Director of Photography Department of Huayu

Chapter 608 A Long Poem and a Love Letter

In the living room, Liu Yifei clung tightly to Wu Chen like a koala, rubbing her cheek against his neck.

If Liu Yifei is to participate, then it's equivalent to him having to participate as well; otherwise, there would be no commemorative significance.

"Have you come up with any ideas yet?"

Hehe, I can provide lots and lots of great ideas.

Liu Yifei exaggeratedly stretched out her arms, forgetting that she was still hanging on Wu Chen, and immediately leaned back subconsciously.

"Be careful"

Seeing this, Wu Chen was both amused and exasperated. He quickly reached out to catch her and led her to sit on the sofa to help her calm down.

The afternoon sun streamed through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, casting warm dappled light on the floor. Tiny dust particles floated in the air, and everything seemed tranquil and beautiful.

"Senior, if we were to describe our relationship as a movie, what would it be like?"

Wu Chen asked with a smile.

This question instantly calmed Liu Yifei down from her earlier excitement.

She tilted her head, deep in thought, the sunlight casting a soft golden outline around her profile.

"Our relationship"

She murmured softly, not answering immediately, but got up and walked to the bookshelf. Her slender fingers gently glided over the rows of books, and finally pulled out a copy of "The Little Prince" that was already a little yellowed.

Wu Chen vaguely remembered that Liu Yifei had brought this back from France a few years ago after the Cannes Film Festival.

Liu Yifei turned to a page, returned to the sofa, opened the book, pointed to a passage, smiled at Wu Chen, and softly read:

"If you fall in love with a flower that grows on a star, then at night, when you look at the sky, you will feel sweet and happy. It will be as if all the stars are blooming with flowers."

After she finished reading, she looked up at Wu Chen with clear eyes and explained in her own words:

"I think we're like this."

You are not my whole world, and I am not yours.

We are all independent planets, with our own trajectories and our own vast universe.

But because of love, when I look up at the stars, the entire universe becomes different because of your existence. It is no longer cold and dark, but filled with tender, twinkling flowers.

She paused, then turned to another page, which contained a passage from the fox to the little prince.

The fox said, 'To me you are still just a little boy, like thousands of other little boys.'

I don't need you, and you don't need me. To you, I'm just a fox, like thousands of other foxes.

But if you tame me, we will be indispensable to each other. To me, you will be unique in the world; and to you, I will be unique in the world.

Her voice was soft, yet carried a resolute strength:

"I think that's how we are, we help each other succeed."

Before I met you, I was Liu Yifei, an actress, one of countless dream chasers.

Before you met me, you were Wu Chen, a director, and a genius.

But now, I am 'your' Liu Yifei, and you are 'my' Wu Chen. We have become unique beings in each other's lives.

So, if I were to make a film, I would want it to capture this process and the feeling of 'uniqueness,' rather than the passion of meeting, colliding, and then parting.

Wu Chen listened quietly, his heart filled with shock and emotion.

She didn't use flowery language or empty metaphors.

She merely borrowed a fairy tale written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry decades earlier, yet she expressed the essence of their relationship with unparalleled precision and profundity—independence and attachment.
And in the vast universe, each other becomes unique because of the other.

This was more touching than any love confession he had ever heard.

"I didn't read those books for nothing."

Seeing Wu Chen in a daze, Liu Yifei's slightly flushed face broke into a smile, and her laughter rang out.

Wu Chen felt a warmth in his heart. At this moment, the two alternative stories in his mind seemed to have a clear answer.

"I thought of two stories, one about gazing at the stars, and the other about taming time."

Liu Yifei's eyes lit up, and she leaned forward unconsciously.

“The first story,” Wu Chen said slowly, “is about dreams.”

In Shanghai, a talented musical composer who adheres to his artistic ideals meets a girl who is also struggling to realize her dream of becoming an actress.

Like two lonely planets, they were instantly drawn to each other in the vast universe, illuminating one another.

They danced together, sang together, and together, in the coldness of reality, ignited the most passionate flame for each other.

But when the spotlight of dreams actually shines down, it may push them onto different stages.

This is a sad fairy tale about dreams and choices—magnificent, grand, and destined to break your heart.

What he described was precisely the core of La La Land.

Liu Yifei listened intently, imagining the scene where extreme romance and extreme regret intertwined, which was art in itself.

"And the second one?" she pressed.

“The second story,” Wu Chen’s tone softened slightly, “is about time.”

An ordinary man living in a seaside town discovers that the men in his family all possess a special ability—to return to any moment in their lives.

So, he used this ability to go back in time and time again to correct every detail of his interactions with his girlfriend—the botched first date, the wrong thing he said.
He tried to create a perfect love story.

But in the end, he discovered that the most precious things in life are not those perfect moments that have been corrected, but the ordinary days that cannot be relived, full of small flaws but incredibly real.

Although Wu Chen's description was very ordinary, Liu Yifei sensed from it that it was something special.
Like a cup of hot tea on a winter afternoon, it's a warm and healing story.

One is a magnificent lament dedicated to dreams, the other a warm hymn to love.

These were all irresistible temptations for Liu Yifei.

"I—" She bit her lip, a greedy yet adorable expression on her face, like a child seeing two candies and wanting them both, "Can we have them both?"

Wu Chen couldn't help but laugh when he saw her like that.

Liu Yifei immediately leaned against Wu Chen in a coquettish manner, "I'm serious. If the first story is told well, it will be full of dramatic tension and artistry."
But the second story is so heartwarming, so relatable.

She thought for a moment and then used a very artistic metaphor.

"The first story is like a long poem written for the whole world, while the second story feels more like a love letter you wrote just for me."

In the end, she made her choice, leaning slightly towards Wu Chen, and whispered:
"Shall we film that 'love letter' first?"

"it is good."

Wu Chen answered without the slightest hesitation.

Liu Yifei immediately realized what was going on and pinched Wu Chen's cheek, "Did you already plan to perfect this story first?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Chen smiled and pulled Liu Yifei into his arms, speaking slowly:

"Because our story is made up of a million ordinary, trivial, yet incredibly beautiful 'nows'."

So what I want to commemorate with a film is never some grand turning point in fate, but rather the way the sunlight shines through the window and onto your hair on a certain afternoon.
It's the furrowed brow you unconsciously make when you're curled up on the sofa reading a script;

It's the light that sparkles in your eyes when you eat delicious food.

What I want to make is not a movie that teaches people how to love, but a movie about 'learning to cherish'.

Having the ability to travel through time isn't the most amazing magic. The most amazing magic is that, after experiencing those ordinary days, every day of my life has become warm because of you.

Liu Yifei's eyes instantly reddened.

She didn't speak, but nodded vigorously, a radiant smile blooming on her face, tinged with tears.

Seeing this, Wu Chen didn't press the matter. He simply watched her smile spread in the sunlight, like lemon-flavored soda, sweet and sour, making one want to take another sip.
(End of this chapter)