Chapter 54

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Yuan Ye very proactively booked two tickets for them. It was time to express his passion. Ji Xiaotao asked if he needed to tag along. Yuan Ye said, “No need. Do what you need to do, Teacher Tao.”

Before Ji Xiaotao could respond, Fang Shaoyi told him, “Yes, tag along.” i9cPau

Yuan Ye looked at Fang Shaoyi. He thought Fang Shaoyi was doing this on purpose. Perhaps he was being tsundere again. But it was fine whether or not Ji Xiaotao tagged along. Yuan Ye didn’t have any opinions about this. Thus, in the end, the three of them left together. Ji Xiaotao bought his own ticket.

Actually, Fang Shaoyi mainly wanted Ji Xiaotao to follow Yuan Ye around. Yuan Ye always did everything alone. Though the publishing company would definitely arrange for someone to take care of him for the book signing, Fang Shaoyi still didn’t feel even the slightest bit more relaxed.

Yuan Ye didn’t really like book signings and other events like these. But this had been part of the contract that he had already signed while publishing the book. All these years, he had continuously worked with the same publisher. Their collaboration was pretty satisfactory, too. He was technically returning a favor this time, so agreed to a few book signings.

Ji Xiaotao was both an assistant and bodyguard. His old nanny’s heart couldn’t catch a break. After the event, Yuan Ye went to eat dinner with his collaborators. Fang Shaoyi called Ji Xiaotao and asked, “Done yet?” N0H fO

Ji Xiaotao whispered, “Yeah. He’s eating right now.”

Fang Shaoyi inquired, “You’re following him?”

Ji Xiaotao lowered his head and made a noise of acknowledgment. He responded, “Yes.”

“Then tell him not to drink too much. If he gets drunk, call me,” Fang Shaoyi said. kI4E2S

“Alrighty. Got it!” Ji Xiaotao replied. After hanging up, Ji Xiaotao thought to himself, can’t you directly call him yourself? What kind of bad habit is this, always making me play messenger?

After returning to their room, Fang Shaoyi finally regained some clarity. He undressed and obediently took a shower. This entire time, he didn’t cause any trouble. He did whatever Yuan Ye told him to do. When Yuan Ye finally got Fang Shaoyi settled down, he took a shower himself. Fang Shaoyi was quietly sleeping in bed, blankets wrapped around him, when Yuan Ye got out of the shower.

Yuan Ye placed a bottle of water on the bed because he worried that Fang Shaoyi’s mouth would feel dry after waking up. Fang Shaoyi abruptly opened his mouth and muttered, “Are you sleeping or not……”

“Coming.” Yuan Ye glanced at him and answered, “Coming, coming.” rPuC2

Fang Shaoyi hadn’t actually fallen into deep sleep. After returning to the room, he was no longer so sleepy. Yuan Ye was being slow and taking forever to get in bed to sleep. Thus, Fang Shaoyi had started rushing him.

Under the influence of alcohol, his usual cold demeanor had disappeared too. He could no longer hide his true attitude like he had been doing before. The person next to him was someone he didn’t need to be guarded against in the slightest. All his walls had come down.

Yuan Ye held onto Fang Shaoyi and patted his back. As if coaxing a child, he whispered, “Sleep, baobei’er.”

Fang Shaoyi furrowed his brows. At this time, he suddenly randomly blurted out, “How could your heart be so cruel?” jVn SD

Yuan Ye first froze for a moment. Then, he burst into laughter. He lowly asked, “Where did that come from……”

Fang Shaoyi’s eyebrows were still furrowed. He scolded, “Shut up.”

Yuan Ye blinked silently. Then, he reached a hand out and tapped the spot between Fang Shaoyi’s eyebrows. His laugh was very soft. He said, “You’re the cruel one.”

Fang Shaoyi leaned back to avoid his hand. He replied, “You deserved it.” EHc Po

“Yes, I did.” Yuan Ye patted him again. “I really deserved it. Don’t furrow your eyebrows.”

Fang Shaoyi quieted down and stopped speaking. Yuan Ye spoke up first instead. He touched the other’s chin and asked him, “Why don’t you want to film anymore?”

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Fang Shaoyi didn’t reply. Thus, Yuan Ye asked again, “Do you not believe that I can sort myself out?”

