I just wanted to see you.

Yuan Ye was surprised by his own words. He hadn't intended to say that. All he wanted to say was, "Let's finish recording the program together."

But now that he had said it, there was no point in trying to hide it. Yuan Ye coughed and then laughed at himself, asking Fang Shaoyi, "Can I take that back?"

Fang Shaoyi stared at him in silence for a moment before saying, "You can try."

Yuan Ye crouched down and pretended to pat the grass, saying, "Yuan Ye retracts his message." 

Fang Shaoyi stood up and reached out his hand. Yuan Ye smiled at him and then used his hand to stand up. 

The words from Yuan Ye had already lowered his stance, rendering everything he said before useless. "I just wanted to see you" was enough to soften his approach. But even if Fang Shaoyi didn't return the gesture, it wouldn't make Yuan Ye feel any worse or cheaper. After all, he was his Brother Yi, and what was said was said.

Later on, the two of them returned to their normal selves in front of the camera, laughing and joking around. Before bed, one washed his face while the other sat cross-legged playing on his phone, and everything seemed harmonious.

The next day, they entered the desert, which was also one of Yuan Ye's favorite places to play. After a day of playing, they had to wash off half a pound of sand. If it weren't for the constant need to be in front of the camera, the show would have been quite enjoyable. 

They aimlessly wandered and played around without any particular purpose, and didn't have to constantly check their phones for messages. It was quite nice. 

After the recording, as usual, Yuan Ye went straight home while Fang Shaoyi returned to the set. Every time after recording, Yuan Ye felt like he had lost half his life and needed at least two days to recover. But the next recording session would be later, with a twelve-day break before the next one.

During this time, Yuan Ye had a chance to rest. One day, he had to go to the station to record a program for publicity, which was part of his contract. At least one member of their couple had to participate, and Yuan Ye took the initiative to take on this task.

While taking a break, Yuan Ye went to visit his parents. His mother's first words upon seeing him were, "Oh my goodness, why have you lost so much weight?"

Yuan Ye chuckled and patted his mother's shoulder, saying helplessly, "Can you stop saying that every time you see me?" 

After looking around for a bit, Yuan Ye couldn't find his dad. He called out from inside the house, "Where's Professor Yuan Anping?" 

His dad's voice came from the balcony, "That loud voice can be heard from two kilometers away." 

Yuan Ye chuckled and walked over to play with the birds his dad raised. "No classes today, Professor Yuan?" he asked. 

Professor Yuan replied, "Who would have so many classes everyday, I only have two a week." 

"Okay, so you have plenty of free time," Yuan Ye said. 

Growing up, Yuan Ye had caused his parents a lot of worry, but now that he was an adult in his thirties, he didn't need them to worry about him anymore. He didn't even keep his divorce from Fang Shaoyi a secret from them. Despite their initial objections to their marriage, at the end he still ended up divorced. 

However, the elderly couple didn't say anything about his divorce. They didn't poke at the wound on Yuan Ye's heart or say things like "I told you so, that you'll regret it." They simply didn't bring up the matter. 

Yuan Ye had always been this way since he was young. Once he made a decision, no one could change his mind. He would bear the consequences himself and never complain.

During dinner, his mother asked, "Where did you go this time?"

Yuan Ye replied, "Inner Mongolia."

"When will it be on TV? I want to watch it too."

Yuan Ye smiled and shook his head, "Forget it, it's too silly. After watching it, you won't even recognize me."

His mother laughed, "Then do you think you're not silly usually? You've been silly for so many years, we're used to it."  

There was a moment of silence before Yuan Ye spoke up, "It's not a matter that kind of silly, this kind has no dignity."

His father picked up on his words and looked at him, "Then why are you still doing it?"

Yuan Ye smiled, "I already agreed, so I'll still go. Besides, it's quite a bit of money, I might as well do it, right?"

His father didn't say anything more about it, only saying, "For the past thirty years, you've only cared about your own happiness. I hope you continue to live like that in the future, as long as you're happy. But life can't always be happy, everyone has difficult times. Follow your heart, see clearly, understand in your heart. We won't say more." 

Yuan Ye paused for a moment, then looked at his father and laughed. He didn't have any alcohol in his hand, just a cup of juice. He insisted on pouring his father a glass of juice and clinked his own cup against his father's before taking a sip. His father thought he was crazy, but still took a sip himself.

"Can't you just eat your food properly?" his father scolded him. "Are you always so annoying?"

Yuan Ye laughed heartily and loved the way Professor Yuan's eyes softened despite his stern demeanor. 

In fact, Yuan Ye grew up in a very free environment. His family basically let him do whatever he wanted and rarely intervened, and even if they did, he wouldn't listen. Compared to Ning Lu and Guan Zhou, he was the least restricted by his family. 

When Ning Lu was young, his father had beaten him with a belt so hard that he broke two of them. Guan Zhou didn't have it as bad, but his family still kept a tight leash on him and he had to attend extra classes every day.

Only Yuan Ye spent his days playing around, but he still had the best grades, so there was no arguing with him. 

Originally, this program was supposed to air next month, but another program suddenly had an unexpected issue. One of the guests had a sensitive situation, and the higher-ups sent a document forbidding it from airing. The production team had no choice but to pull that program and replace it with this one first, and then figure out whether to replace the guest and re-record the episode or not. 

