Jiang Xiaoqing didn't notice anything was wrong, she went on to talk, dispirited, "But I know that you are right. This circle, no, I mean, this world is just so sad. The mean ones achieve fame and the good ones are unheard of…… I'm just a normal person who wants fame and money. We don't just look at Mangzhi as our idol because we like her work, but also to look as her as our role model. As such, whenever it comes time like this, I will think to myself: I'm just a normal person. If someone like Mengzhi couldn't even accomplish it then what is the meaning of me being insistent on what I think is important?"
There was a long silence in the living room.
Jiang Xiaoqing suddenly came to and looked up quickly. Smiling with embarrassment, she said, "Aiya, what am I saying? I was just shocked by Zhuo Yixuan today and couldn't help but––"
"I'm sorry."
"?"
Jiang Xiaoqing turned around, stunned, "Why did you suddenly apologize to me, Gu Nian?"
"…Oh, nothing. I just feel that I had underestimated you too much in the past. I had forgotten then when one's name became a symbol, it will come with responsibilities and other meanings."
"Oh?" Jiang Xiaoqing was more and more befuddled as Gu Nian went on. "Why is it that I can't understand what you are talking about? You've underestimated me? Why's that?"
Gu Nian looked up and smiled. She rubbed Jiang Xiaoqing on her head and said, "Well, I have always thought of your as a Foolish, White, and Sweet. I didn't think you consider so much – I'm sorry."
"……?"
Jiang Xiaoqing turned toward Qin Yuanyuan, dazed, "Is she implying something?"
Qin Yuanyuan gave her a compassionate look and said, "As blunt as that statement was, she wasn't implying anything. She was straight up mocking you."
Jiang Xiaoqing, "! !"
When Jiang Xiaoqing was going to pick fight with Gu Nian, Gu Nian had already rushed back to her room at the highest speed possible.
Jiang Xiaoqing straightened out her hair that had been roughed out and dashed behind Gu Nian, both laughing and irritated, "Gu Nian, do you have a quota for mocking me daily? You don't sleep well if you don't mock me for a day? Stop running!"
BAM!
The room door closed barely and Jiang Xiaoqing was shut outside of the room. She could hear the girl, who had barely escaped, giggling from inside her room.
When they were done with the messing around and Jiang Xiaoqing had given up and walked away, the apartment finally quieted down again.
Leaning on her room door, the smile on Gu Nian disappeared slowly.
She had been kidding herself.
She had been telling herself that running away was a shameful but effective solution. She hid inside her own shell and kept on telling herself that her decision was the right one and it was the faults of the others.
But she was only saying that to herself.
Principles aren't a shell and should not provide her with a safe place to hide under. She would even comfort herself by saying that: It was too messy on the outside. She was only hiding so she would not have to meddle with the dirty people out there.
Rather, principles are a flag. What she should be doing was to hold it openly and let everyone see her standing under said flag. She should be speaking out for the flag.
There was a saying that when one is down on luck, one should work on one's own morale standards and not join in with those with questionable morale standards; when things are going well, however, one should propagate kindness and fight evilness.
As principles are not "poor (down on luck)."
If everyone who operates by a set of morale guidelines only keep to themselves, then this world will definitely be run by those without morals.
Gu Nian remained silence for a long time before she walked over to her bed and picked up her phone.
Inside her phone was her Mengzhi account that she had no logged in for two years. Her fingers stiffed, Gu Nian launched the application, verified her identity, and logged into it.
It was an interface that was both familiar and strange. Her pupil shuddered uncontrollably.
Still, she clicked on it and typed one word at a time.
Two minutes later.
That blank account with tons of fans that had been dormant for two years suddenly popped up with a new reminder ––
[I've fallen off the cliff two years ago and, in the spirit of just remaining where one falls, I laid there until now.]
[But I want to climb back up now.]
[When I climb back up to the peak, I want to thrust my chest out and tell you my real name.]
[Will you be willing to listen to me?]