Chapter 58: N. Outdoor Movie

Carl felt his boss had been very strange lately.

As the person who valued efficiency above all else, could not accept work being done outside the schedule, and possessed an extreme aversion to unexpected situations, Ning Yixiao had actually asked three times if his roadshow schedule could be changed.

When Carl gave a negative answer for the third time, Ning Yixiao provided a hotel address in Los Angeles and told him to have the magazine move the interview there. The difficulty of this request dropped instantly—after all, unlike a roadshow that required coordination with schools, hotels, and organizers, a magazine interview could be done anywhere. Plus, the magazine’s office was already in Los Angeles, making it more convenient for them.

But for Ning Yixiao, it was not.

“But this is too much of a waste of time, Shaw. The final roadshow is in Boston, ending at 10:30 AM. I checked—to catch the earliest flight to LA, the fastest it can be done is five and a half hours. Including the time to get to the hotel, you’d spend an extra six hours for an interview that only lasts forty minutes.”

Hearing this long list of time management concerns, Ning Yixiao, contrary to his usual habits, showed an indifferent attitude.

“So, I can arrive in Los Angeles at 5:30 PM, right?”

Carl didn’t understand. “Shaw, do you have any private plans in LA?”

“You could say that.” Ning Yixiao didn’t offer much of an explanation. “You book the ticket first, and you don’t need to go to the Boston roadshow. Go to Los Angeles a day early; there is some other work I need you to do for me.”

Carl was left bewildered, feeling like his boss had turned into a different person. In the past, he never had private plans, and all his time was spent on work. But this time, he gave several tasks at once, none of which seemed related to work; instead, they felt very much like date arrangements.

Following the task list, Carl completed them one by one. Suddenly feeling like something was missing, he proactively offered a suggestion to Ning Yixiao.

“Shaw, I noticed you didn’t schedule dinner. A very nice new Western restaurant just opened in LA. We can book the best seat now; it has a complete view of the sunset over the ocean, and the dishes are exquisite and high-end.”

Ning Yixiao was sitting in the backseat, processing work, and instinctively replied, “No need. He doesn’t like high-end restaurants.”

Carl froze. He?

Could it be that Ning Yixiao was going on a date with a man? Behind Carl’s calm exterior, a piece of explosive news detonated.

“By the way, that cinema I told you about last time, did you ask?”

Hearing Ning Yixiao’s question, Carl immediately turned around. “I asked. They said it only opens in the summer. It would be difficult to book now because we wouldn’t have enough people.”

“You don’t need to ‘enough’ people.” Ning Yixiao lowered his head to look at his computer screen, his fingers tapping the keyboard. “Do as I said.”

Carl felt that his boss might have truly fallen in love, completely disregarding costs and prices. To squeeze out a free evening, Ning Yixiao barely slept during the six-hour flight, working the entire time.

The flight landed in Los Angeles on schedule. Carl took the driver to pick him up and head to the interview hotel. The magazine team had been waiting for a long time. Once Ning Yixiao arrived, they intended to style him, but were refused.

“Just like this.” Ning Yixiao said. “I have work to do afterwards.”

The magazine staff, knowing this, immediately flattered him, “You actually don’t need styling. Let’s start the recording then.”

Carl’s gossip seeds were almost bursting through the soil; he was so uncomfortable holding it in that he tried to chat with the driver while Ning Yixiao was being interviewed. However, the driver was well-trained and pretended not to understand whenever private questions came up, making Carl feel even worse.

An hour later, Ning Yixiao finished the interview. Checking the time, he walked up to the two men and directly asked the driver for the car keys.

“Are you going to drive?” Carl was surprised. “But you’re not…”

“Correct.” Ning Yixiao said to them, “Thank you for your hard work. You can go back to the hotel to rest first.”

The driver honestly handed the keys to Ning Yixiao and dragged the reluctant Carl away. Carl was heartbroken—he worked so hard and was on call 24/7, yet he knew nothing about Ning Yixiao’s sudden secret romance. Sitting in the back of the taxi, looking at the blue-purple twilight and orange sunset of Los Angeles, he wondered: What kind of person could it be?

