diymy Chapter 1: Liu Yifei and I went on a blind date
Chapter 1: Liu Yifei and I went on a blind date
November 8, 2026, 5:47 PM, Beijing International Trade Center Phase III, "Light and Shadow Era" headquarters office.
Jiang Yu stared at the ink-like fluid on the screen that could never meet his standards, feeling a throbbing sensation in his temples.
This is the third time this week that the results his team has submitted are a far cry from what he envisioned.
"Optimal solution in fluid dynamics?"
Speaking to the video conference screens from the three locations, his voice trembled with suppressed anger, "What I wanted was the wild, unrestrained spirit of Huaisu's drunken cursive script, the piercing grief and indignation of Yan Zhenqing's 'Elegy for My Nephew,' and you've given me a physics experiment report?"
Wu Na, the CTO of Los Angeles, adjusted her glasses on the screen, attempting to convince the artist with science: "Boss, based on the Navier-Stokes equations, we've simulated the capillary effect of ink droplets on rice paper with an accuracy of 0.01 millimeters..."
"Precision is not the same as soul."
Jiang Yu interrupted her, tapping his fingers on the solid wood tabletop. "Back in my USC graduation project, I used an outdated SGI workstation and it still made my professor cry. Now we have five thousand GPU cores, and the things we create..."
He pointed to the screen and said, "It looks like a decorative painting that costs thirty dollars at a print shop."
A deathly silence fell over the meeting. Chen Wei from the BJ algorithm team muttered under his breath, "But that was twenty years ago..."
"I knew what 'spirit and rhythm' was twenty years ago." Jiang Yu leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and said, "Let's redo it. I want to see a breathing ink painting tomorrow morning."
After turning off the video conference, only the low hum of the server racks remained in the office.
Jiang Yu rubbed his temples, his fingertips touching the deep nasolabial folds.
At 42 years old, after 15 years of entrepreneurship, his company is worth tens of billions, and he is a two-time Oscar winner for visual effects.
He is known in the industry as the "Godfather of Chinese Special Effects," and the six major Hollywood studios treat him with utmost respect.
My phone vibrated.
It wasn't a work phone, but that white Huawei MATE90, with the words "Mother" flashing on the screen like an alarm.
Jiang Yu stared at it for a full ten seconds before sighing and answering the call.
"...In a meeting? Working overtime? Saving the world?"
Teacher Zhou's voice pierced through the airwaves, carrying the penetrating power of forty years of teaching experience: "Look at the time! Your blind date is at 5:30. Are you going to crawl there from Guomao now?"
Jiang Yu then looked at the clock: 17:52.
"Mom, I really..."
"What do you mean, 'really'? Your dad's blood pressure was high again yesterday. Do you know what the doctor said? Chronic anxiety! Why is he anxious? Because his son is forty-two and still not married!"
Teacher Zhou spoke at breakneck speed, "Miss Liu, I went to great lengths to get this connection through someone. She's an international superstar! Do you know how tight her schedule is? For her to make time to see you is a huge favor!"
Jiang Yu opened his mouth, wanting to say that the whole thing about "Liu Yifei and me going on a blind date" was like an absurd script.
One is a tech genius recognized by Hollywood, and the other is a "fairy sister" in the hearts of movie fans around the world.
How did these two people come together because of a chance encounter between two senior university classmates?
"I've sent you the address: the rooftop tea room, 'Yun Que,' at the Park Hyatt Yintai Centre."
Teacher Zhou said firmly, "Wear that gray suit I bought you last year, and the tie! Don't bring that designer plaid shirt of yours!"
The phone hangs up.
Jiang Yu gave a wry smile.
He got up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window. Outside, the autumn twilight of Beijing was in full swing, and the Guomao Bridge was bustling with traffic.
Twenty years ago, he stood at the window of his USC dorm room, looking at the lights of Los Angeles, and vowed to "use technology to change the global status of Eastern vision".
Now he has established his status; Disney offered $50 billion to acquire his company, Industrial Light & Magic sees him as its number one competitor, and his domestic peers call him "Master Jiang".
But some things seem impossible to catch up with.
For example, what a mother considers a "normal life".
For example, someone who can say "I'm home" when they get home.
He returned to his desk and saved the project file named "Ink Painting_Seventh Edition_Still Not Working".
