Chapter 68

As night deepened, it became impossible to drive back to the film crew in the middle of the night, so Yan Zhao and his team decided to spend the night in X City.

There were no hotels around, and the most comfortable accommodation foreign tourists could find was a convenient inn. Yan Zhao bought two bottles of mineral water and entered the house with the clothes he had bought that afternoon.

He handed the clothes to Shen Yuanting: “Make do with these.” Shen Yuanting had gotten wet in the rain, and his clothes were all soaked. Shops in small cities close early, so it was not possible to buy new ones. Fortunately, they had bought two sets of new clothes that afternoon, or Mr. Shen would have had nothing to wear.

Shen Yuanting took the clothes and said to Yan Zhao, “You go take a shower first.”

Yan Zhao hummed in agreement, walked into the bathroom, and began to take off his T-shirt from the bottom up, then suddenly realized something, let go of his shirt, and looked in Shen Yuanting’s direction.

Instead of the bathroom wall, what appeared in front of him were two beds in the bedroom and the man sitting on the edge of a bed. The glass was covered in dust, so the image was dim.

A transparent bathroom…

However, Shen Yuanting wasn’t looking this way but was replying to messages on his phone, his eyebrows slightly furrowed, and his gaze somewhat impatient.

Yan Zhao really wanted to rush out and smooth his brows. After thinking for a moment, he knocked on the glass.

“Knock knock.”

“What’s up?” Shen Yuanting turned his head and, upon seeing the somewhat interesting glass wall, didn’t even twitch his eyebrows, not sure if he had already noticed it or if he was just hard to perturb.

Yan Zhao asked, “Don’t you have any comments about the decor and layout here?”

Shen Yuanting replied, “It’s not my type.”

Yan Zhao thought to himself, nonsense, if you liked this sort of thing, I’d really need to consider taking you to develop some taste!

Yan Zhao knocked on the glass again: “Don’t you think the design of this glass is interesting?”

“…” Shen Yuanting said, “If you like it, we can remodel the bathroom at home like this.”

Yan Zhao replied, “I don’t want that. Bathing is the most wonderful private time for me!”

Shen Yuanting: “Isn’t there a curtain on top?”

Yan Zhao looked up, and indeed, there was a curtain gathered at the junction of the ceiling and the glass wall, with a pull cord dangling.

Yan Zhao pulled the cord, and said meaningfully, “But if I pull it down, you won’t be able to see, right?”

Shen Yuanting raised his eyes and looked at him steadily.

Yan Zhao asked, “Do you want to see?”

After being apart for more than a week, in this old and narrow place which was just for the two of them, after just experiencing a moment that was startling but safe, needing comfort and release…

Yan Zhao observed the changes in Shen Yuanting, watching his eyes gradually darken, his lips pressed into a straight line, his muscles seemingly tensed like a bow drawn to its limit…

Yan Zhao smiled sweetly at him: “But I don’t want to show you.” After saying that, he pulled down the curtain with a snap, leaving Shen Yuanting with a view of the grey fabric.

Shen Yuanting: “…”

Yan Zhao took a shower while humming a song and came out of the bathroom wearing only a loose pure cotton T-shirt, bringing out a bit of water vapor.

He wiped his hair, brushed past Shen Yuanting, and wrapped his arms around his neck: “Yuanting, stop looking, go take a shower.”

Shen Yuanting gave him a light glance, put his phone aside, and went into the bathroom without a word.

Yan Zhao knew he was angry, lay on the bed laughing, rolled around twice, then got off the bed, moved the bedside table in the middle, and put the two beds together.

After Shen Yuanting finished bathing, the two of them lay together, Yan Zhao hugged him and called him brother to apologize, and it took a long time to coax him.

Before closing his eyes to sleep, Yan Zhao kissed his chest: “Don’t worry, I will definitely not leave you behind.”

Shen Yuanting held his hand, his fingers squeezed into YanZhao’s, and their fingers interlocked: “After you finish filming, I…”

Yan Zhao: “What?”

Shen Yuanting said, “No, I’ll tell you when the time comes.”

The next day, when they left the inn, they were surrounded by reporters. Of course, it wasn’t just them, Xie Lianxue and the arriving Ying Hongyu were also bombarded by the reporters’ flashes.

The guy who was admitted to the hospital yesterday was also a popular film star, and everyone was very interested in his condition, not to mention there were other big stars like Yan Zhao present.

But they hadn’t expected to see Shen Yuanting there, and the focus shifted immediately.

“Did you rush over overnight?”

“Why are you here, are you looking for Yan Zhao?”

“What do you think of this landslide incident?”

“May I ask…”

Yan Zhao was overwhelmed, and if it weren’t for Shen Yuanting’s bodyguards holding back the reporters, these dogged journalists would have trapped them inside the inn.

Yan Zhao picked a reporter he found agreeable and said through the microphone, “If you have any questions, please wait until the press conference to ask, thank you for your cooperation.”

The reporters were obviously not satisfied with his response, what they wanted was first-hand information!

Shen Yuanting was also annoyed by the chattering noise, he gave a cold glance, and those people shut up.

He said, “I came to find Yan Zhao, I won’t answer other questions.”

Reporter: Oh——

In less than half an hour, various articles like [Shen Yuanting Appears in X City, Directly States He Came for Yan Zhao] flooded the internet.

