Shen Kong's brows jumped, and he almost thought that the familiar mechanical warning sound would sound in his mind in the next second.
——But it didn’t.
Shen Kong felt relieved, and once again put on the perfect mask belonging to Meng Mingxuan on his face.
He stood up from the bed in a panic, looked at Han Li standing at the door with half fear and half nervousness, and stammered:
"Han, President Han? Why are you here?"
Han Li frowned slightly and looked at him quietly, with a gloomy look in his dark eyes.
The handsome young man standing beside the bed looked increasingly uneasy under his gaze, twisting his sleeves with his slender fingers hanging at his sides.
The frown on Han Li's brows deepened.
He looked at Meng Mingxuan for a long time, until his fair ears turned red, and then he finally showed some kindness and broke the heavy silence in the room:
"Do you know me?"
Meng Mingxuan nodded vigorously: "Yes, who in the entertainment industry doesn't know him now..."
Before he finished speaking, he seemed to realize the inappropriateness of his words, and hurriedly stopped talking, lowering his head in embarrassment.
Han Li lowered his eyes, and gently stroked the top of the cane with his bony fingers twice, then said:
"Nothing. I heard about the farce just now and came to see you."
He raised his eyes and looked at Meng Mingxuan again, his voice low and restrained and polite: "Xiu Ran will become very extreme when it comes to things related to film art. He was wrong to throw things at you. I will make him apologize to you in person later."
Meng Mingxuan hurriedly shook his hands and said with some stammering: "No, no, no, I understand. Director Pei is making demands on art, not targeting me personally. There is no need to…"
He couldn't continue.
Han Li stared at him, took over the conversation, and continued casually: "Then I should be able to hope to see you on the set, right?"
Meng Mingxuan looked stunned, as if he was completely overwhelmed by the news:
"On the set? But, but...an audition?"
Han Li raised his eyebrows indifferently, and the important role ownership came out of his mouth lightly and casually, as if it was just deciding where to eat tonight: "Xiu Ran has already determined that you are his Shen Guiyuan. Even the company's top management can't change his mind. As long as you are willing, this role is yours."
Meng Mingxuan was speechless and nodded blankly, as if he had not yet recovered from this shocking news:
“Okay…Okay…”
Seeing that he had received a positive answer, Han Li nodded slightly at him, then turned and left the infirmary.
Listening to the crisp sounds of the cane and leather shoes tapping on the floor gradually fading away, the exaggerated yet sincere expression on Shen Kong's face instantly faded, as if the clouds floating in the clear sky were blown away by the breeze, leaving only the clear and deep sky below.
He leaned back nonchalantly, as if nothing could concern him.
A pair of amber eyes narrowed slightly, staring at the empty door in a daze.
Although the direction of the plot caught him off guard for a while, Shen Kong also made some discoveries that comforted him - although the current Han Li was very different from the image in Shen Kong's memory, compared with him in the original plot, he had obviously become much more cheerful and sunny, which made Shen Kong feel as relieved as an old father. It turned out that his hard work in the first two nodes was not in vain.
At this moment, the system's voice suddenly sounded:
“The studio has received the corrections officer’s request and has responded to the situation.”
Shen Kong was startled, his brows and eyes became serious, and he listened carefully to the next words of the system:
"The studio detects the risk of correction officers being exposed by testing the mental threshold of the world in the book. Once someone in the world connects the correction officers to their past identities through definite evidence, or learns about the purpose of the correction officers' existence, the mental threshold of the world will soar, and the studio's detection system will default to the risk of exposure, thus forcibly removing the correction officers from the current timeline."
Shen Kong pondered for a while and asked:
"So, only when someone confirms my identity through evidence will I be considered to be at risk of exposure, is that right?"
He emphasized the words “through evidence” and “confirmed.”
The emotionless mechanical voice of the system sounded in his ears: "If that's what you want to understand, yes, that's right."
Shen Kong was lost in thought for a moment.
He recalled what happened on the day he was forcibly transported away.
First, Han Li's unexpected visit the night before, and then his unexpected invitation -
It seemed as if something was wrong with everything.
The next day, Han Li did not come to school all day.
After school, when Shen Kong was being picked up by the housekeeper and was on his way back to his residence, the system's warning sounded, followed by a car accident and forced withdrawal.
This means that during this period of time, someone knew his identity for sure and had real evidence to support it, rather than just groundless speculation.
Shen Kong recalled the contents of the note Han Li left for him the next morning: "I have something urgent to do today, so I've asked for leave. See you after school this afternoon."
What would be Han Li’s urgent matter that day?
Are you going to deal with something, or meet someone?
