Nie Qingzhou silently watched the undercurrents surging between Ji Ying, Chen Yufang, and Zhou Wenwen. Sparks flew in the smallest details—buying snacks, offering a helping hand while walking, choosing seats, and the timing of their talking—only to be smoothed over with tacit understanding. In daily life, these tensions might not be too obvious, but in post-production editing, all these subtle conflicts would be magnified, exposing the emotions the parties were trying to conceal, turning them into high-click-rate scenes.
Honestly, the production team should give Ji Ying three times the appearance fee.
Nie Qingzhou also wanted to point out a clear path for Ji Ying, but unfortunately, his magical powers in this variety show had come to an end.
The show wrapped up filming in early July, and after all the editing and post-production stages, it wouldn’t air until September. By the time Nie Qingzhou traveled back to 2011 in late October, the show still wouldn't finish broadcasting. Therefore, his ability to predict was very limited—he had no idea what would eventually happen by the end of the variety show.
But this was just a show, after all. The sparks and infatuations ignited in a confined space were likely to fade away with the end of the program and the distance between them. At that time, Ji Ying's troubles would naturally disappear.
“Time flies so fast. The filming is almost over.”
Nie Qingzhou looked up at the sunlight. He and Xia Yi were strolling hand-in-hand in the amusement park. The weather was perfect—not too hot, but with bright sunshine, the sky as clear as a blue ocean, and the sunlight bathed the leaves in a golden glow, as if coating them in gold paint.
Xia Yi raised her head and looked up at the sky as he spoke. She wore a lavender knitted cardigan and had a Minnie Mouse headband on, which Nie Qingzhou had just bought for her. Her two big round ears slid back as she raised her head.
“Ah!” She let out a small cry of surprise, but before the headband could slip off completely, Nie Qingzhou’s long fingers caught it. He smiled, “It’s fine. Doesn’t the sky look beautiful today?”
“It looks like the sea, not the near-shore sea like Changchuan, but the deep ocean." Xia Yi squinted slightly in the sunlight, then relaxed and licked her ice cream.
"Can you really eat ice cream?" Nie Qingzhou asked, looking at her strawberry ice cream.
Xia Yi's profile stated that she couldn't eat cold, spicy, or overly sweet foods to protect her voice. But today, as soon as they entered the amusement park, Xia Yi immediately pulled him to buy one when she saw others holding ice cream.
Xia Yi withdrew her gaze and turned to look at Nie Qingzhou. Her ice cream was glistening under the sun. She said firmly, “I want to eat it.”
Nie Qingzhou tilted his head and smiled. “Have you started liking ice cream now?”
Xia Yi shook her head. She held up the ice cream to him. "Do you want to take a bite too?"
Nie Qingzhou thought that this seemed to be what the couple eating ice cream did when they first entered the amusement park. Was this why Xia Yi wanted to buy ice cream?
He couldn't help but laugh. He lowered his head and took a big bite from the spot she had licked. The cold, sweet, creamy flavor melted in his mouth. He felt this probably wasn't Xia Yi's favorite flavor.
“Do you want me to finish it for you?” He asked knowingly.
Xia Yi thought for a moment before sheepishly handing him the ice cream. “Okay.”
After that, in the amusement park, Xia Yi tried all the raw, cold, sweet, oily and fried foods they saw and liked. Whatever she couldn't finish ended up in Nie Qingzhou's stomach. It was as if Xia Yi had suddenly stopped worrying about harming her voice, and Nie Qingzhou's slight obsession with cleanliness of 'not eating things that others have eaten' had also disappeared.
They became just an ordinary young couple in the world, strolling hand-in-hand through the amusement park, eating all the junk food they wanted, playing all the childish and thrilling rides, taking endless photos on the carousel, and screaming their lungs out on the roller coaster and pirate ship. Nie Qingzhou’s arms were covered in red marks from Xia Yi clutching onto him in fear.
The two of them were leaning against the railing, their hair messed up by the wind from the roller coaster, looking a bit comical. Inexplicably, they looked at each other and burst into laughter.
Nie Qingzhou raised his red arm and gently smoothed Xia Yi's wind-blown hair. Smiling, he said, "I was worried because your profile said you couldn't participate in any exciting activities now. I didn't expect you to have so much fun."
Xia Yi blinked her eyes, which appeared even darker in the sunlight, like gems.
She agreed, "I do have many things I can't do, many, many restrictions. I know it's for my own good."
For the sake of her voice, for the sake of her illness, she had lived under these well-intentioned restrictions for eight years.
Xia Yi's gaze drifted to the crowd of people watching and taking pictures nearby. Their faces were blurred, and she could only hear their excited laughter and shouts, see the cell phones raised at different heights, capturing moments, and the operating camera on the cameraman's shoulder on the other side.
This was the life she faced once she left her recording studio and walked into the sunlight for these eight years.
"Eating ice cream, desserts, fried chicken, riding roller coasters and pirate ships, or just holding your hand like this and walking openly on the street, dating in a crowd, doing what ordinary people do on dates. If it weren’t for this show, all these simple, everyday things would have been impossible for me.”
Xia Yi's tone was light. The wind blew her long hair into the air. Nie Qingzhou’s warm fingers paused in her hair as she looked up at him. His face reflected in her dark eyes.
