Chapter 55

Geng ge wasn’t going to promote him anymore? Not promoting a signed artist just like that…… Yuan Ye thought to himself, Geng ge is truly the boss of everyone. However, after spending several months together in the same film crew, even celebrating the new year together, he and Yang Siran technically had a semblance of a friendship. If the other got ignored like this for a few years, he would no longer be able to be a celebrity anymore. Though Yuan Ye didn’t know what Yang Siran had done, he believed that it probably didn’t warrant such harsh punishment.

Thus, the next time Yuan Ye saw Geng Jinwei, he specially mentioned Yang Siran’s situation, then asked if Geng Jinwei wanted to send the materials over. Lin Feng’s movies were of very high quality. If he really got chosen, this would be a great opportunity.

Geng Jinwei didn’t say if he was going to send the materials or not. He only said, “Okay, got it.”

Yuan Ye added, “I’ve watched Little Yang act before. He’s not bad.”

Geng Jinwei gazed at him. There was a smile that wasn’t really a smile on his face. He asked Yuan Ye, “He and Fang Shaoyi had a rumored romance. You’re not hung up over that?”

Yuan Ye burst into laughter. He had originally been slanted in the office chair, but now, he stood up and patted down his pants while saying, “How old am I? Besides, when have I ever been hung up over anything?”

Geng Jinwei chuckled too. Yuan Ye added, “On set, Little Yang and I had a pretty good relationship. He’s a well-behaved kid and isn’t unlikeable. Let me speak up for him. If he isn’t listening, just give him a lecture. However, I’m simply saying this; you’re simply listening to me say this. I definitely won’t forcefully b.u.t.t into company matters.”

“Ye di.” Geng Jinwei lit a cigarette. He tossed the box at Yuan Ye and called his name, then said, “You’re causing distance between us. If you and Shaoyi were willing to worry about company matters, I’d be in full support.”

Yuan Ye wobbled his head. The corners of his lips quirked up. “We aren’t willing. You’ve worked hard, Geng ge.”

Since they were talking about Yang Siran, in the end, Geng Jinwei said, “I’ll send his materials over later. Whether or not he gets chosen is a different matter. Either way, you can try and help out too.”

“Will do.” Yuan Ye smiled while nodding. “After all, he’s our company’s actor.”

There were innumerous actors in their company. Yuan Ye couldn’t help all of them individually either. Yang Siran only happened to have spent time with him in the same film crew. They had an okay relationship. No matter what, this was a type of fate. This was the reason Yuan Ye was speaking up for him. Yuan Ye wouldn’t get involved in company matters. Fang Shaoyi could ask about them, but it wouldn’t be right for Yuan Ye to do the same. He also wasn’t willing to say too much.

This incident was over after he told Geng Jinwei. He didn’t think too much about it either. Two days later, Yang Siran sent Yuan Ye a message over WeChat: “Thank you for speaking up for me, Yuan Ye ge. I’ve troubled you.”

They had added each other on WeChat while on set, but hadn’t contacted each other since then. Yuan Ye didn’t even remember that he had added the other on WeChat before. Yuan Ye replied: “Jiayou. Keep your temper in check.”

Yang Siran replied: “Okay. I’ll remember that. Thank you again, Yuan Ye ge.”

Yuan Ye put his phone away. Then, he continued keeping an eye on the little earthen pot on the stove. As soon as the contents boiled, he instantly turned the fire down low. After, he put the lid on. He put his hand behind him to rest on the edge of the counter and thought back on the boring scandal between Yang Siran and Fang Shaoyi back then. Yuan Ye chuckled. Had he truly never minded at all? Lies. He was honestly too lazy to look over the news, but that scene on set when Fang Shaoyi had been filming with Yang Siran, whose legs had been bare, Yuan Ye had really and truly felt a bit sour. This was completely unrelated to whether or not he felt jealous or suspicious. It was because he had seen youth: those two thin, long, pale legs were honestly very young.

Even when he had been young, Yuan Ye hadn’t had such nice looking legs. He was too naughty. His legs weren’t that pale and he had a lot of muscle. However, if someone showed his legs to Fang Shaoyi, though they weren’t that pretty, they’d still definitely be alluring. Yuan Ye suddenly shook his head while laughing. It was a normal morning. Why was he being so coquettish out of the blue?

Fang Shaoyi walked in and inquired, “What are you laughing about?”

Yuan Ye answered honestly, “Chatting with a little boy.”

