Rebirth of Chinese Entertainment, the Diary of a 95 Flower

"Your parents must be pressuring you," Jiang Yang said.

Tian Xiwei took out her phone.

I had been on silent mode, but I saw a missed call from my mother.

A message from her mother appeared on WeChat: ["Xiwei, have you finished your exams? When are you coming home so I can cook rice?"]
Tian Xiwei typed a reply: ["I'm cooking now. I'm behind the library, I'll be right back."]
Then she sent another voice message, spoken in the Chongqing dialect: ["Mom, I've finished high school, haha."]
Finished sending the message.

She felt the warmth of Jiang Yang holding her hand.

She looked down at Tongliang Middle School, where she had studied for three years.

The iron gate of the school was wide open, and the intersection that had been packed with people when Jiang Yang and I rushed out of the exam hall was now mostly empty.

Several traffic police officers wearing reflective vests were removing roadblocks, stacking them up and stuffing them into the trunk of a police car.

The reporters who had been interviewing the test takers earlier had long since disappeared.

Several vendors selling bottled water squatted by the roadside, slowly packing up their styrofoam boxes.

The road in front of the school is no longer blocked.

It's much quieter now.

Unlike at the end of the exam, when the streets are filled with parents shouting and making your ears ache.

"Jiang Yang, I wish I had Bai Lu's eyesight."

"What's wrong?"

"Her eyes are like they can zoom in and out; on set, she can see the paparazzi on the mountain."

Tian Xi smiled slightly.

She continued, "Look, you can see our teaching building and the dance studio from here. See? I'm in the window seat. It's too far away to see inside."

Tian Xi squinted at him.

That was the window seat she had sat in for a year.

In summer, you can see the old trees by the playground, with lush branches and leaves, making for a beautiful scene.

Not in winter.

Because the windows let in drafts in winter.

She would put the hand warmer in her desk, and when it stopped working, she would put her hands under her bottom during class.

The classroom door is definitely closed now.

The chalk writing on the blackboard, written with the calm demeanor of someone taking an exam, probably hasn't been erased yet.

It's strange, but when I used to study in the evenings, I would always talk to my classmates about how our senior year of high school felt like being in prison.

I have to get up early to memorize vocabulary words and practice dancing.

The exam papers were handed out one by one.

I'm tired and annoyed.

Looking at the empty classroom now, I feel a little lost.

"What are you looking at? Thinking about repeating a year?" Jiang Yang let go of her hand, gently put his arm around her waist, and asked.

"Retaking the exam? Bullshit! You should read more erotic books and learn how to kiss first."

Tian Xi smiled slightly.

Looking down again, I found that the school gate was empty; the vendors and traffic police had all left.

The iron gate at the school entrance was still open.

Tian Xiwei moved her face closer to Jiang Yang, her gaze still fixed on Tongliang Middle School.

This is her hometown.

This school is her alma mater.

Once I get busy, I don't know how much time I'll have to go home.

The late summer heat blew in, carrying the scent of roadside grass.

It smelled exactly like the grass along the school path; it was the smell she had been smelling for three years.

She knew that in a little while, the school gates would close, and when the sun rose tomorrow, Tian Xiwei, a senior high school student studying dance, would no longer be there.

There were no classmates who complained about this or that about the school every day.

There are no teachers who always extend class time.

I couldn't hear the homeroom teacher yelling from the podium: "I was on the stairs and I could hear you all arguing! What kind of behavior is this?! Do you even know how many days until the college entrance exam?! Are you studying for me?!"

Perhaps they're not used to being a graduate.

It's just that, suddenly, there's an emptiness in my heart.

No need to rush to early morning reading anymore.

There won't be piles and piles of test papers in your desk drawer.

I wouldn't secretly share spicy snacks with my deskmate in class.

And then there's the version of myself who stayed up all night, even with red eyes, just to get a good grade.

Ruonan once told me that in university, desks are not assigned, and there are no deskmates. Each class may be held in a different classroom, and the classmates sitting next to you may also be different.

to be honest.

I just can't bear to part with it.

It's not that I miss the tough days of my senior year of high school.

I just can't bear to part with those bitter days that will never come back, and with the person I was who once worked so hard to get good grades and a better future.

Who could have imagined that back then?

Before even taking the college entrance exam, she had already found her future path: becoming an actress and starting to work in the entertainment industry with Jiang Yang.

While in Hengdian, Bai Lu always told me that they were following Jiang Yang into the entertainment industry.

She retorted at the time: "Bullshit entertainment industry, I'm in the entertainment industry."

I still hold the same view.

Because they've heard a lot of shady stories about the entertainment industry, which is what paparazzi are interested in.

She didn't want to get involved in those messy things; she just wanted to follow Jiang Yang and act peacefully.

The money I earn is enough for my parents to retire in and for my sister to learn dance; that's enough.

She would tease Hao Chun to make him angry, listen to Ruonan talk about her hometown and curse along, and then bicker with Jiang Yang. Such a peaceful life was so fulfilling.

Why is Zhou Ye, who was doing well, now working as a food deliveryman?
Unable to understand and too lazy to delve deeper, she simply endured the hardship without any real effort, and was completely misled by Jiang Yang.

Anyway, she doesn't need to hire an assistant, which is good enough.

Unlike Chaoyue, who has big dreams, her dreams are very small.

With everyone around me, I don't have to worry about anything, and that's enough.

She found the view from this spot to be great. She shoved her phone at Jiang Yang: "Take a picture for me, quick, quick, it's windy now, it needs to look good."

"I don't know how to take pictures, Xiwei."

"Hurry up and take a picture, take a picture of me from the front, or a little bit from the side, make sure my nose is visible, you know? Last time you made my nose look really flat, so make sure our high school is in the picture too."

