After Our Divorce, I Still Wore Your Jacket - Chap 14
Fang Shaoyi said he had a dream, and Yuan Ye didn’t ask what it was about.
He just smiled at Fang Shaoyi, whose eyes looked small but charming when he smiled.
This unexpected warmth made the recording of the show this time very enjoyable. Neither of them argued anymore, and in front of the camera, they looked like a real couple who had been in love for many years, with a deep understanding between them in every glance.
Yuan Ye suddenly felt that acting in front of the camera for this variety show was quite interesting, and he wondered who was better at it, him or Fang Shaoyi. But Fang Shaoyi was after all a movie star, so he probably couldn’t compare.
Yuan Ye had been to Japan a few times, but he didn’t particularly like it, mainly because he didn’t like the food here.
When Fang Shaoyi came to Japan to film, Yuan Ye followed him for two months, and he lost almost ten pounds during that time.
This time, Yuan Ye and Fang Shaoyi even snuck out out to soak in the water and had some late-night snacks.
In fact, it was all arranged by the program team to have them record like this.
This scene was not easy to shoot. Yuan Ye kept burying himself in the water and didn’t dare to stand up. He silently criticized the program team for being either deliberate or foolish. The two of them were just chatting face to face in the water, wasn’t it inevitable that something would happen?
Especially in this kind of environment, Yuan Ye’s mind was filled with similar scenes, which made him feel hot and bothered. Both of them sat still in the water for their own reasons, and neither dared to leave first.
Later, Yuan Ye chased away the shooting teacher and told him to go to sleep and stop filming.
As the program was about to wrap up, the young director approached Yuan Ye again about Canada. But Yuan Ye’s stance remained unchanged – he didn’t like Canada and he wasn’t going. The director was at a loss and turned to Fang Shaoyi for help, thinking he might be more persuasive. Fang Shaoyi was indeed more tactful than Yuan Ye, and suggested, “Let’s just leave this matter to my company. You don’t need to ask Yuan Ye again, his answer won’t change.”
Fang Shaoyi’s public stance was consistent with Yuan Ye’s – if Yuan Ye said he wasn’t going, Fang Shaoyi wouldn’t go either. But privately, he advised Yuan Ye, “It doesn’t matter where we go. Don’t get into a fight with them, it’s not worth it.”
Yuan Ye shook his head, unwavering in his decision: “I’m not going.” Upon seeing him, Fang Shaoyi didn’t say much and simply nodded in agreement, “Okay.”
In the end, they didn’t go to Canada, but everyone else didn’t really care where they went. Only Fang Shaoyi and Yuan Ye insisted on not going, and they ended up sticking to the original plan of going to Australia.
The production team may not have been too happy about it, but they didn’t say much. After all, Fang Shaoyi’s status was important and they couldn’t really do anything about it. The contracts were already signed and it was normal for Fang Shaoyi to not agree to any changes.
One day, Yuan Ye received a message from the program’s director, Lin Wei, saying, “Yuan Ye, we’ll go to Australia as per your wishes.”
Yuan Ye replied, “I’m sorry, Director Lin. I’ve given you some trouble.”
Lin Wei responded, “No need to apologize, Yuan Ye. It’s our fault for not discussing it with you earlier.”
Yuan Ye knew that he probably had some thoughts in his mind, but going to Canada with only one or two days’ notice was simply a joke. Even if he gave more notice, Fang Shaoyi wouldn’t have been able to make time.
To others, this might seem like Yuan Ye was being difficult, but that’s just who he is. He can’t change his mind once he’s made it up. Perhaps only Fang Shaoyi could convince him, but Fang Shaoyi wouldn’t say anything.
Their first episode of the show had already aired on TV, and Yuan Ye knew this even when he was still in Japan. His WeChat was buzzing with messages from people who had watched it, and they all came to talk to him.
Ning Lu even posted a video in the group chat to make fun of him. Eventually, Yuan Ye just cut off his internet connection and stopped replying to anyone’s messages.
The production team had invested a lot of money in the show, and their pre-show publicity was spot on. They even hyped up several celebrity couples for days, including the two young and popular stars. As a result, the first episode of the show had great ratings.
For years, Fang Shaoyi had been quietly making movies, and Yuan Ye was also an outsider to the industry. Many young girls today don’t know much about them as a couple. But then, a wave of online posts began to surface, even including a short video clip of their wedding.
