Chapter 122: This Feels Absolutely Fantastic!

Chapter 122

Ding!

Received 356 points of applause value accompanied by [Reverence].

Girl, there is no need for reverence. With this old man’s modest abilities, you have only to learn from me.

Holding his thermos, Li Shixin met Lu Siqi’s complicated gaze and smiled faintly.

Seeing Yang Kuan beside her, his eyes shining as he held the second-edition script of Only You, Li Shixin raised an eyebrow.

After two rounds of contact over the rights, although the Copyright Department had handled the negotiations directly, how could Li Shixin fail to see that the person truly leading and supporting this deal was the pale young man before him, whose eyes had reddened as he read the script?

“Xiao Yang.”

“Ah, Teacher Li? What is it?” Startled by the call, Yang Kuan pulled his attention away from the script, wiped at his tears, and asked blankly.

“Now that I’ve given you the rights, can you tell me what you intend to do with them?”

“Well…” Yang Kuan grimaced. “Old sir, you aren’t part of our company, so I’m not really at liberty to say.”

Li Shixin smiled faintly and pointed to the additional clause on the still-warm contract.

It clearly stated: “After the film and television adaptation, Party B shall portray the protagonist.”

Seeing that clause, Yang Kuan slapped his forehead. “Look at me, I completely forgot about that. It’s like this, Teacher Li. Our advertising branch is entering a public-service advertising competition organized by Central Television. We plan to adapt your script into a public-service advertisement focusing on Alzheimer’s disease.”

“Oh.” Li Shixin nodded deeply.

He looked the slim, refined Yang Kuan up and down. The young man was somewhat pale, giving him an air of poor health. Li Shixin smacked his lips.

“Child, are your parents in good health?”

“Hmm…” At the mention of this, Yang Kuan’s expression changed. He forced a smile through his grief. “My parents… died in a car accident when I was in middle school. So, Teacher Li, your script really touched me.”

Oh?

Li Shixin raised his brows. “What a terrible pity!”

“Child, don’t be sad. If your father and mother could see how grown and accomplished you are now, they would surely be comforted in heaven.”

As he spoke, he rose and pulled the desolate-looking Yang Kuan tightly into his arms, patting the orphan’s back.

Feeling Yang Kuan sob softly against his chest, Li Shixin sighed.

“Child, if you don’t mind, call me Godfather. Become my son!”

What?!

The Huaqí executives who were packing up their things all froze.

What kind of development was this? What sort of plot twist?

Yang Kuan was even more bewildered.

What was going on?

I become your son just like that?

Is this old man insane?

Or do I really look that desperately fatherless?

Watching Yang Kuan grin awkwardly as he carried the script away with his colleagues, he glanced back at Li Shixin like he was looking at a lunatic before leaving.

Li Shixin shook his head.

Ignorant child.

You have no idea what you just missed.

Becoming my godson would not have been a bad deal!

……

After seeing the Huaqí delegation off, the theater management staff, who had been waiting outside for quite some time, entered and told Li Shixin that several leaders had finished their speeches in the main hall. It was time for the cast to come onstage and take their bows.

Li Shixin glanced at his watch.

Good heavens.

Half an hour had already passed since the play ended!

“Xiaoxiao! Xiaoxiao?”

“Yes!” At his call from inside the room, An Xiaoxiao, who had been waiting in the corridor for ages, came running over eagerly like a puppy. “Teacher Li!”

“Come on, come on. Go get your Brother Shuo and Teacher Zhao. We’re going out for the curtain call.”

“Brother Shuo is waiting by the door. Teacher Zhao already left!”

“Hm?” Hearing that Zhao Min had gone, Li Shixin frowned. “Why did she leave without saying anything?”

“Teacher Zhao said she wasn’t feeling well and went home first.”

“Oh.” Li Shixin nodded deeply. He decided to give her a call later, then went onstage with An Xiaoxiao and Zhang Shuo.

Although the leaders had spoken for forty minutes, not many audience members had left.

They had all been waiting for the actors’ curtain call.

After accepting the performance license presented publicly to the Yuedong Theater Troupe by the Cultural Bureau leaders, Li Shixin, Xiaoxiao, and Zhang Shuo repeatedly thanked the audience. He spoke about the inspiration behind Only You, as well as the twists and turns that had followed its premiere.

