CH 73

Everyone has untold stories they are unwilling to share. Wen Li respects Song Yan's choice to keep things hidden from her.

Who doesn't have a few secrets in their lifetime?

The age of eighteen is precious and sensitive for both boys and girls. Song Yan couldn't have been mature and understanding from birth. He must have experienced something that contributed to his growth and maturity.

Therefore, Wen Li didn't ask. She could find out on her own if she wanted to. If it was truly embarrassing for him, she would pretend not to know. The past is in the past, and he doesn't want bring it up, so she won't ask anymore.

If those memories weren't embarrassing, she would tell him clearly that she didn't feel embarrassed at all. She would encourage him to face them bravely because they were his most beautiful memories.

Wen Li, who had made up her mind, felt like she had finally learned how to cherish someone and discovered that loving someone brings more happiness than being loved.

However, this time, she won't act like before, hesitating and saying it's just a casual favor. She would tell Song Yan that she was being so good to him because she liked him. So he should understand how good she was to him, whether he cared or not. In any case, she would be happy as long as she was good to him.

Song Yan fell asleep.

She knew that Song Yan had a habit of secretly kissing her forehead when she fell asleep. She discovered it one time when she pretended to be asleep. But she didn't expose Song Yan because she was afraid he would stop kissing her.

Wen Li moved her lips to his forehead and gently kissed him.

In his sleep, Song Yan habitually embraced her and adjusted his breathing, sleeping even deeper.

——

The location for the outdoor recording of the eighth episode of [In This World With You] was leaked several days ago.

Entertainment Brother:「The eighth episode of 'In This World With You,' script theme: memories. Three-day-two-night recording, revisiting alma maters. Recording locations for the couples:

Song Yan, Wen Li: Yingde International Experimental School

Qiu Hong, Chen Zitong: Yandu High School, Mingfeng Arts High School

Ding Lebo, Xu Jia: Yucheng No. 2 High School

Yan Jun, Qi Sihan: Linyang Teachers High School Attached Middle School」

「They're coming to our wealthy and prosperous Dayulin!!」

「Mingfeng! Zitong is indeed a rich girl, Hong Ge is really dating a wealthy woman, hahaha.」

「Gosh, Salt Grain is actually from Yingde! Sob, sob, are Salt Grain couple also a rich second-generation?!!」

This leak was reposted on the forum and discussions about the new episode's outdoor recording immediately flooded in. The education background of celebrities in the industry has always been a topic of great interest to the masses. This so-called alma mater revisiting segment could deter many celebrities who were unwilling to reveal their humble educational backgrounds.

Fortunately, except for Qi Sihan, who comes from an idol background and entered the entertainment industry at a young age, the other seven guests on [In This World With You] are all university graduates with decent undergraduate degrees, so there's no room for ridicule.

「Why did only Qiu Hong's couple go to two different high schools? The other three couple are all alumni?」

「Just check their celebrity profiles. It seems like Wen Li and Ding Lebo both attended high school abroad. Qi Sihan went overseas as a trainee at the age of fourteen, so these three couples only need to visit one school.」

It's not about the budget; it's mainly due to the complicated procedures for going abroad. The script for [In This World With You] was constantly being updated, and until the executive director gave the green light a week before recording, no one knew what will be recorded in this episode. There was no time to prepare visas and do site visits and inspections in advance, let alone bringing the entire production crew along. Considering these factors, they had to give up on recording abroad.

「I thought Salt Grain couple and Chen Zitong were alumni. I got excited for nothing...」

「Mingfeng Arts High School and Yingde International are next to each other, right? The two schools often organize activities together. Do Song Yan and Chen Zitong know each other?」

「It's difficult to get into both private schools, right? It seems they even investigate the family background of students before admission = =」

「Hey, if your family can afford hundreds of thousands of tuition fees per year, it's not that difficult to get in.」

「They probably don't know each other. Chen Zitong is three years older than Song Yan, so she graduated just when Song Yan entered Yingde.」

Indeed, they didn't know each other. Even Wen Li, who attended the same school as Chen Zitong, didn't know that she was actually five years older, a senior to her.

The filming teams for Groups C and D had to travel to another province with the guests. Groups A and B had a relatively easier time as the recording location was local. Although Chen Zitong and Song Yan's schools were close by, they were scheduled to record at Yandu High School first today and then come over to join Wen Li and the others the next day.

As the vehicle of Team A was heading towards Yingde, Wen Li subconsciously looked out the window when they passed by the adjacent Mingfeng Art High School.

Chen Zitong also didn't know that Song Yan graduated from Yingde High School. Being busy with their work as artists, they rarely had time for anything else besides family and friends. They weren't particularly curious about other unfamiliar colleagues and they rarely searched about them online. After learning that Song Yan's high school was right next to hers, Chen Zitong sent a WeChat message to Wen Li expressing her regret.

