Chapter 49

Yuan Ye had married Fang Shaoyi at twenty two. At that time, no one around him had been supportive. Everyone disagreed with the marriage, including his parents and his friends. Even Guan Zhou, who had watched their relationship bloom, didn’t think the marriage would end well. In his third year of university, Guan Zhou had already started interning at a TV station. By chance, he happened to end up onstage as the MC for a variety show. When Yuan Ye got married, Guan Zhou had already become somewhat popular. He had also long since witnessed all those perhaps obvious, perhaps hidden immoralities of the entertainment industry. He was very unwilling to let Yuan Ye actually get married to Fang Shaoyi. The two of them were too far apart: why were people from two worlds so determined to get together? It was like a soap opera.

But Yuan Ye didn’t listen to anybody else’s opinions. He walked straight into the unknown. Back then, he had truly liked Fang Shaoyi a lot. Not only liked – he had plunged in head first, almost as if he had gone crazy. Fang Shaoyi was his faith.

Fang Shaoyi didn’t let him down either. He had never disappointed Yuan Ye in reciprocating this emotion. He hadn’t hidden his relationship and had also planned a spectacular wedding. Fang Shaoyi was gambling with a lot more than Yuan Ye. Yuan Ye was someone who relied on his pen; Fang Shaoyi was the one in the entertainment industry. His wedding meant that he was giving up on many possibilities. He was making his own career path narrower, but he had never minded this.

The love of two youths. It was passionate, brave, pure, and almost sacrificial in the way that they completely threw themselves into this relationship. Neither cared about the consequences or the future.

In their decade of marriage, Fang Shaoyi became a film emperor respected by many. Yuan Ye became a carefree writer quick to speak up in his circle of authors. The two of them were masters in their own fields and became the spokespeople for true love in the entertainment industry. But gains and losses were always balanced. Perfection in one regard needed to be made up with sacrifices in other regards.

These past ten years, Yuan Ye rarely scheduled time for himself. His schedule was always the same as Fang Shaoyi’s. Fang Shaoyi often left for several months, perhaps even half a year, when he filmed. Most of the time, Yuan Ye followed him. Their career paths had set the tone for this early on. After several years, not much had changed.

Yuan Ye’s time was truly more flexible, after all. His main job was to write. It didn’t matter where he wrote or how long it took him to write. If he didn’t follow Fang Shaoyi around, they would have to spend most of their time in a long distance relationship; there wouldn’t be many months in the year where they would be able to see each other. In their youth, they had thought themselves a match made in heaven. They were destined to come together. No other couple was as compatible as they were.

Marrying Fang Shaoyi meant stepping one foot into the entertainment industry. He had never liked this environment that only valued status and prestige, but had to live in it. In the early years, Yuan Ye dared to say what he liked and disliked without any fear. His words were sharp and harsh. When he couldn’t stand something, he would say it. This was very cathartic. Later on, he realized that he wasn’t only himself: more importantly, he was Fang Shaoyi’s partner. His words affected Fang Shaoyi. Slowly, he learned to shut his mouth and stop talking.

However, this didn’t mean that he could accept these matters. He was still disgusted by those things he found disgusting.

Yuan Ye spent his thirtieth birthday on set. Fang Shaoyi knew he didn’t like making a big deal, so didn’t tell anyone else. The two of them privately celebrated Yuan Ye’s birthday in their room. At first, Ji Xiaotao was there too, but he left after eating cake. That day, Fang Shaoyi kissed him, then said, “Our Little Monkey is thirty now too. Three decades.”

Yuan Ye laughed and nodded. “A middle-aged man.”

Yuan Ye said I hope everyone will be fine. After, he couldn’t think of anything else to say. He already had all that he wanted. His other wishes couldn’t be fulfilled anyways.

The movie was still half-complete, but the details had already been leaked. People said that the investors had already spent over two hundred million. The portion of filming that really needed a lot of money was later on. Nothing had happened in the first half, but they had already spent more than two hundred million. That meant that things definitely wouldn’t go well in the second half. At night, when they returned to their room, Yuan Ye and Fang Shaoyi discussed this matter. Only then did Fang Shaoyi say that the film crew was telling outsiders that they had spent sixty million hiring him.

Sixty million was too exaggerated. In actuality, he wasn’t getting paid anywhere near that amount.

Yuan Ye furrowed his brows. “What are they playing at?”

Fang Shaoyi didn’t say too much to him. He wasn’t willing for Yuan Ye to hear about these dirty matters. What were the investors playing at? All this commotion couldn’t be for anything else but profit. Through crowdfunding, the movie had sucked in several hundred million in production fees. After the movie became released and ticket sales started rolling in, the investors needed to pay dividends out of the additional profits. Going to all this work was simply to announce a fake production cost to raise the bar higher first. Then, when the movie “lost money,” they could simply swallow the dividends for themselves.

Though Fang Shaoyi hadn’t told him, Yuan Ye had always been clever. He was very perceptive; it all depended on if he wanted to think about the topic or not. He had known from the start that the movie had outside investors. Without too much consideration, he already knew what was going on.

This kind of crowdfunding used the money of normal people from outside of the industry. In actuality, this money was the money of the people. Some had a guaranteed interest rate while others didn’t – these people only had dividends. This type of profit was slightly higher too. Many people felt that movies were high-class. In addition to silver tongued middlemen coaxing them, after looking at the director and actor lineup, they would believe that this was a business deal sure to produce profit. Thus, they would easily invest hundreds of thousands.

