Chapter 945: A Billion Stars Can’t Amount to You (Conclusion)
Translator: Paperplane Editor: Caron_
Author: [I changed a small detail from yesterday's chapter. After Ji Yi found out she was pregnant, the time skip wasn't 20 years later, but 30 years later. This means that He Siyi is now 29 years old!]
"Miss Su, I'm afraid there's no way to make your wish come true," said He Siyi apologetically.
"Why?" Su Xia paused for a moment then continued. "Must I first fulfill conditions of some sort? Tell me and I'll try my best to make it happen."
"No..." He Siyao shook her head after just one word and stopped.
"Then why?" asked Su Xia before He Siyi could speak.
It wasn't until Su Xia asked for the fifth time that He Siyi lowered her eyelids and finally gave her reply. "Because... My mother is no longer in this world."
Stunned, Su Xia looked as though she just heard something unbelievable. She stared at He Siyi in a daze for a long while without a reaction.
Silence enveloped the two of them for a very long time before He Siyi spoke again. "Actually, I wasn't named He Siyi. Five years ago, after my mother passed away, my father changed my name to this."
Siyi; Chinese characters that sounded like the words for "to miss" and "to long for." Siyi; the same "Yi" from Ji Yi —— Missing Ji Yi.
The same moment He Siyi said this, Su Xia realized the meaning behind her name.
So, the idol who she worked so hard to get close to for twenty years had already passed away.
Su Xia knew He Siyi wouldn't joke around about her mother's life, but she still couldn't believe it. "But your latest Weibo post was just three days ago. You have many Weibo posts you create till this day, so how could she possibly be-be..."
After she said this, Su Xia gulped but eventually, her words came to a stop. She didn't manage to finish what she was going to say.
"Those are real events that did happen, but the timeline has changed," calmly replied He Siyi as Su Xia understood what she meant.
Having understood everything, Su Xia nodded with a rising warmth within her eyes.
In contrast to Su Xia's devastation, He Siyi looked a lot more composed. "Do you know why I agreed to see you? It's because for the past few years, whenever I log onto my mother's Weibo, I always saw your private messages. When she was famous, she had countless fans, but thirty years later, there were only a few who actually remembered her."
He Siyi was only telling the truth, but Su Xia felt even more stifled. She picked up her coffee and took a hard sip. The bitterness made her feel a little better. That was when she suddenly came up with her next question. "Could you... tell me how she died?" she asked carefully.
"People die from illness and aging; natural causes."
He Siyi only replied to Su Xia with that sentence.
Deep down, Su Xia calculated the timeframe. If Ji Yi passed away five years ago, she would've been fifty-two years old.
At that age, it wasn't considered an early death, but it wasn't considerably late either. It was within the normal and acceptable age range, but she still thought Ji Yi shouldn't have died so early. The He Family was so rich and He Jichen was now a major reputable investor. Ji Yi earned an alarming amount from her acting career, so she could afford to take care of herself...
Su Xia thought something wasn't right, so she continued to ask He Siyi. However, He Siyi didn't mention anything else about her mother.
Not long after Su Xia and He Siyi's conversation, He Siyi received a call and left early, leaving Su Xia full of curiosity.
Su Xia was really curious about how Ji Yi passed away. After she chatted with He Siyi, she spent a whole week pondering this in her mind. When "A Billion Stars Can't Amount to You" first came to theaters, Su Xia bought a ticket. She sat in the movie theater and after watching the three-hour long movie, she came up with the answer.
This movie, "A Billion Stars Can't Amount to You," was plain and simple in the beginning; the young students from Sucheng Yizhong wore school uniforms. There was a group of troublesome friends who played games all day and didn't study.
The young man's desk drawer was filled with multicolored love letters all the time. On his way home from school, girls would stop him to give him gifts. While he played games at the Internet cafe, a pretty girl came over to offer him a cold drink.