Chen Zitong:「How come I happen to be three years older than your husband!! Why is it just like that?!」

Chen Zitong:「There were so few boys in our school. My roommate used to drag me to Yingde every day to look at handsome guys. Honestly, none of them caught my eye. If your husband had been there, my high school life wouldn't have been so boring!」

Chen Zitong:「Crying.jpg」

Mingfeng Art School consistently sends talents to several major art universities in China every year. Being a celebrity is a glamorous career and now there are plenty of rich kids in the entertainment industry. Most families are willing to support their children's dreams of entering the entertainment circle. Only the few men in Wen Li's family still have a mindset rooted in feudal society, thinking that being an artist means constantly being in the public eye and is not a respectable profession.

As a student of Mingfeng who often sneaked into the neighboring school during high school, Wen Li suddenly felt very lucky.

As the fortunate one, she sent a comforting emoji of patting Chen Zitong's head.

However, when Song Yan first transferred to Yingde, he wasn't very popular either. He was quiet and didn't like to talk. Although he was good-looking, he gave off a cold and distant vibe. It was only after becoming good friends with Bai Sen that girls gradually started approaching him.

But Song Yan still maintained his aloof attitude towards girls. The girls studying at Yingde were pampered young ladies who enjoyed reading novels and watching idol dramas. They were satisfied with the ice-cold type of male protagonists in fiction. In real life, they preferred good-looking boys with warm smiles who were easy to get along with, like Bai Sen.

So at that time, besides Bai Sen and a few other male friends, there was no one else around Song Yan.

Chen Zitong's current husband, Qiu Hong, is an enthusiastic and outgoing man. Wen Li thought that even if Chen Zitong had known Song Yan back then, she probably wouldn't have been interested in him at that time.

Thinking of this, Wen Li glanced at the man beside her.

He noticed her gaze, turned his head, and smiled lightly. His voice was gentle, "What's wrong?"

Her heart instantly raced and she quickly turned her head to look at the scenery outside the window.

Fortunately, Song Yan's personality wasn't likable back then. Otherwise, she wouldn't have had the opportunity to catch him.

When Wen Li wanted to enter the Mingfeng Art School after the high school entrance examination, it was her father and grandfather who fought for her. Otherwise, she would have been forced to study at Yingde with Bai Sen.

Private schools had always been wealthy and indulgent. The school uniforms in Yingde were divided into four seasons, with a maximum of sixteen pieces, including ties for boys and decorative necklaces for girls. The style of the uniforms had changed from ten years ago; they had been redesigned but the colors remained the same, the prominent bright yellow and deep gray of Yingde's school emblem.

After Song Yan changed into his school uniform, Wen Li blinked her eyes.

Why didn't she have any thoughts about him back then just because of his unlikable personality? The icy-type young man like Song Yan was also quite attractive!

During the summer vacation, students were not required to wear uniforms on campus. So when the two guests walked through the crowd wearing their school uniforms, the onlooking students immediately crowded around, exclaiming in excitement.

Their school uniforms were already good-looking, and with the two top celebrities wearing them, they looked even better.

Someone at the scene discreetly took photos with their phone and shared them in the school's group chat.

「Fresh scoop, don't leak it! [Image]」

「Senior Song is amazing!」

「Wen Li!! My goddess!!!」

「Why did I go on a trip at this time...」

「To be honest, if our school uniforms were authorized for to sell, they would definitely become bestsellers on a certain online marketplace.」

"Good morning, teachers," said the leader of Production Team A as the onlooking students quieted down, "Especially for Teacher Song, how does it feel to return to your alma mater?"

Song Yan replied officially, "The school looks even more beautiful."

"Wearing your alma mater's uniform, do you feel like you've traveled back in time?"

"No," Song Yan paused, his tone carrying a smile, "I feel like I've aged."

The onlooking junior students immediately voiced their disagreement.

"Senior, you're not old!"

"I would believe it if you said you're a junior!"

"So handsome!!"

Wen Li interjected with her quirky variety show vibe, "What about me?"

"Beautiful! Super beautiful!"

"The two of you are a perfect match!!"

"You were born before me, but you're still so beautiful!"

The two guests and the production team burst into laughter. After the opening, they finally began assigning the memory tasks for the day.

"We have set a small task for Teacher Wen to allow her to experience Teacher Song's high school life more deeply. According to the prompts given by the production team, Teacher Song will take Teacher Wen to several designated locations on the campus and find the corresponding keys. After collecting all the keys, they can obtain and open Teacher Song's memory treasure box."

"A memory treasure box? What's that?"

"It's Teacher Song's secret. Teacher Wen can only find out what it is by completing the task."

Wen Li looked at Song Yan, using her eyes to ask him about the secret.

