Mint Candy (III) After being shortlisted for the Lion City Film Festival, Jin Jingyao's new film entered the promotional phase in an orderly manner. The film soon released its first teaser trailer. In the trailer, the female lead played by Li Ling is dancing alone in a dimly lit bathroom. The bathroom is cramped, with shimmering dark light reflecting off the tiles, creating peculiar, decayed flower-like shapes. She dances modern dance, her movements natural and lively. There is no set pattern, no constraints, repeatedly leaping past the dirty mirror, flowers blooming under her feet, breaking free from the gravity of the vines. Mist fills the air. The piano music becomes urgent, like continuous monsoon rain. The camera lingers on her skirt, sometimes capturing her white ankles, sometimes a cold metal prosthetic. The music weakens. Abrupt silence. Driven by some premonition, the female lead stops, curiously and cautiously pulling open the wrinkled plastic shower curtain. With a swish, another strange, mummy-like shadow appears in the darkness. The adult male figure is tall, his huge shadow pressing down on the female lead. He looks like a monster crawling out of a swamp, his entire body wrapped in dirty white cloth, his features indistinguishable. The piano music flows back in. The melody becomes strange, sharp, and rhythmic. Like a howling gale, tearing through the chaotic, overcast sky. The female lead turns around and continues dancing on her own. The shadowy adult male follows her closely. They begin a ghostly duet. The eyes within the white cloth, almost fanatical, are fixed on her. He seems to be imitating her, following her every step, but clumsily, twisting his joints and limbs into unnatural positions. Clearly dancing two unrelated dances, yet in the intense piano music, they achieve a heartbeat-like resonance. One beautiful, one ugly, like black and white, life and death, like light and shadow inside and outside the mirror. The more harmonious, the more eerie. She tries to touch, but he evades. She turns to leave, but he follows closely. The closer they get, the less they can connect. The white cloth falls layer by layer, like torn skin. The camera focuses on their bare feet, stepping on the flickering tiles, like chaotic ripples in the rain. In the mirror's reflection, the female lead finally unveils the shadow's white cloth, reaching out to touch his pale lips. The shadow falls into the darkness. As if by some indescribable gravity, they both fall back, crashing into the colorful rainy night, the inverted mirror, the dazzling neon lights. The music stops. The kaleidoscopic scene suddenly plunges into darkness, revealing the first character of the film's title: "Dream." The screen lights up again. In a thunderstorm, a young man stands alone in front of the bathroom mirror. No music, only the urgent rain and thunder. Clearly the same bathroom, but now chaotic and filthy. The mirror is cracked, the faucet covered in years of limescale. The plastic curtain is torn down, draped over the bathtub like a corpse. The young man faces the mirror, expressionless, slowly unwrapping the white cloth from his face, revealing a somber, thin, and handsome face. Lightning flashes, white light bursts forth. The mirror reflects Li Ling dancing gracefully. The light disappears, darkness returns, and only he remains in the mirror. Amid the continuous thunder, the dark screen reveals the second character. "Addiction." - Luo Mingqing was in New York shooting an advertisement for a brand. Standing in Times Square, on the electronic screens all around, he looked up and saw the first teaser trailer for "Dream Addiction." A crowd had gathered around, all stopping in their tracks to look up at the big screen. To be fair, Li Ling's dance moves couldn't compare to those of a professional dancer, but the camera knew how to capture her, how to magnify her beauty to the fullest. He remembered when she was young and learning ballet, how he would often sneak peeks. That was the first time he had a concept of "beauty," knowing he had a very beautiful sister. But once upon a time, he was the only one who had seen her dance. And now, she could dance for the whole world to see, and the whole world would look up to her. But he no longer had the right to stand by her side. "Mr. Luo, aren't you leaving?" a staff member came over to ask. Luo Mingqing pressed down the brim of his hat and said softly, "I'll leave soon." The staff member followed his gaze and looked up. "Wow, this trailer is really good. I heard the director shot it himself." "Yes, I watched it several times yesterday too." "I heard the lead actress had a really tough time before. I saw her on Douyin several times. She's finally made it..." "Is she dating the director? Is that true?" another person asked gossipingly. The other person lowered their voice, "It's true, absolutely. My friend is in that crew..." Luo Mingqing's face suddenly darkened, interrupting them, "Which friend?" The staff members looked at him in surprise. The person next to them nudged them, and they immediately apologized with a smile, "I-I misspoke." "It's just a movie, nothing else," Luo Mingqing said with a very unpleasant expression, warning them, "Spreading rumors can have legal consequences." The staff members nodded repeatedly, apologizing profusely before leaving. But not long after, he heard them discussing disdainfully behind his back: "Why was Luo Mingqing so angry just now?" "Rumor has it, he also acted in 'Dream Addiction.'" "What? Why isn't the production promoting it at all?" "Jin Jingyao probably doesn't think much of him." "Tsk, then why is he acting so high and mighty here?" "Clown." Luo Mingqing's fists clenched, his knuckles turning white, his face growing darker, almost ready to confront them. Just then, he heard a girl