As for Ni Jingxi, she accompanied Ni Pingsen to the cemetery again, because it was almost the anniversary of Gu Mingzhu's death, and Ni Pingsen had been wanting to visit Gu Mingzhu ever since his memory returned.
This time, Ni Jingxi and Huo Shenyan accompanied Ni Pingsen upstairs and then left quickly.
Ni Pingsen gazed at Gu Mingzhu in front of the tombstone, and suddenly a tear rolled down his cheek. He slowly knelt down on one knee and gently wiped the photo on the tombstone.
He started liking girls when he was eighteen, and even today he still remembers what she looked like when he first saw her.
She was wearing a polyester shirt and a red skirt, a vibrant and lively red that he had never seen before in his pale small-town life.
That intelligent and beautiful girl, like a little elf, jumped into his heart.
He could finally remember Gu Mingzhu again.
Finally, Ni Pingsen gently approached the tombstone and placed a devout and persistent kiss on it. When the kiss ended, his cheek was pressed against the photograph, and he whispered, "After I pass away, I will surely be buried with you again."
I will always love you, my precious pearl.
...
They stood at the bottom of the steps, looking up. Ni Jingxi suddenly turned her head and said, "Will you forget me one day?"
Huo Shenyan turned to look at her, and for a moment his eyes were terrifyingly menacing.
Ni Jingxi immediately raised her hands in surrender: "Okay, I really shouldn't have asked such a stupid question."
Huo Shenyan still didn't smile, but instead reached out and hugged her tightly, his eyes filled with helplessness and heartache. He understood her thoughts, after all, she had witnessed firsthand how Ni Pingsen had forgotten Gu Mingzhu.
Ni Jingxi had only asked casually, but when she returned home half a month later and saw the layout of the house, she thought for a moment that she had gone to the wrong place.
Because she saw that the room was decorated with every star she could see.
Giant crystal stars, paper stars, and star balloons...
There were even star stickers on the floor, stretching from the entryway all the way to the stairwell, seemingly guiding her. Until Ni Jingxi entered the bedroom.
When Ni Jingxi pushed open the door, she saw Huo Shenyan standing at the window.
It was that window where her face was blurred in her dream. When Ni Jingxi told Huo Shenyan about it, he was very annoyed by that bedroom window and wanted to take down the curtains.
He looked at Ni Jingxi, suddenly smiled, and casually raised his hand to gently unbutton a button on his shirt.
When Ni Jingxi approached, Huo Shenyan had already unbuttoned all the buttons on his shirt.
She was still wondering about his behavior.
Then she watched as he slightly pulled open the shirt near his heart, and she saw a small star imprinted on his chest.
Ni Jingxi opened her eyes wide.
Huo Shenyan raised his hand and pointed to the star, whispering, "Star, I will never forget you."
"Because my heart will always guide me to you."
Ni Jingxi's eyes welled up with tears. She walked over and reached out to hug him. Even if it was just a casual remark from her, he would respond with all his might.
So she really believed it.
Now she is not only the star in his palm, but also the star imprinted on his heart.
Chapter 80
In early October, the office was quite quiet; apart from the sound of typing, no one was talking.
When Xue Yujie came in, he tapped lightly on the glass door with his fingers a few times. He waved what he was holding and said with a smile, "Comrades, our news department has some great news to share this time."
Everyone looked up with interest until Xue Yujie spoke up: "Congratulations to reporter Ni Jingxi for winning the Gold Award at the World Press Awards in the Netherlands with her work 'LIVE'."
For a moment, applause filled the large office. Even though they weren't the ones who won the award, their colleagues were still very happy.
Ni Jingxi was still in a daze when Song Yu gently nudged her and whispered, "Jingxi, congratulations."
A male colleague, standing some distance away, also called out loudly, "Jingxi, congratulations!"
Then, congratulations echoed throughout the office, and everyone smiled and looked at Ni Jingxi, until someone shouted, "Jingxi, remember to treat us!"
Ni Jingxi smiled and nodded: "Okay."
At this moment, colleagues began to congratulate her one after another. They all knew that Ni Jingxi's photo had been submitted for the competition. Everyone was quite curious at first, but the judging process was very long, and many people forgot about it after a while.
Everyone is quite happy about this sudden piece of good news.
Ni Jingxi was almost done with her work when, unexpectedly, in the afternoon, an internal email was sent to everyone in the newspaper, congratulating Ni Jingxi, a reporter from the economics news team, on winning the gold medal at the Dutch World News Awards.
Even the notice board at the main entrance of the newspaper office has been updated with this new notice.
In Xiaoyu's words, the newspaper's series of actions meant that Ni Jingxi was putting on too much of a show.
Xue Yujie also revealed something to Ni Jingxi: her photos had been submitted to the National News Award, even though the international awards seemed very prestigious.
However, this award is not simple. It is approved by the Ministry of Culture and is the highest award for annual news works nationwide.
The awards ceremony is broadcast live globally by CCTV every year.
Winning this award would be the first major step forward in her journalistic career.
Ni Jingxi never really had high expectations for winning the award. After all, the greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment if she didn't win. It was better not to have any expectations in the first place.
But she really didn't expect this Dutch journalism award.
It really feels like a windfall.
Xue Yujie then asked, "By the way, the awards ceremony is probably around October. Are you okay with that?"
