Chapter 1

A cigarette dangled between Yuan Ye’s teeth. He squatted in the emergency vehicle lane off the side of the freeway. His eyes were squinted because of the smoke as he looked at his phone. On it, a little director from a variety show was messaging him. The other sent him the details about the overview and contents of the program.

Yuan Ye typed out a response and sent it, cutting off the other’s endless messages: Wait a minute.

The little director on the other end: What’s wrong, Teacher Yuan?

Yuan Ye: Who told you to contact me? Geng Jinwei didn’t cancel the contract with you guys?

Little director: ……Teacher Yuan, I don’t understand what you mean.

Yuan Ye: Fang Shaoyi’s still attending this show? You guys confirmed with him?

The other instantly became confused because of his questions. They didn’t even dare to respond; they had probably rushed off to ask their boss.

Yuan Ye clutched his phone tighter. He furrowed his eyebrows. Cigarette ash landed on his pants. He lowered his head and blew it off, then flicked away the remaining residue with his fingers.

He had signed the contract for this show over a year ago. At the time, he and Fang Shaoyi had signed together as a CP, a package deal. It was a travel reality show for couples. A long time had passed since then, so the program hadn’t even crossed his mind at all. Fang Shaoyi had never liked attending variety shows. This one had only been reluctantly signed as well. Yuan Ye had assumed that he had dropped out of it long ago. After suddenly receiving this little director’s messages, he temporarily couldn’t wrap his mind around the situation.

A while later, the little director replied. He said he had confirmed with Teacher Fang’s side and that they didn’t have any issues.

Yuan Ye stood up. His legs were a bit numb from squatting for so long. He gently stomped his feet, then called Fang Shaoyi’s assistant Xiaotao.

The person on the other end answered very quickly. As soon as he picked up, he called out, “Ye ge?”

Yuan Ye greeted him before directly asking, “You guys didn’t cancel the show?”

“Which one?” Xiaotao inquired before realizing something. “You mean《In The Times》?”

Yuan Ye made a noise of acknowledgment.

“No. They contacted you? I was planning on telling you about it soon, Ye ge,” Xiaotao said from the other end of the line.

Yuan Ye asked again, “Fang Shaoyi’s still going? His schedule is so tight this year. Hasn’t he been filming all this time?”

Xiaotao said, “We’ve discussed with the crew already. There’s enough time. What’s wrong, Ye ge? Do you have something else planned? If you don’t want to attend, we can explore our other options and see if Geng ge can push it off.”

Yuan Ye paused. He stuffed a hand into his pocket. He stayed like that with his head lowered. After a brief silence, he said, “Since I’ve already signed the contract, might as well go.”

He was originally planning on going to the neighboring city to visit some friends today. Halfway along the freeway, he felt his car getting heavier and heavier. When he stopped on the side of the road to check, he realized that both his front tires were flat. The car probably wouldn’t be able to move anymore if he continued driving it. If someone hadn’t purposefully popped his tires, he could only say that he had immensely bad luck. After hanging up, Yuan Ye directly sat on the railing by the side of the freeway and waited for someone to bring him tires.

The wind was a bit harsh today. His face felt dry after spending too much time outside.

When he got to his destination, the people in the private room had already consumed two rounds of alcohol. Upon seeing him enter, the one closest to the door, Ning Lu, walked over and swung an arm around his shoulders. He teased, “Yo, Great Master, we haven’t even finished up yet. Aren’t you here a bit early?”

Yuan Ye cocked an eyebrow and made to leave. “So what do you want me to do? Walk out and come back in again later?”

The people in the room laughed and cussed at him. Ning Lu towed him over to sit down. He had arrived so late; there was no way he would be able to avoid getting forced to drink a few glasses.

Everyone in this room had been friends for several years. Some had been Yuan Ye’s high school classmates, so they had a great relationship. These people would often meet up with each other, but Yuan Ye rarely hung out with them. With his stinkin’ personality, it was exceptionally difficult convincing him to come out each time.

In the room, Yuan Ye smoked his cigarette and watched the group of people joke around. All the ones here were influential in some regard. There was even one who was a fairly popular variety show host. Yuan Ye had known him for the longest. This person was one of his best friends. They had met as children.

The host was named Guan Zhou. To outsiders, he was normally a mannerly gentleman. Behind closed doors and after some alcohol, he too was a giddy drunk. When a crowd had alcohol, they completely lost their brain-to-mouth filters when speaking. Dirty jokes were common and the topic of conversation would always turn indecent after a few sentences. Someone unknown asked, “Zhou, I heard something ah. The famous actress who just won film empress is adamant about obtaining you. So? How are things? Will you submit to her? I heard that she even visited your house?”

Guan Zhou cussed, “Git.”

“Git what git. Share the gossip with us?”

Guan Zhou shook his head. His lips were sealed. “Quit being annoying. They’re just rumors.”

Old men became the most cunning while drinking. Annoyingly, they pestered Guan Zhou for some secret gossip within the entertainment industry. Guan Zhou worked on variety shows, so he had a really large social circle. What didn’t he know? But Guan Zhou rarely brought these things up with others, especially when alcohol was involved. It was almost impossible to hear any secret gossip leave his mouth. Thus, he got along well with many in the industry and was quite welcomed.

Yuan Ye leaned against the back of his chair. He pointed at those people and tossed out, “Got nothing else better to do?”

