The filming location was at the film studio in Z City, about a five-hour drive away. Gu Xi and the others set off early in the morning. Xiao Chen was in charge of driving, Fang Pingping was working on practice questions, and Gu Xi was silently memorizing her lines—each busy with their own tasks. Occasionally, Xiao Chen would glance in the rearview mirror. He noticed that although both girls were college students and quite good-looking—especially his young boss, who also seemed to come from a well-off family—they were both extremely hardworking. They didn’t waste time chatting after getting in the car; they all focused on their own work.
He couldn’t help but think of his own past. He used to be a decent student back then, and if nothing had gone wrong, he probably could have gotten into a decent college. Did he regret it? Of course he did—life in prison hadn’t been pleasant. But sometimes he also felt that if he hadn’t stepped in, Song Rumeng would have suffered who knows how much bullying. He shouldn’t have lost control and gone that far.
But now, seeing people who were a hundred times better than him working just as hard—it was impossible not to be moved.
At noon, the three of them bought instant noodles at a rest stop. After eating, Gu Xi told Xiao Chen to go take a nap in the car. Xiao Chen didn’t say much, but he was honest and obedient—whatever Gu Xi said, he did.
After about half an hour of sleep, he woke up to find Fang Pingping still buried in her practice questions in the car. After a moment’s hesitation, he asked, “Should we head off now?”
Hearing his voice, Fang Pingping looked up. “Sure.”
“Where’s the boss?”
“She’s outside memorizing her lines. I’ll give her a call to come back.”
Xiao Chen paused, then finally couldn’t help asking, “Are you two always this diligent?”
Fang Pingping paused mid-reach for her phone, finding the question a bit odd. “Diligent? Not really. Whether it’s Xixi or me, we both want to become useful people.”
And the prerequisite for becoming a useful person, of course, was to keep improving and enriching oneself.
Xiao Chen understood the implication behind her words.
He had never really thought about what kind of person he wanted to be. After a long silence, he finally said, “Sister Fang, I’ll do my best.”
Fang Pingping glanced at him again. “Good. Keep it up.”
She dialed Gu Xi’s number. “Xixi, come back—Xiao Chen’s awake.”
“Okay.”
The three of them drove to the film set first. Fang Pingping had already gotten familiar with their contact online over the past few days—the person was a production assistant to the producer. Fang Pingping was smooth with people and had occasionally sent the assistant takeout or milk tea, so when they arrived, the assistant led them to meet the producer and the director.
Fang Pingping also had Gu Xi call Sister Hong. Sister Hong quickly called the director as well, so even though it was their first time there, the director set aside some time to chat with them briefly.
According to Sister Hong, the director was a literature major from B University. After working for a few years, he switched careers and entered the entertainment industry as a director. He had previously directed a few short films and even won some significant awards—this was his first feature-length film for the big screen.
But Gu Xi knew very well that if it were a major director’s film, she would never have gotten the part.
The other actors had all been selected and invited by the director himself; only Gu Xi had come through a recommendation. Although the director was quite satisfied with her looks, he still insisted on having her do a screen test first.
Gu Xi agreed and went to change as the director requested.
That process took several hours. By the time Gu Xi came out of the studio, it was already seven in the evening, and the sky had long since gone dark.
The three of them then drove off to find a hotel. Fortunately, there were plenty of hotels in the area. They found a five-star hotel nearby and booked a suite and two standard double rooms. Gu Xi took the suite, which had a small kitchen where she could cook for herself.
Fang Pingping stayed in the room next door and helped drag the suitcases inside. “Get some rest. I’ll go buy some food and bring it over tomorrow morning.”
“Okay. Thanks for your trouble.”
“Don’t be silly with me. There’s a little kitchen here—we can buy some groceries tomorrow and cook.”
“Sounds good.”
Gu Xi was exhausted after a long day, but since she would be filming tomorrow, she planned to go over the lines she had already memorized in the past few days before washing up.
