The film had an open ending.
Nan Ke rejects the girl his parents had arranged for him to marry, and gets a cup of coffee splashed on him for his troubles.
Later, he calls the hotel only to find out that Yu Ning had already checked out. Nan Ke remembers that the night Yu Ning had gotten drunk, he had been murmuring to himself about wanting to visit the Oriental Pearl Tower at the Bund.
With all the energy of a ghost, he makes his way to the Bund, but he does not find the person he is looking for there.
Leaning against the railings, he gazes at the Oriental Pearl Tower.
The entire long shot is bare of any dialogues. It’s powered through pure emotions. It’s very difficult, but every micro expression on Nan Ke’s face is flawlessly accurate.
As expected of a film emperor.
[What a coincidence.]
Hearing the voice, a look of surprise flashes across Nan Ke’s features, and he turns around swiftly to find Yu Ning standing behind him.
Yu Ning also looks at him and at the coffee stains, as he walks closer.
[You’re a mess,] Yu Ning laughs as he approaches him, [you smell like coffee ah…]
[But, I don’t drink coffee anymore.]
Yu Ning lowers his head and blocks the wind with his hand to light a cigarette.
[I hate coffee.]
[And I hate you.]
Nan Ke also laughs. [Is that so? That’s great.]
The pair lean against the railings as the view slowly zooms out.
Until the screen turns black.
And finally, there is a few lines of conversation.
[Yu Ning: I’m going to write a new book.]
[Nan Ke: What’s its title?]
[Yu Ning: A dream.]
And the movie ends.
The audience slowly gets up to leave. Lin Ran and Xu Qichen were the last to go.
“3.30AM.” Lin Ran glanced at his watch, “We seem to have some fate with this time.”
Xu Qichen buried his face in the scarf and nodded.
Lin Ran wanted to hug him, but he resisted the urge, “I’ll drive you back.”
Xu Qichen shook his head, “It’s nearby, I can make it back myself. You should go home.”
Lin Ran put his hands in his pockets and sighed heavily, “Ai.”
Xu Qichen imitated him exaggeratedly, “Ai~”
They met each others’ eyes and giggled.
At the reality show recording the next day, Xu Qichen’s eyelids were heavy. He had no energy for running, and could barely jump. During the break, he chugged down a large quantity of coffee.
But he was too happy to care.
The film had been released for a few days, and its reputation was constantly improving. There had even been a wave of recommendations online.
[falling4u]: Nan Ke’s aesthetics are so beautiful that every scene can be screenshotted and made into a wallpaper!
[Little bird chirping]: Love is often a dream of Nan Ke ah, but as long as you’ve dreamed, that’s good enough.
[My idol is 4.5m tall]: A piece of art filled with film aesthetics.
…
Alongwith soaring recognition, the film gained traction in rankings and box office as well. The “niche” film, which was originally not favored by the major cinemas, turned out to be the dark horse of the Christmas season. The overall box office had exceeded 100 million in only four days, and single-day box office collection was only rising every day.
One particular film review really touched Xu Qichen’s heart.
[I originally expected Nan Ke to incite public discussion on homosexuality, but reality has face-slapped me. The core of the film was not about the discussion on homosexuality, but the love between ‘people’. After all, who didn’t once covet someone when they were young and naive? Who didn’t once dig out the person they had buried deep in their heart, carefully going over their memories of that person, on a late night when they were struggling amidst the murky rushing waters of citylife? Love is often an empty happiness, the dream of Nan Ke of the people of the city.]
A dream of Nan Ke.
Xu Qichen laughed self-deprecatingly.
It was with this idea that he had originally written the incomplete script, but in the end, the director gave the film an ambiguous ending, telling the audience, this dream had a chance of coming true.
You just have to try again.
Despite having been in the entertainment industry for so long, Xu Qichen was still unused to its rhythm. Everyday was like fighting a war, so it was truly a test for someone with his relaxed temperament.
In this industry, time flew by very quickly, and one could not hold on to it even if one tried.
In the blink of an eye, the film was no longer in theatres, ending its run with a box office collection of more than 600 million, which was impressive for a niche film. Ji Mengze’s name was no longer automatically linked to bad acting and his reputation was revitalized. Because of this, new scripts were sent his way continuously, to the point where even Li Yun had trouble keeping up.
