You won't go to school.
Do you really plan to raise horses in our hometown?
I've made up my mind.
When I come of age next year,
I'll ask Aunt Baoping to introduce a girlfriend to me.
I'll be together with her for a few years.
When I reach the marriageable age, I'll marry her.
In this case, Grandma can have her great-grandson early.
So what comes after?
Have your child help you raise horses?
They'll be sent to Kunming to Dad,
so he'll have something to do.
Kill two birds with one stone.
You want to kick me, right? Come on.
Do you want to kick me? Come here.
Kick me. Here.
Kick me hard! Come!
I'm not going to school! I want freedom!
Come and kick me!
Kick me!
Come on!
-Zhiyuan. -No school. I want freedom.
You made your brother angry again?
-Xiaxia, you're here. -Grandma.
-We're waiting for you to have dinner. -Ham for you.
Such a good ham.
Come again tomorrow.
I'll cook it for you.
Thank you, Grandma.
What's wrong, Zhiyuan?
He wants to kick me back to Kunming.
You're kicking him out again?
He doesn't like studying. You force him and he'll suffer.
It's also a waste of money.
That's right.
Shut up.
Let's put Zhiyuan's issue aside.
Xiaxia, I invited you to dinner today
to ask about your friend in Shanghai.
Did my mom come to you again?
Don't blame your mom.
She's worried about you.
My sister went to college.
So my mom thinks she's right about everything.
I only graduated from middle school.
When my sister says I'm wrong,
my mom thinks I'm wrong.
Then tell me the truth.
What will you do in Shanghai?
Just travel around.
The farthest place I've been to all my life is Kunming.
I can't even remember because I was young.
You're just traveling? Won't you look for a job?
I'll go and see first.
So are you going there to find a job?
You've learned wood carving for so long.
When my uncle was drunk a few days ago,
he said your skills got better and better.
It's not easy to learn a skill.
Are you just going to give up?
No.
Kaiwen, my friend in Shanghai,
has friends in Shanghai who opened a wood carving studio.
He could get me an interview.
I'll see if it's okay.
His friend opened a wood carving studio.
Then what does he do?
He runs a homestay.
Recently, he went to Tonglu on business.
He said that when he's done,
I could stay at his house.
This is him. The middle one.
He looks your age.
He is two years older and much better than me.
How did you know each other?
I live stream when working.
I have a few audience,
but only he sent me a reward.
Later, my master caught me and said I didn't focus on my job.
Then I stopped it.
Zhiyao, don't always think of me as a child.
I'm already 22.
I want to go out and look around.
Then how do you plan to tell your master?
I'll say it's just for a couple of days.
And they won't necessarily hire me.
My master has been angry recently.
Don't make excuses.
If you do have the idea of going out and looking for a job,
you should tell him clearly.
This is the least respect for him.
And the wood carving workshop
can also arrange other workers.
Okay, I got it.
As for your mom,
I'll talk to her.
Eat up.
Thank you, Zhiyao.
That's great, Xiaxia!
Remember to get me a souvenir.
No problem.
Eat up.
Grandma, what are you doing?
Come to dinner.
I'm frying some milk cakes.
No need, Grandma. It's enough.
Grandma, come and eat.
Right away.
You two eat first. I'll help.
Okay.
This is so delicious. Try it.
Grandma, let me help you.
Did he kick you?
He didn't dare kick me.
Zhiyao.
All right.
I got it.
Is he back yet?
He hasn't arrived?
Okay, I got it.
Rest early.
All right.
Is that you, Xiaxia?
Sit here.
Well…
Zhiyao called me
and told me to let you go.
Since he has said that,
I won't stop you.
Are you still angry?
I'm not angry.
I'm just worried.
In my whole life,
let alone Shanghai,
I haven't even been to the provincial capital.
You're going so far this time,
traveling by planes and trains.
I'm just worried.
Zhiyao also told me
that you are an adult now.
He asked me not to treat you like a child.
Since you want to go to the big city,
I should let you go.
I just feel sorry towards your master.
He has been guiding you for almost six years.
You're about to get to work,
yet you're leaving.
It will be embarrassing when we meet in the village.
Don't worry about the family.
And you don't have to think about sending money home.
I work in the warehouse.
