Ji Mingyue did not reply to the message. Instead, she opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling in deep thought.
Two years ago, in the summer of 2022, shortly after graduating from high school, Zhang Chenxi created this Note account and began posting updates.
At the time, Ji Mingyue, who had just started her freshman year of college, was scrolling through Note one evening and stumbled upon this boy by chance.
Listening to his slightly hesitant voice, devoid of a sound card or accompaniment, and glancing at the few videos on his homepage, all sharing the exact same style, Ji Mingyue was just about to swipe away when a caption caught her eye.
The caption read: "I am a native of Jinling. Every year from childhood to adulthood, our schools organize visits to the Memorial Hall for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre. On memorial days, teachers and students alike willingly put aside what they are doing to observe a moment of silence. Looking at my classmates' heartbroken silence and listening to the wailing sirens outside the window, I know there are some things, and some people, that can never be forgotten. This song is called 'By Your Side'. The moment I first heard the chorus, this scene flashed through my mind:
As the soldiers defending Jinling fought desperately to hold the city walls, they said: 'We loved this city simply because we loved it, and we were never afraid to come here. I wonder if future generations will hate us for failing to hold it? Oh well, there's no time to think about that now. Looking at this familiar city of Nanjing, battered and unrecognizable from the ravages of war, covered in scars, sigh...'
Time shifts. A young child stands before the monument, softly chanting: 'I thought I had forgotten how to yearn, but looking at this breathtakingly beautiful city of Jinling in the evening sunset, how I wish you could return to today and see it so prosperous and thriving.'
An invisible breeze brushes across the child's cheek, feeling like the rough hands of our forebears gently stroking them, carrying their call: 'I remember cradling your face between my hands, quietly looking into your eyes.'
Falling plane tree leaves gleam golden in the setting sun, softening the entire autumn and the world.
The forebears and the child look into each other's eyes and say, with tears in their eyes: 'I want to be by your side.'"
In the summer of 2022, Jinling was thrust into the spotlight due to a particular campaign. Having just finished the gaokao, Zhang Chenxi decided to sign up with a few friends to participate in a street-interview campaign.
During these street interviews, their focus was on surveying the residents of Jinling regarding the campaign.
After three days of conducting interviews back and forth, collecting data, and organizing materials, Zhang Chenxi discovered that nearly ninety percent of the people in Jinling had never heard of the campaign, and of the remainder, most had only heard of it without understanding its content.
Zhang Chenxi was delighted; he wanted to refute those online remarks claiming that "Jinling has no real men." He wanted to prove through his own efforts that the people of Jinling would not forget, and never could forget! The spearhead of public opinion online should not be directed at ordinary Jinling citizens, but rather at finding the truly guilty parties.
After reading the caption, Ji Mingyue was deeply moved. She sent a private message to Zhang Chenxi, asking: "With just this tiny following of yours, your voice is too small. Aren't you afraid of being drowned out?"
Zhang Chenxi simply replied: "Someone will always remember."
Ji Mingyue certainly understood what he meant, but she still followed him and contributed a massive amount of Note+ to that video.
Later on, she heard him sing "Tangible Wings" for a father and his critically ill daughter. She saw his accompanying caption for the song "If Only": "May you have much joy and long-lasting peace."
...
Ji Mingyue had once sent him a private message, asking: "It seems there are voices online now saying they don't want to tie a song to a specific event, because the song has its own story."
He merely replied: "I never intended to replace the original stories of these songs. It's just that when people hear the song a long time from now, aside from knowing the original story, they might also remember that there once was a certain somebody. Her story is also well-suited to this song, and she once shone brightly in this world. The internet updates too fast; many people and many things are quickly forgotten. Perhaps doing it this way can allow them to be remembered a little longer."
Ji Mingyue felt very fortunate to have discovered this kind-hearted boy with such a strong sense of justice. Ever since then, she had never missed a single one of his videos, and whenever she particularly liked one, she would help out by tossing it some Note+.
Naturally, this was also the reason why Zhang Chenxi remembered the ID [Jieyue]—after all, she was his dedicated feeder.
That being said, Zhang Zhangxizhao? Was it a coincidence, or were they the same person? Surely it couldn't be such a coincidence.
It was already very late, and earlier she had even forgotten to reply to her junior's message.
This was the first time Ji Mingyue had been so curious about something that she tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep no matter what.
After struggling for a long time without a shred of sleepiness, Ji Mingyue simply got up and brewed herself a cup of tea. She walked over to the window holding her tea, her hair fluttering in the evening breeze.
Ji Mingyue took a sip of tea, recalling today's suspiciously coincidental events, and still found it hard to believe. If Xizhao really was her junior... that actually didn't sound so bad.
At this thought, Ji Mingyue's face suddenly flushed red.
"Ji Mingyue, oh Ji Mingyue, what on earth are you thinking? Is your study pressure not high enough lately? Or have you been playing too few video games?"
After a round of internal debate, Ji Mingyue severely lectured herself and concluded that her recent problem was simply playing too few video games.
So she turned on her computer, selected a simple, beginner-friendly little game called "Pack of Wolves" that had been recommended in the comment section, and started playing.
Playing it was fine at first, but the more she played, the angrier Ji Mingyue got. After twenty minutes, she finally managed to kill the first elite monster. Another half an hour later, she was just one hit away from killing the red demon before her, only for it to grab her and throw her off a cliff, leaving her unable to even use a revival.
*Bang!* Ji Mingyue slammed her fist onto the desk, her hair disheveled and her expression murderous as she stared at the computer screen.
"What a trash game, I'm not playing anymore!" Consumed by rage, Ji Mingyue wanted to uninstall the game in one go, but then she remembered her own ID: [Genie Girl].
"Hmph, I'm a Genie Girl, what's a little difficulty like this?" Ji Mingyue puckered her lips in a haughty pout.
Half an hour later...
Another *bang!* A moment later, Ji Mingyue slowly stood up from her chair and walked with extraordinary quietness toward her bed. Her expression showed not a single change—drinking her tea, turning off the light, pulling up the blanket, all done in one fluid motion.
Did you think Ji Mingyue had successfully beaten that elite monster?
In reality, by this point Ji Mingyue had reached the absolute brink of explosion; all it would take was a single fuse to completely detonate this human-shaped nuclear bomb.
Fortunately, Zhang Chenxi successfully played the role of the first person to detonate that nuclear bomb, and he would never forget that day—though all of that is a story for another time.
The next morning, as soon as she woke up, Ji Mingyue received a phone call from the veteran professor.
"Mingyue, I have something to attend to this afternoon and won't be on campus. Do you have time to teach a review class for me?"
"Professor Li, aren't there senior fellow apprentices and junior fellow apprentices?"
"Oh, oh, they all have proctoring duties and probably can't spare the time."
"Alright, I understand, Professor. Send me the PowerPoint."
"You're doing great, child. Just go over the questions with them, you know how review classes go."
*Child!* Child again! Ji Mingyue was already irritated from not sleeping well, and at this moment she was ready to flip out.
But there was nothing she could do—who made him her prospective advisor? Because of her exceptional academic performance, the veteran professor had long since been grooming Ji Mingyue alongside his own graduate students. As soon as Ji Mingyue finished her exams, she would officially become his student.
However... it seemed her book had just been lent out.
Feeling a bit embarrassed, Ji Mingyue tapped open Zhang Chenxi's chat window, hesitated for a long time, and typed out two words:
"Are you there?"