Netizens clicked in and thought, huh? The news of the landslide only came out last night, and Shen Yuanting appeared in the inn the next day, which means he came last night…

And last night’s report about the dangerous situation, because of the lack of information and the patient’s request, all hid the name of the person in danger…

He said he was there to find Yan Zhao.

So Shen Yuanting was afraid that Yan Zhao was in danger, so he rushed there overnight!

Damn, what kind of epic brotherhood is this, Shen Yuanting really treats Yan Zhao as a close friend!

If some netizens previously thought Shen Yuanting was just “playing” brothers with Yan Zhao and that their interactions were all for business publicity, now they started to believe their relationship was genuinely close.

Only by truly considering him as a friend can you rush out of the house to find him when he is in danger, rather than just asking a few words like “Are you okay” afterwards. It’s not that the latter doesn’t count as a friend, but there’s a difference in the weight of friendship.

Regarding the above sentiments, fans of the Shen-Yan CP only responded with two words: Bullshit!

This is obviously love, dammit!!!!

[Today, I’m also crying over this beautiful love story. Mr. Shen really holds Zhao Zhao in his heart, wuwuwu, he actually flew over directly.]

[When I saw that push notification, my mind went blank, I could only silently pray in my heart that it wasn’t Zhao Zhao, I didn’t dare to imagine what Mr. Shen was thinking at that time.]

[I was at the airport last night, it was pouring rain, flights were all delayed, how did Mr. Shen fly over?]

[Private jet, I guess. But to dare to fly in this weather, that’s really bold.]

After this incident, #ShenYuantingYanZhao# topped the trending searches for half a day again, and all this, Yan Zhao was unaware of—because he had returned to that small town with no internet access.

A week later, the outdoor scenes in the town were finished, and the filming crew moved on. Three months later, 《The Red Parrot》 wrapped up.

There was a slight issue with the review. The film contained a few scenes depicting the romantic relationship between You Wenguang and Q, and although it was all just an act between the two, the review board still requested these parts be cut—China had passed the same-sex marriage law less than ten years ago, and the official stance was neither promoting nor opposing it, but since the movie rating system was not yet implemented, the review board thought that such scenes in a movie aimed at the general public might influence minors’ values and suggested cutting these romance scenes.

—Anyway, it didn’t affect the main storyline.

Xie Lianxue was almost amused to anger by this suggestion, which was essentially discrimination, unwilling to spend effort researching a rating system, and wanting the film to self-censor.

Xie Lianxue had a standoff with the review board, but he had always been like this; he filmed stories from the late ‘60s, stories about transgender people, stories about gay men or lesbians, stories about minority groups, stories others didn’t dare to film, thinking they could suppress him with reviews, wishful thinking.

Thus, before its official release in mainland China, 《The Red Parrot》 was sent to the Blue Maple Leaf Film Festival overseas for competition, one of the top three international film festivals, known for its critical expert judges—though when it comes to Chinese films, 90% of the judges choose to turn a blind eye.

Generally speaking, aside from those mediocre films, it’s difficult for excellent Chinese films to win awards overseas, partly due to cultural differences and partly because many foreign judges are prejudiced against Chinese people.

Rather than telling a story properly, it seems more favored by the judges to criticize the ignorance of Chinese people or expose the backwardness of China… Therefore, the crew of 《The Red Parrot》 had no expectations of winning any awards.

It was like a trip funded by the public expense.

But when the Maple Leaf Award really hit Yan Zhao on the head, the crew was ecstatic.

The name of the Maple Leaf Award is literary, but it can be explained in Chinese in just five words – Best Actor.

From now on, Yan Zhao is an international film emperor.

Xie Lianxue stroked his chin: “Could it be that the politically correct point of male homosexuality ‘moved’ them?”

Yan Zhao glanced at him, and Xie Lianxue said, “I’m just talking nonsense, the actors who were selected are all very good, to put it bluntly, there’s nothing wrong with anyone winning the award, but in my heart, you are the best among them, it seems that the judges and I think alike. Let’s go, superstar, go and give your award-winning speech.”

Yan Zhao went on stage, adjusted the microphone: “You Wenguang is a tragic character, he spent his life in darkness, and just when he finally grasped a sliver of light, he died the second before he could be redeemed…”

Yan Zhao briefly commented on his own character and thanked the crew as usual: “In short, thanks to Director Xie, who is bad-tempered and nitpicky, thanks to everyone in the crew, and also…”

He paused for a moment, looking at the dense crowd below the stage, but his gaze wasn’t actually on them.

His eyes passed over the turbulent ocean and the vast clouds, finally landing on one person.

Perhaps he still had a lot of time to slowly reveal his relationship with Shen Yuanting, but after that rainy night in the small city, he didn’t want to make him wait any longer.

Yan Zhao knew this action was sudden, he was still in the rising period of his career, even though he had transitioned, many of his fans were still not ready to accept him dating, let alone getting married.

After coming out, some fans would inevitably leave, and he was prepared for that.

Because that was the person he valued and cherished most.

Yan Zhao, with a smile, said to the camera, his right hand subconsciously brushing over the knuckles of his left hand: “I want to say to my lover, I know you don’t like being away from me for too long, but when I’m filming away, you’ve never complained, and it’s always you who comes to find me… Thank you for supporting my career, I will always love you.”

At this moment, someone suddenly noticed that there was a gemstone ring on the ring finger of Yan Zhao’s left hand, the color was between pink and orange. 

He was married.