She handed the phone to Jiang Yang, repeatedly reminding him that she was afraid he would take another unflattering picture of her.

I untied my hair tie hoping it would flow, but my hair, which I'd had tied up all day, was still stuck in place.

I felt a little annoyed, but also amused.

After filming for months, I should have realized long ago that the way the female lead's hair flows freely when she unties her hair tie in the TV show is all fake.

But her feelings right now are real.

She was being coy and didn't want to admit to Jiang Yang that she couldn't kiss.

There are also small expectations for the future.

They are all in their most genuine form.

arrive home.

At the dining table, Tian Xi ate a few mouthfuls of rice and opened her phone to look at the photos Jiang Yang had taken of her behind the library.

It's true that Jiang Yang has strong creative abilities, good acting skills, and can dance better than her.

However, it's true that her photography skills are poor.

In the first photo, the camera lens seemed to be tilted, only capturing half of her face. The roof of the teaching building below was visible, and the wind blew her bangs onto her face.

Tian Xi swiped her phone screen.

Look at the second picture.

Finally, everyone was in the picture, but Jiang Yang didn't hold the phone steady, so the photo was a bit blurry. Her hair, which she had deliberately styled, didn't look flowing in the photo, and it looked like it was stuck to her shoulders. The peace sign she was making for the camera was also a bit blurry.

Fortunately, in the third photo, Jiang Yang squatted down and adjusted the angle, and the camera framed her smiling eyes and eyebrows, with a few strands of hair on her forehead being lifted by the wind.

The gate and teaching building of Tongliang Middle School were clearly visible below. Tian Xiwei didn't pose deliberately; she just looked down naturally, with a soft smile on her lips.

It was filmed very well.

She looks even better in the photos than in real life.

Amidst the clatter of bowls and chopsticks, Tian Xiwei had just taken a bite of rice when she heard her father ask her, "Xiwei, how did you do on your exams these past two days?"

Mom put a piece of cured meat in her bowl and immediately chimed in, "Hey Xiwei, your dad's been so bored these past few days. He doesn't even dare turn the TV up loud, just so he doesn't disturb you. But my colleague's son said the math exam was hard this morning when he came out of the exam hall. What do you think?"

"This year's math was a bit difficult. There was a trigonometric function problem that took me more than ten minutes to solve."

Trigonometric functions... we were just talking about that.

Tian Xiwei's heart skipped a beat.

You'll definitely lose points on this question about leaping over obstacles.

Then I realized that the exam papers from Chaoyue Yancheng might be different from those from Wudu, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Otherwise, if you encounter a problem involving an equilateral triangle, the leap can be solved.

There were three dishes and a soup on the table, which were the dishes that my family often ate.

Stir-fried cured pork with green peppers, glistening with oil and slightly charred.

The cucumber salad was sprinkled with minced garlic.

There was also a bowl of tomato and egg soup, with egg drop soup floating on the surface, and the steam carrying a sweet and sour aroma that wafted into my nose.

Tian Xiwei picked up a piece of cured meat, chewed it, and continued, "And that last math problem is a bit tricky, but I should be able to get most of it right. Passing is definitely not a problem for me."

The living room TV became lively.

The local channel from Chongqing was the one Tian Xiwei tuned in to as soon as she got home.

They've switched to a news segment about people's livelihoods.

The footage shows the exterior of Tongliang Middle School during the afternoon's college entrance examination, and the reporter's voice can be heard holding a microphone:
"It's 5 PM now. The college entrance exam is over, and the students are about to leave the exam hall. Those two students left together; let's go ask them how they felt about this year's exam..."

Tian Xi's heart skipped a beat.

Hearing the words "two classmates," I knew they were definitely talking about her and Jiang Yang.

Although I knew from the beginning that it would most likely be broadcast.

I'm still a little nervous.

This isn't the first time I've been on TV.

But it was the first time I had watched myself on TV at home with my parents and sister.

Before the reporter could finish speaking, the younger sister shouted, "Sister, is that you? You're on TV!"

"What?" Mom peeked over.

Tian Xi smiled slightly but didn't say anything.

She saw her mother's eyes light up, and after a moment of surprise, she asked, "Xiwei?"

"Yes! It's me! It's airing so soon." Tian Xiwei nodded repeatedly.

He got up and sat down on the sofa in the living room.

In the footage, she and Jiang Yang had stopped and were caught by the reporter.

She was wearing a school uniform, her eyes were bright, and she had an excited smile on her lips, but the way she was grabbing Jiang Yang's sleeve looked very rude.

"Why do I look so fierce?" Tian Xiwei whispered to her younger sister.

The younger sister blurted out, "You've always been fierce."

Tian Xiwei didn't say anything, but glared at her younger sister sideways.

The younger sister softened her tone and changed her tune with a playful laugh: "To be honest, you're not happy again. Actually, it's okay. Let's watch TV, let's watch TV."

Tian Xiwei continued watching TV.

On the television screen, she was still rudely tugging at Jiang Yang's sleeve as she left the school. Noticing the camera, she took the initiative to go up to the reporter and smiled.

At the time, she thought she was being completely natural.

As a result, when viewed on television, one can clearly sense a kind of restrained tension, which is completely different from his usual performance on set in front of the camera.

I subconsciously felt that I hadn't acted well.

If I could do it all over again, it would definitely be more natural.

Unfortunately, this was a TV interview, and there was only one chance; there was no way to reshoot.

"Oh dear, you didn't say anything even when you were interviewed by reporters! You should have said so earlier, Xiwei! I would have told my colleagues when I got off work today!"

Mom muttered something, then happily pulled out her phone and started recording a video of herself pointing it at the TV screen, while urging Dad to find the remote and turn up the TV volume.

Dad didn't say anything.

Her eyes narrowed into slits from laughing. (End of Chapter)