Chapter 709: Presents

Even though he had said “Try your best”, everyone could hear the unnegotiable tone in his words.

Shen Li blinked her eyes and took a sip of the soup.

“Oh, okay.”

The tip of Lu Huiayu’s brows raised slightly, and he nodded as well.

“Ah Li, Teacher Shen is right. Even if you have a lot of homework, it’s best not to stay up late. It’s good for your body to sleep early.”

Lu Huaiyu appeared to agree with Shen Zhijin’s suggestion.

Shen Zhijin glanced at him.

Lu Huaiyu met his gaze and said seriously, “Teacher Shen, don’t worry. I will definitely keep an eye on Ah Li and bring her back home as early as possible in the future.”

Shen Li tightened the grip on her spoon and quietly moved back.

It was not easy to finish the meal.

However, Lu Huaiyu was tactful. After the meal, he did not stay any longer. He took the painting and stood up to leave.

“Teacher Shen, Ah Li, goodbye.”

Shen Li sent him to the door. After seeing him enter the elevator, she closed the door and returned to her room.

…

Lu Huaiyu took the painting home.

He then walked into the collection room again.

In the pure white room, several paintings could be seen hanging on the wall.

He sat down on the sofa that was in the middle of the room. In front of him was the painting that Shen Li had just given him.

He stared at it intensely, as if he wanted to deeply imprint it into his heart.

After a long time, his thin lips twitched slightly. He took his phone out and sent a message to Shen Li.

[ Ah Li, this is the best Christmas gift I’ve ever received. ]

…

The next day was Christmas Day.

Shen Li spent another day in the library and did not return to the dormitory until after dinner.

As soon as she entered the room, she saw Xue Langlang sobbing in her seat.

She was crying as she frantically typed on her phone.

Shen Li saw that her eyes were red and swollen. She asked, “Langlang, what’s wrong?”

Xue Langlang looked up at her with teary eyes.

“Sob, sob, sob!”

Shen Li, “…”

Ding Yu helplessly handed her a packet of tissue paper.

“She just came back from watching “Hibiscus”.”

She had been crying for half an hour and still had not stopped yet.

Shen Li finally understood. She thought for a moment and asked, “Are you alright?”

Xue Langlang wiped her tears and finally found her voice. She whimpered as she spoke.

“No, I’m not good! The aftermath of “Hibiscus” is just too strong. Sob, sob, sob, sob, sob, sob, sob, sob, sob, sob! I’m so uncomfortable… Sob, sob, sob, sob, sob, sob, sob, sob!”

Previously, she had seen the movie critics on Weibo saying that the movie was good. After hearing Shen Li say that it was not bad, she had felt relieved enough to book a ticket and had happily gone to watch it.

Who knew that she would cry like a dog in the movie theater!

She had even borrowed tissue paper from the girl sitting next to her!

Even after she left the movie theater, she still could not regain her senses for a long time. Her heart seemed to be soaked in tears, bitter and soft.

Shen Li looked at her red eyes and was silent for a while.

She had not expected Xue Langlang’s crying threshold to be so low.

“I forgot to warn you… However, since it’s so uncomfortable, perhaps you shouldn’t think about it for now. Why don’t you go read a book–”

Xue Langlang whimpered.

“Tomorrow, I’m going to take my friend from the neighboring dorm room to watch it a second time! I can’t be the only one crying!”

Shen Li, “…”

Xue Langlang, on the other hand, seemed to have already made up her mind. She lowered her head again and began to send messages.

As she typed, she did not forget to sob and mutter,”Now I finally know why those bloggers said what they said… Sob, sob, sob, sob! Ah Li, I bet that “Hibiscus” will definitely become the dark horse at the box office this time!”

Shen Li took out her phone and clicked into Weibo.

Today was the first day of the official release of ‘Hibiscus’, and four other movies had also been scheduled to be released at the same time.

Generally speaking, the box office and word of mouth on the first day of the movie were very important.

Especially the latter. Only when the movie became famous could it attract more passers-by to watch it.

Therefore, any promotion through word of mouth on the first day of release was particularly crucial.

At this time, the Weibo trending list was indeed occupied by the relevant entries of these films.

In third and fifth places were the promotion positions, each with a film name.

However, in first place on the trending list, out of everyone’s expectations, was actually “Hibiscus” which had been the most underrated.

# hibiscus #

With a red “Hot” logo on the back, the search volume reached an astonishing 11 million.

Below that, there were a few related entries.

# Hibiscus is so good it will make you cry #

# I’ll still love you ten years from now #

# Ge #

She clicked into the trending topic square, at the top of which was the film review posted by the former film and television blogger “Third Uncle Watches Movies”.

When this Weibo post had first been posted a few days ago, it had already caused quite a bit of discussion.

However, currently, it had once again been pushed to the top. The number of reposts and comments had already exceeded 50,000.

Shen Li had seen this Weibo post before. At that time, the first few hot comments had all been filled with ridicule.

But now, the number one hot comment had changed.

[ I was wrong! I was really wrong! “Hibiscus” was really good! ]

This post had been posted in the afternoon. At this time, there were already more than 1,000 replies.

[ Good movie + 1! ]

[ Previously, Third Uncle had said that this movie was good, but I wasn’t convinced, so I specially booked a ticket to watch it this morning. I just wanted to see what kind of lousy movie Ge had made, but in the end, I cried uncontrollably in the theater! ]

[ I’ve seen it, it’s definitely worth the ticket price! Ge is indeed amazing! ]

[ This has to be the best movie of the year, right? ]

[ Ahhhh! Why is everyone saying that it’s good? There’s no screening in a small city! I want to see it! ]

[ The theme song! The theme song is also unique! ]! I heard that Lin Fengmian wrote and sang it himself. When the hibiscus flowers are in bloom, the music will break through your defenses! Ahhhhhhh! It’s no wonder that younger brother Fengmian chose to work with this movie! His taste is really superb! ]

…

Previously, only a few bloggers had recommended this movie. Most people had not liked this opinion and had even ridiculed it.

However, now that the movie had officially been released, passers-by had given real feedback. Everyone said that it was good, so the credibility of the movie increased a lot.

Shen Li observed this for a while until a message suddenly popped up.

[ Zhongda Cinema, Guangming Cinema, Tonglian Cinema, and the other seven cinema chains have decided to adjust their movie schedules from tomorrow onwards. ]