Once again, he drew tears from a crowd of longtime fans, reinforced his persona as an elderly newcomer struggling forward in the entertainment industry, and harvested a wave of applause value from the audience.

Finally, he announced once more that, after deducting the venue rental fee paid to Cultural Plaza, the remaining ticket revenue of 154,000 yuan from that evening would be donated in full to an institution caring for Alzheimer’s patients.

The announcement provoked thunderous applause throughout the hall, after which the curtain call officially ended.

By the time he returned home, it was already half past ten.

After calling Zhao Min and confirming that she was not seriously ill, Li Shixin returned to his room.

The gains from that evening had been enormous.

Adding everything together, the system’s applause value had climbed to more than 180,000—nearly 190,000 points!

Ah…

So much.

There was simply too much!

Looking at those 190,000 points through misty eyes, Li Shixin silently shed two tears.

He forcibly restrained his right hand, which was itching to draw a lottery, pinning it firmly beneath him with his knee. Then, with complete rationality, he invested all 180,000 points into the age-reduction option.

Though he had undergone age reduction several times before, this time was different!

As a tremendous warm current enveloped his entire body, Li Shixin’s mind went blank. Wave after wave of blissful sensation swept over him. Every blood vessel and every organ seemed to experience the refreshing relief of rain after a long drought.

He collapsed face-first onto the bed.

In an instant, a blissfully satisfied smile spread across his face, and he peacefully fell asleep.

……

The next day.

When Li Shixin awoke, he was astonished to discover that the sun outside the window had already reached its highest point in the south.

The scorching sunlight streaming through the window burned against his face. He hissed, glanced at An Xiaoxiao beside him, and immediately asked, “Girl, what time is it?”

Wait!

Something was wrong.

Why was this girl in his room?

What had happened last night?

He rubbed his eyes again. Zhang Shuo and Zhang Ying, brother and sister, stood nearby with anxious expressions, while two medical workers in emergency vests crowded into the room. A stretcher had been placed beside the bed, and the two medics were tugging at his legs.

Li Shixin frowned.

“What are you trying to do?”

“Waaah! Teacher, you’re finally awake!”

“Godfather, what were you doing? You slept straight through the clock’s entire cycle! No matter how much we called you, you wouldn’t wake up. You scared us half to death!”

The two medical workers hurried over once they saw him awake. They examined his pupils, checked this and that, and finally shook their heads.

“How strange. He seems perfectly fine now.”

Facing the bewildered medics, Li Shixin chuckled. “I was exhausted from performing yesterday and slept very deeply.”

“Old sir, don’t joke around. You call that sleeping deeply? You were in a light coma! If you’d taken any longer to wake up, we would have had to take you to the emergency center. Get up and move around a little. See how you feel.”

With An Xiaoxiao supporting him, Li Shixin slowly rose from the bed.

How did he feel?

Wonderful!

His back didn’t hurt, his legs weren’t sore, and the faint fogginess in his mind had completely vanished.

If there weren’t so many people around, and if he worked up the proper mood…

Tsk…

He might even be able to show a little vigor?

Watching Li Shixin repeatedly leap from side to side across the floor, the two medical workers grimaced.

After packing up their equipment, they urged him, “All right, old sir, stop jumping around. In any case, an unexplained light coma is something to take seriously. I advise you to go to the hospital for a proper examination. Get a brain scan, and don’t dismiss this as nothing!”

After watching Zhang Shuo pay them and escort the emergency workers out, Li Shixin waved dismissively at the chattering Zhang Ying.

He shooed everyone away like flies, telling them to get on with their own business, then stood before the bathroom mirror.

After washing his face thoroughly, Li Shixin was delighted to see that the wrinkles on his face had visibly diminished. His hair was still completely silver-white, but several dark stubbles had already emerged along his fringe.

A good omen!

Looking at the old heartthrob in the mirror, who seemed a full step younger than yesterday, as though a withered tree had sprouted anew, Li Shixin laughed with delight.

“Who says life cannot return to youth?”

“The stream before the gate can still flow west.”

“Do not sing of white hair… and croak like a rooster!”

He sang several lines from a traditional melody with booming vigor.

At the same time.

Rongcheng First Hospital.

Chen Cang, the general surgeon on duty, looked at the young woman before him, then at the color ultrasound report in his hand. His expression grew solemn.

“Miss, what is your relationship to the patient, Zhao Jinzhi?”