That salary is enough.
It's just you.
The outside is not as good as home,
where there is a hot meal waiting at the door.
When you're outside, everything is on your own.
I heard people say
that there are not all good people outside.
You're artless.
I'm afraid others will bully you.
I'm afraid you'll go down the wrong path.
Aunt Feng's son, Xie Qiang,
was such a good boy.
But he went out with the bad guys, went on the wrong path,
and ended up in jail.
That's all. Pour the water for me.
Don't just pour it out. Pour it into the bucket.
I'll flush the toilet with it.
Mom.
I'll make a lot of money in the future
and buy you a big house in the city.
It will be near the hospital where there's everything.
Just wait.
I won't get used to it.
Live there with your wife.
Your family has so many talents.
Zhiyuan is not enough.
There's also Xiaxia.
Xiaxia is different from Zhiyuan.
Xiaxia has been thoughtful since his childhood.
His dad passed away young.
Aunt Baoping brought up two children all by herself.
Xiaochun is older.
He knows to help the family wash clothes and cook.
Xiaxia was only about nine when he followed a bunch of uncles
to the mountain to collect mushrooms to sell.
Cerebral hemorrhage was an incurable emergency.
Uncle Zeqing was sent to the city hospital by a tractor.
His journey was delayed.
If the hospital was closer,
maybe he could be saved.
Your dad thought
to send Zhiyuan here to raise horses
to let him suffer
and know that life is not easy.
Then he'd be willing to go back to school.
But look what happened.
He's addicted to raising horses.
That gives me a headache.
A little trouble and he wants to quit.
What's the matter?
Isn't he poor at learning?
Right, he can't learn.
Guobao, you've been playing for ten minutes.
Stop it.
Let me play for a while more.
You are too young to play games.
It's harmful to your eyes.
Can you write your name now?
Idiot.
Dad!
-Idiot. -Dad!
Hit him.
He plays all day long.
And you.
Guobao is not even five and already wears glasses.
Don't you manage him?
He's not noisy only when he plays with the phone.
Is that so?
Let me see your little glasses.
You're cute with glasses, right?
He is cute, right?
You should get married and have a baby.
It's fun to have a kid.
Really?
Guobao, call me Daddy.
-Daddy. -Kiss your daddy.
If your sister-in-law hears, she'll kick you to death.
Guobao, don't play with the phone.
How about playing games with Daddy?
Why did you get up?
You can't sleep?
I slept a lot in the afternoon.
You're not sleeping too.
Do you want to eat?
I'm not hungry, thank you.
You'll be hungry soon.
I have experience.
I'll get the dishes.
Let's eat together.
-Enough chili? -Add more.
Do you want chili, Hongdou?
A little.
Thank you.
Damai, your noodle is so delicious.
You can open a restaurant.
It requires no skills.
Whatever ingredients I have,
I just throw them into the pot and boil them together.
With the same ingredients,
some people can cook well, others can't.
I'm the one who can't cook well.
Damai's cooking is delicious, but she doesn't wash the dishes.
I don't cook well, but I can do the dishes.
So every time I want supper,
I just call her.
Meal buddies.
Hongdou, how about your cooking?
It's not good.
I'm busy with work and don't cook much.
The kitchen in the apartment is small and smelly.
What do you do for a living?
I worked at a hotel's front office.
Front office?
I was the lobby manager.
I was in charge of catering, guest rooms,
and the executive lounge.
I coordinate among departments
to provide better service for guests.
That's awesome.
What's awesome about that?
I got promoted by virtue of seniority.
After all, my age was there.
That's so awesome.
After I graduated, I've never worked in the office.
Do you freelance?
What do you do?
Damai is an online writer.
She works at home normally.
A writer?
It's my first time meeting a writer.
I'm just a small online writer sitting at home.
I have neither representative works
nor sense of existence.
A transparent one whose existence is meaningless to the world.
How can you say that?
Online writers are amazing.
Unlike me,
when I write an 800-word composition,
I need punctuation to reach the word count.
Where can I read your novel?
I want to appreciate it.
I think…
I think there's no need to read it.
I don't write well nor want to lose my vest.
Wait until I write a good one.
-Lose the vest? -Lose her online alias.
