Pei Shaocheng's mind raced through a jumble of conflicting information. Suddenly, he opened his eyes wide and quickly dialed a number.
The contact name displayed was Wu Wenchang, the literary coordinator who was initially kicked out of the project.
It rang a few times before being answered. The other person sounded weak, but still smiled obsequiously, "Oh, Mr. Pei! Hello, hello!"
Pei Shaocheng, too lazy to waste words, asked directly and coldly, "Who did it?"
Wu Wenchang, sitting opposite him, paused for a moment, still trying to play dumb: "I... I don't quite understand what you mean, what..."
"I'll give you one last chance." Pei Shaocheng's tone was grim. "Who did it?"
Shen Wei, sitting in the passenger seat, couldn't help but shudder. He rarely saw Pei Shaocheng speak to someone older than him in this tone; he was probably really angry now.
There was a long silence on the other end of the phone, followed by a long sigh from Wu Wenchang:
“Shao Cheng, I advise you to stay out of this, really. You know our industry best; behind every small tree lies a whole forest. Wen Yuhan… let’s not even talk about whether he actually plagiarized, but judging from the current situation, he definitely messed with the wrong person. You’ve achieved so much at such a young age, your future is absolutely limitless, investigating this matter won’t do you any good…”
“Teacher Wu,” Pei Shaocheng interrupted Wu Wenchang coldly, “tell me everything you know, and I can guarantee I won’t expose you. Otherwise, I’ll make you see the consequences of hiding things from me right after this call ends.”
A dangerous, violent glint flashed in Pei Shaocheng's eyes: "I believe that's something you absolutely cannot afford."
After he said that, a short, sharp gasp came from the other end of the line. Pei Shaocheng's eyes narrowed, and he said in a low voice, "Speak!"
"It's...it's Liang Sijie!"
Pei Shaocheng narrowed his eyes: "The honorary president of the Writers' Association?"
He had heard of this person, but hadn't had much contact with him, since they weren't in the same system. He only knew that the man was an old man in his sixties, who seemed quite kind and approachable, and often attended some social and cultural events.
Wu Wenchang: "I don't know why he suddenly brought this up again. I really don't know anything about it. I didn't participate in that letter of resistance at all. I only heard about it from others!"
Wu Wenchang was almost in tears when he said this, so he was probably not lying.
Pei Shaocheng stubbed out his cigarette and remained silent.
Seeing this, Wu Wenchang on the other end of the line didn't dare hang up.
After a while, Pei Shaocheng said in a deep voice, "I understand."
After speaking, he hung up the call.
"He's talking about Liang Sijie?" Shen Wei turned his head and frowned. "Isn't that old man in poor health and living in a nursing home? Why is he suddenly meddling in other people's business again?"
Pei Shaocheng looked at Shen Wei: "You know him?"
Shen Wei laughed and waved his hand, saying, "I don't know him. He has no real power, why would I know him?"
At this point, he suddenly paused: "But I remember Lao Liang has a secretary. I saw him at an event before. Although his position is not high, he seems to be someone who can actually make decisions. I think his surname is Mao... Wait a moment while I check."
A moment later, Shen Wei sent the person's information to Pei Shaocheng's phone, his expression becoming subtle: "Damn, this person also graduated from your school."
Pei Shaocheng zoomed in on the photo of the man surnamed Mao and examined it closely. He felt that the man looked somewhat familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before.
A thin thread in my mind suddenly snapped, making a slight cracking sound.
The image of that person sitting on the stone steps of the rehearsal hall, chugging Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor), reappeared in my mind's eye.
His eyes were bloodshot as he muttered angrily, "We're all the same, we've all been fucking played... Once the show's over, we're nothing, we're all just bullshit in his eyes!"
Was it him?
Pei Shaocheng's hand holding the cigarette tightened slightly. If the other party was vengeful towards Wen Yuhan and decided to take revenge on Wen Yuhan by taking advantage of his position after learning of his comeback, it seemed plausible at first glance.
But upon closer reflection, Zhong Hao is, after all, a large company, and the other co-producers, including himself, are not insignificant players who can be easily shaken. Isn't he afraid of making enemies and incurring public wrath by doing this?
Even if Mao was eager to pack his bags, Liang Sijie would never take such a risk easily, unless he became senile...
Or perhaps they were instructed by someone else.
There must be someone lurking in the shadows, manipulating everything from a higher position...
Pei Shaocheng quickly entered a number on his phone and sent Mao Zichao's information to the other party, simply adding one word: Check.
...
As the car pulled up to the hotel, Shen Wei rolled down the window and said to Pei Shaocheng, "I won't get involved in your relationship. Try to appease him; this might be your chance to mend things."
Pei Shaocheng nodded: "Thank you."
Shen Wei: "I've already handed over the reins on Mao Zichao's matter. I'll let you know as soon as there's any news." He then gave Pei Shaocheng a wink, "Don't fucking stand there, go!"
Pei Shaocheng pursed his lips, turned around, and strode quickly toward the hotel.
