Chapter 138

  The day before the press conference, Jin Yan felt that he had probably spent the most relaxing 24 hours since entering this circle - all work was done, and the problems to be dealt with were about to be resolved. Most importantly, there was someone by his side. He spent a whole day lounging on the sofa, with the TV playing movies but not watching them, his eyes fixed on the tall man wearing simple home clothes, walking back and forth on the carpet in bare feet, making soft rustling sounds. Until an apple peeled to perfection fell from the sky in front of him, Jin Yan took a bite of the apple, raised his eyelids, and scanned the man standing in front of him, as well as the abdominal muscles faintly visible under his open collar. The moment he swallowed the apple, Jin Yan felt like he had become Hamster Ah Fei again.

  "Can I just wake up and eat every day from now on, and then sleep when I'm full? I didn't expect to start living the life of a retired veteran cadre ahead of time." Jian Ran said, "You're still in your prime."

  "If you can't idle away, I can arrange a job for you at home."

  At this time, Jiang Chuan was lowering his head to look at the recipe in front of him, probably because of a guilty conscience or something. For the past few days, he had been catering to the black-haired young man's every whim, no matter how outrageous the request. Even when the other person asked him to "cook a dinner" - a demand that seemed like a fantasy to Jiang Chuan - he would comply. Since birth, he had never seriously cooked for anyone before. He got up early and had Fei Er send over a stack of cookbooks, although for someone who still needed to study how to use the electric stove, cookbooks were not very useful. Still, he believed his IQ could crush everything.

  At least it's good to be able to cook a meal for his wife who will go into battle tomorrow - yes, he can suddenly empathize with the parents of domestic college entrance examinees he saw on TV recently... their mood is similar to that kind of worry about their son not eating well and fainting in the examination room due to excitement.

  Jiang Chuan let out a long sigh and flipped over the page of the cookbook in his hand: "Tomato Egg Drop Soup doesn't seem to be difficult to make, nor will it kill anyone."

  "Yes, but first you have to learn how to fry eggs. Don't look at me, I said it's okay if you cook, of course I won't help - what work are you going to arrange for me?" Jian Ran took a bite of the apple and licked his fingers stained with juice, saying absent-mindedly, "I only know how to act."

  For the black-haired young man's iron-stone heart, Jiang Chuan showed him a mocking expression: "Being able to act is enough, occasionally we like to do some empty-handed business, and when making deals, not having some hard acting skills really won't do."

  He paused in his action of biting the apple, holding it in his mouth and lying on the sofa with his eyes fixed straight ahead, staring at the man not far away. The latter raised his head, swept him a glance, and emphasized strongly: "Ironware business."

  “………………”

  Jianran rolled her eyes at him and flopped back onto the sofa, crossing her legs and giggling as she replied to all sorts of familiar and unfamiliar friends and family members' greetings on WeChat and text messages. After that, she made a phone call home, but there was nothing important to talk about, just some daily chit-chat and reporting that everything was fine. Just when Jianran was about to hang up the phone, she clearly felt her mom hesitate for a moment, so her previously relaxed mood became slightly tense. Just as Jianran thought Yuanmei would say something, but instead, in a lowered voice, she said: "When you have time, bring him home to visit."

  Jian Ran slightly froze, subconsciously stretched his neck over the back of the sofa to take a glance at the man not far away. The latter seemed to have felt his gaze, raised his head and gave him an inexplicable look, mouthing "what's wrong" to him. Jian Ran shook his head, threw away the apple core he had gnawed clean, and smiled as he said into the phone: "I've seen it already, just bring that one back home for New Year's."

  Jiang Chuan seemed to have guessed the content of the phone call, his expression stiffened and he straightened up slightly from the edge of the table. He "hmmphed" and closed the cookbook he was browsing through, but then thought for a moment and reopened it, until the young black-haired man on the sofa hung up the phone with a smile. Only then did Jiang Chuan say, "I knew it, I should have performed better last time I visited your home."

  "Goodbye," Jian Yan pursed his lips, "it's already been enough, my mom is almost at the point where she can't remember who her real son is."

  Jiang Chuan seems very satisfied with this statement.

  The conversation ended, and the two returned to their respective positions. Jian Yan lay down on the couch, turned his head, and unexpectedly found that the TV was playing one of his early films. In the movie, he was still a supporting actor, and his acting skills were rough. When the camera zoomed in, you could even see faint dark circles under his eyes, probably due to staying up late the night before to memorize lines... As the movie played, Jian Yan unexpectedly found that he could still clearly remember details like "Ah, we NG'd several times when filming this scene" or "The first time I wore ancient costume, I was so embarrassed that I didn't dare come out of the dressing room and got tripped by the hem"... He watched with great interest for a while, but no matter how he looked at it, he felt like his younger self had been foolish in many ways. Despite the serious plot, Jian Yan couldn't help but smile stupidly as he sat in front of the TV.

  At this time, there were still about twelve hours before the press conference.