The Los Angeles dusk was so beautiful it made one feel lightheaded. At a certain moment, Su Hui thought of the Manhattanhenge six years ago.

The beautiful sunset was right in front of him, and so was the person he loved. It took him a while to distinguish between hallucination and reality, so he looked a bit stunned when facing Ning Yixiao.

Ning Yixiao didn’t rush him; he just stood a little closer, staring at him with eyes like a wild animal, showing a moment of docility and tenderness. Facing his question, Su Hui couldn’t give a definitive answer—after all, if he knew that Su Hui had chased after him just because he saw a blurry silhouette, it would be too foolish.

So, he answered the question with a question.

“And you?” Su Hui leaned against the railing. He was wearing a small silver Saturn earring, which glittered in the sunset. “Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be at the company accepting interviews at this time?”

“So clear about my schedule?” The corner of Ning Yixiao’s mouth curled into a faint smile. He took a drag of his cigarette; in the wind and smoke, his direct gaze was looming.

Su Hui’s head was tilted slightly upward, his tone very light. “My memory isn’t bad either.”

“The interview location was temporarily changed to Los Angeles. This magazine is here; they invited me, I agreed, and just stopped by.”

Hearing this, Su Hui harbored a trace of suspicion. “Looks like you really like this magazine, willing to change your schedule for them.”

Ning Yixiao laughed.

“What are you laughing at?”

The wind blew Ning Yixiao’s hair a bit messy. He really looked like the him from six years ago, showing a vitality that the heavy life couldn’t suppress.

“Do you have anything else to do later?”

Ning Yixiao leaned closer, lowering his head. It looked very much like he was about to kiss Su Hui, making him hold his breath involuntarily. But in the end, Ning Yixiao only tapped his forehead gently.

“Come out and stroll with me.”

Su Hui couldn’t deny the slight disappointment that welled up in his heart, but because of Ning Yixiao’s invitation, the disappointment was extinguished, and a glimmer of expectation arose.

“Where to?” He hesitated for a moment. “I might need to say hi to them first; we agreed to go eat together.”

“Then go say hi.” Ning Yixiao opened the door to the small rooftop for him and lowered his head to enter.

Thus, half-pushed and half-willing, Su Hui returned to the meeting spot and saw them taking photos with the large public art piece outside the gallery, so he walked over. But he didn’t expect Ning Yixiao to follow him like a shadow, which put Su Hui under quite a bit of pressure.

Professor White saw Su Hui and asked with a smile, “Where did you go? They’ve been looking for you for a long time.”

“I went to smoke a cigarette.”

The professor’s gaze crossed over Su Hui to the Ning Yixiao standing beside him, so he asked with a smile, “Who is this?”

Su Hui touched the back of his neck unnaturally. “This is Shaw Ning, my…”

He stuttered there, and Ning Yixiao turned his head, deliberately staring at him at this moment, which made Su Hui even more at a loss for words.

“Friend.” Ning Yixiao solved the problem himself, reached out his hand, and shook hands with the professor. “Hello, Professor White.”

Professor White was very friendly. “Nice to meet you. Would you like to join us?”

A female student behind him recognized Ning Yixiao. “I know you! You’re the founder of MsnF, right? God, my best friend is your super fan. He even complained that he didn’t win a spot to attend the new product roadshow…”

She rambled on, and Ning Yixiao had no choice but to smile. “Thank you.”

“Can you give me an autograph?” She was very excited. “I can give it to him!” After she finished, she took out a notebook and pen from her bag, opened a page, and handed it over.

Ning Yixiao glanced at Su Hui, but Su Hui had an expression of “You decide for yourself.” He turned his head and very kindly agreed to the girl’s request.

“Thank you so much! He’s going to be so excited.” She收藏 the autograph with great satisfaction.

Ning Yixiao smiled. “Thank the ‘Eddy’ for that.”

He clearly saw hostility and disappointment on the face of the student named Ryan, so he put his arm around Su Hui’s shoulder and said to everyone, “I’m sorry, I need to borrow your teaching assistant. He can’t join everyone’s celebration.”

