recession

He received a call from Liu Lin the next day, asking if he was free to go to a concert together, and he happened to have an extra ticket.Tao Liyang knew that this was an excuse, so he thought about it for a few minutes and said yes.

So they got along like this.

Sometimes we go to a remote but delicious restaurant together, and sometimes we go to see a new play together.Liu Lin actually knew a little bit about movies and dramas, and he talked in a decent way, and the atmosphere was very relaxed and happy.Tao Liyang often forgets that he teaches biomedicine, but his major is completely irrelevant.

"When I was studying abroad, I had a good friend who studied directing. I learned a little from him, and I barely knew a little bit." Once Tao Liyang asked, Liu Lin said casually.

Tao Liyang tilted his head and laughed: "Ms. Liu likes to make friends very much."

"Okay." Liu Lin also smiled, showing a frank expression, "I liked him back then."

"But he likes women?" Tao Liyang continued, feeling a little inappropriate, "I'm sorry, I..."

"It's okay." Liu Lin shook his head, "It would be fine if he likes women, and I'm convinced. He likes men, but I hesitated to say it until I figured it out and wanted to say it. He was already with someone else. But it ruined my guts. So since then I thought, when I meet someone I like, it’s better to take the initiative.”

At that time they were eating in a Fujian cuisine restaurant, Liu Lin looked at him while talking, Tao Liyang didn't hide, and looked back with a smile.Just don't answer.

The waiter just came to serve the food, Liu Lin changed the serving chopsticks and reached out to hold a piece of bream for him.

"Recently, you seem to always choose the river seafood restaurant." Tao Liyang put the snow-white fish into his mouth, "If you take care of my taste, you don't need to..."

"Why do you call it specialized? I don't hate it either. And if it takes a little longer, it will probably become a habit." Liu Lin took a sip of tea, "You keep asking me questions today, so can I ask you one?"

Tao Liyang raised his eyebrows: "Say it."

"I remember you went out to smoke during the last birthday party? It seems that you didn't bring cigarettes or smoke when you came out during this time? Is...are you taking care of me?" He threw the question back as it was, There was a playful and a little tentative look in his eyes.

Tao Liyang touched the bridge of his nose: "I said yes, you might be happier. But I don't want to lie to you. I didn't smoke because I quit smoking."

Liu Lin was stunned for a moment: "It's hard to quit smoking. When I was an intern in a foreign hospital, they had a professional smoking cessation clinic. When I saw people who came to quit smoking, most of them would give up halfway, and they couldn't quit at all."

"If there is something more difficult to quit, it will be not so difficult in comparison." Tao Liyang ate a spoonful of tofu soup with his head down. allow."

When he said this, he felt his throat a little itchy, but he forgot to bring mint candy. When he saw the mint leaves used as decoration on the dish, he picked them up and chewed them.

Probably knowing that he would not get an answer, Liu Lin did not ask him what is more difficult to quit, but asked another question: "So why do you suddenly want to quit smoking?"

Tao Liyang thought for a while, then said softly: "For a promise." ①

"and then?"

"No more." Tao Liyang smiled indifferently, the pungent breath of mint irritated his mouth a little, "I was fooled."

After dinner, Liu Lin proposed to watch a movie.When I arrived at the entrance of the cinema, I found that most of the recently released films had already been watched.

"Hey, I haven't seen "Long Summer" yet." Liu Lin pointed to a promotional poster in the corner.

On the poster is a hand, the left hand of a man.The knuckles are long and the wrist bones are slightly thin.There is a very small light brown mole at the end of the middle finger, like a dim star.

Tao Liyang knew this hand, so he also knew the half watch exposed by the poster - the one he gave him, but he didn't expect Xu Yunqing to wear it when he was filming this movie. ②

"When this film was first released, I planned to watch it. As a result, I didn't buy tickets for several shows in a row. I don't know if so many people won the award for the starring role or for the film. Later, I forgot Now, this is going to be screened... Li Yang?"

Liu Lin called him twice, and Tao Liyang came back to his senses.

"Why don't you just watch this?" Liu Lin discussed with him.

Tao Liyang wanted to say yes, but suddenly remembered that when they were still on the mountain, Xu Yunqing told him, when "Long Summer" is released, let's find a time to watch it. ③

Too bad they don't have the time.

"Forget it. Suddenly I don't really want to watch a movie." Tao Liyang withdrew his gaze, his tone was flat, "Would you like to go to a stage play? The City Theater is currently performing "Macbeth", and there should be a performance tonight."

"Okay." Liu Lin had no objection, "Is it too late to buy tickets now?"

Tao Liyang turned around and walked out of the cinema: "Finding tickets is my specialty, let's go."

After the stage play ended, Tao Liyang and Liu Lin bid farewell and went home.

The house has been rearranged and cleaned, and all the things Xu Yunqing left behind have been put into boxes by him.The traces of a person's existence can be easily erased, simply as if he had never been there.

