Chapter 581: Chapter 581

However, Luo Mei ultimately couldn’t always be involved in her child’s growth, which was a regret for her—neither minor nor trivial. Due to the child’s departure, her depression still hadn’t improved, but it had lessened compared to before.

This ending was good for everyone, but for Luo Mei, the child had ultimately left her. He Jinxia, putting herself in Luo Mei’s shoes, knew her heart was deeply hurt, so she considered this ending neither sad nor happy.

After all, compared to another version of the ending, at least the child could still meet her.

Thinking of that other version of the ending now still made He Jinxia feel heartache for the character of Luo Mei.

In another version, Luo Mei and the child’s birth parents couldn’t reach a mediation, and the court eventually ruled that the custody belonged to the birth parents. The child had to part ways with Luo Mei.

The birth parents were very hostile towards Luo Mei, forbidding the child from contacting her, and also not allowing Luo Mei to visit the child even though Luo Mei always brought generous gifts, all of which were thrown out.

After numerous failed visits, Luo Mei’s heart died over and over, sinking deeper into a silence more profound than before.

Five years later, an accident allowed Luo Mei to encounter the child. She ran excitedly to the child, grabbed his hand, and told him she was his mother!

However, the child had already forgotten her and was instead scared into crying by her, repeatedly shouting "You are not my mom!" while kicking and hitting Luo Mei who was holding him.

Ironically, time is indeed the best medicine for healing all wounds and also the best method to forget someone.

Luo Mei had struggled to raise the child for five years, preferring to starve herself rather than let the child go hungry. It was the child’s most vulnerable five years and also the years he most forgot about people.

Five years after they separated, when they met again, everything had changed dramatically. The child had long forgotten her, but she was still desperately clinging to the dream of the child’s return.

When she saw the child crying, Luo Mei instinctively hugged him as she had five years earlier, patting his shoulder and coaxing him not to cry. But the child no longer recognized her. He no longer called her mom as he used to, nor did he stop crying; instead, he cried even harder.

Luo Mei’s heart was completely shattered.

He Jinxia still remembered Luo Mei’s final moments, the dark and damp surroundings, the expression on Luo Mei’s face at her last moment on earth; even now, when she closed her eyes, she could still see it vividly.

Although that expression did not become her nightmare, it left a lasting impression on her, flashing across her mind occasionally, feeling quite frightening at times.

As He Jinxia’s thoughts descended into memories, the movie also reached its conclusion. Luo Mei’s ending was the first to emerge, accompanied by heavier sobs than before from the audience, many of whom were dabbing their noses with tissues.

He Jinxia glanced at the big screen and couldn’t help but sigh softly in her heart; Duan Yu and the others had chosen the second sad ending.

Five years after separating from the child, Luo Mei finally recognized the fact that she and the child were like strangers, and her underlying mental illness—depression—deepened further, eventually leading her to choose suicide to end her life.

The moment Luo Mei died, the screen changed, revealing the endings of the two female protagonists that had been left in suspense until this moment—

Yuanyuan did not succeed in her suicide attempt but was rescued and eventually counseled by a psychologist, unraveling her mental knots, and a sunny smile appeared on her face.

Chunzhen, until the last moment, failed to resist and followed her parents’ wishes to abort the baby, sitting in a corner of the hospital, crying silently.

The movie ended amidst Chunzhen’s crying, and the dim light inside the room suddenly turned bright white as some audience members stood up and left the screening hall.

He Jinxia and the director also stood up, searching for the two lead actresses in the crowd.

Originally, the two actresses were supposed to wait with the director at the entrance of the hall for He Jinxia, but because there were quite a number of people in the group, standing at the entrance would seem odd, so the director had the two women enter first.

To better see the directors as they entered, the two leads specifically chose the first row.

According to the layout of the hall, the first row was not the best viewing spot, but the two lead actresses were not there to watch the movie; they were there to meet He Jinxia.

Unfortunately, before they could see her, the movie had already started, and with the indoor lighting being too dim and audience members occasionally coming in from outside, the two lead actresses, looking intently, ended up missing He Jinxia and the director.

After the movie, the director and He Jinxia were the last to leave, and they didn’t see the two lead actresses in the screening hall.

Upon exiting the screening hall, they saw the two women had already been waiting by the door. On seeing He Jinxia, the actresses lit up and approached to greet her eagerly.

The actress playing Yuanyuan was named Xu Xiuzi, with beautiful long straight hair, and her appearance highly resembled that of Yuanyuan from the movie. She excitedly said, Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs novel_fіre.net

"Sister Jinxia, your performance was incredible, I cried watching your last burst of emotion. Luckily, my makeup today is waterproof; otherwise, I would have turned into a panda."

He Jinxia couldn’t help but smile and said, "You flatter me."

She confirmed in her heart what some directors had said; Xu Xiuzi in "Eighteen Years Old Sky" had almost played herself as her personality was much like Yuanyuan’s from the film.

However, unlike Yuanyuan, who was truly arrogant and willful, Xu Xiuzi was different; she was more ambitious and would hide her nature when necessary.

He Jinxia saw ambition and calculation in Xu Xiuzi’s eyes.

She had dealt with many people and situations, and Xu Xiuzi’s tricks were not enough in front of her.

He Jinxia responded neither affirmatively nor negatively, not rejecting Xu Xiuzi’s overtures. After all, she was just an 18th-tier minor actress who hadn’t joined a management company. Even if her debut movie made it to Berlin, she couldn’t compare with He Jinxia in terms of promotion.

The other actress was Xi Jing, playing "Chunzhen." Xi Jing’s personality matched her name; she stood aside quietly, listening to their conversation without interrupting, a faint smile playing on her lips.

That inadvertently made He Jinxia pay more attention to her.

In the movie, Xi Jing’s performance was neither good nor bad, failing to portray the malice inherent in Chunzhen. As a result, many viewers felt sympathy for Chunzhen during her storyline, believing the classmates she bullied retaliated too harshly.

However, many did not consider that every action has a reaction.

If Chunzhen hadn’t bullied them, those people wouldn’t have harbored such dark thoughts of utterly destroying her.

In He Jinxia’s rational view, everything had a cause and effect; there was no clear right or wrong. She believed the director had intended to convey this message, but unfortunately, Xi Jing had failed to capture that feeling.