Chapter 37: Ning City Instance Loading…
The central figure of this storm had just stepped into the company. Swiping his card to open the door, he heard that powerful voice: “Zhang Shuo, that piece of trash!”
Zhang Shuo, who had rushed over wearing only a shirt and trousers, heard this, and his face instantly darkened. Suppressing the urge to turn around and leave, he walked toward the office without looking sideways. Along the way, the secretive, scrutinizing, and mocking gazes of his colleagues felt like thorns on his back, piercing straight into his heart.
Knock, knock— With a pale face, Zhang Shuo pushed the door open.
A folder flew straight at his face. Unable to dodge in time, Zhang Shuo was hit squarely. He bent over in pain, clutching his face, his expression a mix of agony and gloom.
His mind raced, cursing these opportunists who only sought profit and avoided harm a hundred times over.
“You still dare to come see me!” The manager laughed in extreme anger. “Who told you to take matters into your own hands and post things? Do you have no brains? How could Jiang Si not have evidence!”
Zhang Shuo bent down to pick up the folder. As he lowered his head, he felt a warm liquid flow down. Plip, plop—it dripped onto the dark blue folder. The deep red blood was incredibly glaring. Staring at it, his bent body froze for a few seconds.
When he straightened up, the injury on his face was revealed. Seeing the manager push all responsibility onto him, Zhang Shuo’s gaze grew heavy. “If you guys hadn’t gone to leech off the heat, would this have happened?”
“Why he resigned back then, you and I both know clearly. Even if it didn’t come out now, once the movie went online, if he spoke up then, it would still be enough for us to suffer.”
“According to you, it’s all my fault then?” The manager sneered. “Fine. The cinema chains we had originally negotiated with are all calling to pull the schedule now. Are you satisfied? Go online? Go online my ass. Once this project ends, you all can go drink the northwest wind!”
“The wind on the internet is temporary. In a few days, when some other explosive news takes over, who will remember this? As long as we can bring profit to our partners, let alone a little news, even if we cross the line, we can still go online,” Zhang Shuo said.
“Heh, do you take me for an outsider you can hoodwink? An animated movie makes back its box office at best; why would they think this movie can bring any profit?” The manager didn’t believe his spiel at all. Zhang Shuo’s nose was still bleeding, looking disgusting, and he was just about to wave him out.
Zhang Shuo continued, “But what if there’s investment support from a big shot?”
The manager paused, narrowing his eyes at him. “Go on.” As he spoke, his gaze swept over the assistant, who understood the cue, closed the door, and withdrew.
Zhang Shuo leisurely pulled a stack of tissues from the manager’s desk and plugged his bleeding nose. He slowly wiped the blood from his hands before saying, “They want to build an animation industry chain and have their eyes on this movie. They decided to use this film as a pilot, buying the copyright to build a complete IP industry.”
“Brother Ge, you know this. A major reason why domestic animation can’t develop like other film industries is the lack of a complete industry chain; merchandise IP can’t reach scale. If we can use this opportunity to successfully create a classic IP, then we will be the first domestic company to reap the benefits of animation.”
“Are you serious? Why didn’t they contact the business department?” Brother Ge asked suspiciously.
“Of course, it’s because I am the director of this movie.” Zhang Shuo pointed at himself and smiled. “I am the person most familiar with this film.”
Bloodstains still lingered on his face. As he grinned wildly, there was a sense of high-spirited arrogance between his brows.
Brother Ge only felt an indescribable shadow beneath that smile; the man looked insane. However, for the sake of the upcoming cooperation, he didn’t say anything in the end.
Some things were understood without being said. If Zhang Shuo insisted on deceiving himself, as long as he could bear the final consequences, that was fine.
An autumn rain arrived unexpectedly, causing the temperature to drop sharply.
The sound of rain pattering against the plane trees drifted through the window that wasn’t tightly closed. The cold wind poured in, scattering the white steam from the porcelain cup on Jiang Si’s desk into the air.
The white snake wound her way up the window, occasionally flicking her tongue and making hissing sounds, before coiling her slender body at the leg of the table.
Jiang Si didn’t even look at her. His gaze was fixed tightly on the script he had just written, scanning ten lines at a glance.