It's true that Tao Liyang would be in a trance occasionally, he and Xu Yunqing hadn't started it at all.Those few months were just a dream created by his self-deception.But more often, he can recall every detail of their relationship.

Tao Liyang took a shower and went to sleep, but tossing and turning, his mind kept thinking about that hand.At this moment, the home was suddenly filled with Xu Yunqing's aura, on the bed, pillow, or himself.

Tao Liyang knew that he would not be able to sleep tonight.He lifted the quilt and got up, went to the cloakroom, dragged out the innermost box, hesitated for a moment, took a shirt from Xu Yunqing and changed it on.Grab the car keys and go out the door.

"Excuse me, do you still have tickets for "Long Summer"?" He went to the nearest cinema.

"Yes." The staff member looked down, "but it will take an hour and a half."

"It's okay." Tao Liyang said, "Please give me one."

In the midnight show, the movie had been released for another month, and it was about to be released, and not many people came to see it.Only a few people sat sparsely in the huge movie hall.

Tao Liyang didn't follow the ticket, and sat directly on the edge of the last row.The lights go down, and the first shot of the film is the hand on the poster.

The owner of the hand was slowly painting red Kodan on the nails, the camera gradually zoomed out and moved up, and a small half of Xu Yunqing's face was reflected in the mirror.

He paints meticulously and carefully, and his movements seem to be very skilled.When the last nail was painted, someone knocked on the door and called him, saying that he was going to be late for work.He responded and said he would leave immediately.Then hurriedly removed the nail polish that had just been applied.

The name of the movie "Long Summer" was played on the screen.

Xu Yunqing plays Chen Yuan, an ordinary employee.He fell in love with a cashier named Zhang Qing in the convenience store downstairs of the company.

He felt that this girl was different from others.Cut a head of neat short hair, always only wear a simple T-shirt and jeans, and do things in a hurry.But he was inexplicably attracted to her.

Chen Yuan went to the convenience store to buy sandwiches every day, and he knew Zhang Qing from acquaintance.On the day of Lixia, only Zhang Qing was on duty in the convenience store, and the company's air conditioner just broke down, so Chen Yuan went to the convenience store to cool off.When the sun was setting, he mysteriously asked Zhang Qing if he would like to be his girlfriend.Zhang Qing was arranging the things on the shelf, holding the purchase book in his hand, and half a pencil in his mouth, turned around and smiled at him, saying yes.

They had a great time, warm and happy.Zhang Qing said that she has a bad relationship with her parents and doesn't have many friends.Chen Yuan took Zhang Qing to meet his friends and family.However, gradually, people began to say to Chen Yuan that your girlfriend's clothes are too manly.He didn't care at first, but there were more and more discussions, and his mother also said, Zhang Qing is like a tomboy, our family can't have such a daughter-in-law.

It's not that Zhang Qing didn't hear this, but he still went his own way.But Chen Yuan couldn't take it anymore, he thought Zhang Qing might really need some changes.He bought skirts, jewelry, bright nail polish and all the decorations that a girl should have for Zhang Qing.

They began to quarrel frequently because of these things, and finally one day, Zhang Qing told him that she didn't want to change at all, since she was a child, she always felt that she should be a boy.

Chen Yuan felt that his girlfriend was crazy.They had a big fight because of this, one day, two days... When Chen Yuan wanted to find her again, Zhang Qing had already disappeared.She quit her job, quit her house, and couldn't reach her by phone or WeChat.

Zhang Qing just disappeared.Finally, the night before the beginning of autumn, Chen Yuan received a message from Zhang Qing.

She said that she did not tell Chen Yuan these things, and she was sorry.She wanted to change for Chen Yuan, but she couldn't.She decided to live in another place, and when she saved enough money, she went for surgery and became a real man.She will leave the city tomorrow, if Chen Yuan is willing, she can go to the convenience store tomorrow morning.She will wait for him to say goodbye at the seat where Chen Yuan often sits.

Chen Yuan didn't sleep all night, and hurried away at dawn.He wanted to tell Zhang Qing that he would not force her to change anymore, and that she could live the way she wanted.

However, Zhang Qing did not appear.In that position, there is only a bottle of red nail polish that Chen Yuan bought for her. He once painted it on her by himself on a summer evening.

It's getting dark and summer is over.He never saw her again.

The camera returned to the hands that had just washed off Kodan.Chen Yuan pushed open the door, put on his briefcase and went to the company.Passing by the convenience store downstairs, he went in to buy a cup of coffee.The cashier was a new young girl with a short skirt, long hair, and a beautiful smile.While cashiering, humming briskly, fingers flying up and down the keyboard, ten nails are painted with various colors of nail polish and sequins.

When paying the bill, she saw Chen Yuan's eyes sweeping over her hand, and she lifted it up to show him with a smile: "The new nails, do they look good?"

