SBHA Chapter 14

Chapter 14. An Even Bigger Piece Of Gossip Was Brought To Light

The news that casting had begun for a new male lead for “Bright”, immediately became a hot topic of interest.

This was an arranged promotion by the production team; the movie needed talk, and changing the male lead was a big deal; the impact so great, the script even had to be revised.

Yu Ze’s fans and movie fans were all surprised. It had already been half a year since Yu Ze last filmed a movie, and he’d praised the script right before he took on this movie. Didn’t expect that things would turn out like this.

Accounts differed and opinions varied over the internet for a while. Some said that Second Young Master Song still wanted to make Qiao Ruo Ming the male lead, and so he took advantage of when the Film Emperor was recuperating, to kick him away. And others said that the Film Emperor was expanding overseas, that talks for a movie were wrapping up, and so this position of male lead had been hurriedly pushed off. And yet there was an even more incredible theory, that the Song Family had requested someone to give a fortune telling on the movie, which said that not long after the filming had started, an earthquake had happened, many were injured, this was extremely inauspicious, and therefore the Song Family wanted to withdraw their investment; the process was only being delayed for now, the entire film would soon draw to a close.

It seemed complicated, no matter how it was put.

After the news broke out, Yu Ze’s agency followed up with a statement, to pacify fans of the Film Emperor.

The statement from Yu Ze’s side said that due to health and personal reasons, more space and time was needed to take care of matters, and thus there was no choice but to withdraw from the crew of “Bright”, extremely sorry for that.

Only after a few more days of clamor, did things finally calm down. On the contrary, the fans of other male celebrities in the entertainment circle began to stir*, wishing that this large piece of cake would fall on the head of their own bias.

* 蠢蠢欲動 idiom; wriggling in making trouble, to begin to stir, to be restless and about to make trouble; to be itching for action

Yu Ze’s manager, Du Xin Ran, was very frustrated with the situation playing in front of his eyes.

He specifically went to talk to Yu Ze for a long time, but was also unable to find out what was going on. He knew only that “Yu Ze” had suddenly insisted on quitting the crew.

“Yu Ze” said he had an asthma attack.

Du Xin Ran looked at him, skeptical, “An asthma attack?”

“That’s right.” Song Yan said, “I’m not having one right now, but yesterday, I kept wheezing the entire night, didn’t even get to close my eyes. The doctors couldn’t do anything.”

“You mean your condition last night, was the same as last time, when you were shooting ‘Pursuing A Murderer’?” Du Xin Ran asked.

“Yes,” Song Yan replied, “Exactly the same.”

These words were what Yu Ze taught Song Yan to say. Two years ago, Yu Ze had filmed the movie ‘Pursuing A Murderer’, the expectations were quite high as it was an action-packed mystery, but due to the pressure and the fatigue, his asthma had flared up, and he’d no choice but to take a break for half a month. The production team could only first film other scenes, then re-shoot his scenes. Thankfully, the movie did pretty well in the box office after it was released. But at that time, the crew had been panicked to the point of bursting into flames*, money was wasted for every day they waited for him.

* 著急上火 saying; to be extremely worried to the point of feeling uncomfortable (nothing much to do with fire, but as that last word means fire, i’m leaving it literal) –> probably has roots in chinese medicine, some of the answers from google have to do with lacking Qi, lacking the water element etc etc

At that time, Yu Ze had told Du Xin Ran that he would never again take on a movie, unless he was fully certain and confident he could finish filming it. This was also why his works were less than those of male celebrities his age.

But, even if Yu Ze had made barely half the number of films as those his age, he still smoothly took the title of Film Emperor, and had countless men and women infatuated with him.

Song Yan was currently following the words Yu Ze taught him, he explained to the manager, ” You see, one bout of sickness already had me awake all night, how could I enter the filming crew? I could therefore only reject it. This film has already been plagued with misfortune ever since the earthquake, if I fall sick just as I rejoin the crew, that Song Family…..will find fault with me.”

“If it’s because of illness, then it can’t be helped….” Du Xin Ran said, but he still felt that something wasn’t quite right.

