Final #I (The World is Not as Good as You Are)

Wen Di lay on Yan Heyu’s back for over half an hour, and he kept a firm hold on her hands.

After he finished handling a few emails, her back was starting to ache.

“Can you let me up now?”

This time, it was her turn to indulge him.

Yan Heyu still had other work to do. “I haven’t looked at the project proposal that Kangbo sent over yet.”

He turned her hands around, pulled her in front of him, and had her sit on his lap to read.

Wen Di sat in his arms. His black notebook was next to the computer, and she took it to look at.

Four years had passed, but it was still the same notebook from back then, and it was almost full, with only a few pages left. He liked to write things down by hand, a habit he had kept all this time.

She flipped through it. He rarely wrote about his feelings, mostly just work-related stuff, with a few important personal notes here and there.

Many of the pages at the beginning of the notebook had her signature, squeezed into any available space.

Wen Di turned to one page that read: In a meeting, suddenly missed you. Happy Birthday.

She looked at the date. It was her birthday. She had a hard time imagining him spacing out and thinking of her during a meeting.

Wen Di continued to flip through and saw her signature held up by his ‘Yan’ character’s long leftward stroke.

She had signed that for him much later, after they had already broken up. That day, she had gone to a fundraising roadshow, and afterward, she ran into the person in charge, Mr. Wang, who asked for her autograph, saying his daughter was her fan.

That fan’s ID was: Dee deserves to have eight loves.

“There’s nothing to see,” Yan Heyu said, looking up from the project proposal.

Wen Di said “Mm.” He was right. There wasn’t much to see. In the three-plus, almost four years they had been apart, there were only a few words that mentioned his feelings.

Yan Heyu held her with one hand and flipped through the project proposal with the other. Seeing that she was still looking at it, he kissed her on the face.

Wen Di turned her head to look at him, and he kissed her on the lips.

She adjusted her sitting position to face him and kissed him herself, very lightly, placing kiss after kiss on the corner of his lips and on his lips.

Yan Heyu’s heart was stirred, and he put down the project proposal.

He picked her up, placed her on the desk, put his hands on either side of her, and lowered his head to kiss her deeply.

A little later, the project proposal was knocked off the desk.

________________________________________

The next day, when Wen Di woke up, Yan Heyu had already gone to work. After taking a moment to collect herself in bed, she turned off her alarm and got up. The holiday was over, and it was time for her to go into seclusion to write her screenplay again.

Last night’s two episodes of Behind Desire were the climax of the entire series. They landed on four trending topics, with a viewership rating of over 1.6 and a new record for single-episode views.

Secretary Lu sent her a message, congratulating her on her new show breaking several of the viewership records held by No One is Better Than You. He also said that Xiao Donghan was very satisfied with how he was portrayed in the show. He wasn’t dumbed down and didn’t lose. The show captured his dark and ruthless side, but also his humane and warm side.

Xiao Donghan had also recommended the show to his mother, so she would know that he wasn’t as despicable as she thought. Of course, at his core, he still wasn’t a good person.

A week later, Behind Desire had its finale.

The hashtag #Ifeelheartbrokenafterwatchingthefinalepisode# was trending because the finale was sad. That fleeting goodness seemed particularly lonely amidst the pervasive materialism and their numb lives.

Yin Ziyu rewatched the last episode. After finishing it, she felt hollow inside. Everyone was left with only a parting shot of their back, ending their day and heading into another unknown.

She messaged Wen Di: [Even though it’s a TV show, I still hope they have a parallel world.] In that parallel world, the main characters could reunite, and Xiao Donghan, played by Gu Heng, would no longer be lonely.

But she also knew there was no parallel world.

Wen Di: [Don’t you have lines to memorize today?]

That one sentence brought her back to reality. Yin Ziyu laughed. [I’m going to do that now.]

In April, Behind Desire was re-broadcast on other channels.

The first draft of Wen Di’s new screenplay, How Should I Love You, was completed. With the huge success of Behind Desire, the price of her copyright reached an industry-high and even pushed the ceiling up a little further.

She took the opportunity to increase Yan Heyu’s pocket money to six hundred a month. Every time he received the money, Yan Heyu would send eighty back to her.