But the young man didn't care for any of it. One day during a lunch break, the young man lit a cigarette by the sports track in complete disregard for all the students walking around. Just as he was going to take a drag, three girls in school uniforms passed by. The girl in the middle made the young man cough when she said, "A condom per person." He turned around to look at her but only saw the silhouette of the young girl's back.
That was one part that made the audience laugh. Thereafter, the story continued to be shot in the young man's perspective.
He ordered countless people to find "Cola Girl," but they couldn't find her. When he returned home, he saw "Cola Girl" sitting in his dining room and having dinner with his family. That was when the names of the boy and girl were first introduced to the audience - He Jichen and Ji Yi.
After almost an hour into the story, the film showed scenes of wonderful times on the school grounds. The young man sneakily highlighted points in the girl's textbook and bought her snacks, and the young man was the first to launch punches at whoever bullied the girl. It wasn't until their high school graduation and college entrance exams that the story instantly turned upside down after the boy and girl's drunken sex episode.
The following story was from thirty years ago. Whoever paid attention to entertainment news back then knew about it.
The young woman was sabotaged by her best friend and was put in a coma for three years. Every month, the young man would visit the young woman.
It wasn't until after the young woman woke up that the young man insisted on leaving his prestigious school to attend B-Film to remain by the woman's side. Their story continued after they met up again.
The film was shot artistically with many, many classic quotes.
"I wish you would get lost forever and come to my side."
"The person I love is not my lover."
"There's no justice. Only she is right and you're wrong."
"You were never alone. You still have me."
Half an hour into the movie, the first background song appeared in the movie. It was an old song; "Within Your Radius."
Ji Yi was finally moved by He Jichen, but their story wasn't as everyone imagined and they couldn't be together easily.
After the video of He Jichen stabbing someone was leaked, they were separated for the second time in their lives.
The story continued with more drama until a moment when Ji Yi stood on a stage to accept her award. In front of everyone in the world, she confessed to He Jichen and they finally ended up together.
When Ji Yi found out she fell for the wrong person, when she found out that her best days were spent with the young man after all and when she decided to dedicate the rest of her life to the young man, tears welled up in Su Xia's eyes.
Thereafter, the story shifted to the explosive news from thirty years ago.
The truth behind He Jichen stabbing someone was unveiled and Ji Yi got pregnant.
From then on, the story was incredibly sweet.
Ji Yi's pregnancy wasn't stable, so she had to stay in the hospital for a while. Behind Ji Yi's back, He Jichen bought an exquisitely decorated villa. He stood inside the villa while video-calling Ji Yi.
In the video call, he carefully explained the layout of the villa. In the end, he pushed open the master bedroom doors, where the bed, floorboards, and walls were all covered in roses.
Amidst the sea of flowers, he kneeled before her and pulled out an embroidered box. Sincerely and seriously, he said, "Ji Yi, marry me."
Ji Yi remained in the hospital for a month before she could return home.
He Jichen didn't go to work and always stayed at home by Ji Yi's side to take care of her during her pregnancy.
One night six and a half months later, He Jichen slept a whole week without changing his clothes when Ji Yi was due to give birth.
He Jichen instantly woke up, picked Ji Yi up and rushed to the hospital. In the late afternoon of the next day, the sound of a baby girl crying could be heard from the maternity room. The man who stood outside quietly for eighteen hours abruptly fell on the chair as though he lost all strength in his body.
The year He Jichen's daughter turned two, he returned home to take over the family business.
Because he was busy with work and Ji Yi was rather weak, their wedding wasn't held until the year their daughter turned five.
The wedding was grand but not many people attended. The people who did were their close family members and friends.
The wedding ended at three in the afternoon.
He Jichen and his friend, Chen Bai, sat in front of the tall windows and drank tea. On the other side of the tall windows, Ji Yi played with her five-year-old daughter and their friend, Han Zhifan's, seven-year-old son.
Chen Bai talked with He Jichen non-stop. In the beginning, He Jichen replied, but in the end, he was transfixed, watching Ji Yi play with the two kids.