Her memory wasn’t particularly sharp, and some parts she had memorized before were already slipping. She had to go over them again. But she must have been too tired, because as she recited, she gradually grew drowsy.
When she opened her eyes again, she found herself sitting in a worn-out bus.
She was in a seat by the window near the back. There were only a few people around. The temperature was a bit low, so Gu Xi instinctively pulled her coat tighter. Looking down at the black coat she was wearing, she paused—this was what she had worn during the day. After getting to the hotel room, she had gone straight back to memorizing her lines and hadn’t had time to change.
Just as she was wondering, the bus pulled up at a roadside stop. The stop was crude—just a wooden signboard.
A few people got on one after another. The last one in was a boy who dropped some coins into the fare box with a clatter. He looked up and scanned the seats expressionlessly, his gaze pausing on Gu Xi’s face. He seemed almost unable to believe his eyes—his eyes widened slightly.
The driver, in a sour tone, barked, “Sit down quickly—we’re leaving.”
Without waiting for the boy, he started the bus. The vehicle lurched as it rolled over a pothole, jostling everyone on board. Someone cursed loudly in frustration.
The boy was forced to look away. He glanced back again and saw that the woman was still there, looking at him too. Their eyes met, and she gave him a faint, gentle smile.
Bai Shulin suppressed the pounding in his chest and tried to compose himself as he walked over to her and sat down beside her. He turned to look at her—the face that had grown blurry in his memory was slowly coming back into focus. She looked exactly as he remembered, but he had grown so much since then.
Gu Xi knew—she was dreaming again.
Having been through this before, she accepted it more easily this time. She smiled and greeted him first. “Hello.”
The boy was startled for a moment, then nodded. “Long time no see.”
This time, it was Gu Xi’s turn to be surprised. He still remembered the last dream.
Perhaps sensing the confusion in his eyes, Gu Xi spoke up first. “I forgot to introduce myself last time. My name is Gu Xi.”
The boy nodded. He opened his mouth, wanting to ask so many things, but he didn’t know how to start.
In the end, all he asked was, “Where are you going?”
Gu Xi shook her head. “I’m not in a great mood—just riding around. What about you? Where are you going?”
The boy was quiet for a while, then said, “I’m going to visit my mother.”
Gu Xi turned to look at him. Aunt Lin had mentioned that his mother had died in the winter. Her gaze shifted—only now did she notice that under his padded jacket, he was wearing a blue school uniform, and on his feet were a pair of black canvas sneakers. It must have been freezing in those shoes.
In his hand, he carried a white plastic bag containing yellow funeral paper and spirit money. The knuckles of the hand holding the bag were red and chapped in places.
“Then I’ll come with you.”
The boy turned to look at her again but didn’t say no.
“School’s on break?”
“Mm.”
“What grade are you in now? You’ve grown a lot taller.”
“First year of high school.”
Gu Xi gave a soft “Mm” and turned to look out the window. The sky outside was gray and overcast. The bus traveled along a country road, with barren fields and mountains stretching into the distance.
Seeing that she had stopped asking questions, the boy grew a little anxious, wondering if he had said something wrong. After hesitating, he was about to ask, “You…”
But just as he opened his mouth, his stomach let out a loud rumble. His face flushed red, and he pressed a hand to his stomach, staying quiet.
Gu Xi instinctively reached into her coat pocket. Yesterday, she and Fang Pingping had bought quite a few snacks at the supermarket to bring on the trip. At noon, when she’d gotten off the bus to memorize lines, she had grabbed a handful—but hadn’t eaten many.
She pulled out a few pieces of chocolate and two small fish sausages and handed them to him. “Here, eat.”
Bai Shulin wanted to refuse, but he also didn’t want to reject her kindness, so he took one piece of candy and mumbled a thank you.
He had never eaten snacks like these. He rarely had any pocket money—barely enough to get half-full at meals, nothing left for extras. The old lady always said that his father’s money would all go to his older cousin in the future.
She had never liked his mother, and by extension, she disliked him too.
