Chapter 20: I Promise You

Lunch was delivered by the owner of the restaurant downstairs. It consisted of a stewed soup, a plate of stir-fried wild vegetables, a cold dish, and a plate of meat stir-fried with some unknown aromatic leaves, which smelled very refreshing.

Two days had passed, and Shen Xici’s spirits had recovered quite a bit, but he still had no appetite. Poking at his rice with his chopsticks, he tentatively asked the person sitting across from him, “A’Shao, can I not eat?”

Sheng Shaoyan: “No.”

“Alright.”

Shen Xici grumbled internally. What was the difference between the Sheng Shaoyan from three years ago and the Sheng Shaoyan from three years later? Even with amnesia, he still supervised his meals, giving him the same guilty feeling he used to get in his past life when he was too busy filming on set to eat and received a call from Sheng Shaoyan.

His phone rang. Shen Xici’s spirits lifted. He glanced at it. “It’s from Xiaoshan?” To emphasize that he wasn’t answering the phone just to avoid eating, he said pointedly, “It must be about work.”

He put the call on speaker.

Lan Xiaoshan was full of energy every day, and his voice was still loud and clear through the receiver. “Brother Shen! Guess what I saw! A fan-made video mix of you, edited by a master uploader on Bilibili, was recommended on my homepage! The view count is going up by the thousands and tens of thousands, it’s so powerful!”

Shen Xici was curious. “A master uploader?”

“Yeah, their name is ‘Dong Yu.’ It’s a newly registered account, but their editing skills are incredibly skilled and advanced. It must be a master using an alternate account!” Lan Xiaoshan said in a tone that suggested he had seen through everything. “This name, ‘Xici Dong Yu,’ tsk tsk tsk, it’s obvious they’re a die-hard fan of yours, Brother Shen!”

Sheng Shaoyan, sitting opposite, paused his hand that was picking up food, then nonchalantly retracted his chopsticks.

“‘Dong Yu’?” Shen Xici had no impression of this name. “But it does pair neatly with my name.”

“Exactly, exactly! As expected of a master, even their name choice is so clever! This video has already surpassed ‘Dazed Little Lamb’ to become the top ‘chef’ serving up content. So many fans are in the comments section, banging their bowls and crying for more.” Lan Xiaoshan actively promoted it. “Brother Shen, I’ll send it to you. Take a look and see what you think.”

This was the perfect excuse for Shen Xici to not eat. He eagerly placed his phone in the middle of the table and played the video. The video wasn’t long, but the editing techniques and the synchronization with the music were of a very high level. On the bullet screen at the end, many people were spamming “See you at the beginning,” indicating they were replaying it.

Sheng Shaoyan glanced at the dense bullet screen. “What do you think?”

“It’s especially good. It just feels like the me that this master edited is even better-looking than the real me.”

Sheng Shaoyan disagreed. “You are better-looking in person.”

He knew what he had edited himself. No matter how he color-corrected, it couldn’t be more vivid and vibrant than the person right in front of him.

He ladled a bowl of soup and placed it in front of Shen Xici. “When you were sleeping this morning, someone from Jia Rui Media contacted you, wanting to talk about signing a management contract.”

Shen Xici was surprised for a moment, then a thought occurred to him. “The one who wants to sign me, is it that person named Cui Yunwei?”

“Yes. Ye Mei is heavily promoting Xu Lingjia. Because of the anaphylactic shock incident, Xu Lingjia has latched onto Zhong Yue to create a CP, and his popularity is rising very quickly.”

“So Cui Yunwei got anxious?” Shen Xici picked up a single grain of rice with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth, pretending to eat seriously while thinking. “So he wants to sign me to compete with Ye Mei?”

“He probably thinks you have the potential to become famous. And since you’re in the same crew as Xu Lingjia, with the right maneuvering, if you surpass Xu Lingjia, he can naturally suppress Ye Mei.”

Shen Xici ate two more grains of rice. “Not signing.”

“Okay.” Sheng Shaoyan didn’t press for a reason, mainly because he didn’t think much of Jia Rui as a company. Seeing Shen Xici pick up another two grains of rice with his chopsticks, he pushed the stir-fried meat with aromatic leaves towards him. “But you need to eat more. In five minutes, you’ve only eaten seven grains of rice.”