As an idol group with peak popularity, there was no way they could rest over the New Year. Xu Qichen could only reject Lin Ran’s invitation to have hotpot at his house.
How did anyone in this industry balance their work and love life?
Before Xu Qichen could discover the answer to this question, the long awaited XXX Film Festival had arrived. With Chen Anping’s halo working its charm, Nan Ke was nominated for a number of main awards, meeting the expectations of the public.
Xu Qichen suddenly regretted it. If only he had finished writing the novel properly, he would know if the film had won awards, and which awards they would win.
So angry.
In any case, it was an European film festival, so Asian films did not tend to dominate the awards. When Chen Anping won the Best Director Award, Xu Qichen thought it was as expected, for this man was truly an outstanding director with a great aesthetic sense.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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On the day of the awards ceremony, Xu Qichen and Lin Ran, in formal wear, walked down the red carpet together.
Xu Qichen inexplicably felt complete.
Of course, if only the screams were a little softer, his imagination would run more wildly.
Lin Ran was once again encased in his perfect public persona, flashing his perfect and restrained smile under the flashing lights.
Xu Qichen glanced at him from the corner of his eye, thinking that at any moment, an identical looking guy would appear behind him, laughing childishly.
Thinking of that, he couldn’t suppress his own laughter.
Lin Ran and Xu Qichen were assigned seats next to each other. Thus, the MC at the awards ceremony would occasionally tease them.
Female MC: “I think that the Golden Tripod Awards should really come up with a new award.”
Male MC: “What award?”
The Female MC walked up to where Lin Ran and Xu Qichen were sitting, and rested her arm on the back of Lin Ran’s chair: “Something like… the Best Screen Couple Award.”
Hearing this, both of them lowered their heads and smiled. Lin Ran even used his hand to push down the corners of his lips which had turned up uncontrollably. The MC handed them the microphone, “I would like to interview the two of you: What does it feel like for two people, who are each the dream lover of hundreds of millions of girls, to act out a love story together?”
She deliberately put emphasis on the words ‘love story’.
The moment Xu Qichen saw a mic, he started to feel dizzy, so he turned his head to give Lin Ran a look. Lin Ran teased, “You answer. I’m always the one speaking.”
The celebrities around them started laughing, and Xu Qichen could only brace himself as he took the mic.
“It feels… feels pretty good.”
His awkward stumbling speech incited another wave of laughter.
The MC was very good at joking, “That’s good~ So which part did you think was good?”
Xu Qichen took a long time to reply: “It’s all pretty good…”
The MC’s reply was like teasing a child, “Mengze, you think that all of Lin Ran is good, is that it?”
Xu Qichen couldn’t withstand this kind of torture, his heart was about to leap out of his chest in anxiousness.
Seeing that Xu Qichen was on the verge of collapse, Lin Ran gave up the idea of watching and laughing. He took the mic and said with a smile, “Jie, I’m still here, and even I can’t take your questions.”
MC: “Okay, okay, you can have the mic, you answer.”
Lin Ran smiled widely: “I think it’s all very good ah.”
Director Chen, who was beside Xu Qichen, raised his hand. Seeing that, Lin Ran said, “See? Even Director Chen can’t take it.” He handed Director Chen the mic.
Chen Anping: “These questions made me recall something.” His stern face broke into a rare smile that Xu Qichen found strangely familiar, just like…
At the dinner back then, when Screenwriter Qu saw Lin Ran and Xu Qichen enter the room together, the… aunt smile… that she had.
When the cold, distant, tough guy face suddenly smiled like that, it was strangely adorable.
Chen Anping continued: “Back when we were doing the auditions for Yu Ning’s role, Lin Ran was there too. During Mengze’s audition, Lin Ran acted with him, and afterwards…”
Hearing this opening, Lin Ran frantically gave Chen Anping a ‘stop’ hand signal, then made a pleading face, but Chen Anping continued as though he saw nothing, “That night, after seeing each candidates’ performance, I asked Lin Ran, which one do you think is suitable?”
Xu Qichen was listening in confusion, wondering why Lin Ran was burying his head so deeply that he could barely be seen over the seats in the row in front of them.
“Lin Ran told me, Director Chen, I don’t know who you think is suitable, but if you’re asking me, the only one I want to act in a love story with is Ji Mengze.”
The moment these words were said, the excitement of everyone in the venue boiled over.
