Story 1: April 1st. Leslie

(This story is purely fictional)

Leslie Zhang Guorong left the impression of a warm and humble, free and uninhibited cross-border artist with both moral and artistic integrity. His charm transcended gender and age, influencing two entire generations of Chinese and is still mentioned and remembered from time to time.

When I was still in college, the dormitories were divided into "Tan Pai" and "Zhang Pai", and I often fought for the "Principal" and "Brother" who had better singing skills. I was a neutralist, claiming to only chase music and not people, so as to avoid falling into war. However, the name of "not chasing people" also comes at a price. In the four years of college, I have neither chased a girl nor been chased by a girl, and I have properly handed in the white paper.

On April Fool's Day in 2003, a dozen of my colleagues and I were working overtime to debug the unit's new LAN system when we suddenly heard a female colleague behind us exclaiming. Turning her head to look, she had risen from her seat, her hands covering her mouth, her eyes staring round at the monitor, like a cockroach that suddenly appeared on the screen.

"Brother... My brother jumped off the building..." When we were at a loss to comfort her, a girl next to her calmly explained to us: Zhang Guorong jumped off the building this afternoon to commit suicide and has passed away.

To be honest, I won't be surprised by anything that happens in the entertainment industry, because, too many dramas are being staged...

Time can smooth everything out. 18 years have passed, about Zhang Guorong's voice and smile, brilliant record, depression, homosexuality... They have faded from the public eye. The post-90s generation no longer cares about the generation of Heavenly Queens who once made their parents crazy, and the artists of Zhang Guorong's generation have also faded out, retreated, and passed away...

On April Fool's Day in 2021, the warm Shanghai has just experienced a wave of imported epidemics from abroad, and the evening in Lujiazui is already brightly lit and full of people. On my business trip to Shanghai, I sat alone at the %Arabica Coffee House in the Center of International Finance, sorting out the designs that I would present to customers tomorrow. The reason for choosing here is that one is close to the hotel, the second is that there are fewer people and quieter, and the third is to provide free power plugs.

Just finished changing the finishing touches, stretched out, and decided to treat yourself with another cup of mocha. His eyes searched the store a few times, but he didn't find the waiter. Just as I was about to open my mouth, the door of the store opened, and two middle-aged men dressed in the middle came in, with wide sunglasses and a black mask, blocking the entire face tightly. The two whispered in Cantonese, brushed past me, and sat on a couch not far from me.

Fortunately, I have lived in Guangzhou for more than ten years, and cantonese is still no problem. The moment they passed me, a drifting conversation left me stunned.

"If it weren't for that scene 18 years ago, you and I would have had a happy day today!"

"Shut up, Leslie! This is Shanghai, not Bern..."

Leslie？ That scene from 18 years ago? April Fool's Day... Oh my goodness!

For the next ten minutes, I pretended to concentrate on the documents, but my eyes and ears were fully focused on the two people across from me. Although I couldn't hear the conversation behind, from the point of view of raising my hands and feet, the purple clothes on the left were most likely Zhang Guorong.

I am confident in my judgment. So as soon as their coffee was delivered, he got up and walked over and sat down on the couch opposite them.

"Disturbed, Zhang Sheng, Tang Sheng." Looking at the two frozen faces on the other side, I whispered in Hong Kong-style Cantonese, "I'm glad I can see each other again..."

Don't ask me how to reassure Leslie and Mr. Tang next, we had a good conversation. All in all, it's my talent.

Zhang Guorong, who is out of the public eye, has serious social barriers. He was very afraid of any public announcements, performances, awards, etc., and was only willing to shrink into the recording studio to sing, and even the media reporter interviews were completely pushed away. But this is doomed to not become a star in the spotlight. So Zhang Guorong, with the help of his agent Xu Tai and a psychologist, trained day by day, worked hard to overcome his fear, and finally defeated the demons.

With the gradual increase in popularity, Zhang Guorong bravely admitted his homosexual identity, and openly and frankly talked about this topic through various occasions, supporting gay couples and marriages, hoping to change the world's misunderstanding and prejudice against homosexuality. But at that time, Hong Kong society could not accept it, so Leslie could only suppress these troubles in her heart, and soon began to show symptoms of irritability and depression.

As her popularity grew and her social influence grew, Leslie knew she had become an icon for a generation of young people to emulate and chase. Although he has opened his heart to the public many times and opened up the fact that he is gay, the company and his agents have dissuaded him from fighting against society anymore, and not to let this "anti-human stain" damage the beautiful image of "brother" who is sunny, warm, lively and free. Otherwise, more than a decade of resources and money investment will be destroyed.

Torn apart between the will of capital and the conscience of the original heart, Leslie would rather give up everything he already has than contribute his full strength to the demonization and legitimization of homosexuality. After many disputes and conflicts with the company, they were fruitless and physically and mentally exhausted. It wasn't until April Fool's Day in 2002 that he met a designer from Guangzhou on a business trip in the café of the Peninsula Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, named Chris...

A big drama is advancing in an orderly manner according to the original design: the "accidental" leak of depression diagnosis, frequent attendance at charity events, emotional collapse on the set delaying the filming schedule, and the delay in the release of the new album as scheduled... Everything made the self-inflicted suicide on April 1, 2003 seem reasonable and a perfect ending.

Only a few people in the world know the outcome of this scene.

Jumping off the building is a stand-in, his family is told that there was an accident on the set, everything was settled, food and clothing;

Leslie flew to Bern, Switzerland, under the pseudonym Leo Cheung, and after a year of seclusion, he welcomed Mr. Tang and lived a quiet life without dispute;

Agent Chen Tai took care of Leslie's "posthumous affairs" up and down, and has been staying in Hong Kong to create a memorial atmosphere, soothe public emotions, and handle the relationship between all parties;

Designer Chris returned to the mainland, everything seems to have never happened, from time to time in addition to hard work, sign up for a story writing class, and then after retirement can write a good memoir...