Fang Shaoyi's words struck at Yuan Ye's heart. For a moment, he couldn't speak and felt shaken inside. 

Fang Shaoyi rarely talked to him about these things, and they hadn't really discussed their feelings in recent years. Fang Shaoyi had always been in control of himself, from his youth until now. So when he said that his heart would race, Yuan Ye was surprised.
    
It was a strange feeling. Yuan Ye knew that Fang Shaoyi wanted him to separate himself from the surrounding matters. Yuan Ye had a tendency to become disappointed with everything involved in a situation when he was disappointed with just one part of it. This included everyone inside it.

Later, Yuan Ye lightly scratched Fang Shaoyi's nose with his finger and whispered, "I understand." 

In some ways, Fang Shaoyi was like a guide. He always led Yuan Ye to learn how to feel and perceive.

That night, the two of them started to act silly again. Ji Xiaotao always felt that they were being too affectionate, but they didn't even do anything. He scanned their bodies a few times with his eyes, but didn't see anything, which made him roll his eyes.

Ji Xiaotao turned his attention back to his phone. He asked Yang Siran how things were going at the company and what the next steps were for him. Yang Siran replied that he was still waiting and there were no arrangements yet.

Ji Xiaotao asked, "Have they assigned you an assistant yet?"

"Not yet," Yang Siran replied.

Ji Xiaotao asked him again, "Who is your agent? Who is guiding you?"

"Still no one," Yang Siran replied. 

Ji Xiaotao: "Ah, then just wait for now..." 

Yang Siran finished chatting with him and put his phone back in his pocket. He was dressed in simple casual clothes, looking like a boy next door with a clean and neat appearance. Even in the company, not many people knew him. 

Yang Siran sat in the office, waiting patiently without daring to look around. If he wasn't looking at his phone, he would flip through a magazine on the coffee table. 

He had been sitting in the office for two hours already. 

Later, Geng Jinwei finally came back, followed by two people. Geng Jinwei saw Yang Siran and asked him indifferently, "Back already?" 

"Yeah." Yang Siran nodded and continued to sit on the sofa, waiting. After Geng Jinwei finished talking with others, he walked over to stand in front of the desk. He lit a cigarette and asked Yang Siran, "Are you tired from filming?"

"Not really," Yang Siran said. "Everyone has been taking good care of me."

"Next month, I'll get you another role. For now, just keep grinding as a minor character on the set," Geng Jinwei said.

Yang Siran had no objections and nodded, "Okay."

After discussing work matters, Geng Jinwei said, "You can go now." 

Yang Siran suddenly felt uneasy. He glanced at Geng Jinwei, who was already looking at something else and not paying attention to him. Yang Siran walked around the desk, lowered himself, and pressed his face against Geng Jinwei's leg. His face was against the fabric of Geng Jinwei's suit pants, and he spoke softly, barely even breathing, as he carefully said, "...I miss you so much."

Geng Jinwei looked down at him, and Yang Siran lifted his face to meet his gaze, his eyes full of sincere affection. 

Geng Jinwei didn't say anything, just looked at him with an unreadable expression on his face. Yang Siran blinked and, with his handsome and fair face tilted up, earnestly asked, "Can I come to your place tonight?"

...... 

In early April, Yuan Ye left the film crew for a few days. Their small circle of literary friends also gathered together. Feng Leizi was a literary planner for a famous director, and when their script reached a certain stage, they had to gather a group of people to pick out flaws and provide feedback. They absorbed the opinions of dozens of writers, listened to everyone's thoughts, and looked for any new sparks that might arise.

Yuan Ye definitely had to be there. He had a unique perspective and a sharp tongue, and he wasn't afraid to speak his mind. So, despite some resistance, they managed to convince him to come. 

Yuan Ye took a leave of absence from the film crew just to take a look at their script. When Jiang Linchuan heard that he was going out to review someone else's script, he scolded him, saying that he hadn't finished his own work yet but was sticking his nose into someone else's. 

