The call connected quickly, as if the person on the other end had been specifically waiting for it.
Before Li Xingyu could speak, Shao Yichen jumped in first: "I'm certain I didn't plagiarize! Not 'The Last Wish' or 'The Web' or that graduation project that appeared out of nowhere—"
"—I believe you."
Before Shao Yichen could finish, Li Xingyu responded this way.
Hearing these words, Shao Yichen's agitated heart gradually cald down.
Her panic stemd partly from worry about affecting others, but also from concern that people might genuinely misunderstand her.
Though she was certain she hadn't plagiarized, what if others saw this news and thought differently? What if they distanced themselves from her because of it?
She did want to lose money, but she refused to lose it because of such false accusations! She absolutely didn't want to return to her original world with only these misunderstood mories.
Especially regarding Li Xingyu, a friend with whom she had collaborated on two films—yes, though Shao Yichen hadn't said it aloud, she had already considered this so-called "junior" of similar age as a friend.
Now, hearing Li Xingyu so firmly affirm her innocence and stand by her side, Shao Yichen felt as if she'd taken a reassuring pill.
She composed herself and replied: "...Thank you."
"But about the suspects you ntioned in WeChat... do you actually know who's manipulating this public opinion?" After calming down, Shao Yichen's attention returned to the matter itself.
"I have suspicions, but no evidence," Li Xingyu's voice remained characteristically calm. "Since Director Shao watched my variety show today, you should know who the guests were."
Having just finished watching, Shao Yichen naturally had vivid impressions: "Yes, yes, I just finished watching. Your physical abilities are amazing—you never show that normally! But that Fu Lianghui was so infuriating—"
At this point, she suddenly stopped speaking.
Fu Lianghui—hadn't he had unpleasant experiences with both herself and Li Xingyu?
No way?
"...Are you suggesting that Fu Lianghui went to the trouble of digging up my dirty laundry just to sar ?" Shao Yichen asked incredulously. "Setting aside how petty that would be—he actually has ti to hunt for dirt on a small director like ? Isn't he too idle?"
"I also think it's unnecessary, but it seems to be the reality," Li Xingyu responded from the other end of the line. "Besides, this episode was fild a month ago, before your new film's auditions had started. No one knew you planned to open a dia company then."
"He probably planned all this based on the possibility that you might sign with his company, since even if you did sign with his company, it would only harm him rather than benefit him," Li Xingyu analyzed. "When I was on set, I happened to overhear part of his conversation with his agent, and they seed to ntion 'delayed graduation' and 'plagiarism.' I didn't understand what it ant at the ti so I didn't pay attention, but now it seems he's been planning this since then."
Shao Yichen listened with skepticism but still ntally marked Fu Lianghui with a heavy stroke—primary suspect, must remain suspicious.
"Beyond this... I have another baseless conjecture about this matter," Li Xingyu hesitated as he said this.
"What conjecture?" Shao Yichen asked.
Li Xingyu took a breath and began: "I know nothing about you from four years ago, but if sothing bad really happened during that ti... it might involve soone else."
"Though I might be overthinking—but do you know Li Qiaoqiao?"
"The online film you're accused of plagiarizing was produced by her company, and she was in your class."
Li Qiaoqiao? Who was that?
Shao Yichen tried to search for this na in the original owner's mories, but the mont she attempted to recall, a strange pain suddenly assaulted her mind.
As if her mory was automatically preventing her.
Shao Yichen tried to ignore the pain, but even with her utmost effort, she could only recall a vague figure, unable to even rember the person's face.
Finally, she could only press her throbbing temples and reply: "I think there was such a person... I rember she was my roommate, but I've forgotten everything else. During that delayed graduation period, I seem to have—"
Shao Yichen swallowed the words "had ntal issues" that nearly escaped her lips.
Though she knew the ntal issues weren't hers, others didn't know that!
Directly saying she had ntal problems felt strange.
Moreover, recalling this far, she began to distrust her own mories. Although she had previously been certain that neither version of Shao Yichen had plagiarized, the ambiguity in this world's mories created a sliver of doubt.
Had she really done such a thing? Delayed graduation due to being caught plagiarizing, and never recovered from it?
Fortunately, Li Xingyu on the other end didn't continue questioning. Seeing that Shao Yichen seed unwilling to discuss this topic further, he changed the subject, preparing to conclude the discussion.
"In any case, the biggest question about this rumor concerns what happened four years ago," he said, softening his tone. "I'll continue to monitor this situation and investigate, but ultimately, I wasn't there. So things only Director Shao herself knows the truth about."
Shao Yichen knew he was hinting that she should investigate what happened four years ago herself, but was afraid of upsetting her. However, Shao Yichen found it both laughable and sad—strictly speaking, she was almost as much an observer as he was.
"I will," she answered.