He took out the dark gray suit his mother had bought from the dressing room. The man in the mirror had his hair combed rather neatly, fine wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, and his jawline was a bit loose from years of staying up late.
"Mr. Jiang, what's this...?" Assistant Xiao Liang stood at the door holding documents, his eyes filled with surprise.
"A blind date." Jiang Yu said awkwardly, tying his tie.
Xiao Liang opened his mouth slightly, then asked cautiously, "Who is the other person...?"
"Liu Yifei".
The air froze for three seconds.
"That... Liu Yifei?!" Xiao Liang's voice rose eight octaves.
"Otherwise, who else could it be but Liu Yifei?"
Jiang Yu picked up his car keys. "Cancel my board meeting at 8 PM. If I'm not back by 7 PM, it means I got a cup of tea thrown in my face."
As the elevator descended from the 63rd floor, Jiang Yu looked at his reflection in the mirror.
He suddenly remembered watching "The Forbidden Kingdom" in a small theater in Los Angeles twenty years ago.
The woman in white on the screen was graceful and stunning. Jiang Yu, a young international student in the cinema, thought to himself: This kind of beauty can probably only be reproduced with the most advanced fluid simulation and subsurface scattering.
He was twenty-four years old then, and she was twenty-one.
Who could have imagined that nineteen years later, they would meet in this way?
........
5:58 PM, Park Hyatt Hotel, Yintai Centre, rooftop tea room.
The door to the private room was gently pushed open by the waiter.
The moment Jiang Yu walked in, he had the illusion that he had wandered into the wrong movie set.
This is no ordinary tea room.
The floor-to-ceiling windows offer a panoramic view of Beijing as dusk settles and the city lights begin to twinkle on the skyline.
The interior design embodies the minimalist aesthetics of the Song Dynasty, featuring a rosewood tea table, two official hat chairs, and wisps of smoke rising from an incense burner.
She sat by the window.
She wore a cream-colored cashmere sweater, dark gray trousers, and her long hair was loosely tied up, revealing a pair of simple pearl earrings.
Without heavy makeup or fancy clothes, her beauty, refined by time, is even more impactful than what you see on the silver screen.
That is the calmness and clarity that one retains even after living under the lens and the gaze of millions for more than 20 years.
Liu Yifei turned her head, saw him, and nodded slightly: "Mr. Jiang."
The sound is slightly lower than in the movie, giving it a realistic feel.
"Miss Liu."
Jiang Yu walked over and sat down opposite her. "Sorry, there was a bit of traffic on the way."
"It's alright, I just arrived too." She reached out to pour him tea, her movements fluid and graceful.
A brief silence fell, and the city outside the window unfolded like a slowly unfurling scroll.
"Teacher Zhou and my mother were classmates in the calligraphy class at the senior university."
Liu Yifei spoke first, her tone calm, "They seem to think that we all 'need to make some new friends'."
She phrased it tactfully, but Jiang Yu understood the subtext: two "older singles" who were being worried about by their elders were being forced into a pairing.
"My mom printed out your Baidu Baike page and stuck it on the refrigerator." Jiang Yu smiled. "She said, 'Look at him, he's successful in his career, and he needs to take care of his personal life too.'"
Liu Yifei smiled slightly: "My mother said, 'Xiao Jiang is a businessman, down-to-earth.'"
"Those who do special effects are probably no different from computer repairmen in the eyes of the older generation," Jiang Yu said with a self-deprecating laugh.
"You're working on the dream of filmmaking." She looked up at him, her eyes filled with admiration. "I've seen the behind-the-scenes documentary of 'The Wandering Earth 2.' Your team created the first 'digital human' entirely based on Chinese technology. That's remarkable."
Jiang Yu was slightly taken aback; he hadn't expected her to watch such an extremely hardcore technology documentary.
"That's all thanks to Wu Na's team," he said. "I was only responsible for making impossible requests and then forcing them to make them happen."
"Director's mindset?"
Liu Yifei took a sip of tea. "I've worked with many directors, and the best ones all know what they want, even if they can't articulate it clearly."
These words stirred something within Jiang Yu.
He has seen too many actors, especially top actors, who know nothing about technology and just think, "Just do a show in front of the green screen and leave the rest to post-production."
She is clearly different.
"Do you have any knowledge of the special effects process?" he asked.
