Chapter 24 Part 1

“However, However” could be called a suspense film disguised as a tale of painful youth, or a philosophical film wearing the skin of a suspense thriller.

Thanks to its unique filming techniques, it conveyed different messages to different audiences, satisfying varied tastes while revealing society’s alienation of teenagers—or rather, of people in general.

Few films truly appealed to both the refined and the masses, which was why this one exploded in popularity later on.

The story was set in a coastal high school, where most students were children of expatriates. The school also had a public welfare program that recruited underprivileged students from society. Class divisions were stark, and all sorts of campus bullying incidents occurred. The movie opened with the female lead’s death scene, then unfolded the tale of the girl’s bizarre demise using dual timelines of past and present.

The male lead Fang Yunyang and female lead Shen Zhiwu were highly archetypal characters. They represented two vastly different classes while also corresponding to two stages of life: the physically starved and the spiritually starved.

Their story began with an unwitting act of salvation amid a campus bullying incident and ended with the female lead—who was born with everything—dying from extreme spiritual hunger.

Two-thirds of the film’s scenes were shot on campus. The production team had built a filming studio there, and makeup artists, actors, cameramen, and other staff bustled about, laying the foundational framework for the movie.

When Shen Yu arrived, He Qian was directing the female actress in a scene where she lit a cigarette.

Adolescence was a phase full of curiosity about everything, especially things like smoking and drinking that society explicitly forbade minors from. The more they were prohibited and suppressed, the more rampant they became. Yet Shen Zhiwu only lit the cigarette without smoking it, always clearly knowing what she needed. This was a crucial moment that established the female lead as a spiritually starved character.

The female actress Zhang Miaomiao was He Qian’s junior from film school. She was talented but still a newcomer, and this scene took forever without achieving the effect He Qian wanted.

He Qian was utterly merciless on set, attacking everyone indiscriminately. When the actress failed to deliver, he exhausted himself and told her to rest and find her feel, switching to other scenes first.

Zhang Miaomiao was tormented to the point of questioning her life choices. She couldn’t connect this fire-breathing warrior radiating resentment with the sunny, cheerful senior she’d known at school. Biting her lip, she wiped away tears and threw herself into her manager sister’s soft embrace for comfort.

After He Qian finished venting, he looked up and spotted Shen Yu.

His eyes lit up instantly. “President Shen, perfect timing! I remember you read the script before, right? Come lecture Miaomiao on the scene!”

Shen Yu’s arrival instantly drew everyone’s gazes on set. Waves of admiring looks fell on him.

Damn, he’s so handsome—not for nothing as our production’s investor!

Hearing He Qian, Shen Yu puzzledly pointed at himself. “Me?”

He Qian raced against the clock, determined to squeeze every bit of value from the venue fees. While directing other actors into position, he squeezed in, “Yeah, Miaomiao, take the initiative.”

Zhang Miaomiao perked up at the sound of someone coaching her. She lifted her head from her beautiful sister’s soft embrace and looked toward Shen Yu. Just as Shen Yu opened his mouth to refuse, he tilted his head and met a pair of pitiful, red-swollen, teary eyes.

Shen Yu: “…”

Helpless, Shen Yu found a folding chair nearby and sat down. He picked up Zhang Miaomiao’s personal script and flipped through it. The personal script was more detailed, covered in dense annotations. The female lead—this seeming nihilist—grew fuller with each line as her understanding deepened.

This character’s spiritual core was actually a lot like Zhou Jinsheng’s—or rather, like those people at the top.

Zhang Miaomiao’s current probing of this character was just like how he’d scrutinized Zhou Jinsheng in his previous life.

Perhaps because he read so intently, the manager and Zhang Miaomiao fixed their bright, unblinking gazes on him, as if trying to bore four holes through him.

Shen Yu’s mouth twitched. He set down the script, his voice low. “How do you want me to teach?”

Shen Yu wasn’t a professional actor, and the two realized that. They exchanged a glance. Zhang Miaomiao blinked her lively big eyes, took a prop from nearby, and handed it to Shen Yu with utmost sincerity. “Um, could you… demonstrate it once?”

“Of course.” What she handed over was a prop cigarette, not real tobacco.

Shen Yu found Zhang Miaomiao adorable and smiled faintly. “But no need for this.”

The folding chair was low, so Shen Yu stuck his long legs, clad in black casual pants, out in front. He turned his head and called to He Qian, “He Qian, pass a pack of smokes.”

Great Director He was busy and tossed a pack over without looking back.

Shen Yu caught it deftly. His slender, pale fingers opened the box, drew out a cigarette, lit it, and held it between two fingers. His fingers were long and white, angled slightly downward with faint blue veins emerging—utterly sensual.