Su Hui turned his head to look at the hand Ning Yixiao had placed on his shoulder, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

“It’s fine.” Professor White noticed that their relationship was unusual. “Eddy, you’ve been tired lately, go relax well.”

Ryan, who had won the championship, was a bit sad and called out to Su Hui, “Are you really not going to drink with us?”

Su Hui felt a bit sorry. “You were really great today. When we get back to New York, I’ll treat you to a meal…”

Before Su Hui could finish, Ning Yixiao forced his shoulder to turn, his attitude strong, making him have to leave with him immediately.

Once they were away, Ning Yixiao teased Su Hui on purpose. “When are you treating me? Eddy, I want to eat tacos.”

“Why are you so childish?”

“Because I’ve changed.”

Ning Yixiao was driving again. His state seemed still very tense, which Su Hui could tell, so he took the liberty of putting on some music. The coastal highway was beautiful, reminding Su Hui of Neil Patterson’s famous painting Sunset Glow, but such beauty was short-lived. About half an hour later, the sky turned a dreamy purple-blue, just like a scene in a movie, with the last trace of sunlight lingering on the skyline before gradually fading away.

Su Hui took a photo of this scene, waiting for the night to fall. Although his thoughts were messy and drifting, Su Hui didn’t want to affect Ning Yixiao’s driving, so he chose to remain silent. But he would carefully observe Ning Yixiao’s state, and whenever he felt Ning Yixiao wasn’t very relaxed, he would speak up to share some trivial things with him, most of which were quite boring.

But Ning Yixiao responded to every sentence. Chatting back and forth like this, it wasn’t long before they reached their destination: a very quiet nature reserve.

The car drove in, and Su Hui couldn’t help but lower the window and poke his head out a little. Through the swaying tree shadows, he saw a large lake rippling in the night.

“Don’t lean out, sit properly.”

Hearing Ning Yixiao speak, Su Hui said “Oh,” and closed the window, but he was still very happy. He loved nature very much; every day of living in the city was wearing down his enthusiasm for life.

“Why come here?” He was a bit curious and turned to look at Ning Yixiao.

“A gift voucher from the magazine. I took a look, and it would expire if I didn’t come tonight; it would be a waste not to use it, and it would be too cold and quiet to come alone.” Ning Yixiao told a lie off the cuff. To be more persuasive, he added, “They also came here to shoot footage a few days ago.”

Su Hui nodded and laughed. “But they are really interesting, giving this to someone who doesn’t lack anything.”

“Who said I don’t lack anything?” Ning Yixiao found a parking spot and turned in.

Su Hui instinctively wanted to ask him, “What do you lack?”, but swallowed the words, feeling it wasn’t quite appropriate.

“Does the lake here freeze?” He changed the subject.

“No, winter in Southern California is not cold.”

After parking the car, Ning Yixiao took Su Hui down, following a pebbled path. They walked through the woods; everything here was shrouded in deep blue night, very quiet.

Ahead, there was a cabin area with warm yellow lights. Ning Yixiao brought Su Hui over, and someone was already waiting at the entrance.

The staff greeted them warmly and led them to another place, passing by a small bonfire area with a fire burning, but no tourists. Su Hui suddenly thought of the bonfire party without a bonfire back at school. At that gathering, Ning Yixiao had found him when he disappeared into the crowd.

“We’re here. This is it.”

They were led to the lakeside. It was bright with little night lights, very cozy. There were some white small boats with roofs docked on the lake, and on the shore was a large movie screen, all soaked in the blue-purple night.

“We have prepared some things on the boat. If you have any new needs, please contact us at any time.”

Ning Yixiao nodded, said thank you, and took Su Hui to the small boat designated by the staff.

“You go up first.”

Su Hui was afraid the boat would move and he would fall in, so he moved very carefully. Ning Yixiao noticed and reached out to hold his wrist. “I’ll support you.”

“Thank you.” Su Hui got on the boat and also wanted to reach out to pull Ning Yixiao, but Ning Yixiao took a step and got on easily.