Shen Xici: “…”

Damn it, he actually counted!!

The motorcycle drove into the mountains. Shen Xici blew on a leaf for a while, then said circuitously, “Actors can’t eat too much. They’ll get fat if they eat.”

Sheng Shaoyan glanced at him in the rearview mirror. “You’re not fat. I’ve seen.”

Although he had only seen the upper half of his body, Shen Xici’s waist was thin, his posture was excellent, his frame was well-proportioned, and every inch of the lines covered by a thin layer of muscle could be called exquisite, as if finely polished by a master sculptor.

Shen Xici never wanted to eat when he was sick; it had been like that since he was a child. No one cared about him before. In his previous life, Sheng Shaoyan had managed him for two years, but even now, he was still not very adept at handling such care.

He couldn’t grasp the right balance.

He didn’t want to be obedient, but he was afraid that if he was too rebellious, Sheng Shaoyan would be disappointed and annoyed, and then really stop caring about him.

He simply shut his mouth and said nothing. Shen Xici deliberately blew a few noisy notes with the leaf, but to his surprise, Sheng Shaoyan didn’t even frown, as if he hadn’t heard a thing.

When they arrived at the set, Shen Xici noticed the parking area. “It seems there are a few unfamiliar cars. But the call sheet didn’t say any new actors were joining the cast today.”

“They’re probably delivering things,” Sheng Shaoyan was already very familiar with the ins and outs of the set. “That car over there is for delivering afternoon tea and desserts, it’s been here before. The two next to it are probably similar.”

The further they walked in, the more they could see various dessert tables, snack tables, and coffee and milk tea stations already set up. Because there were many mosquitoes and insects in the mountains, all the food was covered with transparent lids. There were even things like barbecue, salads, fruit platters, and white fungus soup, a very complete spread.

The mountains couldn’t compare to the city. It was very troublesome to pack and deliver so much food here. Just as Shen Xici was about to marvel with Sheng Shaoyan about who could be so generous, his peripheral vision suddenly caught a figure.

His footsteps stopped in their tracks.

Shen Xici seemed to hear someone saying, “Why did something like having my child swapped happen to me? It’s so annoying. Can’t they just let me be? The donation fraud incident had just died down! Now it’s being dug up again!”

“If it weren’t for those tabloid reporters harping on my donation fraud, why would I have had to go to a poor area to do charity while heavily pregnant? The professional delivery room and obstetrician I had arranged were useless. I had to give birth in a dilapidated tile-roofed house. There wasn’t a single doctor in the village, only an illiterate midwife. I thought I was going to die there. How come no one feels sorry for me?”

“I was too weak, sleeping soundly. I had no idea when that woman came in and swapped the babies. If you want to blame someone, blame that bitch named Zhuo Suli!”

The voice he heard gradually overlapped with the one in his memory.

“Jiajia is young and doesn’t know any better. It’s his first time filming on a set. Thank you all for taking care of him. If there’s anything he doesn’t do well, feel free to scold him.”

Cheng Ningyu was talking to Zhong Yue and the others with Xu Lingjia by her side.

Xu Lingjia protested with dissatisfaction, “Mom, what do you mean I don’t know any better? I’m very sensible, okay?”

Cheng Ningyu glanced at him. “When adults are talking, you shut up.”

She had been living a pampered life for years. Dressed in a simple designer suit, her chestnut-colored long curly hair, styled in large waves, cascaded down her back. Her skin was fair, with almost no visible wrinkles, looking exquisite and noble.

Shen Xici watched, and suddenly, the scene from his past life appeared before his eyes. The first time he saw Cheng Ningyu, the gate of the villa opened, and Xu Lingjia rushed out with a suitcase, with Cheng Ningyu chasing after him, crying.

Xu Yuanjin hadn’t even had time to park the car properly before he opened the door and rushed over.

The entrance of the villa was surrounded by reporters. Amidst the long-lensed cameras and flashes, Cheng Ningyu, Xu Yuanjin, and Xu Lingjia hugged each other, all three of them crying their hearts out.

