Author’s Note: Approximately 70% of the chapter is a play-within-a-play; feel free to skip if you don’t like it.
Ye Zhou took Boss Jiang into the cinema. As soon as they sat down, the lights in the auditorium dimmed. After a series of advertisements and opening credits rolled, the main feature finally began.
The opening scene featured an extended shot lasting half a minute. Under the dim glow of a street lamp on a deserted road late at night, a slender, gaunt figure gradually appeared in the audience’s view, approaching from a distance.
He carried a half-empty can of beer, occasionally stopping to take a sip, yet his gait showed no signs of intoxication, and his gaze remained clear and sober.
As he passed a trash can, the young man paused, raised his hand in a shooting motion, and tossed the empty beer can toward the bin. However, the can failed to land inside, bouncing off the side instead.
He stepped forward to retrieve the can from the ground, but stumbled over something unseen, nearly falling face-first onto the pavement. The camera shook along with his abrupt movement.
The young man cursed under his breath, steadied himself, and nudged the unidentified object on the ground with his foot, only to hear a faint groan coming from beneath him.
Startled, the young man bent down and turned on his phone’s flashlight to investigate the source of the sound. Upon realizing what lay before him, he blurted out a crude exclamation: “Sh*t! What the f*ck…”
Illuminated by the dim phone light, he could vaguely make out a small, shadowy figure lying motionless – a child.
Cheng Ye stood there, at a loss, staring for a moment before regaining his composure. He slapped his forehead and forced himself to avert his gaze, striding away from the scene.
As Cheng Ye’s figure receded into the distance, the now-empty street appeared even more desolate. Just as the audience assumed he had left, another figure swiftly ran back toward the direction he had come from.
The person who came was none other than Cheng Ye, who had just left. He walked back to the garbage pile and carefully stretched out his hand to check the child’s breathing. Fortunately, he was still alive.
The scene transitioned to Cheng Ye’s dilapidated, cramped apartment. In the dim lighting, he gasped in shock. It turned out that the black stains on the child were not dirt, but frightening blood stains.
Seeing the child’s critical condition, Cheng Ye gritted his teeth, unlocked a drawer, and retrieved a wad of crumpled banknotes from beneath some advertising flyers. He carefully counted the meager sum, stuffing it all into his pocket.
Fearing it wouldn’t be enough, Cheng Ye dashed to borrow more money from fellow street thugs. After pooling their resources, he scraped together five hundred yuan. Without delay, Cheng Ye came back and took a taxi to the nearest children’s hospital with the child in his arms.
After sending the child to the hospital, Cheng Ye originally planned to leave. The child was neither his relative nor acquaintance. He had already done enough by sending him to the hospital and paying the expenses. Cheng Ye had no intention of playing the good samaritan.
It was getting late, and he needed to get some rest, or else he wouldn’t have the energy to collect protection money the next day!
However, as he turned to leave, he suddenly found the child clutching tightly onto the hem of his clothes at some unknown point, refusing to let go no matter how hard Cheng Ye tried to break free.
The audience watched as Cheng Ye wracked his brain, attempting to pry his clothes from the child’s grip. However, every slight movement caused the child to frown. When the child frowned, Cheng Ye’s limbs would stiffen, and he would not dare to make any more moves.
This segment was highly comical, with the camera repeatedly cutting between Cheng Ye and the child, capturing their expressions and unconscious gestures.
In the end, Cheng Ye stayed, unable to afford the exorbitant medical expenses. Glancing at the injured child, he tossed and turned for several days before ultimately selling his house at a very low price.
Being underage, he couldn’t go through official channels, but his wide connections allowed him to find a way to sell the property, albeit at a significantly lower price than market value. Nevertheless, it solved an urgent need.
As the audience watched the severely injured child gradually recover day by day, their anxious hearts found some relief.
Cheng Ye assumed that he could walk away once the child awoke, but he never expected the child to cling to him so stubbornly and tenaciously. After being discharged, Cheng Ye explained the situation to the police, but to his surprise, no matter how many times the police took the child away, he would always reappear within a hundred meters of Cheng Ye within a day.
Sometimes near the rental room Cheng Ye lived in, sometimes around the few food stalls where he collected protection money, and most often near the pool hall and internet cafe he frequented.
