Chapter 15
When the phone rang, Shen Huaixin answered the call and heard the voice of the man on the other end: “Ms. Shen, the guardrails and life-saving equipment have been installed. You can come to our nature reserve for a field visit.”
"...Thank you so much."
It would have been fine if he hadn't mentioned it. As soon as he did, Shen Huaixin was immediately filled with anger. He almost lost his life, suffered hardships, and was almost teleported back before completing the mission. He simply responded and hung up the phone.
[Chen Huaixin: Thunder King, will I be offline if I die? If I don't die, do I have to commit suicide?]
[System: Don't worry. I'll arrange for your forced death when the time comes. This body will also be destroyed after you log off, leaving no hidden dangers.]
She hesitated for a moment, then sat on a bench along the campus path, watching her classmates, books in their arms, coming and going like flowing water, with carefree expressions on their faces.
[Chen Huaixin: In the end, you want me to backstab Shen Chumo, right?]
[System: According to the character setting. Based on the host's behavior when Shen Chumo fell into the water last time, I have submitted a request to my superiors. At that time, I will arrange for the original owner to take over the body according to the circumstances. However, please rest assured that the originally promised 10 million bonus will not be reduced.]
After sitting for a while, Shen Huaixin stood up and shook her head.
[Chen Huaixin: No need, I will do it. ...This is something I should bear myself.]
She stood by and watched, pretending to be innocent, watching others hurt others on her behalf, taking on the sins that should have been borne by her? This was too cunning.
Back home, Shen Huaixin dined with his family as usual. Coincidentally, Shen's father's phone vibrated. He picked up the call, his expression gradually becoming serious. After a few simple responses, he hung up.
Shen Huaixin felt uneasy for some reason. She couldn't hide her feelings and kept looking up at Shen's father. Shen's mother smiled and asked,
"Honey, what's the matter?"
"Nothing, they said that the clues of the kidnapping case have been sorted out almost." Father Shen paused, afraid to mention Mother Shen's sad story, and whispered, "They want us to go to the police station the day after tomorrow to claim some things."
Mother Shen nodded at him. When she mentioned this matter again, the sadness and despair she had at the time faded a lot. She remained calm and picked up a dish for Shen Chumo, her tone soft.
"Chu Mo, eat more, you are still too thin."
Shen Huaixin's eyelids jumped, and she clenched her chopsticks: "Mom, the day after tomorrow is the day of my art performance. I was thinking of inviting you to go with me. Can we change the date?"
"We've already made an appointment, why change it to another day?" Father Shen frowned, "We can watch the video of the cultural performance, but this matter is more important."
Shen Huaixin looked at Shen's mother again, pitifully: "Mom..."
Mother Shen shook her head, gentle but tolerant: "Your father is right, don't act like a child. The police contacted us, maybe there are some new clues, we must cooperate."
It was because of this that Shen Huaixin was afraid.
She thought about it so much that she couldn't even eat. She looked at Shen Chumo from time to time. Seeing that he was still in a state of panic, she suddenly felt powerless. She only thought that the emperor was not anxious, but the eunuch was.
In the evening, Shen Huaixin downloaded a voice changer app and bought the highest-level membership. Through the automatic recognition function, he managed to make his voice resemble Su Zihan's by about 50%. He then added a crackling sound of electricity and blurred it a little. At first glance, it seemed to be indistinguishable from the real thing, but it was definitely too fake for people who were familiar with Su Zihan.
There were some risks, but it was worth a try. Furthermore, the information she wanted to hint at, such as the possibility that Shen's parents might discover his true identity, couldn't be explained in a few words and would easily arouse suspicion, so she needed to slowly hint at it over the phone.
She tried it a few times, and after making sure there was no major problem, she sent a message to Shen Chumo.
Shen Huaixin: Are you there?
Shen Chumo: Yes.
Shen Huaixin: Can I talk to my cell phone? My cell phone signal is pretty poor here, so there might be some delay.
Shen Chumo was stunned. She was coming clean, meaning she wasn't going to hide it. So, what should his reaction be...?
In order to meet Shen Huaixin's expectations, he should express surprise, joy, and hindsight after hearing the voice. This is a bit difficult for him, and it seems that he should practice it well so as not to disappoint her. He cleared his throat,
"It's you? I didn't expect that."
"Xin...Sister Xin, why is it you?"
“…”
It seemed a little dull. To better embody the role, he took a deep breath, extending his acting skills to his expression. His gem-like eyes widened, revealing incredible shock. "It's you."
Well, the effect is good. Shen Chumo nodded, indicating that it passed.
Shen Chumo: Sure.
He made a voice call invitation and the other party answered quickly and said "Hi" to him.
"It's you." Shen Chumo subconsciously recited the lines.
After he finished speaking, he paused for a long time and rubbed his ears vigorously to make sure he was not hallucinating.
The other party's voice was a little surprised: "Did you hear it?"
“…”
Shen Chumo looked at the wall, imagining Shen Huaixin talking to the phone, and was speechless for a moment.
It turns out that the voice calls of this software are so distorted, and there is also an electric current sound. It sounds like a completely different person. But fortunately, Shen Huaixin's pronunciation habits are still there. He speaks standard Mandarin. When he is not pretending to be fierce, his overall tone is soft, with the accent of Wu dialect, just like now.
