Rebirth 02, the Celestial Being Told Me to Stop Pretending

Lu Chen stepped down after setting the tone for the filming of "Chinese Paladin," and assistant director Li Guoli was responsible for most of the filming.

This person was the director of the previous Legend of Sword and Fairy series.

At the end of October, Lu Chen returned to Beijing and dealt with the backlog of work that had accumulated over the past few days.

In his US stock account, Google's stock price rose to $110, and his 25,000 shares had a paper profit of $625,000.

Tencent's stock price is HK$4.60, and 400,000 shares would yield a floating profit of HK$360,000.

NetEase shares surged again during earnings season, and he bought back 10,000 shares at a cost of 19 yuan.

Netflix also returned to $22, and he bought back 5,000 shares.

His assets were slowly growing, but at a slower pace than he had anticipated.

In mid-November, he noticed a piece of news: Baidu planned to go public in the United States in 2004.

He closed his eyes and remembered that number from his previous life: In August 2005, Baidu's stock price soared from $27 to $120 on its first day of listing, an increase of 340 percent.

He slammed his hand on the table, picked up the phone, and called Wang Yan.

"Wang Yan, could you check Baidu's funding schedule for me?"

Which Baidu?

"The Chinese search engine."

Wang Yan hung up the phone, and Lu Chen leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling.

Baidu, Google, Tencent, NetEase, Netflix, Apple.

These names were arranged and combined in his mind like a huge map of wealth.

He knows every high point, every low point, and every turning point.

All he needs is the principal and patience.

And the principal is growing at the rate he expected.

He reached into his pocket and found a piece of candy, which Liu Yifei had given him last time.

He unwrapped the candy and put it in his mouth.

sweet.

Outside the window, in Beijing, night has fallen once again.

Lu Chen sat in that old chair, with the lights of thousands of homes shining outside the window.

He remembered the day of the opening ceremony, when she stood in the crowd in a white dress and glanced back at him.

What was in that glance? He didn't delve into it.

It's not that I don't understand, it's that I'm afraid to.

It's not because it's expensive, it's because it's too heavy.

It was so heavy that he was afraid that once he caught it, he would never be able to put it down again.

My phone vibrated.

Liu Yifei sent a message: "I filmed all day today, so tired. How about you?"

He looked at the message, typed a few words, then deleted them, repeating this process several times.

In the end, he only replied with two words: "Thinking of you."

It's not "I'm tired too," it's not "Get some rest," it's just "I'm thinking of you."

He regretted it the moment he sent it, but there was no going back.

There was silence on the other end for a long time, so long that he thought the phone was broken.

Then she replied with a voice message.

He clicked on it, and her voice was soft, with a faint smile.

"Come see me if you miss me."

Lu Chen put his phone on the table and closed his eyes.

The wind outside seeped in through the cracks in the window, carrying the chill of late autumn.

He picked up his coat, locked the door, went downstairs, and hailed a taxi.

"Where to?" the driver asked.

Hengdian.

The taxi took a full sixteen hours to drive from Beijing to Hengdian.

The road ahead is far more difficult than it will be in later generations.

Lu Chen arrived at noon the next day.

The driver dropped him off at the entrance of the film and television city. He carried his bag and walked into the Qin Palace scenic area, where he could see the film crew shooting a movie in the distance.

Liu Yifei, dressed in Zhao Ling'er's white costume, stood on the steps of an antique-style building, rehearsing a scene with Hu Ge.

Sunlight shone from behind her, casting a long shadow on the bluestone pavement, making her look like a lost spirit.

Lu Chen didn't disturb anyone, standing behind the crowd and watching quietly.

"Cut!" the assistant director shouted. "That take is good. Take a half-hour break."

Liu Yifei turned around and spotted Lu Chen in the crowd.

She lifted her skirt, ran through the crowd, and reached him from across most of the film set.

"Weren't you in Beijing?" she asked breathlessly, her face still covered in theatrical makeup, with a dot of cinnabar on her forehead.

"Didn't you say you'd come see me if you missed me?"

