Chapter 38

Yuan Ye was the type to not feel regretful even after throwing a tantrum. After expressing his emotions in the moment, he wouldn’t think back on them. The past was in the past. He never looked behind.

Thus, when he had said, “Right now, I only want to turn back,” Fang Shaoyi had been touched. Because it had come from Yuan Ye’s mouth, this sentence was extra precious.

Regarding this incident, he meant what he said about Jiang Linchuan not being righteous. Given Jiang Linchuan’s attitude and how he normally spoke, his silence at the time had been a silent agreement. There wasn’t a right or wrong in this case; the investor had even sought out the original screenwriter. That meant that he was determined to add a subplot for He Sai. Jiang Linchuan didn’t want to have a falling out. This was understandable too.

Later on, Fang Shaoyi held a private conversation lasting over two hours with the director. After this conversation, everything became settled.

The description “double male lead” was a bit exaggerated, but He Sai’s lines really did get changed a lot. The only person he had less screen time than was Fang Shaoyi. It could be said that Yuan Ye was completely disgusted by this situation. He felt sick. However, this was something Fang Shaoyi had already agreed to. Because of this, Yuan Ye couldn’t say anything else. The two of them needed to be one when facing outsiders. Otherwise, if the two of them said two different things, others would merely laugh at them. Who were they ultimately supposed to listen to?

Definitely Fang Shaoyi. From any perspective.

Consequently, Yuan Ye released his anger just that once before having to hide it away again. A silent cannon. No matter how much he couldn’t accept the fact that He Sai had returned and now had more screen time, he could no longer speak so rudely to the other’s manager.

“Ye ge, don’t stay mad at dumbasses,” Ji Xiaotao told him.

Yuan Ye nodded, but didn’t say anything. His head was down as he fiddled with his phone. Recently, he had quite a lot of free time. He Sai had brought his own screenwriter in to deal with his lines. Yuan Ye didn’t need to participate. Additionally, he refused to participate. He would only edit He Sai’s lines in the other’s dreams.

Yuan Ye had thrown a tantrum in the director’s room. This was quite bold. Nobody dared to be so out of line before the director, no matter their identity. Though Yuan Ye hadn’t been targeting the director at the time, his attitude had been fairly clear. However, Jiang Linchuan didn’t express any dissatisfaction towards him. He still treated him the same as before. Jiang Linchuan really liked Yuan Ye because he himself was actually very straightforward too. But in this industry, it was destined that nothing could always go the way one desired. Nobody had the conditions for that to happen. There was an aura about Yuan Ye that nobody else had: something similar to the arrogance and fearlessness of littérateurs. Yet, sometimes, he was gentle and careful as well. His entire existence was an oxymoron.

After spending too much time in this industry, one’s heart would become cold and selfish. But not Yuan Ye. He was still honest. Everytime Yuan Ye talked about the script with the director, he was always serious. He had sincerely considered the script. During passionate discussions, the two of them would practically start arguing. Jiang Linchuan’s movies were hard to film and even harder to write. He was stubborn too. It was very rare for him to find someone like Yuan Ye who was determined to argue with him. The director understood this. He wouldn’t have any bad thoughts about Yuan Ye because of this incident.

Yuan Ye fiddled with his camera in his room. Ji Xiaotao had gone to borrow the kitchen on set to cook. He made a few dishes and brought a portion of them over to Fang Shaoyi. He took the remaining servings with him back to Yuan Ye. In the middle of their meal, Director Jiang unexpectedly knocked on the door.

Ji Xiaotao hurriedly greeted, “Yo, Director, how come you’re here?”

Director Jiang directly walked in. With a smile, he said, “I saw you cooking just now. Do I get any?”

Ji Xiaotao responded, “Yes yes yes. Please sit!”

Yuan Ye called out to the director. The director walked over and sat down beside him. Yuan Ye asked, “You aren’t keeping an eye on things today?”

Ji Xiaotao laughed sheepishly and pulled a little stool further away. He sat there, looking at his phone.

Right now, they had split the crew up into groups A and B to film simultaneously. They had singled out He Sai’s scenes to film on the other side of the set. Yuan Ye and the director chatted for a bit. After, he asked, “With his acting skills, aren’t you scared the movie’s going to flop?”

The director glanced at him and laughed. “There must be anger in your heart, right?”

“You’re not righteous.” Yuan Ye was very straightforward. “You’re just taking advantage of the fact that my Yi ge has a good temper. Bullying the one with a good temper.”

Jiang Linchuan laughed a few times. He pointed at Yuan Ye, “There’s nothing you don’t dare to say.”

“Aren’t I telling the truth?” Yuan Ye cocked an eyebrow. He looked at the director. “You can’t play people with good tempers like this. Originally, I thought that you were different from the other directors. But because of how easily you conceded, half of my heart has already gone cold.”

Jiang Linchuan sighed. He set down his chopsticks and told Yuan Ye, “You wouldn’t understand all the messy twists and turns of the situations even if I told you. I’ve collaborated with Lingdong too many times.”

Yuan Ye nodded. He used the back of his hand to rub the tip of his nose. He said, “Logically, I can understand. But emotionally, I can’t. If you had decided to film like this in the beginning, my ge might not have accepted the invite. You know how strict Fang Shaoyi is when he’s choosing his films. After changing the plot of this movie, the main message has become unclear. You’re trying to create a double message, but it’s not working. Even if I didn’t say anything, you would already know this. Yet, you still agreed to change it.”

From start to finish, Yuan Ye didn’t even smile once as he spoke. Instead, it was the director who kept laughing. Jiang Linchuan observed Yuan Ye before saying, “You must think I’m cowardly, right?”

“Not to the extent of cowardly,” Yuan Ye shook his head. He calmly added, “I just think that you’ve lost the most basic quality of a cinephile.”

Even Ji Xiaotao had started trembling off to the side after hearing this. Gege, can you hold yourself back a bit more, please?

Yuan Ye was basically directly telling Jiang Linchuan that he was unworthy of making movies, unworthy of being a cinephile. They were talking about feelings of nostalgia and about the initial heart. Speaking about them out loud was as comical as a joke: these two things had long since been overused. But cinephiles needed to have things that they absolutely stood for. If, just because of an investor, a movie could casually arrange for a new character and different plot for an actor with poor acting skills, this movie was destined to fail. Even if it barely managed to meet an intellectual standard, this movie wouldn’t have a soul.

The director didn’t become angry even though he said these things. Instead, he started chuckling. That day, the director told Yuan Ye before he left, “Everyone has difficulties in their positions. I was naive too in my youth. I was stubborn once. In the end, a movie I filmed for a year and a half couldn’t pass review. A waste. Sometimes, compromise is for a better balance. You can only start listing conditions when you’re standing on the line of balance. If you fall off it or end up crooked, you’ll have to suffer.”

Yuan Ye made a noise of acknowledgement. Very calmly, he said, “But I hope that this line of balance won’t be pinned down to the ground because of past professionalism and the laziness of humans. It should constantly be shifting. For this line, we should be constantly moving forward, testing and scoping. This line marks the extremes of human capability; it shouldn’t be an excuse to mark out one’s comfort zone.”

After he said this, the director fell silent for a moment. Then, he stared deeply into Yuan Ye’s eyes before patting him on the shoulder.

These days, Yuan Ye didn’t show up to set very often, whereas he had previously gone daily. At the end of the day, he felt disgusted by this incident. This resulted in him being extremely disappointed in the whole film crew, including Fang Shaoyi.

Fang Shaoyi didn’t really care about these things. He had always been like this. These trivial matters couldn’t cause him to feel displeased or outraged. Ultimately, he felt above the mess. In actuality, he had accepted the invite for this movie back then in order to pay back a favor to Director Jiang. He truly didn’t care how much more or less screen time the other characters got. It wasn’t that Yuan Ye didn’t like this quality about him. It could actually be said that he liked it a lot – he liked how kind and gentlemanly the other was, but when faced with certain issues, he still felt very much suffocated.

Yuan Ye wasn’t like Fang Shaoyi, though. A few years ago, Yuan Ye had suffered losses too. The amount of losses he had suffered were innumerable, but Yuan Ye had only waved his hands and gotten over them. He had been unbothered. At the time, Feng Leizi had asked him do you even have a bottom line anymore, dumbass?

At the time, Yuan Ye had thought about it for a long time. In the end, he nodded.

Of course he had a bottom line. His bottom line was Fang Shaoyi.

Fang Shaoyi was ultimately Fang Shaoyi. When He Sai saw him on set, he still needed to politely lower his head and greet him. Fang Shaoyi didn’t even look at the other. He made a noise of acknowledgement and walked past.

He Sai’s manager used Fang Shaoyi’s break time between scenes to come talk to him. With a smile on his face, he called out, “Teacher Fang?”

Fang Shaoyi glanced at him. The manager grinned and said, “Previously, I had a little misunderstanding with Teacher Yuan. We had a bit of a fight, but I haven’t gotten the opportunity to apologize to Teacher Yuan or anything. Teacher Yuan won’t give me the opportunity to speak either. Last time, I was the one in the wrong. When you head back, can you tell Teacher Yuan to not remain mad at a lowly person like me? Or, can you tell me when Teacher Yuan has time so I can officially apologize to him?”

“There’s no need.” Fang Shaoyi turned the thermoflask in his hand around. Without even looking up, he said, “You don’t need to apologize to him. You also don’t need to speak to him one on one. He has a direct temper. If he’s said anything offensive, just tolerate it.”

The manager replied, “What do you mean? That’s simply Teacher Yuan’s personality. Actually, I’ve always admired him a lot.”

Fang Shaoyi took a sip of water, after which he said, “You don’t need to admire him. As long as you stay out of his sight. Yuan Ye’s not the type to come up with a bunch of twisty-turny plans. I also hope that nobody will try to drag him into their messy plans.”

Fang Shaoyi scanned him up and down before continuing, “There are very few things I care about. If you guys want something, earn it using your own capabilities. If it’s something I don’t want, I won’t stop you either. However, Yuan Ye is one of those things that no one can touch. You can’t even harbor a wrong thought about him. When I was twenty five, still young and powerless, I dared to get married to him. Now, I’m thirty six.”

Fang Shaoyi rarely spoke so directly. He didn’t seem like himself anymore. These past few days, he had been waiting for this manager to come find him. He needed to say what had to be said. This was it. When I had been a young kid at twenty five, I had been determined to protect him. Now, I’m thirty six: middle-aged. I’m naturally much more capable of protecting him.

“I understand, I understand.” The manager hurriedly nodded. He added, “I understand.”

Fang Shaoyi took another sip of water and made a noise of acknowledgement.

In actuality, Yuan Ye had already been here for a while. But upon noticing that Fang Shaoyi was speaking with He Sai’s manager, he didn’t approach. If he did, he probably wouldn’t be able to keep his emotions in check. After a few lines of conversation, he would be ready to explode once more. Even if he held his temper in and didn’t say anything, his heart would feel stuffy. Thus, it was better simply not to go over. He didn’t walk over until the manager left after speaking. He gently tugged at Fang Shaoyi’s hair twice.

Fang Shaoyi looked up at him, then smiled.

Yuan Ye stood behind Fang Shaoyi’s chair. Fang Shaoyi leaned back. Thus, Yuan Ye reached his hands out and caressed the other’s neck. His fingers gently scratched at Fang Shaoyi’s Adam’s apple. This was a bit tickly. Fang Shaoyi’s Adam’s apple slightly bobbed up and down.

“Where’s Xiaotao?” Yuan Ye asked.

“Don’t know. Who knows where he ran off to,” Fang Shaoyi said.

“How bold. Left the celebrity here and ran off to who-knows-where by himself,” Yuan Ye chuckled and said. “Seems to me like you need to fire this assistant.”

Fang Shaoyi nodded. He lifted an arm to hold onto Yuan Ye’s hand instead. He gently pinched the back of his hand. His smile towards Yuan Ye was quite gentle. “Anything’s fine. Up to you. As long as you’ll feel a bit happier.”

Yuan Ye blinked. He circled around so that he was in front of Fang Shaoyi and squatted down. This way, he looked up at the other from a slanted downward angle. His expression was very cool. Fang Shaoyi leaned forward too, to make eye contact with him. There was slight amusement in his eyes. One squatted while the other sat. One was cool while the other was gentle. This was an extremely calm and comforting scene.

Ji Xiaotao walked back from the kitchen. From far away, he could already tell that these two were being silly again. He immediately pulled out his phone and took a picture. As soon as he did this, he directly sent the picture to Dong Lin.

Ji Xiaotao: Tsk, look at them. The whole film crew’s laughing.

Dong Lin replied instantly: Don’t send these things to me these days. My ge recently broke up with his girlfriend. It’s too much if you show off like this.

Ji Xiaotao: Isn’t it normal for your ge to break up? When has your ge had a stable girlfriend?

Dong Lin sent a few infuriated stickers. After, he said: Only your ge does.

Ji Xiaotao was very honest: Exactly. My ge does. My ge has only had this one person. They’ve been together for eleven years.

Dong Lin, with a cold expression: But your ge got divorced.

Ji Xiaotao shrugged and responded: My ge hasn’t even switched people after divorce. Have the old dude in the television drama industry get a feel for the moral character of a film emperor.

Dong Lin didn’t reply until a long time later: I’m blocking you.