"Ye Xian, I actually envy you a lot."
"Envy me? Envy what?"
Ye Xian looked at him curiously.
Lin Yan, leaning slightly against the car door with his hands, gazed into the distant horizon, "I envy your courage. Do you know when I first changed my opinion of you? It was during the ’Night of Screams.’ Everyone present was making fun of you, netizens were ready to criticize you online, not a single person believed in you, even the award presenter was treating you like a joke. Yet you could still smile as you walked up to the podium. If it were me, I definitely couldn’t have done that."
"You wouldn’t have gotten that award anyway~" Ye Xian laughed, "Actually, it’s nothing. As long as you have a firm dream, it will give you the power to fear nothing."
As long as you have a firm dream, it will give you the power to fear nothing.
Lin Yan listened to these words, looking at her somewhat inscrutably.
In the past, he felt he had changed too much, but now he wondered if he was really the same person as before.
"Well said, but life can’t always be idealized. There are many things hijacking you, and the more you are bound, the more immobilized you become."
Ye Xian: "What are your shackles then?"
Lin Yan did not speak.
After a few minutes of silence, Lin Yan finally said, "Family."
"My ancestral home is in HK Municipality. From my grandfather’s generation, our family began to prosper. Back when it was legal, he married three wives. Over the years, the three branches fought openly and covertly for the inheritance. My father was the eldest son, whom my grandfather groomed as a competent heir. Later, when my mother had me, my grandfather shifted his focus to me.
From childhood, I was arranged to learn various courses and skills that heirs should know, but I found them dull and monotonous. I had no talent in these areas; my real passion was music.
But to my grandfather, star and singer careers were considered lowly professions, something only a prodigal son would pursue. He never took my thoughts and preferences seriously, always pushing me to follow the plan he had mapped out for me.
Everyone rebels at some point. Pushed to the brink, I simply stopped studying altogether and secretly participated in singing contests and talent shows, until I signed with Star Entertainment. Eventually, my grandfather found out and dragged me back to the Lin Family.
My grandfather said if I continued on my stubborn path, he would disown me.
I knew he couldn’t truly disown me, so I chose the entertainment industry.
Over the years, he used many tactics to force me to return, but I held my ground. However, there was news recently that he was ill, and the struggle among the three branches intensified. The second branch was aggressive, and even my parents couldn’t contend with them.
A few days ago, my mother came to me and said, if I returned and obediently followed his arrangements, the second branch would be out of the picture.
I disagreed, and she... she knelt down."
As he said this, he slightly looked up to the sky, "That night, I went back home. I found out that my grandfather wasn’t ill at all but was very happy to see me return. The so-called compliance he wanted from me was to arrange a marriage for me. As long as I obediently married and had children, and promised to leave the entertainment industry, I could smoothly inherit the Lin’s business. This was also what my parents and all other relatives wanted."
"It seems like not a single person genuinely cared about my thoughts, none really respected my decisions and career. Everyone... was very selfish."