“I don’t actually like ice cream. I just wanted to eat one with you. I wanted to do the things couples do on a date, just like any normal person.”
This was one of the reasons she was willing to participate in this program.
This kind of opportunity was actually very precious to her, and she might never have a second chance in her life.
Nie Qingzhou silently looked at her. The music of 'Ode to Joy' came from the fountain square next to them. The tenderness and love in his eyes overflowed. He curled his lips into a smile and pointed to the fountain square paved with white tiles. “Should we go even crazier?”
The piano music of 'Ode to Joy' was the prelude to the fountain show in the fountain square. Nie Qingzhou took Xia Yi's hand and ran towards the square. People and cameramen followed them, running like waves of the ocean driven by the wind.
The moment they stepped into the center of the square, countless water jets rose from the carefully arranged nozzles in the ground towards the azure ocean-like sky, separating them from everyone else.
The water columns in the sunlight were crystal clear, intersecting and rotating in graceful arcs like crystals, dancing in the air, and then falling on them, breaking and splashing into small droplets. The sunlight danced in it, as if passing through a crystal palace.
Nie Qingzhou and Xia Yi's clothes and hair were instantly soaked. Their carefully styled appearances were gone. Water droplets dripped down their cheeks and hair ends. But they laughed heartily, chasing and running between the fountains, like children after school, like foals galloping across a meadow—completely unrestrained without a care in the world.
Nie Qingzhou's white shirt was wet, clinging to his slender figure. He took off his glasses, and his brown eyes seemed to be stained with moisture, becoming crystal clear. He spread his arms and raised his head, dimples appearing as he laughed, showing his white teeth. The golden sunlight glistened off the water cascading down his face.
Xia Yi also opened her arms and spun around in the fountain. Her fair skin was covered in water, sparkling in the sunlight. Her long black hair flew around her as she spun, and her usually dark and deep eyes seemed to be illuminated to the bottom for the first time in many years.
The clock tower by the square suddenly chimed on the hour. The sound of the bronze bell striking was like an arrow piercing the air, sometimes near and sometimes far, striking straight into Xia Yi’s ears.
Suspicious noises instantly rang in her ears. The cage she had built for many years was teetering on the verge of collapse, and some terrible, crimson memories were ready to stir.
Xia Yi's eyes widened. Just as she was wondering if she was having an auditory hallucination, Nie Qingzhou suddenly approached her, bent down, and covered her ears.
Xia Yi's vision was completely filled with Nie Qingzhou's face. He was very close to her. She could see water droplets falling from his eyelashes and the tip of his nose. His brown eyes were filled with sunshine and water as he looked at her intently and seriously.
"Look at me, Xia Yi, just look at me. Don't listen to anything else." He said word by word.
Then he didn't make any more sounds. He stared at her, slowly opened his mouth, and spoke to her silently.
—I like you, Xia Xia.
—Whether it’s eight years or ten, whether I exist in this world or not, I will always like you.
—I love you. This soul, forever loves you.
The words he said were clearly very complex, but she actually understood them all. She tried so hard to discern the shape of his mouth, wanting to know what he was saying.
So much so that those terrible memories, along with the ringing of the clock she feared, were all covered by these new memories, unable to grab even a little space in her mind.
As the bell rang, the fountain show also reached its climax. The water columns instantly erupted to the extreme, and the vast white water curtain blocked everything. At this moment, Xia Yi stood on tiptoe and raised her head to kiss Nie Qingzhou's lips.
His warm, wet, soft lips. The lips that were eight years late, the lips that had just told her he loved her.
He was stunned for a moment, then cupping the back of her head he lowered his head, deepening the kiss. He returned the sweetness of the peach soda she had just given him, their lips and teeth intertwined, their breaths, their body temperatures entangled, everything entwined together, inseparable.
Time seemed to return to the distant night of the sudden kiss of the young boy. All the timidity and hesitation settled like dust. The emotions and moments lost to time surged back, reclaiming their place.
When the water curtain receded, Xia Yi buried her head in his neck and hugged his waist tightly. Nie Qingzhou also hugged her just as fiercely, his arms wrapped around her back, as though trying to merge her into his flesh and bones.
They were both drenched, and the wind sent a chill through them. Only the parts that were touching each other were warm.
As the water curtain fell, the watching crowd erupted into gasps and exclamations. The sound of countless camera shutters clicking filled the air.
Amidst all the noise, Xia Yi's world was filled with only the warm body she was holding. Her heart was beating violently, and the heat seemed to ignite into a blaze.
It was so good, she thought, that she loved him, and that she still had the ability to love him.
Perhaps beautiful memories could overwrite painful ones. From now on, when she hears the bell again, the first thing she would remember would be this summer fountain—the golden light shimmering on the water, and the eyes of the man she loved, gazing at her through the falling droplets, telling her he loved her.
Xia Yi, since you have decided to love him, you must separate him from the fate that has tormented you.
You must not get sick again.
You must not give up on him.
You must not hurt him.
You have fought for so long. Don’t be afraid. You can do this.
You can definitely love him well and normally—just like every other ordinary person in this world who loves and is loved in return.