"I trained in Los Angeles for six months while filming 'Mulan,' and I visited Industrial Light & Magic and Weta Digital," she said. "I also participated in the pre-production visual design meetings. I wouldn't say I understand them, but I respect them."
She spoke the word "respect" very seriously.
Jiang Yu suddenly realized that this blind date, which he had initially thought was absurd, might not be so unbearable after all.
They talked for twenty minutes.
Let's talk about the evolution of film technology, from film to digital, from green screen to virtual production.
They talked about her recent independent film, an art film about a middle-aged female dancer; and about the "real-time global illumination" problem that Jiang Yu's company is tackling.
There was no probing, no deliberate display; it was like two professionals who happened to sit next to each other at an industry summit and discovered that the other could understand what they were saying.
Until Liu Yifei's phone vibrated.
She glanced at it and said apologetically, "Sorry, it's my agent calling. It's probably to confirm my schedule for next year's Paris Fashion Week."
"You're busy," Jiang Yu said, indicating that he would like to leave.
........
She walked to the window to answer the phone, her voice very low.
Looking at her profile, Jiang Yu realized something clearly at that moment.
Liu Yifei.
Liu Yifei, who defined the aesthetic memories of an entire generation from Zhao Ling'er to Xiaolongnu and then to Hua Mulan.
And what was he doing?
I went on a blind date with a "fairy sister".
A sense of absurdity surged up again, this time mixed with something else; a strange, dimensional-crossing sense of reality.
After the call ended, she returned to her seat and said, "Sorry, it was work."
"I understand." Jiang Yu paused, then suddenly asked, "If I may ask, why did you agree to come to this blind date?"
The question was so straightforward that it surprised even himself.
Liu Yifei remained silent for a few seconds, her fingers gently caressing the teacup.
"My mother said that you haven't been in a relationship for ten years and have devoted all your time to work."
She looked up and said, "She said that people like that either have someone they can't let go of, or they know too well what they want and are unwilling to compromise."
Jiang Yu was surprised by this answer.
"She's half right." He looked out the window at the deepening night. "I just haven't met the person who makes me feel 'more interested in writing code'."
He regretted it as soon as the words left his mouth; he was too clueless and lacked any romantic understanding.
Liu Yifei smiled.
It wasn't a polite smile; it was a genuine laugh from being amused.
"Mr. Jiang, do you know?"
She said, "This is the most sincere statement I've heard about blind dating recently."
Jiang Yu smiled too.
The atmosphere subtly relaxed.
After chatting for another ten minutes, Liu Yifei checked her watch and said, "I have a video conference at seven o'clock to discuss the script with a French director."
"I'll see you downstairs." Jiang Yu stood up.
"No need, the driver is downstairs." She picked up her trench coat draped over the back of the chair. "It's a pleasure to meet you today."
"Me too." Jiang Yu paused, "Although it's highly unlikely that there will be any follow-up."
Liu Yifei paused in buttoning her trench coat, looking at him: "Why do you say that?"
"Because you are the actor, and I am the coder behind the scenes."
Jiang Yu spoke frankly, "Our life trajectories are like two parallel lines. It was only because of an elder's whim that we intersected tonight. But after that intersection, we will still go our separate ways."
He spoke very rationally and clearly.
Liu Yifei looked at him quietly, her eyes filled with complex emotions.
Finally, she said, "Parallel lines can also intersect in non-Euclidean geometry."
Jiang Yu was taken aback.
"Goodbye, Mr. Jiang." She nodded to him and walked towards the door of the private room.
After saying that, she pushed open the door and left.
Jiang Yu stood alone in the private room, the aroma of tea still lingering.
My phone vibrated.
Mother: "How is it? How is it? How is it?!!!!!"
He typed: "We had a good chat, but we're not from the same world."
send.
Another message came in from an unknown number: "This is Liu Yifei. We had a very pleasant chat today; you're more interesting than I expected. PS: Your tie is a little crooked."
Jiang Yu looked down and saw that his tie was indeed crooked.
He smiled and replied, "Your observation skills are sharper than I imagined. P.S.: The Pu'er tea is very good, thank you."
send.
He put away his phone and looked out the window.
The lights of Beijing are like a cascading galaxy. In the distance, on the rooftop of the China World Trade Center Tower 3, the logo of "Light and Shadow Era" shines in the night sky, like a bright moon rising from a landscape painting.