Chapter 284 Shadow and Sunshine

When she stepped onto the beach in Santa Barbara again, Su Yun suddenly felt as if she was in another world.

It has only been ten years since I met Zha Lan, but many things have changed. In particular, the great changes in people from childhood to adulthood always make people sigh for the changes of time.

"But coming to the point, how did you get together with him?" Su Yun whispered into Bourne's ear.

"Mr. Delon said before that he supported me to take on 'Dorian Gray', so he brought me here specially this time and found someone who had played 'Dorian Gray' before..." When talking about this, Bourne's face still looked a little bad: the previous actor of "Dorian Gray" was Helmut Berger, who had insulted him before and involved him in a rumor storm.

Compared to Bourne's complicated mood, Jarlan was full of joy: as the favorite of the great director Visconti, he and Berg had been sworn enemies for many years.

Especially at Visconti's funeral a few years ago, that Berg guy deliberately ran over and called herself "widow" in front of him - if the people around him hadn't held him back, he would have beaten that guy again!

To be honest, he really didn't have much intention to help Bourne: it can be said that except for Su Yun, a little bad boy whom he admired very much but was always irritated by her, he didn't think highly of anyone among the younger generation.

The reason why he helped Bourne this time was purely out of the typical vicious mentality of "if my mortal enemy feels uncomfortable, then I feel comfortable."

Su Yun roughly understood Zha Lan's intention of using Bourne to attack Berg, but the twists and turns in it were really confusing and difficult to discern.

"The Berg family is on vacation here recently. Let's go from this direction." Zha Lan looked at the address and led the two of them to a small wooden house on the beach.

It was not until he opened the door and saw Helmut Berg in person that Su Yun understood why Bourne was so "afraid" of him.

I thought Zha Lan was someone who could express the word "evil" on her face, but I didn't expect that everything really needs contrast and comparison - compared with Berg, who is naturally dark and evil and even known as a "fallen angel" both in and out of the play, Zha Lan looks pure and innocent like a little white pigeon...

"What do you want from me?" Berg glanced at the three people at the door and said in a Zaun-style greeting, "Don't tell me you just came to say hello."

Su Yun secretly wiped the sweat off his forehead: although Zha Lan, Berg and Bourne all came from the lower classes, and had even been hooligans when they were young, it was obvious that Zha Lan and Bourne had gradually become more tactful and restrained under the pursuit of the magnesium spotlight; only Berg, a demon who looked like a bad guy, still maintained his arrogant and unrestrained attitude that did not care about his image.

"I didn't come here to quarrel with you today." Zha Lan walked into the cabin with a look of displeasure from Berg, and sat down in a well-lit spot. "You should have heard that another director wants to shoot Dorian Gray."

"So what?" Berg gestured to Bourne to go in with a look of disgust. Then, when he saw Su Yun, his expression improved a little and he greeted her in a somewhat stiff tone.

"They want Anderson to star in the film, but Anderson seems to be somewhat resistant to the invitation because of the shadow you cast on him before." Zha Lan leaned to the side and said slowly.

"What's that? Is that why you came to me?" Berg smiled sarcastically. "Don't tell me you are now a kind elder who likes to help the younger generation."

"If the target is you, it's not impossible for me to do the same thing as Luchino - after all, Anderson entered this circle because of Luchino, right?" Luchino is Visconti's name. As someone brought up by Visconti, Zha Lan naturally calls him a more intimate name rather than a surname.

Compared to Bourne who was standing quietly aside, Zha Lan has never been an easy person to deal with.

"But Anderson is such an ungrateful person. He slandered Luchino!" Berg glanced coldly at the bewildered Bourne, and then directed his firepower at him. "Luchino was so good to you, why did you slander him!"

"I didn't! I was just telling the truth!" Bourne shouted, recalling the shameful past when he was treated like cake on a plate and still couldn't forget the shadow of that time.

"Calm down, this is not the time to settle old scores." Zha Lan was the one who intervened this time. While holding Berg down, she signaled Su Yun to hold Bourne. "Perhaps as a bystander, you can see it more clearly. To be honest, Anderson was just an underage Swedish boy back then. He was brought to such a situation for no reason, and he would have felt fear and anxiety."

