I forgot which computer brand the commercial was for, TCL or Founder, or Hasee... Anyway, all I remember is that the boy in it was incredibly, incredibly good-looking, even more so than Alan Carter...” She suddenly stopped, as if she’d bitten her tongue, and after a while continued, “Anyway, he was really good-looking.”

Thomas Chase didn’t say anything.

“I don’t know why, but that impression just vaguely stayed in my mind. When I was standing next to you just now and turned my head to look at you, I suddenly remembered that commercial. Even though you’ve grown up, I’m sure it was you. No wonder you felt so familiar the first time I saw you.”

After Zoe Young finished speaking, she looked at him to see his reaction, but to her surprise, he was like a stone statue, silent and motionless.

It felt like a hundred years passed before Thomas Chase finally seemed to make a huge decision, turned around and said to her, “Let me tell you a story, but you can’t tell anyone, okay?”

Zoe Young nodded. “If it’s an honest story.”

An honest story?

Happiness is learning to bury the truth without guilt.

When Thomas Chase turned back again, the black garbage bag had already drifted off somewhere.

Thomas Chase didn’t like going to the riverside.

In the deepening dusk, the gloomier the weather, the more suffocated he felt when he saw the vast river.

He was also stung by the towering Riverside Hotel standing by the river.

One morning in late autumn of fourth grade, he carefully stepped into the spacious, beautiful lobby, wandering around, too shy to ask anyone, finally finding the elevator after much searching, and pressed the button gently, waiting anxiously.

The teacher said this was a great opportunity—a big computer company wanted to pick a student who excelled in both character and academics and was good-looking. Thomas Chase was to go as an extra to be the spokesperson for the new student-brand computer “Dazzling Youth”—Thomas Chase didn’t really know what a spokesperson was, but instinctively felt it was a pretty good role.

His dad rode the bike, and he hugged his father’s waist tightly, burying his head to avoid the biting late autumn wind, even imagining the grimacing, squinting expression that might be on his father’s face.

As a boy just starting to grow up, he was gradually learning to compare, understanding vanity and shame. On one side was his deep love for his father, on the other, his budding judgment—which brought him disdain and resistance.

He disdained their lack of ambition and muddling through life, and resisted their petty, shortsighted ways.

Yet, after all, they were his dearest, most loving people.

A boy just stepping onto the path of growing up—no one could tell him how to let go.

So he jumped off the bike and told his father, “I’ll go in by myself.”

His father grinned, showing all his teeth stained black from years of smoking: “Dad will go in with you! You don’t know, you get paid for doing commercials. You’re just a kid, you don’t understand, maybe your teacher will take most of it.

Dad will go in with you, so they don’t trick you!”

He could almost feel the veins throbbing at his temples.

“Dad!”

This urgent shout drew the attention of passersby, and Thomas Chase turned and walked away.

He didn’t look back at his father’s expression.

On the 19th floor business exhibition hall, staff were adjusting equipment, all kinds of display screens connected by winding cables snaking across the floor. He carefully stepped around them, asking around, and finally found the staff member named Marine Corp on the business card his teacher had given him.

He bowed and called out “Mr. Hale,” making the other laugh heartily.

He didn’t know what these people were setting up, or what they all did—anyway, it was an event, and even though the organizers were at work, calling them “teacher” couldn’t be wrong, right?

That “Mr. Hale” affectionately put an arm around him and said to the male staff member nearby, smiling, “How about it, the kid I found to be the image ambassador for tomorrow’s new product launch, pretty good, right?”

The male staffer laughed, “Not as handsome as me,” and stuck a rose in his breast pocket.

Dark red, with a faint scent.

“These are extra flowers from the bouquet for tomorrow, take one to play with!”

He held it in his hand, gently rubbing it with his nose, and obediently said, “Thank you.”

Later, he came to hate roses the most.