shout in Chinese, "Oh my god! My OTP!" He turned to see a young international student, looking excitedly at the screen, "This is the movie I'm most looking forward to this year!" "Who is that? I don't recognize her," her classmate said. The girl became even more excited, "Don't worry, you'll know her soon!" With that, she began to tell her friends the story of Li Ling and the director. The story was long, always starting with "Yesterday's Sun." Luo Mingqing stood there in a daze, listening to the entire story from beginning to end. A dense pain, like needles, pierced his body. He recalled what he had just said to those staff members—'Spreading rumors can have legal consequences'? "Heh." Luo Mingqing let out a low laugh. How did he have the right to say such things? Expressionless, he turned around and kicked over a trash can by the roadside. A foul-smelling homeless man walked towards him. Without a word, Luo Mingqing punched him several times, then pulled out a few bills and threw them in the man's face. Under the curious gazes of onlookers, he pressed down the brim of his hat, turned around, and left Times Square. And on him, the night began to fall. In the trailer for "Dream Addiction," Li Ling's dancing figure remained the most captivating neon in the dim sky. - In the evening, Luo Mingqing canceled his dinner with the brand representatives and randomly found a bar nearby to kill time. Several people approached him to strike up a conversation, but they were all scared off by his cold expression. Amid the noisy electronic music, he suddenly heard some faint sounds. It sounded like his sister's voice. Luo Mingqing walked over and asked the woman in the booth in a very stiff tone, "What are you watching?" The woman was startled, but as soon as she saw his face, her surprise turned into delight and flattery. She proactively handed over her phone screen, showing him the video on it. It was a behind-the-scenes clip from the trailer of "Dream Addiction." Luo Mingqing looked at the screen and let out a low, sickly laugh. He laughed at himself for being so pathetic; he didn't want to watch, yet he couldn't help but look. Now he couldn't escape Li Ling. He had already flown to the United States, but she was everywhere. She had really become famous. In the behind-the-scenes footage, Li Ling was completely different from her serious demeanor in the trailer, smiling brightly in front of the camera. She introduced to the audience that because the director wanted to keep the main film a secret, the trailer and the main film were unrelated, and the trailer content was newly shot. At that moment, she was rehearsing with a professional male dancer, and it was clear that the training was intense, with both of them sweating profusely. After a while, a bottle of mineral water suddenly appeared in the corner of the screen, and Li Ling took it, finding that the cap was already unscrewed. As she drank the water, she praised the person for being "so considerate." The camera panned slightly to the side, revealing Jin Jingyao's profile. He was holding a towel and asked her, "Are you tired?" Li Ling shook her head and said she wasn't tired. He then said, "Don't push yourself," "If you can't do it, we can shoot tomorrow." As he spoke, he naturally helped her wipe the sweat from her forehead. The comments flashed across the screen: "Whoa" "Fun fact: Director Jin always asks others if they're tired and if they can do another take." "Why the double standard?" "How much does it cost to hire such a handsome assistant.jpg" The space in the bathroom was small, making it hard to move around. Li Ling accidentally got the moves wrong and almost fell. Her partner didn't react as quickly, but the director immediately caught her in his arms. He held her waist with one hand, the movement incredibly natural. Their eyes met, and after a few seconds, they separated somewhat awkwardly. "Does it hurt?" Jin Jingyao asked softly. Li Ling said, "It's fine, thank you, Director." "Be careful next time." "Got it." For some reason, even though Li Ling and the director spoke formally, it always felt like they were pretending not to be familiar with each other. Maybe it was because their body language and gazes were too intertwined, always hard to separate. In the mirror, their reflected gazes trembled, like ripples spreading on a water surface stirred by a gentle breeze. The male dancer stood awkwardly to the side, trying hard to minimize his presence. Comments: "Who gets it, the behind-the-scenes is better than the main film." "Male dancer: I should be under the car.jpg" After rehearsing for a while longer, Jin Jingyao intervened very meticulously between the two, correcting the male dancer's gaze and facial expressions. To demonstrate, he occasionally turned to look at Li Ling. Li Ling always accurately caught his gaze, her lips curling into a smile. At first, Jin Jingyao was quite reserved, trying hard to keep a straight face. Later, he gave up, and when Li Ling smiled at him, he smiled back. The two of them would inexplicably start laughing while discussing the scene. The bathroom turned into a giant bubblegum, with a sweet, sticky scent filling the air. Bullet comments: "I don't quite understand, asking for my grandma, is this the normal atmosphere between a director and the female lead?" "Stop laughing!! Get to work!!!" "So sweet." The woman watching the video said with a smile. But Luo Mingqing's face had already turned frighteningly dark as he watched. He felt disgusted, as if he had eaten some expired rotten food, his entire stomach cramping. He angrily turned off the video. "What are you doing? I haven't finished watching it!" The woman beside him complained, snatching the phone back. She smiled with an aunt-like expression: "So sweet, there must be something between them." "Don't talk