I feel like I’m going through a breakup right now lol. Try listening to Hanggang Sa Huli (Until the End) while reading.
Ye Zhou dragged his suitcase, wandering aimlessly.
The claim that he had already found a place to stay was, of course, a lie. From the moment he heard the news to when it was confirmed by Boss Jiang himself, everything happened within the span of half a day.
In such a short time, where could he find a place to stay?
The suitcase was packed in advance. He thought it would not be needed, but unexpectedly it was indeed put to use.
On a winter night in City A, the temperature was quite low. Previously, Boss Jiang would always remind Ye Zhou to wear a thick coat before going out, but today, he naturally did not receive such treatment and forgot to wear a coat.
As soon as he stepped outside, the cold wind made Ye Zhou realize this. However, the door had already been closed. To cut ties cleanly, he had left the room key on the shoe cabinet before leaving and did not take it with him.
Although the door lock still retained his fingerprint, Ye Zhou would rather freeze to death outside than commit the foolish act of returning to retrieve his clothes right after breaking up.
He shivered from the cold. His fingers and the tip of his nose turned red from the freezing temperatures, and his eyes… might as well have been frozen, too.
After walking for an unknown time, snowflakes began to fall from the sky. The already desolate streets in the villa area became even quieter. Under the street lamps, the long road seemed to stretch endlessly.
Ye Zhou stopped under a lamp post, the warm yellow light shining on him. He looked up at the light as if seeking warmth from it.
But obviously, this was merely a mental comfort.
He could not continue like this. If he kept walking, he feared he would end up on the headlines of major social media sites tomorrow. Ye Zhou had already thought of the headline: ‘Yesterday, the director of ‘Chasing the Light’ froze to death on the street, was it the decline of morality or the distortion of human nature behind this?’
With a stiff tug at the corner of his mouth, Ye Zhou was amused by his peculiar thoughts.
He searched his pockets for a cigarette but found none, suddenly remembering he had quit smoking.
Ye Zhou was not a heavy smoker. he only smoked when he was in a very bad mood. In his previous life, due to his profession, he always carried a pack of cigarettes, regardless of his attire, to facilitate rapport or emotional connections.
After transmigrating to this world, Ye Zhou did not change this habit. Later, when facing a creative block while filming a scene in ‘A Farce’, Ye Zhou could not resist sneaking a smoke in the bathroom.
Unexpectedly, it was just a one-off incident, and he was caught red-handed by Boss Jiang, who had come to visit the set.
Boss Jiang did not explicitly ask him to quit smoking, but Ye Zhou soon realized that after that incident, no matter where he went or which store he visited, he could hardly buy cigarettes.
Ye Zhou observed and noticed that every time he went somewhere, his bodyguard would disappear for a while. Once, Ye Zhou secretly followed the bodyguard and saw his stoic bodyguard showing his phone to the shopkeeper while paying money.
What’s not clear about this? Boss Jiang went to great lengths to get him to quit smoking.
After that, Ye Zhou never smoked again.
Ye Zhou smiled bitterly. He thought that ending a relationship might not be too painful, but what truly hurt was when you calmed down, ready to start a new life, only to suddenly realize that his traces were everywhere in your life.
When you opened your eyes, it was him; when you closed them, still him. Even your absent-minded moments were intimately related to him.
Slowly peeling away the once beautiful memories from your life, perhaps, that process was the most heartbreaking.
After a daze, Ye Zhou took out his phone to find a place to stay for the night. But misfortune seldom comes alone – his phone would not turn on in the current low temperature.
How miserable, truly miserable.
How did it come to this? How did you manage to mess up your life like this? A relationship that was never stable, wasn’t this the inevitable result? What’s there to not accept? Ye Zhou asked himself.
Nothing. Even if there was, he had to accept it. In life, who doesn’t encounter some obstacles? How can everything go smoothly?
After giving himself a mental pep talk and exhaling deeply, Ye Zhou brushed the snow off himself. Gripping the suitcase, he prepared to continue walking. After about another intersection, he would leave the villa area. With luck, he might be able to get a taxi.
