Chapter 93: Wishes

-When you think of summer, what comes to mind?

The red light of the video camera comes on, one second long, one second short, and flashes for a moment.

A small piece of the painted world is framed in the screen.

"Has the recording started yet?"

"OK's."

"The next morning's two-part interview began with a bang.

Little Strawberry smiled and said, "Watermelon? Chilled Coke?"

Li Meng said, "Barbecue, right? Today's recording is not going to be a barbecue, is it?"

"It's too hot for a barbecue." The screen recording changes to Lu Jin, who shrugs his shoulders, "And I don't know how to cook a barbecue."

"I'm looking forward to it." Pei Lexuan answers, her voice gentle: "I actually want to go and watch the fireworks, when they were not banned in high school."

"Fireworks are fine!" The camera exclaims Xu Manman, "Of course fireworks go on the beach!"

Ma Xiao agreed: "I listen to Mamoru, they like these things when they're young."

Onto the final set of shots.

A sudden change in the warm and fuzzy picture.

The camera searched the top and could not find Sheng Mingzhi.

Slowly descend to see the "boss's wife" lying dead on the sofa.

The camera man whispered, "Mr. Sheng, Mr. Sheng wake up, it's time to record the interview!"

It was only after a long time that Sheng Mingzhi reluctantly snapped out of his sleep.

What comes to mind when you think of summer?

Teleprompter board with black letters on white board.

Sheng Mingzhi glanced at it, and re-buried his head in his arms.

His voice was thick with sleep, and he sounded as if he was pampering himself, "...... take a nap. You should nap in the summer."

The camera brother was inexplicably weak at the knees.

...... That's a foul sound too!!!

Lu Jiayan, carrying milk, appears in the frame and explains, "Little Mr. Sheng 'napping' means just that."

He inclined his head, his tone rising, "Sleeping until noon?"

In the scene, Sheng Mingzhi, although lying on the sofa, extends his fist and smashes Lu Jiayan on the thigh.

With all this fuss, the sleepiness is gone.

The two men looked at each other in the frame and burst out laughing.

Sheng Mingzhi sits up lazily.

The mind cannot help but bellyache.

Who the hell is this variety planner?

Planning a show like this where you get up at 7am to record material?

Sheng Mingzhi took the milk and drank it in one gulp, so quickly that a lot of it spilled out of his lips.

Lu Jiayan glanced at it and said to the camera, "Cut this out when it's on air."

Camera Brother:?

Director's team: ?

What's wrong with this paragraph?

Sheng Mingzhi gave Lu Jiayan an inexplicable look, as if to ask what he was suddenly mad about.

But expecting no answer, he turned to take time to look at the day's itinerary, the theme of which was the sea.

It's an old tradition for wedding variety shows to have a little melodrama on the beach.

After a day of recording, the guests became familiar with each other and more relaxed and comfortable with the camera.

Just after breakfast, a wedding invitation suddenly appeared on the coffee table in the living room.

Although they knew the show's formula, the guests were still very much amazed by the do-over.

Sheng Mingzhi picks up the wedding invitation on the coffee table and the camera focuses on the text content.

He read it out word for word from the script, "Dear guests of All Those Years, we are scheduled to have a grand wedding today at 5.30pm in the West Ocean Road Chapel, all friends are welcome to attend -"

After reading it out, Sheng Mingzhi froze for a moment.

The loudspeaker in the rose courtyard blared out today's task: "Good morning, teachers~ I'm sure you've all received your wedding invitations on the coffee table, yes! Today is the day of the wedding of Ms. Wu Yao and Mr. Chen Feng in our Xiao Xi Town-"

Hearing this, the crowd matched the applause and walked away with a few well wishes.

Just then, the director's words changed on the radio, "But - unfortunately - there is no way for Mr Chen Feng to complete the church decoration because he doesn't have enough money, so we hope that the teachers of the programme can help them out. So from now on, please group your teachers by room and receive different tasks to help our Mr Chen Feng get married smoothly!"

