Chapter 24

The trending topics had practically been completely taken over by Yuan Ye. Everyone on Weibo was discussing this news. Weibo practically crashed because of all the people searching up Yuan Ye.

Ji Xiaotao exploded too after seeing that Weibo post. He couldn’t stop chitter-chattering in Fang Shaoyi’s ear; eventually, Fang Shaoyi pushed him away, then told him to go back to his own room and to stop being annoying.

Chi Xing reposted Yuan Ye’s weibo with the caption: “[Big smile][Big smile] Yuan Ye ge is so direct! Hahaha, hurry and pursue him! Are these two geges purposefully hurting us?”

Cheng Xun reposted it through Chi Xing’s repost, saying: “Supporting Yuan Ye ge.”

Feng Leizi and the other writers were also very diligent in joining in the fun. They wanted to laugh at Yuan Ye, so their comments were all mocking when they reposted. “Uncle Ye has encountered another spring after the age of thirty.”

“Come, see how coquettish you’ve made your Uncle Ye.”

“Nice and steady, Ye ge.”

At this time, smart people wouldn’t repost Yuan Ye’s Weibo. They also wouldn’t interact with him. This was because currently, Fang Shaoyi hadn’t made a move yet. Nobody knew for sure what result would come out of this post by Yuan Ye. It might pass, or it might completely flop. If the two of them had long since been on bad terms and Fang Shaoyi didn’t reply, or directly refuted him, Yuan Ye would immediately get pushed into the mud. More extensively, if in the future, someone else dug up news about Yuan Ye cheating or something else negative, the people who reposted his post today would also be affected. Others would only dare to make their opinions known after Fang Shaoyi replied.

It didn’t really matter that Feng Leizi and them had reposted it. Yuan Ye and them were the ones in the same circle. At the end of the day, they actually didn’t really care about the gossip in the entertainment industry. However, Chi Xing and Cheng Xun’s almost immediate responses were truly quite surprising. Did the two of them not know about the hidden and complicated thought processes behind this? Impossible. Even if they didn’t, their company would. The two of them had always really liked Yuan Ye and Fang Shaoyi. This had been obvious in the show. Now, they disregarded everything else and quickly appeared to help Yuan Ye change the flow of conversation, slowing down the sharp inquisitions and mocking. It was easy to see that these two kids were quite loyal and cared for their friendships.

Fang Shaoyi wouldn’t let Yuan Ye remain at the cusp of public attention by himself for too long. He very quickly replied by reposting Yuan Ye’s post. He only added one word: “Pursue.”

As soon as he replied, Weibo became even livelier. The celebrities in the entertainment industry all started reposting Yuan Ye’s post, saying that these two really knew how to play around and abuse dogs. Fang Shaoyi called Yuan Ye as soon as he reposted the Weibo, but the call didn’t go through. The other’s phone was turned off.

Upon thinking about it, he realized this made sense. Yuan Ye’s phone was definitely exploding right now as different messages and calls tried to reach him. According to Yuan Ye’s personality, the other would definitely be annoyed, so had simply turned his phone off to avoid it all.

Geng Jinwei’s side had also already started working: he filtered the comments to try and lead the direction of the conversation. He ensured that when entertainment accounts reposted, their comments were all related to promotion for Fang Shaoyi’s new film. This would allow the rumors about Yuan Ye cheating to be suppressed. With this news, it was impossible for them not to get cussed out at all. Therefore, he decided to try and get people to cuss out Fang Shaoyi for trying to commercially exploit this popularity rather than another topic. This would minimize the negative influences the most.

But not everything could be completely suppressed. Some negative comments regarding other things became popular.

“PR 666. You’ve come up with a plan of action so soon. After getting divorced, you still went on a dating reality show and treated your fans like idiots. Now that you’ve been exposed, you’re forcing someone outside of the industry to come and take the blame for you. How quick was it for you to change the story into ‘a couple playing around’. I don’t even know if this year’s onlookers are stupid or if the company’s water army is too amazing.”

“XX Station is as trashy and immoral as always. Could the production crew not have known that they were divorced? Yet they, too, kept it hidden from the audience. Now that this thing’s been exposed, they don’t even dare to make a single noise.”

“When I was watching the show, I felt like Yuan Ye was too troublesome. Fang Shaoyi kept following him around. Saying he’s straightforward is so hilarious. More like he’s straightforward with his ploys. As soon as he says this, Fang can’t even reply. Nobody would publicly refute him like this, not to mention that Fang normally isn’t the type to refute anybody. Isn’t this just him forcing the other to get back together with him? Sorry about this, but I’m going to be direct. This whole situation is so annoying.”

“You went out and had enough fun, but now you want to come back and eat the grass you already had. And you still say your image is stubborn and carefree. Ou. [ Husky ][Husky]”

Unexpectedly, not even a few minutes had passed before Yuan Ye had already called back. Fang Shaoyi stared at the name on the screen, “Monkey”. For a moment, he didn’t know what expression to make as he answered.

“Yi ge,” Yuan Ye called out as soon as the call got picked up.

Fang Shaoyi’s voice was very deep. “Speak.”

“Hahaha, why are you so aggressive? Didn’t you just say that I could pursue you?” Yuan Ye laughed unashamedly. “Turning around and pretending you don’t know me. Not sticking to your promise.”

Originally, Fang Shaoyi was actually a bit angry. But upon hearing his cheerful voice, he couldn’t remain angry. He only felt exasperated. With brows furrowed, he said, “Who told you to say those things? Are you looking to get cussed out?”

“It’s the truth though.” Yuan Ye chuckled again, then added, “Let them cuss me out. I won’t see those comments anyways.”

“The truth?” Fang Shaoyi scoffed. He asked, “You pursued me? You brought up getting a divorce?”

