DP Chapter 45
by VolareXu Chuo came and went in a hurry, leaving after Xiang Yiye fell asleep. The next day, when he woke up, he saw several stacked thermal containers on the table, and he knew that last night was not a dream.
“Remember to eat breakfast. Let’s celebrate our birthdays together the day after tomorrow,” Xu Chuo left a note.
The day after tomorrow was November 22nd. Xiang Yiye walked into a French restaurant and was led to a table by the window by a waiter.
French cuisine is elaborate. With appetizers, entrees, main courses, and desserts, the whole meal took more than three hours.
The waiter kept coming and going, pouring wine, clearing the previous course, and serving the next. Only when he returned to the private space of his apartment did Xiang Yiye take out the gifts he had prepared for a long time, three boxes of different sizes.
“You prepared so much?” Xu Chuo asked, his tone surprised and light.
“Compared to what you gave me, this is nothing,” Xiang Yiye said.
“But you don’t seem to like what I give you very much, and I haven’t seen you use them,” Xu Chuo said, at a loss with the three boxes, “Which one should I open first?”
Xiang Yiye opened the two smaller boxes, took out a solid-color mulberry silk tie, and put it on Xu Chuo, along with a pair of silver cufflinks and a matching tie clip.
Xu Chuo walked to the dressing mirror to take a look and said, “You have a good eye. It’s the style I like.”
“You can also use it after you go abroad,” Xiang Yiye said.
Xu Chuo paused, and then continued naturally: “Yes.”
He had never said from beginning to end that he was going abroad. Lin Xiao told Xiang Yiye yesterday in a message.
Lin Xiao thought she had found out through indirect inquiries, but Xiang Yiye knew it was more likely that Xu Chuo had deliberately revealed it.
Xu Chuo probably thought that by saying it through someone else’s mouth, the harm could be buffered.
The effect of this method was surprisingly good, and Xiang Yiye was still able to ask the question calmly: “When are you leaving?”
“The earliest is the end of the year,” Xu Chuo stroked the smooth surface of the tie and asked, “What’s in the last box?”
“The cheapest of all the gifts,” Xiang Yiye said.
Xu Chuo unwrapped the wrapping paper and guessed, “Is it a book, or your diary?”
He opened the title page, and the neat French font was filled with the fragrance of ink. When he turned to the back, he recognized the contents and gradually couldn’t speak.
“It’s not cheap at all, it should be priceless,” Xu Chuo stroked the texture of the handwriting, his expression suddenly becoming heavy, “…I’m sorry.”
“If you really feel sorry, just give me a quick end,” Xiang Yiye had enough of this piecemeal torture, “Or are you just waiting for me to be the first to break up?”
“I’m going abroad this time, and I won’t be back for at least three years,” Xu Chuo said.
“So what? Can’t you just ask me if I’m willing to wait for you?” Xiang Yiye said.
Xu Chuo said: “I can’t stand loneliness. What I need is someone I can see and touch in front of me.”
Xiang Yiye looked at him: “Then if I say, you can like whoever you want abroad, be with whoever you want, just don’t let me know…”
“Xiang Yiye,” Xu Chuo interrupted him, “Do you know what you’re saying?”
When those words were spoken, Xiang Yiye could feel another self splitting out of his body, telling him not to say anything more.
The worst situation is not being rejected after rushing into the fire like a moth, but watching oneself lower oneself almost infinitely, so low that even one cannot believe it.
How ugly.
“Impossible, you’re dreaming,” Xiang Yiye suddenly woke up, feeling a throbbing pain in his heart, which had to be diverted to someone else, “Let’s break up, Xu Chuo. Someone as incorrigible as you is not worth waiting for. If you realized you couldn’t do it now, you shouldn’t have provoked me in the first place. Live alone with your pretended affection for the rest of your life.”
After he finished speaking, he walked into the bedroom, took out his suitcase, and packed his things, with only one thought in his mind: to leave immediately.
Xu Chuo’s voice floated behind him: “Xiao Ye, I asked Lawyer Yan. The possibility of you losing the contract dispute with Xinghui is not high. He will continue to follow up. Even if you lose, I will pay the penalty for you… Are you listening, Xiao Ye? Don’t joke with your own future.”
Xiang Yiye walked to the door, then turned back to get the handwritten book.
Xu Chuo held down the other corner of the handwritten book and said with difficulty: “Can you leave this to me?”
Xiang Yiye tore off the hardcover shell of the handwritten book, tore the inside into pieces, and threw it into the trash can.
On Christmas Day, at eight o’clock in the evening, Xu Chuo was waiting in the lounge at Huaikou Airport. He took out his phone and turned on the live broadcast of the Minghua TV New Year’s Eve Gala.
Xiang Yiye was putting on makeup backstage, practicing that classic Cantonese love song. Although the songs at the gala were not actually sung live, there were many people who were caught out of sync every time, and he was used to preparing as much as possible for everything he did.
A staff member handed over a few white cards, wanting to ask him to sign a few personalized autographs.
He opened the pen cap and quickly wrote, and the makeup artist who was doing his hair glanced at it and said, “Teacher Xiang, is this your real name?”
Hearing this, Xiang Yiye came back to his senses and saw that the papers that had already been signed were all signed Xu Chuo.
