"Jiang Hua, come back soon, okay?"
At the airport entrance, Jiang Hua was seeing Chen Lijun and the others off.
After two days of wild fun, everyone was preparing to go home.
The only regret was that Yunxiao had left early.
Chen Lijun kept looking back, her big eyes blinking, seeming a bit moist.
Jiang Hua stood in place, waving at her.
This scene was just like two mornings ago, when Jiang Hua had also waved goodbye to a girl.
But that girl hadn't looked back.
Jiang Hua only lowered his hand after Chen Lijun had passed through security.
He took out his phone and sent a message to Yunxiao.
"Li Yunxiao, Chen Lijun and the others are on the plane. They should be home by afternoon. Take care of yourself too. In the coming year, I might be very, very busy. I hope each of you will be well."
Jiang Hua sat in the waiting hall, watching the plane to Zhejiang Province slowly ascend.
He sighed.
The road ahead he had to walk alone. The path to becoming a superstar wouldn't be smooth sailing.
Why become a superstar? Because he had people he wanted to protect.
He didn't want them to bear too many burdens, he just hoped they could be happy and do what they wanted.
He wanted to be their umbrella.
Becoming a superstar and promoting Yue Opera would be a piece of cake then.
Opening the photos on his phone, Jiang Hua smiled slightly.
"Let's go, time to go home."
...
On the plane, Chen Lijun quietly looked out the window. Beside her, Qingqing and Xiaoyuanzi were talking softly.
"Xiaoyuanzi, look, this photo is so beautiful."
Xiaoyuanzi leaned over to look at Jun Jun's phone together, giving her opinion.
"Oh, they're simply a golden boy and jade girl. Quick, send it to me, I want to save it."
This interrupted Chen Lijun's contemplation. She also leaned over to see what photo they were looking at.
It turned out to be a photo of Chen Lijun and Qingqing together.
"Haha, gotcha!"
Chen Lijun looked helpless. What golden boy and jade girl? It was just two girls.
"Alright, keep it down. Don't disturb others. I'm going to sleep too."
She took out the earphones Jiang Hua had given her from her small bag, turned on some music, and slowly closed her eyes.
She had a long dream.
In the dream, Li Yunxiao was waving to her. She ran quickly towards her,
But no matter how fast she ran, the distance between her and Yunxiao kept growing.
Then she heard Jiang Hua shouting: "Jun Jun, chase quickly! Yunxiao is leaving us."
"No, it can't be. How could Yunxiao leave?"
Then she finally caught up with Yunxiao, but when she looked back, Jiang Hua's figure was receding into the distance, until it disappeared on the horizon.
She woke up with a start.
She quickly patted her chest, then looked around at the people nearby. Most were still sleeping.
No one had noticed her. She breathed a sigh of relief.
Xiaoyuanzi and the others were sleeping too.
She opened her phone and flipped through her photo album to the picture of her and Jiang Hua in the park.
They were smiling so happily, but why was there a hint of melancholy in Jiang Hua's eyes?
She couldn't figure it out.
She quickly opened WeChat.
This was first class, and the phone was connected to WiFi, so there was a signal.
She found a message from Jiang Hua.
"Jun Jun, take care of yourself. Don't spend all your time in the practice room. Pay attention to your health."
What did this mean? Was Jiang Hua not coming back to Xiao Baihua?
Had her dream come true?
Jiang Hua had still taken this step. To be honest, Chen Lijun had a premonition at the concert.
If Jiang Hua stayed with Xiao Baihua, he could only work behind the scenes, never having a chance to go on stage.
But that day, he had really enjoyed that stage. Chen Lijun could relate to that enjoyment.
If she were asked to leave the Yue Opera stage, she would surely go crazy.
Maybe this was why Jiang Hua's eyes looked melancholy.
The dream felt too real.
Thinking of this, she quickly sent a message to Jiang Hua.
But she didn't get a reply for a long time. Even after getting off the plane, there was still no response from Jiang Hua.
She got on the bus home, hesitated for a long time, and finally called Yunxiao.
"Hello, Yunxiao, I've discovered something huge. Jiang Hua is probably going to leave Xiao Baihua."
A clear, pleasant voice came from the other end.
"Silly, how could he bear to leave? Don't worry, Jiang Hua just has his own plans. He might come back a bit later. Just relax, Jun Jun. Happy New Year."
"Happy New Year. But I just had a dream. I dreamed you were very far from me, I couldn't catch up to you. Then Jiang Hua cheered me on, I caught up to you, but Jiang Hua disappeared on the horizon."
On the other end of the phone, Li Yunxiao was silent for a long time, then said:
"It's okay. Jiang Hua won't disappear. None of us will disappear, you little fool."
Chen Lijun nodded.
"Mm, we'll be together forever, rehearsing together, promoting Yue Opera together, watching the sunset together, go-karting together. Oh right, Jiang Hua likes racing cars. Let's buy him a model. Real racing cars are too expensive, I can't afford it."
"Haha," Li Yunxiao laughed joyfully on the other end of the phone. This little fool was really cute. No wonder everyone couldn't bear to hurt her.
"Alright, count my share in too. I've got to go now."
"Okay, you hang up first."
Chen Lijun smiled. With Yunxiao's promise, they could still be like before, staying up all night to rehearse for a new play.
On this end, Li Yunxiao hung up the phone, thought for a moment, then called Jiang Hua.
"Jiang Hua, did you say something to Jun Jun? She just called me."
Jiang Hua looked confused.
"I didn't say much. I just told her to take care of herself and pay attention to her health."
"Oh right, I might come back a bit later. I'm flying abroad first. The tickets are already booked."
"What kind of talk is that? No wonder she's overthinking. Send me your flight information. Let me tell you, don't bully her. Come back soon. Don't say careless things. Bye."
She hung up without giving Jiang Hua time to respond.
It was so abrupt. Jiang Hua was completely baffled.
A little while later, Chen Lijun also called.
Did these two plan this?
"Hello Jiang Hua, I'm on the bus now, heading straight home."
"Mm, okay. Be safe. Happy New Year."
"Okay, you too. Happy New Year. I've prepared a New Year's gift for you."
Jiang Hua smiled slightly. How nice!
"What did you prepare? Can you give me a hint?"
"No, I'll tell you when you come back. I've got to go, my mom's calling."
She also hung up.
Jiang Hua silently opened his flight information and took a screenshot to send to Li Yunxiao.
Inside, his mom was calling him again.
"Jiang Hua, what are you doing? Xiao Han is here and you're not even talking to her. Come quickly."
"Okay, coming. I was just dealing with some work issues."
He said as he turned off his phone and picked up a plate of fruit to take to the living room.
Xiao Han was obediently helping Jiang's mom cook.
"Jiang Hua, Happy New Year."
...