There were too many movie investment scams. Every step was a trap, but there were also some people who really did earn money in this manner. It all depended on one’s perceptibility, whether or not they could tell truth from lies.

There were three main male actors in this movie. Fang Shaoyi was one of them. Looking at the movie alone, it really was a good film. After learning about the investors’ tricks, though, Yuan Ye honestly couldn’t stay on set anymore. Having spent so many years in the industry, Yuan Ye was already numb to many aspects of it. Since he had first gotten to know Fang Shaoyi till now, thirteen years had passed. He couldn’t possibly be as naive as before.

There was no need to get angry at the director and actors because of the investors’ actions. But Yuan Ye really and truly couldn’t accept Fang Shaoyi acting in this film. When stripped to the barest of bones, this movie was a scam. Yuan Ye could close one eye to the dirty deals and hidden transactions of the industry, but he absolutely couldn’t stand by knowing that the investors had already reached their hands out of the industry to scam the general public of their money. This was an honest sin.

In his heart, Fang Shaoyi understood what the investors were doing. But he accepted this and silently compromised with it. He wasn’t willing to speak with Yuan Ye about these matters; this was basically placing himself on the same side as the film crew and placing Yuan Ye on the opposing side. He couldn’t say that Fang Shaoyi was wrong. Even though there was something wrong with the production team, there was nothing wrong with Fang Shaoyi. He was righteous. The investors were the ones doing all the dirty deeds. However, Yuan Ye couldn’t convince himself. If he could manage to accept this deal expressionlessly, he really wouldn’t be himself anymore.

Yuan Ye turned around and left. Fang Shaoyi could remain on set to film, but Yuan Ye couldn’t. When he left, he was actually furious, both at this fucking film crew and also at Fang Shaoyi. His rage was a result of his disappointment.

He departed with anger. Fang Shaoyi called him, asking him what was wrong.

There was no use saying it out loud. Talking about their differences in moral values would only result in an argument. Besides, even if Fang Shaoyi had an idea in his heart, he couldn’t do anything. He was already halfway through filming for the movie. This matter could also be considered out of his control. Yuan Ye understood these things. Sharing his opinion would only increase Fang Shaoyi’s burden. Thus, Yuan Ye shut his mouth and didn’t say a word.

Keeping things in wouldn’t resolve any questions. The next few days, even their phone conversations were awkward.

Fang Shaoyi had placed Yuan Ye on his opposing side, but after thinking things through, Yuan Ye realized that he couldn’t treat himself like he was on Fang Shaoyi’s opposing side. He still needed to say what he was thinking. After all, only the two of them were the most intimate. If he had really accepted the fact that they were on opposing sides, how were they supposed to interact in the future? This relationship would be extremely uncomfortable.

Thus, Yuan Ye sincerely told Fang Shaoyi through the phone, “Yi ge, this movie’s a scam. You know that.”

Fang Shaoyi admitted, “Un, I know.”

“Let’s not film it anymore, okay?” Yuan Ye lowly asked. “I can’t accept this. There are lots of things about this industry that are dirty, but we can’t control them. We can only act like we never saw them. However, I can’t accept you participating in the mess.”

When Yuan Ye spoke, his tone was very serious. He was willing to share his thoughts with Fang Shaoyi. “I know that you’re troubled. Right now, I’m standing on a higher moral ground and ordering you around. I’m not the troubled one, I know. Actually, I’ve pondered this over and over for many days already. I’m still a bit overly naive, but I don’t want there to be a wedge in between us in the future. Because of this, I’m going to tell you what I’ve been thinking. You can decide by yourself. I’ll support you either way.”

On the other end of the phone, Fang Shaoyi said, “Tell me.”

Yuan Ye said, “I don’t care that capitalists are repeatedly pulling tricks and making business deals. However, there are hundreds of thousands from outside the industry. These couple hundred millions are filled with tears. I’m completely disgusted by this issue. I can’t possibly help everyone do everything; I’m not that capable. I also can’t possibly act dumb and cause you trouble again.”

At the time, Yuan Ye lit a cigarette, then sighed and said, “I can accept the fact that we’re becoming colder and colder because of this industry, but I still hope that we won’t touch that tear-filled money. I hope that coldness won’t cause our hearts to turn black too.”

After he spoke, there was a long pause where Fang Shaoyi didn’t speak. In the end, he said, “Okay.”

Fang Shaoyi’s words were always powerful. He had said okay, so within a week, had left set. He had also paid a large sum to make up for his breach of contract. They had been halfway through filming, so all the prior footage was now useless. The film crew needed to find a new actor and spend money again. Fang Shaoyi had basically insulted everyone on set, but that wasn’t the end of it.

The day Fang Shaoyi left, he also made a Weibo post. First, he apologized to the director and the entire film crew – because of personal health reasons, he was no longer able to continue filming. Additionally, he had returned the money they had already paid him, as per contract. He had also paid a certain amount for his breach of contract.

The sixty million others had previously said became disproved without explicit mention.

Yuan Ye had said that he couldn’t help everyone do everything. Fang Shaoyi couldn’t either. But he had directly shared the amount of his salary. This was too out of line. At the end of the day, though, he had still technically done something. After sharing the amount, he finally felt like he was worthy of Yuan Ye’s chivalrous, moral, and righteous heart.