Guan Zhou met his gaze, then smiled and said, “Who said it isn’t so? Ye ge, protect me.”

Yuan Ye gestured for Guan Zhou to come to him. “Come, Zhou. Sit here. Let me see who’ll dare to act annoying again.”

Guan Zhou grabbed his own glass and walked over with a smile. He tugged Ning Lu away from his original seat and squeezed in beside Yuan Ye. He clinked his glass against Yuan Ye’s. The two drank.

Everyone at the table were all bros, but were still separated into different categories. There were some in this room who were closer with Yuan Ye, such as Ning Lu and Guan Zhou. Guan Zhou and Yuan Ye’s families had lived near each other when they were kids. As a child, Yuan Ye had been uncontrollably naughty. Since young, Guan Zhou had been protected by him. Later on, they grew up and nobody needed anybody else’s protection anymore. Their statuses all changed, but that relationship fostered across all those years remained. That wouldn’t change. Guan Zhou still often popped out a “Ye ge, protect me” from time to time as a joke.

That year, Guan Zhou had been the host for Yuan Ye and Fang Shaoyi’s flamboyant wedding. Others thought that Guan Zhou had gone for Fang Shaoyi. After all, half the entertainment industry had been in attendance back then: for Fang Shaoyi, yes, but also for Fang Shaoyi’s extremely important and influential father who was also in the industry. But only Guan Zhou hadn’t. The person getting married was his bro. He had gone for Yuan Ye.

Yuan Ye was thirty three this year. He hadn’t been that naughty child from before in a long time. But when he sat there with his extraordinarily short hair – basically only some stubble on his scalp, a cigarette dangling from his lips, a few scars from his mischievous youth still remaining on his handsome face, and stared at everyone from under narrow eyelids, he was clearly still that same person who had once been unafraid of anything.

After two more rounds, everyone was a bit drunk.

Guan Zhou made an exception and smoked a cigarette too. Normally, he didn’t touch cigarettes or alcohol for fear that they would ruin his throat. He only loosened up occasionally when hanging out with everyone else. He took a puff of his cigarette, then turned to look at Yuan Ye. He called out, “Bro.”

“Un?” Yuan Ye looked over. His eyebrow was half raised as he responded.

Guan Zhou stared at him and asked, “I heard……you’re going to attend our channel’s show?”

Yuan Ye didn’t have much of a reaction. He only made a soft sound of acknowledgment, “Ah.” Then, he asked without care, “It’s your channel’s show?”

Guan Zhou furrowed his brows. “What channel it’s on doesn’t matter. You’re sure?”

Yuan Ye withdrew his gaze. He looked around at the people causing a commotion and drinking alcohol. Everyone was having fun by themselves. No one could hear their whispered conversation. They seemed to be on the other side of a barrier. This was quite interesting. Yuan Ye chuckled and answered, “It’s nothing. Just a show.”

“Bullshit.” Guan Zhou took a puff of his cigarette. His expression looked foul. “Just stick to writing your stuff. Why are you trying to get into this industry? If you go on the show, you’ll have basically placed a foot in this industry. With your personality, are you waiting for people to cuss you out?”

The rims of Yuan Ye’s eyes were a bit red because of the alcohol. He scoffed. “Whatever. I can’t see their comments anyways.”

“What’s wrong with you?” Guan Zhou was a bit exasperated. “Those of you in the literary circle look down upon these things the most. Didn’t you criticize them as well in the past? What’s the point of attracting such a load of shit? In my opinion, you’ve become a dumbass.”

Yuan Ye had always been extremely stubborn and obstinate, like an unyielding donkey. He had a bad temper as well. Regardless of what Guan Zhou said that day, Yuan Ye maintained an unbothered expression. There was even a hint of a faint smile on his face. He never changed his mind.

Eventually, Guan Zhou had another cup of alcohol with him. He downed the whole thing. Perhaps because of the alcohol’s influence, his eyes turned red. He lowered his voice completely before pointing at Yuan Ye and saying, “……Quit bullshitting me!”

Yuan Ye looked over.

Guan Zhou rubbed his own face forcefully, then stared at Yuan Ye. He said, “I heard about it so fucking long ago. You think I really didn’t know just because I didn’t ask you about it? You and Fang Shaoyi fucking split up already!”

The hint of a smile that had been painted on Yuan Ye’s face now disappeared. He looked directly at Guan Zhou. After a long pause, he asked lowly, “Where did you hear that?”

Guan Zhou laughed coldly. He looked at Yuan Ye like the other was an idiot. “There are no secrets in this industry at all. Who can you hide these things from? Has water gotten into your brain for you to attend that dumb show with him? And to fake being a couple with him on it? I love you and you love me? If people don’t expose you completely, I’ll consider myself overly naive!”

For a long time, Yuan Ye didn’t say anything. He only silently turned his head to the side and lit a cigarette. His addiction had been really bad lately. People who stopped smoking then picked it up again always experienced return addiction with a vengeance.

“Ye ge,” Guan Zhou called him.

Yuan Ye answered.

This time, Guan Zhou was more straightforward with his questions. He left no room for misinterpretation. “You really got divorced? When?”

Yuan Ye set down his lighter. When the small, metal object made contact with the glass table, it made a clear clink. Yuan Ye nodded and answered, “Ah, we really got divorced.”

He lifted a hand and removed the cigarette from his mouth. The smoke flitted before his eyes. Yuan Ye was expressionless. “It’s been about a year.”