Chapter 696: Love

Shen Li, “… Oh.”

She swiped the candy away with the back of her hand.

She knew that this man was hard to please.

Lu Huaiyu looked at her ears which had turned slightly red and leaned closer. He chuckled softly.

“Then I’ll take it that you agree.”

…

The premiere of “Hibiscus” was held at Hongyang cinema.

After the two of them arrived, they entered through the main entrance.

There was a huge promotional poster hanging at the door.

Under the grayish-blue sky, the red hibiscus flowers were shown in full bloom.

Under the tree, a young boy and girl were shown standing face to face.

The boy was wearing a white s.h.i.+rt and black pants. He was clean and handsome, as he held out a hibiscus flower.

The girl was wearing overalls, while her little white shoes were slightly stained with splashes of mud. It was not clear where she had rushed to him from. Her forehead was still covered in sweat, her ponytail was flying in the air, and a bright smile was on her face.

Right above the poster, in a red vertical font was– “Hibiscus”

The staff who was in charge of checking the tickets at the door spotted the two of them. He was momentarily stunned before he quickly reacted.

“Ning?!”

Shen Li looked up and saw that the price staff was looking at her excitedly, as well as at Lu Huaiyu, who was beside her.

He walked over and handed the tickets to them.

One of the staff members, who looked very young, quickly stepped forward.

“Fengmian already informed us in advance that you would be coming today. He is currently backstage with the main creative staff, so it’s not convenient for him to come over for the time being. Please come in first.”

Shen Li nodded and walked in with Lu Huaiyu.

The production team for “Hibiscus” had actually tried its best to promote the movie, but there were too many competing films in the same period. Either the production team was good and the publicity was overwhelming, or there were directors or leads with strong box office appeal.

Just on Christmas Day alone, as many as five films were released on the same day.

There were family comedies, commercial blockbusters imported from abroad, and a series of animated films that had already acc.u.mulated a lot of reputation.

As a light romantic comedy, “Hibiscus” did not seem to be in a position to be very compet.i.tive.

The two of them had arrived relatively late. When they went in, the film was already about to start showing.

Usually, during the premiere, the director and the main creative staff would introduce and promote the movie on stage before they would get to the main topic and start screening the movie.

However, the premiere of “Hibiscus” had skipped the previous series of c.u.mbersome procedures and started right away.

There were already many people in the theater. The light was dim, so the arrival of Shen Li and Lu Huaiyu did not attract too much attention.

The two of them came to the middle of the last row.

Lin Fengmian had originally said that he would give her tickets to seats in the first two rows, but she had rejected his offer and had finally chosen these seats.

As the two of them sat down, they could still vaguely hear the discussions of the people in front of them.

“Is the movie going to be shown directly?”

“I heard that it was Director Ge’s idea. He didn’t want to let other factors interfere with the audience’s judgment. He wanted to preserve their initial experience of watching the movie as much as possible.”

“So capricious? Tsk, this is as expected of a famous director who has won a big award.”

In the past, the last sentence had been a compliment, admiration, and adoration.

But now, it was said with sarcasm.

Everyone knew that Ge had not made a good movie since his first movie. All his past honors were brought up again, which made people find it laughable.

“Shengguang Media? I’ve never heard of this company before.”

“I think they only just registered not long ago. The first movie that they’ve invested in was this.”

“I really don’t know what this company is thinking. There are so many directors in the country. Who wouldn’t be good to find? Yet they went to look for Ge? Do they have too much money and find that it’s too hot to handle that they just want to give away their money?”

“Who knows? However, this time, they invited Lin Fengmian to sing the theme song. With his fans around, even if they fail, it won’t be any worse than the last one, right?”

“Speaking of which, this guy is also interesting. Before this, countless film producers made offers to him, but he didn’t agree. This time, he chose such a low-budget romantic film. I heard that the theme song has been personally written by him.”

“Ge actually started filming this kind of film, Heh. I don’t think that a lot of the media are here today. Those who are here are mostly here for Lin Fengmian. I think he’s probably the best box office performer in the entire movie.”

…

All kinds of voices came from the front.

Shen Li leaned back in her chair and listened quietly as she waited for the movie to start.

“Ah Li.”

Lu Huaiyu suddenly called out to her.

She turned her head to look.

“Second Brother?”

Lu Huaiyu looked at her with a smile in his voice.

“Do you remember last Christmas, when we watched an animated movie together?”

Shen Li blinked.

It had been their first time watching a movie together, so of course she remembered.

“Yeah.” She nodded. “That movie was pretty good.”

The corners of Lu Huaiyu’s lips curled slightly.

“It was good.”

Snap…

The last light went out, and in the next moment, a beam of light was projected.

On the giant screen, a golden logo appeared– Shengguang Media.

Shen Li said softly, “It’s starting.”

The fluorescent light reflected off her face. In the darkness, her eyes seemed even brighter, more sparkling and moving.

Lu Huaiyu also turned to look forward as he held her hand at the same time.

…

As the movie started, the surroundings quieted down.

The movie told a very simple love story.

A young girl who had just graduated from college had just rented a house for herself, intending to start a serious work life.

However, on the first day of work, she had accidentally fallen down in the living room and traveled ten years to the future.

It was the same house, but the tenant was now a young boy.

She had nowhere to go and nothing on her to prove her ident.i.ty. In the world ten years later, it was almost impossible for her to do anything.

Fortunately, the young boy had felt sorry for her, so he had agreed to let her stay for the time being.

The world ten years in the future had changed a lot, and the girl had made a lot of jokes about it. They faced a huge generation gap due to the ten-year gap between them, so there were many mishaps at first when the two of them began to live together.

There was a hibiscus tree in the small courtyard of the house that the two of them had rented.

After three months had pa.s.sed, the girl had a premonition that she would have to go back to her original time of ten years in the past and be separated from this man.

Only then did she realize that she had already fallen in love with him.

Therefore, on the day that she was about to be forced to leave this s.p.a.ce and time, she had confessed her origins to him beneath the hibiscus tree.

“I love you.” She clasped her hands behind her back and smiled at him. The corners of her eyes sparkled. “It’s such a pity that I can’t continue to be with you.”

The boy looked at her with a gentle smile and handed her the hibiscus flower.

“How can that be? I’ll still love you even after ten years too.”

The girl took the hibiscus flower and turned to leave.

The theme song began to play, the voice sounding clear and gentle.

There was a camera pan shot, and the boy was seen returning to his room. His face had changed a lot.

In the room, a woman was sitting in the living room.

Seeing him come in, she said blankly, “I fell in my room… May I stay here for a while?”

He walked over and put the diagnosis report into the drawer.

A line of words flashed on the screen– Alzheimer’s disease.

Then, he turned around and said with a smile,

“Sure.”

I said that I would still love you even after ten years.

I’ve always loved you during these past ten years.

…

Gradually, the sound of sobbing could be heard in the theater.

Shen Li turned her head.

“I didn’t expect it to be such a tragedy.”

“How could it be?” Lu Huaiyu’s lips curved in a smile. “Weren’t they always together?”

Shen Li looked at him and suddenly pulled his hand.

“Second Brother.”

Lu Huaiyu leaned closer to her.

“Hmm?”

She tried to control her heartbeat and looked into his eyes.

Yes.

The two people in the movie had not missed a single day of the past ten years.

To many people, this was already an extremely extravagant hope.

The very next moment, she kissed his lips.