TGSS - Chapter 53

Chapter 53: Finale

In July, H City officially entered summer. Cicadas chirped noisily, boundless waves of heat swept over the entire city, and even air conditioning could not dispel the heat, but at this moment the atmosphere in the conference room of Dark Color Culture was thoroughly chilled.

"Who was it that let Liang Zhouyi go back then?" President Qin seemed to bring up the topic casually, even with a hint of a smile on his face, but a closer look revealed his eyes were ice cold.

Those seated below were silent as crows, not even daring to look up. Tan Qing wore a mask, his eyes carefully glancing at the man, finding his face filled with heavy regret.

It was no wonder he lamented. Who would have known that an ordinary editor turned photographer who left the company would develop so well, becoming a viral sensation online within just a few months simply by doing travel photography and shooting some cultural videos. Some of it was due to good fortune: one video happened to ride a trending topic and receive official promotion. As they say, going viral depends on luck, but no matter how good Liang Zhouyi's luck was, it could not hide her talent.

"President Qin, back then Zhou Yi said she wanted to rest for a while, this... it wouldn't have been right for us to stop her." The speaker was Xu Lu. He looked unable to hide his jealousy. Who could have imagined that someone who had been under him just months ago would suddenly rise to the top. The internet really was a magical thing.

President Qin shot him a cold, sharp glance: "Didn't you know the company has paid leave? If she wanted to rest you could have just let her rest. Why did you force her to resign?"

Xu Lu was rebuked into silence. It was normal for the boss to be annoyed and feel regret now. He could only shut his mouth and obediently take the blame. After all, Liang Zhouyi had not had an easy time under him back then.

"President Qin," Chen Xinluo said lightly, "Zhou Yi has been in Province C recently. I still have some private contact with her."

"Province C." President Qin first gave Chen Xinluo an approving look, then seemed slightly puzzled. "This Liang Zhouyi really is running all over the world. Has she been heading west all along?"

Chen Xinluo only smiled without answering. In truth she also did not understand why Liang Zhouyi arranged her itinerary so strictly. Every time she asked her to catch up, Liang Zhouyi would say her schedule was full and could not be changed. Chen Xinluo would even joke that she was busier than a celebrity. In fact, as a freelancer who knew how to run and operate an account, Liang Zhouyi could easily have allowed herself to relax a little. But Liang Zhouyi was unwilling. She was busy like a spinning top, never stopping for a moment.

At that moment Liang Zhouyi, who was in Province C, suddenly sneezed several times. She adjusted her brown hat, wearing a pair of leather ankle boots, stepping unevenly in the sand. The fierce sunlight shone on her exposed skin until it turned somewhat red. Liang Zhouyi tugged at the camera strap that was digging into her, raised a hand to block the sun, the silver ring on her middle finger flashing with dazzling light. She closed one eye to look at the road and walked forward with a slight smile.

One of Liang Zhouyi's legs ached faintly, making her walk with a slight limp. Yesterday she had accidentally twisted her ankle while scouting a location. It was as if a place that had once been dislocated was prone to dislocating again, but she could not remember when she had ever sprained her ankle.

In the past six months, many things she could not understand seemed to have happened. She could not even remember when she had let go of that matter from university, so easily untangling the knot in her heart.

It seemed that by the time she came to her senses she had already embarked on a very smooth path, as if all the bad luck of her first twenty-five years had been completely used up.

In the past six months she had built up her own account, gaining a large number of fans and traffic. What she earned in six months was more than she had earned in the previous five years, yet she did not seem to feel happy at all. Others assumed Liang Zhouyi pushed forward tirelessly in order to work hard and earn money, but in truth she simply did not want to stop because of a set plan.

It was so strange. She had always hated living by the rules more than anything, yet from the bottom of her heart she wanted to follow this plan and visit every place. It was as if... as if she wanted to find someone through this journey.

This feeling had troubled Liang Zhouyi for a long time. Countless times she had woken with a start in the middle of the night, her heart aching sharply, tears pouring uncontrollably as if a floodgate had opened, leaving her heart hollow. In her dreams there was always a brown-haired woman whose face she could not see, arms crossed, smiling at her. Yet when she ran toward her without regard for anything, there was always a distance she could not close. She reached out but could not grasp even a corner of the woman's clothes, because the woman would quickly turn away, leaving Liang Zhouyi only a retreating figure before vanishing.

Another time waking in the night, Liang Zhouyi clutched the thin blanket tightly, got up and poured herself a glass of cool water. Bitterness rose at the corner of her lips as she unconsciously rubbed the ring on her middle finger. She could not remember where this ring had come from, just as she could not remember when those potted plants at home had appeared.