I won't ask anymore.
What about you, Nana?
I was a cashier in a coffee shop in Shanghai.
Later, they laid off employees, so I drove to Yunnan.
I came here by chance.
I really liked it, so I stayed here to work.
Please take out your cash.
Please take out your card.
You only need to change the screen.
The content in the phone won't disappear, right?
No, the motherboard is not broken.
There is no screen in my store.
It needs to be sent here.
Leave your number and I'll call you after it's repaired.
I don't have a cell phone.
Or you can leave me your number and I'll call you.
Sure, here's a business card.
It takes about three days.
Okay.
TAXI
Do you have an alarm clock or something?
No.
What about a watch?
No, either.
No one buys those, so I don't order them.
You can set an alarm on your phone.
It's convenient.
My phone is broken and in repair.
How much is it?
It's 86 yuan.
How long will you stay here?
Three months.
Did you come to learn embroidery?
No. I'm just traveling.
Here's your change, 14 yuan.
You knew Zhiyao before?
No.
But he let you ride Little Cutie.
I stepped on horse dung.
I'll step on horse dung next time.
Forget it.
My name is Xiaoqin. What's your name?
Xu Hongdou.
That's so fancy.
I also have a fancy name.
I picked it myself.
Won't you ask me what it is?
What's your name?
My name is Candy.
Candy.
How about it? It's fancy, right?
It's fancy.
You're busy. I'll go first.
-Come and play when you are free. -Okay.
Xiaxia.
-Didn't you go to Guangzhou? -Not yet.
My dad told me to say goodbye to the master.
-Stop! -I'll go first.
Stop!
Come back!
Take it back!
What are you doing here instead of the workshop?
Yes, right.
Take all of these and return them.
Tell their families not to come again during festivals.
Go ahead.
Me?
Of course!
Hurry and tidy up.
What did you come here for?
It's nothing, Master.
Let's talk about it tomorrow.
Tell me, don't hesitate.
Say it!
Master, I just…
I want to travel to Shanghai for some days
and see if I can find a job over there.
I heard from friends in Shanghai
that the wood carving studio over there is recruiting.
I've never been anywhere else.
I just want to have a look.
They may not accept me.
Master, don't be angry.
Go ahead.
My little temple can't hold you great Bodhisattva.
Go ahead.
EXPRESS WAYBILL, DALI TO ZIBO
EXPRESS WAYBILL, DALI TO NANJING
It must be able to get out.
I don't think it can get out.
Come on, ant. Be brave.
I said it couldn't come out.
Why can't it come out?
Just run out with nose pinched.
Tuotuo.
It's you.
We meet again.
Is this your friend?
Yes, he's called Huzi.
Hello, Huzi.
Who is she?
She's a new friend I just met.
I don't know who she is yet.
My name is Xu Hongdou.
You can also call me Aunt Hongdou.
You're not an aunt.
You are a sister.
Your mom and I are of the same generation.
You should call me Aunt.
My mom said someone old like this can be called aunt.
Look, it's still circling.
Come on, ant.
LOAN OF TUOTUO'S TELEPHONE WATCH
Hongdou, I'll go to play with you some other day.
Okay, bye.
-Bye. -Bye.
Thank you, Hongdou.
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE
Ms. Xu.
Mr. Ma.
Some tea?
Sure.
Let's go.
Pu'er tea or black tea?
I'm fine with both.
That's the hardest type to serve.
Pu'er tea.
Are you bored?
No.
You just read dozens of pages.
The phone is more fun, right?
Yes.
But I can't play it all the time.
It's bad for the eyes.
And I will feel empty.
When the human brain is stimulated,
it will produce a strong reaction.
The excitement threshold will be higher and higher.
Emotional control will get worse.
So
when you put down your phone,
you'll feel empty
and bored.
Then your emotions
will be excited and irritable.
Over the course of time,
you'll be screwed up.
Can I still be saved?
Meditate.
What do you think about when meditating?
At the beginning of meditation,
you have to learn to control yourself.
Throw away
all the distractions in your heart.
Focus all your attention
on your breathing.
What's after focusing on breathing?
Just concentrate here.
That's it?
That's it.
It's better if you don't understand.
Look at the tea.
You want to say that even tea goes through
trials and tribulations.