"But he did damage the reputation of many people by speaking so bluntly to the media about these things." In order to build momentum, Visconti followed the media's lead and promoted Bourne to the position of the most beautiful boy. Naturally, he also anticipated the attention that would follow.

But perhaps Visconti thought that Bourne, who had a similar background and personality to Zallan and Berg, could also withstand the complexity of the circle - but he did not expect that Bourne was more inclined to be upright and quiet than the previous two chaotic and evil camps.

He couldn't stand the tremendous pressure of becoming famous overnight, nor could he accept the complexity of the circle, and was finally forced to flee to Japan for "refuge".

Of course, Visconti has never lacked good actors, so losing Byrne is not a big deal. It's just that Byrne's straightforward nature and his unpretentious outspokenness in front of the media have caused him some trouble.

However, for people at the level of Visconti and Zallan, these minor troubles are nothing, and they can be left to dissipate over time without any need for any action. But Berg, who loves Visconti deeply, cannot accept Bourne's behavior and secretly sets many traps for him.

Berg, who also went from a small-time gangster to a movie star, and from hell to heaven, fell directly in love with the male director who was more than 40 years older than him. He showed his love in various ways before Visconti acknowledged him as his lover.

So, Berg, who has had an extremely tortuous journey on the road of love, has always been quite crazy in his behavior and actions: he cannot tolerate any slander against his lover, nor can he bear to see his lover show kindness to other people.

In front is Zallan, whom Visconti always calls his muse, and in the back is Bourne, whom Visconti calls the number one beautiful boy. Therefore, Berg has always felt that Zallan, who has a deep father-son relationship with Visconti, is a "rival in love", and Bourne, who disagrees with Visconti's approach, is an "ungrateful person".

To be honest, these relationships and past events seem complicated, but from Su Yun's gossipy perspective, it is nothing more than the dissatisfaction of "young stepmother" Berg towards "former son" Zha Lan and "adopted son" Bourne...

However, the most important key figures have all passed away, and these three people no longer regard each other as thorns in the eye.

In the silence, Byrne broke the silence: "Actually, now that I think about it, what I did back then did cause trouble for many people - but this does not prove that I was wrong."

"I am not without fault, but the fault is not entirely mine. Moreover, I was not suitable for this chaotic and complicated circle at that time, which led to the farce that year..." Bourne's eyes became calmer and calmer, and slowly fell on a photo on the cabinet. "You don't have to worry about anything. He originally wanted to give the role of 'Tadzio' to you, but it is no longer suitable for your age, so he found me as a 'stand-in'..."

During the audition that year, Visconti looked at him with the scrutiny of an elder looking at a younger person, but when he turned around and spoke to Berg, who had a dissatisfied look on his face, his eyes were filled with deep affection.

"Then why didn't you tell me before?" Berg followed his gaze and saw a photo of him and his lover: the youthful face and the old face were intertwined, and everyone felt that they would not last long.

Yes, the age gap of more than 40 years and the same gender meant that this relationship could not last long - but his grief at the funeral, his devastating loss and even his subsequent attempt at suicide to follow his lover, finally won people's respect many years later.

"Because I was always very...scared of you." Bourne smiled slightly. "The way you stared at me all the time scared me a lot."

After all, she is the director's "wife". If the director doesn't want him anymore due to some persuasion, he would have no choice but to pack up his bags and continue to be a poor boy waiting foolishly for work on the street.

"It turns out you're not as innocent as you appear." Berg laughed again and looked towards Su Yun, as if to say: See, your friend is also a scheming person with his own little thoughts.

As a rare oriental face who could penetrate Hollywood, Berg was more or less aware of Su Yun's legendary experience; in addition, he was not completely homosexual but could appreciate the beauty of different genders, so based on Su Yun's unique appearance and legendary experience, he was inevitably gentler towards her.

Moreover, in recent years, he would occasionally keep an eye on the development of Bourne, the ungrateful man, so he naturally knew that Bourne had been highly appreciated and employed by Su Yun in recent years.