Chen Bai noticed that He Jichen wasn't replying, so he followed his line of sight. When he saw Ji Yi, he said, "Everyone said that marriage is the death of romance, but I never saw the shadow of those words with the two of you."
He Jichen didn't say anything.
"How does it feel to be married to her?" asked Chen Bai after a while.
He Jichen still didn't say anything.
It was unclear how much time had passed; it was so long that Chen Bai thought He Jichen wasn't going to reply when suddenly, He Jichen's brows relaxed. His voice became gentle like he was talking to himself. "Life was a barren field before, but after marrying her, a million lifeforms miraculously came to life."
Everyone thought the movie ended there.
After the screen turned black for a whole minute, the image of He Jichen and Ji Yi arguing appeared.
From their conversation, Ji Yi wanted to give birth to another child for He Jichen, but the doctor said that the pregnancy wouldn't be easy on Ji Yi. He Jichen was against it, but Ji Yi ripped the condom behind He Jichen's back and became pregnant. He Jichen insisted on making Ji Yi abort this baby.
After the two of them got married, He Jichen was as gentle as water, just like how he appeared in the movie.
That scene was the first time they argued after getting married. He got really, really angry until his eyes turned red and he begged in front of Ji Yi. "Between you and the child, I don't want to lose you."
In the end, the child was aborted.
Ji Yi's condition became a little worse. She stayed in the hospital for three months before returning home.
He Jichen found countless doctors to treat Ji Yi's body for five whole years before her health slowly improved.
As time slipped by and day after day went by, Ji Yi suddenly fainted to the ground the day after her fifty-seventh birthday passed.
Afterwards, she slept three whole days. After Ji Yi woke up, she was so weak that she couldn't quite get out of bed.
He Jichen spent a countless sum of money and practically got all the doctors he could to drop by his home. However, after all the doctors diagnosed Ji Yi, they made the same gesture and shook their head at the young man.
The doctors said Ji Yi's time was up.
The doctor also said the car accident Ji Yi had at nineteen years old took half her lifespan away. It was a miracle she lived till fifty-seven.
In the end, Ji Yi made He Jichen accept reality.
It was heavily snowing the day Ji Yi left the earth. She laid in bed, staring at He Jichen while smiling endlessly. Before she shut her eyes, she said to He Jichen, "Turn our story into a movie okay? Call it 'A Billion Stars Can't Amount to You'..."
Ji Yi mumbled it a few times but He Jichen didn't agree to do it.
In the end, she couldn't open her eyelids anymore and her vision was blurred. However, the words "A Billion Stars Can't Amount to You" managed to leave her lips one last time.
It wasn't clear just how many times she said it before He Jichen finally agreed with a slight catch in his voice: "Alright."
That one simple word made Ji Yi's brows instantly arch. Although she was fifty-seven years old, her smile was still very beautiful. However, before her smile could reach her eyes, she had already, completely slipped into a long slumber.
He Jichen didn't say anything but tightly held her hand as he sat beside her.
The snow fell heavier out the window and the entire city became white. Little by little, his shoulders started to tremble.
...
The movie ended.
There wasn't a single croak in the silent movie theater.
The sound of movement came only after five whole minutes passed.
It wasn't until after everyone in the entire movie theater had left that Su Xia raised her hands to wipe the tears from her face. Then she got up and left the theater herself.
...
This movie, "A Billion Stars Can't Amount to You," became unexpectedly popular. It was number one in the box office and it broke the record for the highest tickets sold in the past five years.
He Jichen and Ji Yi's story was crazily popular online, and "Green Bean Who Grew Up On Dog Food" was frequently listed on the top online searches.
Some of the classic quotes from the movie were repeatedly shared amongst the fans, and the song "Within Your Radius" became popular once again.
There were two highly popular quotes from the movie.
The first quote was: "Do you trust that I can fight with you, side-by-side? Will you trust me to take each step with you from the lowest point of the entertainment industry towards the infinitely brightest point? Will you trust that I can help you get back what was taken from you, bit by bit? So, will you trust me? If you are, come join YC..."
The second quote was: "Your name has my surname in it."