The weather warmed up. The crabapples in the courtyard bloomed, and the roses she had planted in the garden also blossomed.

With the screenplay finally done, Wen Di planned to relax and recharge for two months.

Today was Saturday, and Yan Heyu was off. He was used to waking up at six. He didn’t need an alarm; he just woke up naturally.

Wen Di lay with her back to him in his arms. Yan Heyu carefully pulled his arm out and gave her a pillow.

Wen Di rolled over, lifted her leg, and put it on top of him.

Yan Heyu kissed her on the forehead. “I have to get up to run.”

Wen Di wouldn’t let him go.

He lay back down, pulling her back into his arms. “Is two more minutes of sleep enough?”

“No.”

“Then five minutes.”

“When five minutes are up, you have to give me more time.”

Yan Heyu held her and slept for another ten minutes of “second sleep.”

Wen Di actually didn’t fall back asleep. Their chatting had gotten rid of her drowsiness. She opened her eyes, intending to go for a run with Yan Heyu.

Yan Heyu got up first, washed up quickly, and changed into a black workout outfit. He brought Wen Di a white workout outfit. The clothes were from the same brand, so they could almost be considered matching outfits.

The sun hadn’t risen yet. They went for a slow jog around the man-made lake in the villa complex.

After two laps, Wen Di couldn’t run anymore.

Yan Heyu held out his hand, pulling her along.

Wen Di’s stamina couldn’t keep up with his. After four laps, she couldn’t take it anymore and got a stitch in her side. She waved her hand, telling him to keep running on his own. She started walking quickly along the trail.

Yan Heyu ran his fifteenth lap, his hair damp with sweat. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.

His phone kept vibrating, and he gradually slowed down. His phone screen was damp with the sweat from his palm.

Qin Xing @-ed him in the group chat: [Brother Yan, when are you sending out red envelopes?]

Yan Heyu was confused: [What red envelopes?]

Qin Xing: [Wen Di posted about you on her social media. It’s such a joyous occasion. Aren’t you going to send out some red envelopes to celebrate?]

The early birds in the group chat chimed in, telling him to send out at least two.

Yan Heyu quickly clicked on Wen Di’s social media. She had taken two photos of him while he was running, one of his back and another of his side profile, which was recognizable.

Wen Di had a very reserved personality, rarely posting on social media, so much so that her family thought she had created a private group to hide her posts from them.

In all these years, she had only posted three times, all related to Wen Wen.

That was her fourth post.

Yan Heyu turned around to look for her. She was nowhere to be found on the trail by the lake.

Wen Di was walking towards him from the direction of the villa, holding an insulated mug.

Yan Heyu wiped the sweat from his face and walked toward her.

Wen Di had gone home to pour him a cup of warm water. “Are you done running?”

“That’s enough,” Yan Heyu said, taking the mug.

“Then walk another lap with me.”

“Okay.” Yan Heyu tilted his head back and drank half the water, put the lid back on, and stepped closer to her, pressing a kiss on her lips. “Thank you.”

He no longer had to be on standby during the day.

Wen Di only walked half a lap. Yan Heyu carried her on his back for the rest of the way, all the way home.

With the new screenplay complete, Yan Heyu wanted her to go out and relax. No One is Better Than You was going to film in the Sahara in May. He asked her if she wanted to go.

“No. I want to spend some time in Shancheng in late May.”

Yan Heyu said, “Then you can stay in that rental apartment you decorated for a few days.”

“The landlord doesn’t do short-term rentals. Besides, even if they did, it might not be available,” Wen Di said, taking her hair down to tie it into a new bun as she walked into the bathroom.

Yan Heyu followed her into the bathroom. “The apartment is empty.”

“Huh?” Wen Di turned around, not understanding what he meant. As far as she knew, the landlord only rented it out, not sold it. Otherwise, she would have bought it long ago.

Yan Heyu: “I’ve been renting it.”

After he bought the film rights for No One is Better Than You, he had Assistant Kang rent the apartment long-term, paying five years of rent in advance. He had the landlord clean it regularly.

He also planned to use it as a location for the movie, linking it to the TV series. He had already gotten the permission of the TV series’ director and investors.

Wen Di wrapped her arms around his neck. “Then I’ll go early, in mid-May.”