It needs to be fermented for a long time
to become tea.
In this world, everything needs practice.
Right?
I mean…
The tea infusion is ruddy and shiny.
-It's ready to drink. -Thank you.
Won't you answer it?
No need.
It's tea time.
Nothing else is important.
However,
it's a little annoying.
My apologies.
INCOMING CALL
TURN OFF
The teacup is a little small.
Give me more.
Tea needs to be tasted.
Okay.
When will Mr. Li go to Shuhe River?
I will go too.
Then, make an appointment for me.
The wood carving workshop is not your business.
Why do you care so much to even go there yourself?
It's within my ability.
I'll help if I can.
After all, I call him Uncle. Right?
I can't just stand by and watch the workshop get closed down.
All right. When Mr. Li decides the time to come,
I'll tell you.
-Thank you, buddy. -You're welcome.
Let's chat when we meet someday.
-Bye. -Okay.
Mr. Xie.
Aren't you tired of taking care of all these things?
You got a deal for him.
That solves no problem.
He doesn't listen to you.
You said to help him for free.
But he guarded against you just like a thief.
He's not guarding against me.
He just thinks that publicity
is like a potter praising his own pot.
It's shameless to brag.
You show excessive passion to someone cold.
It's okay.
He will feel the warmth one day.
I like this in you very much.
Are you trying to warm someone cold?
Thick-skinned, just like me.
Thick-skinned?
Our new tie-dye painting details page,
have you designed it?
Almost.
I've just finished the design of the green plum packing box.
Wasn't that the day before yesterday?
I'd better go back and do crosstalk.
Even Landlord Zhou Bapi made the cock crow until midnight.
You just don't let the cock sleep.
Doesn't designing take time?
That packaging was just some changes made
to the ugly apple's design.
You should hurry up.
On my side, the pre-sale promotion plans
of the tie-dye paintings and green plums are done.
I'm just waiting for your design to be posted on our account.
All right, ma'am.
I'm wrong. My bad.
You are too lazy to do crosstalk.
You'll be starving and begging on the overpass.
We northerners don't bully northerners.
Don't group with me.
Hello?
Hello.
Right.
Okay.
Xu Hongdou.
Your mom couldn't find you, so she called me.
My mom couldn't find me?
Call her back.
She sounds very anxious. Here.
Thank you.
Mr. Xie.
Would you like some tea?
Sure.
Hello, Mom.
What's up?
Xiaogang and his family
want to travel to Beijing.
You can apply for the preferential price for employees.
A 20% discount, right?
How much is it with a 20% discount?
More than 900?
Let me talk to Hongdou.
Aunt Sun will talk to you.
I'm Aunt Sun, Hongdou.
Aunt Sun.
Actually, Xiaogang and his wife
don't have to stay at our hotel.
Transportation in Beijing is very convenient.
The subway is also efficient.
Well, Hongdou,
it's because you are in Beijing. Right?
We're staying in the hotel because of you.
I mean, you are the manager,
big leader or something.
Can you make it cheaper?
Unfortunately,
I'm on vacation in Yunnan.
I can't receive them.
Besides, the hotel price is not my decision.
I can't change it.
Well, then,
tell me the price range you can accept.
Let me ask other friends in the hotel industry
to recommend a cost-effective one for you.
Five hundred?
Five hundred, right? Got it.
Let me help you choose.
Okay.
Thank you, Hongdou.
Come back often.
Aunt Sun will make delicious food for you, all right?
You can talk to your mom. Okay.
Hongdou.
How's your trip going?
Very good. I'm in the yard with friends.
We're drinking tea.
Have you repaired your phone?
I can't contact you. I'm worried.
What are you worrying about? You don't call me every day.
It's one thing whether I call or not.
Getting in touch with you is another thing.
It's being repaired. I'll get it in two days.
That's good. Then you play.
I'll hang up.
Look at you.
How did you raise your two daughters?
Both are successful.
Before, my Xiaogang
was in the same class as your Hongmi.
-You remember, right? -Yes.
One was the tail and the other was the head.
It's…
Xiaogang is also great now.
He took his dad's position in the fertilizer factory
and lives in the next building.
If he wants to have dumplings, just yell from the window.