Li Xingyu responded with a few more sentences, preparing to end the call.
But Shao Yichen, inexplicably, added: "Your variety show performance was really impressive, though. Do you often interact with children?"
Li Xingyu on the other end of the phone paused unusually, then answered: "Thank you. Perhaps I'm experienced in taking care of people who aren't ntally mature."
❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀
After finishing the call, Shao Yichen returned to the filming location.
Abandoning an entire film crew mid-shoot to make a phone call was indeed problematic. Only after Shao Yichen sincerely apologized to the crew mbers led by Qi Gelong did filming resu.
However, affected by the rumors, Shao Yichen's attention was completely diverted from filming. She had no heart to critique performances anymore and completely delegated responsibility to the assistant director.
Thus, after the crew finished the day's scenes and dispersed, she eagerly called another person.
The phone rang for quite a while before being answered. From the other end of the connection, Zhao Kang laughed: "What brings you to call again? Go ahead, what is it?"
Shao Yichen: ...
Director Zhao, you don't have to be so aware of your role as a tool...!
Couldn't it possibly be that your proud disciple suddenly wanted to chat with you?
But Shao Yichen did have sothing to discuss.
Since Director Zhao was so self-aware, Shao Yichen didn't bother with pretenses. After chatting briefly, she cut straight to the point: "Director Zhao, do you rember my delayed graduation?"
"What, you delayed your graduation?" Zhao Kang was shocked. "How could you delay graduation when you've already submitted your thesis? Didn't you already receive your diploma?"
Shao Yichen: "...Please rest assured, I didn't delay my graduate studies."
Zhao Kang breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good, you frightened . I thought you had stayed back a year to continue living in the dormitory. If not graduate school, are you talking about your undergraduate years? So you delayed graduation as an undergraduate?"
"So Director Zhao, you didn't know about my undergraduate situation." From his tone, Shao Yichen imdiately understood that Zhao Kang didn't even know about her undergraduate delay, let alone anything else.
On the other end of the phone, Zhao Kang scratched the back of his head and explained: "Well, not exactly. I did hear about you during your freshman year—a child admitted to our college, very young, not even fifteen. Everyone praised how impressive this child was."
"But during that period, my granddaughter was born," Zhao Kang chuckled on the other end. "I spent less ti in my office, basically not going in if I didn't have classes or etings."
"Besides, the college was considerate toward then. My teaching responsibilities consisted of just one general film appreciation course open to the whole school. I didn't teach any specialized courses, so I had no opportunity to et undergraduates like you."
Shao Yichen felt sowhat discouraged but tried another approach: "Were there any plagiarism rumors during the two years before my undergraduate graduation?"
"What do you an?" The experienced Director Zhao imdiately beca alert. "Are there so unfavorable rumors circulating?"
Seeing she couldn't hide it, Shao Yichen straightforwardly told Zhao Kang the truth.
"How dare they slander you like this!" Zhao Kang slamd his desk on the other end. "I'll go to the college right now to provide a statent! I'll stake my reputation that such a thing couldn't possibly have happened to you!"
Shao Yichen was deeply moved.
Though Zhao Kang had beco her advisor only after her rebirth, he had truly been good to her.
But she couldn't let her advisor wade into muddy waters before the situation was clear. After much persuasion, she finally convinced Zhao Kang to hold back.
"What I need now is evidence proving I didn't plagiarize. With evidence, I can prove my innocence without anyone vouching for ."
"At least there's no related disciplinary action from the college—I should be certain of that," said Zhao Kang. "I'll help you ask the counselor if they have your original thesis proposal from back then."
Shao Yichen wasn't hopeful, but ten minutes later, Zhao Kang actually forwarded her an electronic copy of the original proposal.
"Today's duty counselor is a graduate student who stayed at the school and took my general course—never mind the useless details, quickly check if you rember this proposal."
Shao Yichen opened the file and briefly reviewed it.
Indeed, the outline was very similar to that film.
But what was notable wasn't the content but the date.
Shao Yichen's thesis project was completed and submitted in April of her senior year, while the online film was released in March—chronologically, the film ca first.
But the date on this proposal was clearly December of the first sester of her senior year!
A full two months before the online film's release!
This at least proved that she hadn't conceived this idea after seeing the released online film, but before it!
Even if she had plagiarized the online film, she couldn't have learned about it through normal channels but must have seen the internal film script through so ans.
Or... perhaps the plagiarism relationship should be reversed entirely!
Author's Note: Today's update~
Thanks to the little angels who gave Overlord Tickets or Nutrition Solution between 2020-09-10 12:32:18 and 2020-09-11 12:16:59~
Thanks to the little angel who threw a landmine: Fox Stop 1;
Thanks to the little angels who gave Nutrition Solution: Earthworm, gaial 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!
Reviews
All reviews (0)