But Yuan Ye had grown sick of reading their script. All he had was a tattered script, and no matter how much he tried to polish it, he couldn't come up with anything good. He couldn't convince the director to change the story, nor could he convince himself that there wasn't a problem. So every day he was irritable.

The shooting was nearing its end, and Fang Shaoyi estimated that they could wrap up in another month.

When Yuan Ye came out to meet them, he was naturally mocked. He had boasted on Weibo that he would pursue someone, and it caused a stir. These people had been waiting to mock him, and finally they had the chance.

But Yuan Ye didn't care. He just smoked his cigarette and said, "Don't be cheap."

"Are you embarrassed?" someone asked him. "Does Uncle Ye get embarrassed?"

Yuan Ye couldn't be bothered to deal with them. The director hadn't arrived yet, so he went to the balcony to smoke. 

Ji Xiaotao sent a WeChat message to him, which was a short video of Fang Shaoyi. 

On the video, Yuan Ye said, "Don't bother me as soon as I go out." 

Ji Xiaotou replied, "Aren't I just trying to spread some warmth?" 

Yuan Ye responded, "It's not that unbearable. Give it a rest." 

The process of script development can be torturous, lasting for several days. The script is constantly overturned and rebuilt, and the final product may undergo several transformations from the original. Writers are often seen as introverted, but the scene of script development is actually like a battlefield, with everyone losing their voices in the end. 

Yuan Ye was sharp and agile at times like this. He was always the first to overturn other people's views, but those who played with their pens couldn't help but feel that he made sense, which was extremely annoying. Scholars all carried a bit of pride, looking down on each other, but had to admit that he was right. 

Of course, Yuan Ye's ideas also had to be rejected, and in the end, what came out depended entirely on fate. Or it could be a brilliant idea that someone had a sudden inspiration for and was approved by the majority. 

His mind was constantly spinning, which was tiring, but this was how Yuan Ye's circle worked, it was a familiar pattern. It was much more enjoyable than sneaking around on set discussing the script, not having to worry about offending any actors or dealing with props that couldn't keep up with major changes. 

The initial stage of the script was the purest phase of a movie, where everyone had the same goal: to turn the script from a stone into gold. Every subsequent stage consumed this purity.

After polishing the script, Yuan Ye felt a little better when he returned. It was as if he had recharged his batteries and replenished his blood. As soon as he returned to the set, he went to find Fang Shaoyi, who had just finished work and was changing his clothes and removing his makeup. 

Yuan Ye called out to him, "Brother Yi." 

Fang Shaoyi turned around and smiled at him, "Back already?" 

"Yeah," Yuan Ye nodded, "Just finished charging." 

"How was the chat?" Fang Shaoyi asked him. 

Yuan Ye shrugged, "It was okay, but we couldn't come to a decision. It'll probably take two or three more drafts, and who knows, I might have to go back again. Feng Leizi is the master of this kind of thing, he doesn't even come up with the ideas himself, he just waits for someone else to do it and then takes the credit. He's got a real knack for literary planning, but he's also got a real cunning streak." 

Fang Shaoyi smiled and was about to walk back with Yuan Ye, but he was called away halfway through. Yuan Ye sat down on a bench by the side of the road, thinking about smoking, but then remembered he was back on set and quietly put it away. 

When Fang Shaoyi returned, Yuan Ye was chatting with a little girl who looked about four or five years old. Yuan Ye touched her small braid and said something, but Fang Shaoyi didn't know what it was.

On the way back, Fang Shaoyi told Yuan Ye, "We can go watch the director's rough cut tonight."

Yuan Ye asked, "The one he's been working on these past few days?"

"Yeah, he hasn't made much progress," Fang Shaoyi replied, giving him a glance.

Yuan Ye didn't care and didn't even want to to add his name to the credits. He didn't want to be associated with a bad production. He had given it his all, but sometimes things just don't work out. 

After he came back, he looked again at the half-hearted script with its added storyline and felt that it seemed even worse than before.