Chapter 30
“You’re overthinking.” Lin Yushu suddenly became very uncomfortable because Song Qiming had discovered his little secret.
He picked up his glass, intending to take a sip of water, but found it empty. He awkwardly put the glass back down.
“Why are you nervous?” Song Qiming rested his elbow on the table, leaning closer to observe Lin Yushu. “Do you know your face is turning red?”
“Is it?” Lin Yushu touched his cheek in confusion but didn’t feel any signs of warmth.
“No,” Song Qiming said. He leaned back in his chair, looking in the direction Du Yufei had left. “So, you really had a crush on him.”
“…Yes,” Lin Yushu admitted, revealing his secret.
He sighed, accepting his fate, and said, “We were on the same team for an investment competition before. I thought he was smart and reliable.”
After winning the competition, with the exhilaration that comes with success, Lin Yushu felt invincible and believed he could have anything he wanted. He confessed his feelings to Du Yufei, but was rejected.
“So, you like someone who is smart and reliable,” Song Qiming commented.
Liking someone is a complicated matter that can’t be easily explained in a few words.
Lin Yushu admitted that he had a liking for Du Yufei, but to say whether he loved him deeply and passionately, that wasn’t the case.
Looking back now, after winning the competition, Lin Yushu was full of himself. He felt superior to others and thought it was time to start dating. His confession to Du Yufei was tinged with a sense of “I’m already successful in my studies, it’s time to pursue love.” Unfortunately, he received the most painful blow of his life.
Perhaps this was what the saying meant: “Pride comes before a fall.”
“Not entirely,” Lin Yushu said. “The feeling is important.”
“That’s true,” Song Qiming suddenly asked, “How tall is he?”
“Huh?” Lin Yushu was taken aback. “I don’t know.”
“Does he work out regularly?”
“…I think he does.”
“Why does he think you’re not good enough for him?”
“You’re asking so many questions today,” Lin Yushu furrowed his brows. “Are you the ‘Mr. Why’?”
“I’m just trying to understand,” Song Qiming tilted his head and looked at Lin Yushu. “What makes you feel unworthy of him?”
Lin Yushu moved his lips, intending to say that he couldn’t match up to him financially, but before he could speak, Song Qiming continued, seemingly lost in his own thoughts, “You excel at work, you’re capable of managing a household, you’re good-looking, and you have a good figure. Why wouldn’t he be interested in you?”
…Capable of managing a household?
This was the first time Lin Yushu had heard someone describe him like that.
Wait, a good figure? What was that about?
“You don’t have to comfort me,” he said. “I don’t have feelings for him anymore.”
When he said the last sentence, Lin Yushu’s inner thoughts were quite complicated.
He didn’t intend to have a deep conversation about relationships with Song Qiming, but he also didn’t want Song Qiming to misunderstand and think that he still had lingering feelings for Du Yufei.
“But you said,” Song Qiming frowned slightly, his tone not very pleasant, “that you work hard because of him.”
“‘Him’ represents a group, all the people who look down on me,” Lin Yushu explained, not knowing why he felt the need to explain so earnestly. “I want to prove myself, not just for him, but for all those who underestimate me.”
As they continued talking, Lin Yushu found himself speaking from the heart.
He hadn’t even shared these thoughts with Lin Yize because talking about “confessing and then striving to do better” sounded somewhat pathetic and uncool.
But perhaps because Song Qiming already knew his little secret, it felt okay to talk about these things in front of him.
“Is he still special to you?” Song Qiming asked again.
The barrage of questions felt like a continuous onslaught, and Lin Yushu initially hadn’t thought about defending himself. But now, he was finding it hard to handle.
He raised his defense shield and countered, “Are you bothered by my attitude towards him?”
Song Qiming shifted his gaze elsewhere, not answering immediately.
In the next moment, he looked back at Lin Yushu, apparently having chosen his words carefully. But Lin Yushu didn’t give him a chance to speak and quickly asked, “Are you acting so out of character today because you’re jealous?”
There was a hint of teasing in his words, dispelling the heartfelt atmosphere from earlier.
“Jealous?” Song Qiming raised an eyebrow, sounding displeased. “What makes him worthy of making me jealous?”
