Jin Xin looked at Ye Tianxin. Her brows were picture perfect, and her eyes were filled with energy and spirit. One look at a girl like that, and it’d be impossible for anyone not to like her.
In fact, at that very moment, Jin Xin found himself thinking that he hoped this girl would be successful in everything that she wanted to do in life.
“Tianxin, your ambition is laudable,” Du Juan said, looking seriously at Ye Tianxin. “When I was a kid, my greatest dream was to become a writer, because then I could sell my words for money and free myself from the constraints imposed on me by my family. Today, I am a writer, and I get to decide how I want to live my life. Tianxin, do you know what I would’ve been if I didn’t have that dream when I was young? I would’ve been the girl next door who marries a man at eighteen and bears his children. I would’ve had the dreary, mechanical life that my mother had lived. Fortunately, one book changed my destiny and made me the Du Juan I am today, not Madam Du.”
Jin Xin had seldom heard Du Juan reminiscence about the past before. Although he had known Du Juan for decades, she’d always kept silent about her past.
So why was Du Juan sharing her past now?
“So, Tianxin, don’t be afraid. Just follow your heart. Dare to dream and then proceed to make it happen. One day, you’ll realize your dream. One of the most horrible things someone can do is not have the courage to dream. If you’re too scared to even dream, how will you ever be brave enough to do what you want in life?”
In fact, Jin Xin fully agreed with what Du Juan said.
Dare to dream. Dare to make it happen.
Only then could change take place in one’s life.
One shouldn’t aim to be someone who busies themself doing other things their entire life and never accomplishes anything.
And, despite not having accomplished anything at all in their life, this person comforts themself by claiming that a simple life is the best life one can have.
Nodding, Ye Tianxin responded, “Yes, I know. I’ll do my best and work hard.”
She would change her destiny, one step at a time.
Bit by bit, she would transform her life.
Looking at her grandmother, Ye Tianxin resolved to make sure that her grandmother lived to a ripe old age....
This dinner was especially significant for Jin Xin and Du Juan.
It was at this dinner tonight that Jin Xin decided to cast Ye Tianxin as the female lead in “Red Cherry.”
In Ye Tianxin, he saw the unique qualities that Cherry had—kindness, beauty, intelligence, and determination.
After dinner, Du Juan took the initiative to clean up and told Ye Tianxin and her grandmother to go rest and relax.
Du Juan could see that Ye Tianxin, who’d been up since real early that morning, was very tired.
“Tianxin, you should go and rest. I’ll clean up dinner.”
But Ye Tianxin felt guilty about leaving Du Juan to do the cleaning up and replied, “Madam Du, let me do it.”
“Let’s do it together, then.”
Du Juan and Ye Tianxin stood side by side at the sink and did the dishes together. Jin Xin pulled out a compact slim camera from his shirt pocket and took a photo of them standing together at the sink from behind.
But after taking one shot, he wanted to take more.
“Tianxin, Du Juan.”
The two women standing at the sink both turned around in unison, natural looks of confusion on their faces.
After Du Juan helped Ye Tianxin with the tidying up, she left the shop with Jin Xin.
Jin Xin remarked, “Long ago, you told me that you had a daughter. When I saw Tianxin at the shop entrance earlier, I thought she was your daughter. They look very much alike from behind. In fact, looking at the photos that I took of her, their faces are also very similar....”
Clicking open the photos, Du Juan took one look at them and said, her voice laced with yearning, “Probably because all beautiful people look alike.”
That said, she let out a very long sigh. “Sometimes, I wish she was my daughter. I’ve also thought about what my own daughter would be like if she were still alive. Probably similar to Tianxin.... It’s a shame, but I’m not someone who’s destined to have a family.”