Just because I wrote "Zhu Xian," the school beauty sent me razor blades.

August 19th. Qixi Festival (Chinese Valentine's Day).

The movie "Secret" has been released.

The lights in the movie theater dimmed.

The big screen lit up.

The first scene: an old piano.

Black and white. Quiet.

Then the sound of a piano began.

It's not the theme song. It's a completely new piece, with a brisk rhythm and a lightness that doesn't belong to this era.

The scene cuts to a boy carrying a schoolbag walking through the school gate. The sunlight is bright, and the shadows of the trees are dappled.

Ye Xianglun, a transfer student, arrives at Tamkang High School on his first day.

Drawn by a melody, he pushed open the door to the old music room—

There was no one in front of the piano.

There was only one girl organizing the bookshelf.

"Was that you playing?"

There's no one else here.

She turned her head and smiled.

Ye Xianglun was stunned for a moment.

What moved him was not just the gentleness in her eyes, but the smile that seemed to come from another time, across a long span of years.

Everyone in the theater was watching.

No one speaks.

The story begins with a piece of music.

Ye Xianglun discovered in class that the girl in the music room was his classmate. He couldn't help but turn around frequently, feeling that her smile was more beautiful than a thousand flowers.

After class, I chased after her, but she disappeared as soon as I turned a corner.

"What's the name of the piece you played?"

The girl tiptoed and whispered in his ear, "It's a secret I can't tell you."

Then came the rain.

Suddenly, a heavy rain began to fall, and the two of them took shelter together under the eaves of a house.

The country lanes after the rain exuded a fresh, pleasant fragrance as he carried her home on his bicycle.

The camera didn't give any close-ups or sentimental slow motions; it simply showed two people, one in front of the other, their bicycle wheels rolling over puddles and splashing up tiny droplets of water.

"The most beautiful thing isn't a rainy day, but the eaves where we once sheltered from the rain."

In the movie theater, someone whispered this lyric.

They went to the beach to watch the sunset, and she held up an ice cream cone, saying she had never eaten one before.

For her sake, he won first place in a piano competition in front of the entire school, just to win back the Swan Song sheet music she wanted.

Why did you go to have a piano duel?

He mimicked her tone: "It's a secret that can't be told."

Someone in the theater laughed.

A very soft laugh, like the heartbeat of first love.

Then the rhythm changed.

Every time Xiaoyu walked from the music room to the classroom, she closed her eyes and counted her steps—no more, no less, 108 steps.

Because only the first person you see when you open your eyes can see her.

The homeroom teacher burst into the music room: "I clearly heard a four-hand duet, how come it was just you playing?"

Ye Xianglun said guiltily, "Maybe I played too fast, and you thought there were two people."

The homeroom teacher walked toward the cabinet—and then unexpectedly let them go.

It wasn't because of good luck.

It's not because Xiaoyu was actually in the cabinet.

Inside the movie theater, some people began to gasp in shock.

At the graduation ball, he and Xiaoyu swayed freely on the dance floor.

But later he asked his friend, "Where's the girl I danced with?"

The answer sent chills down his spine—"Weren't you the only one dancing from beginning to end?"

The cinema fell completely silent.

All the heartwarming scenes from before suddenly took on a different meaning at this moment.

No one found it strange when she disappeared from the music room—because apart from him, no one knew she existed.

He heard that apples could cure asthma, so he started bringing an apple with him every day.

Xiaoyu missed 15 days of class, and her drawer was overflowing with apples.

15 apples. I waited 15 days.

In the movie theater, someone was wiping their eyes.

The truth has been revealed.

Four rules on sheet music —

Only by playing sheet music in the old music room can one travel through time.

After you travel through time, only the first person you see when you open your eyes can see you.

Playing slowly takes you twenty years into the future, while playing rapidly allows you to revisit the past.

The faster the playing speed, the greater the time span it traverses.

Xiaoyu was a student in 1979, a student of Ye Xianglun's father. She found this sheet music in the old music room, and after playing it, she was in 1999, where she met Ye Xianglun.

Love at first sight.

