Chapter 3 That Man

Lin Yi looked at Shen Beidao's profile as he focused on driving. His high nose bridge and gold-rimmed glasses gave him an air of asceticism and refinement.

This man is indeed very charming; he's the mature and steady type that easily makes people like and depend on him.

"Let's grab some food first. The lecture starts at 2 PM, so we have plenty of time," Shen Beidao suggested.

"No," Lin Yi refused almost without thinking. He waved his phone, his tone deliberately distant. "I have a friend at Jiangzhou University who wants to meet me. I'll just have dinner with him."

Shen Beidao tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

"Hmm? Is it something important?" He tried to make his voice sound like a casual question rather than an interrogation or inquiry.

But didn't they agree to go to the lecture?

Lin Yi leaned back in his chair, his gaze fixed on the fleeting street scene outside the window, his tone as casual as if he were discussing the weather: "An old friend, it's been a long time since we've seen each other, so we'll take this opportunity to meet up today."

He paused, as if just remembering something, and added, "Speaking of which, he seems to be a German major as well, something like... German Business Studies."

“I’m different from him,” Shen Beidao said, looking straight ahead as he smoothly turned a corner. “I studied German translation.”

He felt a little relieved; it turned out to be a classmate.

This doesn't seem like... much of a threat.

As one of the youngest professors in the School of Foreign Languages ​​at Jiangzhou University, his teaching scope is actually quite broad, covering everything from professional courses to college-level public elective courses. Most students in the School of Foreign Languages ​​have probably taken his classes.

As for why he didn't state his professorship from the beginning...

Perhaps they were worried that a certain age difference would create a chasm, causing this seemingly carefree and unrestrained young man to immediately lose interest in them.

He didn't want to take the risk before he could truly get Lin Yi to accept him.

"What's your friend's name?" Shen Beidao casually replied. "Perhaps we know each other."

"Li Rui." Lin Yi smiled, turning his head to look at Shen Beidao's reaction. "He seems to be in Class 3... Do you know him?"

Shen Beidao's heart skipped a beat, but his face remained calm. He then frowned slightly, as if trying to recall something.

Then he shook his head, his tone tinged with regret: "I don't know them. There are too many students in the School of Foreign Languages. I only know classmates from the same major or those I've taken general courses with."

Lin Yi: "It's okay if you don't know each other. I'll introduce you two another day."

Shen Beidao replied calmly, "Hmm."

Li Rui is one of the students in the class that Shen Beidao is in charge of, and one of the students he has been proud of since freshman year.

Li Rui will most likely be present to help out at the afternoon lecture.

This gave Shen Beidao a sense of absurdity and a strong sense of crisis.

This coincidence is too dramatic; if it's exposed, the consequences could be disastrous.

"Wait a minute, could you please drop me off at Kashima Coffee Shop?" Lin Yi seemed unconcerned and quickly put the topic out of his mind.

Shen Beidao glanced at him: "Okay."

Lin Yi took out his new phone, started fiddling with it, and stopped talking.

A subtle silence fell over the carriage.

Shen Beidao could see out of the corner of his eye that Lin Yi's slender, fair fingers were rapidly swiping across the screen, his expression focused, and a faint smile would occasionally appear at the corner of his mouth.

That smile was beautiful, but it left Shen Beidao with a bitter taste in his mouth.

Who is he chatting with?

Is it that "Marco Boba Tea"?

Was the "old friend" who invited him to meet Li Rui?

However, Li Rui would always ask for leave in advance if he had something to do.

Shen Beidao realized that he knew too little about Lin Yi.

This young man is like a beautifully packaged but difficult-to-read book; he can only stay on the title page and cannot glimpse the true contents inside.

This feeling of being out of control was both unfamiliar and agonizing for him, who was used to being at ease and in complete control in the academic world.

He began to carefully review every detail in his mind from their first meeting at the coffee shop until now.

Lin Yi's initiative and boldness, yet at crucial moments he revealed a sense of detachment and ease...

His playful references to "boyfriend," and his attitude towards the ID "Marco Bobo Tea"...

All of this points to one possibility: Lin Yi may have a wealth of romantic experience, and he may just be an ordinary page in Lin Yi's long "love history".

It's even possible that...

It was just a little incident that happened on a whim, when he wanted to "have some fun".

However, if one can control their emotions at will, then it's not true love...

Lin Yi, who was standing to the side, seemed to be focused on playing on his phone, but half of his mind was on Shen Beidao.