So in the past few days, there were suddenly photos leaked online of their previous recording sessions, one after another. Among them, Fang Shaoyi and Yuan Ye's appearance on the show was the most highly anticipated. 

Later, the program team also released some animated gifs on Weibo to promote the show. They had to repost that post, but Yuan Ye just handed his phone to Ji Xiaotao and let him handle it because he was too lazy to deal with it.

Yuan Ye only briefly glanced at it in the beginning and didn't bother with it afterwards. 

One day, while he was chatting with Ning Lu and a group of people in the group chat, he suddenly received a call. When he saw the name on the screen, he raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, President Geng?" Yuan Ye answered the phone and greeted him. 

The person on the other end of the phone was Geng Jinwei, who used to be Fang Shaoyi's agent and is now in charge of Fang Shaoyi's studio. Fang Shaoyi has been under his guidance since he was in his teens. At that time, Geng Jinwei had just graduated and was the one Fang Han chose to manage him. He made the right choice, as Geng Jinwei is a resourceful person and has become a gold-tier agent in the industry. 

However, Yuan Ye's relationship with him has always been average. They get along on the surface, but they are not as close as he is with Ji Xiaotao. 

Geng Jinwei was definitely not the same type of person like Ji Xiaotao, who was as innocent as a little white rabbit. If he had that kind of personality, he couldn't have been able to become a manager. 

Fang Shaoyi had not taken on any bad roles in recent years, and had always been able to continue with quality scripts. In addition to Fang Shaoyi being Fang Han's son and his own acting skills being top-notch, part of the reason was also because Geng Jinwei had the means and connections, and could obtain and hold onto resources, mingling well in this industry.

Yuan Ye rarely contacted him privately and seldom received his calls, so it was a bit surprising to receive one now. 

Geng Jinwei greeted him, "It's been a while, little brother Ye." 

He was also an old smoker, with a low and hoarse voice, and Yuan Ye replied, "It's definitely been a while, what's up, President Geng?" 

"What president," the other person laughed and said, "Call me Brother Geng. What's with this? The two of you split up and now you don't even call me brother anymore? Shouldn't I also call you Yuan-laoshi then?" 

"Hahaha, I was just kidding," Yuan Ye said. 

If Geng Jinwei had nothing to discuss, he wouldn't have called him, but it wasn't a big matter. He just asked Yuan Ye, "Have you been online these past few days? Someone said that the two of you were divorced. Have you seen it?" 

Yuan Ye frowned, "What? I haven't seen it." 

"It's nothing, just a post. We'll have it deleted later," Geng Jinwei continued, "I'm not asking you about that. I just want to ask you, little brother Ye." 

Yuan Ye replied with a "Mm", "Ask away." 

Geng Jinwei said, "How do you think we should handle the matter about you and Shaoyi?" 

The man's words were too direct, causing Yuan Ye's nerves to jump. He laughed and said, "What do I think? I have no opinion. Whatever you decide is up to you. I don't care. If it ever becomes public...just try to minimize the impact on the Fang Shaoyi. Otherwise, you can say I cheated? It's all good."

Geng Jinwei was not polite on the phone. He cursed and then said, "I can't afford to play games with you guys. This Brother Geng's getting old. I already said to reject this show but the both of you still took it. After getting divorced and still doing this kind of show, are you taking everyone else as fools? If it's exposed, we'll all be in trouble." 

"I've thought about this," Yuan Ye leaned back on the sofa, holding his phone and closing his eyes as he tilted his head back against the sofa's backrest. "If that day really comes... blame everything on me, the divorce, the program, you name it. You know better than I do how it can be done. At that time, you don't have to worry about me, Brother Geng. I'm not a celebrity, nor am I part of your entertainment industry. I don't care." 

"Do you not know Fang Shaoyi?" Geng Jinwei laughed mockingly, "He could never be that kind of person." 

"He can't, but you can," Yuan Ye laughed, then continued, "Really, I'm not afraid of anything. Whatever comes, I'll face it head on. As a writer, how many of us aren't a bit promiscuous, right Brother Geng?" 

Geng Jinwei didn't say anything more, only saying, "Let's talk about it later. If nothing unexpected happens, this matter shouldn't be exposed. Even if it is, I can handle it. You two will eventually be the death of me."

Yuan Ye laughed again and exchanged a few more words with him before hanging up the phone. 

Yuan Ye closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. After a while, he picked up his phone and logged onto Weibo. 

The internet was once again discussing his past relationship with Fang Shaoyi. Some old posts that were previously made had been dug up again. Yuan Ye clicked on each one and some of the memories that were being recounted by others made his heart feel warm and soft. 

He clicked on a video of Fang Shaoyi receiving his first Best Actor award at a ceremony. 

Many years ago, the video was not very clear, but you could still see clearly the dazzling figure standing in front of the big screen. Fang Shaoyi was wearing a suit and holding a trophy, looking very handsome. He said, "Thank you, Director Qin, thank you to the crew, and also thank you to all the seniors who acted with me. You have helped me grow a lot, thank you." 

After he finished speaking, he looked at the trophy in his hand, waved it, and with a focused and gentle gaze, he smiled and said, "Today, I give this award to my lover, Yuan Ye - Happy Birthday, wild monkey."

The author has something to say:

Yuan Ye: Why do you all want to trip me up every day?