But the whole school thought she was crazy—even her mother didn't believe her and brought her medication for mental illness every day.

Inside the movie theater, someone clenched their fist.

Then came that fatal misunderstanding.

Xiaoyu never received the note that arranged to meet in the music room—it was mistakenly given to Qingyi by a classmate.

Qingyi kissed Ye Xianglun, and Xiaoyu saw everything from outside the window.

Heartbroken, she returned to 1979 and decided never to time travel again.

On graduation day, remembering Ye Xianglun's promise—"I will play a piece for you at the graduation ceremony"—she mustered up the courage to travel back in time once again.

But when she saw Qingyi's bracelet on Ye Xianglun's wrist, all hope turned to despair.

She turned and disappeared, suffering an asthma attack and forgetting her medication at home.

He wrote on his desk with correction fluid—

"I'm Xiaoyu, I love you, do you love me?"

Then he breathed his last.

That bracelet was just something Qingyi casually handed him before he went on stage.

Inside the movie theater, sobs could be heard intermittently.

Someone curled up in their seat and covered their mouth tightly.

Then, the final scene.

After learning the whole truth from his father, Ye Xianglun rushed madly towards the old music room that was being demolished.

The construction team has started work, and the huge iron ball is crashing into the wall.

He rushed in and sat down at the piano.

The rapid notes cut through fingers like sharp blades, slicing through time and space.

Blood flowed from his fingertips onto the piano keys.

He didn't stop.

Countless memories flashed before my eyes like a movie—the rain under the eaves, the sunset by the sea, the laughter during the piano duel, and the spinning in the dance floor.

He played much faster than Xiaoyu.

Therefore, the time span of her travels is longer than hers.

He traveled to the era before Xiaoyu discovered the sheet music.

At this time, Xiaoyu did not know him.

But a smile can still lead to love at first sight.

The music room was demolished, and the magic disappeared.

Ye Xianglun remained in 1979.

In the graduation photo, the two stand together, smiling brightly.

There were no misunderstandings, no asthma, and no deaths.

The last page of the sheet music —

Ye Xianglun, I only want to tell you a secret—

I love you."

When the father found the last page of the sheet music, he realized that what the girl said 20 years ago was not crazy.

Xiaoyu proved her love through her death.

Ye Xianglun responded to her love by traveling through time.

One came without hesitation, the other went without fear of death.

The lights came on.

No one in the theater stood up.

The applause started from a few scattered spots, then spread, and finally became the whole audience's.

It wasn't the kind of polite applause.

It's the audience who are using this method to process a story they haven't yet come to their senses about.

Two hours after the premiere ended, the entire internet exploded.

Seven out of the top ten trending topics on Weibo were about the same movie, ranging from "the ending" to "the most beautiful thing is not a rainy day" to "the pinnacle of pure love stories in Chinese cinema".

The comments section contains both insightful long reviews that delve into details and poignant short sentences that resonate with people.

["All the foreshadowing was laid from the very first minute. The teacher only saw one person during the four-hand piano duet, he was dancing solo at the ball, he walked 108 steps with his eyes closed, 15 apples—I only realized on my second viewing that every 'heartwarming scene' hinted that Xiaoyu didn't exist. Every time I watch it, I discover new details."]

"A piano piece, a two-way journey spanning twenty years, romantic and heartbreaking."

"A pure and unadulterated love story with absolutely no melodrama. No abortions, no catfights, no family feuds—just the innocent flutter of young hearts: cycling together, sheltering from the rain under the eaves, playing the piano together, secretly poking each other's cheeks, a piano duet, and a confession. Every emotion is restrained and delicate, not a single second is wasted."

"These days, youth films are all formulaic and manufactured. But look at this movie—it relies solely on music, eye contact, and subtle pauses to develop the romance. It's incredibly rare. Undoubtedly the pinnacle of Chinese-language campus romance films."