With the exceptions of Lin Ran, who refused to raise his head, and Xu Qichen, who was stunned speechless.
The atmosphere suddenly became…
Filled with pink bubbles.
Under everyone’s catcalling, Lin Ran could only explain, “It’s not like that! In such a situation surely anyone would make the same choice ba, because Mengze is good looking and has a gentle personality, so he’d make a better partner ah…”
This answer was too perfunctory, and the catcalling continued. However, they had an award ceremony to proceed with, so the MCs had to change the topic to keep up with the schedule.
Xu Qichen originally thought it was a joke the director made casually.
But he noticed the tips of Lin Ran’s ears had turned red.
Then he recalled, back when they began filming in Nice, the director had told him…
[When I saw that scene, I had more or less made a decision in my heart. What’s more, that guy Lin Ran even told me later…]
So it was this?
“What are you looking at?” Lin Ran glared at him with pretend-fierceness, “Stop looking at me.”
Xu Qichen leant back with a smile, “O.”
The awards were announced one by one.
When it was time for the Best Supporting Male Actor Award, Xu Qichen, who was one of the nominees, did not feel very nervous.
He had a habit of holding on to a self-negating mindset when facing all things, and usually had the lowest possible expectations.
This way, he would not be disappointed.
To be frank, Ji Mengze was a traffic that had never been in mainstream films. It was impressive enough to be nominated, especially since this film had such a niche genre. Xu Qichen was fully prepared to not win anything.
So when the host read out Ji Mengze’s name, Xu Qichen did not even react.
Only when Lin Ran nudged him did Xu Qichen stand up.
He did not even know how he made it up the stage.
Standing on the stage of the awards ceremony, Xu Qichen’s mind was still blank.
The guest presenter conscientiously adjusted the microphone stand for him.
“Thank you.” Xu Qichen finally spoke, “Actually… I didn’t expect to win, so I don’t know what to say now.”
The audience laughed. Xu Qichen continued, “I used to think, must the winning speech really be ‘thank you so-and-so’? Standing here, I realised, aside from gratefulness, there really isn’t much else to say.”
Xu Qichen looked in Chen Anping’s direction.
“Firstly, Director Chen Anping, thank you. The name ‘Ji Mengze’ in the cast of a film is really capable of chasing the audience away, I know this well. Even then, Director Chen gave me a chance and taught me how to act. Without this, I would still be the box office poison.”
“Secondly, I want to thank my fans. They don’t lead an easy life. I know I have done little to make them proud, I’m really not an easy idol to root for, but they have always supported me. I’m both thankful and guilty, but now you can stand a little taller, and tell those who looked down upon us, your idol does not only have a face.”
“Finally…”
Xu Qichen glanced at Lin Ran.
“I want to thank my partner.”
There were many things he wanted to say, but the words got stuck in his throat.
Finally, all of it melted in the gaze Lin Ran gave him.
Xu Qichen smiled.
“Thank you.”
Holding the trophy, Xu Qichen walked to the front of the stage and bowed deeply, then slowly made his way back.
The trophy in his hands was heavy, but it still felt like a mirage to Xu Qichen. When he returned to his seat, he was given a pat on his shoulder by the smiling Chen Anping. He bowed once more before sitting down.
Lin Ran took the trophy from him and smiled, “Congratulations.”
Xu Qichen was content.
When it was time for the Best Male Lead Award, Xu Qichen, who had been the calmest person in the arena, suddenly became nervous. Even his hands started sweating when he saw Lin Ran’s face on the big screen as one of the nominees.
He began to chant Lin Ran’s name in his heart.
Please.
Please.
“This year’s Golden Tripod Award for the Best Male Lead goes to…” the guest presenter glanced at the envelope in her hand once again, then her eyes swept across each of the nominated actors before reading out a name with great excitement.
It was not Lin Ran.
The stone in Xu Qichen’s heart fell with a heavy thud, landing painfully on his foot..
His expression was full of disappointment, but Lin Ran simply smiled and asked, “What’s with that face?”
On the stage was a 55 year old talented actor with a lot of experience under his belt. The role he played was of a retired police officer suffering from Alzheimer’s.
Xu Qichen glanced at Lin Ran only to find his eyes were filled with respect and admiration.
Just like that, his heart was calm again.
The power of liking someone, wasn’t it a little too strong?