She paused for a moment, then smiled.

—Her eyes curved into two crescent moons, and the corners of her mouth turned up high, making her look like a flower that had suddenly bloomed.

"You actually came."

"no sooner said than done."

She looked at him, her eyes shining.

A breeze blew by, stirring her skirt and hair.

She didn't speak, and neither did Lu Chen.

The two of them stood there, half a step apart.

People were coming and going on set. In the distance, someone was shouting, "Sister Yifei, get your makeup done!" and someone else was shouting, "Director, come take a look!"

Some people greeted Lu Chen, saying, "Hello, Director Lu!"

She didn't move, and neither did he.

Finally, she spoke first: "Have you eaten?"

"no."

"Come on, it's my treat."

There's a small restaurant in Hengdian Town that film crews often go to.

The proprietress recognized Liu Yifei and greeted her with a smile as soon as she entered: "Qianqian is here? We've saved your usual spot."

The so-called "old spot" is a small table in the corner that can seat four people.

Liu Yifei sat down, and Lu Chen sat opposite her.

The menus on the wall were yellowed, and the ceiling fan overhead spun slowly, making a creaking sound.

"The sauerkraut fish here is delicious." She flipped through the menu, her tone familiar.

"Do you come here often?"

"Yes. I'll come after filming wraps up."

She ordered pickled fish, stir-fried green beans, and a bowl of tomato and egg soup.

As Lu Chen watched her sketching on the menu, he suddenly felt that the scene was very ordinary, so ordinary that it didn't seem real.

An elfin girl, dressed in theatrical costume, orders his food at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant in the small town.

"What are you looking at?" She looked up and found him looking at her.

"It's up to you."

"What's so interesting about it?"

"nice."

Her face flushed red instantly.

He spoke so naturally, as naturally as breathing, without any embellishment or thought.

"You dog." She lowered her head and checked off another dish on the menu, her handwriting a little crooked.

While waiting for the food, she asked him, "Come here, what about the stocks?"

"Leave it."

"Don't we need to keep an eye on it?"

"No need. Prices will rise eventually."

"Are you that confident?"

"It's not confidence." Lu Chen picked up the teapot on the table and poured her a glass of water. "It's knowing."

He stopped when the water was full.

Looking at the glass of water that was almost overflowing, Liu Yifei suddenly felt that this person's words always had two layers of meaning.

But she doesn't like to guess, nor does she want to.

The small restaurant wasn't very fast at serving food, but it arrived in a short while.

The tangy and spicy aroma of the pickled fish filled the air.

"Eat up." Liu Yifei placed a slice of fish on his plate. "Don't just think about things."

How did you know I was thinking about something?

"Whenever you're thinking, your eyebrows furrow together, like a little old man."

Lu Chen subconsciously raised his hand and touched his forehead.

"Stop touching it, it's already wrinkled."

She smiled, and her eyes curved beautifully when she smiled.

After dinner, she took him for a walk in Hengdian Town.

The streets are narrow, lined with old-fashioned brick and tile houses, some of which have been converted into guesthouses, while others are still inhabited by the original inhabitants.

The evening light was soft, bathing everything in an orange glow.

They walked side by side, their shadows stretched long by the setting sun, one slanting to the left and the other to the right, intersecting in the middle of the road.

When he passed by a small shop, Lu Chen went in and bought two bottles of mineral water.

After we came out, I handed her a bottle.

The two remained silent for a while.

"Lu Chen."

"Um."

Will you ask me to act in your movies again in the future?

Lu Chen glanced at her.

Her expression was serious, and there was a hint of expectation in it.

"Come whenever you want," he said.

"What if I can't come?"

"Then I'll come pick you up, even if I have to tie you up."

Her eyes immediately crinkled into a smile, and she quickly unscrewed the mineral water bottle and took a sip.

"You always talk like that..."

"What is this?"

"This sounds like someone reciting lines."

"So, do you like it?"

"like."

She spoke those two words so softly that they were almost blown away by the evening breeze.

In the distance, the faint lights of the Qin Palace could be seen, like dancing fireflies.