Zhang Miaomiao’s face flushed with embarrassment. She used the back of her hand to cool it but scalded herself instead. She shook her head at once, rallied, and focused intently on Shen Yu.

The handsome man, wearing only a black knit sweater on top, was tall. Now he sat somewhat aggrieved on the folding chair, legs extended, a spark flickering at his fingertips as lonely smoke rose in the air.

The man’s eyes drooped slightly, blocking others’ views while concealing all his emotions. The studio’s warm lights fell, filtering through his distinct lashes to cast cool tones in his eyes. The surrounding clamor and noise detached from him.

Amid the crowds and myriad sounds assaulting the ears, you could only sense his quiet, as if he didn’t belong to this world.

Because this world had nothing to do with him.

It had nothing to do with her.

She had everything, scorned everything. She was the world’s indifferent darling, needing no one’s love or hate to affirm her existence, never halting her quest for anyone.

She was clear-headed, silent, and resolute.

She observed everything.

She thought, therefore she was.

Loneliness was merely the universe extending a hand to her.

Shen Yu toured the set once. Everything proceeded in orderly chaos, and the filming finally got back on track. His heart settled. As for his friendly cameo, He Qian had him try on makeup first.

Amid the makeup artist’s repeated gasps and praises, He Qian popped into the makeup room to tell Shen Yu that schedules wouldn’t align for other actors, so he should come whenever called.

Even as the investor, he was being squeezed—this was a first. Before heading back to the company, Shen Yu mercilessly kicked He Qian, sending him tumbling head over heels off the folding chair. He Qian wailed dramatically.

Shen Yu ignored his resentment and left the set amid the crew’s adoring gazes.

He had a last-minute meeting at a club to discuss a contract. The club was serene, divided by potted plants and landscape screens. Gentle music floated in a subtle woody fragrance—perfect for business talks.

By the time the contract wrapped, night had deepened.

Shen Yu lit a cigarette he’d swiped from He Qian. Endless stars fell in the alley behind the high-rises. He leaned against his sports car, pondering life.

Truth be told, he just didn’t want to go back to Zhou Mansion.

The spark flared and dimmed as he flicked ash from his fingers. Just as Shen Yu began reflecting on his second round of life, a black high heel suddenly flew past his face and smashed onto the roadside.

“—He stole my bag!”

Shen Yu glanced back. A shifty man clutched a bag, fleeing into the darkness, pursued by a woman in a long skirt. Her fierce heel-throwing suggested the skirt had slowed her chase.

As the man passed Shen Yu, Shen Yu’s eyelid twitched. He stuck out a foot into the road.

“Fuck your mom!”

The man tripped and tumbled head over heels. He cursed viciously at Shen Yu, saw the woman closing in, and scrambled to grab the bag without settling the score.

A leg in leather shoes extended, the sole pinning his wrist firmly. It then twisted mercilessly against the bones twice.

The man instantly grimaced in pain. “Ah, fuck you, what the hell?”

Shen Yu crouched with drooped eyes, not easing the pressure underfoot.

His cigarette had burned halfway, ash scattering in the night breeze, ember scorching hot. His pale fingers gripped it, then he leisurely pressed the glowing tip onto the man’s wrist. His voice was indifferent. “Fuck who?”

The hundreds-of-degrees heat seared instantly. The man, mere vermin, let out a heart-wrenching scream and begged repeatedly. “Aah, it hurts! Big bro, I was wrong, I was wrong—fuck me, fuck me—”

“…”

Who the hell wants to fuck you?

Speechless, Shen Yu picked up the bag. By then, the woman panted up. Ignoring the bag, she grabbed her heel nearby, slipped it on elegantly, and delivered a vicious kick to the man’s crotch.

“…”

Shen Yu, witnessing it all, felt a chill. He silently handed over the bag. Chen Junyan turned her head, chin raised, smoothed her disheveled hair, and instantly exuded dignified poise.

She took her robbed bag and looked at Shen Yu, a flash of admiration in her eyes.

Chen Junyan smiled gratefully. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” Shen Yu pulled out his phone.

8:43 p.m.

Shen Yu paused, slid to emergency dial, called the police, then told Chen Junyan, “Wait for the cops.”

The police arrived quickly, hauling the guy away. Shen Yu, the good Samaritan, and Chen Junyan, the victim, finished statements swiftly.

“A friend opened a night school nearby. They haven’t hired enough teachers yet, so I help out sometimes. Who knew I’d get robbed right after the subway.”

She was tough—from the subway station to the club entrance, she’d chased the thug a full three kilometers. The cops all gave her admiring looks.