Straight ahead was the huge screen. Su Hui was inexplicably excited. “Are we going to watch an outdoor movie?”

“To be precise, it’s an outdoor movie on the water.” Ning Yixiao said.

On the table in front of their seats were some exquisite and delicious snacks, and on the right hand, there was fresh popcorn with steam rising and pearl milk tea, which surprised Su Hui very much.

“I haven’t had milk tea for a long time.” He took a big sip and said ambiguously, “Is their service this thoughtful?”

Ning Yixiao had a very calm expression, smiling yet not smiling. “Who knows?”

Soon, the screen in front lit up. Su Hui was in high spirits and glanced around; these boats were all empty, and there were no other spectators on the lake.

“Just the two of us.”

“That seems to be the case.” Ning Yixiao found an excuse. “Maybe it’s too cold today, no one came.”

Su Hui nodded, understanding. “But it’s very beautiful here in winter, the scenery and the atmosphere are so good, I really like this feeling.”

Hearing him say he liked it, Ning Yixiao’s mood also improved, even though it couldn’t be seen on his face. He lowered his head, took out a blanket from the storage box on the side, spread it out, and covered Su Hui’s legs.

But the next second, he heard Su Hui ask, “Since there’s no one on these boats, can I go to another one?”

Ning Yixiao frowned. “Why go to another boat? You think it’s crowded?”

Su Hui shook his head immediately, showing a cute smile. “No, I just feel it’s a bit of a pity that they’re empty.”

Ning Yixiao stopped talking. The opening credits were already over, so he had to say to Su Hui, “The movie is starting.”

Su Hui took a sip of milk tea and leaned against the soft leather backrest. The small boat swayed slightly with his movements, sending ripples across the lake.

He was surprised to find that what was playing was the second part of the Before trilogy—Before Sunset.

“That’s great, not a horror movie.”

“I haven’t seen this one.” Su Hui was pleasantly surprised. “We’ve seen the first and the third.”

Ning Yixiao didn’t respond. Su Hui suddenly realized he had used “we.” It was like a forbidden word in a magic book. Su Hui was a little panicked and embarrassed. Mentioning movies they had watched together inevitably brought to mind the absurd things they used to do while watching movies.

“It seems so.” Ning Yixiao spoke up, very thoughtfully easing Su Hui’s embarrassment. “But I don’t remember the plot anymore, only that they had endless things to say.”

Su Hui said “Hm,” suddenly not daring to talk too much.

The movie started with the beautiful scenery of the streets of Paris. Su Hui had forgotten most of the plot of the previous films. Over the years, he had received too much electroconvulsive therapy, and his memory was not as good as before. All his memories were like a puzzle that couldn’t be pieced together; there were too many blank spaces, and he could no longer connect the general pattern.

But he always remembered that when watching the first one, after being covered in sweat, he lay in Ning Yixiao’s arms. At that time, the man and woman were sitting in a restaurant, pretending to be on the phone facing each other.

So, he imitated them, putting his hand to his ear, pretending to call his best friend, and letting Ning Yixiao, who liked childish games the least, pretend to be that “friend” answering the phone.

At that time, he looked into Ning Yixiao’s eyes and said very directly that he had never been this happy, saying that he really loved Ning Yixiao.

After they swapped, Ning Yixiao was forced by him and helplessly made the phone gesture, but didn’t know what to say.

He kept urging him, and finally, Ning Yixiao lowered his eyes and said he felt that he would love Su Hui forever.

The word “forever” was too heavy; Su Hui felt that way back then, but he was more surprised that someone like Ning Yixiao would say “forever.” Su Hui loved Ning Yixiao too much, so he didn’t dare to believe it, and facts proved that his caution was correct: they indeed didn’t possess “forever.”

Thinking of this, the movie had played for a long time, and the plot was led away by Su Hui’s jumping thoughts. He ate a few pieces of popcorn. The distance between him and Ning Yixiao was so close, so close that he couldn’t turn his head to look at him casually.

He had no choice but to bow his head slightly and glance over, looking at Ning Yixiao’s legs and knees, and his gloves—he was wearing a gray pair today, which looked very good.