Song Yan nodded at him, “That’s right, can’t be helped.”

His acting skills weren’t that great, even when speaking, he still couldn’t help but be distracted by the sight of Du Xin Ran’s pitiful hairline. Although he really wanted to express his sympathy, that sympathy only stayed on his face, and didn’t really seep into words of genuine sadness and regret.

Du Xin Ran carefully asked, “Teacher Yu….was the attack this time really serious? I think your complexion is rather good.”

He was finally certain what that out-of-sorts feeling was – the Teacher Yu in front of his eyes, wasn’t even a bit like someone who’d been tormented by asthma attacks for a night; not even a hint of fatigue on his face, and no dark circles under his eyes. He seemed to be in a rather good condition.

Song Yan gave a dry laugh, “You’ve been with me for so long, why would I need to pretend to be sick?”

Du Xin Ran shook his head, “There’s no need, you’re not that type of person. If you were able to keep with it, you’d have kept with it. When you were filming ‘Pursuing A Murderer’, you brought an oxygen tank with you on scene.”

Song Yan stared blankly,” Had I?”

Du Xin Ran began to laugh, “You’ve forgot?”

Song Yan hurried to speak, “I remember now.” He knew, him being able to pass this hurdle of Du Xin Ran, was due to the trust that Yu Ze had already built. There was an indescribable sort of feeling in his heart.

After Du Xin Ran left, Song Yan and Yu Ze again arranged to meet for a session of yoga.

When they met inside the yoga studio, Song Yan roughly went over the suggestions Du Xin Ran had given.

“Old Du said he wished I use this period of rest to look over scripts, or to shoot some commercials,” Song Yan said.

“You can bring the scripts for me to look at,” Yu Ze replied, “You can consider commercials and magazines, shouldn’t be too much trouble.” He still hoped that Song Yan wouldn’t drop from the line of sight of the entertainment circle, would at least let others feel that he was still working.

Song Yan nodded, before he again asked Yu Ze, “How’s Second Young Master Song’s venture into performing arts? Has it begun?”

He’d been making fun of Yu Ze, but then unexpectedly felt that calling himself Second Young Master Song, was rather fun.

Yu Ze smiled, “I said it before, that I will take it step by step. I wish to not draw too much attention at the beginning.”

Just then, the yoga instructor arrived, and so they paused their discussion, and began to do meditation yoga.

Yu Ze had at first been somewhat unaccustomed to this sort of exercise, but after two sessions, he was gradually getting the hang of things, and along with Song Yan’s body being really suitable for exercise, he himself felt that it was somewhat getting easier and easier to enter a state of letting go.

“You are worrying….” Song Yan whispered, his voice soft.

“How’d you know?” Song Yan grumbled.

Both of them had their eyes closed, and faced each other, their movements occasionally brushing past the other, they could even feel the other’s breaths.

“Your breathing is somewhat messed up,” Yu Ze muttered back.

Song Yan didn’t reply, the instructor walked to his side, adjusted his posture a bit, voice soft in order to aid his meditation.

Song Yan tried hard to again enter the state of meditation, but just before, for one split second, he’d been able to clearly perceive the scent of a pheromone – a hint of his body, that was, Yu Ze’s body. He’d used an inhibitor, no one else would be able to sense it, but he was still able to perceive this type of peculiar scent.

He closed his eyes, that peculiar scent, along with the sound of Yu Ze’s voice, for one moment, he was somewhat dazed, confused.

Song Yan abruptly opened his eyes, “Ourselves!”

He’d almost mistakenly believed they’d switched back.

Yu Ze also opened his eyes and looked at him, puzzled, but then he quickly understood and lightly shook his head at Song Yan.

After the yoga session ended, they had a meal together. Nowadays, they had to wait every two or three days, before they could even meet, almost like secret agents – slowly, carefully, meeting in private, exchanging information.

Yu Ze told Song Yan about the company and the Song Family, and had Song Yan help him arrange his schedule – whom must be met, which events didn’t have to be attended.

Song Yan told Yu Ze about what happened around him, then listened to Yu Ze on how to respond.

