"I must have been possessed to arrive so early!"
Guo Xin stood at the entrance of Clearwater Bay Residential Complex, his neck hunched, his hands in his pockets, his whole body curled up in a ball.
It was still dark, and the streetlight at the entrance of the residential area cast his shadow long and thin.
He glanced down at his phone; the screen showed 5:03.
"I should have bought the equipment before coming to shoot. It's so dark, will my phone even be able to handle it?"
He cursed at the air, his voice particularly loud in the early morning streets.
In the security room next door, a middle-aged security guard stared at him through the glass for a long time before finally opening the window a crack. "Young man, what are you doing here?"
"Waiting for someone," Guo Xin said irritably.
The security guard gave him a suspicious look, his gaze sweeping from his messy hair to the slippers on his feet, before silently closing the window.
Guo Xin didn't notice this detail and continued pacing back and forth at the door.
Five minutes later, a figure wrapped in a white down jacket turned the corner from the street corner.
Su Qingyue tucked half her face into her collar, her nose slightly red from the cold.
She saw Guo Xin from afar and jogged over.
"I'm freezing to death." Her voice was muffled inside her collar.
"At least you're wearing more layers," Guo Xin glanced at her. "I'm only wearing a sweatshirt."
Two minutes later, Lin Xiao arrived.
She was even more exaggerated than Su Qingyue, wearing a thick coat over a sweater, making her look much rounder.
She jumped up and down twice as soon as she arrived, saying, "It's warm now!"
Zhou Mingxuan was the last to arrive.
He was wearing a black windbreaker and carrying a camera bag; he seemed to be the only one who had prepared in advance.
"You brought a camera?" Guo Xin's eyes lit up.
"Hmm." Zhou Mingxuan nodded, "A DSLR camera should be better than a mobile phone."
"You should have said so earlier!" Guo Xin patted him on the shoulder. "If I had known you brought a camera, I wouldn't have had to freeze like this."
The window of the security room was opened a crack again.
The middle-aged security guard poked his head out, glanced at the four people, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He had almost thought Guo Xin was a crazy garbage collector, but seeing more and more people around him, he felt relieved.
"We told him to come at five o'clock, and he still hasn't gotten up. That's outrageous!" Guo Xin started complaining again.
Just as Su Qingyue and Lin Xiao were about to say something on Cheng Che's behalf, a series of light footsteps suddenly came from the entrance of the residential area.
Cheng Che walked out, wearing a gray sports jacket and carrying a tennis bag on his shoulder. He looked so energetic that he didn't seem like someone who got up at five in the morning.
"I said I could take the pictures myself." He yawned, his tone casual.
"You know nothing," Guo Xin retorted. "You think you can just put your phone there and take pictures? Composition, lighting, angles, camera movement—these are all skills."
He proudly raised his head. "I'm a professional."
Cheng Che nodded perfunctorily, "Yes, yes, Director Guo is a professional. Haven't you guys eaten yet? I'll treat you after we finish filming."
"Of course you have to treat," Guo Xin muttered. "You woke us up in this freezing weather, it wouldn't be right not to treat us to a meal."
The five people chatted and laughed as they walked along the street toward People's Park.
The morning breeze was cool and felt a little stinging on my face.
The streetlights were still on, casting long, orange shadows on the ground.
As they walked, Cheng Che suddenly remembered something. "By the way, which city did you all go to for university?"
" The Capital City," Su Qingyue said.
" The Capital City," Lin Xiao said.
" The Capital City," Guo Xin said.
The three spoke in unison.
Cheng Che was taken aback for a moment. "Wow, it's so easy to get into the Capital City."
Guo Xin chuckled:
"My school is just average, a regular second-tier university. But Capital City is a big city, there are more opportunities, and it's far from home, so my mom can't control me."
Su Qingyue and Lin Xiao nodded in agreement.
Only Zhou Mingxuan remained silent.
Cheng Che turned his head to look at him. "And you?"
Zhou Mingxuan sighed, " Magic City. I don't want to go, but my uncle is there. He said I don't need to live on campus, which would make it easier for him to take care of me."
"Your uncle treats you very well," Guo Xin said.
"It's good," Zhou Mingxuan paused, "But she's even stricter than my mother."
The group chatted and, before they knew it, had arrived at People's Park.
The sky in the east was beginning to lighten, and the elderly people who usually did their morning exercises had not yet come out. The park was so quiet that only the sound of the wind rustling through the leaves could be heard.
Cheng Che walked to the familiar low wall, put down his tennis bag, and took out his new racket.
"You really want to film?" He looked around.
Guo Xin had already raised his phone. "Ignore us, just pretend we don't exist."
Zhou Mingxuan set up the camera and adjusted the focus. Su Qingyue and Lin Xiao each held their phones and aimed them at him from different angles.
Cheng Che took a deep breath and silently recited the phrase in his mind.
"Open."
[ Training Recovery Card activated.]
He wasn't [ Total Concentration ].
It's just practice, no need for that.
He tossed the ball, spun around, and swung his racket.
"Snap."
The ball hit the wall and bounced back.
He sidestepped, tossed it again, and swung it once more.
"Clap, clap, clap."
The sound of the ball hitting the shuttlecock was particularly crisp in the empty park, like a string of clean musical notes.
Guo Xin held up his phone, muttering, "It's good, but my arm is a little sore."
Su Qingyue remained silent.
She stared at her phone screen. In the picture, Cheng Che was swinging his racket in the morning light, his white sneakers stepping on the dark ground, as if he were wrapped in a thin layer of light.
She didn't know why, but ever since she watched his tennis final live, she kept having dreams about it at night.
The scenes in my dreams are blurry; sometimes it's an empty sports field, sometimes it's a very long corridor.
But every time she wakes up, she can clearly remember one scene.
He stood in the sunlight, looking towards the stands with a smile on his lips.
Su Qingyue pressed her phone against her chest, her face slightly flushed.
An hour later, Cheng Che put down his racket.
Guo Xin shakily put down his phone, his arms aching and trembling.
"I can't take it anymore, this phone camera is too tiring to use. I need a tripod or some professional equipment."
Cheng Che wiped his sweat and looked at him speechlessly:
"I told you to buy the equipment first before filming, but you didn't believe me."
"I just found cell phones convenient," Guo Xin said, rubbing his arm.
Cheng Che ignored him and put the racket back in his bag. "Come on, I'll treat you to breakfast."
The five people went to a breakfast shop near the park.
The shop isn't big, with seven or eight tables, and quite a few people were already seated at this hour.
Cheng Che ordered a bowl of soy milk, two steamed buns, and a fried dough stick for each person.
Guo Xin ate with his mouth full of oil, scrolling through his phone while chewing.
He suddenly stopped, his eyes fixed on the screen, not even noticing the steamed bun slipping from his mouth.
"Holy crap."
"What's wrong?" Lin Xiao asked.
Guo Xin looked up at Cheng Che: " Cheng Che, tomorrow they'll be airing the episode of ' Life Slowed Down ' that featured you!"