The producer and director of the drama took the time to pick up Qi Cong, concerned about his physical condition, and apologized to him for the problems with the props.

Qi Cong had already tried to find out the Taskmaster’s explanation for the fall from Zhao Zhenxun before he came here. In the face of the concern and apology from the producer and director, he chose to acquiesce and didn’t tell the truth about his fall into the lake – Xiao Liu was also a victim. He didn’t want Xiao Liu to take the blame for the Taskmaster.

After the pleasantries, Qi Cong went to the dressing room, took the costume from Jiang Meng’s hand, and went into the inner room to change.

When he took off his coat, Qi Cong saw in the mirror the large blue and black bruise on his shoulder which was caused by Xiao Liu when he fell into the lake.

No, it shouldn’t be said that it was caused by Xiao Liu.

“I don’t know if you can hear this.” Qi Cong picked up the pure white undershirt and put it on to cover the bruise, looking at his expressionless self in the mirror. “You’re afraid of me becoming an artist, right?”

The room was quiet except for his voice. His brain also didn’t hurt, as if there wasn’t a dangerous or strange thing hidden in it.

Qi Cong didn’t respond, but moved his slender fingers to hook the strap of the inner shirt.

“From the time I moved into the Dingli hotel, I haven’t stopped having trouble with the people around me. The smears against me on the Internet emerged one after another, and all kinds of things happened wanting to separate me from Jia Jia and Gu Xun. All of this, as well as that sensational boycott, all of it was done by you, right? You used the identity of Xiao Liu to lurk in the crew, spying on my every move like a viper….”

Swish.

The slender finger hooked around the band and pulled it tight, tying a knot sharply.

Qi Cong looked at his own eyes in the mirror. “You need a good identity to get close to Jiang Zhaoyan, but obviously the career of an artist would hinder you and increase the likelihood of exposure. So I want to tell you, I will make my debut.”

In his brain, each word by word brewed every sentence he wanted to say, his tone getting stronger and stronger. “I will let more people know me, show the public what I can do, and let them know what I’m really like. If you still want to take over my body, you’d better learn how to play me well and imitate everything I can from now on, or someone sensitive will find your actions strange. Memory loss is not a foolproof reason. You won’t be able to ruin my life and hurt my family and friends as smoothly as you did before.”

When he said this, he paused and thought of Gu Xun, his eyes falling in trance and then quickly cleared up and he continued, “I will tell everyone that if they notice any change in my temperament, I must be really crazy and they should lock me up for treatment as soon as possible.”  

“Also,” he said in a threatening tone, “If I find you trying to hurt someone I care about again, then you’d better not give me a chance to get my body back, or I’ll kill myself at the first occasion. Or take Jiang Zhaoyan with me to die together.”

His head suddenly hurt, and there was a momentary trace of consciousness. Then Qi Cong found his hand moving on its own without his control.

Obviously, his head still hurt, but Qi Cong just smiled.

It seemed that the Taskmaster heard him. It also seemed that this was the limit of how much the Taskmaster could influence him when his willpower wasn’t in question.

When he was in the hospital earlier, the fact that the Taskmaster didn’t lock him up after taking away the control of his body, but allowed him to take back control and his head never hurt again gave him a guess.

Perhaps the damage to the controller was so severe that the Taskmaster no longer was able to take over his body at will, but could only take advantage of a moment of weakness to lock him back into the controller.

Xiao Liu’s “memory loss” indirectly confirmed his suspicions. If it wasn’t impossible to break through from the inside, why would the Taskmaster be forced to use Xiao Liu’s identity to create such an “accident”?

Perhaps the Taskmaster had been waiting for him to be weak-willed for a long time, but unfortunately he hasn’t been sick or had any accidents since he woke up from his “sleep”. He was also very tense because he wanted to pay off his debts and improve his parents’ living environment as soon as possible, so the Taskmaster had no loopholes to exploit. Now that he was really going to make his debut, the Taskmaster was so anxious that he took the initiative to make him vulnerable and created an opportunity to snatch his body.

So as long as he doesn’t get sick or hurt and stays aware at all times, he could take the initiative.