“That glass roof of the garden has been redesigned, it’s in the work mailbox, you can go to the mail account to see,” Yu Ze informed Song Yan.

Song Yan used the app on his cell phone to verify each and every detail, “Glass roof. Got it.”

“Next month is your grandfather’s eighty-eighth birthday,” Yu Ze continued, “What are you planning to give him? I will arrange the order.”

Song Yan was startled, “Already? This quick?” He remembered that his grandfather’s birthday was soon, but lately he’d been distracted by the matter with Yu Ze.

“It was Fang Yuan who reminded me.” Yu Ze said, “She’s unlikely to be mistaken.”

“Grandpa loves painting and calligraphy,” Song Yan replied, “You can find a famous collector, and buy some calligraphy or painting, preferably by Ren Bo Nian*.”

* 任伯年 Ren Bo Nian (1840-1895), a painter of the Qing Dynasty, was one of the “Four Ren” (four well known painters with the surname ‘Ren’), was noted for his figure paintings and flower-and-bird paintings

Yu Ze noted it down, and saw that Song Yan looked somewhat frustrated and disappointed; he could already guess why.

He asked, “Mr. Song’s birthday, there should be a grand banquet for his birthday, right?”

Song Yan nodded, “Can you give me an invitation?”

Yu Ze’s voice was gentle, “Of course. If I can’t even do that, that would be too cruel.”

They finished exchanging information.

Song Yan suddenly asked, “What happened to you when you were filming ‘Pursing the Murderer’?”

Yu Ze was reluctant to talk about it, but he said, “That’s my dark history.”

Song Yan didn’t continue asking. He remembered his previous impression of Yu Ze – perfect to the point of being a mannequin, which was why he preferred the type like Qiao Ruo Ming; flaws obvious at a glance, but seemed more genuine.

Song Yan now felt that his first impression of Yu Ze was wrong; some people weren’t able, were even unwilling, to reveal their own wounds.

“Fine,” Song Yan said, ” I think I still don’t really know much about you. I should watch more of your previous movies.”

Yu Ze began to laugh, “Have you even watched one of them before?”

He shook a finger at him

Song Yan grasped that finger and pressed it down, “Of course! I’ve definitely watched more than one….”

Yu Ze drew his finger back, Song Yan also restrained his smile.

They again strayed off topic, chatted for a while longer, before they each went back.

The next day, photos of Second Young Master Song and Yu Ze again having a private dinner, were exposed on the internet, and this time, the source said that the two even worked out together, their relationship extremely close.

Building on from the gossip of them eating together last time, the news of the two again eating together no longer seemed strange. From their expressions, the two had talked, laughed, had been relaxed, comfortable. The Film Emperor had occasionally fiddled with his cell phone, the two even looked at each other’s phone. It would have all been impossible if their relationship wasn’t really that of good friends.

This time, Yu Ze asked Fang Yuan to act, to remove the series of snapshots from the internet, as much as possible.

Fang Yuan would of course follow her boss’s instructions when handling work, but she would also sometimes give advice, especially when she felt that the timing was right.

“Mr. Song, if you and Yu Ze meet often, why don’t you just acknowledge that you’re just friends? In any case….this is just meeting and having a meal, that’s all.”

She’d also had her doubts at the beginning, but over this period of time, “Second Young Master Song” hadn’t once brought a gift for Teacher Yu, hadn’t once arranged a romantic trip, much less a hotel room.

Therefore, from what she had observed, the two were in that pure friendship that existed between two Alphas, and she didn’t know why they had to be so secretive about it.

Yu Ze nodded at her, “I will consider that.”

But this time, the “scandal” didn’t need to be explained any further, because an even bigger piece of gossip that also concerned the Song Family, was brought to light.

Song Yan’s brother, Song Qi, and the Omega actor, Lu Qiu Yi, had became a pair; they were officially together.

Author has something to say: The author began climbing the month’s ranks, hope that everyone would comment lots, thanks!

Translator has something to say: 2/6 chapters (slowly, slowly ~ trying, trying ~ failing, failing ~ sorry, sorry) (btw I re-edited the last chapter, couldn’t believe how horrific it was)

Chapter 13

Chapter 15