He could feel the restrained, gentle gaze that the man beside him occasionally cast at him.

That's interesting.

Lin Yi chuckled to himself.

This man was indeed quite different from the ones he had encountered before; he wasn't so easy to deal with.

Lin Yi thought casually: Let's just treat this as having some fun before school starts. As for how long it will last...

Let's see how long this "classmate Shen" can keep him entertained.

He glanced at the navigation; Jiangzhou University was still some distance away.

He adjusted his posture, closed his eyes, and pretended to rest.

After driving for about thirty minutes, Chen Beidao parked the car on the side of the road next to Lujima Coffee.

"Thanks." Lin Yi got out of the car without turning his head.

Shen Beidao gripped the steering wheel, his gaze following Lin Yi's figure intently as he watched him push open the familiar glass door of the Kashima Coffee Shop.

The warm light inside the store outlined the young man's slender back. Shen Beidao watched him walk straight to the window seat, where two men were already sitting.

Then, something happened that made Shen Beidao's pupils shrink:

One of the men, with a refined and scholarly air, stood up, opened his arms naturally, and embraced Lin Yi affectionately.

Finally, he reached out and, with obvious affection, gently pinched Lin Yi's cheek.

Lin Yi, instead of resisting, looked up and revealed a bright smile that Shen Beidao had never seen before, one that carried a hint of dependence.

That smile was so pure it was almost blinding, completely different from the distant attitude Lin Yi had when they were together.

The waiting vehicles behind him honked impatiently, startling Shen Beidao out of his daze.

He took a deep breath, forced himself to look away, gripped the steering wheel tightly again, and gently pressed the accelerator. The black SUV slowly merged into the traffic...

Inside the Kashima Cafe.

As Lin Yi watched the black SUV drive away, the forced smile on his face instantly faded.

He pulled out a chair and sat down without making a sound, glanced outside casually, and said, "My boyfriend just brought me here. He's a little shy, so he won't come in."

"Oh, it's okay, the same next time."

The man sitting opposite him, with similar almond-shaped eyes but a more mature and charming demeanor, was his father.

Xie Chun, the gay man who "married fraudulently".

Xie Chun looked at his son, his eyes filled with complex emotions, and he tried to coax him with a cautious tone: "Xiao Yi, what shall we drink first? I'll take you to your favorite restaurant later."

"No need to trouble yourself." Lin Yi refused decisively, his gaze fixed on the traffic outside the window, avoiding eye contact with Xie Chun. "My classmate needs to see me, I'll be leaving after a while."

Ever since he learned his father's secret, he could no longer bring himself to use that once affectionate term of endearment.

He can rationally understand a homosexual's genetic attraction to men and believes that love is as free as flowing water.

But he could not forgive or accept that someone would choose to deceive an innocent woman's feelings and life for the sake of so-called "starting a family and continuing the family line," and that woman was his mother.

Every time she showed even the slightest reconciliation to Xie Chun, it made him feel a sense of betrayal towards his mother.

At this moment, the young man sitting next to Xie Chun spoke up: "Lin Yi, right? Your dad finally came back, let's have a meal together..."

"And who are you?"

Lin Yi looked at the unfamiliar young man, but his questioning gaze finally settled on Xie Chun's face, his tone filled with undisguised sarcasm, "Your new man?"

Xie Chun frowned slightly, but he didn't get angry. He patiently explained, "No, you misunderstood. He's my intern. He accompanied me to meet a client this morning, and we came here together after we finished talking."

"Intern?" Lin Yi raised an eyebrow, repeating the word as he began to scrutinize the young and handsome man.

Such a beautiful and young intern, always by Xie Chun's side, her feelings were written all over her face.

An unnamed anger, mixed with an indescribable restlessness, surged up.

Lin Yi took out his phone, the light from the unlocked screen illuminating his expressionless face. He turned to the boy, his tone becoming flippant: "Handsome, want to add each other on WeChat? You look pretty good, you're probably gay too, right?"

Before the boy could react, he looked at Xie Chun again, his peach blossom eyes, inherited from his father, gleaming with a cold light, but he asked in a deliberately intimate tone, "Dad, you don't mind, do you? I quite like his type."

The moment the word "Dad" slipped out of his mouth, even Lin Yi himself was stunned for a moment.

Lin Yi couldn't remember how many years it had been since he had called him that.

But this time, he chose the most hurtful way...

A note from the author:

----------------------