Their “Handsome cp” even became a hot topic. The program editors even inserted the final interview segment into the show, which began with Yuan Ye’s somewhat cold statement: “Whether he becomes famous or not, he is still Fang Shaoyi. Even if he wins an Oscar, he is still Fang Shaoyi.”
Many young girls found this segment particularly charming, especially when paired with Yuan Ye’s thin eyelids and short stubble, giving him a bad boy look that was very attractive.
Many fans of Yuan Ye were quite nervous. They were originally a mild and peaceful group, but with the sudden influx of people, they all became alert.
They wondered if they should set some rules for the new fans. When it comes to Yuan Ye, just be peaceful and don’t cause any trouble. If you want to join in the fun, then stay for a couple of days and leave. After all, he’s just a writer of miscellaneous books. Your fan circle rules don’t apply here.
A small portion of Yuan Ye’s fans followed him because of his relationship with Fang Shaoyi, but the majority were his readers. The first group of readers who followed him are now grown up, married, and have children. Many of the old fans were surprised to see Yuan Ye on TV and searched online to confirm it was really him.
A comment under a Weibo post in Yuan Ye has received the most likes, and it was posted by a girl: “I just became a mother the day before yesterday, and it’s nice to see you still happy like before. When I was in my senior year of high school, I read your book for the first time. At that time, I wanted to live like you, brave and adventurous.
“In recent years, you haven’t posted much on Weibo, and I always wondered if the mischievous boy who used to roll around in the mountains and climb trees was still happy. Today, seeing you laughing so confidently on the show, it’s really great.”
However, because most of Yuan Ye fans are readers of his books, there are also many who are unwilling to see him appear on variety shows. They are disappointed and feel that it cheapens his image, by chasing glory and wealth.
No matter what kind of comments were made, Yuan Ye didn’t see them. He was barely even on Weibo. He didn’t watch that episode of the show, and he hadn’t even been online since returning from Japan.
Although he was the one being recorded, he still didn’t like watching himself on screen. It felt strange, like watching someone else, someone who was just acting alongside Fang Shaoyi.
He was probably the worst actor that Fang Shaoyi had ever acted with.
Yuan Ye didn’t go online until several days later, after everyone else had already joined in on the fun. He checked his WeChat and didn’t bother responding to any useless messages.
One day, Feng Leizi had contacted him and sent him a photoshopped picture of Yuan Ye throwing a banana while perched on a tree, turned into a monkey by a netizen. Feng Leizi said, “Isn’t the picture photoshopped quite well?”
Yuan Ye had never been on Weibo and had never seen the picture. He laughed and sent a voice message cursing, “Bro, do you have such photos now?”
Feng Lei directly made a voice call to him. Yuan Ye answered and Feng Lei said, “After watching that program, I don’t know how to talk to you. Before, I thought you were a deep and mature big brother, but now I think you’re just too cute.”
“Wasn’t I cute before?” Yuan Ye lit a cigarette and said, “I always thought I was cute.”
Feng Lei cursed and then said, “I’m not here to talk nonsense with you. I have something to ask you.”
Yuan Ye raised an eyebrow and said, “You saw my advertisement for you? Do I get a cut?”
“What advertisement?” Feng Lei didn’t understand.
Yuan Ye said, “If you didn’t see it, forget it. It probably wasn’t aired.”
Feng Leizi replied, “Let’s get down to business. Have you considered the project I mentioned to you before?”
Yuan Ye answered quickly, “I don’t really remember. My brain hasn’t been functioning well lately.”
Feng Leizi paused for two seconds, then muttered under his breath before saying, “I mentioned it to you before, the one about the mute. I think you could write something great about it. Why don’t you give it a try? You always write the best stuff about these kinds of things.”
Yuan Ye flicked his cigarette ash and said, “Oh, I remember now. Didn’t someone else already write about it?”
Feng Leizi scoffed, “He couldn’t write for sh*t.”
Currently, Yuan Ye didn’t have the mood to write anything. He had been feeling lazy for over a year now. Feng Leizi had mentioned a script that Yuan Ye was interested in before, but with his current state, he probably couldn’t produce anything good.
That’s why he didn’t answer the last time Feng Leizi called. This time, Yuan Ye didn’t confirm anything and only said, “Let me think about it and get back to you.”