Chen Yuan didn't answer.His eyes fell back on his hands, the unremoved color remained on the nails like blood.

Until a drop of water landed on the back of the hand without warning.

The movie comes to an end.The theater lights were turned back on.

At the end of the show, there was a young couple walking behind Tao Liyang.The girl asked her boyfriend: "You said, Zhang Qing thinks she is a man, but she also likes Chen Yuan, is this considered gay?"

"Isn't Zhang Qing a woman?"

"Did you take a good look at it?" The girl's tone was a little unhappy.

"This movie is a mess, and I don't know how it won the award. I almost fell asleep watching it. It's all about you. You have to watch this in the middle of the night. It's a shame."

"What's the loss? Our Xu Yunqing's face is worth the fare, okay?"

"I knew you were here for Xu Yunqing." The boy said, "What's so good about him, he's almost thirty. There's so much gossip, he's married and divorced. He can still coax you little girls."

His tone was contemptuous, Tao Liyang frowned, and couldn't help turning his head to glance at him.

"What are you looking at?" The boy noticed his gaze and said dissatisfied.

Tao Liyang sneered: "Little friend, I see how good-looking you will be if you have a few more noses and a few more mouths."

"you……"

"Oh, it's over." He looked eager to try, but his girlfriend quickly grabbed him, "Let's go, let's go, you talk nonsense first."

Tao Liyang watched them walk away, and felt that he was losing his composure and pointless in arguing with a brat.

He got into the elevator and pressed the first floor to go to the parking lot.When I got to the car, I hesitated for a moment, went upstairs again, and returned to the counter: "Excuse me, how many movie posters are there, can you sell me one?"

After tossing and tossing for half the night, I returned home, still not sleepy at all.

Tao Liyang put the poster on the desk.Sighed and sat down.In all fairness, "Long Summer" is not a very perfect film. Many scenes are handled too obscurely, the overall tone is also heavy, and there is not even a good ending.But he understood why Xu Yunqing said that day, 'I think it will be your favorite style'④.

Because this is a complete, Tao Liyang-style movie.

There are many lines in "Long Summer". When Tao Liyang read it, he felt as if he wrote it himself.The use of intentions, various metaphors, and even the rhythm of the entire film and the handling of the ending are full of shadows of his early creations-he was once keen to write stories about all tragedies.

In the year he graduated from university, he also reprocessed his first fully formed script, the story of the young man looking for a tree⑤, and changed it into a complete movie script, giving it to several familiar movies. The company, soon someone expressed his willingness to buy it, but asked him to make various changes including the ending of the tree being cut down.

Tao Liyang was unwilling, and once moved his mind, he wanted to take a picture of that notebook by himself.But he was young at the time, and he didn't want to use his family's money, so it was too late to raise enough funds.Afterwards, many of the students who participated in the stage play version took on other jobs after graduation, or quit the circle altogether.After going back and forth, this matter was shelved.

After so many years, Tao Liyang wrote many scripts.But screenwriting is only a part of the whole play. From the time he creates a story to the time it is finally presented on the screen, it is often different from his original assumption. He has become accustomed to taking the initiative to do some commercialization according to market demand. The change, with a happy ending to cater to the appetite of the audience.Including that I once worked as a producer by accident, the same.

In fact, up to now, if Tao Liyang persisted, he was fully capable of making a movie without outside interference, but it would take too much energy.No need, he works too much and doesn't have that much time.

In the final analysis, this is not an obsession.It's just that every creator may have had a wish.

But Tao Liyang did occasionally think about what it would be like if there was really a movie presented according to his ideas from beginning to end.

He couldn't figure it out until he watched "Long Summer" today.

It can't be said to be completely consistent, but within the scope allowed by the review, this film has come close to his expectations to a great extent.

It's not perfect, but it belongs to Tao Liyang - even though he didn't participate in it.

Tao Liyang looked at the name of the main creator at the bottom of the poster, and couldn't help being a little interested and curious about the director and screenwriter Li Ren⑥.

It was not difficult to contact Li Ren, but Tao Liyang knew that he would not go to this person.Because he knew that the person he wanted to ask more was actually Xu Yunqing.He wanted to know why Xu Yunqing cast such a movie, and also wanted to know why Xu Yunqing wore the watch he gave him throughout the movie.

Tao Liyang had vague guesses in his heart, but he didn't dare to believe it, and he didn't want to believe it again.

After all, all speculations are false and false, and only their breakup is the truth.

The author says:

①: Quitting smoking: Chapter 35, ②: Table: Chapter 3, ③: Xu Yunqing said to watch "Long Summer" together: Chapter 31, ④: What Xu Yunqing said: Chapter 31, ⑤: The story of the tree: Chapter 3, ⑥: Li Toughness: mentioned in Chapter 31. (I really like ambush pens. It was hard work for everyone to read. Don’t worry, the two will meet in the next chapter.)