The Lone Courage of a Salted Fish

Chapter 93

While Li Wenchuan was at home gulping down Sprite, someone in another villa across the city stared at the moon and found himself unable to sleep.

He held a copy of Konstantin Stanislavski's An Actor's Work on Himself. Ever since returning, he had felt that he ought to find something to do, so he had casually pulled this book from the shelf.

After decades of navigating officialdom, what he had learned most was disguise—building walls around himself and burying his true emotions deep within. When he had first entered this line of work, Jiang Hansheng had felt he was nothing special, far inferior to many of his "predecessors." It was only that his current peers made him seem better by comparison.

In the past, he had been a spectator beneath the stage. The performers above spoke in soft, winding tones, and an occasional lyric could stir his empathy.

It was only after coming here that, due to his status, he could not help becoming more interested in history during his student days, swallowing literature whole along with it.

Jiang Hansheng sat down in the recliner. Turning back for wine, he caught sight of The Peony Pavilion on the bookshelf. He took a small sip and laughed at himself. "What a fair day and lovely scene... whose courtyard holds such pleasing joys..."

He really had gone mad today. Every sentence had been a test. Could someone as clever as Li Wenchuan truly not have noticed even a little? Yet the other man had said nothing, as though he had heard nothing at all.

Jiang Hansheng did not want to think too deeply about it. As he immersed himself alone in hazy memories of the past, he recalled something else.

Li Wenchuan's younger brother from his previous life, Li Yu.