...... makes it sound like they're rich!

The show's old standby.

Sheng Mingzhi has been on a number of variety shows and you can guess with your toes what's coming next.

It's just a matter of the guests making their own money and then buying ribbons and balloons, or helping to contact the bride and groom's relatives in Little Creek to invite them to the wedding, etc.

However, Lu Jiayan is a first-time recording artist and, as far as Sheng Mingzhi knows, he is not used to watching variety shows.

After all, Lu Jiayan is a Qing dynasty artefact.jpg

Fearing that he might not understand, Sheng Mingzhi explains the programme in a whisper.

Lu Jiayan had to lean down slightly to hear Sheng Mingzhi's whispered words due to the half-head height difference between them.

The scene was spotted by the director's sharp eye.

Instantly, they had the four on them!

Isn't that height difference cute!

Director Cui has even figured out what to do in post!

Sheng Mingzhi said, "The poor and sour show definitely won't give us any money anyway, so I guess we'll have to earn our own money to buy things. I knew they didn't have good intentions, who wrote the script, why didn't they prepare a little money if they were getting married, this couple is too plastic-"

At this point in the tirade, Sheng Mingzhi seems to have realised something.

Talking about plastic.

His "wedding of the century" with Lu Jiayan was the real deal, no plastic at all!

The marriage between Sheng and Lu must be a splendid and extravagant affair on the surface.

Only Sheng Mingzhi, who had been to the wedding, knew that Lu Jiayan didn't even show up on the day of the suit fitting!

Lu Jiayan's face looks unnatural for a moment, as if he is thinking of Sheng Mingzhi.

At that time, Sheng Jia was struggling with Lu Xiao, and was unable to take care of herself, so the wedding was a bit perfunctory.

Now I think about it and regret it.

Sheng Mingzhi has only worn a white suit once in his life.

He didn't even look twice before he rushed through the wedding process.

So much so that when I look back on it now, I'm surprised nothing good remains.

It would be a lie to say that it is not a pity.

There was a sudden silence between the two men for a few moments.

Luckily, by this time, the group games for the show had already started.

The routine was the same as yesterday, with the task of helping Chen Feng with her wedding divided into four groups.

One group was to purchase ribbons and balloons, and wedding candy, and one group was to go to Little Creek to invite the bride and groom's relatives.

Transportation is also determined by game points.

The highest one can have a luxury car sponsored by xx brand, a luxury car allocated by the programme team.

The rest of the transport consists of a lady's bicycle "with a basket of vegetables but always with a broken chain" and two "hard-working legs".

At the end of the game, Lu Jiayan came first, unsurprisingly.

Little Strawberry exclaims that there is no gaming experience! Next time I can't play with Lu Jiayan, the school bully!

Lu Jiayan was drawn for the task of going to Little Creek to invite the bride and groom's relatives.

Sheng Mingzhi is quite happy that he doesn't have to think about how to make money for this task.

But what he actually didn't know was that the directing team had deliberately allowed them to draw this task.

Otherwise, if Lu Jiayan is left to buy ribbons and balloons by way of earning money, the show is afraid that the boss will turn the game experience into zero with his own power!

How badly do they want a big boss who has single-handedly built a business empire to make money!

It's not for the pros to enter! Thank you and please ask the judges to return to the judges' table.

I'm afraid Lu Jiayan will buy Little Creek the next minute!

Of course, when it aired later on, the pop-ups were sad not to see Lu Jiayan go for the money.

I can't believe the crew didn't screw up! Should have just let a pro like the boss compete for goodness sake!

Inviting the bride and groom's relatives is still relatively straightforward.

Lu Jiayan and Sheng Mingzhi, purely brushing their faces, soon invited 80 per cent of their relatives according to the list of relatives given by the programme team.

When we reached the last group of old grandmothers, they were deaf and spoke only in dialect.

Sheng Mingzhi tried to communicate with her a dozen times, all to no avail.

