Entertainment: A whirlwind marriage with a fairy-like mother at the start!

The motion-activated lights in the hallway were old and in disrepair, like a faulty old light bulb, flickering on and off, casting shadows that were sometimes long and sometimes short.

As Yu Le walked down the stairs, with each step he took, he frantically searched his mind for the relevant clauses of the "Public Security Administration Punishment Law".

Trespassing? Not at all, the lease agreement has a red stamp.

Noise pollution? At most, you'll get a reprimand and a fine of 500 yuan.

Illegal gathering? We have a filming permit.

After considering everything, Yu Le had a better idea of ​​what to do.

I walked to the entrance of the unit on the first floor.

Yu Le took a deep breath, pushed open the rusty iron door, and quickly put on a standard, harmless "good citizen" smile.

"Thank you for your hard work, officers! We're from a film crew, and all the paperwork is..."

He got stuck in his throat halfway through his sentence.

The scene that was expected—police rushing up to check IDs and yelling "Kneel down and put your hands on your head"—did not happen.

In fact, nobody even gave him a second glance.

A dozen or so uniformed police officers stood in two lines on either side of the narrow residential road, their postures ramrod straight and their expressions frighteningly solemn.

That atmosphere wasn't one of arresting people.

It's more like... waiting for some important person.

Yu Le's awkward smile froze on her face; she didn't know whether to stop or leave it.

He silently moved two steps to the side, shrinking himself into the shadows of the corner, trying to minimize his presence.

At that moment, a black hearse slowly drove into the residential area and stopped at the entrance of the apartment building.

The car door opened.

An elderly policeman with gray hair came down.

He was holding a black box in his hands.

It was covered with a bright red Party flag.

In front of the box is a black and white photograph.

She was a young woman.

Wearing a nurse's uniform and a nurse's cap, she smiled gently and brightly, with two shallow dimples at the corners of her mouth.

Yu Le's heart suddenly felt like it was being gripped tightly by an invisible hand.

That smile was so pure.

The youthful face and the black and white color seemed so mismatched.

"salute--!"

A hoarse yet resonant command pierced the night sky.

"brush!"

Two rows of policemen simultaneously raised their right hands, their fingertips brushing across their eyebrows, their movements so synchronized they seemed like a single person.

There was no music, no wailing.

Only those pairs of eyes, reddened beneath their police hats, and those figures standing as straight as javelins.

Yu Le understood instantly.

It's June.

The end of SARS.

This is a hero who fell on the front line of the fight against the epidemic, just before dawn, and has returned home.

Ning Hao and Hu Ge, who were upstairs, also slipped down at some point.

The group of people, who were originally making a ruckus and thinking about how to explain things to the police, now seemed to have been collectively frozen in place.

No one spoke.

No one is moving around.

She even deliberately softened her breathing.

Ning Hao took off the baseball cap that he always wore askew. His messy bird's nest hair looked somewhat comical in the evening breeze, but the expression on his face was more solemn than ever before.

Yu Le did not salute.

He is neither a policeman nor a soldier.

He simply straightened his back silently, abandoning his usual carefree and irresponsible demeanor, and placed his hands on the seams of his trousers.

Watching the old policeman holding the urn of ashes, walking step by step, extremely slowly, yet with unwavering determination.

That was the father seeing his daughter off on her final journey through this world.

The residents of the community also came out.

An elderly man in a t-shirt, an elderly woman fanning herself with a palm leaf fan, and a child carrying a schoolbag after school.

No one organized it.

People spontaneously stood on both sides of the road, making way for each other, and silently paid their respects.

Someone was secretly wiping away tears.

Someone was sobbing softly.

"Isn't that Old Zhang's daughter? She's only twenty-four..."

"They said it was to save lives, and they didn't back down even when they knew their protective suits were torn..."

"Good boy...good boy..."

The murmurs drifted on the wind into Yu Le's ears.

He felt a surge of sourness welling up in his nose, rushing straight to the top of his head.

This was 2003.

These are the people of this land.

When disaster strikes, they may panic, hoard Banlangen (a traditional Chinese medicine), block villages and roads, and exhibit all sorts of petty-bourgeois mentality.

But when the true heroes return, they will offer the simplest and most sincere respect, which is the goodness etched into their very bones.

The old policeman carried the urn containing the ashes to the entrance of the building.

He stopped and looked through the crowd, as if searching for something.

Finally, his gaze fell on the crew members huddled in the corner.

Ning Hao was startled and instinctively wanted to shrink back, out of a sense of awe for such a solemn occasion.

The old policeman didn't scold him; he just nodded slightly, a forced, apologetic smile appearing on his wrinkled face.

"I'm sorry to disturb your work."

His voice was hoarse, as if it had been sanded.

"No...no, I didn't disturb you!"

Yu Le spoke first, his voice so loud it was almost distorted.

He took a step forward and bowed deeply to the old man and the smiling girl in the photo.

"Rest in peace, hero!"

Ning Hao was stunned for a moment, then bent down as well.

The entire "You Are the Apple of My Eye" crew, dozens of people, bowed their young and proud backs in front of a nurse they had never met before at the entrance of this dilapidated apartment building.

"Rest in peace, hero!"

The sounds were uneven, yet they made one's eardrums vibrate, echoing through the corridor.

The old policeman's lips trembled a few times, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't say it.

He simply held the urn in his arms even tighter, as if he were holding his daughter when she was still a baby, and turned to walk into the dimly lit stairwell.

Until the heavy footsteps completely disappeared at the end of the stairs, until the police car slowly drove away, and until the red and blue lights completely disappeared into the night.

The scene remained deathly silent.

No one was in the mood to discuss the fright they had just experienced.

No one mentioned the victory celebration banquet or the hot pot lamb anymore.

Yu Le straightened up.

"That's it for the day, time to go home."

He turned around and looked at the group of young people who were usually laughing and joking, but now had red eyes.

"Remember all of this."

Yu Le pointed to the window, his tone more serious than ever before.

"We can laugh and joke around here while making movies, we can argue until we're red in the face over a few shots, and we can be sentimental about the pain of youth."

"It's because someone shielded us from death!"

There is no such thing as a peaceful and carefree life; it's just that someone is bearing the burden for us!

After Yu Le finished speaking, he didn't care whether the children understood or not, put his hands in his pockets, and strode out.

His silhouette, however, appeared more desolate than usual, and carried a weight rarely seen in this age of entertainment to the death.

During this period, he really didn't take SARS too seriously.

As a reborn individual with a script in hand, he always has an arrogant "God's-eye view," believing that as long as he takes precautions, disaster will not befall him.

After all, he had survived the pandemic in his previous life in the same way.

But tonight, that black and white photo slapped him hard in the face.

That's how disasters are; even if you're right in the middle of it, unless that number becomes a living, breathing person next to you, it's hard to truly feel the pain.

Now, looking at that dim, yellow light.

He really wanted to do something for these heroes.