sang it so beautifully. I think in that touring song and dance troupe back then, probably no one sang better than you.”

Wu Man was astonished: “…When you were in the touring troupe, you already knew me?”

Zhui Ye nodded: “To be precise, it was your last day with the song and dance troupe.”

The last day with the song and dance troupe—at that time, she should have traveled to Qingling.

She probed: “I saw you… in Qingling?”

Wu Man searched through the dusty library in her mind. She only remembered going there, having an extremely vague impression of that county town. Specific details, she couldn’t recall clearly.

After all, for her, it was just an insignificant stroke in time that was too far gone.

At that time, when she reached an age where she could leave home, she resolutely left. She had nothing to her name except the talents she had painstakingly learned over the years, scraping by with a third-rate touring song and dance troupe. She went to many places during that period. The reason she could still remember Qingling now was because it was the last stop where she had a falling out with the song and dance troupe.

After that, she bought a ticket to Beijing, met Zhao Boyu, and her life turned upside down from then on.

After she formally entered the entertainment industry, Zhao Boyu created a persona for her as someone who couldn’t sing, just to separate her from that grassroots, vulgar song and dance troupe experience.

She had resisted at the time. Singing was a talent she had formally studied. She relied on it to earn money and make her way in the world, openly and honestly—what was wrong with that? It was all part of her life experience, so why should she hide it?

But Zhao Boyu laughed at her naivety.

He said, do you think fans really want to see you without makeup, in your most original state? No one likes dull, gray crows—everyone likes magnificent nightingales, even if they’re just crows painted with colors.

If they knew about that past, it would be like seeing the paint peel off in a small spot, revealing the unsightly truth underneath. Then you would be knocked back to your original form, losing all affection.

From then on, she stopped singing and became a voiceless nightingale.

She never imagined that the person before her had actually witnessed her days when she could still sing freely—that most original version of herself.

Zhui Ye sighed: “Elder sister really has forgotten me completely. That’s why I never said anything, because saying it would be useless.”

How could she have imagined? That little boy who once cried with his face all wrinkled, who briefly sat on her back seat, had grown into such a stunningly talented young man.

He exhaled a ring of smoke, his expression blurred: “I didn’t want to appear before you in any other identity—a brother met by chance, or a fan who’s been following you all these years… none of that would do. It would only make you look down on me.”

He jumped down from the embankment, stubbed out the cigarette, wanting to approach her but restraining himself and staying put.

“I shamelessly used a bit of scheming, first catching your attention, then approaching you simply as a man. Only that way would you take me seriously.”

*

The next day, He Huiyu’s wedding was formally held on the beach.

The environment was beautifully decorated, with light white curtains supporting the vow exchange location, surrounded by abundant flowers. The sky was pristinely clear—good weather for being in love.

He Huiyu had drunk quite a bit last night. Before the wedding officially began, she found Wu Man and said: “I drank too much last night and said a lot of things I shouldn’t have. Just let it pass—don’t tell anyone.”

Wu Man deliberately said: “Which thing you shouldn’t have said? That it’s a pity you didn’t sleep with Zhui Ye?”

He Huiyu’s face darkened as she pounced over to cover Wu Man’s mouth.

“Better to tear down ten temples than ruin one marriage! Behave yourself!”

Wu Man put away her teasing, her expression becoming serious: “I was joking. I wish you happiness, my ‘old rival.'”

She opened her arms toward He Huiyu.

He Huiyu was startled, then a smile spread across her lips as she reached out to embrace her back.

The accumulated grievances from their years of open and covert struggles were shattered by this embrace in this moment, finally truly disintegrating into dust.

He Huiyu whispered in Wu Man’s ear: “When I toss the bouquet later, be smart and come to the front. I’ll throw it toward you.”

“…Why give it to me?”

“Among the older single women I know, you’re the only one who hasn’t married yet, okay?”

Wu Man couldn’t help asking her: “Why must people get married?”

