Overnight, news of the popular actor Ethan's drug use spread like wildfire.
Simultaneously, a video of the actor hitting someone circulated widely on the internet. Though the footage was blurry, it was unmistakable that the person committing the violence was none other than Ethan.
The once-celebrated actor fell from grace instantly. The internet was flooded with the hashtag, "Ethan, get out of the entertainment industry."
What people didn't know was that two days before the news broke, Ethan had just divorced his secret wife of seven years, Elaine.
At that time, Ethan was enjoying the success of another box-office hit. Full of confidence and already having strayed, he bluntly confessed his feelings for someone else. Using the custody of their three-year-old son as leverage, he forced Elaine to divorce him.
Elaine resisted for a month but finally signed the divorce papers in sorrow when she saw Ethan kissing another woman. She left the country with their son.
Unable to clear his name, Ethan chose to end his life in his villa.
Fifteen years later, eighteen-year-old Andy starred in a film by director Sean, known for casting new actors. He played a boy with smiling depression who was also a hidden murderer, and he shot to fame.
In the film, the boy appeared quiet and gentle, always wearing a soft smile, but his first appearance was in a hospital.
Initially, everyone thought the boy was merely ill, but later, it became clear that his smile masked his true feelings. Whether angry or happy, his expression remained unchanged.
His father was a gambler who often beat him and his mother. The boy always smiled as he shielded his mother, taking the blows himself.
Many felt deep sympathy for this handsome yet emotionally dark boy. Fans clamored to be his "mom" or "girlfriend."
No one expected his rise to fame to be so rapid, nor did they anticipate his fall to be just as swift.
Less than two weeks after the film's release, it was revealed that Andy was the son of the drug-using actor Ethan.
Back then, Ethan had been terminated from his contracts due to drug allegations, facing massive penalties. To everyone's surprise, his total assets, once auctioned, amounted to less than a billion dollars.
Who were they fooling?
Outraged netizens dug deeper and discovered that Ethan had divorced his wife shortly before the scandal broke.
A conspiracy theory began to take shape. What if the divorce was a premeditated move to transfer assets?
Why did Andy and his mother leave the country so quickly? Was it to move the assets?
These terrifying speculations gradually turned into an unproven "truth."
As fast as Andy rose to fame, he fell just as quickly. The hashtag "Andy, get out of the entertainment industry" swept the internet once again.
Having never known fatherly love and growing up under his mother's hard work, Andy's most painful memories resurfaced. He had no idea where his father's assets were, and neither did Elaine. The netizens' speculations turned into accusations, and explanations became futile.
Smiling depression was not an act; Andy genuinely suffered from it.
On a sunny afternoon, unable to clear his name, Andy chose to end his life in the same manner as his character in the film.
[Task 1: Remarry]
[Task 2: Cure Andy]
Ethan's eyelid twitched. Andy's smiling depression was first diagnosed when he was six, attributed to school bullying.
But Ethan had died when Andy was three. A dead man couldn't cure Andy, and a living father couldn't watch him develop depression.
There was a paradox in the timeline. Ethan's instincts told him the task was tricky, especially with the missing assets. The mission grew increasingly complex.
As expected, he woke up in a clean, white room, resembling a hospital but more homey.
When he awoke, he couldn't even turn over. His limbs were stiff, and his body felt like a rusty machine, each movement taking immense effort.
Before Ethan could grasp the situation, a nearly seventy-year-old man with a cane pushed the door open. Seeing Ethan's open eyes, the man's cloudy eyes filled with tears as he rushed over with surprising vigor.
"Ethan, you finally woke up..."
Ethan had no memory of this old man and didn't know how to react.
Despite this, the old man kept murmuring before calling a doctor, adding to Ethan's newfound knowledge.
"Ethan, you've suffered, child. It's Grandpa's fault for not protecting you."
"How could you be so harsh on yourself? If it weren't for Sarah studying medicine, Grandpa wouldn't have known how to save you."
"You transferred all your money to Grandpa's account without a word. Grandpa knew something was wrong, but... but... Grandpa never expected to find you covered in blood with Alex..."
"How is Grandpa supposed to live now?!"
The old man was agitated. Ethan, still clueless and immobile, could only offer a reassuring look. "Don't cry, Grandpa. I'm okay now."
This statement seemed to hit a nerve. The old man glared at him. "Okay? Do you know what's happening outside?"
"You have lawsuits against you. If it weren't for Alex's quick thinking, taking a photo of you and contacting Sarah for a death certificate, and hiding you for treatment, you'd be dead with all those charges!"
The old man slapped the bedside dramatically.
"And drugs? My Ethan wouldn't do drugs. Tell me the truth—were you framed? That industry is tough; Grandpa knows that. You're too timid to do drugs."
"And fighting? Are you the type to fight?" The old man sneered at Ethan, his tone full of disdain. "Cowardly crybaby."
Another unfamiliar term. The snippets of information from the original owner's memory were incomplete. He had transferred all his money to this old man but had no recollection of who he was!
And drugs? The original owner had no memory of using drugs. His mind was blank on the subject!
If it weren't for Ethan's omniscient perspective, knowing the main storyline, he might have fainted from the old man's accusations.
And the fighting—wasn't the original owner supposed to be a pushover?
To Ethan, cheating and insisting on divorcing Elaine was already the worst thing this honest man could imagine doing!
He didn't even know his own actions?
Was he out of his mind?!