Truthfully, he felt that the old lady simply didn’t like his father—that was why she was so partial. But that man never understood; he only thought the boy was disrespectful to his elders.
The dark candy melted in his mouth, spreading a bitter taste that slowly gave way to a faint sweetness. It was a unique flavor—he had never tasted anything like it.
During the New Year and holidays, his father’s work unit would hand out candy, but the old lady would always stash it all away and secretly call his older cousin into her room to eat it.
Sometimes he thought—if his mother were still here, would things be different? His mother had doted on him. He remembered her sneaking him eggs to eat when he was little, and buying him candy.
Bai Shulin stayed silent. He couldn’t bear to bite into the candy, so he let it melt slowly in his mouth.
Gu Xi stuffed the rest into his pocket.
The boy suddenly spoke up. “Tomorrow is my mother’s death anniversary. I wanted to come see her.”
“What about your father?”
The boy’s voice turned colder. “He’s not home.”
Gu Xi nodded and asked no more.
But the boy didn’t like the quiet. “When are you leaving this time?”
“I don’t know.”
“Will I see you again?”
“I don’t know.”
“My name is Bai Shulin.”
“I know.”
The boy looked surprised and turned to glance at her.
Gu Xi gave a faint smile. “I saw the certificates of merit on the wall last time. I remembered.”
The boy raised an eyebrow, and his mood lightened a little.
The bus bumped along and finally stopped in a small town. Bai Shulin stood up with the plastic bag in hand. Gu Xi followed behind him, and they got off one after the other.
Seeing her follow, the boy paused after stepping off the bus and waited for her.
He was much taller than her now. In the last dream, he hadn’t even reached her height.
Looking down at the top of her head, the boy curved his lips into a faint smile, then said, “It’s a long walk.”
“Okay.”
Seeing that Gu Xi didn’t back down, he had no choice but to take her along to his hometown village.
Bai Shulin said it was far, but it wasn’t really that far—maybe in his memory, the road had seemed endless when he was little. About half an hour later, they reached the entrance of a village. Surrounding them were fields, and in the winter, the piles of straw in the fields were covered in snow.
There weren’t many people around, but as they walked along the village paths, they still ran into someone familiar—a woman of a certain age gave Bai Shulin a second look. “Is that Shulin?”
The boy glanced at her and said, “Auntie Wang.”
“Oh!” The woman beamed. “It really is you. I was thinking you’d be coming back around these days. You’re here to see your mother, right? Such a filial child. Go on, hurry—and come by my place for a meal later.”
The boy nodded. “I’ll head off now.”
But his tone was neither warm nor cold.
Gu Xi followed behind. The woman called Auntie Wang couldn’t help but take another look at her and said with a smile, “This is your girlfriend? She’s quite pretty.”
The boy walking ahead faltered for a step and quickly shot back, “No.”
But he walked even faster.
Fortunately, Gu Xi was wearing flats today and could keep up. They made their way to the back hill together. Bai Shulin knew the place well and kept walking until he stopped halfway up the slope.
The grass around the grave had grown a bit overgrown. He took out a machete he had prepared in advance from the plastic bag, carefully trimmed the area around it, then knelt down and began burning funeral paper.
Gu Xi thought for a moment, then knelt down as well and kowtowed once. Afterward, she stepped away a short distance to give them privacy.
On the way back, the boy was silent the entire time.
As they returned to the village, they were stopped by someone—a lean, short-haired old woman, who said with a smile, “I heard you were back, so I came over to wait. Come home and have dinner.”
Toward this old woman, Bai Shulin’s attitude was noticeably warmer. “Grandma Yu.”
“Come on home. I stewed a chicken this morning, thinking you’d be back around now. It’s ready—perfect to eat while it’s hot.”
“Thank you, Grandma Yu.”
The old woman also noticed Gu Xi. “This girl is pretty. Is she your friend?”
Unlike the earlier auntie, this old woman looked at Gu Xi with warm, affectionate eyes.
Gu Xi smiled and said, “Grandma, I’m Gu Xi.”
“Good, good. Come on home.”