A highly-rated answer appeared on Zhihu—

"You think you're watching a teen romance, then halfway through you realize it's a thriller, and at the end you discover it's a fantasy. Only after finishing it do you realize—it's not any genre at all; it's simply a film about 'missed opportunities and mutual pursuit.' Lin Yuan has packed time travel, unrequited love, misunderstandings, destiny, life and death, and mutual pursuit into a 100-minute film, and yet it doesn't feel crowded. This isn't the ceiling for teen films; it's the benchmark for Chinese-language romance films."

That very evening, people on the campus of Jinghua Film Academy were already discussing it.

602 Dormitory.

Qian Zhuangzhuang lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, motionless.

Zhou Zixuan squatted on the chair, scrolling through his phone, growing more and more silent with each scroll.

Chen Mo was by the window, with "Secret" playing on repeat in his headphones.

None of the three spoke.

After a long silence, Qian Zhuangzhuang spoke, his voice a little muffled: "That thug that Brother Yuan filmed... was the one I played?"

"Um."

"Isn't his role a bit too small?"

"You were originally the comedic relief," Zhou Zixuan said without looking up, "but your character was truly outstanding. I heard several audience members say that the most relaxed laughter of the entire show came from you."

"real?"

"real."

Qian Zhuangzhuang's expression finally improved a little.

Then he fell silent again.

"but……"

"But what?"

"The scene where Yuan Ge plays the piano, his fingers are bleeding while he's still playing—I was watching from the sidelines when I was filming, it was real." Qian Zhuangzhuang's voice suddenly became very soft. "At the time, I thought he was just pushing himself. I only realized after watching the movie that he was gambling with his life."

The dormitory is quiet again.

404 Dormitory.

Xie Wanyin sat on the bed, her phone screen lit up, but she hadn't swiped it in a long time.

Shen Qingci leaned against the pillow, her eyes slightly red.

Su Zhiyuan sat at her desk with a notebook open in front of her, but she hadn't written a single word.

Gu Zhiwan was not there.

After watching the movie, she walked alone on campus for a long time.

The streetlights stretched her shadow long.

She recalled the scenes from the filming.

In the scene where they were sheltering from the rain under the eaves, Lin Yuan was riding a bicycle with her on the back. The rain and wind were real. After filming, he handed her a coat and said, "Don't catch a cold," his tone as casual as if he were talking about the weather.

The way he played the piano in the piano duel scene—

She used to think that Lin Yuan was good at everything, but for the first time, she felt that when he played the piano, he was like a different person.

"I'm Xiaoyu, I love you, do you love me?"

She didn't feel anything when she filmed that line.

Now, sitting in the movie theater, watching those words appear on the screen, she suddenly felt her heart clench violently.

She took out her phone.

Lin Yuan in a WeChat chat window.

She typed a few words, then deleted them.

I typed a few more words, then deleted them.

Finally, she locked her phone and looked up at the stars in the sky.

The night sky on Qixi Festival was very bright.

There were some things she wasn't sure whether she should say or not.

Lin Yuan's phone vibrated.

It's a WeChat message.

[Fei Zhao: Pre-sales sold out in three minutes, 18% of screenings on the first day, and the highest occupancy rate among all Qixi Festival films. 9.4 on Douban. You did it.]

Lin Yuan read it but did not reply.

He put away his phone, walked out of the dormitory building, and sat on a campus bench.

The night breeze on Qixi Festival is very gentle.

He recalled the last day of filming.

The scene where he played the piano until his fingers bled was filmed in one take.

When Zheng Guodong yelled "Cut!", the entire crew was silent for three seconds.

Xu Heng later said, "I watched that scene more than a dozen times while editing it, and every time I got goosebumps. Lin Yuan wasn't just acting as Ye Xianglun; he poured himself into the role."

Lin Yuan picked up his phone and sent a message to Fei Zhao.

[Lin Yuan: Sister Fei, the movie is better than the song.]

After sending the message, he turned off his phone and leaned back in his chair.

The night sky overhead was very clear.

Like the sky behind Ye Xianglun and Lu Xiaoyu in that graduation photo.

He closed his eyes.

Tonight I don't need to write anything, revise the script, or think about the next step.

Tonight, he's just someone whose movie has just been released.

A person who hides secrets in the piano keys.