The Slacker Gathers Strength

Chapter Forty-Two

What kind of person was Jiang Hansheng? Back when he had still been Jiang Yan, Chancellor Jiang, not a single little move in court could escape his eyes. Even that young emperor had trembled with fear whenever he saw him.

How could someone so capable fail to piece together what he had done last night from this information?

Since no one had broken character during the murder mystery game, there was only one possibility—the character setting from the game had been an extra scene he had written for himself while hallucinating from the poison.

So no one had noticed anything wrong with him. They had all assumed he was acting.

The cameraman completely failed to notice the strange expression on Jiang Hansheng's face—a smile on his lips and utter desolation in his eyes—and continued, "You'll know once you see the edited footage. This episode is definitely going to be explosive. Even though it was just a murder mystery game, you nailed Prince Chen's aura perfectly. You got into character without any costumes or makeup."

The cameraman happily continued sharing his thoughts on last night's shoot, but Jiang Hansheng no longer had the heart to listen.

Thank goodness it had been a murder mystery game. Thank goodness it had been a prince's role. Otherwise... wouldn't that have been complete social death?

"..."

Wait, there was another very important point—Li Wenchuan had been Prince Chen's consort, and he had not objected to that role at the time!

"??!!!!"

"!!!"

He was dead. Completely dead...

Jiang Hansheng covered his face, rubbed it hard a few times, then turned and ran toward his lodgings with a heart as dead as ashes.

"Teacher Jiang, do you work out like this every day? I'm already tired after following you for such a short stretch." Look at Teacher Jiang—his expression had not even changed. It was like he was just walking.

Jiang Hansheng answered stiffly, "Yes. Maintaining my physical condition."

Extreme panic could only be concealed with extreme calm. He might not have reacted like this with anyone else, but this was Li Wenchuan. He had the same name as that person, and his entire character seemed to have undergone an extraordinarily strange reversal.

He had never believed in ghosts or gods, but the memories from his previous life had shattered all those convictions.

But His Majesty had died so young. Even if he had been reincarnated, he should certainly have been older than Jiang Hansheng.

The closer he got to the residence, the more uneasy Jiang Hansheng became.

As he slowly entered the courtyard, none of the things he had imagined happened.

Li Wenchuan had already finished tidying up. After glancing at the newcomer, he turned back to continue what he was doing without saying a word. He held Coo Coo in his arms and faced a rosebush in the courtyard. "Hurry up and eat. There are so many aphids. They're about to chew the flowers to death."

"Cluck, cluck, cluck—"

Li Wenchuan moved Coo Coo up and down, and Coo Coo cooperatively swept away the aphids as if the First Emperor of Qin were conquering the six states. Even the cameraman assigned to Li Wenchuan stared in stunned disbelief.

This man and his chicken always managed to exceed expectations.

When they greeted each other, Jiang Hansheng noticed that Li Wenchuan merely nodded politely. Nothing had changed, yet there seemed to be a faint additional distance between them compared to before.

Had he frightened him last night? Jiang Hansheng thought that was entirely possible. On the way to the breakfast shop, he said, "Thank you for last night." At least it was a start, a way to talk.

Li Wenchuan stroked Coo Coo without looking aside. "It's nothing. Just learn your lesson next time. Luckily, no one else found out." Otherwise, Weibo would probably have crashed for days without a break.

"About last night..."

Jiang Hansheng wanted to apologize. He did not know what he had done, but his instincts told him he should apologize. Li Wenchuan cut him off. "I won't tell anyone, and I didn't keep any evidence. You can rest assured."

He shook the phone in his hand, indicating that it belonged to the production crew, so there would be no problem.

Jiang Hansheng paused and said nothing more.

The atmosphere remained silent. That short stretch of road felt like several kilometers, unbearably long.

Li Wenchuan simply did not know how to face Jiang Hansheng, who had not lost his memories and had once been Jiang Chengyu. He did not know how the other man had come here—had he, like Li Wenchuan, returned to life in another body? Or had he been reincarnated?

It seemed as if they had merely parted at the mourning hall, but in truth, decades of springs and autumns stood between them. At least, that was how it was for Jiang Hansheng.

He had not experienced what Jiang Chengyu had gone through afterward. To his horror, he realized that he no longer understood Jiang Chengyu. The other man was no longer Jiang Chengyu... He was Chancellor Jiang in another sense, the Jiang Hansheng of today.

Just like that time in the cinema, when the face of that loyal minister in the movie had overlapped so closely with Jiang Hansheng's. Yet their eyes had been worlds apart. They were entirely different people.

When you looked at them, you would not think they were the same person. Everyone praised Jiang Hansheng's superb acting, but Li Wenchuan felt that none of it was real. Even Jiang Hansheng himself—perhaps everything he displayed on the surface was fake, showing only the side he wanted others to see.

Breakfast started out especially quiet today. Tang Jingran, being the chatterbox he was, started talking about last night again. No one knew what the director would have them do today, and they truly did not have enough money left.

Su Mingwei said they might have to go work again, exchanging labor for what they needed.

Tang Jingran disagreed. "That won't do, will it? What's the point of doing this every day?" They had not really come here to be farmers. They were only experiencing rural life. The production crew still needed something interesting to watch.

Jiang Hansheng and Li Wenchuan occasionally chimed in as well. On the surface, it seemed as though nothing had happened.

Both of them were worldly people. How could it be difficult for them to keep up appearances?

Then the director arrived. He divided them into groups according to where they lived and said they would have to earn money on their own today. The production crew would no longer arrange work for them.

"Each group will receive sixty yuan as starting capital. How you use it is up to you. Whatever money you earn will be your living expenses for the day."

After the director finished speaking, several people pulled long faces.

In truth, sixty yuan was not little in the countryside, but how could these people get through a day on sixty yuan? Zhao Shiyao in particular had many things she wanted to prepare, even for a brief stay. She wanted good food too, and sixty yuan was not even enough for a single meal.

Xiao Yi looked at everyone. "Then our groups are set. Let's all work hard and try to earn as much as we can."

He smiled. He had not expected this group to have days when they worried about money.

Tang Jingran frowned for a while, then suddenly thought of something. "Can we use any method to make money?"

"As long as it isn't illegal or immoral, you can do whatever you want."

With permission granted, things became easy for him. "Then isn't this simple? I can sing for money!" He had had the foresight to bring a guitar, and now it came in handy.

Zhao Shiyao refused to fall behind. With no strange mission today, she could wear her beautiful high heels again. "Then I just need to stand beside Little Tang." She was extremely confident in her looks.

Tang Jingran secretly curled his lip. "Sure. Then carry a basket and collect the money."

"Who said I'm collecting money?" It sounded so undignified.

"Then are you standing there as a roadblock?"

Jiang Hansheng held the three twenty-yuan bills in his hand and turned to ask Li Wenchuan as casually as possible, "What should we do next?"

Su Mingwei and Xiao Yi had already discussed selling paintings or calligraphy. They needed to come up with something too.

Li Wenchuan shook his head. He had already thought about it, and there was nothing he knew how to do. "How about we start walking and think as we go?"