Cheng Ningyu’s makeup was smudged with tears, her expression fragile, her voice filled with sobs. “Jiajia is mommy’s child. No matter what, mommy loves Jiajia… When you were little and scared to sleep alone at night, you came to find mommy with your pillow and asked if I didn’t want you anymore. Mommy said, mommy will never not want Jiajia… Jiajia, the three of us will always be a family…”

Through the car window, Shen Xici remembered when he was a child. Whenever he heard a noise at the door in the middle of the night, he would try to breathe as quietly as possible and reduce his presence. His adoptive father, Wu Licheng, lost nine out of ten bets. When he lost, he would go binge drinking, come back drunk, and then vent his anger by beating people.

At that time, his adoptive mother, Zhuo Suli, would hold him, covered in bruises, and thinking he was asleep, would mutter to herself, crying and laughing, “It’s good that he left. Thank goodness he left. He’ll have a good life now that he’s left. He won’t have to go hungry or be beaten.”

He had never understood what that sentence meant.

It wasn’t until it was on the trending topics—Zhuo Suli, after Xu Lingjia tried to pay her off and told her to stop looking for him, had a breakdown. She cried to the paparazzi’s camera, saying she didn’t want money, that she could be a nanny by Xu Lingjia’s side. She could cook, she could sew clothes. As long as she could live with Xu Lingjia, she was willing to do anything. She really loved Xu Lingjia.

Only then did Shen Xici understand the meaning of that sentence.

After learning the truth, he had never thought of acknowledging his so-called biological parents. It was Xu Yuanjin who blocked the door of his rented apartment, wanting to take him away. After Shen Xici refused, Xu Yuanjin said that the news was so hot right now, there had to be an explanation. He asked Shen Xici to go with him to discuss it.

Later, the car stopped. Xu Yuanjin rushed out of the car to hug his wife and son, completely forgetting about Shen Xici sitting in the car.

The photo of the family of three hugging and crying together went viral again. Fans all said that Xu Lingjia was the victim. The home he had lived in for twenty years was suddenly not his own, and his parents were not his real parents. #FeelSorryForXuLingjia shot to the top three of the trending topics.

“You must be Shen Xici, right? Jiajia has mentioned you to me.” Cheng Ningyu had been known as the queen of love songs since her debut. Her voice was unique and very recognizable. She looked at Shen Xici, who was standing a few steps away, her tone amiable. “There’s a lot of food over there. You can try some and see if there’s anything you like.”

Shen Xici stood still. A few seconds later, he smiled politely. “Okay, thank you, Teacher Cheng.”

For some reason, Cheng Ningyu felt that this newcomer looked a bit familiar, and his appearance was also very much to her liking. “It’s been a long time since I’ve heard such a formal address. You’re Jiajia’s colleague, just call me Sister Ningyu.”

Xu Lingjia noticed Cheng Ningyu’s gaze on Shen Xici and deliberately said with dissatisfaction from the side, “Mom, if he calls you sister, doesn’t that make me a generation younger than him?”

“We can just have our own separate forms of address, can’t we?”

Cheng Ningyu reached out to stroke Xu Lingjia’s hair. Xu Lingjia quickly dodged to the side. “Mom! I just got my hair done! Stop it, don’t mess it up!”

Shen Xici watched this scene. In his past life, when he was brought into the Xu family villa by Xu Yuanjin, Cheng Ningyu had comforted Xu Lingjia by stroking his hair in the same way.

On the side, Ye Mei and Jia Rui Media’s PR team were constantly discussing how to maximize the benefits of this matter and how to get the highest level of popularity, on the condition that Xu Lingjia’s image must not be tarnished in any way.

Xu Yuanjin took out a bank card and warned him not to say anything to the public. If he cooperated, the 500,000 yuan in the card would be his.

Shen Xici said no.

Xu Yuanjin became a little impatient. “You were the one who asked Zhuo Suli to find Jiajia, right? You knew Jiajia had joined Director Wan Shan’s crew, so you went to the audition. You played this whole charade just to maximize the hype, didn’t you?”

Shen Xici found it absurd. “Believe it or not, I only found out I wasn’t related to my mom after seeing her on the trending topics. Before that, I hadn’t been able to contact her for a long time.”

But no one believed his words.

Xu Yuanjin and Cheng Ningyu believed that he was the one who had contacted the paparazzi to expose this matter.