When he stood at the door of Wen Yuhan's room, he suddenly felt a little flustered. He raised his hand to knock on the door, but stopped abruptly.
Pei Shaocheng took a deep breath to calm himself, and quickly went over in his mind the words he would use to comfort Wen Yuhan. Then, somewhat nervously, he knocked lightly on the door twice, his tone softening as he whispered, "It's me, open the door."
The room was completely quiet, and there was no sound for a long time.
Pei Shaocheng tightened his grip slightly: "I saw it trending on social media. Don't worry, leave everything to me."
...
There was still no movement.
Pei Shaocheng frowned slightly, but still tried to soften his tone and said in a deep voice, "Wen Yuhan, open the door. There are some things I need to ask you about, and they are related to the subsequent investigation... Do you hear me?"
One second.
Ten seconds.
Fifteen minutes.
...
Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye.
Pei Shaocheng's patience finally wore thin in the unbearable silence. He threatened in a cold voice, "I'll count to three. If you don't open the door, I'll break it down."
"three."
"two."
...
He took two steps back and kicked the door lock hard.
With a loud bang, the glass panel of the door lock shattered instantly, and the door creaked open, plunging the room into complete darkness...
Pei Shaocheng sensed something was wrong and quickly turned on the light.
The large room was empty, and the night breeze was blowing in through the gauze window, silently stirring the off-white blackout curtains.
Pei Shaocheng clenched his fist, and his gaze suddenly locked onto the table, where a thick stack of white manuscript paper lay.
He strode to the table, picked up the manuscript paper, and read it. The last few scenes had been revised in familiar handwriting.
There were also some dried bloodstains scattered around the page.
"Shao, Shao Cheng..." Feng Yuan's voice came from behind. He patted his chest and said, "Oh, you scared me to death! I thought something had happened!"
"Where's Wen Yuhan!" Pei Shaocheng suddenly turned around and glared at Feng Yuan.
Feng Yuan was startled by his beast-like gaze and hurriedly stammered, offering a forced smile and explanation:
"Don't panic, don't panic, listen to me... Well, something happened! Yuhan came to me and said he wanted to leave the group. I was originally thinking of comforting him, saying we're honest people, what's there to be afraid of if we didn't plagiarize! But Yuhan just wouldn't listen, he insisted on leaving! I saw I couldn't force him to stay, so I had to agree..."
"When did you leave?" Pei Shaocheng asked through gritted teeth.
“Around... 11 o’clock.” Feng Yuan swallowed and said nervously, “I saw there were no more flights, so I told him to leave tomorrow if he couldn’t make it, but he refused! Then... he called over there and sent someone to pick him up.”
“Over there…” Pei Shaocheng narrowed his eyes, “Which side is it?”
Feng Yuan realized he had panicked. He had intended to shift the blame but ended up saying too much. He immediately thought of killing himself.
He held his breath and stammered for a long time, finally closing his eyes, gritting his teeth, and resigning himself to his fate:
"Well, cough, Mr. Lu's people."
Clang—
Pei Shaocheng overturned the table and everything on it.
Feng Yuan was so frightened that he let out an "Ah!" and instinctively squatted down and covered his head.
A powerful anger replaced the previous heartache, and buried deeper was the despair and panic of repeating the same mistakes.
Wen Yuhan, he actually doesn't believe in himself... He did in the past, and he still does now!
Yet, he trusted Lu Yanheng so much!
Pei Shaocheng leaned against the wall, shaking his head and laughing bitterly.
He disappeared from my sight once again...
A note from the author:
I'll try to update another chapter today, depending on the situation -owo;
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 44
When Pei Shaocheng stood at the door of Wen Yuhan's old house in Yancheng, looking at the untouched furnishings inside but not a single one of Wen Yuhan's belongings, he silently closed his eyes.
The landlady, with cucumber slices stuck to her face, looked at Pei Shaocheng with a fawning expression, forcing her normally raspy voice to sound sweet and coquettish as she said, "Oh dear, I already told you, the famous writer who was staying at my place moved out overnight! He didn't have much stuff to begin with, so he moved out very quickly."
Did he say where he was moving to?
"How could I possibly tell you that? Aside from paying rent regularly, we barely see each other." The landlord smiled and winked wildly at Pei Shaocheng. "You're his friend... I feel like I've seen you on TV before... I... you're not a celebrity, are you?!"
Pei Shaocheng didn't speak, but when he opened his eyes again, the landlord was so frightened that he shut up immediately.
She silently took several steps back, feeling as if this person might pull out a knife from behind and tear her to pieces at any moment.
“If he comes back, please call this number.” Pei Shaocheng said as he wrote down a number for the landlord on a piece of paper and stuffed a wad of cash into the landlord’s hand.
To the astonishment of the other person, he turned and left the old house.
The next morning, at the media company under the Lu Group, Lu Yanheng, with a calm and composed smile, slowly walked out of the conference room and returned to the president's office.
When he took off his glasses to wipe the lenses, the smile that had been on his face had vanished.
The company's internal shareholders' meeting in the morning did not go smoothly. It was obvious that Lu Yanchen had completely infiltrated the core level.