Chapter 25

Fang Shaoyi was already really good at working with his scissors now. When he stood there, he actually seemed quite similar to a young barber – except for the fact that he was a bit tall. The chair needed to be raised as high as possible for him to comfortably reach someone’s hair. Liu An said that he was fine now. As long as he was good with scissors, a comb, and a blowdryer, that was enough. Liu An casually grabbed a kid over and said, “Come, your hair’s getting long. Let your Shaoyi ge give you a haircut.”

The boy’s gaze was filled with horror, but he didn’t struggle. As if preparing for death, he sat in the chair and said, “Okay.”

Fang Shaoyi made eye contact with him in the mirror and smiled. “Don’t be nervous.”

“That’s impossible......” The boy’s expression was pained. “But my hair grows really fast, so it’s fine.”

Liu An patted him on the shoulder, leaned against a chair off to the side, and sipped at his milk tea. He said, “If it turns out bad, I’ll get someone to fix it for you.”

The boy nodded. He sat there and allowed Fang Shaoyi to fiddle as he wished.

In all honesty, he was getting more than he thought he would. Not only was this a haircut, but it also included a head massage. The background setting for the film was a bit ambiguous, but was largely set in an era similar to the 90’s. Thus, reclining chairs like the ones in modern salons didn’t exist. During the application of dry shampoo, the client could only remain sitting in the chair while the barber rubbed their hair until it started foaming. This would be both a hair wash and massage. These were a film emperor’s hands – as Fang Shaoyi rubbed his hair, the boy started smiling. He said, “I really ought to take a picture right now and send it to my girlfriend. She really likes Teacher Fa......Sen Cha.”

Fang Shaoyi joked with him too. He glanced at the other in the mirror, then said, “You should’ve turned on a livestream for your girlfriend when you were ordering me around yesterday.”

“My goodness.” The boy blinked. He glanced over at Liu An who was laughing off to the side and softly said, “Director already said that Teacher F......he! Said that he won’t hold a grudge.”

The onlookers started laughing too. The atmosphere around them was only a bit more relaxed because Fang Shaoyi was working. If he had nothing to do, these people were required to find more tasks for him to complete. They also needed to exclude him. Either way, everyone was used to it now. Sometimes, they even forgot that he was Fang Shaoyi in their hearts. They had already successfully brainwashed themselves.

There was one week left until Fang Shaoyi would start filming. This period of time that had lasted almost a month had been pretty rough to live through. Sometimes, the multitude of people purposefully making things difficult and specifically targeting him became too much. Everything was only okay because this was Fang Shaoyi. If this were any other actor of the same status as him, they probably would’ve long since been unable to hold back their temper and exploded.

Yuan Ye had said that he would pursue Fang Shaoyi, but after saying so, nothing else happened. The conversation regarding their divorce had stopped spreading online as well. It ended with Fang Shaoyi’s Weibo post. All that followed were only considered trivial arguments. Most people were merely onlookers blindly guessing and analyzing. After the parties involved stopped appearing, everything stopped. The two of them didn’t have any gossip worth digging deep into anyways. However, this was also partially because Geng Jinwei and the company’s PR department were continuously suppressing and monitoring the comments. These past few years, Fang Shaoyi had rarely used his PR department. This was the first time that he had needed such a large-scale operation.

Geng Jinwei was beyond exhausted because of these two. It had been several days since he had called.

A while later, Ji Xiaotao led someone into the dressing room. He told Fang Shaoyi, “Ge, the company’s rookie is here.”

Fang Shaoyi turned around and glanced at them. The boy Geng Jinwei had previously brought along smiled at him. He nodded in greeting, “Shaoyi ge.”

Fang Shaoyi nodded back at him and asked, “Have you seen the director already?”

Yang Siran answered, “Not yet. I just got here.”

Fang Shaoyi made a noise of acknowledgment. “Has the company assigned you anybody yet? Is someone following you around?”

“Yes, Boss Geng has arranged for an assistant for me,” Yang Siran nodded.

“Okay,” Fang Shaoyi said. “If you need anything, you can also tell Xiaotao.”

In private, Ji Xiaotao told Fang Shaoyi, “I feel like the kid’s not bad. He’s pretty obedient and doesn’t have any unforgivable issues. He’s in good condition as well. If we promote him properly, he should be able to become popular.”

Fang Shaoyi wasn’t really in contact with the kid all that much. Geng Jinwei wanted to promote him, so he would help the other out, but he didn’t really have any opinions.

