Shen Xici had been standing by the window with his hands in his pockets. After hearing a few sentences, he slowly stood up straight and pressed, “And then? Was the movie made?”

“It didn’t work out. That producer went to jail. It seems he had bad luck and was framed by someone.” As Lu Jiming spoke, his teeth itched. “What I remember most clearly is that ‘The Two-Faced’ was released during the Spring Festival, and the box office was sky-high. Everyone was praising the plot and the shots. I was so angry, I rushed straight into Wu Ya’s celebration party!”

Shen Xici could almost imagine what happened next. “The Two-Faced” was making a lot of money, and capital would not allow anyone to block their path to wealth. At that time, the nameless Lu Jiming would not have been able to get any justice.

“In the end, I didn’t get justice. My legs were broken by someone. I think I went to the hospital for treatment, but it didn’t heal properly. My two legs hurt so much every night I couldn’t sleep. I don’t know how it happened, but I ended up in a really miserable state. I even ended up ghostwriting scripts for people. It was pretty much like when I was in college, taking any job I could get. When I got money, I’d pay rent, eat, and buy medicine.”

“I was thinking, it’s probably because I’ve been thinking these past few days about what would have happened if I hadn’t met you, scaring myself all day, always feeling that lingering fear. That’s why what I thought about during the day, I dreamed about at night.” After saying that, Lu Jiming asked again, “What do you think? Doesn’t it sound like a parallel universe, Inception kind of thing? I got some inspiration. Maybe we can make a sci-fi movie out of it!”

Shen Xici was absent-minded for the rest of the conversation.

He had always believed that whether as a director or a screenwriter, Lu Jiming could be called brilliantly talented. To exaggerate a bit, one could even use the phrase “heaven-sent genius.”

Why had he never heard of him in his past life?

It turned out that capital and power could really crush an ordinary person, leaving them no chance to get back up.

If this dream was what he didn’t know about his past life, then for the Lu Jiming of the past life to continue in this circle, he would have only faced endless blacklisting and bullying, and in the end, had to resort to ghostwriting for others to barely make a living.

Thinking of Lu Jiming, dragging his two painful legs, huddled in a cramped rental apartment writing scripts, Shen Xici’s eyes stung.

Lu Jiming had still never been resigned, never accepted his fate, and was unwilling to say “forget it” and bow to the powerful and the thieves.

He had always done his best.

He had not knelt to fate.

This was indeed the Lu Jiming he knew.

On the phone, Lu Jiming sighed with relief. “Luckily, it was just a nightmare. It scared me to death. I need to go look at today’s real-time box office numbers to calm my nerves!”

Before hanging up, Lu Jiming hesitated for a moment, then suddenly asked, “Grandmaster Shen, you’re always defying the heavens, pushing me to edit the film, and now I’ve had this vague, strange dream. Could it be… did you divine something?”

The haze of the past life didn’t need to hang over the Lu Jiming of this life.

Shen Xici replied in a very mystical tone, “Heaven’s secrets cannot be revealed. Hurry up and go calm your nerves.”

After hanging up, Shen Xici went downstairs to the office area on the first floor of the old mansion.

Ge Lanjing had been working overtime intensely these past few days. She was now holding a thermos with goji berries and red dates, slowly sipping her wellness tea while instructing Lan Xiaoshan on how to reply to messages from partners.

The two of them went out to the small garden. Shen Xici asked, “How’s Wu Ya’s situation?”

“It’s a dog-eat-dog world. Wu Ya is cursing Xu Lingjia and JiaRui Media online all day. JiaRui Media’s legal team is no slouch either, directly suing for defamation, fraud, and a few other charges. Wu Ya, with nothing to lose, continues to post on Weibo, exposing many of JiaRui’s affairs, both true and false.”

Shen Xici pondered for a moment. “I’ve seen the movie ‘The Two-Faced.’ I roughly estimated the cast configuration and filming-related capital investment. It’s only a few tens of millions. But from what JiaRui has let slip, they and the Xu family invested about a hundred million together.”

Ge Lanjing shared the news she had just gotten. “My friend at JiaRui also told me, ‘The Two-Faced’ invested more than just a hundred million. Xu Lingjia later went to Cui Yunwei to sign a gambling agreement and got another large sum of money, all of which was invested.”

“A gambling agreement?” Although Shen Xici had guessed that Xu Lingjia wouldn’t just dabble, he hadn’t expected him to go as far as signing a gambling agreement. After his surprise, he said, “Perfect. Sister Lanjing, you can go remind your friend at JiaRui. Wu Ya might have conspired with the producer and finance department to embezzle a lot of money.”

The criminal charge of copyright infringement, with a huge amount of illegal gains, could result in a sentence of 3-10 years.

But that was too little.

When he was coming downstairs, he had called to consult with Sheng Shaoyan’s legal advisor. If it involved crimes like misappropriation of funds, contract fraud, and embezzlement of professional duties, and involved tens of millions or nearly a hundred million in funds, then the prison term would be at least no less than fifteen years. With multiple crimes combined, it would likely be a life sentence.