Xu Lingjia’s fans believed that Zhuo Suli was the main culprit, and Shen Xici was definitely not a good person either. Having been poor for twenty years, he must have been jealous of Xu Lingjia’s life and came out to disgust people, trying to snatch everything away from Xu Lingjia. Xu Lingjia was too kind and didn’t even know when he was being bullied. How could he possibly fight against Shen Xici?

From then on, Shen Xici never went to the Xu family’s house again.

Without touching any of the food Cheng Ningyu had sent to the set, Shen Xici, as usual, went to the dressing room to get his makeup and costume done, then went to the filming location to wait. The set was currently filming Zhong Yue’s scenes. He sat on a small stool, watching while running lines from the script with Sheng Shaoyan.

After they finished the lines, Sheng Shaoyan suddenly asked, “Who is that person?”

“Who?” Shen Xici came back to his senses. “You mean Cheng Ningyu? The top female singer in the country two decades ago. Xu Lingjia’s mother.”

Cheng Ningyu was a household name two decades ago. Later, due to negative news, she faded into obscurity. But a parent-child variety show brought the Xu family of three back into the public eye.

After that, through Ye Mei’s planning and maneuvering, the Xu family had always been a model family in the entertainment industry, attracting many fans, and they were flooded with variety show and endorsement deals.

They were already a perfectly packaged brand, a community of interests. The baby swap exposed by Zhuo Suli was a heavy blow to the Xu family, but also an opportunity.

They chose to suppress Shen Xici and promote Xu Lingjia.

Riding on the heat of the topic, they faced the cameras, speaking of their individual pain, expressing that even though Xu Lingjia was not their biological son, their affection for him was inseparable.

It was an old trick to gain and solidify fans through hardship, but it was very effective.

“A’Shao, it’s my turn. I’m going to film now.” Meeting Sheng Shaoyan’s concerned gaze, Shen Xici gave a reassuring smile. “I’m fine, really.”

At least in his previous life, five years had already passed since these events. Time was like a heavy rain that would blur everything. Even the carvings on a stone monument would be covered by moss.

“I trusted you wrongly…” The young policeman Xiao Lin’s clothes were covered in withered leaves and wet mud, looking very disheveled. He wiped his face with the back of his hand. “The boss and the others are all gone. Tell me, were they taken away by the criminal organization?”

The mute boy stood silently in front of him, his hand hanging by his side, clutching a leaf. His hand moved, but he still couldn’t raise it.

“I shouldn’t have trusted you. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have trusted you from the beginning…” His voice was tinged with tears. Xiao Lin forcefully swallowed his sobs. Seeing the mute boy’s complete indifference, he suddenly became fierce, grabbing his collar and pulling him close. The muscles in his jaw tensed, but his voice was even heavier with tears. “Speak, speak! Tell me, where are they!”

The mute boy didn’t resist at all. He let Xiao Lin grab him, his eyes like a placid pool, no longer as lively as before.

Xiao Lin panted, staring fixedly at the mute boy. His fingers loosened one by one, gradually turning into a plea. “Speak, tell me. You’re not a bad person, you have your reasons… Speak…”

Xiao Lin turned and left. The daylight in the jungle was dim. The mute boy stood under a withered old tree, his coarse white robe looking drab.

Listening to the fading footsteps, the mute boy’s gaze fell on a wildflower poking out from the layer of decaying leaves by the tree roots. His face was calm, showing no emotion. He bent down as before and plucked the golden wildflower.

Only when he stood up did a tear, without any warning, roll down from his eye.

On the side, Cheng Ningyu stood next to Director Wan Shan, watching the two people on camera, praising, “Director Wan really knows how to train actors. The young policeman’s emotions are intense and layered, his acting is very powerful! When that newcomer named Shen Xici cried, it made your heart ache along with him.”

She was puzzled. Isn’t the styling for this mute character quite good-looking? Why did Jiajia insist on swapping roles with him?

Director Wan Shan looked at the image on the monitor. “Yes, Shen Xici is a very spirited actor. Just like when he cried just now, there’s a kind of silent infectiousness. When he’s acting opposite Zhong Yue and Wen Yage, he’s not the least bit weak. You can’t tell at all that he’s a newcomer. He’s talented and hardworking, and has really gotten into the character.”