Fang Shaoyi, expressionless, “Again?”

“Ah, cause you won’t chat with me anyways,” Yuan Ye said.

Fang Shaoyi asked, “What are you chatting about that’s got you so happy?”

Yuan Ye replied, “Legs.”

“Legs?” Fang Shaoyi c.o.c.ked an eyebrow. He observed Yuan Ye’s cheeky smile and walked over to wrap the other in a one-armed embrace. He asked next to Yuan Ye’s ear, “Missing love again?”

Yuan Ye’s biggest fear was Fang Shaoyi speaking into his ear. He moved his neck and pleaded, “We weren’t chatting about legs. Would I dare to?”

After saying this, he reached back and pinched Fang Shaoyi’s leg. He told the other, “These are the only legs that could make me want to chat.”

“Is that so?” Fang Shaoyi’s voice was calm. He grabbed Yuan Ye’s hand and forced it lower and onto the other’s body. “Let’s chat about this?”

“……Okay.” How could Yuan Ye handle this? He felt like he was close to exploding.

Fang Shaoyi let go of him and expressionlessly walked to the side to pour out a cup of water. He slowly drank this cup of water. Yuan Ye inhaled deeply before saying with a smile, “Chatting is useless, though. You can’t use mine. Even if we were to chat, we’d have to chat about yours.”

Yuan Ye’s mouth couldn’t shut up for even a moment. When his mouth got bored, he always had to make a cheeky comment. Fang Shaoyi gazed deeply at him for a few seconds, then ignored him. Yuan Ye needed to leave in a bit. They didn’t have any time. Fang Shaoyi lifted a hand and pointed at him. Yuan Ye chuckled and stopped speaking, no longer provoking the other.

The two of them happily and peacefully remained in their relationship. Because of this, time pa.s.sed really quickly. Previously, one had been placating while the other had been acting cold. Eventually, after enough time, this had basically become a purposeful mode of communication between them – used as a way of spicing up their relationship. Quite interesting. Outsiders who didn’t know the truth would believe that Yuan Ye was shamelessly sticking to Fang Shaoyi. The pursuit was very tedious. Only those who knew the truth would understand that these two honestly knew how to play. Normal life was getting too boring, so they found some fun for themselves.

For example, Ji Xiaotao. He had already gone numb from watching these two being lovey-dovey all day. His heart was like still water. At first, he would occasionally send messages to Jian Xu’s a.s.sistant, Dong Lin, to brag. Eventually, he had already bragged enough. After a long time without receiving any messages, Dong Lin took the initiative to ask: Your ges have broken up again?

Ji Xiaotao replied, expression dark: ……Your ge’s the one that broke up again.

During this period of time, Yuan Ye’s cooking skills had improved greatly. He could stew soup or boil noodles at will. Occasionally, he would also mix things up and gift Fang Shaoyi some hearts. For Christmas, he brought a Christmas tree home too. It was a gigantic tree, covered in gifts. At the time, Fang Shaoyi didn’t even know how to react. He could imagine how Yuan Ye had hung up all the presents; Wild Monkey wouldn’t even have needed a ladder. He could climb up using only his hands and feet. However, Fang Shaoyi honestly couldn’t think of a way to get the gifts down. The tree was over two meters tall. To reach the box at the top of the tree, he would need to use a long ladder. Fang Shaoyi was almost forty. Why couldn’t Santa Claus have simply stuffed the present under his pillow if he was planning on giving one? So much trouble.

Though his expression was unwilling, on Christmas Eve, he still spent around half an hour taking pictures. He took about a dozen pictures. In the end, he chose three to post on Weibo – one was a panorama, one was him plucking gifts off while sitting on a ladder, and one was him sitting on the carpet in the room, long legs surrounded by colorful gift boxes. His smile was slightly pleased and cute. He captioned these: Happy holidays, Fang Seven Years.

Under this post, all the fans were either hahaha-ing, aoaoao-ing, or yingyingying-ing. They all said that he was abusing dogs. The fans weren’t wrong at all; he really had done this on purpose. He truly did have that goal. Someone exposed the “Fang Seven Years” caption that Yuan Ye had added to one of his Moments previously. Juxtaposed, the meaning behind these pictures was obvious.

CP fans didn’t need to say anything else. All they needed to do was lay there and eat sugar. They didn’t care about what others were saying. There was too much sugar to eat.

