After Writing a Story for My Husband and Brother

During their time in the Netherlands, Lu Cheng and Zhong Shao were interviewed by numerous media outlets, but they granted an exclusive interview to a domestic professional film media outlet only a day before the movie premiere.

The interviewer clearly had experience and wasted no time getting to the heart of the matter with targeted and professional questions.

"This partnership is quite interesting. Regarding the documentary 'Divergence' which has been nominated, Chinese audiences are very curious, especially about the role reversal of the two of you in the film. Starting from left to right, first is the director," the female reporter locked eyes with Lu Cheng, displaying a challenging demeanour, "as a filmmaker by background, what prompted you to choose to shoot a documentary this time?"

Lu Cheng grits his teeth, this woman! How would she react if he called her by her name!

Rubbing his bald head, Lu Cheng replied, "Precisely, my background is in shooting feature films. The essence of film is to narrate and document stories, and documentaries are just one of the less prominent branches. If we must talk about the prompt, it's probably because Zhong Shao approached me to shoot this film."

"Our director knows how to create suspense," the female reporter smiled professionally, not taking the bait thrown by Lu Cheng to Zhong Shao, "so, can we say that the opportunity for the director to film the sci-fi movie 'Same or Not' also came from Zhong Shao?"

"Heh, you hit the nail on the head!" Lu Cheng grinned, looking like he was thinking 'You get me.'

Obviously, the female reporter wasn't buying Lu Cheng's joking demeanour.

"We understand that 'Divergence' was filmed over five years with strict confidentiality measures. Regarding the content of this film, only the official statement 'It's more than about identity' is available. Some fans speculate that the documentary is related to real-life stories, World AIDS Day, and sexual minority groups," she continued, "Additionally, we've learned that the film has not yet obtained the 'Dragon Seal' in China. Does this mean you do not intend to release it nationwide?"

Lu Cheng dropped the playful smile and replied, "Zhong Shao would better answer this question."

There was a moment of pause from the reporter, but before speaking again, she seemed to have grasped the intricacies of the situation.

She was aware of the relationship between Zhong Shao and Lu Cheng; she was also familiar with Lu Cheng's attitude towards films.

Lu Cheng has always been a talented and proud individual in the film industry, be it the current on-screen film "Same or Not" or the now-competing "Divergence." Perhaps, as he claimed, he would take on works that are not his own ideas and scripts because of his close friend Zhong Shao.

She turned her gaze towards Zhong Shao, and as soon as their eyes met, she heard Zhong Shao calmly speak, "'Divergence' is indeed related to sexual minority groups, but I find it hard to define whether it is related to WAT. Over the years at WAT, I have rethought many things we take for granted, such as 'Is it perverse for a man to choose a pretty bra,' which also led me to conceive the idea of making a documentary like 'Divergence,' but all the funding for 'Divergence' is not related to WAT." Zhong Shao's gaze remained fixed on the camera, and after a moment of pause, he continued, "Regarding the decision on whether to use the dragon logo, we discussed and decided on it from the very beginning. This is indeed a film that will be controversial in China, perhaps it could pass censorship after numerous edits, but whether or not such a documentary is screened makes no difference to me. It may be the sincerity of our group, or it may just be my personal whims, but I always hope that every viewer who watches the film can understand - what do we really want to talk about when discussing sex and gender?" 

"Wanting to discuss" is the premise of "being able to discuss," when this premise is intentionally concealed or forgotten, "being able to discuss" becomes speechless. Zhong Shao's speech undoubtedly left the audience momentarily stunned, and upon closer inspection... it seems like Zhong Shao's coming out declaration. 

The professionalism of a journalist is evident at this moment, the female journalist calmly transitions from Zhong Shao's words to the next question.

Yu Cheng has been listening attentively next to Zhong Shao, without any imperceptible movements, not even changing his posture. The reporter's questions ranged from "How did you choose Yu Cheng to dub for the documentary" to "What was the biggest feeling you had when participating in dubbing for the first time?" 

"Feeling one's emotions from real stories, then contemplating the question Zhong just mentioned - when we discuss sex and gender, what do we want to talk about?" 

"What are your emotions like? Can you tell us specifically? What do you think this film is trying to convey?" 

The astonishment when seeing the clip for the first time in the studio, the deep empathy during dubbing at a certain moment, and many complex feelings have always been carefully kept in his heart. 