He pointed to the wedding invitation: "It's for your grandson Chen Feng's wedding -"

Grandma: "Attending your wedding wow-"

Sheng Mingzhi covers his face: "No, it's your grandson's wedding."

Grandma: "Eat the wedding candy wow-"

He also slipped a handful of sweets to Sheng Mingzhi.

The camera man almost jerked with laughter, but had to fight to hold it in.

The grandmother insisted that Sheng Mingzhi was the one holding the wedding, and when she saw Lu Jiayan, she took him by the hand and put him in Sheng Mingzhi's hand: "When are you getting married?"

Sheng Mingzhi tried to explain, "Grandma, it's not that we got married-"

Lu Jiayan, however, interrupted him.

When communicating with his elders, he and Sheng Mingzhi both tacitly half-crouch down and communicate with each other on a very equal footing.

"It's us getting married." Lu Jiayan's voice was gentle: "Just at five in the afternoon."

Sheng Mingzhi froze for a moment.

Grandma said, "It's good to get married, you have to live a good life afterwards, you don't bully him."

Lu Jiayan assured, "I won't bully him."

Grandma didn't know who she was thinking of and her eyes got wet: "That's good, you're like him and he doesn't bully me. He just loves to cheat and won't take me with him."

The programme team got a special car to take Grandma to church.

Sheng Mingzhi looks at it for a long time before withdrawing his gaze.

Her husband was in the army and left early. After his death, his brothers kept it a secret from her, so after all these years, Mr. Tai doesn't remember anything but her husband. "

Sheng Mingzhi didn't say much on the way there.

Where the camera doesn't pick up, Lu Jiayan notices his mood and asks him in a low voice, "What's wrong?"

Sheng Mingzhi looked at him for a moment before wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her face in his arms.

It really does look a bit sad.

Lu Jiayan laughed, "Who has upset our little Mr. Sheng?"

Sheng Mingzhi said in a muffled voice, "You."

"I'm a bit wronged." Lu Jiayan looked down at him, his peach blossom eyes hiding a smile.

Sheng Mingzhi seemed to be quite serious, lifting her head from his arms and looking up at him, the ends of her eyes reddening: "It just occurred to me, what if you die before me in the future too?"

Anxiety in style.

Lu Jiayan would have laughed out loud at Sheng Mingzhi's adorable concern if he hadn't looked so serious in his sadness.

But if he really laughed out loud, then his little workhorse would be really angry.

But even though Lu Jiayan is not smiling, his peachy eyes reveal his emotions.

Sheng Mingzhi pursed his lips and said, "What's so funny."

He was fierce and a little sad: "I just think that you would have been so old already."

Little Mr. Sheng was really upset just now!

Especially when he saw Chen Feng's grandmother sitting alone in the doorway, the great panic of losing a loved one overwhelmed him in an instant.

Sheng Mingzhi, a man with an inherently sensitive personality.

How else could it have been made so seamlessly?

Lu Jiayan said in all seriousness, "It's not so old that you'll die soon."

He paused and thought of an ineffective remedy, "So I'll take more care of it in the future?"

Sheng Mingzhi's eyes were red: "You can't die before me anyway, and if you dare to leave me alone you're dead."

Having said that, I felt wrong again.

By that time, Lu Jiayan was already dead, and it seemed useless to threaten him with "death".

Sheng Mingzhi began to repeat the same questions he had been anxious about since he was fourteen.

Why can't he be as old as Lu Jiayan? He used to look forward to growing up and catching up with him, but now he looks forward to growing old and becoming an old man with him.

Lu Jiayan was a little giddy with cuteness and her heart softened to a frazzle.

With a small sigh, Rua gave Sheng Mingzhi's head a hand and coaxed him, "Don't worry, I won't let little Mr. Sheng be alone for sure."

Sheng Mingzhi: "I'm not alone, I have a big house and a sports car."

It's certainly not like Grandma Chen Feng to keep a dilapidated old mansion anyway.