Although Lin Ran did not win the award, the Nan Ke crew snatched the Best Supporting Male Actor, Best Director, and the Best Art Director Awards, winning three of the six awards they had been nominated for. This was already a result worth celebrating.
At the end of the award ceremony, many media reporters competed to interview Xu Qichen and Lin Ran. In the past, Lin Ran helped Xu Qichen deal with reporters, but this time he won the award, so reporters naturally threw the topic to him. It would be difficult for everyone if he refused to answer.
“Mengze, look here! How will you celebrate winning the award?”
Xu Qichen looked at the reporter: “En… we’ll probably be eating together.”
“Mengze, Mengze, what are your future plans in regards to acting in films or TV shows? Can you tell us more about them?”
Xu Qichen shook his head, “Nothing has been confirmed yet, however, the group’s activities will remain my number one priority.”
The questions kept pouring in, making it difficult for Xu Qichen to keep up.
Then a reporter asked, “Lin Ran, you were so close to winning the Golden Tripod Film Emperor again, are you disappointed?”
Lin Ran smiled, “It would be a lie to say I’m not disappointed, but Master Zhang’s performance this time was truly stunning.Watching him, I found that I still have a long way to go, so this loss really feels more like a motivation to me.”
Full marks.
Xu Qichen admired Lin Ran’s way with words in his heart.
“And what does Mengze think?”
Being asked such a question suddenly, Xu Qichen looked at the reporter, who looked back at him expectantly, holding out the recording pen.
Lin Ran didn’t win the award, what does he think…
After some thought, Xu Qichen replied solemnly, “In my heart, Lin Ran is the Best Male Lead.”
Lin Ran froze for a moment, staring at Xu Qichen, who was surrounded by microphones.
Hey, can you not make such a foul…
Lin Ran’s heart felt ticklish, like a little furry monster was rolling about recklessly in that narrow space.
He really wanted to kiss him ah.
To celebrate the success of Nan Ke, Chan Anping brought the main creators and scriptwriters to a hotel for a celebratory banquet.
Xu Qichen held a strong emotional attachment to this film crew, especially Director Chen and Screenwriter Qu. He recalled that the last time they had all eaten together was before the cast had been confirmed. In the blink of an eye, so much time had passed.
In order to guarantee their privacy, Chen Anping chose to hold the banquet at the highest floor of the hotel, with access to the outdoor pool. Everyone drank and chatted and generally had a great time.
Xu Qichen was drunk to a few times, so he felt somewhat dizzy. He walked out to the balcony alone, to let the cool air sober him up.
Night breeze, clouds, ripples on the surface of the pool.
Everything in this world was so realistic.
So realistic that Xu Qichen very nearly forgot this was only a virtual world.
A virtual world that he had created.
He reached out and touched the surface of the water. It was a little cold.
In the span of a few hundred days, he had turned himself into Ji Mengze.
He had earned the recognition of the public.
He had earned the happiness that was not in the original novel.
He had earned Lin Ran’s love.
And because he had earned so much did that mean that it was approaching the end of the task?
Had he arrived at the edge of this fictitious world?
“0901, how much longer can I stay here?”
0901’s voice did not appear.
The premonition of the approaching ‘end’ made Xu Qichen realize that the astute AI had heard him and had chosen not to respond.
“Why did you come out here alone? To stargaze?”
Hearing Lin Ran approach, Xu Qichen didn’t turn around. He just quickly wiped his face and rested his chin on his raised knees. “I felt dizzy, so I came out for some fresh air.”
Lin Ran was holding two bottles of beer. He sat down beside Xu Qichen, their arms touching, and offered him a bottle. Then he looked up at the sky, “The weather is terrible, you can’t see a single star.”
Xu Qichen hummed noncommittally.
The closer this person came, the more intense the dull pain in his chest became.
The heart was the most sensitive sensor.
“Tell me, what should I do?”
Lin Ran’s question caught him off guard. He looked up questioningly.
“What?”
Lin Ran took a big gulp of beer, then lowered his head and smiled, “I always knew I was overly concerned about gain and loss. It had already become an incurable disease. As a kid, I wanted a toy car. Every day, I walked past it and wanted it. I saved money little by little, until I could finally buy it.”
“When I first had it, I was so happy that I couldn’t sleep. I put it on my desk, and beside my pillow, I would touch it a hundred times every day and still feel it was not enough.”