The topic #Begging for Ji Yi and He Jichen to live together forever# appeared on Weibo's top searches the day the movie, "A Billion Stars Can't Amount to You," was released.
He Jichen rarely went on Weibo, but that day, he saw the topic on He Siyi's phone.
He stared at it for a long, long time before saying, "If she were alive and saw this, she would definitely be very happy."
Back then, because he stabbed Qian Ge, many people were against them being together.
Now that she wasn't here, the whole world was showing their support for them to be together.
Time went by quickly and in the blink of an eye, it was spring. The annual movie festival was approaching.
The director, He Jichen, attended, but when he received the award for the best-directed movie for "A Billion Stars Can't Amount to You," he didn't get up on stage to collect the award. Instead, his son-in-law, Cheng Han, went up on stage to accept the award in his place.
After the festival ended, He Jichen instinctively wanted to silently leave with his son-in-law.
But before he could step out the door, he was stopped by the press.
Reporters asked many, many questions but He Jichen never uttered a word. His son-in-law always replied on his behalf.
After they broke away from the media, He Jichen walked on an empty street. The wind blew and the leaves fell. All of a sudden, He Jichen's feet came to a stop.
He Siyi and Cheng Hand also came to a stop.
He Siyi saw her father staring at the road in a daze without reacting for a long time. She instinctively took a step forward, and just as she was about to ask He Jichen what was wrong, He Jichen suddenly said in a very, very quiet voice, "I miss her."
As his voice fell, it became even windier and more leaves fell.
By the time they got home, it was already twelve at night.
He Jichen didn't stop for too long as he stepped into the bedroom, changed into the set of pajamas Ji Yi liked when she was alive, and laid in bed to sleep.
That night, He Jichen had a very, very long dream.
In his dream, he was back at Sucheng Yizhong. He acted like a tyrant in school until he met her...
At the end of his dream, he and Ji Yi sat opposite each other with white hair. Their teeth were all gone, so they couldn't even speak clearly.
But from her vague words, he could tell what she meant. "He Jichen, I miss you."
"I miss you too. I really, really miss you." After mumbling those words in his dream, the corners of his mouth curved into a slight smile.
The next day, the nanny went upstairs to the bedroom and knocked on the door at eight when He Jichen didn't come down to have breakfast.
Nobody responded, so she thought he was still sleeping. She didn't disturb him and went out to buy groceries.
When she came back home, the nanny started to busy herself with housework. By the time she finished, it was eleven in the morning. She walked into the kitchen and was just about to order the servants to prepare lunch when she got a call from He Siyi.
Working at the office, He Siyi felt flustered for some reason, so she called home and asked the nanny, "What's dad doing?"
After being asked that question, the nanny suddenly remembered He Jichen hadn't gotten up till now. "Till now, Mr. He hasn't gotten out of bed."
He Siyi's heart dropped. She instantly put the phone down, grabbed her car keys and rushed back home.
She didn't even change her shoes before she ran right upstairs. She ran to the bedroom door and came to a sudden stop. She stared at the tightly shut door and stood there for a really, really long time before she summoned the courage to gently push the door open.
The curtains in the room weren't drawn and the lights weren't on, so it was quite dark.
She first walked over to the balcony, where she drew the curtains then she walked over to the bedside.
The man on the bed looked peaceful as he laid there silently with his eyes shut.
He Siyi looked at him for a while then walked up to him. She cried "Dad," but there was no answer. She cried "Dad" again, but there was still no answer. Before she could cry "Dad" the third time, tears fell and her fingers trembled. She gently touched He Jichen's hand and realized that, at some point in time, his body temperature had lost its warmth.
He Siyi's legs went weak as she slumped to the side of the bed with a thud.
She knew this day would've come sooner or later. She knew what her mother meant by her final wish of making a movie about their story.
Mother thought that with the time to make this movie, father would be able to accept the truth of her passing, and live on just fine.
But mother underestimated father's love for her.
Right after her last wish was completely fulfilled, father left, without hesitation, to be with her.