The rookie was, after all, signed to Fang Shaoyi’s studio. Besides, Fang Shaoyi himself was on set too. Thus, everyone treated him quite well. Yang Siran was extremely polite to everybody, even the film crew’s workers. He never tried to act important either. However, many rookies acted this way prior to getting popular. If they became famous in the future, they would practically switch personalities. The entertainment industry was just this motivated by wealth and fame. Kissing up to those better off than you while stepping on those worse off than you had already become a habit.

Fang Shaoyi’s first scene was in collaboration with him. This was also purposefully arranged by the director. Of the entire cast, Yang Siran was the only newbie. The director scheduled for his first scene ever to be with Fang Shaoyi because he wanted to use this as an opportunity to get the other into character faster. Besides, he was Fang Shaoyi’s artist. Fang Shaoyi had brought him on set, so he was responsible for teaching Yang Siran how to act and practicing lines with him.

Prior to the start of filming, Yang Siran told Fang Shaoyi, “Shaoyi ge, I’ve never acted in a movie before. If I’m doing anything wrong, just tell me straight. You don’t need to save face for me or anything.”

Fang Shaoyi glanced at him and said, “Don’t worry. There’s no need to be nervous. Since Boss Geng signed you, that means he sees potential in you. Take it slow.”

“Un, I’m just scared of causing trouble or holding you back.” He smiled in slight embarrassment. “So if I perform poorly in any way, tell me.”

But unexpectedly, this kid had a pretty good feel for acting. The first scene was Fang Shaoyi’s initial arrival at the little village and how he rented a room. Yang Siran’s character was Sen Cha’s landlord, a very cowardly college student with glasses. After graduation, he became assigned to the pharmaceutical factory for work. Later, because of his poor health, he quit. When Sen Cha arrived at the little village, he was in the middle of loitering around at home, collecting rent to maintain a living.

Sometimes, it took several days for a newbie to pass the first scene. However, it only took four takes before they passed this one. Some people had a natural feel for the camera. Though they’d never acted before, they had very strong impulses regarding how to behave on camera. Directors liked these types of people more: their favorites were people who had never really acted before but were talented, because that meant that they were extraordinarily clean slates. They had never learned multitudes of techniques before. And, in addition to their natural skills, they were easier to mold. After the molding procedure, there might even be an unexpected surprise.

Later, Director Jiang said to Fang Shaoyi, “Little actor’s not bad.”

Fang Shaoyi nodded and replied, “He’s alright. He’s lucky to be debuting in your film too.”

“Luck?” Director Jiang scoffed. “Your Boss Geng stuck him in. There was originally a more fitting little actor who got squeezed away by you guys.”

Fang Shaoyi smiled. He could be more straightforward when speaking with Jiang Linchuan. He said, “Boss Geng wants me to help him.”

Jiang Linchuan didn’t say anything else. At the end of the day, this wasn’t an important character. Besides, the kid, Yang Siran, wasn’t bad.

Movies with modern backgrounds like this one weren’t as difficult to film as historical ones. Fang Shaoyi didn’t have to suffer as much, so Ji Xiaotao was able to relax a lot more. Because of this, he started worrying about useless matters. He asked Fang Shaoyi, “Ge, has my Ye ge pursued you yet or not?”

Fang Shaoyi replied, “What does it look like to you?”

“I haven’t seen anything happen between you two.” Ji Xiaotao tentatively asked, “When is Ye ge going to start pursuing?”

Fang Shaoyi didn’t even look up. “Go ask him.”

“He’s not replying to my messages because he’s tired of me,” Ji Xiaotao said.

These days, Yuan Ye had truly stopped replying to his messages. This pissed Ji Xiaotao off so much that he was extremely close to blocking the other.

Fang Shaoyi scolded, “I told you not to keep annoying him.”

“I’m scared that if I don’t contact him, you guys won’t speak to each other again for a long time. Aren’t I just anxious?” Ji Xiaotao handed the script for tomorrow’s scenes that the assistant director had given him to Fang Shaoyi. He said, “For us, we have to stay here filming until May of next year. All you do is stay on set. You never go anywhere. If I don’t call Ye ge over, when are you guys going to be able to get back together?”

Fang Shaoyi was annoyed at him too. He pointed his chin at the door and signaled, “Hurry and go back to your room. Go to sleep. Don’t stay here and lecture me.”

Ji Xiaotao was originally planning to head back too. He said, “Then you sleep earlier too, ge. You have to get up at six in the morning tomorrow. I’ll come wake you.”