  Suddenly felt himself lucky.

  All the way through, he already has more than he imagined, and they have probably become something worth being proud of, deeply engraved in his bones. No matter who or what rumors can't erase - when he's old, he might still sit in front of the TV to watch these things again, and at that time, he'll still be smiling foolishly like now, just knowing this is enough.

  ……

  The second day was a rare overcast and rainy weather in midsummer.

  Since morning, the sun had been hidden behind thick clouds. As he tidied himself up and walked out of Jiangchuan Villa's gate to get on the company car, a gentle rain started falling. Fang Yu had been waiting in the car for a long time, and after finally managing to wait for the young man with black hair to arrive, as soon as the latter got on the car and sat down, removing his sunglasses revealed two large dark eye circles and an extremely pale complexion that scared half of Fang Yu's soul away.

  "What's wrong, why so sad? If you don't like it, you can just not come out of the closet, no one is forcing you," The agent Mr. held the young black-haired man's face "tsk tsk tsk" for a long time, looking quite sympathetic, "Didn't sleep all night because of entanglement?"

  One night, a young man with black hair and a dark face slapped away his agent's hand: "The lesson of history is that you shouldn't let someone who never cooks cook for you - damn it, I've been running to the bathroom every hour all night, he doesn't even have any business there but still has the nerve to tell me to close the door quietly... Wait a minute, I won't be able to make it out of the closet without telling the reporters downstairs to wait a minute while I go take a dump, ahahahaha... Oh god, I'm an idol star, even if I'm retiring, I want to do it with style and elegance, why did this absurdity happen to me?!"

  Fang Yu: "......"

  At this time, the black-haired young man sitting next to the broker opened the front camera of his mobile phone and looked left and right: "Do you want to cover up with a few millet grains?"

  Fang Yu's expressionless face said, "Do you want to put on some more lipstick? You can go to that station and loudly declare: I've endured for so many years, and finally I can openly apply lipstick!"

  Put away your phone: "You're so annoying, I'm about to come out of the closet."

  "Right, coming out isn't about going to die."

  The heavy atmosphere was swept away.

  Until he arrived at the press conference venue, CK Building, and saw a sea of people inside and outside, including small media outlets that had not received invitations to the press conference, as well as staff from larger media organizations who were stationed outside, and even more ordinary passersby, holding signs with his name on them, along with various encouraging messages and words of encouragement, although he didn't know how many people would still be standing there after the press conference, at least for this moment, Jianran did not want to have any doubts about them.

  Looking out of the misty window, I found that most people in the scene did not bring rain gear, and the rain falling from the sky was getting bigger and showed no signs of stopping. The young black-haired man turned his head to instruct his life assistant sitting in the passenger seat to arrange for someone to send over some rain gear. The little assistant didn't hesitate and immediately made a phone call to arrange it. Seeing this, I smiled and teased: "Not bad, you're still so obedient. I thought you didn't want to bother with this old man who's about to be out of date."

  "This is the last time I'll see you off," Fang Yu said coolly from beside him. "Don't make a fool of yourself."

  "Where is it?" The little assistant turned around in front, flashing a clear smile at Jian Ran, "I'm used to listening to Brother Ran, so I don't think today is the end of everything. In the future, we'll still have to hang out with Brother Ran."

  The order on the scene was still good, apart from the security personnel of the venue itself, there were countless black-clad men in suits who looked very professional and were blocking the way. They all seemed to be foreigners. Just as I was wondering when IM company became so rich, Fang Yu said next to me: "They were all brought by your young master, do you see the bulge at their waist? It's a gun, he actually managed to get them to bring this thing into the country with documents in just a few days."

  And when they spoke, Jian Chuan knew that "the young master of his family" might have just gotten out of bed and turned on the TV - this was the result of their struggle last night. Jiang Chuan wanted to follow him, but he didn't let him, without any reason, in short, he just didn't let him.

  After the car stopped steadily, I got off carefully, and it was around 8:50. The press conference started at 9:00.

  At 8:55, he walked onto the stage. At this time, all the reporters and media had taken their positions and were seated. The scene was very quiet, with only a few people whispering to each other. Most of the reporters were bowing their heads to prepare their drafts and pens, while the photographers were hiding behind their cameras adjusting their focus.

  As Jianran sat down on the podium, those people seemed to have come back to their senses, and the venue suddenly had a "buzzing" sound of conversation. Except for this, everything was normal, just like any press conference Jianran had attended before. The imagined chaos, with everyone rushing forward at once, and the terrible questions that came out of nowhere, did not appear. Jianran lowered his head to take a sip of water, and at the same time, he heard Fang Yu announce on his side that the press conference was officially starting.

  He knew that this press conference was bought by the media at a high price and broadcast live on TV - he also didn't know why a star's coming-out could be broadcast during the morning news, but because he knew it was live, he paid close attention to controlling his emotions throughout the entire press conference.