The pain in his brain reduced. Qi Cong smiled and tidied up his undershirt before turning around and walking outside.

From today onwards, he will definitely be more careful and cherish his body.

 

…….

 

It was very simple to re-film the needed scenes. The set up from yesterday, because of the lake accident, wasn’t cleaned up yet, so filming could immediately restart once the actors finished their make-up and hair.

After arriving at the set, Qi Cong saw Shen Jia anxiously waiting. Qi Cong stopped in his tracks, then took the initiative to go forward and hug Shen Jia.

Shen Jia was stunned by the hug, then quickly hugged Qi Cong back. He titled his head and asked, “Brother Cong, what’s the matter with you? I heard that you and Gu– “

“I’m fine.” Qi Cong let go of Shen Jia and raised his hand to help Shen Jia take off the headband wrapped around his hairpin. Looking at Shen Jia’s simple and clear eyes, he remembered the picture of Shen Jia being bullied and crying by himself. He solemnly said, “Jia Jia, I scolded you, drove you out of my neighborhood, and didn’t answer your calls. The past three years I did a lot of things to you, I’m sorry.”

Shen Jia’s eyes widened.

“I remember it all. Jia Jia, I won’t go crazy about Jiang Zhaoyan again. I still hate him. I’ve done so many stupid things in the past three years. I’m really sorry. “

Shen Jia suddenly pursed his lips and his eyes turned red.

The fear of Qi Cong suddenly remembering Jiang Zhaoyan and changing back into the version of him that only had eyes for Jiang Zhaoyan was the biggest hidden worry in the heart of all the people who cared about Qi Cong, but no one wanted to mention it.

When Qi Cong returned back to normal, everyone was very happy. Yet even with the many happy times, the worry about Qi Cong remembering Jiang Zhaoyan always overshadowed it. It cast a shadow on their happy times.

Now, Qi Cong said he remembered Jiang Zhaoyan, but he also said he still hated Jiang Zhaoyan

The thing that everyone was most worried about would never happen again.

Shen Jia tried to hold back from crying as he asked for confirmation, “Do you really remember? You… you won’t like Jiang Zhaoyan anymore?”

Qi Cong nodded, affirming. “Now that I remember, I will no longer like Jiang Zhaoyan. Jia Jia, I’m sorry and also thank you.”

Shen Jia suddenly tightly hugged Qi Cong again and patted Qi Cong on the shoulder.

Qi Cong hugged Shen Jia back and patted his back soothingly.

Everything went without saying.

A few minutes later, the drama began to shoot and Director Wang personally came to take charge of the camera. Qi Cong sat in the wheelchair that had been repaired by the crew, looked at the lake not far away, tightened his hands and turned the wheelchair as he moved toward the pavilion.

From across the lake and away from the cameras, Zhao Zhenxun looked at Gu Xun leaning against the rocks and frowned as he spoke. “Qi Cong’s condition is still unstable. When he was discharged from the hospital today, he was briefly distracted for a while. According to him, he suddenly remembered a memory of the past. I advised him to go back to the hospital, but he insisted on continuing to work. His emotional state isn’t quite right.He seems depressed as if he has something on his mind.”

“Mm-hmm.” Gu Xun looked at Qi Cong, who was acting out a scene of being bullied by actors in the pavilion with his head down. His expression was unclear. The hand in his pocket also tightened slightly as he spoke. “I talked to the doctor. He said that from the test results, Qi Cong is normal and there is no problem.”

Zhao Zhenxun frowned even deeper. “Qi Cong’s mental state is obviously not right.”

“I contacted one of my dad’s doctor friends. He said that Qi Cong’s behavior might be because he suddenly remembered too many bad memories, and was affected by the emotions in those memories. It’s called a short-lived emotional disorder phenomenon. When Qi Cong finishes digesting those memories, he should be able to recover.”

Director Wang on the other side of the lake called “cut”. One of the actors in the group made a mistake, blocking the camera so he asked for a reshoot.

Gu Xun frowned.