Fang Shaoyi waved, wanting him to leave. Ji Xiaotao closed the door behind himself.

Yuan Ye was too unreliable. He said he wanted to pursue Fang Shaoyi, but disappeared after a phone call. The CP fans online asked about Yuan Ye’s progress everyday, dreaming about the day that they would be able to get a mouthful of dog food again. However, this person had vanished once more. After getting one’s hopes up, he hid.

Fang Shaoyi grabbed his phone and sent Yuan Ye a message.

Their chat was still stuck on their conversation last time, when Yuan Ye had texted Fang Shaoyi “Thank you for this destiny.” After, they hadn’t messaged each other again. Fang Shaoyi pressed his lips together and sent to Yuan Ye: Waiting for fate to land on your head?

He wasn’t counting on Yuan Ye to reply. Who knew when the other would check his phone again?

When Yuan Ye replied, Fang Shaoyi had already fallen asleep. In the middle of the night, he said: Hahahahahahaha.

Fang Shaoyi’s phone was at the head of his bed. He grabbed it and glanced at the screen, then furrowed his brows and directly replied with a voice message: “What are you dumbly laughing about.”

He was half asleep, so his voice was deep and raspy. When it travelled through the phone line and reached Yuan Ye, it could even make Yuan Ye’s ear feel numb. Yuan Ye responded with a voice message too: “You’re seducing me, ge.”

Fang Shaoyi closed his eyes and sent him a voice message: “Seducing your what?”

Yuan Ye replied very quickly: “Seducing my ear.”

Fang Shaoyi didn’t even open his eyes; they were still shut: “You’re hard?”

Yuan Ye first sent over ellipses. Several seconds later, he sent a two second voice message. While laughing, he said: “Fuck......”

These two people were pretty insane. One probably hadn’t gone to bed yet, while the other was half asleep. Then, they chatted back and forth, holding a meaningless conversation.

Yuan Ye asked Fang Shaoyi: “Has Xiaotao become gay? Seems to me that he acts less and less like a straight man these days? He dilly-dallies as much as an auntie.”

“Don’t know.” Fang Shaoyi didn’t pay that much attention to his assistant’s love life. He knew nothing on the topic. “If he keeps annoying you, just block him.”

“That won’t do either. Sometimes he has official business.”

It had been too, too long since they had spoken with each other like this – messaging each other purely to chat. The last time had been several years ago. At that time, they hadn’t thought too much about anything. They did as they wanted.

Later on, Yuan Ye simply called. Fang Shaoyi answered. Yuan Ye laughed and said, “Yi ge.”

Fang Shaoyi responded with, “Un.”

Yuan Ye said, “Do you feel like right now, we’re acting like two coquettish uncles who are imitating how the young men chat these days?”

Fang Shaoyi cocked an eyebrow. “We can’t chat if we’re not young men? They applied for a patent?”

Yuan Ye burst into laughter again. He started coughing because of this.

After Yuan Ye finished laughing, Fang Shaoyi called out, “Yuan Ye.”

Yuan Ye really liked listening to Fang Shaoyi shout his name. He really, really liked it. It was the same two words, but nobody else could call them out with the same feeling Fang Shaoyi did. It only sounded extra nice when he did it. Yuan Ye answered, “Ey.”

Fang Shaoyi asked, “Quit smoking maybe?”

Yuan Ye paused for a moment. After, he laughed and said, “I knew you would bring this topic up.”

Previously, Yuan Ye had smoked for a period of time. Many writers had this problem: they would casually pick up a cigarette as they wrote. He always coughed. After enough time, Fang Shaoyi forced him to quit.

Now, his addiction was pretty serious. It probably wouldn’t be easy to quit. Yuan Ye said, “I’ll smoke less.”

Fang Shaoyi didn’t say anything extra. He made a noise of acknowledgment. “Okay.”

Just like this, they kept the call going. Both glued their phones to their ears, listening to the other lowly whispering to them, late at night. This was pretty comfortable. Eventually, it got too late. Fang Shaoyi still needed to film. Yuan Ye said, “Sleep now. Otherwise, it’ll be hard to apply makeup tomorrow.”

Fang Shaoyi agreed. He reminded, “You sleep earlier too. Don’t stay up too late. You’re already thirty-something.”

Yuan Ye said, “Alright.”

Both of them were waiting for the other to hang up first. Prior to ending the call, Fang Shaoyi called out to Yuan Ye once more. Yuan Ye inquired, “What?”

With closed eyes, Fang Shaoyi softly asked him, “When do you plan on coming out to find fate?”