Time Travel: The Queen's Coronation

After a few days in Ho Hong Kong, I've discovered the fast pace of life here, and the living quarters are incredibly crowded. The high-rise buildings are so densely packed together that it feels suffocating to look up from below, with only the sky visible in four corners. The wealth gap is stark here. The well-off enjoy ample space, while the poor are forced to squeeze into tiny houses—no, tiny rooms. A family squeezed into a few square meters is unimaginable, but it's actually happening here. That's beside the point; we don't need to settle down here. We've been walking around a few neighborhoods these past few days, and they've all felt quite historic. Many of the scenes are familiar to me from Hong Kong films, and the Hong Kong style and fashion are still very much alive today. Since we're here, let's take a photoshoot! While we're still young, let's capture the most beautiful moments in photos. I asked Li Zhanwen and searched online for good photography companies. I'll list a few and discuss it with Rong Zixuan later that evening.

"Zixuan, we've all come to Hegang now, shouldn't we do something?"

"What to do?"

"You like Hong Kong movies, right?"

"I like it, especially the police and gangster and martial arts ones."

"What do you think of the Hong Kong style? Is it nice?"

"Hong Kong style? Do you mean movies or something?"

"It's the Hong Kong style fashion, the kind of clothing worn by the protagonists in Hong Kong movies in the past."

"Oh, it's fine, what's wrong?"

"Since we're already here, how about we take a set of Hong Kong style photos?"

Rong Zixuan stopped what he was doing and said excitedly, "Wedding photos? Okay, we're not married yet, but we can still take wedding photos first!"

"I didn't say wedding photos, I meant couple photos"

“It’s all the same.”

"Different"

“What’s different?”

"Wedding photos are taken when two people are wearing wedding dresses and are a couple or planning to get married. We are not at that stage yet, so these are just couple photos."

"It's all the same anyway, let's take a photo in a wedding dress too."

"No, if we take wedding photos and we don't get married later, I will be so embarrassed. I am too shy to do such a thing."

"How could you think like that? Think about it, if we take wedding photos now, it's like announcing to the world that we're getting married. If we don't make it in the future, most people will call me a scumbag, not you. We can also be together under everyone's supervision, so as to avoid those people who always have bad ideas about you and let everyone condemn them together."

"So that's what you were thinking."

"Hehe, who made those guys keep me worried all day long? I thought there was only one Liang Yan, but now there are two more rich second-generations."

"I'll just give you peace of mind."

"You are relieved, but I am still upset when they cause trouble."

"Okay, okay, let's take a photo together. I've picked out a few photography companies. Come over and choose one when you're done."

"No need, you choose, I'll listen to you. I still have some information to sort out, and it will probably be quite late. We need to be more efficient and take this photo quickly, and make our wedding photos public so that those men will give up."

"Okay then, I'll choose the outfit too."

"Yeah, choose, I'll listen to you."

I spent the whole night choosing and finally picked one that I was satisfied with. We also agreed on a time, so all I had to do was wait for the time to come and take the photo.

Rong Zixuan and I carefully prepared the training materials every day, and the engineers also listened carefully and studied them attentively, so the training ended half a day early. We handed over the final work and had a meal in the evening. The training ended here. After that, we only needed to provide after-sales technical support.

On the morning of the shoot, Rong Zixuan and I arrived at the photography company at the agreed time. They put on our makeup and then drove us to various locations for the shoots. At each location, we changed our costumes and adjusted our makeup. Throughout the day, we experienced the life of a celebrity on a film set. The schedule was tight, and the shoot was inevitably full of unexpected events: a crowded location requiring a wait, a small accessory missing from a costume, or a problem with the equipment. We shot until after 1:00 AM, and returned to the hotel exhausted. After showering and cleaning, we finished at around 3:00 AM. The next day, we had to go back to the photography company at 8:00 AM, and then finish late again that evening... This cycle continued for three days before we were able to shoot all the scenes. The photos still needed to be retouched and corrected, so they couldn't be turned out quickly, but the photography company would mail them to us once they were finished.

The day after filming wrapped, we slept until we woke naturally, packed up, and headed home. It was already the 28th day of the 12th lunar month, and with Lunar New Year just two or three days away, we returned to our hometown in Gyeongju, bringing with us the local specialties we'd bought in Hegang. After transferring between buses, we finally arrived in downtown Gyeongju at 11:00 PM that same night. We couldn't go back home for the time being; driving too late wouldn't be safe. We were both extremely tired and not in a good mood for driving, so we decided to stay the night at Rong Zixuan's house and return the next day.

The next day, we slept in naturally as usual, but Rong Zixuan hadn't known when he'd left; by the time I woke, he was long gone. A little after midnight, he returned with my brunch. I later learned he'd been out shopping for New Year's goods, stuffing the trunk and even the backseat full. A half-hour drive on the highway brought us back to my hometown, a place I hadn't seen in ages, a place I hadn't been back to since the start of the spring semester last year. Now that we were back, the larger landscape remained the same, only the details—the trees had grown taller, the trash cans had moved, and a shop on the street had a new owner and name. But no matter how the details had changed, my hometown remained as familiar, its people as warm and friendly. As I stepped out of the car and touched the ground, my blood surged. So this is what it feels like to feel grounded. I wanted to shout, "I'm home!"