Chapter 76
Su Yunzhe had only returned to the country for two or three days. He had been urgently called back to take over Yun Kong Entertainment after his father, Su Rongtian, discovered some minor health issues during a routine check-up. Su Rongtian quickly made an excuse to step down and urgently called Su Yunzhe, asking him to return to China.
After graduating from university, Su Yunzhe had started his own business abroad. Now, his business had reached a point where it needed to expand domestically, so he took this opportunity to return home.
Yesterday was his first visit to Yun Kong Entertainment. Su Rongtian had planned to give him a brief overview of the company and introduce him to some key departments. However, by a twist of fate, he had been unexpectedly taken away by Shen Yan. This had to be postponed until today.
In the morning, he had a meeting with the old members of the board, and in the afternoon, he had lunch with some of the company’s top executives to get familiar with the team. He also met with several renowned directors and screenwriters to introduce himself since he was unfamiliar with the domestic entertainment industry.
“Is Director Bi busy?”
He had met almost everyone, except for a young director named Bi Fan, who hadn’t shown up yet.
His assistant replied, “Director Bi is busy preparing for a new film. He just gathered his screenwriting team today, so he might be occupied. I’ll call him again.”
“No need,” Su Yunzhe said as he stood up. “Let’s go see him. It’ll be good to get to know the first project I’m taking over.”
His assistant hurriedly followed, leading him to the 17th floor, where an entire floor was designed as a creative space for the screenwriting team.
At this moment, only the innermost meeting room was in use. The glass door displayed a sign reading “Script Discussion for ‘Unrequited Love’.”
“Unrequited Love?” Su Yunzhe quietly glanced at the movie title, thinking it sounded a bit too much like a melodramatic romance.
The assistant knocked on the door, “Director Bi, I hope I’m not interrupting. President Su heard you were discussing the script here, and he wanted to sit in.”
Bi Fan glanced at the time and suddenly remembered that the executive office had scheduled a visit for him earlier that day, but he had forgotten. He quickly stood up and apologized, “Sorry, President Su, I forgot…”
“It’s fine,” Su Yunzhe replied, “I’m just here to listen. Continue, please.”
Su Yunzhe casually pulled up a chair and gestured for them to continue.
Seeing that Su Yunzhe didn’t seem angry, Bi Fan had someone hand him a printed version of the script, and they resumed their discussion.
Su Yunzhe skimmed through the document but didn’t show much interest; the movie’s title alone had already turned him off. However, as he closed the file, he suddenly saw the author’s name on the cover—Shen Yan.
His gaze darkened slightly, and a small smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. He reopened the first page.
“Sorry, I’m late. I didn’t expect…” Shen Yan, who rarely went out during the day, had planned to leave at 2:30 PM for a 3:00 meeting with Bi Fan. However, he had been stuck in traffic for half an hour and rushed over in a hurry. The first thing he saw when entering was Su Yunzhe’s eyes. He froze for a moment, suddenly recalling who the man was. It wasn’t surprising that he was here, but his reaction seemed to confuse everyone else in the room, who exchanged puzzled glances.
Shen Yan quickly shifted his gaze, greeted Bi Fan and a few unfamiliar faces, and sat down in one of the seats at the back.
Bi Fan was very serious about his work. Although he was somewhat concerned about Shen Yan and Su Yunzhe’s relationship due to yesterday’s incident, he didn’t notice anything unusual between the two. So, he simply introduced Shen Yan as the original author of the story, and then they continued their discussion about adapting the script, mainly focusing on organizing the plot and making edits.
Shen Yan was very familiar with his own story, so he could multitask easily. From time to time, he would steal glances at Su Yunzhe and was surprised to see him seriously reading his original script.
He wondered what Su Yunzhe would think of it, especially since the subject matter was somewhat unusual.
Although the title of Shen Yan’s work, Unrequited Love, sounded like a typical romantic drama, the story was actually about a gay love story set in a remote village in the early 1970s.
The protagonist, Rong Sheng, was a young boy born in a mountain village. He had only completed third grade and dropped out of school to work in the production team to earn work points for his family. Despite this, he loved learning and borrowed books from wherever he could find them.
While other villagers rested, Rong Sheng would read, even bringing books with him to work in the fields.
The villagers called him a bookworm, but he enjoyed it.
Later, a city man named Xie Yuanbai, a high school student, was sent to the village. He was well-liked by both the adults and children, often playing with the village kids.
Rong Sheng liked him a lot, especially enjoying listening to Xie Yuanbai talk about the outside world. Every time Xie Yuanbai spoke of those things, Rong Sheng would stare at him with longing in his eyes, at first for the outside world and later for Xie Yuanbai himself.
Rong Sheng was fifteen, and Xie Yuanbai was twenty.
In Xie Yuanbai’s eyes, Rong Sheng was different from the other villagers. While others were curious about him, Rong Sheng was curious about the outside world. Xie Yuanbai also noticed that Rong Sheng had read many books, and when they talked, he often forgot that Rong Sheng was just a boy from a remote mountain village who had rarely even left his town.
Because of this, Xie Yuanbai enjoyed spending time with Rong Sheng. Sometimes, he would talk, and Rong Sheng would just listen, and time would pass quickly.
But he never thought that Rong Sheng’s feelings for him were different.
In that era, the word “homosexuality” was almost unthinkable, something that would make people shudder and despise, like a virus.
So, even three years later, when Xie Yuanbai returned to the city, Rong Sheng never spoke of his feelings.
Later, Xie Yuanbai wrote to tell Rong Sheng that he had a girlfriend, that his family liked her, and they were getting married at the end of the year.
Rong Sheng replied, wishing him well, and told him he was preparing for the college entrance exam, hoping to get a good score.