But on second thought, the villas and sports cars he was so keen on were no more important to him than Lu Jiayan.

With him, living in this dilapidated old house was something he was happy to do.

It took a long time to cheer Sheng Mingzhi up.

Lu Jiayan, who could not break his habit of talking too much, curled his lips and said, "Actually, I think it would be good to die early."

Sheng Mingzhi gave him a fox-eyed glare, full of menace.

Lu Jiayan said slowly, "Then I will always be this handsome in little Mr. Sheng's mind."

Sheng Mingzhi: "......"

Lu Jiayan sighed self-pityingly, "Or else I'll become a wrinkled old man, and little Mr. Sheng won't want to go with me."

The camera brother recorded the video and was amused by the boss's remark.

He thought to himself that even if his boss was old, he would still be a handsome old man!

The camera is silent for a few seconds.

Just when everyone thought the subject had passed, Sheng Mingzhi suddenly spoke up.

"No." He pursed his lips and turned his head to look at Lu Jiayan, his gaze firm and moving, and said seriously, "I still want to go with you."

He thought to himself that even if Lu Jiayan's hair had gone grey, he would be too old to walk.

He will still go with him without hesitation as long as he is still willing to take him with him-

By 5pm, all four groups of guests had rushed to complete their tasks on time.

It was a great sense of achievement to see the wedding chapel being set up bit by bit.

The wedding finally went off without a hitch at five o'clock, surprisingly timed to coincide with the sunset on the beach.

The crew of All Those Years is a particularly good at getting a sense of atmosphere in a variety show.

Presumably the choice of a church by the sea for the wedding and the timing of the ceremony were all secretly pinched.

The sun sinks in the west, tinting the deep blue waters with a haze of light.

This magnificent scene deeply shocked the entire programme.

Sheng Mingzhi couldn't remember how long it had been since he had seen such a view, and he never imagined that the sea outside YunJing could be so beautiful.

More importantly, of course, is the fact that the person who wants to be the first to share such a beautiful sight with their own eyes is right next to them.

Sheng Mingzhi's mood was infected with some excitement, and he turned his head to realise that Lu Jiayan was not watching the sunset, but him.

When their eyes met, Sheng Mingzhi froze and asked, "What are you looking at me for?"

You don't see this kind of sunset on the beach more than once in a lifetime!

The few times that Lu Jiayan did get off were particularly precious, especially as he was so busy that he didn't take many holidays throughout the year.

Sheng Mingzhi muttered, "Sunsets are short-lived, so if you don't catch a few, they'll be gone in a few moments."

But little Mr. Sheng had secretly taken a picture just now! So even if Lu Jiayan doesn't look at it now, he can still send it to him.

Lu Jiayan averted his eyes and curled his lips, "I just thought there was something better than a sunset, so I'm already catching a few more glimpses."

What he meant was.

A better looking being than a sunset, is it yourself?

Rely on.

Older men are still, oddly enough, good at talking.

It took a second for Sheng Mingzhi to realise that Lu Jiayan was teasing him.

This sudden love story caught Sheng Mingzhi off guard.

Even the camera brother was titillated.

Anyone who says the boss is all business and no love in the future will be in trouble with him!

"Oh." Sheng Mingzhi touched his face, hot as hell.

Lu Jiayan smiled, "Is there nothing you want to say, little Mr. Sheng?"

"No." Sheng Mingzhi justified, "You make a good point, and I don't think I can refute it."

After all, little Mr. Sheng does look better than sunset!

As the wedding march was played, the wedding ceremony on the beach began in earnest.

The eyes of the crew and guests were drawn to the couple and even Sheng Mingzhi gave a hint of envy.

Although he is now super happy.

But when I think of that plastic business union three years ago, the regret in my heart is still hard to put to rest.

As he watched, Sheng Mingzhi suddenly felt a lightness in his right hand, which was held by someone.

He was stunned when Lu Jiayan - who had somehow managed to get a straw ring from somewhere - childishly slipped it into Sheng Mingzhi's ring finger when the priest said, "Please exchange the rings between the bride and groom" not far away.