Song Yan shrugged. "The production team asked me not to say."

Wen Li couldn't help but wonder if it was his secret of first love!

But then she thought again, this is a variety show, and the production team and Song Yan are not fools. It couldn't possibly be that secret.

She was curious, but not very curious. However, to go along with the program's effect, she put on a determined expression.

"The first hint is 'worldly fireworks'."

As soon as the hint was read out, even before they could guess, the onlooking students quickly responded, "Fireworks Square!"

Song Yan's expression changed slightly, involuntarily furrowing his brows.

"Hey, students, please don't rush to answer! Let our guests think for themselves."

This was the downside of outdoor filming. No matter what challenges and puzzles were set for the guests along the way, there were always enthusiastic passersby who would come to the rescue.

Wen Li knew about Yingde's Fireworks Square. It was the only place on campus where fireworks were allowed. But students liked to go there not only because they could set off fireworks but also because it was the default confession spot for students.

At night, the square was always sparkling with fireworks, like a secluded little white day in the darkness. As long as they weren't caught by the teachers, if someone brought their crush there to confess, the surrounding students would join in the excitement. In such a situation, it would be hard for the person being confessed to refuse.

The production team chose several iconic buildings on campus as designated locations for the task, without informing Song Yan in advance, because he also had to participate in the quizzes.

He stood in the square while Wen Li went to get the key from the nearby shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper handed the key to Wen Li, and muttered, "I've witnessed many students confessing here, but a few of them got caught by the teachers, tsk tsk."

"That's so unlucky," Wen Li echoed.

"Getting caught by the teachers is not considered unlucky, after all, students can't fight or curse. At most, they receive a little education. I actually saw a handsome guy get caught by the girl's parents when he was trying to confess to her. It was a very miserable sight."

Wen Li looked incredulous, "How can the girl's parents catch a boy confessing at school?"

"The girl went and complained to her parents, I suppose it left a lifelong shadow on her," the shopkeeper shook his head and said, "The boy was quite handsome."

Wen Li sighed in agreement.

After bidding farewell to the shopkeeper, Wen Li ran towards Song Yan, who was waiting for her on the steps of the square, and handed him the key.

She also casually shared the gossip the shopkeeper had chatted with her about.

Song Yan, lost in thought, had a dim and unclear gaze. He responded faintly to Wen Li's chatter, only giving a nonchalant "En".

"What's wrong with you?" Wen Li reached out her hand to block the sun, "Is the sun too strong?"

"A little bit," Song Yan said, "Let's go to the next location."

"Okay," Wen Li walked down the steps with him and casually asked, "Did you come here when you were studying?"

"I did."

Wen Li looked at him with surprise.

Song Yan's reaction seemed as if he didn't seem to favor Fireworks Square at all. He didn't even pause his steps and immediately left as soon as she obtained the key.

Wen Li didn't ask further. They went to several other task locations to complete their tasks. Due to the presence of the cameraman, they never found an opportunity to delve deeper into this topic.

The final task location was the Academic Affairs Building.

Song Yan's former homeroom teacher, who hadn't retired yet, was invited by the production team for an interview. She praised Song Yan in front of the cameras to no end.

"But this child didn't talk much back then and was a bit introverted," the homeroom teacher chuckled, "Who could have imagined he would become an actor."

After obtaining the last key, Wen Li opened the so-called memory treasure box.

As expected, it wasn't what she wanted to know; it was a group photo of Song Yan's classmates from high school.

There weren't many girls in his class, but Wen Li carefully examined each face. She didn't think any of the girls in his class were more beautiful than her.

As they returned to the school for the recording of the program, Song Yan wanted to visit his other teachers. This was not in the program's script, and so, after spending the morning under the sun, Wen Li finally reached an indoor area. She immediately found an empty classroom to touch up her makeup with the makeup artist and sprayed herself with half a can of sunscreen.

After enjoying the air conditioning for a while, she went out and found that several cameramen from the production team had already followed Song Yan to other parts of the Academic Affairs Building to find other teachers. A few staff members stayed behind to escort her.

She had originally planned to follow them, but just as Song Yan's homeroom teacher finished her interview, she suddenly called Wen Li over.

"Mrs. Song, I'd like to have a chat with you privately. Is that okay?"

Although Wen Li was not sure what the homeroom teacher wanted to talk about, she nodded, "Sure."

She followed the homeroom teacher into the office. As it was the summer vacation, there weren't many teachers on duty in the office, so now it was just her and the homeroom teacher.

Song Yan's homeroom teacher was a woman with a friendly smile, so Wen Li had a particular fondness for her because she didn't have many female elders in her family.

Especially because this teacher praised Song Yan in front of the camera just now.

As a result, as soon as they were alone together, the first words from the teacher scared her half to death.

"Wen Li, I remember you. You're Bai Sen's friend, right?"