“Jiang Si, it’s been days. Don’t you want to see him at all?” White Seven (Bai Qiniang) resented him for not living up to expectations. She had read so many storybooks, and the concept of ‘distance’ didn’t exist in her mind. If you want to meet, go meet. Nesting at home every day made her anxious just watching.
“…I have things to do.”
“What could be more important than seeing him?” White Seven really didn’t understand. “You two have already died for each other once. What are you being reserved about now?”
“…”
Wait, what did she mean by ‘died once’?
Jiang Si moved his lips and looked down at her. Facing a pair of snake pupils, he couldn’t voice the myriad of thoughts in his heart, so he simply changed the subject. “You volunteered to recruit actors; how is that going?”
“…Too many ghosts. I can’t even pick through them all. Do you have any requirements?” White Seven got annoyed at the mention of this. She originally thought it would be easy, but the number exceeded her imagination. One sentence here, one sentence there—it made her snake head hurt.
“Requirements?” Jiang Si mused. “Regular facial features, experience watching movies or TV dramas, and at least a high school diploma.”
He didn’t want to analyze the script hand-in-hand again.
“Also, the time of death cannot exceed thirty years,” Jiang Si added.
“Huh?” White Seven was surprised. “Then what about Xiao Fengxian?”
“Her internet speed is so fast; there’s definitely no generation gap,” Jiang Si said quietly.
“Alright then.” White Seven noted it down, but wanted to circle back. “Hai Di has amnesia, but you don’t. Can’t you take the initiative? If you can’t, learn from me!”
Jiang Si: “Learn from you to tie someone up and marry them directly? That’s called human trafficking.”
“Sister, times have changed.”
“You humans are just troublesome,” White Seven muttered. As she spoke, flicking her tongue, she crawled toward the living room. “I’m going to eat.”
After she left, Jiang Si propped up his chin and sighed at the script.
He actually wasn’t ready to see Hai Di again; otherwise, he wouldn’t have avoided asking for news about him.
What could he say if they met?
Introduce himself again? Hello, I’m Jiang Si, we were once sort of friends?
After a while, Jiang Si’s fingers twitched, turning to the next page of the script. He read the dense text over and over again, but not a single word entered his brain. It was like having dyslexia; he recognized every character, but couldn’t understand the meaning.
The phone on the desk vibrated, bringing him back to his senses.
He picked it up for a look, and the caller ID truly surprised him.
It was actually this person.
On a straight elevated highway, a business van was speeding along.
Inside the car. “Boss, these are the selected films and media companies. Please take a look.” The assistant handed the tablet to the young man sitting upright in the back row, dressed in a suit and leather shoes.
“This movie…” Hai Di looked at the poster on the screen and fell into deep thought. Clearly, his impression was that he was seeing it for the first time, but there was a sense of familiarity in his memory.
The wind squeezing through the window crack seemed to whistle from ancient times, mixed with voices. It seemed someone had once spoken about this movie.
He wanted to grab the tail of this memory fragment and pull out the whole thing, but when he tried to think seriously, he was clueless. Like a goose passing without leaving a trace, there was no track to follow.
“Is there a problem?” Hai Di held the tablet for a long time without saying a word. The assistant’s heart drummed, thinking he was dissatisfied.
“No.” Coming back to his senses, Hai Di scrolled up and down, reviewing the movie and the producing media company. Feeling there were no issues, he handed it back. “It’s acceptable for now. Go back and prepare an assessment report for me.”
“Understood.” The assistant took it, then thought of the recent rumors online. After weighing it for a moment, he spoke up, “However, Boss, this film has had some controversy recently.”
“What controversy?”
Dark tint film covered the windows on all sides, but even in the slightly dim space, the bright light in his eyes was visible. When those pitch-black pupils fixed on someone, they always gave the illusion of piercing through to one’s heart.
The assistant immediately said, “It’s a dispute regarding the film’s producer; it seems the director is someone else. But I’ve already looked into it. The film copyright is 100% held by their company. These are just personal disputes and won’t affect our cooperation.”
“Handle it as you see fit.” Hai Di nodded. “Tell them, if we formally cooperate, then during the cooperation period, I do not wish to see any negative news.”
“Yes, sir.”
Outside the window, traffic flowed like a shuttle. Hai Di was still dwelling on that fleeting sense of familiarity. For the first time in his life, he doubted his own memory.
