Rebirth in 2011: Starting as an Advertising Genius

On the shore of South Lake, several students sketching had already set up their easels.

Huang Xiaoqian stood under an old willow tree and explained the important points to everyone: "We'll meet at eight o'clock tomorrow morning for free sketching. Lunch is on your own, and dinner will be at the guesthouse at six o'clock. There are many small paths in the village, so please stick together and don't get separated. Call me if there's any emergency."

After she finished speaking, she clapped her hands and said, "Alright, free time. Be back at the guesthouse for dinner before 6:30."

The crowd dispersed.

Wang Lei pulled Chen Jianghe along, saying, "Come on, let's go for a walk in the village. I heard there's good food here."

"You go ahead, I'll wait a bit." Chen Jianghe glanced at Yuan Meng, who was packing up her notebooks. "You go first."

Wang Lei glanced at him, then at Yuan Meng, gave her an "I understand" look, and then quickly disappeared into the crowd.

Yuan Meng hugged the notebook to her chest and walked to Chen Jianghe's side: "Aren't you... going to go for a walk?"

"Let's go." Chen Jianghe took a few steps forward, then looked back at her. "Together."

The two walked slowly along the stone path by South Lake.

The setting sun dyed the water surface orange-red, and the distant mountains were shrouded in a thin layer of pale purple mist.

Smoke drifted from the chimneys of the old houses, mingling with the aroma of food, filling the air.

"Chen Jianghe".

"Um?"

"Don't you think this place looks like a painting?" Yuan Meng asked softly, looking at the horse-head wall in the distance.

"It's a painting to begin with," Chen Jianghe said. "Hui-style architecture lives on in the paintings."

Yuan Meng glanced at him sideways.

Sunlight fell on his profile, gilding his features with a golden hue.

He wasn't wearing his usual wrinkled T-shirt today; instead, he wore a light dark gray jacket, looking neat and tidy, unlike an eighteen-year-old college freshman.

"When did you start to become so... poetic?" Yuan Meng couldn't help but ask.

Chen Jianghe thought for a moment: "It's probably rebirth—no, it's probably after waking up."

"What?"

"It's nothing." He smiled and quickened his pace. "There's a place over there selling hairy tofu, want to try some?"

"want!"

Yuan Meng jogged to catch up, and the two walked side by side on the stone path. Their shadows were stretched long by the setting sun, overlapping each other like a painting.

Dinner was a Hui-style home-cooked meal prepared by the guesthouse owner: stinky mandarin fish, hairy tofu, Hui-style hot pot, and braised pork with dried bamboo shoots.

Wang Lei, sweating profusely as he ate, his mouth still stuffed with fermented tofu, exclaimed, "This stinky mandarin fish smells awful but tastes amazing! It's incredible!"

Chen Jianghe picked up a piece of fish and chewed it slowly.

His attention wasn't on the food, but on the other side of the table. Huang Xiaoqian was sitting at the other end of the long table, talking to a girl and smiling as she served her food.

She wasn't very skilled with chopsticks; when picking up food, her fingers would curl up slightly, like a butterfly fluttering its wings.

He watched for a while, then lowered his head to eat.

Yuan Meng sat next to him, noticed his gaze, glanced at Huang Xiaoqian, then at him again, and said nothing, but simply pushed a plate of dried bamboo shoots in front of her toward him.

"Eat more," she said.

"Hmm." Chen Jianghe looked away and picked up a piece of dried bamboo shoot with his chopsticks.

After dinner, it was completely dark.

The lanterns by the Moon Pond lit up, their bright red glow reflected in the water like strings of fiery red candied hawthorns.

A few people were chatting in the courtyard. Wang Lei pulled a classmate from Guangdong to try to speak Cantonese, but his attempt was so bad that it made everyone laugh.

Chen Jianghe sat on a bench under the osmanthus tree, holding a cup of tea, and looked up at the stars.

The night sky over Hongcun is different from that of Suzhou. There are many stars, densely packed across the sky, like a handful of broken diamonds.

"Aren't you cold?"

A voice came from behind.

Chen Jianghe turned around, and Huang Xiaoqian was standing behind him with a cup of hot water in her hand.

"It's not cold." He moved to the side. "Sit down."

Huang Xiaoqian hesitated for a moment, then sat down.

There was a person's distance between the two, neither too close nor too far.

"Director, are you tired today?"

"It's alright." Huang Xiaoqian took a sip of water. "I'm just a little worried about tomorrow's sketching. Some students are slow at drawing, and I'm afraid they won't be able to keep up."

"You worry too much."

"I'm the counselor, if I don't worry about it, who will?"

Chen Jianghe turned his head to look at her.

The lantern light shone softly on her face, illuminating her features with gentle grace. Her long eyelashes cast a small fan-shaped shadow beneath her eyes.

"What are you looking at?" Huang Xiaoqian felt uncomfortable being stared at.

"Look at the stars." Chen Jianghe pointed to the sky. "That's the Big Dipper over there."

Huang Xiaoqian looked in the direction he was pointing, tilting her head back slightly to reveal a section of her fair neck.

"Where? I can't see it!"

"That one, the spoon-shaped one, did you see it?"

"I think... I see it. No, is that a spoon? It's definitely crooked."

"You're mistaken, that's not it, move a little to the right."

Huang Xiaoqian was searching for stars intently, her body unconsciously leaning towards Chen Jianghe.

She pointed to a light and asked, "Is that it?"

Chen Jianghe followed her hand and looked down, only to find her face very close to his.

He was so close he could count her eyelashes.

He paused for a moment, then naturally looked away. "Yes, that's it."

Huang Xiaoqian didn't notice anything unusual and was still intently looking at the stars.

Chen Jianghe stopped talking and sat quietly beside her.

The night breeze carried the scent of her hair to his nose; it wasn't perfume, but the faint smell of shampoo, like the fragrance of gardenias in spring.

The people in the courtyard gradually dispersed. Wang Lei called out, "Old Chen, go back to sleep," but Chen Jianghe waved him away.

Huang Xiaoqian glanced at her phone: "It's almost ten o'clock, aren't you going home yet?"

"Sit a little longer."

"I'll head back now; I have to get up early tomorrow."

She left as soon as she finished speaking, walking quickly as if afraid of being caught up.

Chen Jianghe sat on the bench, watching her figure disappear at the end of the corridor, a slow smile spreading across his lips.

He picked up the teacup and found that the tea inside had gone cold, but he still took a sip.

Cool and sweet.

At 10:30 p.m., Chen Jianghe returned to his room. Wang Lei had already taken a shower and was lying in bed scrolling through his phone.

"Old Chen, I just saw Yuan Meng painting in the corridor. It looks like she's painting the night view of Moon Pond. Do you want to go take a look?" Wang Lei's tone was clearly suggestive.

Chen Jianghe glanced at him, grabbed a coat, and went out.

At the end of the corridor on the second floor, on the side closest to the Moon Pond, there is a small window.

Yuan Meng sat on the windowsill, a drawing board on her lap, a pencil in her hand, sketching the night view outside the window stroke by stroke.

The red glow of the lanterns, the ripples of the Moon Pond, and the outline of the horse-head wall in the distance were all captured on paper by her.

She was so engrossed in her painting that she didn't notice Chen Jianghe walking over.

"Aren't you going to sleep yet?"

Chen Jianghe leaned against a pillar in the corridor, his voice not loud.

Yuan Meng's hand trembled, and the pencil drew an extra line on the paper.