“Yes,” Lin Yushu thought Song Qiming’s reaction was somewhat amusing and casually agreed, “I know you’re not lacking admirers.”
Just as the words fell from his lips, Lin Yushu’s phone suddenly vibrated. It was a message from the doorman, saying that Fang Lan had come down from upstairs and was waiting for a car at the hotel entrance.
At the same time, Song Qiming’s phone also vibrated. He glanced at it and said, “The restaurant refunded the money.”
Lin Yushu suddenly realized something was amiss. Du Yufei treated them to a meal, saving Song Qiming’s money, so why did it turn into him having to repay the favor?
The self-service restaurant on the basement floor was just a minute’s walk from the hotel’s main entrance, while Fang Lan’s car would have to come up from the underground parking lot, so it definitely wouldn’t be faster than the two of them.
However, just to be safe, Lin Yushu quickened his pace. And it turned out his urgency was justified. He had just caught up to Fang Lan when her car appeared at the hotel entrance.
“Director Fang,” Lin Yushu hurriedly called out to Fang Lan, who was about to get into the car. “Can you spare me a few minutes?”
Since Song Qiming couldn’t show himself in this matter, he stayed in the hotel lobby and didn’t come out.
“Manager Lin?” Fang Lan looked at Lin Yushu with some surprise. She seemed to be in a good mood, her cheeks slightly flushed from the alcohol. Instead of rejecting Lin Yushu outright, she said, “Let’s talk inside the car.”
Fang Lan’s car was a customized Rolls-Royce Cullinan, with a dual-tone color scheme, a starry sky roof, and a price tag of around 7.5 million.
After the doorman closed the car door carefully, the spacious interior instantly became quiet. The driver drove exceptionally smoothly, and Lin Yushu couldn’t feel any inertia from acceleration or deceleration. It was as if he was sitting in a private lounge in an upscale club.
“You’ve been looking for me quite often lately,” Fang Lan said, putting her crocodile skin platinum bag aside. She didn’t shy away from mentioning that she hadn’t been answering Lin Yushu’s calls. “Is there something you can’t discuss with my lawyer?”
“The lawyer may not have the final say,” Lin Yushu said straightforwardly. “I want to talk to you about those undeveloped plots of land.”
Rarely getting the opportunity to communicate, beating around the bush would only make Fang Lan lose patience.
“What about those plots of land?” Fang Lan asked. “Is he regretting it?”
“Director Shao has no objection to you taking the land,” Lin Yushu said. “But those plots are currently mortgaged. To release the mortgage, Director Shao would need to come up with a large sum of money, which would be quite burdensome for him. And if this news gets out, it will definitely negatively affect the stock price of Yong Xing Group. Fang Tian Real Estate holds a significant number of Yong Xing shares, so it would be a substantial loss for Fang Tian as well.”
Lin Yushu decided to persuade her from the perspective of interests.
After all, the divorce proceedings had been going on for so long, and it was possible that Fang Lan had been impulsive before. But what if she had calmed down now?
However, unlikely events weren’t so easy to come by.
Fang Lan responded calmly, “That’s precisely my intention, isn’t it?”
Lin Yushu’s heart sank, knowing that this approach wouldn’t work.
“If he wants to acknowledge his illegitimate child, fine. I’ll make him bleed heavily. He wants to get a larger share of the inheritance, right? I’d like to see if my father will give him a good face when the group’s stock price drops because of him.”
Fang Lan’s reference to “dad” clearly indicates she is referring to Shao Zhenbang.
Although she and Shao Hexu had reached the stage of divorce, after being married for over twenty years, it would be difficult for her to change her words immediately.
“So, you really don’t care about the losses,” Lin Yushu said.
He suddenly realized that if Fang Lan waited until Shao Zhenbang passed away before divorcing Shao Hexu, she could claim an even larger share of the family assets.
But she didn’t choose that path, indicating that she genuinely despised Yu Xiu’s existence.
“It doesn’t matter whether he acknowledges the illegitimate child now,” Fang Lan immediately retorted, showing no signs of being persuaded. “You know the current situation of Shao Zhenbang. Once he’s gone, Shao Hexu can claim whatever he wants.”