He Huiyu was stunned, but she misunderstood Wu Man’s meaning.

“This kind of relationship you have with Mr. Yu is indeed hard to turn into marriage, but… women still need to plan more for themselves.”

At the mention of Yu Jiaze, Wu Man’s expression darkened.

“If I ever decide to get married one day, it definitely won’t be with him.” Wu Man breathed out deeply, looking at the mirror-like seawater outside the window. “But I also can’t think of who would make me want to marry. In the end, relationships between people are too fragile—even blood ties can’t maintain them, let alone between two strangers. What can make each other last—is it only self-interest?”

“Although this is how this industry is.” He Huiyu couldn’t help sighing too. “I also don’t know if this person I chose is right, but I want to believe in him once. Because he gives me a feeling… that I’m being deeply loved, and will continue to be deeply loved. It’s as if all those people I met over the years, all the times I was hurt, were all so I could compare and realize he’s the right one.”

Wu Man was dazed for a moment, then smiled: “How do I feel like I’m being force-fed dog food again? Anyway… you don’t need to give me the bouquet.”

*

Although He Huiyu had run abroad to hold a Western-style wedding, she still incorporated a bit of Chinese tradition—for example, the ceremony time had to be an auspicious time calculated by a master.

When the auspicious time arrived, the bride finally made her late entrance. Wearing a gossamer-thin, floor-length white veil, she walked onto the flower carpet, winding through the sacred flower clusters.

Women immersed in happiness were too beautiful.

Wu Man sat in the guest seats watching He Huiyu, unable to help but sigh with such sentiment. This was an expression that could never be faked no matter how many times one wore a wedding dress in a drama.

In this moment, to say she wasn’t envious would be a lie.

She watched He Huiyu, her gaze involuntarily turning past her to fall on that person at the diagonal angle.

He was very different from last night, dressed extremely formally in a crisp black suit, a red rose brooch pinned to his chest, his hair swept back to reveal a bright forehead.

Just sitting there, Zhui Ye was enough to make others pale in comparison.

He was also watching He Huiyu at this moment, yet secretly looking past He Huiyu toward her.

The two of them unexpectedly met each other’s eyes from afar.

On the flower carpet, He Huiyu had already walked to the groom’s side. The priest held the two people’s hands, intertwining them together.

“Lord, we come before you to witness and bless this man and woman entering the sacred hall of matrimony…”

The guests below all witnessed the two newlyweds embracing happiness with the prayer, except for two people who were absentmindedly stealing glances at each other.

Wu Man listened to the priest’s deep voice falling into her ears, but what she heard was Zhui Ye’s final words from last night—

“I feel sorry for Deng Lizhi, because I was using calling her name to secretly like you.”

“The one I’ve liked all along has always been that woman named Wu Man.”

“Although she’s changed a lot—not only has she forgotten me, perhaps she’s also forgotten what she used to be like. At first I was indeed a bit disappointed… wondering why she had become like this. But I can’t blame her—she’s already had such a hard time these years. Thinking about that, I just get angry at myself.”

“After all, she once told me to grow into a reliable adult. I was absent for so many years, thinking that after winning awards, I could meet her with dignity, but I discovered… it still wasn’t enough.”

“I’m still far from being that reliable. But that doesn’t mean I’ve accepted my fate. I won’t say anything about making her wait for me, but I won’t stop working hard for her.”

His index finger touched Wu Man’s cheek, gently caressing. The skin his fingertips lingered over seemed to ignite small clusters of warm flames.

Wu Man slightly turned her face, trying to block his touch, but ultimately lost the battle.

She said hoarsely: “Have you never thought that she doesn’t need you at all?”

“Unrequited love doesn’t matter.” Zhui Ye was incredibly firm. “I’m willing to waste time on her. Besides, how can time spent on her be called a waste?”

He looked at her, his eyes like the sea.

“Every minute, every second spent with her is the best time of my life.”