He was obviously at the age when he should be making trouble, but the child never cried or caused a disturbance, remaining remarkably quiet. He wouldn’t even approach within ten meters of Cheng Ye, silently trailing him from a distance, leaving Cheng Ye at a loss.
Had the child been more disruptive or unruly, Cheng Ye would have gotten rid of him long ago. But it was precisely because the child was so well-behaved and understanding, quietly endearing himself, that Cheng Ye couldn’t bring himself to do anything.
Time flowed like water through the scene transitions. Half a month later, on a particular day, Cheng Ye just finished fighting someone and was wiping the blood from his face when he approached the child who had been following him for that entire half-month.
Standing before the bewildered child, Cheng Ye extended his hand, “Want to come with me?”
After being ignored for half a month, the child stared at the outstretched hand, momentarily frozen, then quickly wiped his somewhat dirty hands on his clothes before gingerly rising onto his tiptoes and gently grasping Cheng Ye’s large hand with his now-clean one.
In the golden sunlight, the camera froze on the intertwined hands of two people, one big and one small.
That year, Cheng Ye was fourteen, and Cheng Ling was nine.
News of Cheng Ye adopting a child only five years younger than himself quickly spread throughout the neighborhood. At first, no one took it seriously, assuming it was just a passing whim. After all, raising a child is no easy task, even for adults, let alone Cheng Ye, an underage delinquent.
When Cheng Ye first brought the good-looking Cheng Ling home, the boy attracted quite a crowd of onlookers from the area, including Cheng Ye’s delinquent friends. Unlike children his age, Cheng Ling was well-behaved and sensible, speaking little, which often prompted others to tease him into talking.
To prevent them from saying inappropriate things in front of Cheng Ling, Cheng Ye repeatedly emphasized what could and couldn’t be said. However… these delinquents spent their days either fighting, cursing, or chasing girls, so one could hardly expect them to say anything refined.
As they playfully teased Cheng Ling, racking their brains for a somewhat decent word, they asked, “Kid, what’s your dream? Do you want to grow up and fight with us, collect protection money?”
Expecting the silent child to remain unresponsive as usual, they didn’t care about his answer and quickly changed the subject. However, they failed to notice that upon hearing the word “dream,” Cheng Ling clenched his little fists and softly replied, “Policeman. I want to be a policeman.”
Amid the raucous laughter and shouting in the room, only Cheng Ye, leaning against the doorframe smoking, caught those words and shifted his gaze slightly.
From that day on, Cheng Ye, who had previously taken a hands-off approach with Cheng Ling, suddenly became much stricter. He began frequently buying second-hand books from the neighboring stall for Cheng Ling to read and even entertained the idea of sending him to school.
When Cheng Ye’s delinquent friends learned of his intentions, most thought he went crazy.
School? Most of them were abandoned at birth, and merely surviving to adulthood was already a blessing. Some didn’t even have household registration, let alone the chance to attend school. Now Cheng Ye wanted to send this kid he picked up to school? He must be out of his mind.
But once Cheng Ye made up his mind, no one could change it. With his limited connections consisting mostly of fellow delinquents, the highest-ranking person he knew was the small-time boss of his gang, named Uncle De.
In a cramped room barely wide enough for one person, Cheng Ye sat on the lower bunk, counting the money he had just taken from the drawer. This money was left over from selling his house to pay for Cheng Ling’s medical expenses. He clumsily counted the bills three times, took half of the amount, wrapped it in a letter, and secured the rest beneath some advertisement flyers in the locked drawer.
Cheng Ye handed this sum to Uncle De and finally persuaded him to help obtain household registration for Cheng Ling and enroll him in school.
Cheng Ling did not disappoint Cheng Ye’s hopes. After enrolling, his grades remained consistently excellent. He was among the best in every test and always ranked first in the school’s grade. His outstanding performance not only exempted him from tuition fees but also occasionally earned him prize money from competitions.
The days passed warmly and peacefully as the audience witnessed the growth of these two brothers. They saw the older brother Cheng Ye gradually shed his roughness with age, becoming increasingly steady and acquiring an elder-brotherly demeanor. They watched the younger brother Cheng Ling rise from the brink of death to blossom into the outstanding scholar he is today, excelling in both character and academics.