Wen Li forced a smile, "Teacher, you still remember me?"

The teacher smiled gently and reassured her, "Of course, I remember. Don't worry, before Song Yan returned to school, he called me in advance. I didn't say anything about you in front of your program's cameras."

"Oh..." Wen Li nodded.

The teacher certainly knew what could and couldn't be said about students' pasts in front of the camera.

"I called you here because I wanted you to give something back to Song Yan on my behalf. It's something I confiscated from him when Song Yan was in his senior year. Originally, I planned to give it to him after he applied to university. I didn't expect him to go directly into acting in movies. I consider this thing to be his secret and I didn't trust anyone else to give it to him, so I'll pass it on to you. He probably doesn't even remember it, so please give it to him directly."

Wen Li listened with confusion, "What is it?"

It couldn't be something inappropriate, right?

The class teacher's tone sounded vague, "Um, it's something that girls of your age like."

Wen Li became even more bewildered, "Ah? Girls?"

The class teacher knew that Song Yan was returning to school today to record the program, so she had taken out the item earlier.

She took it directly from the drawer of her desk.

It was a magazine.

A youth magazine from ten years ago, the kind that specifically featured romantic short stories.

When Wen Li saw the cover, she was stunned.

She had a dream of becoming a star in high school, so when the magazine editor came to the school to select cover models, Wen Li didn't hesitate to sign up for herself and unsurprisingly got chosen.

She only did a few shoots, but after her uncle found out, she didn't dare to do it anymore.

The few magazines featuring her as the cover model were now in the hands of the class teacher. Each one was intact, but the covers had become old and yellowed. Sixteen-year-old Wen Li smiled sweetly on them, her makeup now appearing outdated by today's standards, and her poses were quite forced.

The electronic versions of the magazine covers still existed online, resurfacing each year as an artist's embarrassing history, picked up by marketing accounts to generate trending topics. However, the physical copies were long gone. Only a few people, including herself, kept them.

Times had changed too fast. Magazines from ten years ago now looked like antiques.

Wen Li's expression was complicated, "He... he used to read romance magazines?"

The class teacher's expression was also complex, filled with nostalgia.

With mixed emotions, Wen Li opened the magazine. The pages inside were clean, but she had no interest in the romance stories anymore. Flipping through them one by one, she tried to find traces of Song Yan's presence.

Finally, she found it—a girl's name!!

「Wen Li」

She turned a few more pages and found her initials 'WL' written in pinyin.

During his youth, he admired someone but couldn't express it for various reasons. So, it turned into names and initials written on paper and in notes.

It was as if writing this person's name multiple times could release some of that hidden affection.

She continued flipping through, and finally, in a short story, she found his traces again.

It was a description of the boy's thoughts in the story.

I stood in the square where I arranged lit candles into the shape of a heart. I would say to the girl I liked, 'I like you'.

She would then run toward me and her soft body would embrace me. At that moment, I would feel, 'She's so lovely, the girl I like, she's so amazing'.

Song Yan underlined this beautiful passage, but next to it were a few words he had forcefully written on the paper.

One could almost see the disappointment and anger in his handwriting. The page was crumpled, probably because he had squeezed it in sadness but then visibly smoothed it out later.

Apart from her name and notes, the magazines were kept clean and tidy. Song Yan didn't have the habit of writing a diary, so of course, he wouldn't have written all his thoughts in them.

But these magazines and her name were enough to tell the story.

Wen Li was Song Yan's true secret throughout his entire youth, a secret he never wanted to confess.

Embarrassment, palpitations, secrecy, depth—how could he forget them?

How could he be willing to tell her when, if the roles were reversed, she would never tell anyone in her lifetime?

This youthful, unrequited love was truly too embarrassing, for both the boy and the girl. Unless he let it go, unless he came to terms with it, only then, at some point in the future, would he speak of this memory as a small episode of his youth.

He never let it go, never forgot, so this memory couldn't be surpassed, couldn't be let go, and couldn't be spoken.

Wen Li's hand trembled as she held the magazine.

The class teacher knew that she understood and that her message had been conveyed. She asked softly, "You're already married now. If I show this to you, Song Yan shouldn't blame me, right?"

Wen Li felt like a selfish and despicable voyeur.

Why was she so insensitive, so foolish?

And yet, Song Yan was so sensitive, so introverted. She didn't know whether to blame herself or him.

Feeling extreme heartache for someone but also can't help but feel happy for herself—Wen Li was in a state of contradiction. She cried as she laughed while looking at the magazines, then lightly tapped her mouth with her hand and scolded herself.

"You heartless dead person, Wen Li. How can you still laugh like this? Wuu wuu wuu... hehehe... wuu wuu... hehehe..."

The class teacher: "..."

This reaction from Mrs. Song was truly unexpected.