Hugo felt like he couldn't breathe. Every call with his father was like this—nothing but arguments. Their noisy quarrels seemed to be the main theme of their relationship, and this time, because of Christmas, it had reached a new peak.Adam's words just now revealed far too much information. For instance, Adam and Lena's marriage hadn't been happy, and Lena seemed accustomed to shifting all the blame onto Adam. Their subsequent separation had been unpleasant. However, based on Adam's tone, one could vaguely guess that Hugo had a better relationship with Lena. After Lena left, the father-son relationship turned sour. But then, why had Hugo not maintained any contact with Lena?Furthermore, the relationship between Hugo and Adam had always been terrible. It seemed Adam had tried to extend an olive branch to Hugo before, but the young and arrogant Hugo hadn't been having any of it. Of course, given Adam's style, that olive branch was likely both crude and subtle; perhaps Hugo hadn't even understood his father's intentions. Consequently, Hugo and Adam had mostly just spoken over the phone these past few years, and the number of times Hugo returned home was likely countable on one hand.Why did it have to be this way? They were clearly each other's only family, yet they were unwilling to sit down and talk properly, choosing instead to hurt each other's feelings with repeated coldness and confrontation. In this world, the people who can hurt you are always the ones you love. Strangers can give you physical wounds, but psychological scars only come from those you love deeply.Perhaps the stubborn barrier between Hugo and Adam formed precisely because they were family who cared about each other. The greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment, and the deeper the hurt.Hugo thought back to his situation with his family before he transmigrated. He had been the same back then, using coldness and confrontation to hurt one another. The problem was that understanding this now was too late; Chen Hugo no longer had a chance to fix any of it, but Hugo Lancaster still did. At this thought, Hugo's heart felt empty, like an unfathomable abyss. He tried to find ground but couldn't find the limit; the coldness rushing up caused Hugo to shiver again and again.Ultimately, Hugo didn't go home. He knew that if he went home abruptly, it would only backfire. If he wanted to improve his relationship with Adam, he had to take it step by step. This was a long march, and right now, he hadn't even started.On Christmas Day, only Hugo and Ernst on the second floor remained in the entire building; everyone else had gone home for the holiday. Hugo took the initiative to greet Ernst, but unfortunately, he was met with a cold shoulder again; Ernst had no intention of acknowledging him. Despite this, Hugo still prepared a Christmas gift for Ernst. It wasn't because he was overly kind-hearted, but because he was spending Christmas alone—no family, no friends. Since Hugo didn't know much about decorating Christmas trees, there was no festive atmosphere in his home aside from three red Christmas stockings.Especially considering his relationship with Adam, Ernst was also alone. Hugo didn't know if Ernst was married or had children, because in the year he had lived here, he had almost never seen Ernst have any visitors. Regardless of Ernst's temper or whether he had family, at least on this Christmas Day, he shouldn't be alone. So, Hugo decided to give Ernst a Christmas gift, just to have a bit of a festive atmosphere.When the midnight bell tolled, Ernst opened his door and saw the red Christmas stocking placed there. He muttered, "Annoying fellow," followed by a string of curses. After hesitating for a moment, he eventually brought the stocking inside.Hugo curled up alone in a quilt on the pool table in the hall. Looking out through the large floor-to-ceiling glass window, he watched the city's brilliant lights shimmering hazily in the night, eventually fading one by one as time passed, falling into a soft tranquility. The sound of a special program on the television in the hall continued to play, but Hugo wasn't in the mood to watch.A year had flown by in the blink of an eye. People say that one misses their family most during the holidays. Although Christmas isn't a traditional Chinese holiday and Hugo's current skin wasn't that of a yellow person anymore, today he especially missed his partners from Glory to Death and his parents, whom he hadn't seen in ten years.Speaking of which, Hugo's life this past year seemed to have flourished. In the 1992 year-end box office rankings, both of Hugo's films made it into the top twenty.Although the Disney classic animation "aladdin" was consistently suppressed by "a few good men," its long-term box office stamina was astonishing. It ultimately became the 1992 year-end box office champion with $217 million. Although "home alone 2" was far inferior to the first film in terms of word-of-mouth and its box office had shrunk significantly, it still became the runner-up with $173 million. "a few good men," which had shocked countless people with its strong explosive