He would find a hotel for tonight, regain his energy, and look for a place to stay tomorrow.
With this in mind, Ye Zhou had walked less than fifty meters when he suddenly heard a car horn. Turning his stiff neck, he saw Jiang Tingyuan sitting in the driver’s seat of a car not far away, looking at him.
“Get in the car,” Boss Jiang said to him.
His voice was as cold as ever, feeling like an ice pick stabbing Ye Zhou’s ears.
Ye Zhou shook his head, “No need, I’m almost at the intersection. I’ll take a taxi.”
His voice was small due to the cold, and the end of his sentence trembled slightly.
Jiang Tingyuan gave him a deep look. Just when Ye Zhou thought that with his temperament, he would surely drive away, Jiang Tingyuan instead leaned over from the passenger seat, grabbed something, opened the car door, and walked towards Ye Zhou.
It wasn’t until he approached that Ye Zhou could see what he was holding—it was the thick coat Ye Zhou had forgotten to wear when he left.
Jiang Tingyuan helped him put on the coat, not allowing any resistance. After buttoning the last button, he looked at Ye Zhou and said softly, “Tell me where you want to go. I’ll drop you off and leave. I won’t disturb your life.”
Having never lowered his head for anything in his life, Jiang Tingyuan lowered his head for the first time when facing Ye Zhou.
Ye Zhou noticed Jiang Tingyuan’s voice no longer carried the usual indifference. Instead, there was a sense of humility when he spoke those words.
Ye Zhou wanted to refuse, but upon meeting Jiang Tingyuan’s slightly dim eyes, he eventually nodded, “…Thank you for the trouble.”
The two got into the car, with Jiang Tingyuan driving and Ye Zhou sitting in the backseat behind him. When asked where to go, Ye Zhou thought for a moment before giving an address.
It was a small apartment that the original owner had bought when Jiang Tingyuan first took him in. At the time, the original owner had just escaped from the fear of being hounded by loan sharks. He had a deep obsession with money, unsure how long Jiang Tingyuan’s interest in him would last. Afraid of sudden regret, he secretly saved money to buy this apartment, thinking that even if he got dumped in the future, he would have a place to stay.
Ironically, the original owner never used this refuge but ended up benefiting Ye Zhou instead.
The car drove silently on the road. After Ye Zhou gave the address, there was no further exchange, only endless silence between them.
When they arrived at their destination, Ye Zhou got out of the car and thanked Jiang Tingyuan. “Thank you, Jiang-ge.”
“Go ahead,” Jiang Tingyuan didn’t get out, lowering the window fully. “I’ll leave after seeing you inside.”
Ye Zhou didn’t know what to say, pointing at the window, “You should close the window.”
Jiang Tingyuan hesitated for a moment, his thin lips tightly pressed into a line, but eventually did as Ye Zhou wished and pressed the window button to raise it.
As the window slowly closed, just before it shut completely, Ye Zhou suddenly asked, “If I hadn’t found out, would you have sent me to the operating table someday in the future?”
The window closed, and Jiang Tingyuan’s lips moved slightly. His voice sounded somewhat distant, but Ye Zhou still heard it.
“No.”
Having received his answer, Ye Zhou didn’t say anything else. He waved to Jiang Tingyuan and said a final “goodbye,” then turned and walked towards the elevator, and didn’t look back.
—
“That’s the situation,” Ye Zhou looked at his former colleagues and old friends, candidly finishing, “I’m sorry, I’m out of money now, so I may not be able to continue funding you.”
“But I’ve talked to the person in charge at Jingzhe. If you’re willing, they’re open to taking over the investment for the project going forward. You’ve already proven your abilities to them, and they’re willing to continue providing funding at the previously agreed-upon price.”
“Although I’m no longer your investor, as long as you’re willing to have the professionals from Jingzhe take over, I believe your project won’t have any issues. In fact, it’ll likely flourish even more than it is now.”
“Here are the contracts I’ve secured from Jingzhe for you. Take a look.” Ye Zhou said, distributing the pre-prepared contracts.