In the letter was a red paper butterfly, the one Xie Yuanbai had taught him to fold. That paper butterfly had been used by Xie Yuanbai as a bookmark, tucked into one of the books he could easily reach.
The second year after Xie Yuanbai’s marriage, Rong Sheng took the college entrance exam, scored well, and was accepted to a university in the provincial capital.
Xie Yuanbai happened to meet the village chief at the train station, who told him about it. He immediately asked the village chief to pass on a message to Rong Sheng, inviting him to come to the provincial capital early, to stay at his house. He wanted to show Rong Sheng around the city, so he could familiarize himself with the surroundings.
After receiving the message, Rong Sheng couldn’t sleep the whole night.
After Xie Yuanbai left their village, they had kept in touch, but after hearing that Xie Yuanbai was getting married, he had reduced the frequency of writing letters, using the excuse of being busy with exam preparations.
It wasn’t that he was sad about Xie Yuanbai’s marriage; he knew Xie Yuanbai would eventually marry, and he had never thought about what could happen between him and Xie Yuanbai. He just felt that, since he harbored such feelings for Xie Yuanbai, it wasn’t right to keep in frequent contact with him once Xie Yuanbai was married. So even though he was happy to have been accepted into university, he hadn’t told Xie Yuanbai.
However, Xie Yuanbai’s message stirred something in him. It had been so long since he last saw Xie Yuanbai, and he wanted to see him just once.
After a restless night, he finally decided to accept Xie Yuanbai’s invitation. He packed lightly, bought a train ticket, and set off alone for the provincial capital.
Before leaving, he called Xie Yuanbai from the supply and marketing cooperative in the town to let him know the time of his train.
When Xie Yuanbai received the call, he was especially happy, singing as he made up a bed for Rong Sheng. His wife teased him, saying he was like a teenage boy, and she also said she was looking forward to meeting this younger brother she had only heard of.
But on the day they had agreed to meet, Xie Yuanbai didn’t find Rong Sheng at the station.
In the days before phones and mobile phones, he had no idea how to find someone. After waiting several days without hearing from Rong Sheng, and after the university term started, he decided to go to the village to look for him.
When he arrived, he was told that Rong Sheng… was dead.
On the day they had agreed to meet, early in the morning before dawn, Rong Sheng had gone out, walking on the muddy road, and was hit by a car whose origins no one knew.
The story ends many years later, with Xie Yuanbai returning to the small village to become an elementary school teacher. Every student he taught knew that in his book, there was a faded paper butterfly, which the teacher cherished deeply.
The story wasn’t long, only a few thousand words, but after Su Yunzhe finished reading, he looked up to see Bi Fan speaking animatedly in front of the projector, and it felt like he had been transported to another world.
He turned around and saw Shen Yan sitting in the back, and their eyes met. There was a trace of confusion flickering in Shen Yan’s clear gaze.
Su Yunzhe’s lips curved slightly, interrupting Bi Fan, saying hello to everyone before standing up to leave for a boring meeting.
During the meeting, his mind kept wandering back to Shen Yan’s story.
He rarely read books like this, and even when he did, he usually didn’t remember them for long and didn’t feel much about them. But after finishing Unrequited Love, he felt a sense of heaviness, not just because of the story, but also because the author of the story was Shen Yan.
Honestly, he hadn’t expected Shen Yan to write such a story.
Last night, he had done a little research on Shen Yan. He was the youngest son of the Shen family, known for being pampered by everyone, a true treasure raised in the palm of their hands. At only twenty-two, he was still very young.
At that age, even someone with his background would hardly write a story from that era or environment.
What surprised Su Yunzhe even more was that someone raised with so much love would write such a painful, suppressed, unspeakable story.
Luckily, the meeting wasn’t important, and he managed to pull his thoughts back to focus. The speaker was still talking, and it was the same old rhetoric.
After the meeting, he returned to his office to handle some tasks, then took an international long-distance call. By the time he was done, it was already past seven in the evening.
His assistant, seeing that he had finally put down the phone, spoke up immediately: “Miss Lin just called and asked if you had time for dinner tonight.”
Su Yunzhe grabbed his coat from the back of the chair and casually said, “Next time.”
Then he left the office and headed for the elevator.
When he pressed the button for the basement, his eyes unconsciously flicked to the 17th floor, and he checked the time. He figured Shen Yan had probably already left, so he didn’t bother.
However, the elevator stopped at the 17th floor.
Su Yunzhe’s heart skipped a beat, and his eyes fixed on the elevator door, his usually calm gaze now filled with unconscious anticipation.
When the door opened, Shen Yan looked up, and their eyes met. They both froze for a moment.
Just before the door closed, Su Yunzhe quickly reached out and pulled him inside, his lips curving upward. “What a coincidence?”
“Yeah, Mr. Su is working overtime on his first day? Such dedication!” Shen Yan smiled, his lips curving as well.
Su Yunzhe had been staring at the elevator doors like a lovesick fool, waiting for him, wasn’t he?
That realization made it hard for him to feel anything other than happiness.
It was strange, really. Even though he and Su Yunzhe had been together for so long, this feeling of nervousness, anticipation, and sweetness was exactly like falling in love.
“The boss should be dedicated, and the employee is so dedicated…” Su Yunzhe paused for a moment, “Should be rewarded.”
Shen Yan tilted his head, looking at him. “Really? What’s the reward?”
“How about the boss treating you to dinner?” Su Yunzhe asked with a smile.
Shen Yan was actually really hungry.
He had no experience with office work, and since Bi Fan was a workaholic, everyone had left, but Bi Fan still kept him for a long chat. By now, he was so hungry he felt like he could eat anything. He instinctively rubbed his stomach, nodded, and was about to agree, when he suddenly thought of something, grinning at Su Yunzhe. “Can I ask for Hang Hang to join us?”