His voice was very light and slow. The emotions in his voice seemed to have been dispersed by the night breeze, floating lightly.
“One day, I began to be afraid. I was afraid it would break when dropped, that it would be lost, that someone would steal it. I was anxious all the time. After that, I never bought a toy I liked again.”
He looked at Xu Qichen. “What should I do? It suddenly feels like the toy car is going to be snatched away.”
Even after hearing the words till the end, Xu Qichen could say nothing in return.
It was as if his voice had been stolen.
He could not speak.
Then Lin Ran laughed, “Anyway,” he clinked their bottles together, “no matter what, thank you for liking the me who is like this.”
If my face and identity change, would you still fall in love with me?
The me who is full of shortcomings.
Xu Qichen, whose heart was suddenly filled with unwillingness, could not bring himself to look at Lin Ran’s face. Instead, he stared at the lightly rippling pool.
He tilted his head back and took a big gulp of the beer. The fiery liquid sped straight down his throat into his chest.
Another gulp, then another.
Until the gorgeous night scene began to blur, until his consciousness began to sway.
A soft and soothing voice seemed to be saying something tenderly beside his ears, but, like playing a tape from an old recorder, he could not make out the words clearly,.
“Since getting together with you, like many other people, the word ‘forever’ kept popping up in my head. I wanted to be liked by you forever, wanted to be with you forever.”
“But forever is not a unit of time, there’s no way to measure or calculate it. I can’t comprehend such an imprecise expression.”
“Then one day, I realised that everyone has chosen to define the limiting value of ‘forever’ as infinitely large, does this mean that I can choose to define it as infinitely small?”
“Defining it as infinitely small, ‘forever’ becomes ‘an instant’, so…”
The last of Xu Qichen’s consciousness was scattered in the night breeze.
His senseless body fell into Lin Ran’s arms.
“In this instant, I have you.”
Then that would be equivalent to forever.
In the next instant, please also fall in love with me.
TN:
Ning: AND WE’RE DONE FINALLY! Now, on to arc 2…
Sarcasm: Yay!!! This chapter was too much of a rollercoaster, especially the last part – who cut the onions?
En? Whats with the ending ah?
Thanks for the chapter!
Wow, it was unexpected ending. Like “whoosh” and done
thanks for the chapter~
Thank you so much for translating! <3
How many arcs are there btw?
Thanks for the chapter! (♡´▽`♡)♡
It’s a sad yet beautiful ending 😔
Thank you for the chapter 😁 and I look forward to the next arc💕
Waaaaaah it’s over?! I really liked the entertainment arc, how satisfying. Thank you for all your hard work! 🙏
Wow, what a long (but touching!) arc. Thank you for so diligently translating! I look forward to what’s next.
thanks for the arc! ♡♡♡
I wasn’t expecting that ending but it’s heartwarming
Thanks for the chapter! 💕
thanks for the chapter <3
The next chapter better be a grow old togetehr with live ending be4 arc 2.that ending line is too abrupt to be an ending
I was wondering how they would end the arc, and the ending so soft and beautiful. Can’t wait for more!
💜💜💜
Wait, what happened with Xu Qichen?
“In this instant, I have you.”
Then that would be equivalent to forever.
In the next instant, please also fall in love with me.
fuck- this ending gave me endless heartache… the good type where I felt that it was a sweet ending that made me long for this type of love and made me cry my eyes out…
😭😭😭
am i the only one who feels like a headless chicken wondering what happened to our mc and ml in this arc? did they die? had our mc suffered a heart attack or whatever since he’s usually suffering from low sugar etc? feels like an open ending for me…
what? why? how? when?
is ML aware… :eyes:
Beautiful, and so well written.
This would’ve been plenty for a single novel ai… That would’ve made it a short but fluffy read. But with QT it makes my heart hurt even if they’ll probably still fall in love in another life qwqwq
Solo quiero decir, estoy llorando…. Lo párrafos del final me destrozaron… Y más escuchando far out dust (╥﹏╥) al menos quiero pensar que se reunirán en el siguiente mundo
Is my brain the only one who’s so messed up that they thought ML killed off MC to have him forever????
Aish its raining oh who’s watering the plants (〒o〒)
thanks for translating!! Im loving this story sm~ hehe
The ending lines was so pretty