As his words fell, he noticed that none of them made a move. Ye Zhou thought for a moment and continued, “Of course, if you have other ideas, you can tell me directly now. As long as I can help in any way, I’ll definitely do my best to…”
“Mr. Ye, are you abandoning us?” He Feiyang, the most straightforward among them, couldn’t hold back and interrupted Ye Zhou.
Ye Zhou was stunned for a moment, shaking his head, “No, it’s just with my current financial situation…”
Before he could finish, someone else cut him off again, “We don’t need the money. In fact, the funds you’ve already given us are more than enough to support the entire project until the end.”
“Even if that money wasn’t enough, with the current influence of the show, we’ve already received sponsorship offers from at least nine brands. As of a few days ago, the title sponsorship offer has reached 150 million, plus 75 million for exclusive broadcasting rights and 43 million for interactive support.”
“Although the TV station will take a 15% cut, the remaining amount is still sufficient for us to complete this entire talent show season, and even have enough funds for the next season.”
“If you need it, this money naturally belongs to you.”
The speaker was Xu Wei. After the explosive success of ‘Starlight Youth’, she had visibly grown, shedding her former timidity and now confidently able to slam her hands on the table when debating program settings with TV executives. A layer of self-assured calm now enveloped her.
Ye Zhou: “This…”
“Brother Ye, although we’re not as capable as Sister Xu, excluding the 30 million prize from the league this year, the endorsement fees for Yinqiang have also been received, plus other endorsements and the streaming platform contract fees. All added up, it should be close to 90 million.”
“We don’t need this money at all. As long as we keep the bare minimum operating costs for the team, you can take the rest. If it’s really not enough, there are many ‘Devour’ offline tournaments in the second half of the year. The prizes may not be as lucrative as regular tournaments, but with our worth, they’ll definitely offer decent prices.”
“Don’t…don’t give up on us.” Xu Cheng put aside his usual gruffness with teammates and spoke to Ye Zhou with a voice tinged with caution, as if fearing Ye Zhou would abandon them any second.
“Same for us!” Straightforward but clumsy He Feiyang could only sweat profusely, awkwardly echoing without saying anything particularly useful.
His long-time partner Liu Zhao understood, patting He Feiyang’s arm reassuringly before taking over, “The filming of ‘Tears Behind Bars’ is completely finished. We’ve submitted the film for the Golden Wing Film Festival. If we get a nomination, it’ll save a lot on promotional costs during the release.”
“Sorry, Mr. Ye, we can’t offer you much money for now. But just the fact that this film could be made means you’ve already helped us achieve our dreams. As for payment and such, we don’t need those. Plus, with you being the sole investor for the box office earnings, after deducting special taxes and theater cuts, the remaining box office profits should rightfully be yours.”
Ye Zhou: “……”
Ye Zhou was at a loss for words with his current feelings.
Everyone was scrambling to give him money, afraid of not offering enough. It sounded surreal. If he hadn’t witnessed these three projects’ growth himself, he wouldn’t dare believe that the projects he had invested in with the mentality of a drifting log could possess such terrifying money-making abilities!
After much back and forth for nearly two hours, both sides finally managed to convince each other.
Ye Zhou agreed not to transfer the projects to Jingzhe, while the teams promised to maintain their current spending levels without cutbacks.
The Chenzhou team was specifically named, with repeated emphasis that they must not engage in self-destructive actions like participating in offline competitions. If discovered, severe punishment was promised!
Only after team captain Xu Cheng swore on his life did Ye Zhou finally put his mind at ease.
Towards the end of the discussions, the three unanimously expressed concern about Ye Zhou’s upcoming arrangements.
Looking at their caring gazes, Ye Zhou thought for a moment before responding, “One of my old teachers is recently filming a documentary and invited me to help. I’ve already booked my ticket and will leave next week.”
Fellow director He Feiyang’s eyes lit up with interest as he inquired, “What’s the subject of the documentary?”
“Lions.”
He Feiyang paused before asking again, “Where is it being filmed?”
“South Africa.”
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