Rebirth: Different Way [(重生) 殊途]

Chapter 48

Shen Xi was very quiet as he slept. Perhaps because his body was still a little uncomfortable, he would occasionally frown. Li Mingxuan kissed Shen Xi with pity, carefully tucked him in, gently closed the door and went to the living room.

Since last night, Li Mingxuan's whole mind had been on Shen Xi, from worrying that the effect of the drug would cause discomfort to Shen Xi to worrying that Shen Xi would be disgusted with him when he woke up. Only now, when Shen Xi went to sleep peacefully, did Li Mingxuan completely let go of his worry, and only then did he have the intention to pursue the matter of last night.

With his finger swiping across the address book, Li Mingxuan called Zhao Wenping.

Zhao Wenping was not the least bit surprised to receive a call from Li Mingxuan, and not only did he give a detailed account of what happened last night, but he also made a point of mentioning some of the things he had found out today. He apologised to Li Mingxuan for his mishandling of the matter. He had hoped to protect Fang Luowei through Shen Xi because of the presence of people from the Film Bureau, but he never thought that the other party would be so bold as to use the drug, and by mistake that glass of wine would be even drunk by Shen Xi.

According to Zhao Wenping, last night Chen Zhiwei thought of taking several of the cast and crew out to dinner on a whim. Fang Luowei was able to go with them because of his relationship with Shen Xi. No one expected that they would meet Shen Rong at the hotel. Their crew was entertaining people from the Film Bureau. The director of the movie, Zhou Xiaozhou, was an acquaintance of Chen Zhiwei, so Chen Zhiwei couldn't decline the enthusiastic invitation and they sat down together. At first, the atmosphere was quite good; but as everyone got drunk, Hao Zhenmin started making advances on Fang Luowei. Chen Zhiwei could not tear his face off because of the status of the other party, so he could only desperately block the drinks for Fang Luowei until Shen Xi came over.

Li Mingxuan didn't care about what happened. After listening to Zhao Wenping's account he just picked out what he thought was the main point, "Did you just say that last night they entertained the people from the Film Bureau in order to get the permit for the movie to be released?"

Anyone familiar with the movie industry knew that the two most crucial steps for a movie were to get investment and to get the movie's public release permit. Without a permit, it meant that your movie could not be released to the market and would always remain unable to see the light of the day. Naturally all the investment in such a movie would not be recovered and would only be wasted.

Zhao Wenping didn't expect Li Mingxuan to be so perceptive and pick out the key point directly, so he nodded at once, "Yes, Zhou Xiaozhou's movie has just been sent for review. You know, usually at times like this the producers have to be in contact with the Film Bureau to facilitate the movie to pass the review smoothly." Speaking of this, Zhao Wenping deliberately added, "Hao Zhenmin is the deputy director of the Censorship Department."

"I see."

Li Mingxuan got the answer he wanted and didn't say anything more, hanging up the phone straight away.

Although Zhao Wenping did not explicitly say what happened last night, he still got the meaning of Zhao Wenping's words. Fang Luowei was just a whim for Hao Zhenmin, the other party would hardly have thought of using a drug, so it must have been instigated by someone behind the scene. As for the instigator, Li Mingxuan couldn't think of anyone else who would dare to do so, except for Shen Rong. No matter what Shen Rong's purpose was, whether it was to please Hao Zhenmin or to get under Shen Xi's skin, the wine was eventually drunk by Shen Xi, and Li Mingxuan's face turned completely cold at the thought.

After pondering for a while, Li Mingxuan dialled Lin Yao's number.

"Hello, this is Li Mingxuan."

"No one comes to the Three Treasure Hall (you wouldn't come to me if you hadn't something to ask of me). Last time you looked for me, you poached one of my gold medal agents. What is it that you are looking for me now?" Lin Yao obviously had a good relationship with Li Mingxuan and spoke rather casually, with a vague hint of sarcasm.