Chapter 57

Director Jiang Linchuan had made the decision. He had also been the one who had decided the final cut of the movie. Though Fang Shaoyi had known about everything since the beginning, Yuan Ye hadn’t. He had really and truly only found out at the really end. At the end of the day, though, the two of them were taking the blame – mainly Yuan Ye. Fang Shaoyi was being criticized simply in afterthought. However, Yuan Ye and Fang Shaoyi were tied together. If they said Yuan Ye hadn’t known about this situation, nobody would believe them. How could that be possible? You two live together. It’s not wrong at all for you to take the blame.

But Jiang Linchuan wasn’t a turtle cowering in his shell. He had made this decision back then out of exasperation and after weighing his pros and cons. He understood that this would definitely cause trouble eventually. For the movie, he would accept this trouble too. He had chosen to start this trouble when everything was already set in stone and couldn’t be changed anymore. However, he truly hadn’t expected that He Sai’s side would directly jump out and point fingers at Yuan Ye. Jiang Linchuan posted an announcement that night saying that due to length issues and also the overall viewing effect, the final cut of the movie was actually the result of a culmination of all the core film crew members’ opinions. The first version of the movie had edited out a lot of scenes, but had still been over two hundred minutes long. Thus, a lot of actors’ scenes had been cut out in the final product. This was unavoidable in cinema.

This Weibo post’s explanation hadn’t been flawless enough. There were lots of illogical points that could be used in counterarguments. Thus, the majority of the firepower got concentrated on yelling at him instead. This took away from some of the firepower attacking Yuan Ye.

“What are you saying, Director?” Yuan Ye said to Jiang Linchuan through the phone. “If you say it like that, you’re creating distance between us.”

Jiang Linchuan had personally called Yuan Ye, saying that Yuan Ye had truly been wronged this time. He owed Yuan Ye a favor. Yuan Ye replied through the phone, “I’ve been dissed so many times throughout the years, I’ve long since gotten used to it. It’s not a big deal. Don’t worry about it. Also, those words really did come out of my mouth. I have nothing to refute.”

Yuan Ye had said that He Sai and his manager were dogs with masters in front of the director. At that time, Yuan Ye hadn’t respected anyone. He had directly insulted everyone. Only he was capable of saying these things. At the time, that manager had already been so cocky; if Yuan Ye could’ve held himself back from not saying anything, he wouldn’t have been Yuan Ye. The reason Fang Shaoyi had told him to keep his temper in check was to prevent something like this from happening. He had warned them not to target Yuan Ye, but had ultimately failed in stopping them.

Fang Shaoyi sat off to the side, listening to Yuan Ye’s call. He stood up to make a pot of tea for the other.

There were lots of helpless situations like this one. As much of a great background and high status Fang Shaoyi had, he couldn’t possibly ensure that Yuan Ye wouldn’t get affected every time. When he had been young, he hadn’t wanted Yuan Ye to get wrapped up in this mess at all. Only later did he realize that as long as he was in this industry, that was completely impossible.

Yuan Ye had truly said those things. Thus, he wasn’t mad about getting yelled at over this matter at all. However, he was slightly angry about the fact that Fang Shaoyi had gotten dragged in too: not only was he outraged, but his feelings were also very conflicted. He more or less felt a bit disappointed. He had messed things up again.

He told Fang Shaoyi, “At the time, you told me to stop being impulsive and to keep my temper in check. I was still mad back then, so I wondered how much more I was supposed to reign my temper in. But now I understand.”

Fang Shaoyi rubbed his head. He said, “Then don’t reign it in. Just be like this from now on.”

“That’s pretty nice too,” Yuan Ye laughed. “Either way, I’ll get yelled at no matter what I do. Might as well let my anger out first and then worry about the consequences later. My only regret now is that I didn’t say anything worse at the time. If there’s a next time, I’m definitely going to say what makes me feel better. That way, I won’t feel disadvantaged when I get criticized eventually.”

Fang Shaoyi suddenly felt like his reasoning made a lot of sense. In the past, he had always wanted Yuan Ye to control himself a bit more, to not leave any implicating evidence behind. This was because he didn’t want the other to get yelled at. Thinking about things now, if they had done what Yuan Ye had always wanted, he would at least be freer than he currently was.

Yuan Ye laughed too. He could barely stop. When he finally did, he asked, “I’ll log into Weibo and cuss them out?”

Fang Shaoyi grabbed the tablet next to him and handed it over. “Here.”

Yuan Ye accepted it and actually logged into his own Weibo. He couldn’t stop laughing. He wouldn’t really start cussing. He Sai and them wanted attention. Starting a fight would only benefit their side. They weren’t scared of being criticized at all. In fact, they practically wished that Yuan Ye would expose the entire conflict between them. These days, people didn’t get yelled at for having sugar daddies or knowing how to climb onto others’ beds anymore. At most, onlookers would just check out the drama. This would result in more available topics to buy onto the trending list. Later on, He Sai would only be teased, at worst. He was more than willing for this to happen.

As soon as Yuan Ye logged into Weibo, the first post on his front page was a notification that Ji Xiaotao had reposted Yang Siran’s post: I spent several months on set. Yuan Ye ge always took great care of me. He even gave me a red envelope during the new year. I was originally very nervous about my first time joining a film crew. Much gratitude to Yuan Ye ge and Shaoyi ge for their guidance and advice. I learned a lot. In the entirety of all those months, they never made any harsh comments. From beginning to end, they patiently taught me. Thank you.

There was also a hands clasped together emoji at the end of this.

Yuan Ye tsk’d. He said, “Did PR arrange for Little Yang to post this?”

Fang Shaoyi looked over. Largely uncaring, he said, “Not sure.”

Yuan Ye added, “I hope he didn’t post this himself. He’ll get yelled at. Whoever stands up for me gets dragged in right now.”

It was actually something that Yang Siran had posted himself. He hadn’t discussed with anyone beforehand about posting it. Right now, he had technically debuted too. His performance in the movie wasn’t bad either. Additionally, his looks happened to be very appealing to the audience. His character in the film was a bit dumb, but also slightly cute. Now, he had some fans as well – the majority of them were fans of his appearance. Apparently, Geng Jinwei had gotten him into a variety show about acting that was going to start filming later. All the guests in it were new actors. If they promoted well, Yang Siran was probably going to be able to achieve some small fame.

This Weibo post had been made a bit impulsively. His assistant had a horrible headache. He scolded, “I told you that if you want to post anything now, you just need to post pictures! Don’t say so much! Don’t say so much! Why can’t you remember? Look, originally nobody was bringing this up, but now, they’ve dug up the rumored romance from before again. With such a scandal at the beginning of your career, do you still want your image or not?!”

Yang Siran lowered his head and apologized. “Sorry, Zheng ge. I was impulsive.”

“Normally, rookies aren’t even allowed to control their own Weibo accounts. I only gave you access to yours because I felt that you were obedient. But what are we supposed to do now?” Zheng Guang furrowed his brows and said, “What am I supposed to say if the higher-ups ask about you? We’re both going to get scolded!”

“Just say that you didn’t know anything. That I posted it myself,” Yang Siran told him apologetically. “That’s the truth anyways. It’s my own fault.”

Zheng Guang heaved out a long exhale. “Can you please stop pissing Boss Geng off, ancestor......”

“I don’t want to piss anyone off.” Yang Siran pursed his lips together. “Yuan Ye ge has been pretty nice to me. I just wanted to speak up for him.”

“This isn’t the time for you to be righteous,” Zheng Guang said while looking at him. “The entertainment industry isn’t the place to be righteous and loyal.”

Yang Siran glanced at him before looking away. He didn’t respond.

However, though this Weibo had been posted impulsively, it wasn’t actually a big deal. The people cussing out Yuan Ye had gone crazy – they would cuss out anyone who was supporting the other. Even though Yang Siran had gotten yelled at, he had also gained some popularity. Yuan Ye and Fang Shaoyi had many more fans than antifans. Additionally, Yang Siran was an artist signed to Fang Shaoyi’s company anyways. Though nobody had announced this fact at the moment, he would get tied to the company sooner or later.

It wasn’t a big deal. Otherwise, Ji Xiaotao wouldn’t have reposted his Weibo either. Ji Xiaotao represented the higher-ups.

In the end, Yang Siran ultimately didn’t get a manager. Eventually, they simply gave him the assistant he currently had. This person acted as a part-time assistant and part-time manager. Yang Siran was very cooperative with him too. Later on, Zheng Guang secretly asked him why he had been so troublesome in the past. He had almost thrown his career away.

Yang Siran hadn’t answered. He had only gently shaken his head. He simply didn’t want a manager. Aside from this matter, he was always very obedient and cooperative in regards to everything else.

This incident had been an accident. Yang Siran knew about the drama around the film crew. He ultimately couldn’t bear to watch Yuan Ye and Fang Shaoyi get yelled at. Even though he didn’t have too many fans, he still needed to say what had to be said. His assistant told him that the entertainment industry wasn’t the place for being righteous and loyal. He didn’t know if this was right, but, no matter the place, humans still ought to keep some of their humanity, right? Humans had emotions. Places with emotions shouldn’t be so cold.

As the party directly tagged, Yuan Ye couldn’t keep remaining silent. No matter what, he needed to reply at least once. Yuan Ye didn’t want this situation to carry on forever and ever. The other side was waiting for him to reply in order to use his response as a means of inciting more drama. Yuan Ye needed to ensure that their mouths remained shut. Also, it was too below him and Fang Shaoyi to engage in this fight – this was like a dog biting another dog. If they wanted to say something, he would let them say it. Thus, in the end, Yuan Ye apathetically posted: Jiayou, everyone. Actors should do their job and act, writers should do their job and write. If you stop trying to come up with wrongful and immoral plans, you’ll achieve everything you want.

It was enough for him to make such a post. He wouldn’t need to bother with this incident again. The rest could simply be left to Geng Jinwei; he could resolve these trivial matters very easily.

If you said that this rotten situation could actually cause a horrible impact, that was mostly untrue. Yuan Ye still did what he needed to do. However, it also truly did impact one’s mood. Originally, the two of them had been happily in their relationship, but these past few days, Fang Shaoyi had been in a continuous bad mood. Yuan Ye casually walked down the stairs, initially planning on flirting with Fang Shaoyi a bit. Unfortunately, the phone started ringing at a bad time again.

Yuan Ye glanced at it. The person calling was Guan Zhou. The two of them hadn’t contacted each other in a while. That meant that he couldn’t not answer now. Yuan Ye told Fang Shaoyi before he picked up the phone, “Smile.”

Fang Shaoyi looked up at him. He was very cooperative. As the corners of his lips quirked up, he showed off an extremely beautiful smile.

Yuan Ye stared at his phone and sighed. Before answering, he grinned cheekily at Fang Shaoyi and performed a hip thrust.

“......” This action meant that he had started being coquettish again. Yuan Ye turned around to leave. Fang Shaoyi reached out and grabbed his waistband. Yuan Ye looked back at the other. Fang Shaoyi signalled through his gaze for Yuan Ye to sit next to him. He wanted Yuan Ye to answer the call right here.

“Hello?” Yuan Ye greeted Guan Zhou. While smiling, he sat down next to Fang Shaoyi.

Guan Zhou had just wrapped up the usual end-of-the-year busy period. This gala and that gala had finally finished, which meant he finally had the time to call. They hadn’t even seen each other during the new year, so he wanted to schedule a meal with Yuan Ye.

“No problem.” While talking on the phone, Yuan Ye also took off his belt. He leaned against the back of the couch, tone calm. “Just tell me in advance when you’re free. Invite Dumb Lu too. I’ve been meaning to ask him how much of his sixty million he’s spent.”

After this call, Yuan Ye had already gotten into the right state. They could directly start whatever activity they wanted to do. Just as he reached his hands out to Fang Shaoyi, the phone rang again. This time, it was Fang Shaoyi’s phone.

Fang Shaoyi stood up to answer. Yuan Ye grabbed his pants, the same way Fang Shaoyi had just grabbed his waistband. Fang Shaoyi looked back at him and burst into laughter. “At least let me get my phone.”

Yuan Ye blinked. In less than a second, he had already monkeyed onto Fang Shaoyi’s back. “Go ahead.”

Fang Shaoyi couldn’t do anything about him. He piggybacked Yuan Ye over to his phone and asked, “Are your hands itchy because you haven’t climbed a tree in too long? Why do you keep climbing onto me?”

Yuan Ye laughed. His breaths brushed against Fang Shaoyi’s ear. “Absolutely right.”

Fang Shaoyi reached one hand around to hold onto Yuan Ye. With his other hand, he picked up his phone. He glanced at the screen before answering. “Hello? Leader.”