Yan Heyu would be busy at that time. “I have a shareholder meeting, so I won’t have time to go with you.”

“You don’t need to. I’ll go by myself.”

That night, Wen Di began preparing for her trip, packing her luggage.

In mid-May, Wen Di booked a flight and took a large suitcase to Shancheng.

Yesterday, the re-broadcast of Behind Desire had its finale and once again trended. The re-broadcast still achieved impressive viewership ratings.

Zhou Mingqian said in the group chat that she had a good chance of winning the Best Screenwriter award for Behind Desire.

Qin Xing even joked that she should start thinking about her acceptance speech.

Wen Di was on the plane at the time and didn’t see the group messages.

When she landed in Shancheng, Yan Heyu had arranged for someone to pick her up.

It was the landlord of that apartment and his wife. After a few years, they were still as enthusiastic as before and chatted with her the entire way back from the airport.

The courtyard hadn’t changed at all. The bird cage on the tree, the dog lying under it, and the wall of roses were all in full bloom.

The inside of the house was the same as before. All the slightly worn furniture was what she had found piece by piece.

Wen Di put down her suitcase and went out to the balcony to open the window. Looking down from there, she felt like she had entered the world of the TV show, No One is Better Than You.

She still hadn’t finished watching that show.

In the evening, Yan Heyu called her and asked what she was doing.

“Watching a show.”

“Are you rewatching Behind Desire?”

“No, I’m watching No One is Better Than You.”

Yan Heyu was still at the company. He said, “I’ll watch it with you tonight when I get home.”

“Okay.”

Wen Di watched one episode and then paused it, waiting for him to watch it with her tonight.

The last time he had watched a TV show with her over the phone was a long time ago, so long ago that Yan Heyu had forgotten which year it was.

When he got home that night, he turned on his computer, plugged in his phone to charge, and called her.

Wen Di answered and told him she had already finished the third episode.

The two of them watched the fourth episode on the same platform, pressed play at the same time, and their voices overlapped.

Wen Di turned off the sound on her computer. The dialogue from the show’s characters came through the phone from Yan Heyu’s computer.

More than four years later, he was watching a TV show with her this way again.

Before she knew it, the episode was over.

Wen Di picked up her phone. “You should get back to work. I’ll watch it on my own.”

Yan Heyu: “I’ll watch one more episode with you.”

“No need.” Wen Di said goodnight and hung up, then continued to watch the show.

It took Wen Di ten days to watch No One is Better Than You from beginning to end. When she got tired of watching, she would pause the show and wander through the streets and alleys of Shancheng, eating some of the local snacks.

It rained often in Shancheng. On the day before Yan Heyu’s birthday, it started raining again. Wen Di took an umbrella and went out. The landlady was downstairs, playing with the dog. “Are you going out even in the rain?”

Wen Di smiled faintly. “Yes, just to walk around and buy a few things.”

She went to a nearby store and bought a few postcards with Shancheng characteristics, wanting to give Yan Heyu a unique birthday gift.

On the way back, Wen Di got a call from Yan Heyu.

Tomorrow was his birthday, and Yan Heyu was afraid she had forgotten. He asked her, “When are you coming back? I’ll book your flight.”

Wen Di lied to him. “In a few more days.”

She had booked a flight back to Beijing for tomorrow afternoon, so it wouldn’t interfere with celebrating his birthday with him that evening. Tomorrow morning, she was going to mail the postcard, stamped with the postmark from his birthday.

Yan Heyu didn’t mention his birthday and just told her to relax there for a few more days.

The next day was a sunny day.

Wen Di pulled open the curtains. The morning light streamed in through the window, landing on a corner of the desk. In the courtyard downstairs, the birds the landlord kept were chirping happily.

She took out the postcards she had bought yesterday, picked her favorite one, and carefully began to write every word:

It’s been eight years since I’ve known you. Sometimes I suddenly feel that I’m no longer that young, but you are still by my side, and I feel like I’m still the same as I was at twenty, still able to be willful, still able to be unreasonable, and still indulged by you.

I’m listening to the songs I loved when I was twenty, and writing you a postcard in the first apartment I ever rented. It feels like nothing has changed.

The world I love is still not as good as you are.

Happy Birthday. I hope I’m lucky, and you get this birthday gift.

— Your Wen Di