Securely snared.

Sheng Mingzhi's eyes watered and she stiffened: "Who wants a straw ring like yours, without even a diamond?"

It was cheaper than the rings they exchanged when they got married.

But Sheng Mingzhi inexplicably likes this straw bargain.

Baby's touched it several times.

Lu Jiayan said softly, "The materials on site were limited, so this was all that was available, although there were no diamonds-"

The scene is beautiful on camera.

Seaside, sunset, lovers telling each other their love, just a vow away.

The camera faithfully records everything.

As Lu Jiayan spoke the words, the cameraman and the director's crew held their breath in anticipation of his words of love at the same time.

Even Sheng Mingzhi's breath froze for a moment.

Lu Jiayan says slowly: "But it's better for the environment."

......

......

There was a dead silence.

It seemed to sense the silence of the crowd.

Lu Jiayan, unaware, spoke, "What's wrong?"

What's going on?

Sheng Mingzhi is so angry he's punching the air!

Is this old man's lovemaking skills not quite up to snuff?

He had waited for a long time thinking the dog man was going to say something heartfelt, but this was it?

What does he need an eco-friendly ring for, please?

Apply for the 2025 Global Ambassador for the Environment in China?

The director was so sad that he punched the table!

Boss, we don't want this kind of variety show effect! Why don't you give some candy to the cp fans?

Simply hilarious and exasperating.

Sheng Mingzhi was all but pissed off at him.

"Mmm!" He sneered, "Pretty good, green is very eco-friendly and suitable for your hat."

Lu Jiayan: "......?"

There is no need to do so.

As night fell, the first firework stick prepared by the programme team was lit.

Sheng Mingzhi hadn't played with this since he was ten years old, so when he got it in his hands, he quickly forgot about the unpleasantness he had just experienced and lit four or five of them and shook them hard.

The faint light of the firework stick reflects the smiling face of Sheng Mingzhi.

The camera looks good and almost a little thrilling.

When Sheng Mingzhi is making a scene, Lu Jiayan stands quietly watching him with a smile on his face.

The world reflected in those peach blossom eyes seemed to be his alone.

Lu Jiayan had never feared any gods, but at this moment he pleaded with great devotion, begging for this life to pass a little slower, a little more slowly, so that his destiny with Sheng Mingzhi would last a little longer.

Pleading for an afterlife that exists only in legend, they can still meet in a sea of people.

I don't know who started it, but one by one people began to make wishes towards the sea.

"- I hope our show will be a big hit!"

"-Please let me make a fortune this year!"

"- I've worked hard this year and I'm going for it next year!"

As if infected by this inexplicable atmosphere.

Sheng Mingzhi turned his head to look at Lu Jiayan: "Don't you make a wish?"

Lu Jiayan deliberately said, "Just let Sheng Jia earn 100 billion this year?"

"Oh." Seeing that his wish had nothing to do with him, Sheng Mingzhi got a little angry and he said angrily, "Then I'll wish to be the Purple Star of 2026!"

--I can't believe I haven't given up on this!

Sheng Mingzhi suddenly took a few steps forward and the seawater wet his shoes and socks.

He held up the firework stick and faced the endless sea: "I wish-"

But it was a completely different wish than the one uttered in anger: " Lu Jiayan will always - most like most like me -"

Lu Jiayan's heart was clenched almost simultaneously and his heart was beating too fast for words.

After shouting, he was probably a little embarrassed.

Sheng Mingzhi did not turn his head, only his slightly reddened ears could be seen.

It took a long time before he looked at Lu Jiayan.

But I didn't expect to fall into a hot embrace just as I turned my head.

Sheng Mingzhi feels so tightly held that he can hardly breathe.

He hurriedly raised his firework stick in fear of burning Lu Jiayan.

Was about to say something.

Lu Jiayan was heard to reply with a sigh, "That wish, long ago, has been granted."