Ge Lanjing could clearly feel that Shen Xici was very displeased with Wu Ya. She agreed, “Okay, I’ll go remind them in a bit. JiaRui Media now sees Wu Ya as a thorn in their side and will definitely be happy to get a handle on him.”

“Then I’ll have to trouble you, Sister Lanjing.”

“Why are you being so polite with me? It’s just a phone call.” Ge Lanjing then said, “Oh right, speaking of the gambling agreement, some paparazzi have already photographed Cheng Ningyu and Xu Yuanjin selling their houses. Several properties have been listed, and they want to sell them as soon as possible.”

Because of the Delphi clothes-borrowing incident, Ge Lanjing had no good feelings for Cheng Ningyu’s family. As soon as this news came out, she felt very pleased. “It seems JiaRui Media is determined to make Xu Lingjia pay this one billion. Now, the boss of JiaRui must hate Xu Lingjia to death. If it weren’t for Xu Lingjia insisting on acting in this movie, none of this would have happened.”

Shen Xici chimed in, “In the future, whenever JiaRui releases a new film, rivals will hire water armies to ask if this movie stole someone else’s script, right?”

Ge Lanjing nodded. “Exactly. Now that a target has been exposed, if other media companies don’t go to PR companies to buy a yearly package to slander JiaRui, they would be wasting this good opportunity. Not bad, you’ve got the knack!”

Shen Xici smiled. “Of course, I was trained by you, Sister Lanjing!”

Returning from the studio to the mid-level villa, the Spring Festival decorations on the lawn had not been taken down, still retaining a bit of the New Year’s feel. Uncle Laisen took his jacket and said respectfully, “Young Master Shen, the Young Master is swimming now.”

Shen Xici went to the indoor swimming pool of this mid-level villa.

The roof above the pool and the two outward-facing walls were made of a glass and steel frame structure, its shape full of modernism and geometric beauty. In the space under the roof, besides the pool, near the glass wall, a small forest had been designed. The plants were lush, and a small artificial waterfall cascaded down from the top.

Shen Xici sat down by the pool, bent down to play with the water. The pool was always kept at a constant temperature, and the water was very comfortable.

Sheng Shaoyan swam towards him from the other side of the pool. His quarter-Slavic heritage was fully on display. From a distance, his figure was long and slender. In the rippling water, he was as agile as a flying fish, and the lines of every muscle were full of strength and beauty.

The sound of splashing water was heard. Sheng Shaoyan suddenly broke through the water from below. Water streamed down his body. His skin was as white as porcelain. He casually combed his hair back with his hand, revealing his clear features and a pair of gem-like dark blue eyes.

At this moment, Shen Xici was stunned.

So, when the other reached out his hand to him and said, “Xici, come, grab my hand,” Shen Xici was completely bewitched by the siren-like handsome man before him and couldn’t help but place his own hand in the other’s palm.

The next second, his hand was gripped in return. With a pull, Shen Xici fell into the water and at the same time, into Sheng Shaoyan’s arms, where he was kissed hard.

The two of them sank down together. His hearing and breathing were deprived. Only his lips were hot. A scorching pleasure rose at the critical point of suffocation and near-death, making Shen Xici’s mind go blank.

He opened his eyes. After a brief moment of discomfort, he looked up at the glass and steel frame above the water surface that divided the sky into countless small pieces. The green leaves turned into a mass of deep and light color blocks through the rippling water.

In that instant, it was as if this underwater world where he and Sheng Shaoyan were was the real world, and everything above the water was an illusion that had nothing to do with them.

Shen Xici completely abandoned his instincts and gave up struggling, letting Sheng Shaoyan’s strong arms support his body. He didn’t know how long they kissed. When the air in his lungs was almost depleted, he was pulled out of the water.

Gasping for fresh air, Shen Xici wiped the water from his face, looked at Sheng Shaoyan, and couldn’t help but lean over and kiss his thin lips.

The not-so-thin clothes had absorbed water, their weight multiplied several times, sticking uncomfortably to his body. Shen Xici swam to the edge of the pool, pulled down the zipper, and prepared to take them off first.

When he was about to take off the last shirt, Sheng Shaoyan, who was beside him, suddenly spoke, “Let me help you.”

Shen Xici didn’t refuse. He spread his arms, cooperating with Sheng Shaoyan’s movements.

But as he was taking it off, Shen Xici, leaning on the edge of the pool, suddenly felt something was not right. “Ah Shao?”

“Were you injured anywhere outside?”

Shen Xici carefully recalled. “I was in the studio all day. I don’t think I was injured anywhere. I can be sure my arms and such are fine. I can’t see other places.”

Behind him, a warm chest pressed against his back, and a low, magnetic voice said in his ear:

“Let me help you check. You don’t mind, do you?”