“I do.” Fang Shaoyi scooted forward a bit. He buried his face against Yuan Ye’s neck and kissed the other on the collarbone. His voice was muffled, “……I do, which is why I’m unwilling.” JdVl9Q

Yuan Ye’s heart felt sore. He tugged at Fang Shaoyi’s hair a few times before turning off the lights. He kept gently tugging at Fang Shaoyi’s hair. This type of scalp massage was really comfortable. Fang Shaoyi fell asleep very quickly.

After the book signing at this location, there were several other destinations Yuan Ye still needed to go to. Ji Xiaotao followed Yuan Ye around for the subsequent few days. He had done this before in the past, too. The celebrity assistant occasionally worked part-time as the author’s assistant as well. When Yuan Ye finally finished dealing with all these matters, it was already December. In about a dozen or so days, it was going to be Christmas.

In his free time between flying around, Yuan Ye still needed to edit the script for Feng Leizi and them. He had already turned in his third draft. Yuan Ye’s biggest fear was that they would tell him, “Come over when you have time. Let’s talk face to face.”

Nothing good could come out of talking face to face. Each conversation would last at least a whole evening. Last time, they had directly conversed for over ten hours. Yuan Ye had honestly been too tired to continue, but the director’s eyes had still been extremely bright. He had told Yuan Ye to drink a few more cups of coffee. c29HuD

This movie was called《Utterance》. It was a melodrama set in the background of the past. The male lead was mute; his younger brother was also half-mute. The younger brother got quite a lot of screen time as well. He was a character that was very pure and animated. When discussing him, Feng Leizi offhandedly mentioned a few actors. The director didn’t express his opinions about them. Yuan Ye had an epiphany. Then, he said, “I happen to have an actor to recommend. He suits the role quite well.”

Actually, Yuan Ye had more than one actor to recommend. He recommended two people: one was Yang Siran, the other was Cheng Xun. Yang Siran’s previous movie had been filmed alongside Fang Shaoyi. Yuan Ye had watched him act before. He was very talented. Cheng Xun’s image was very similar to that of the character’s. However, Yuan Ye had no idea if his acting skills were on par. In all honesty, Yuan Ye hadn’t actually watched him act before. Yuan Ye just happened to like Cheng Xun and Chi Xing a lot. Recommending Cheng Xun was technically a bit selfish.

A recommendation didn’t really count for much. Whether or not they would get used depended on the director. They still needed to send their materials to the director so he could make the final decision. At the time, Yuan Ye had actually only offhandedly mentioned their names. He hadn’t been too serious about this. After all, this character was rather important. Casting needed to be performed extremely diligently. However, Yuan Ye still mentioned this to Cheng Xun later on. He told the other to organize his materials and send a copy of them to the director when he had the time. Chi Xing happened to be next to Cheng Xun. He complained that Ye ge was too biased.

Yuan Ye laughed while saying through the phone, “You look too cheery. You don’t have that melancholic aura around you.” 3qsZLH

It had been a long time since Yuan Ye had seen Yang Siran. Because of this, Yuan Ye asked about him. When he did so, Ji Xiaotao stated, very exasperated, “I think it’s almost over for him.”

“What’s wrong?” Yuan Ye cocked an eyebrow. “Wasn’t the company keen on promoting him?”

“Don’t know what’s going on in his head. Couldn’t tell that he was so stubborn back then when we were on set,” Ji Xiaotao said. “He can’t get along with his manager. His attitude and temper are fine, but he simply won’t do anything he’s told to do.”

“There’s such a situation?” At the time, Yang Siran had been a pretty good kid on set. Quite well-behaved. Though he had ended up on the headlines with Fang Shaoyi, from their interactions, he wasn’t the super cunning type of youth. Back then, he had silently helped Fang Shaoyi get back at the other actor. Yuan Ye actually hoped that his future development would go smoothly. VmQel2

Ji Xiaotao sighed and said, “Geng ge never dotes on anyone. Aside from my ge, there isn’t any other actor in this company who’s so uncooperative. It’s been several months already. My bet is Geng ge’s going to toss him.”

Yuan Ye replied, “There’s a role that he’s quite suited for in a script that I’m currently working on. Tell the company to send his materials over and try. We just signed him. If we toss him, his future’s over. There’s no need to be so resolute.”

“Tough luck,” Ji Xiaotao said. “Geng ge isn’t even mentioning him at the company anymore. Doesn’t talk about him during meetings at all. He probably won’t promote him from now on.”

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