Marine Corp was busy directing the chaotic setup, but pulled him to the farthest corner of the front row and said, “Thomas Chase, right? Okay, Classmate Chase, remember this: you sit in this seat at the very edge, and tomorrow your name tag will be here. Then, wear your best-looking clothes, preferably a shirt, and wait energetically for the press conference to reach the final step. When the host calls your name, you go on stage with our executive vice president to unveil the new brand computer. You, stand up…”

As she spoke, she demonstrated: “Turn around, wave to the audience—remember, don’t just jump up and rush to the stage, that’s not graceful. At that moment, the whole room will be dark, and the spotlight will be on you.

Then, go on stage, shake hands with our vice president, stand on the right side of the display, and each of you grab a corner and slowly lift the cover…”

Marine Corp’s energetic smile made him feel at ease: “There will be lots of camera flashes, many reporters will take photos, don’t panic, just keep smiling and look in some direction. After a while, the vice president will shake your hand again, and you can step down, that’s it!”

He nodded obediently, then practiced once himself as Marine Corp had shown.

“Very good, little white horse prince, you’ve got style! See you tomorrow!”

He was sent out the door. Looking back at that professional, capable, and charming big sister and the countless people like her in the beautiful exhibition hall, Thomas Chase suddenly felt a little itch in his heart.

He gained a bit more understanding of his own name.

You have to look far, know more—the sky is vast, don’t be a frog at the bottom of a well.

Thomas Chase ignored his mother’s questions about the payment that night, and his parents’ argument over “which outfit Tian Tian should wear tomorrow.” Thomas Chase buried his head in his pillow, not sure if he was nervous or excited.

Tomorrow, one of his good friends, the class monitor girl, would be going too.

That pampered little girl had begged the teacher herself. At that age, she didn’t really know to avoid suspicion, she was just purely interested. Thomas Chase instinctively liked this well-traveled, privileged, and deeply admiring pretty girl. Of course, he liked it even more that such an outstanding girl clung to him.

The harmless vanity of a young boy.

He stared at the moldy corner of his room—the unreasonable family upstairs had flooded the place again and again, the two families quarreled endlessly, yelling at each other in the hallway, their postures so ugly that Thomas Chase wanted to bang his head against the wall.

He had never invited anyone to his home to play.

Outside the door, he could vaguely hear his loved ones arguing and planning for his big day tomorrow, and the gratitude and contempt in his heart twisted into an ugly rope, choking him.

The next day was overcast.

He would always remember the moment he stood in front of the Riverside Hotel and glanced at the river.

The silver-gray river rolled eastward, the sky full of leaden clouds, indistinguishable from the earth, impossible to tell which was reflecting which.

The second time he entered the Riverside Hotel, he was much more at ease and confident, and found the little girl waiting by the elevator with a big smile.

“Wow, you look so handsome today!”

He pursed his lips and smiled, a little shy.

On the 19th floor, the business hall was already filling up with guests, and the “long guns and short cannons” of the reporters in the back row made the little girl gasp in awe.

She sat alone on an extra row of chairs by the door, and Thomas Chase went to his seat in the corner, his palms a little sweaty. From afar, he saw Marine Corp greeting people with a confident, radiant smile, and finally felt a little calmer.

Soon, he was drawn in by the event itself.

It started with a ten-minute promotional video, introducing the company, its past glories, its products, its executives... He watched intently, as if encountering a whole new, much higher world for the first time.

Including the host’s pleasant, standard Mandarin, with no accent, graceful demeanor—so much better than his school teachers, let alone his parents.

The vice president went on stage to speak, with a huge bouquet of flowers on the podium. He suddenly remembered the rose still in his bag.

Would the whole bag naturally take on that scent?

Finally, the lights dimmed, and the host announced in a pleasant voice, “Now, let’s welcome the outstanding student representative from the city, Thomas Chase from Yuming Primary School, to join our Mr. Howard in unveiling the mysterious new ‘Spark’ student computer!”