power, trailed by $3 million, ranking third on the 1992 box office list!This box office list was likely something most people hadn't expected. The strength of "a few good men" became a microcosm of Hugo's year.Behind "a few good men," "batman returns," "Lethal Weapon 3," "Sister Act," "the bodyguard," "Wayne's World," "basic instinct," "A League of Their Own," and "unforgiven" ranked fourth through eleventh. At the same time, these eleven works were the ones that broke the $100 million mark at the North American box office this year.Additionally, "scent of a woman," which earned $80 million, ranked sixteenth, just behind "bram stokers dracula."This year's most talked-about works included the animated masterpiece "aladdin," "basic instinct," which sparked countless taboo discussions, and the underdog "a few good men," which completed a counterattack after being underestimated. These three films together formed the 1992 cinematic landscape. A series of sequels, including "home alone 2," "batman returns," and "Lethal Weapon 3," were not satisfying, which further highlighted how rare the brilliant performances in Hugo's two films were.One can imagine how surprised people were by Hugo's performance when the year-end rankings came out, after he had experienced three consecutive years of low points and the shame of the Golden Raspberry Awards. This was evident from the tightly packed promotional schedule at the end of the year and the overflowing praise from various news media. 1992 could definitely be called a special year for Hugo; from the Golden Raspberry Awards at the beginning of the year to the pride at the end, Hugo had experienced a rollercoaster of a year.Both "a few good men" and "scent of a woman" achieved a double win in word-of-mouth and box office. In particular, the third-place ranking of "a few good men" on the year-end box office list was an unprecedented height. Its continuous momentum in the last two months of the year also marked Hugo's official move from a second-tier to a first-tier Actor, sweeping away the decadence of the past three years and making people look forward to his future performances even more.This was not just a victory for 1992, but a victory for Hugo Lancaster's ten-year acting career, as well as a victory for Chen Hugo's ten years of hard work and one year of struggle after transmigrating. This hard-won victory made Hugo feel deeply moved.Logically, Hugo should have been excited about his achievements this year. In fact, he was; he was very happy because these were results won through his own hard work and struggle. Hugo knew all too well the hardships and persistence of the entire process, and the happiness in his heart was surging. But on this Christmas night, Hugo wasn't happy at all because he was alone.It had nothing to do with Uma, nothing to do with friends like Charlize or Joseph; it was only about family. Christmas was supposed to be a day for family reunions, but Hugo sat alone in his rental apartment in Los Angeles, looking at the starlight outside the window. The Chinese takeout sat quietly on the table. Not only could he not sit at the same table as his father for dinner, but he still had no contact with his mother. Hugo even began to suspect if his deduction was wrong.Was the relationship between his previous self and his mother, Lena, not good? Or was it that his father had forcibly cut off contact between his mother and himself, leading to the deterioration of the relationship between Hugo and his father? Or perhaps there was some other unknown secret... Hugo had no clues and could only let his imagination run wild along the melodramatic lines of a soap opera, making his already irritable mind even more confused. Life was already messy enough with the endless trivial matters involving Ron Meyer and Tracy Jacobs; now he had to add a complicated family relationship. What was even scarier was that Hugo had no idea where to start, to the point where he could only stand still, bound hand and foot, afraid to take any step for fear of stepping on some unknown landmine.Hugo began to miss his life before transmigrating. If it were Christmas 2014 now, what would he be doing? He would likely be performing at some party with his partners from Glory to Death, or on the way to another performance venue. Then, he would probably hesitate about whether to call home but eventually give up because his family didn't celebrate Christmas. After that, they might be booed off the stage at some party but would continue to sing at the top of their lungs regardless. And then they would be in the back of a truck, singing loudly against the biting cold wind to drive away the chill... As the midnight bell tolled, Hugo whispered to himself, "Merry Christmas." Then, in his heart, he silently said in Chinese, "Chen Hugo, Merry Christmas."Drowsily, Hugo drifted into a dream. He had a very, very long dream. He dreamed that Glory to Death stepped onto the stage of the Midi Rock Festival. He dreamed that he met his parents again after ten years. He dreamed that he returned to the embrace of 2014, where there was sunshine, music, laughter, friends, and family...