She was clearly living the dream life of her youth. She had traveled through countless cities, witnessed many people's lives, and seen countless magnificent and beautiful wonders, yet she always felt a large piece missing in her heart.

Liang Zhouyi often organized her photo albums. The photos she kept were all her most satisfying works, but there was one category she singled out and placed in a separate folder. These photos had one thing in common, their composition was very strange. According to her habits, there should have been something else in those empty spaces, because leaving them empty was actually very unappealing. Yet every time Liang Zhouyi wanted to delete them she could not bring herself to press the button, a deep reluctance bursting open inside her.

Over time she just let them be, and there were quite a few such photos. She could even feel the joy and love she had felt when taking them, but what exactly was she loving?

The answer to this question came to Liang Zhouyi on the most ordinary day a month later.

That day Liang Zhouyi circled around a stream from a remote woods. As she stepped on some mossy stones to cross the river, her foot slipped. Unable to keep her balance, her body tilted sharply and she fell into the river. Her hands instinctively grasped for something in front of her, her whole body sprawled in the water, fingers clutching a slippery stone. The ring on her middle finger seemed to catch on something and, under the rush of the current, slipped off her finger.

No! A drowning fear surged like a tide. Liang Zhouyi waded through the water without regard for anything to chase the ring, frantically sweeping her hands through the waist deep river to search.

She searched from when the sun was directly overhead until the sun slanted west, until night fell. Her hands could no longer lift at all, yet Liang Zhouyi, pale-faced, still refused to leave. Occasionally a few passersby tried to persuade her to stop, but she shook her head obsessively, as if that ring were more important than her life.

Her slender fingers began to swell and wrinkle from soaking in the water, her palms cut by gravel, blood quickly washed away by the stream. Liang Zhouyi's hair hung loose, her eyes seeming to burn with two flames. Her body was exhausted to the extreme, yet her spirit refused to compromise.

Having not eaten a bite, Liang Zhouyi tied a flashlight to her head with a string. After searching for an unknown length of time she finally saw the silver ring. She tried hard to smile, and her dry, cracked lips instantly split from the movement, seeping traces of blood, but she was completely unaware.

When her fingertips touched the ring again, Liang Zhouyi frowned slightly, as if she could feel the air moving again. It was as if she could finally breathe. Holding the ring to her chest, the joy of recovering what was lost made her grin and sob a few times.

She dragged her exhausted body to sit on the bank, examining the ring by moonlight. The plain silver band lay in her water-covered palm. Liang Zhouyi raised her hand to hold it up. As she looked, she suddenly pressed her lips together. Inside the ring there seemed to be extremely fine engraved lines.

Liang Zhouyi's eyes darkened a little. She held the flashlight up to illuminate those fine lines and discovered they seemed to be two characters. When she made them out she could not help but read them aloud: "Chu... He, Chu He... Chu He, who is Chu He? Who is she?"

Her heart began to pound uncontrollably. The name turned between Liang Zhouyi's lips and teeth, carrying a lingering, affectionate flavor. An irrepressible palpitation struck her until her vision began to whiten.

A sharp pain suddenly shot through her temples, spreading in an instant across Liang Zhouyi's entire head. Countless memories flooded in.

"Liang Zhouyi, you are really wonderful, I mean it."

"I will make you more and more lucky..."

"Liang Zhouyi, take a photo for me."

"With me here, you don't need to worry about anything..."

"I like you, I like you so much..."

Every word and every expression of Chu He began to reappear in Liang Zhouyi's mind. She collapsed to her knees, letting her knees hit the sharp stones without feeling pain. Intense emotion made her want to wail, yet she could only clutch the weeds in front of her, unable to make a sound, only low sobs dissolving into the night.

Liang Zhouyi did not know how long she held that posture, so long that she felt as if she had become a statue, her body stiff and unable to move. Extreme sorrow made her brain feel as if it were shrouded in fog, unable to think. She just wanted to take root here and become a tree or a blade of grass.

The morning sunlight shone on Liang Zhouyi, but she felt nothing. Her black hair, long to her waist, was damp with water, and after air drying she looked somewhat disheveled. Liang Zhouyi sat there blankly, unaware, until her eyes were pricked by a bright flash. A trace of emotion finally appeared on her pale face. She slowly lifted the ring and slipped it back onto her hand, tilting her chin slightly, letting the sunlight fall on her face. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and then it was as if some restraint had been released.

Liang Zhouyi suddenly burst into loud wails, as if some prohibition had been lifted. She unconsciously beat her chest, crying without being able to stop at all, as if she had to shed all the tears of her lifetime to vent the emotions of this moment.