For the first half of the film, Ye Zhou used very gentle tones, deliberately shooting many scenes from the perspectives of Cheng Ye and Cheng Ling. This technique immensely enhanced the audience’s sense of immersion, making them feel as though they were watching their own children grow up before their eyes, deriving great satisfaction from merely observing.
However… while satisfying, wasn’t this a bit inconsistent with the promotional material?
Where was the promised tearjerker of the year? The heart-wrenching, soul-crushing tragedy? The brothers supported each other, growing into better people – how heartwarming! But where was the emotional torture, the earth-shattering devastation that would leave audiences in tears?
Average moviegoers were fine; though they could appreciate tragedy, the touching scenes didn’t detract from their enjoyment. For the first half, at least, most were quite satisfied.
Professional film critics, however, were once again polarized.
Some of the more impulsive, extreme critics felt outraged by this mismatched film, as if they had been deceived. They had eagerly anticipated a tragedy but got… this? Just this?? That’s it?? Wasn’t this blatant false advertising, deceiving the audience?!
They had known this director was unreliable, but never imagined he would be this unreliable, this audacious. Did he think he was just toying with them?!
Among these critics was a smaller faction led by Flying Melon and Liu Xiaochuan, who had already been deeply dissatisfied with Ye Zhou’s previous work, A Farce. They had practically become his anti-fans, attending this screening purely to mock the film.
Last time, that comedy’s success was just dumb luck. This time, they were curious to see what kind of shenanigans Ye Zhou would pull – did he really think he could get lucky twice?
After the first half, Flying Melon and his cohorts were absolutely delighted. Look at what they had said – for a director as incompetent as Ye Zhou, getting lucky once was fortunate enough. Did he really think his luck would last a lifetime? Well, his second film was already a flop!
Speaking of which, Ye Zhou was certainly courageous, passing off this sappy melodrama as a heart-wrenching tragedy. Did he have no shame, portraying his film as the tearjerker of the year? What a joke!
Terrible! A terrible rating! A hundred terrible ratings!
Some were already drafting scathing reviews in their minds, while others, unable to contain their excitement, had already begun publicly ranting on their microblogs and websites.
In fact, when news first spread that Ye Zhou was making a tragic film, they felt a twinge of apprehension, fearing his ambition to win awards. After all, they had just mocked his poor directing skills not long ago. If he truly won any major awards just a year later, it would be a resounding slap in their faces!
Fortunately, Ye Zhou’s meager skills were so lacking that he didn’t even qualify as a rag, let alone win any awards. The popularity and positive reviews he had previously built up were completely squandered by this film.
This was truly gratifying!
Chuckling, Flying Melon took out his phone, found “Mr. Cheng” in his contacts, and quickly typed out a message:
“Mr. Cheng, it’s Flying Melon. I’ve watched Chasing the Light, and Ye Zhou’s work this time is completely worthless and simply sloppy. I’ve prepared how to thoroughly criticize him. After leaving the screening, I’ll start writing the review. Once finished, I’ll definitely let you look it over first to ensure he is completely disgraced this time and unable to cause any more splash. I’ll make sure you’re satisfied!”
Of course, apart from those impulsive critics who disliked Ye Zhou, most of the rational, observant professional critics made up over half the group.
After all, the film wasn’t over yet, and jumping to conclusions before a completed viewing was a major taboo in the critiquing world. All reviews should be done after the entire film, out of respect for the work and production team. It was the most basic professional ethics for a critic.
Moreover, from what they’d seen so far, this director did possess a certain level of skill. Though lacking dramatic highs and lows, a great film isn’t solely defined by exciting plots, but rather by the storytelling and attention to detail. This was the true test of a director’s ability.
In this regard, Ye Zhou’s command of camerawork and handling of subtleties was quite commendable.
An excellent review shouldn’t just dismiss or praise blindly. Even the finest directors can’t produce perfection every time, and even the worst have their brilliant moments. Acclaim for the praiseworthy, criticism for the flaws – this is the essence of a good review.
Furthermore, some of the more discerning critics already sensed something amiss. Generally, tragedy movies fall into a few main categories, but the most haunting are those about “what once was” and “what could have been.”
Based on the current development, this film seemed to encompass both.
So how would the rest of the plot unfold…
It was tremendously exciting to anticipate!
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