Unlike my children.
Year after year,
I can't even see them.
It depends.
Look at phones now. How convenient!
We can also make video calls.
It's the same no matter how far away.
Yes. It's the same.
All right.
You didn't talk to your family about your resignation?
I'm afraid they would worry if I tell them.
Was there anything wrong with your work?
No.
Then you just don't want to work anymore?
Not really.
All these years,
day after day…
I'm a little tired.
Did you usually have no rest?
Our industry is a little special.
Even when you rest,
you need to reply to messages
and make calls to customers.
You can't relax.
So usually, when I was off duty,
I just wanted to lie down.
Got it. Workers have no life.
Life is all elsewhere.
In front of us,
everything is mundane.
Here is elsewhere.
You've come to the right place.
The air is good in our Yunnan, South of Colorful Clouds.
No pollution.
You can go out more.
Have a sunbath and taste good food.
In three months,
you are sure to have all your spirit recovered.
How long has Mr. Ma been here?
Less than one year.
He has absorbed the essence of the sun and the moon.
He's about to mutate.
There is atavism.
He doesn't talk normally.
No wonder he's annoying.
About the annoying thing,
the ancients said,
there are no rules for external things.
Sorry. I need to answer the phone.
Hello, old schoolmate.
Right, the matter of transferring a student.
The student's registered residence is in Kunming.
Please ask for me first.
Okay. I'll wait for your message.
Okay. I'll treat you someday.
Okay. Bye.
Isn't your brother not going to school?
He can't just stay at home and muddle along.
Now it's all computer assigned based on registered residence.
It's not easy to transfer, is it?
Why not go to the school in his registered residence?
He…
doesn't want to go there.
Poor study?
Not really.
He's just naughty and lazy.
About the laziness in human nature,
it's a long story to tell.
I'll go feed the horses. Goodbye.
Goodbye.
I'll check out the hotel.
I'm leaving too.
Your tea is very delicious. Thank you.
There are no rules for external things.
But the heart needs to achieve emptiness.
Definitely.
Uncle.
Are you eating alone?
Let me add a dish for you.
And this bottle of red wine.
My good friend sent it to me.
Let me share it with you.
Why are you here?
Xiaxia is going to Shanghai.
I was thinking, what if he irritated you?
I had to come and see you.
I knew you weren't that nice.
You came to make fun of me, didn't you?
No.
I just came to drink with you.
I'm not used to drinking foreign wine.
Wine glowing in the luminous jade cups.
Drinking to pipa songs, we are summoned to fight.
Don't laugh if we lay drunken on the battleground.
How many warriors ever came back safe and sound?
There was wine in Tang Dynasty.
When did it become a foreign drink?
Come on.
Taste it.
Not bad.
Horse urine is better.
Drink it yourself.
I know you might not get used to it.
Try this.
Cherry wine made by your grandma?
Great.
Wonderful.
Zhiyao, let me tell you.
At that time,
you were young.
You must not remember it.
I was young then.
I had over a dozen wood carving masters.
Their craft was awesome.
At that time, every family built houses.
They all came to us.
People from the village
and outside the village all came here to find us.
The orders never stopped.
They had to wait in line at the gate.
The end of the line was out of sight.
The family who wanted the children to learn wood carving
always gave me wine, meat, fruits, snacks, or something.
That never stopped either.
When did we need to beg someone else?
It was everyone coming to us.
My son said
that it's different now.
It's all machine carving.
Cheap and fast.
People are replaced by machines.
Most people in the future will be replaced by machines.
The government asks me to pass the tradition on.
But nobody wants to learn it.
Even if someone learns it,
the work in the future
will be done by machines.
It's not working.
It's not all true.
What the machine can do is always the most basic thing.
It can't replace people.
Because it can't create things.
Can the machines
make your reliefs?
Good things won't be replaced.
But if no one knows them,
no one appreciates them,
they will disappear slowly.
So we need to promote them
and publicize them.
Let more people know about this thing,
so they can like it.
Have you ever been to our embroidery workshop?
I won't go.
The online stuff is messy.
I can't stand it.
Both you and Master Huailan accept apprentices.
Then why does she get more apprentices
while yours run out one by one?
Subtitle translation by: Luo Haoyue es