  When reporters asked him about the recent rumors on the internet, he remained silent from head to toe, only answering some insignificant questions. The young man with black hair smiled faintly at the camera and then spoke in a slightly hoarse and low voice.

  "I'm speaking out now because of this incident. As a public figure, I've had to endure online abuse and rumors from people with ulterior motives. Whenever we respond slightly to these attacks, we're labeled as being petty or image-conscious. But the truth is, sometimes I want to tell everyone that celebrities are human too - we have emotions, joys, sorrows, and private lives. Today, I want to make a formal response: I can tolerate the slander and abuse from people with ulterior motives towards me, but I won't accept them dragging my loved ones into this disaster. Yes, it's true - I was in a romantic relationship with director Jiang Luocheng for a period of time."

  He said as far as here and paused for a moment.

  He felt that the people under the table suddenly fell silent for a few seconds, and then, countless flashlights shone on his face, almost dizzying crazy flashing.

  He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and continued...

  "After we broke up, there was this oil painting - ah, yes, Xu Qianqian's oil painting. It was indeed painted based on a photo, and the people in the painting were indeed me and Director Jiang Luocheng," Jin Ran said with a helpless smile, rubbing his eyes. "When I was still in a relationship with Director Jiang, Ms. Xu tried to intervene between us. And one time, after drinking with Jiang Luocheng, she directly caused us to break up. Later, Xu Qianqian used this photo as evidence to threaten Jiang Luocheng, and Jiang indeed publicly acknowledged his relationship with Xu Qianqian for my sake. I'm very grateful to Jiang Luocheng for being able to do that even after we broke up."

  Reporter A: "Then why did you finally..."

  "So for Jiang Chuan——"

  Reporter C: "Those rumors online about Jiang Chuan and you—"

  "I thank Jiang Luocheng," Jin Ran fixed his gaze on the reporter, his black pupils shooting out a sharp glance, then he replied slowly, "But this doesn't mean that just because he did this, I owe him something."

  Everyone: "......"

  "No one asked him to do so, he did it on his own. I can only say thank you, but that's really all there is to it. This won't be a bargaining chip for us to get back together, and I won't think that I shouldn't be with others just because of these things—"

  ……

  The top floor of CK Building.

  Empty beer cans rolled from one end of the rooftop to the other.

  On the other side of the rooftop, a tall man held his phone, which was simultaneously playing the press conference that was currently taking place beneath his feet. He lowered his head, first gently stroking the stubble on his chin that had grown due to neglect, and then when the camera zoomed in on the young black-haired man sitting at the table, the man paused for a moment, almost subconsciously reaching out to turn up the volume of his phone slightly, narrowing his eyes as he looked down at the screen. The young black-haired man was now centered on the screen, looking gaunt and exhausted, but those two dark pupils...

  Oh, these eyes.

  The man narrowed his eyes slightly and almost uncontrollably used the tip of his finger to lightly sweep across the pale face on that screen.

  Until he saw the faint smile on that face - his fingers paused slightly, and he stared at the black-haired young man with a faint smile, changing his impression of his fear and avoidance of this topic. He sat there, looking down calmly at the reporters who were looking up at him with their heads raised, watching as they frantically scribbled notes on paper, while the rest of them stood agape, seemingly speechless and staring foolishly at him.

  A few seconds later.

  He smiled softly and said in a voice that everyone present could hear: "I am gay, and I have tried to cover up this fact due to the domestic environment and my work relationship, but this cannot be the reason for me to be with someone, nor can anyone threaten me because of this, including myself."

  “……”

  Staring at the screen of his phone, the man clenched the empty can in his hand, hearing it make a "crack" "crack" sound. A moment later, he threw it away, lit a cigarette, brought it to his pale lips and took a hard drag, then plucked it from his lips and extinguished it on the ground.

  He meant that he really didn't want to hear any more about the press conference... However, in his hands, the video continued to play. A reporter sitting in the front row stood up and asked: "So, Mr. Yuan, what do you have to say about the hidden sexual orientation deceiving the masses of Mi Fans?"

  "Deception?" The young man with black hair slightly curled up the corners of his lips, he tilted his head and revealed a shallow smile, "What makes you say that?"

  "...but you're gay—"

  "So? As an actor, my main job is to perform a play well and bring the image in the play to the audience in front of the TV with joy, anger, sorrow and happiness. You can ask about all my collaborators over the years since I entered the industry, has Yuan Jinyan ever had a single failure?"

  "As a public figure, you..."

  "As a public figure, my responsibility is to present myself in a positive image to the public. I am gay, but I have not been promiscuous, nor have I deceived anyone into marriage, and I have not caused any harm to others because of this. This is my personal matter."

  He paused for a moment and then continued...

  "It wasn't until the people around me, the ones I love, were exploited and attacked by malicious individuals because of my attempts to cover up that I realized continuing to try to hide was the only wrong I had committed - and before that, I didn't think I had done anything wrong, I just liked people of the same sex as me."