Indeed.
This approach wouldn’t work either.
Perhaps caught up in her emotions, Fang Lan continued excitedly, “Yiyi wants to be a star, but what has Shao Hexu done? He won’t even let her appear in a film. And what about Yu Xiu? He gets all the good resources, and it’s all Shao Hexu who’s behind the scenes helping him. Is his son really that good?”
Yiyi was their youngest daughter, and Lin Yushu understood why Shao Hexu didn’t want their daughter to enter the entertainment industry. He knew how dirty that industry could be.
But it wasn’t something Lin Yushu could mention because, in Fang Lan’s eyes, with their family background, their daughter would never be mistreated.
Fang Lan seemed to have opened the floodgates and continued listing Shao Hexu’s faults.
Lin Yushu glanced outside and noticed that it was drizzling. Even though the rush hour had passed, the traffic was still congested.
He had heard on the news that a cold wave was coming, signaling the onset of winter.
Today’s summer felt particularly long and hot. Winter was finally arriving…
“Do you think there’s any reason in what I said, Manager Lin?” Fang Lan’s voice brought Lin Yushu’s thoughts back.
“Indeed,” Lin Yushu agreed.
“So, is this his idea or yours regarding the land?” Fang Lan asked.
Lin Yushu didn’t give a direct answer. “Shao Director entrusted this matter to me, and I’m just trying it out.”
“In that case, tell him when you go back,” Fang Lan implicitly acknowledged it as Shao Hexu’s idea. “He won’t even have a foot in the door.”
Talking about interests or emotions didn’t work. Lin Yushu was completely at a loss.
At a timely moment, the car arrived at an intersection, and Fang Lan said, “I’ll drop you off here, Manager Lin.”
She intended for Lin Yushu to get out of the car.
The light rain outside was intensifying, but Fang Lan didn’t neglect courtesy. She added, “Take the umbrella with you. I’ll have someone send another one to my company later.”
A custom Rolls-Royce Cullinan with a price tag of several million yuan had an umbrella stowed inside. Usually, the driver or doorman would open it for the boss, and it was rare for someone to get out of the car and open the umbrella for themselves.
Lin Yushu didn’t have the temperament of a boss. He thanked Fang Lan and opened the car door, taking out the umbrella before getting out.
A gust of cold wind suddenly blew, causing Lin Yushu to shiver. He was only wearing a thin long-sleeved shirt, and the collar and cuffs were letting in drafts. Moreover, the chilly wind was mixed with freezing rain, and a single umbrella couldn’t shield him from the cold air attacking from all sides.
“Where are you?” Lin Yushu held the umbrella with one hand and his phone with the other, huddling against the cold wind as he made a call.
“Waiting at the traffic light,” came the voice of Song Qiming on the other end of the line. “I see you now, wait for me to come over.”
“Okay.” Lin Yushu hung up and looked up. He immediately spotted the distinctive round headlights approaching.
After a while, Song Qiming parked the car in front of Lin Yushu. He quickly put away the umbrella and got into the car. By now, his shoulders and trouser legs were already wet from the rain.
“It’s so cold outside,” he said, shivering again.
“It seems the temperature has dropped,” Song Qiming took off his coat and threw it on Lin Yushu, “Wear this.”
The coat still carried Song Qiming’s scent. The sudden warmth caught Lin Yushu off guard, and he looked at Song Qiming, who was wearing short sleeves, and asked, “Aren’t you cold?”
“I didn’t get caught in the rain, so I’m not cold.”
The power of rain shouldn’t be underestimated. Lin Yushu’s damp shirt and trousers clung to his skin, making him extremely uncomfortable.
He covered himself with Song Qiming’s coat and whispered, “Thank you.”
His body quickly warmed up. Lin Yushu never realized that a coat could provide such warmth.
“Let’s check the weather forecast before going out in the future,” Song Qiming looked ahead, driving and saying, “So we don’t encounter this kind of weather and catch a cold again.”
Lin Yushu nodded, “Okay.”
After a pause, he added, “Getting a little rain won’t cause a c-achoo!”
Uh-oh, Lin Yushu rubbed his nose with his index finger. He hoped he wasn’t catching a cold.