After thinking, he asked, “Before my accident, did you show me this movie?”
The assistant recalled the timeline and shook his head with certainty. “No, this is something I just organized recently.”
“But I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere…” Hai Di murmured.
His words were heard by the assistant. Determined to perform well and let the boss discover his strengths, the assistant spoke up immediately.
“Actually, it’s quite normal for you to have this feeling. I also often feel familiar with things I haven’t seen before. In psychology, this is called the hippocampus effect (Déjà vu). It’s likely because you are too busy with work and exposed to too much information. You actually saw it but didn’t notice, yet it was captured by the hippocampus, and then suddenly released at another time, giving you a feeling of having seen it before.”
The explanation was logical and well-founded, and casually included a compliment. The assistant looked calm and natural on the surface, but inside he was marveling.
How am I so good at talking!
Reading those work secret manuals wasn’t in vain!
“Is that so?” The assistant’s eyes were too sincere. Hai Di took the words in and nodded slightly. “That makes sense. You know quite a lot. Do you read psychology books in your private time?”
“I dabble a little,” the assistant replied, neither humble nor arrogant.
“Good.” Hai Di’s expression softened. “If there are any good ones, recommend them to me.”
“Yes, Boss.”
Listening was one thing, but considering his strange illness, Hai Di still sought out Xiang Guxun to ask about the situation.
Xiang Guxun’s reply came quickly: Don’t you feel like you’re missing a segment of memory from the time your soul was wandering?
Hai Di’s long fingers froze in mid-air. He glanced up at the assistant, then typed: I don’t feel it. But some fragments always appear suddenly. is there any way to make me remember?
“The other party is typing…” hung on the screen for a long time. Hai Di furrowed his brows, thinking it was difficult to solve.
A few minutes later, the other party sent just one sentence: This is within the scope of medicine; it’s not our jurisdiction.
“…”
Unwilling to give up, Hai Di continued to ask: Or you could narrate it to me personally.
Xiang Guxun: Find my junior brother. He met you during your soul-wandering period.
Then he pushed Shen Hu’s contact to Hai Di, leaving the two of them to chat.
Shen Hu, as someone who knew the inside story but had been holding it in, finally got the chance to speak. He spilled everything out at once.
Actually, I only know a little bit: You were taken in by someone in Rong City, and that person looked everywhere for a way to return your soul. But you encountered an ambush by an Evil Ghost. You were attacked and were basically dead for sure, but at the critical moment, he saved you. Finally, I was the one who sent you back to Ning City.
Reading this, the pain of being torn apart deep in his soul spread straight up. His limbs felt frozen cold. Hai Di’s breathing stalled, his heart pounded violently, and the phone slipped from his hand, crashing onto the floor of the carriage.
In the silent car, the sound of the phone dropping was exceptionally loud. The driver and the assistant both looked back in unison. Hai Di’s face was terrible.
Ignoring the assistant’s worried inquiries, he picked up the phone and typed rapidly to ask Shen Hu: What is that person’s name?
After a moment, Shen Hu: Jiang Si.
……
“Me go to Ning City?” Jiang Si faced the phone receiver with a faint, ambiguous smile. “Things have reached this point; is there any need for me to go?”
“Jiang Si, I advise you not to refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit. I am giving you a way out for the sake of us having been colleagues. Otherwise, relying on you wanting to contend with the company—that’s simply a mantis trying to stop a chariot, do you understand?”
“Oh, then you just wait for this mantis’s lawyer’s letter,” Jiang Si said indifferently. “Let’s see who suffers the biggest loss in the end.”
The other side obviously didn’t expect Jiang Si to be so tough. After a moment of silence, the tone softened considerably. “I am representing the company to discuss a solution with you sincerely. Let’s both take a step back. You come to Ning City; the company wants to renegotiate the copyright issue regarding the movie.”
“I know this is what you care about most. Now that they’ve finally relented, don’t you want to fight for it and try?”
Jiang Si lowered his eyes, staring at the half-cold water. He picked it up and took two sips, the water wetting his pale lips.
His tone finally showed some emotion. “Fine. But you’d best give me a satisfactory result, otherwise, this matter won’t be glossed over so simply.”
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