He took a deep breath and crumpled all the papers.
Xu Chuo waited until Xiang Yiye came on stage.
The day they broke up, he didn’t dare to look at Xiang Yiye’s face, for fear of seeing tears. That day, Xiang Yiye’s eyes were like an endless desert, not needing a drop of water to pity it, clean, beautiful, proud, just like before.
Today, at the gala, in the center of the stage, when that Cantonese song reached the chorus, Xu Chuo suddenly saw a layer of mist floating in Xiang Yiye’s eyes.
Xiang Yiye blinked, turned his head, and interacted with another singer on stage. The mist disappeared without a trace.
But there is no privacy on the Internet, and these few seconds could not escape the audience’s sharp eyes behind the screen, and the barrage quickly swiped up.
Some Xiang Yiye’s Fans were protective: “Our Xiao Ye is too invested, I’m going to cry.”
More were criticisms from non-fans: “What is this acting? Who is going to take care of it?”
“What are you trying to do with this sentimentality, may I ask?”
“You’re really trying to steal the show, you’ve already booked a spot on the trending topics, right…”
During the backstage interview, the host said that Xiang Yiye’s performance was very emotional, and Xiang Yiye replied: “It’s my first time on stage, and my brain was completely blank with nervousness. I kept staring at the teleprompter, and my eyes were blurred…” After he finished speaking, he smiled and turned the topic to the singer next to him: “Is it okay to say this? Fortunately, Teacher Zheng is on the same stage, which made me feel a lot more stable…”
Watching the interview, Xu Chuo thought that Xiang Yiye was never a flower in a greenhouse and did not need extra protection from others.
Time is like the spring water of a river, like the passing of the dead, and like the fleeting moments of a shuttle on a machine, rushing forward, not stopping for anything.
In the first semester of his senior year, when Xiang Yiye was struggling with his graduation thesis, the broadcast of “Si Yanhua” made him quickly become popular in China. The traffic came like a tide, and he successfully entered the ranks of second- and third-tier stars.
By the age of 25, he had firmly established himself as a first-tier star, and the movie resources he could receive were increasing, and the endorsement titles of international brands were also rising.
In the past few years, in addition to work, what he had witnessed the most was actually illness or death.
The closest was Xiang Wan. Even though he tried his best to remind Xiang Wan to take his medicine, Xiang Wan was still diagnosed with liver cancer in the year he graduated from college at the age of 22. Fortunately, Xiang Yiye already had the ability to afford the treatment costs at this time, and his relationship with Xiang Wan was not as bad as in his previous life.
Further away was Gu Wenyu’s daughter, Gu Ying. She found a matching bone marrow, but the transplant was ultimately unsuccessful. During the long chemotherapy, with the help of her family and friends, she slowly completed the script in her hand, and passed away while waiting for the script to be put into production.
Even further away was Tao Mujia. Once when eating with Lin Xiao and the others, Xiang Yiye learned from Xiao Zhou that Tao Mujia had died in an accidental drowning. He was only 21 years old when he passed away.
At that time, Xiang Wan had just been diagnosed, and Xiang Yiye deeply felt that life was impermanent. Remembering that Tao Muya was still in college, he expressed his condolences and asked if she needed help.
“No, Brother Yiye, after I went to find you before, my brother told me that he told me not to always trouble you. He left me money…” Tao Muya said, choking a little, “A lot of money, enough for me to finish my last year of college.”
Xiang Yiye remembered Tao Mujia’s words and said, “What about graduate school?”
“I don’t want to study anymore. I always have to enter society, so I might as well do it sooner,” Tao Muya said.
“You can come to me if you encounter difficulties in the future,” Xiang Yiye said.
Tao Muya was silent for a while and said, “Brother Yiye, it may not be very auspicious for me to say this, but after I graduate, if you need a lawyer, you can come to me, as well as your friends.”
Xiang Yiye said “Okay”.
After graduating, Tao Muya joined a law team specializing in entertainment law. In the next few years, when friends around him encountered disputes such as contract termination and music copyright, Xiang Yiye would recommend her.
He thought that Tao Muya was trying to get a job opportunity, but then several friends who had received his recommendation told him that Tao Muya’s awareness of confidentiality did not seem to be very strong. She would often inquire about information about other artists in the circle, related and unrelated, and was particularly concerned about Minghua TV.
Xiang Yiye felt that the little girl was curious about some of the inside stories of the entertainment industry, and didn’t pay attention to it at first.
Until later, Tao Muya and her team members used a voice recorder in a private chat without permission after handling a dispute for one of his friends, and it was finally discovered.
Xiang Yiye understood the situation and apologized to that friend with Tao Muya. After that, he talked with Tao Muya and told her that she could ask him anything she wanted to know.
“I’m not interested in the private affairs of those celebrities at all,” Tao Muya said, “Brother Yiye, do you know who the backer behind Tang Shuqin is?”
“Can you tell me why you want to know this?” Xiang Yiye said.
“I know who it is, I’m just not sure,” Tao Muya said, “Forget it, I’ll figure it out myself.”
Xiang Yiye became even more confused, especially after learning that Tao Muya had quit her current well-paid job not long after, and was single-mindedly trying to enter the legal department of Xieshi Group.