“Okay.” Before hanging up, Feng Leizi changed his tone to a joking one and said to Yuan Ye, “Hey, old bro, I can see that the two of you are still in love. I heard rumors that you two had divorced, but it seems like it’s just a bunch of nonsense. You two are as in sync as always. Isn’t it nauseating?”
Yuan Ye chuckled, “It’s not that bad.”
After hanging up the phone, Yuan Ye stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray and stretched his arms with a frown. Feng Leizi was the sharpest guy around, never wasting a word. Those last two sentences were like a casual joke, but they were actually a reminder to Yuan Ye that even he knew about his divorce. Feng Leizi didn’t say it out loud, just gave him a heads up so he could be prepared.
Yuan Ye let out a sigh and lazily plopped down on the couch, grabbing the remote to turn on the TV.
After hearing what Feng Leizi had to say, he suddenly wanted to see the program too, to see how nauseating they were being and to catch a glimpse of Fang Shaoyi at the time.
In the first two minutes, Yuan Ye almost didn’t manage to continue on. Most people couldn’t handle seeing themselves on TV like that, it was too silly and contrived. But as soon as it was his turn to be on camera, Yuan Ye felt uncomfortable and started fast-forwarding.
Later on, there were more shots of Fang Shaoyi, with several different angles intercutting back and forth. After watching for a while, it actually seemed quite interesting.
During the part where they went up the mountain, Yuan Ye was running around so much that he didn’t even know what was going on. Fang Shaoyi laughed and said to the cameraman, “Let him play around, you can film me instead.”
Fang Shaoyi’s eyes were so gentle and the lighting was warm, making the whole scene feel cozy and inviting.
In the first episode, they only showed the part where they were allocating the houses on the mountain. The program ended with a scene of Yuan Ye and Fang Shaoyi lying next to each other in a tent, looking up at the stars. It looked quite romantic.
Although he felt a bit silly watching this, Yuan Ye was still quite satisfied. He didn’t turn off the TV until the commercials were over and he sat on the couch, lost in thought. The TV automatically switched to the next related video, which was a condensed version of their interview at the end of the show.
The first pair interviewed were Fang Shaoyi and Yuan Ye. The interview was edited in an interesting way, with each person’s responses interwoven. Yuan Ye watched the entire interview until the end. He remembered what he said, but he was curious about Fang Shaoyi’s answers to some of the questions.
The assistant director asked Fang Shaoyi, “How long have you been together with Yuan-laoshi?”
Fang Shaoyi said, “It’s been quite a while. Fifteen years have passed, and soon it will be the sixteenth year.”
“Wow, that’s really a long time. So, if we calculate it, you two have been together since you were around twenty?”
“Yes,” Fang Shaoyi softened his usual seriousness in front of the camera and nodded. “We were young back then.”
Fang Shaoyi’s answers to those small questions were almost identical to Yuan Ye’s answers at the time. Their tacit understanding was very strong.
Later, the assistant director laughed and asked, “May I ask you something? Who pursued whom first back then?”
Fang Shaoyi quickly replied, “I pursued him first.”
The assistant director confirmed with him again, “You pursued him first? Are you sure?”
Fang Shaoyi nodded and said, “Yes, I pursued him first.”
Both Yuan Ye and Fang Shaoyi claimed that they were the ones pursuing each other. The editor cut them together, placing their faces side by side with three colorful question marks in the middle.
Yuan Ye raised his eyebrows as he watched Fang Shaoyi on the television screen, then shook his head and smiled after a moment.
The interview was coming to a close, and the assistant director asked the final question: “Fang-laoshi, how do you evaluate your relationship with each other? What does your initial meeting and years of interaction mean to you?”
Yuan Ye didn’t have this question at the time, perhaps because he was a little impatient towards the end and the director didn’t ask any further. He sat up straight, listening to Fang Shaoyi’s answer.
The question left Fang Shaoyi silent for a while. He lowered his head and didn’t look at the camera. The lighting was soft, and even though Fang Shaoyi’s facial lines were so strong, he looked much gentler now.
After a moment, he pursed his lips and said in a low voice, “You’ve caught me off guard. What does it mean? How should I explain…”
He blinked his eyes after a moment and finally looked deeply into the camera. His gaze could penetrate people’s hearts through the screen.
He said, “Just…I am grateful for meeting him and thankful for fate. Perhaps it was destined for us to enter each other’s lives. Thank you for this fate.”