“Ey, it’s all the same,” Yuan Ye said. “No matter who pursued who, didn’t we get together in the end anyways? No matter who brought up the divorce, didn’t we end up......getting divorced anyways? So all of that stuff doesn’t matter. It truly was my fault. I was being overdramatic.”

Fang Shaoyi listened to Yuan Ye speak. As he did so, he slowly relaxed his furrowed brows. This was Yuan Ye. This was something Yuan Ye would say. When Fang Shaoyi had first seen that Weibo post, he really felt furious. This furiosity originated from the fact that in Yuan Ye’s post, he had pushed all the blame onto himself, causing Fang Shaoyi to remain as innocent as could be. Regardless of whatever happened to them in the future, it wouldn’t be Fang Shaoyi’s fault. If they got back together, it would be because Yuan Ye had begged for it to happen. If in the end they remained separated, that would be because Yuan Ye was reaping what he had sowed. In others’ hearts, Fang Shaoyi was still that high and mighty, polite and gentle, film emperor.

Yuan Ye had made that Weibo post on impulse. Actually, he knew better than anyone what his own intentions were. How could Fang Shaoyi be willing for him to carry all the blame? But Yuan Ye acted first. He had already ensured that Fang Shaoyi was in a passive position.

However, the impact this Weibo post had on Fang Shaoyi couldn’t merely be described with the word “furious”.

Had his heartbeat not quickened?

Impossible.

“Yi ge, I’ve been thinking a lot recently.” Yuan Ye was probably smoking. Fang Shaoyi could hear the sounds of him exhaling smoke. “For me, you don’t need to take what I said so seriously. I’m not forcing you. I just don’t want everyone else to dig into our divorce like it’s some scandal. That’s no fun.”

Fang Shaoyi didn’t interrupt him. He listened to him continue.

“I said that because I wanted to leave a second path for us.” Yuan Ye chuckled lowly. “I was scared that you would directly confirm that we had gotten divorced. I acted wretchedly for once because I didn’t want us to separate so completely.”

Fang Shaoyi made a noise of acknowledgment before asking, “What do you want if you don’t want us to separate?”

Yuan Ye laughed again. His laughter was a bit raspy, but listening to it was very comforting. “Must you make me say it out loud?”

Fang Shaoyi replied very generously, “Yes.”

Yuan Ye was still laughing. After he finished, he answered, “I want to get back together with you.”

Fang Shaoyi closed his eyes. He used his finger to scratch the back of his phone. He heard Yuan Ye continue, “Ge, I’m going to be honest with you. Before going on this show, I thought that we were over already. I just wanted to see you. As a person......you know me. I’m not willing to turn back even after hitting the south wall. This was the first time in my life that I wanted to turn back. This entire time, I’ve only wanted to turn back.”

Regardless for the speaker or the listener, this speech was a bit sorrowful. This was because the two words “turn back” carried a feeling of regret.

“But I posted that Weibo because of panic and because I had no other options. Don’t feel like I’m forcing you to get back together with me. Humans need to suffer for their own decisions. In the beginning, I didn’t always use the best methods to resolve things, so chose the most extreme route. Therefore, all the awkwardness and pain today are the consequences I have to bear.”

“I’ll just leave things to time, and to fate,” Yuan Ye said.

Fang Shaoyi was so angry that he felt his vision go black. Who are you waiting for to decide whether or not we have fate? God? Life?

Fang Shaoyi opened his mouth, but didn’t say anything. He had no way of replying to Yuan Ye. He felt like his words were stuck in his throat.

Fine, you can listen to fate then.

“I’ve never witnessed you listening to anyone in almost half your life,” Fang Shaoyi said lowly. Then he scolded, “No matter what you’re going to say in the future, you need to ask me first. Don’t put all the blame on yourself. I don’t need you to carry anything for me. Behave yourself and let me rest slightly more at ease.”

“Alrighty,” Yuan Ye answered with a smile.

The next day, Fang Shaoyi officially posted a Weibo discussing this incident: “I won’t share our family matters with the public in the future. This was a trivial matter that doesn’t need to cause everyone worry; let’s allow emotions to resolve emotional troubles.”

This one post was only two sentences, but these were two loaded sentences. Starting off with “family matters” caused many to ponder. Resolving through “emotions” was also quite mysterious.

Some CP fans cried while eating dog food: “Got stabbed once yesterday, but now this couple has helped fill in my wound one after the other. Charge, Uncle Ye!”

“O K. I love watching this show.”

“qaq I’m begging the two geges! You absolutely need to be fine! You two really, really are my last hope! If you actually get divorced, I’m honestly never going to believe in love again wuwuwuwuwu!”

“Sorry, I still feel like the two of them are so invigorating. Even after their divorce I still think they’re so cool. I suppose there’s no cure for me now......”

Ji Xiaotao got a few fake accounts too and joined in the fun. He commented: “Seems to me like you two simply had nothing better to do. Hurry and get remarried!”

After he commented, he also sent Yuan Ye a message asking: “Ye ge, how do you plan on pursuing him? Do you need his schedule? How about his room number?”

Yuan Ye replied with a voice message: “Can you stop sending me messages? So annoying.”

Ji Xiaotao: “What tone are you using to speak to me? There are plenty of things you’re going to need me for! Reconsider well!”

Yuan Ye lightly responded: “I don’t need anyone.”

Ji Xiaotao: ......

Quite bold.

Ji Xiaotao: “Ye ge, when are you going to start pursuing?”

Yuan Ye: “None of your business.”

Ji Xiaotao asked him: “Ye ge, are you really not going to visit our set? The two of us are very pitiful right now. We do the busy work for the entire crew. Sometimes we don’t even have food to eat.”

Yuan Ye was very cold and responded with two words: “Not visiting.”