"Yeah." he replied.
"Excuse me, actually I called you because I encountered a problem and wanted to ask for your advice."
"I have a female friend who lives in the countryside. She has a younger brother. Her parents and she love him very much. Until one day, my friend suddenly couldn't face her brother anymore. Guess what happened?"
"What?"
——"She discovered that the boy was not her biological son! The hospital nurse had taken him away by mistake!"
"Ah," Shen Chumo thought thoughtfully, "What about this couple's own children?"
"She was transferred to another family. That family lives well, and they don't know the child they're raising isn't their biological child. So, do you think she should tell her parents?"
Shen Chumo pondered for a moment and suggested: “According to the law, biological parents have the right to seek the return of their children through legal channels. They can inform and request to exchange them.”
"But you have to think about it, whether it is exchanged back or not, it will cause great harm to both families. My friend thinks that we should not tell our parents, what do you think?" Shen Huaixin persuaded.
"That makes sense." Shen Chumo felt that he still had a lot to learn about the ways of the world. "You just said that your friend and her parents are very good to her brother. What about her?"
"What?" Shen Huaixin didn't react for a moment.
Shen Chumo asked: "Are her parents and brother good to her?"
“…Maybe.”
Shen Chumo listened to the uncertain tone and couldn't help but ask: "Why do you say maybe?"
"They agreed to support her to go to school and receive nine years of compulsory education, so I think they love her; but she received a pink dress donated by a kind-hearted person, but she put it on her younger brother. She worked hard to earn money and also supported her younger brother. When she was 5 years old, she was taken to the river to play and was left unattended and almost drowned..." Shen Huaixin shrugged, "So maybe they don't love her that much."
Shen Chumo understood. There was no doubt that Shen Huaixin's friend's parents loved his younger brother more. As Shen Huaixin continued to speak, he continued to listen.
"She didn't understand at first, and she also wanted to win her parents' favor. She studied hard until she was top of the class, and even gave up her break time to help with housework... In the end, she gave up. Perhaps she wasn't naturally gifted at pleasing her parents."
"So how is she now?"
"I don't know. Maybe he's still searching."
Shen Chumo thought about it, what did she lose? It seems that the previous article did not mention it, and there are not enough clues to suggest it.
"Looking for what?"
"Herself."
The only sound left on the call was the breathing of the two people. After a while, a voice that didn't sound like Shen Huaixin's came from the receiver. It was a little strange, accompanied by the sound of electricity, and had a sense of age: "So, what inspiration did you get from this incident?"
It was time for the "Let me test you" segment again. Shen Chumo thought for a moment and began to summarize.
"I understand the importance of family ties. They require the joint efforts of both parties. It cannot be achieved through the efforts of only one party. The popularization of nine-year compulsory education has also enabled rural girls to accept it..."
"Wait, wait, think about it further," Shen Huaixin hinted frantically, "the previous story, about whether to tell your parents or not."
So that's it. Shen Chumo suddenly realized: "It taught us that sometimes white lies are necessary to avoid hurting those close to us."
"Okay, okay, you're awesome!" Shen Huaixin was very satisfied and nodded frequently. "Thank you for your plan. I'll go back and tell my friends!"
After saying that, she emphasized again: "Make sure she doesn't forget to follow your suggestion."
"Okay," Shen Chumo paused and looked at the wall adjacent to Shen Huaixin, "Can we not hang it yet?"
"Well, what?"
"Nothing, I just haven't been sleeping well lately, so I wanted to talk for a while longer."
Shen Chumo got a headache whenever he thought of the scenes in his dream. The fragments that appeared were intermittent and became more and more frequent. They were often a degraded imitation of reality. His parents were indifferent to him, his classmates bullied and excluded him, his Chinese teacher called him mentally retarded, and... his sister tortured him with all kinds of means.
The plot is so malicious that it's ridiculous, yet so real that it seems as if everything should have happened.
"Okay, that's nothing. I've always kept it on," she smiled gently, understandingly. "Call me if you need anything, but it's best not in the early morning. I might be asleep and can't hear you."
She didn't say she was disturbing someone's sweet dreams, she just said she couldn't hear it when she was asleep. Shen Chumo always felt that Shen Huaixin, who was on the phone... or communicating with him through this software, seemed to have been filtered out of some deliberate impurities by the radio, and naturally revealed the tenderness in her bones.
If she was like this normally… Shen Chumo shook his head and extinguished his unrealistic fantasy.
There was a rustling sound from the other end of the line. He held his breath, trying to grasp what she was doing from the subtle details.
The sound of fabric rubbing against each other was from lifting the quilt;
The "squeak" sound is from lying on the bed, or more like falling or being thrown onto the bed;
A clear and long breath comes from snuggling into the quilt, squinting your eyes contentedly, and stretching your body like a cat.
"Have you slept together?" Shen Chumo asked, then realized belatedly that the tips of his ears were burning. He felt that this was inappropriate, and that he was trying to locate her by listening to her voice, like a pervert. However, voice calls were real-time, with no option to withdraw.
Shen Huaixin was completely unaware of his frustration and responded generously, "Yes, you guessed it all? You are indeed a top student."
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