Zhao Zhenxun’s frowning expression relaxed, but he was still worried. “But Qi Cong’s obviously self-harm behavior–”

“Qi Cong has attempted to commit suicide.” The scene started shooting again, the group of actors blocking Qi Cong’s figure and making Gu Xun finally withdraw his eyes and looked at Zhao Zhenxun. “Now that Qi Cong has remembered all the memories before he committed suicide, he was in pain.”

Zhao Zhenxun frowned again.

“It will get better.” Gu Xun once again looked across the lake, his tone certain. “He’s trying to fight those bad memories and emotions. He doesn’t want to give up his hard earned chance to start over. Agent Zhao, don’t give up on him before he gives up on himself. Please.”

Zhao Zhenxun froze as he looked at Gu Xun.

Across the lake, Director Wang shouted the cut again, then announced that the scene was over after a slight pause.

Qi Cong last scene in Hengcheng was over.

Gu Xun saw Shen Jia waiting on the sidelines, jumping in front of Qi Cong with a smile. Qi Cong also smiled and reached out his hand to hold Shen Jia. Gu Xun lowered his eyes, then looked back at Zhao Zhenxun and said, “I will help promote the song. I’ll go first and be in touch.”

“Gu Xun.”

Gu Xun stopped walking and looked over.

Zhao Zhenxun looked at Gu Xun’s eyes that were emotionless, sighed in his heart and said, “I won’t give up on him, not only because of your plea, but also because of his seriousness and hard work. But let me give you a piece of advice and use this opportunity to have a frank talk with you. If you want your relationship to last, there is really no room for the slightest deception. “

Gu Xun turned around, stood in place for two seconds, and left.

Across the lake, Qi Cong was still in a wheelchair, vaguely saw a familiar figure across the rockery and froze. He then quickly looked over, back and forth.

A tall figure wearing black tshirt and black pants came out from behind a tree next to rocks. Qi Cong’s gaze was somewhat baffled.

He didn’t believe that he saw it wrong. Gu Xun… did he…come to see him?

As if aware of his line of sight, the tall figure suddenly stopped and looked back.

The two men looked at each other across a green lake. Qi Cong instinctively lowered his eyes, then remembered that he was still wearing a mask. He hesitated and uncontrollably raised his eyes to look over.

Gu Xun’s figure was no longer behind the trees and rocks, as if the person he saw was just an illusion.

Qi Cong slowly withdrew his eyes and lowered his head.

That’s it.

He doesn’t know when he will be  freed in this life. Maybe in the end he would still have to use the jade and stone method to save everyone. Gu Xun shouldn’t be dragged down by him, so he should let it be.

“Brother Cong, your phone is vibrating.”

Qi Cong forcefully collected himself, took the mobile phone handed over by Yuan Yuan, and then froze when he saw the message alert on the phone screen.

Gu Xun had sent a Weibo message just now.

Qi Cong couldn’t help but look toward the trees again, but he still didn’t see anything. He tightened his hand, looked down at his phone, and moved his fingers several times before finally pressing it down and opening the message.

Gu Xun: Qi Cong, it was the real me.

Gu Xun: As long as there is a way to get closer to you, no matter what, I will try.

Gu Xun: I’m sorry.

Gu Xun: I still don’t want to give up.

Gu Xun: Cong, can you give me another chance? I can explain everything.

Snap.

A tear fell on the screen, blurring the begging cat meme that Gu Xun had just sent to him.

Qi Cong hurriedly raised his hand, wiped away his tears with the cover of the mask before others noticed it and wiped the phone on his leg. Then he took several deep breaths, and did mental reinforcement for a long time before picking up the phone again and typing.

Ding Dong.

Gu Xun withdrew his sight from the other side of the lake and looked at the WeChat interface.

Baby: Don’t contact me again.

He looked at the man opposite who had secretly wiped his tears, slowly put down his phone and then lifted it again just a few seconds later as he typed back.

Gu Xun: No way.

An exclamation point appeared but no new message was sent.

Gu Xun paused, took another look at Qi Cong who suddenly got up and walked towards the restroom location, squeezed his phone, locked it and turned to leave.

 

Edited by: Antiope1

Support translation: