Chapter 105 - 35.3 - Almost reported missing

Nighttime came and Li Xinwen finally came out of his dimension. When he realized he was still at the restaurant, he decided to just sneak out through the windows. Using the cover of the night, Li Xinwen simply jumped around the buildings all the way until he reached his home. When he walked to the door, he was suddenly filled with dread. He didn't know why, but he has a feeling that once he opened the door, he will get into trouble.

Following his hunch, his hands reached out to his pocket and looked at his phone. He didn't realize this earlier because he had put his phone in a do not disturb mode two nights ago and had forgotten to turn the mode off but, the number of missed calls and messages he received were more than he could imagine. The message notification reads 187 while the number of missed calls were on 27.

"..." Li Xinwen's finger shook as he went to check the missed calls first. He saw that not only his mother, there were also calls from Li Jinghua, Sun Xiao, Xue Rui, two unknown numbers and even his manager. Muttering a string of curses under his breath, he went to check on his messages. The content of his messages was mostly the same, asking where he is.

Li Xinwen didn't know if he should reply to everyone but his first task was to inform his manager that he's safe. With a few taps on his phone, Li Xinwen put the phone near his ear. The dial tone only goes off once before a worried female voice could be heard.

"Li Xinwen, are you alright? Where are you? Your mother called me earlier asking if you were still with me. Although I told her a lie, I was also worried, ah! If I didn't hear from you tonight, I had planned to go to the police station first thing in the morning tomorrow to make a report!" Manager Su said to Li Xinwen. "Even the company became worried, thinking that maybe some crazy fans had kidnapped you."

"I'm sorry, Manager Su. I lost my phone earlier. Just got it back..." Li Xinwen replied.

"I see. But what is the deal with you meeting me? Why did you tell your mother that?" Manager Su asked. "Li Xinwen, are you in trouble? I know that the company give you one-year leave in order for you to recuperate. Are you angry that An Yunxu took your role for [Death to My Destiny]? You didn't confront him about that, right?"

"Huh? No..." Li Xinwen was surprised when the original's profession was brought up. Though he knew that An Yunxu's relationship with the original is that of rivalry, he didn't understand the extent of their rivalry. From the original's memories, they were very friendly on the surface. They could even act like best friends when they are on a show. He also couldn't sense any malice from the original's lingering feelings which meant that Li Xinwen didn't harbour anything bad on An Yunxu.

"I know you were looking forward to acting as the lead for that movie. But it can't be helped. Your well-being is your top priority. Don't worry. After your one year off, I will help you secure some resources," Manager Su said.

"Hmm... Thank you, Manager Su. But I really don't mind about losing the role. It wasn't the production team's fault that I got into the accident, naturally, for the movie's sake I understand that the production team decided to replace me," Li Xinwen himself was surprised by the glibness of his tongue when he said this. "Anyway, I am safe, so don't go reporting on the police. I am actually in front of my home right now," Li Xinwen said with a small chuckle. "Thank you for worrying about me, Manager Su. I will remember this."

"Alright. Stay safe. Actually, once you feel that you can return to work. Inform me. Though you can't act, you can still at least be an ambassador of few first-class brand names," Manager Su said. "Good night."

After ending the call, Li Xinwen stared at the door with dread. One, his mother is definitely worried and though Manager Su did lie for him, he knew the old woman would still be worried. On the other hand, with how Xue Rui had also given him several calls, he knew Li Jinghua was also worried and even asked the two brothers about his whereabouts.

While he was still hesitating, he heard rushed footsteps coming toward the entrance. Just based on the spiritual signature, he knew it was Li Jinghua. The entrance door opened, revealing a weary-looking Li Jinghua and before Li Xinwen could even say a word, he was wrapped in a warm embrace. "Stupid brother! Where were you? I asked Xue Rui and Major General Xue, but both of them didn't know where you were! I even asked Mr Min if you went to meet him, but he said you didn't!"

"I... I'm sorry. Something came up earlier that needed my immediate attention," Li Xinwen replied. Li Jinghua didn't leave him any path to escape at all. "It's alright now. Don't worry. What about mom?" Li Xinwen asked.

"Mom... she's alright. She called Manager Su earlier and she told mom that you were discussing about future work with her," Li Jinghua replied. "She believes it, but I don't."

Li Xinwen felt slightly relieved when he heard Li Jinghua's reply. "How did you know that I've arrived, though?"

"Oh, that..." Li Jinghua pulled away and showed her phone to Li Xinwen. It was a chat group, and the latest message was from Xue Rui, asking whether or not it was true that he had arrived home. Above that message, was a message from Xue Jun.

[Xue Jun: Just got an update. The GPS indicator from his phone shows that he's currently at your house.]

'GPS? When did he put a GPS on me?' Li Xinwen wondered.

"Anyway, let's get you inside. We haven't eaten dinner yet because we were too worried about you," Li Jinghua said as she pulled Li Xinwen in.

"Hua-er, who is it? Is it Ah'Wen?" Li Xinwen could hear mother Li's voice.

"It's me, mom. I'm home," Li Xinwen said with a smile before going over to give her a hug.

"What did you discuss with Manager Su that takes you the whole day?" mother Li asked in a worried tone. "You're not being laid off, is it? Well... I also don't mind if you quit being an actor. If you could find a more... safer job, I'd be grateful," mother Li said in a soft voice, her hand reaching up and caressed Li Xinwen's hair.

Li Xinwen only let out a small chuckle before replying. "Then how about I open a shop? A flower shop, maybe? That way, I can give you flowers every day, ah!" Li Xinwen said jokingly.

"Aiya! Rather than giving this old woman flowers, how about you start finding a partner?" mother Li retorted.

"Mom, Ah'Wen can't enter a relationship. Since he's a young actor, his company stipulated that he cannot be found in a relationship until he's 25. He has to avoid scandals too," Li Jinghua told mother Li.

'He can't be in a relationship but he went ahead and have an unhealthy relationship with Xue Rui, ah! And then he was taken advantage of by Xue Liang. Li Xinwen, though I pity you... I still think that you made a stupid decision,' Li Xinwen thought to himself.

"Alright, enough. Let's just have dinner. Hua-er, go and call Ah'Xiao down," mother Li said as she gently ushered Li Xinwen to the dining table. "Food is already cold, let mom warm it up first."

Li Xinwen obediently sat down and took out his phone. He cleared the notification, then checked the group in which, he was already in. Deciding to end everyone's worry, he decided to send a message into the group.

[Li Xinwen: I've already arrived home. I apologize for worrying everyone.]

He was just about to put his phone down when there was a new message came in.

[Xue Rui: I'm glad you're okay. Luckily, Liang-ge was willing to help.]

Seeing Xue Liang's name being mentioned, Li Xinwen frowned. He was about to type something, to ask Xue Rui what he meant when he received another message. But it was a private message so he had to close the group chat to look at it. He saw that the message came from another user who was not in his friend list, but thanks to Li Jinghua earlier, Li Xinwen is familiar with the user's profile picture. It was none other than Xue Jun.

[Xue Jun: Are you truly alright?]

It was only a short question, but Li Xinwen somehow senses how Xue Jun had emphasized on the word 'truly'. Li Xinwen wanted to conceal the fact, but with what happened today, he felt that if there is no one to help cover him, it will cause more trouble.

[Li Xinwen: Young Master Xue, I will only tell you this and I hope that you can help me keep this a secret.]

[Li Xinwen: I'm sure your master had told you about the demon he met years back, right?]

[Li Xinwen: Last night, I encountered him. And... since we couldn't meet eye to eye, he had placed a large amount of demonic qi inside of me. In order to contain those demonic qi, I had to go into closed-door cultivation. So if this happens again, I would like to ask Young Master Xue a favour and help cover my track.]

Li Xinwen sent his message, then stared at the screen as he waited for Xue Jun's reply. It didn't take long for him to wait since Xue Jun only replied with one word.

[Xue Jun: Okay.]