The Look of Youth Is the Best of Us in Old Times. Dedicated to Hello, Old Times

After watching Hello, Old Times, looking at other people's age of 18, I suddenly realized that I don't seem all that young anymore. A while ago it was popular on WeChat Moments to post photos of oneself at 18; that was really just everyone commemorating youth. Those who haven't experienced it, or young people who are currently 18, probably don't have this feeling: there are things you badly want to hold onto, yet in the blink of an eye they've already stayed in yesterday.

Most previous youth dramas tell of the protagonists' spectacular experiences in youth, doing one major thing after another, so that kind of youth feels distant, because the literary plots are too unreal. This show is really quite special. You might think Lin Yang and Yu Zhouzhou are the protagonists, only to find in the end that no one is the protagonist—everyone is the protagonist of their own youth.

The "protagonist game" Chen An taught Yu Zhouzhou helped Zhouzhou through her hardest times, but it didn't actually make Yu Zhouzhou the protagonist. Later she felt: "Actually it's not so bad not being the protagonist; at least you won't wear yourself out so much."

Striving to grow created a strong positive-feedback effect on life. Whether Lin Yang or Yu Zhouzhou, Jiang Chuan or Ling Xiangxi, Benben or Mi Qiao—without one another's encouragement, none of them would have become who they later were. The reason Lin Yang is Little Sun Lin Yang perhaps originates from the "Fourth Imperial Consort" when he first met Yu Zhouzhou at five. To Chu Tiankuo, Ling Xiangxi is a little princess; to Jiang Chuan, she is the best, one-of-a-kind, somewhat wild girl in the world—the unrestrained Ling Xiangxi is the real her. To Mi Qiao, Benben is the first reason, in all her years of illness, to feel attached to this world. Everyone's growing up has its own helplessness and brilliance; everyone is at their best in youth.

In the show there exist almost all perfect kinds of affection: family love, friendship, teacher-student bonds, and romantic love. The feelings between Zhouzhou from a single-parent family and her mom; Zhouzhou and her uncle and aunt; and Zhouzhou and her biological father whom she cannot meet. Mi Qiao and her dad, Chen An and his dad. And so many more....... Family love is the most selfless and priceless emotion, sheltering all fragile hearts. Friendship is probably the most precious besides family, yet hard to describe. Friendship is probably...... Probably Jiang Chuan keeping watch downstairs at Lin Yang's house when Lin Yang made a mistake; or Lin Yang, Jiang Chuan, and Yu Zhouzhou giving up the guaranteed-admission exam for Ling Xiangxi who had run away; Zhouzhou and Mi Qiao helping Xin Rui and Xu Zhiqiang with makeup lessons...... Lin Yang is like a little sun, lighting up all of Zhouzhou's youth, and warming many people. Jiang Chuan gave everything he had to shelter Ling Xiangxi from the wind and rain. Benben left Mi Qiao all the beautiful memories. Xu Zhiqiang toward Xin Rui went from "bullying" to "redemption." .......

What is the purpose of youth dramas appearing, really? To let people recall the past, or to let those who haven't experienced it cherish it well. This show is very close to reality: school uniforms, the dean of students, the homeroom teacher, horseplay among classmates, conflicts with parents, naive budding feelings, and so on. Yet it is too perfect everywhere, making one envious while also feeling a little regret. Any random classmate or friend in it would be hard to find in real life. Yu Zhouzhou is a true hero. Even when the world treats her with all kinds of malice, she always answers with a smile, and can still gently help those who keep hurting her. In the end, the whole world smiled at her. No matter how malicious, how could anyone bear to hurt such a gentle person again. The regret of our youth is probably discovering we cannot become the protagonist, and that we aren't in anyone else's future either; or not understanding the meaning of striving. Then that bewildered age of 18 just passed like that. The once-unstoppable youths will slowly grow old too. Looking back, everything once unreachable returns to the ordinary. The protagonist of youth isn't even yourself, and the future you worked so long toward still hasn't arrived...... Everyone's youth has different regrets, just as a rainbow has different colors. Mi Qiao said a rainbow has its end; Benben didn't believe it until he saw Mi Qiao tear off that picture. Youth has an end too—maybe at 18, maybe at 80. Whenever you suddenly feel you've grown old, suddenly give up something you've chased for a long time, suddenly loosen a hand you held so tightly—that may be the end of youth.

Perhaps carrying regrets is the meaning of life. There are always things you badly wanted to do but didn't get done, people you really liked but happened to miss. The boy flying with a basketball on the playground at sunset back then, a splash of crimson on the way to school—unrelated to grades or seasons. We in those old times may just be youth at its best.

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