Liang Zhouyi could not remember how that day finally ended, but from then on she set out on the journey again. Unlike before, she had never been so clear-headed. She carried her love for Chu He, so even if she was covered in bruises she would continue forward firmly, because she knew the end of this road was the woman she loved!

Every scenic spot she passed, every stone she touched might bear traces of Chu He. Chu He had promised her, so she would surely do it. Gradually Liang Zhouyi grew calmer, and sometimes she even began to have an illusion, as if she could already hear Chu He's breathing, as if she had been by her side all along.

When she finally finished the itinerary, Liang Zhouyi let out a long breath. She smiled with a sense of ease, planning to return to H City and ask Tan Qing to return the few potted plants she had left in his care.

Coincidentally, she and Chu He had met in winter, and now returning to H City it was winter again. It had clearly been only a short year, but her life was worlds apart. She had gone from a corporate worker struggling to make ends meet to a photographer pursuing her old dream. She had money and fame and lacked nothing, yet she was always chasing the traces of someone.

Because Tan Qing told Liang Zhouyi that one of the plants had been taken to Dark Color Culture as a filming prop, Liang Zhouyi saw the message and helplessly put on a scarf and went to Dark Color Culture.

Before going she sent a message to Chen Xinluo. It seemed that Chu He's departure had caused some subtle changes in certain things. In her altered memories of those two months, whether it was Chen Xinluo or Zheng Xinyan, they were both her friends. Together with Tan Qing they had helped her transfer positions, giving her the opportunity to learn and set her on this path.

It was as if after Chu He had come, the whole world was releasing kindness toward her. But Liang Zhouyi knew clearly that all of this came from Chu He, and every time she thought of it she felt an inexplicable pain, as if behind such kindness was Chu He's departure.

"Zhou Yi, you're here."

Chen Xinluo warmly tried to take Liang Zhouyi's arm, but she dodged very quickly. Chen Xinluo was not embarrassed. She kept smiling as she looked at Liang Zhouyi. The woman before her wore a scarf, her hair now very long, her skin seemingly tanned a bit, not as pale as before, looking much healthier. Those clear eyes still carried a soul-piercing coolness.

Liang Zhouyi gave a slight nod. She followed Chen Xinluo past the conference room, through her former work area, and finally when she saw Chu He's office, she could not help smiling.

"What's wrong?" Chen Xinluo followed her gaze, then smiled and explained, "This office has been empty for a long time. Recently the big boss of our partner company made a very strange request, saying that when she comes to our company she wants an office, and specifically asked for this one. Isn't that strange?"

Liang Zhouyi smiled cooperatively: "That is quite an interesting request."

Chen Xinluo continued: "What a coincidence, they are in the conference room discussing business right now and should be coming out soon. This one really is young and accomplished, not just any strong career woman."

"Is that so?" Liang Zhouyi was not very interested, as if no one was worth asking another question about.

"With your personality you're destined to be alone," Chen Xinluo sighed, then as if thinking of something, she gave her a teasing smile. "Xinyan really likes this President Chu. Though she hasn't said it directly, you know how tsundere people are."

Liang Zhouyi's pupils constricted sharply. Her jaw began to tremble, as if she doubted her own ears. She bit the tip of her tongue hard, the sharp pain keeping Liang Zhouyi from completely losing composure. She faced Chen Xinluo with a somewhat twisted expression.

Chen Xinluo was stunned by her look. She had never seen Liang Zhouyi with such a rich expression. At this moment her eyes held hope, fear, disbelief...

"Is this President Chu called Chu He?"

Chen Xinluo frowned in confusion: "You don't know Chu He? She is a legend in our industry. That shouldn't be. I should introduce you. They are coming out..."

All the blood in Liang Zhouyi's body began to boil, yet she still stood stiff, not daring to turn around, because she was afraid what she would see was not the answer her heart wanted.

Chen Xinluo tugged at Liang Zhouyi in confusion, but she did not budge. She watched as the woman wearing gold-rimmed glasses and a long brown dress walked over step by step. Anxiously she turned Liang Zhouyi around, but even then the woman's eyes remained tightly shut.

Liang Zhouyi seemed to feel a shadow fall before her eyes. At this moment she was incredibly terrified, not even daring to open her eyes even a sliver, until a familiar fragrance entered her nose. Tears instantly poured from Liang Zhouyi's tightly closed eyes, and then she heard a familiar voice.

"Liang Zhouyi, I love you."

Liang Zhouyi opened her eyes abruptly, tears blurring her vision. She opened her mouth but could not say anything, only looking at the woman standing under the light in the familiar dress, her gaze greedily tracing every inch of Chu He.

After a long moment, she held back all her tears and smiled brilliantly: "Hello, Chu He."

This time, it was both a reunion and a first meeting.

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