Yuan Ye couldn’t see Fang Shaoyi’s Weibo post, but there were caring people in his friend circle. His phone kept ringing with notifications. After looking through these messages, Yuan Ye asked Fang Shaoyi, slightly speechless, “Ge, what are you showing off for?”

Fang Shaoyi hadn’t even finished unwrapping his presents. At first, he had still maintained a disdainful expression on his face. Eventually, though, he couldn’t keep the act up anymore. The amus.e.m.e.nt in his eyes couldn’t be kept hidden at all. His voice still sounded normal, though. He said, “You’re not the boss of me.”

“I’m not.” Yuan Ye helped him unwrap the presents. There were over a dozen. At this speed, Fang Shaoyi was going to take years to unwrap them all. “How dare I be your boss? You’re the big boss.”

Fang Shaoyi pointed at the box in Yuan Ye’s hands and ordered, “Put it down.”

“Ah, okay.” Yuan Ye looked at him and paused. Then, he sighed and set it down. “Okay, okay.”

Yuan Ye was full of these crazy ideas. In comparison, Fang Shaoyi seemed really boring. During holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries, he would give the other gifts as needed and do what was required. These would all be thoughtfully prepared, but wouldn’t be as creative as Yuan Ye’s ideas.

This Lunar New Year, they celebrated with Fang Shaoyi’s parents. After the second day of the new year, they went back to Yuan Ye’s parents’ place. On New Year’s Eve, while in private, Yuan Ye gave blessing after blessing. Each time he said a blessing, Fang Shaoyi would give him a red envelope. By the end, Fang Shaoyi had already run out of red envelopes, but he still hadn’t finished giving blessings.

Fang Shaoyi told him, exasperated, “I don’t have any more. Stop saying them.”

There was a whole pile of red envelopes next to Yuan Ye that he had gotten from Fang Shaoyi. His smile was a bit wicked. He suddenly leaned over and stuffed his hand into Fang Shaoyi’s shirt pocket. As expected, he pulled another red envelope out. While laughing, he said, “You thought I wouldn’t be able to guess that you were hiding one?”

Fang Shaoyi became even more exasperated. “At least leave one for me. That was the post-s.e.x red envelope I prepared.”

Yuan Ye instantly burst into laughter. “You don’t need to give me a red envelope post-s.e.x. That’ll make me feel like I’m a…… you know.”

“Know what?” Fang Shaoyi licked his lips. Though he was expressionless, this was still very enticing in Yuan Ye’s eyes.

Yuan Ye scratched his head and blinked at the other. He mouthed, “Prost——itute.”

He had already spoken so explicitly. That meant he was basically begging for it. Fang Shaoyi couldn’t possibly disappoint him. He definitely needed to grant Yuan Ye’s wish for countdown s.e.x.

When they finally finished, the countdown had already ended and it was the new year. Yuan Ye laid there, looking through his clothes for a cigarette. Fang Shaoyi pulled out another red envelope from some unknown location and stuffed it into Yuan Ye’s hand. He gently bit the other’s lips and said, “Lucky money. For peace.”

Yuan Ye burst into laughter. “I ultimately failed to unearth them all. How come you still have another one?”

Fang Shaoyi said, “Even if you did find this one, I’d have yet another one. I have to leave some lucky money for you no matter what.”

Yuan Ye held the lucky money next to his lips and kissed it. Then, he reached under his pillow and pulled out a red envelope too. He handed this to Fang Shaoyi, softly saying, “You’re the one who gives me lucky money every year. This year, I want to give you some too. I’m giving all possible blessings to you. This will hold things steadily in place.”

Fang Shaoyi accepted this red envelope and stared at it. He remained silent for a long time.

Yuan Ye lifted his hand and caressed the other’s face. He lowered his voice and said, “In the past, I was pretty insensitive. I wasn’t very detail-oriented. I couldn’t think of many things. Looking back now, I always feel like I wasn’t good enough to you.”

“From now on, I’ll think about things more carefully. If I say something wrong, tell me. If I do something that makes things more difficult for you, you need to let me know too.” The little light at the head of their bed made everything seem intimate and gentle. Yuan Ye continued, “We still have a long road ahead of us. I want to be better to you.”

Fang Shaoyi stared straight into his eyes. They made eye contact and could see their own reflections in the other’s eyes. Fang Shaoyi had originally wanted to ask Yuan Ye where he had gotten this wrong impression from, but he also felt like there was no need to say this. His lover was making his good intentions known. All he had to do was accept them.

Thus, in the end, Fang Shaoyi only nodded and said, “Okay.”