Shen Kong's heart skipped a beat, and he caught the thought that quickly passed through his mind, and asked solemnly: "By the way, I remember I asked you before, what will happen to my temporary identity after I leave, you said that their lives are safe, but they just don't remember all the memories of the time I replaced them, right?"
The system replied: "Yes."
Shen Kong took a deep breath, and a bold guess emerged in his mind. He pursed his lips slightly and said to the system in his mind:
"I think I roughly know how I was exposed last time."
Now that we know the reason—
Then, he can be more careful this time.
Han Li left the infirmary and walked slowly forward along the empty corridor. The sound of his cane tapping the ground matched the sound of his footsteps, striking out even and rhythmic notes on the ground.
He had just turned the corridor when he was stopped by a voice:
"--Hey."
Han Li turned his head and looked in the direction of the voice. He saw Pei Xiuran standing at the corner with his back against the wall. The expression on his face became calm and peaceful again, without any trace of the frenzy and extremeness just now. He stood up and walked towards Han Li, teasing:
"I didn't know that Mr. Han would actually care about the living conditions of young actors."
Han Li gave him a cold look: "--At least I won't throw things at him."
Pei Xiuran was not angry after being stabbed. He just looked back at Han Li quietly, as if examining something.
After a few seconds of silence, he suddenly asked without warning:
"Are you still looking for your sweetheart?"
Han Li frowned, and the aura on his body instantly condensed:
"It's none of your business."
Pei Xiuran sighed, "The media say that I'm extremely paranoid, and I think you're no different. I'm pursuing a muse, but what you're pursuing is even more illusory than mine. Ever since I met you in college, you've been constantly looking for this...illusion in everyone around you. I'm afraid you were willing to invest in my film for this purpose. It's been eight years, why haven't you woken up yet?"
He shrugged and continued:
“Also, although I promised to help you find someone similar to Shen Guiyuan, this does not mean that the person I find may be the one you want. After all, this is the entertainment industry, and actors rely on their acting skills to make a living. Even if they really have similar personalities, the possibility that they are the same person is really slim.”
There was a suppressed dark flame in Han Li's dark pupils. He gave Pei Xiuran a warning look, his eyes as cold as a blade.
——To some extent, he really hated Pei Xiuran's incomparably sharp detective ability, but on the other hand, it was this detective ability that made him aware of Han Li's suppressed and hidden side, which led to their intersection and slowly developed into their current friendship.
Pei Xiuran did not dwell on this topic any further, but changed the subject subtly:
"However, since you have come here, I have to ask you one question - do you think this Meng Mingxuan might be the lover of your dreams?"
This time, Han Li hesitated. He shook his head slowly and said:
“…I’m not sure.”
Pei Xiuran was a little surprised: "Unsure? This is too strange. This is the first time I see you uncertain in all these years."
Han Li did not respond, but just lowered his eyes quietly, stroking his cane slowly with his fingertips, as if thinking about something.
Pei Xiuran suddenly became excited. His gentle and gentle appearance seemed to be stripped away from him once again. A kind of paranoid and almost morbid emotion emerged from his eyes like the tip of an iceberg.
"However, this Meng Mingxuan is simply a rough diamond. He is still very raw and cumbersome in many places, and has strong traces of imitation, but he is definitely a rough diamond..."
Pei Xiuran's tone suddenly became more intense, and he seemed to be intoxicated by the fantasy in his mind:
"——As long as I carve it into shape, it will definitely be the perfect Shen Guiyuan! I thought I would never find him, and I even started hiring someone to rewrite a version of this character that did not appear. I didn't expect that I would actually find him... It is indeed God's favor to me, and the finished product this time will definitely be very beautiful..."
At the end of his speech, Pei Xiuran became incoherent again, using incoherent words to express his abstract and extremely volatile inner world in a sporadic manner.
Han Li, who was standing aside, listened absent-mindedly, tapping the tip of the stick with his fingertips regularly, making subtle sounds.
Suddenly, he seemed to have thought of something, looked up at Pei Xiuran, interrupted him in a matter-of-fact tone, and informed him lightly:
"By the way, I'll take you to apologize to him in two days."
Pei Xiuran was a little stuck for a moment, as if he didn't realize that things would turn out this way. He couldn't help but utter a single syllable of doubt in his throat:
"……ah?"
Han Li looked up at Pei Xiuran coldly, his dark eyes as deep as the sea:
"I believe that with the Pei family's family education, they will not allow you to expose what happened just now without apologizing."
Looking at the stunned Pei Xiuran, Han Li's cold and deep face showed a cold smile:
"——After all, it was you who threw the cup at him."
The author has something to say: ...I clicked the update button on the saved draft because of my shaking hands.
Just consider it as my update in advance orz
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