Hearing the appreciation and praise in Director Wan’s words, Cheng Ningyu smiled. “It’s really enviable. This must be the legendary ‘child from next door.’ His parents must have saved so much worry. Unlike Jiajia, who’s already so old, but his father, his godmother, and I are still worrying about him every day.”

Director Wan: “Children are all here to collect debts. My kid is the same. One day he wants to learn filmmaking, the next he wants to be a fashion designer. He treats everything like a game.”

By the time the crew wrapped up, #ChengNingyuVisitsSet# was already a trending topic. Under the topic, the selfie Cheng Ningyu had posted with Xu Lingjia, as well as the photos of the snacks and drinks on set, were being reposted again and again by marketing accounts.

After the man-made clamor faded, the sounds of birdsong and the wind became more apparent. On the motorcycle, Shen Xici said out of the blue, “I don’t think I’ve ever told you. Last year, during the New Year, I asked for leave from my professor, bought a lot of things—clothes for all four seasons, New Year’s goods, jewelry—and then went home, ready to spend the New Year with my mom.”

Sheng Shaoyan stopped the motorcycle and turned to look at Shen Xici. “And then?”

Breathing in the air tinged with the coolness of the night, Shen Xici recalled the scene. “My home is in a very remote mountain area. I just remember walking a very long way, and when I got home, I saw that the house had been torn down. Everything in the house was sold, and my mom was gone. I knew nothing.”

“What about your dad?”

“He’s dead. He was an alcoholic. He got drunk in town one night, and when he fell, his face landed in a very shallow puddle. When he was found the next day, he was already dead.”

Sheng Shaoyan was silent for a while, then asked, “Seeing that person named Cheng Ningyu, did it bring back some old memories, so you’re in a bad mood?”

Shen Xici lowered his eyelashes and hummed in agreement.

The village chief had told him that during the three years he was at university, Wu Licheng, who had long since run off somewhere to gamble, had come back a few times. The money he had sent to Zhuo Suli, she had given it all to Wu Licheng.

Zhuo Suli’s health had actually been fine, but she was afraid Shen Xici wouldn’t give her money, so she always said she was not feeling well and needed to go to the hospital or buy medicine, asking Shen Xici to send money.

This time, Wu Licheng had racked up hundreds of thousands in gambling debts and couldn’t pay them back, so he was planning to run away and default on the debt. Even when he ran to town, he didn’t forget to buy alcohol.

When Wu Licheng died, Zhuo Suli’s world collapsed. She didn’t know what to do. The villagers told her, your son is so successful, go and rely on your son.

Zhuo Suli sold everything she could overnight and was ready to leave at dawn. The village chief asked her where she was going, and she said she was going to find her son. Her son had money, her son wouldn’t abandon her.

Standing in front of the ruins of the house, the village chief had asked strangely, didn’t your mom come to find you?

The moon hung in the night sky. The motorcycle was parked in the dense forest. One only needed to look up to see the moonlight shifting between the branches and leaves. The silvery moonlight was sliced by the lush foliage, casting a tiny galaxy.

Sheng Shaoyan stroked Shen Xici’s hair, his voice gentle as he asked earnestly, “You’re in a bad mood. Is there anything I can do to make you feel better again?”

Perhaps it was because the surroundings were too quiet, or perhaps the wind was too gentle. A few strands of bitterness sprouted from a dry crack in Shen Xici’s heart.

Although he knew that before long, Sheng Shaoyan would regain his memory and leave, and in this life, they might not even be able to be friends.

But Shen Xici still couldn’t help but voice his wish. “A’Shao, if it’s possible, let’s spend the New Year together this year.”

The moonlight was obscured by the branches and leaves. Sheng Shaoyan could only see Shen Xici’s blurred outline. He heard himself say, “Okay. I’ll spend the New Year with you.”

Gripping the handlebars, the accelerating wheels kicked up fragments of fallen leaves, rushing out of the sprawling forest into the night.

With stars hanging low over the vast wilderness and the roar of the engine echoing through the mountains, Sheng Shaoyan realized with absolute clarity that, even after losing his memory, he had fallen in love with Shen Xici all over again.