"To be honest, it's quite complex, with both joy and trembling. If I really have to say, I think it's a kind of 'romance that cannot be cried out'. As for what it wants to talk about, there are a thousand answers from a thousand fans. For me, it's 'the black resilience." 

Yu Cheng did not proceed to explain the meaning of this word; he left the answer to the audience.

After the interview concluded, the production crew left first, while the interview team confirmed the materials were stored and then packed up their equipment before leaving the temporary interview room. 

Lu Cheng did not leave with the crew but waited in a corner of the lobby until the interview team appeared in sight. 

From a short distance away, Lu Cheng called out her name, "Shang Yu." 

Yes, that female reporter's name is Shang Yu, and in Lu Cheng's memories, she was present in most of his twenties. 

However, they broke up later on.

Upon hearing this call, the entire group slowed down and stopped, their gaze falling on the man walking towards them at a 60-degree angle. 

Lu Cheng suppressed the urge to smoke and spoke from a few steps away, "Let's talk." 

"I'm sorry, I have work to do next," the response came. 

"Just five minutes, it won't delay your upcoming tasks," Lu Cheng insisted without backing down. 

Some members of the group, aware of the past between Shang Yu and Lu Cheng, sighed at the sight of this former couple. They took a step back, creating room for the two.

"Yu," the photographer said, "We head back to the hotel and send the materials back." 

Without waiting for Shang Yu to respond, he led the remaining team members away.

Except for the two parties, Lu Cheng and Shang Yu, no one knows what they discussed in the brief time they had, but both appeared calm when they parted ways. Several hours later, the online release of the interview with the creators of "Divergence: What Do We Want to Talk About?" saw a skyrocketing click-through rate, propelling related topics to the top of search trends. 

Concurrently, the box office numbers for the film "Same or Not" continued to climb.

At 10 a.m. local time in the Netherlands, the global premiere of the documentary film "Divergence" took place. The Tulip Hall, one of the main screening rooms, accommodated around 480 viewers, making it a medium-sized theatre exhibition hall. 

The crew of "Divergence" took their seats in the central area, while all attendees entered with invitations in hand. 

Before the screening, the creators stood up to greet and acknowledge the audience present.

When the film started screening, Song Chunuan published a lengthy blog post: "What do I want to discuss when I adapt 'Same or Not'?" 

In her post, she wrote: My writing journey began with love, friendship, family, and myself. Later, I broke free from those limitations and started exploring more styles, expanding the themes of the stories to encompass patriotism, love, and perseverance of minority groups. This wasn't the first time I adapted my own work, but it was the first time I introduced new themes during the adaptation process. Friends who have read the original work should be familiar with 'Same or Not abo,' which discusses the stereotypical impressions of sexual minorities that humanity retains in the world of technology, as well as racial discrimination supported by the second gender. This was my first attempt to explore these topics through storytelling, albeit in a broad and straightforward manner. Therefore, in adapting it, I focused on a smaller aspect, continuing to address society's stereotypical impressions of minority groups and attempting to discuss gender and sexual equality under the support of the second gender's racial discrimination. This is the significance of the movie 'Same or Not.' When we start discussing gender and sexual equality, I want to engage in a conversation about relative equality with you. As the original author and screenwriter, I am deeply grateful to the entire team of the film 'Same or Not' for their efforts, I am very satisfied with it, and I thank all the viewers who have enjoyed the film.

The topic of "what we are talking about" has surged into the top ten trending topics. The popularity of the topic continues to rise, and Song Chunuan has reposted her own blog post, commenting that it was only after the completion of the film "Divergence" that she accidentally learned of its existence from Fu Qiao, thus gaining a full understanding of the content. It's heartening that we all start from similar roots and explore different paths. Although it's regrettable that the film is not being released domestically, I have tried to imagine some scenes from it. Therefore, borrowing the sentence structure from Zhong Shao's interview, I would like to say: When we discuss sex and gender, what we want to talk about is the 'existence and temporality' of it.

Concurrently, after the premiere of the film "Divergence", the applause at the scene was incessant, with several creators bowing to the audience again to express their gratitude.

After hearing about the buzz online, Zhong Shao reposted Song Chunuan's Weibo post and commented after her message: #Divergence##WhatAreWeTalkingAbout# Publicly acknowledging gender and sex is a prerequisite for discussing it.

Subsequently, Yu Cheng and Zhong Shao followed suit in reposting and commenting.