Ni Jingxi was slightly taken aback, and said in a low voice, "You know that."
Xue Yujie sighed and nodded: "I know, I know, I understand about your wedding. After all, you women have an unparalleled obsession with weddings. I just didn't expect even you to be like this."
Ni Jingxi was slightly taken aback, and looked down at herself. Why did she look so unfeminine?
However, the wedding was indeed delayed for too long. It should have been held much earlier. But on the bright side, the delay allowed her to finally meet her father.
This time at her wedding, she won't have to walk down the aisle alone; her father will lead her by the hand to the man she loves most.
The wedding was set for October 27th. Even someone like Huo Shenyan couldn't resist the trend when choosing a wedding date, and Zhong Lan picked out several dates for them.
Huo Shenyan immediately chose October 27th.
When Zhong Lan asked him for his reason, he acted as if it were perfectly natural.
He said, "27, isn't that just loving my wife?"
At that moment, Zhong Lan reached out and pressed the back of her hand against his forehead, unable to help but ask, "Son, are you running a fever? I suddenly feel like you're not my son anymore, your brain is all muddled."
In the end, this day was chosen.
When it came time to choose bridesmaids, Ni Jingxi faced a dilemma: Huo Shenyan's group of friends were all unmarried. Meanwhile, all of her college roommates, except for Ai Yaya, were already married; she, the earliest to marry, was the latest to hold her wedding.
Zhong Lan told her that it was okay to invite married people, because that's how it is in Hong Kong.
If Ni Jingxi really wants to invite her roommates, she can follow the local customs. After all, the Huo family still has an old house in Hong Kong and can be considered a half-Hong Kong family.
Ni Jingxi didn't expect Zhong Lan to have even come up with a reason for her. So after she called Yan Han, Chen Chen, and Ai Yaya and told them, all three of them actually wanted to be her bridesmaids.
Zhong Lan had already organized their wedding once before, so organizing it again was a piece of cake for her.
A week before the wedding, the preliminary results of the National News Awards were finally announced, and Ni Jingxi was shortlisted for the top prize. The organizing committee invited her to Beijing to attend the awards ceremony.
After Ni Jingxi told Huo Shenyan about it, he smiled and kissed her: "Go ahead, I'll be waiting for you at home."
After Ni Pingsen regained his memory, he moved back to the old house despite Ni Jingxi's objections.
For him, that place held memories of him and Gu Mingzhu; he was familiar with it and wanted to live there. Ni Jingxi was initially afraid that he would become as obsessed with the past as she had once been, and strongly opposed it.
However, Ni Pingsen continued to work at the porridge shop as usual, and occasionally went fishing with Huo Zhenzhong. He even joined their fishing association.
His life wasn't stagnant, which finally put Ni Jingxi at ease.
When Ni Jingxi went to Beijing, Huo Shenyan personally took her to the airport. He was only able to go with her because he had work to do these days.
However, once she arrived in Beijing, someone naturally picked her up.
As soon as she came out of the exit, she saw a very tall man waving at her, with a girl and a little girl standing next to him.
"I am Jiang Jingcheng, Shenyan's cousin." The man greeted her with a smile after she stepped over the railing.
Ni Jingxi paused for a few seconds, then whispered, "But Shenyan said you are his cousin."
The woman next to her finally laughed without giving her any face. She took the little girl's hand and whispered, "Little Duo'er, say hello to her."
Yan Yu chuckled and said, "Jingxi, don't mind them. Both brothers are like that."
With a serious expression, she said, "Hello, Yan Yu, I am Huo Shenyan, Jiang Jingcheng's cousin."
This was clearly imitating Huo Shenyan's way of speaking, and Ni Jingxi laughed.
Yan Yu continued, "When I first met Shen Yan in our compound, he said the same arrogant thing to me."
"Looks like I'm not the only naive one." Jiang Jingcheng smirked slightly.
To everyone's surprise, Yan Yu showed no respect for her husband and looked at him with a smile: "But Shen Yan was only seventeen when he said that."
Ni Jingxi had heard a bit about Yan Yu and Jiang Jingcheng's story. They were childhood sweethearts who separated for more than six years before finally getting back together.
Zhong Lan used this example to tell her that when she learned that Huo Shenyan and she were temporarily separated, she didn't panic at all.
After all, other couples were separated for six years and were still able to get back together, while they've only been apart for a year.
Huo Shenyan almost lost his composure when he saw Zhong Lan's words, because it seemed as if they hadn't been apart long enough.
Surprisingly, this was the first time she had met Huo Shenyan's mother's relatives in all the years she had been married to him.
Jiang Jingcheng and his wife accompanied her to a meal. During the meal, Ni Jingxi couldn't take her eyes off their daughter, Tang Duo'er, because the little girl was so cute and adorable, with big, bright eyes and a delicate, porcelain-like appearance.
Even she had an urge to sneak her home.
After dinner, they took Ni Jingxi to the hotel arranged by the organizing committee. Ni Jingxi personally delivered the invitation to them during the meal.
They both promised they would definitely come.
The next day was the awards ceremony. This was Ni Jingxi's first time at CCTV. Although both were national-level media outlets, Ni Jingxi was still amazed by CCTV's studio.
The director told them about some of the program's flow, and that some awards had already been announced.
However, the highest awards, such as the Gold Medal for Journalism, are announced live.