nonsense." Luo Mingqing shot her a cold glance. The woman giggled: "Believe it or not, it's a woman's intuition." Luo Mingqing's face grew even darker: "Get lost, who allowed you to call yourself 'sister'." He had only one sister. "Handsome guy, are you also Chinese? Why are you drinking alone here?" The woman didn't recognize him as a big star and tried to continue chatting with him, but he waved her away like shooing a fly. Luo Mingqing sat in the booth, head down, drinking one glass after another. The strong liquor went down his throat like knives, burning his insides from within. He had only one sister. But his sister had been taken away. He tried hard to push those images away, but the content of the behind-the-scenes footage kept invading his mind like some kind of cancer cells. "Are you together now, sister?" he asked painfully in a low voice. The video must have been shot recently. He could tell that the atmosphere between the two of them was completely different from when they were on set. The veil had been lifted. They were so sweet together. His sister had never smiled at him like that, but she kept smiling at Jin Jingyao. Why? Could he make her happy? Luo Mingqing didn't notice when another woman appeared in front of him. She looked at him curiously, leaning slightly towards him. In his dazed vision, she turned into the person he most wanted to see. Luo Mingqing held her hand, pulled her into his arms, and asked in a low voice: "Sister, why..." "Is he good to you? Why did you choose him?" "He won't understand you. Someone like him, a rich young master, is not from our world. How could he truly understand you?" Suddenly thinking of something, he drunkenly stood up, pulling the woman in his arms up as well: "I can dance too! Come, I'll dance with you!" He was too drunk, so drunk that he couldn't see her fair skin and blonde hair clearly, couldn't hear the gibberish English she was speaking. He wanted to dance with her, wanted to be her shadow. The more she struggled, the more he pulled her into his arms, entangling her with his limbs. Suddenly, his lips brushed against the woman's cheek. Through the thick white powder, that unusually soft touch still made Luo Mingqing shiver all over— He kissed her. The next second, he was punched to the ground. His vision spun, he couldn't open his eyes, dazed, tasting the blood in his mouth. A tall white man grabbed his collar: "You dare touch my girlfriend?" - Half an hour later, in the back alley of the bar street, Luo Mingqing was thrown out like a pile of mud. With a "thud," dirty muddy water splashed onto him. The light was dim, but it was faintly visible that his face was already swollen from the beating. He didn't bring an assistant and took a lot of hits. This was New York; no one cared if he was a big star or not. A few white men kicked him a few more times, threw a few harsh words, and then left satisfied. Luo Mingqing lay on the ground for a long time without any reaction, as if he were dead. After a while, a heavy figure, like a polar bear, walked up to him. The shadow completely covered him. The light from the sign flickered, revealing the other person's face. His hair was messy, and he was so thin that he looked like skin and bones, draped in several tattered coats. It was the homeless man from the afternoon. The man bent down, his foul breath spraying onto Luo Mingqing's face. He grinned maliciously, cursing him as a little bastard, revealing a mouthful of rotten yellow teeth. The homeless man reached out with his dirty hands, rummaging through Luo Mingqing's belongings, taking his wallet and jewelry. Suddenly, Luo Mingqing convulsed like a fish out of water, trembling all over and struggling desperately, shouting loudly, "Don't touch me! Don't touch me!" The homeless man didn't understand Chinese, but he was startled by such a violent reaction. He cursed "lunatic," didn't bother with the phone, and ran off with the wallet. Luo Mingqing lost his strength, collapsing into the muddy water in pieces. It hurt. It hurt so much. So much pain. So disgusting. Struggling in the sewage, half-dead, after a long time, a strange smile appeared on Luo Mingqing's face, and he murmured: "Is he good? No, right? We are the ones from the same world. Only I know your past. We both crawled out of that filthy pit. I understand you..." The music, revelry, and screams from the bar faintly drifted out. At the end of his vision was a dark, deserted alley. He saw many hallucinations. He saw his childhood, scenes flipping like a horror comic in front of him. The only luck was that he met Li Ling. But he couldn't understand, couldn't figure out how he and his sister had come to this point step by step. Luo Mingqing stood up, struggling to walk out, walking for a long, long time, asking everyone he met on the street, "How do I get to Times Square?" Most people looked at him with strange, disgusted eyes, only a few kind-hearted people gave him directions. He finally reached Times Square. But he was no longer as glamorous as in the afternoon, instead covered in mud, causing passersby to avoid him from a distance. He lifted his head foolishly. On the big screen, a group of young, beautiful Korean girl groups were dancing. "Dream Addiction" had already ended. He had missed her again. Luo Mingqing lowered his head in despair, letting out a self-mocking laugh. He took out the phone clutched in his hand, using his last bit of hope to dial that familiar number. After waiting for a long time, it actually connected. Full of hope, he choked out, "Sister." His sister was willing to take his call—did this mean he still had hope? He had so much he wanted to say to her. He wanted to tell her everything that weighed on his heart. There was a pause on the other end of the line, then Jin Jingyao calmly said, "She's in the shower.""