"If he were completely innocent, I would be afraid." Su Yun smiled, and her words showed her indifference to Berg's tactics of sowing discord.

"Actually, you don't need to feel so sorry for yourself. I think Mr. Visconti would never want to see you like this." Being able to acknowledge his identity in this era, perhaps Visconti's feelings for Berg are more than just the slight ones in Berg's heart.

Berg's anxiety and obsession all come from his insecurity about love, but if someone could truly recognize, support and encourage him, perhaps things would be different.

Of course, she couldn't do it alone - so Su Yun turned her attention to Zha Lan.

Understanding what Su Yun meant, Zha Lan glared back at her unhappily but took the initiative to walk towards Berg.

On this afternoon with a cool sea breeze, Su Yun and Bourne sat on a wooden bench by the window of the cabin, watching Zha Lan and Berg, two old men who were several decades old in total, arguing like elementary school students for a long time about who was Visconti's "favorite".

"I am the one he loves most! Anderson just said it. He looks at me with deep affection!"

"The relationship between him and I cannot be compared with a latecomer like you. He personally made me a big star. In my heart, he is more important than my father and stepfather!"

"He worked on my movie even at the last moment, lying on his sick bed!"

"He has contacted me many times and wanted to work with me again. If I really couldn't spare the time, you wouldn't have been involved at all!"

Seeing that they were becoming more and more childish, Su Yun took out the thermos she carried with her and drank a sip of water. Then she signaled to Bourne next to her with her eyes: What do you think, are you still scared now?

"When I met him, I realized that the shadow in my heart that I couldn't get rid of was just a poor person who was extremely insecure about his feelings." Bourne shook his head and smiled a little. "Maybe I will still encounter setbacks in the future, but now I can muster up the courage to face it instead of choosing to escape."

Because he is no longer alone, but has friends who care about him and confidants who accompany him spiritually.

Just as Berg regarded Visconti as the sunshine in his dark life, he also found his own sunshine at a very early age.

Seeing that Su Yun's attention was attracted by the bickering between the two people, Bourne moved his hand slightly, chasing the sunlight through the gaps in the shadows of the trees swaying in the sea breeze, and placed it on the skin that was warmer than the sunlight.

Just like when he was filming "The Thousand Faces Girl" with Su Yun in Japan, and he was close to Su Yun in the death gaze of Akina Nakamori, there was no need for obvious expression, just a quiet contact, and he felt endless warmth and peace in his heart.

Watching Zha Lan and Berg gradually change from bickering to reminiscing about the past and old friends, Su Yun twisted her stiff body and turned to Bourne and said, "Do you want to go for dinner?"

Bourne nodded.

So the two of them really got up and went out to have dinner. When they came back, they were holding two boxes of pizza and two cups of coffee.

Seeing that Zha Lan and Berg had become hoarse from talking, Su Yun stuffed each of them with a pizza and a cup of coffee, and while they ate, they chatted idly for a while.

Before leaving, Berg suddenly called Bourne and said, "I will stay here for a few days. I have gained some experience from my performance in Dorian Gray. You can come and see me when you are free..."

Although his expression and tone did not show an apology, his meaning was quite obvious.

So Bourne looked up at him on the steps very seriously and said, "Thank you."

"No matter what you do, if you want to achieve your goal, you always need to work hard for it." Berg added with a hint of meaning.

Watching the three people walking away, Berg turned around and walked back to the sofa, looking at the empty takeout box.

apology?

Maybe a little.

But the key reason why he showed kindness to Bourne was that he saw how much Zha Lan valued Su Yun - very good, Zha Lan's family regarded this girl as a junior whom they valued very much, and Zha Lan always had an extreme desire to protect the people he valued.

When he and Romy were working together on the film "Ludwig", he was often glared at by Zha Lan who came to visit the set.

Similarly, if this girl who is also valued by Zha Lan is taken away by someone else, that guy will definitely be very angry...

Besides my acting experience, my greatest strength is my ability and persistence in achieving my goals.