Su Hui was afraid he would be cold, especially his injured knee, so he picked up the thick blanket and covered half of Ning Yixiao’s legs with it.

Ning Yixiao was stunned for a moment and turned to look at him, but Su Hui had already pretended that nothing happened, hugging his milk tea cup and shrinking into the sofa chair, drinking little by little.

Like the other two, the movie was filled with high-density dialogue, but Su Hui liked it and watched it with great focus. When he resonated with it, he would nod unconsciously and share some of his views with Ning Yixiao, like a real friend.

When he saw the heroine say that one must learn to forget unrealistic fantasies, Su Hui frowned and said it out loud unconsciously, “But I still have many unrealistic fantasies to this day.”

Ning Yixiao suddenly spoke. “You can have them; not everyone has to accept reality.”

Su Hui took a bite of the cold crepe. “Is that so? But I’m already 26. For many people, this age is already about carrying the burden of the whole family, but I still have many real problems that haven’t been solved. I’m always escaping. Credit card bills, social relationships, interpersonal conflicts at work that can’t be avoided, and those expensive and useless consultations… I want to escape every day, just want to hide in fantasies, completely failing to learn how to be a mature adult.”

Ninety-nine percent of his fantasies were of Ning Yixiao, which Su Hui didn’t say out loud, otherwise he would sound too much like a pervert.

But Ning Yixiao told him, “Su Hui, you don’t need to be a mature adult.”

Su Hui turned his head to look at him.

“Some people have their days arranged in perfect order, without any mistakes, but it’s very boring. They must envy you—every day of your life is different, you can pursue your own ideals, and you still have the ability to have fantasies.”

His eyes reflected the rippling lake water, possessing a tenderness different from his usual self. Compared to being mature, Ning Yixiao wanted more to become a shelter for Su Hui’s innocence and romance. Even if he was very boring himself and couldn’t keep up with Su Hui’s wild imagination, he was very good at waiting patiently.

Su Hui was a very emotional person. After hearing Ning Yixiao’s words, his nose turned sour. He lowered his eyes, said a soft “Thank you,” and then turned away to continue watching the movie.

This was the first time they had watched an entire movie with utmost focus without doing anything distracting. But at the same time, Ning Yixiao also discovered that even if he didn’t do anything, he couldn’t focus on the plot, because Su Hui himself was the biggest distraction. Even if he did nothing and just stayed quietly by his side, he would uncontrollably think about everything related to Su Hui.

When the movie was about to end, someone walked by on the shore. Su Hui was too focused and didn’t notice, until a small white boat sailed from the shore and circled behind theirs.

Su Hui turned around; it was two staff members.

“We came to deliver some things.”

Su Hui said thank you in a low voice and turned back to continue watching the movie. A minute later, that small boat also left.

On the big screen, the heroine picked up her guitar and started singing the song she wrote.

[You are everything I’ve ever dreamed of.]

[But you are no longer here.]

Su Hui suddenly felt a little sad, but at this moment, Ning Yixiao spoke, his voice low and gentle.

He asked, “Su Hui, do you know what date it is today?”

Su Hui thought for a moment. “February…”

He was suddenly stunned and turned to look at Ning Yixiao. “…28th?”

Ning Yixiao curled the corners of his mouth. On his lap was a very beautiful birthday cake, and he used his palm to protect the single burning candle. “Looks like you really don’t remember.”

Su Hui didn’t even know when he had lit the candle, and he couldn’t speak, frowning and staring at that little ball of flame.

The light from the huge screen on the shore reflected on the side of their faces, weaving a hazy, dreamy silhouette. The shadows were closer than reality, like an intimate embrace.

The guitar continued, and the woman’s gentle singing rippled like an afterglow.

[I just want to try one more time.]

[I just want to have one more night.]

[Even if this is wrong.]

Ning Yixiao leaned forward slightly, close to Su Hui’s profile. Between his lips and his earlobe, there was a small, ambiguous universe, where the Saturn earring swayed.

“My immature little friend, happy birthday.