The Slacker Cracks Apart

Chapter 41

Jiang Hansheng woke up thanks to his powerful body clock. Even after being poisoned, getting drunk, vomiting, and falling into a deep sleep, that damned body clock still made him open his eyes at six thirty.

It only took a few blinks for him to go from groggy to fully awake.

This was obviously not his bed, and the blanket smelled wrong. Only the scent of body wash on him was familiar.

But why did he have no memory of last night at all? He remembered finishing dinner, but what came after that? What happened after that?

For the first time in both his lives, Chancellor Jiang had encountered something completely beyond his control.

What he had not expected was that something even more horrifying was waiting for him. Because he had moved too much, the person beside him became unhappy and mumbled sleepily, "Don't move..."

"..."

Jiang Hansheng cracked apart. He froze stupidly. "Don't move"—he had heard that right, hadn't he?

He stiffly turned his head, and his entire body went rigid. Someone could probably hit him with a mallet and shatter him on the spot. As for his heartbeat, anyone unaware of the situation would likely think he had acute heart disease; his pulse was racing as though it were playing Ambush from Ten Sides.

Li Wenchuan was lying beside him. Rounding up, that meant someone suspected of being His Majesty was lying beside him... In his previous life, they had only shared a bed in a certain sense when they were hiding for their lives in caves or fleeing through all sorts of unknown temporary hideouts.

So what kind of shared bed was this now?

He did not know what had happened last night, but this was clearly Li Wenchuan's room. Since when had he become this bold?

The person beside him had slightly messy hair and faint dark circles beneath his eyes, showing that he had apparently not slept well last night. Yet none of that could diminish the exquisite beauty of his face. Jiang Hansheng studied him closely and reached out, wanting to trace the contours he had thought of day and night.

Gently. Just one touch, just one.

At that moment, the sleeping beauty suddenly opened his eyes. His gaze was only dazed for an instant before immediately locking onto Jiang Hansheng's trembling hand.

Without a word, he kicked him, then rolled over and pulled the blanket over his head, continuing to make up for his unfinished sleep in one smooth motion.

In truth, Li Wenchuan was not fully awake yet. His emotional journey last night had been so complicated it had nearly burned out his brain. His mind had kept working until dawn, and he had only fallen asleep when he truly could not hold on any longer.

Especially when he opened his eyes and saw this irritating man. Whether this was reality or a dream, he would kick him first to vent his anger.

Li Wenchuan burrowed beneath the blanket. Whatever. Bite me if you can!

Jiang Hansheng was dumbfounded. That kick thoroughly woke him up, and he sat up and began tidying himself.

When he went outside, Coo Coo had long since woken up and was searching for food in the courtyard. Seeing Jiang Hansheng emerge, she tilted her head and peered at him a few times with eyes the size of mung beans, then continued pacing around and digging through the dirt for food.

But Jiang Hansheng found that look strangely unsettling, as though he had been despised by a hen.

He had no idea that after last night, he had raised Coo Coo, a girl, as though she were a son inheriting his bloodline. Otherwise, he would probably have wanted to kill himself on the spot.

It was still too early, and the production crew had only just begun work. Unable to make sense of it, Jiang Hansheng simply went for a morning run.

Country people rose early. Most followed the traditional schedule of working at sunrise and resting at sunset. When he passed Old Man Chen's house, the old man had just returned carrying a hoe.

Fresh soil still clung to the hoe, its earthy scent drifting through the morning air.

The newly risen sun shone golden, making Old Man Chen squint. He looked several times before confirming that it was that young man and hurriedly greeted him. "Little Jiang! Out running?"

Hearing him, Jiang Hansheng changed his route and jogged in place as he approached. "Yes, exercising. You're already back from work so early, sir?"

"I've lived like this all my life. Mainly, I can't sit still. If I don't work for even one day, it feels like all my muscles and bones have stiffened up." Old Man Chen set down his hoe and smiled cheerfully. Remembering his main reason for speaking, he asked, "Little Jiang, are you feeling better now?"

"Hm?" Jiang Hansheng did not understand.

"Little Li didn't tell you?"

"He hasn't gotten up yet." Jiang Hansheng looked innocent, completely unaware of what Li Wenchuan had gone through last night.

Old Man Chen clapped his hands. "Then he must be exhausted. Hand-Blue Mushroom poisoning like yours is the hardest to deal with. My granddaughter was like that last year—she insisted she was a rabbit, hopped everywhere she walked, and refused to eat food because she wanted grass instead."

Once Old Man Chen started talking, he could not stop. His thoughts wandered wherever they pleased. After talking about his granddaughter, he brought up Old Man Sun's son next door, who had suffered a toxic episode at work and thought he was surviving in a cave. His colleagues found him in the office desperately scraping at the wall with his fingers and hurriedly sent him to the hospital.

"No, sir, wait, wait, wait... You said Hand-Blue Mushroom poisoning? People like us?" Jiang Hansheng suddenly had a very bad feeling.

"That's right, just like you. You're even one of the rare ones who can't remember what you did. You really kept Little Li busy last night." Old Man Chen reproached him. "Why didn't you ask before eating mushrooms? Those mushrooms were bluish-green. Weren't you curious since you'd never eaten them before?"

"..."

He usually ate food that others had prepared for him, so he really had not been curious what it was. If it looked acceptable and tasted good, that was enough.

"Little Li didn't say what exactly happened to you last night either. You should go ask him." Old Man Chen picked up his hoe and prepared to leave. "All right, I've got things to do, so I'm heading back. You need to thank Little Li properly."

Even from some distance away, Jiang Hansheng could still hear Old Man Chen muttering, "Good thing he didn't eat much. Otherwise, where would we have found a hospital in the middle of the night?"

"..."

He had not expected last night to have been so eventful. Jiang Hansheng's feelings were complicated.

The staff, having finished getting ready, came over to film this big shot's morning run. You could never have too much footage, after all.

Unexpectedly, the big shot caught hold of him and asked mysteriously, "Last night, did you notice anything strange?"

The cameraman shook his head. "No, everything was normal."

Jiang Hansheng did not believe him. "Really nothing?"

The cameraman swore earnestly, "Nothing at all."

"..." Then this was strange. He had blacked out after dinner, but from the looks of it, no one except Li Wenchuan knew that something had happened to him.

In reality, Li Wenchuan had only learned that something had happened to Jiang Hansheng after returning home, but Jiang Hansheng did not know that.

The cameraman fiddled with his equipment. Seeing Jiang Hansheng so conflicted, he racked his brains over what had happened last night before hesitantly saying, "But last night... Teacher Jiang, your performance was really good."

"My performance?" Jiang Hansheng was puzzled. He did not even know what the production crew had arranged last night.

What did Teacher Jiang mean? The cameraman did not understand. But he immediately got it—Teacher Jiang was an artist of the people. Was that called acting? That was called playing a game, just a casual little gesture!

"Ah, it was the murder mystery game last night. You gave everyone a little lead, and they all got into character. The show turned out especially well." Teacher Jiang would definitely be satisfied if he put it that way.

"Oh, that? It was nothing," Jiang Hansheng said with a smiling attempt to fish for information, pretending that something had been on the tip of his tongue before slipping his mind. "What did I get last night again..."

The cameraman caught on immediately. "You got the script for The Chen Prince's Residence Murder Case. You were Prince Chen, and Li Wenchuan drew Prince Chen's consort. I didn't expect Li Wenchuan to be able to keep up with your acting. He acted amazingly."

Jiang Hansheng: ...

He seemed to be able to piece together what had happened...