The truth
Mr. Fu took his seat and the banquet officially began.
Everyone began to take turns wishing Mr. Fu a happy birthday. Ning Ruotong also gestured to Letang, "Shall we go over after this group of people leave?"
Letang looked at Lin Shaoxing who was sitting next to Mr. Fu and wanted to escape.
Why is Lin Shaoxing here? And he's sitting next to Mr. Fu...
Letang had a vague guess in his mind.
I probably lied to him and told him I had gone home to rest because I was afraid he would worry.
It would be better to run now while Lin Shaoxing hasn't seen him. Otherwise, even if he grows three more tongues, he won't be able to explain himself.
"I seem to..." My stomach feels a little uncomfortable.
Before he could finish his words, Fu Zhixu came over with a wine glass and walked straight towards Letang.
It was too late for Letang to escape.
"Let's go, let's go toast to grandpa together."
Seeing this, several people at the table started to make a fuss.
The commotion here was quite loud and quickly attracted the attention of other tables.
Letang looked towards the main table guiltily, and met Lin Shaoxing's gaze across the air.
The other party was obviously a little surprised.
Then he stood up and walked towards them.
Letang wished he could crawl under the table right now.
However, at this point, he couldn't really crawl under the table, nor could he escape anywhere. In just a few steps, Lin Shaoxing took big strides and quickly walked in front of him.
"You're here too?"
As he spoke, he glanced around at everyone present.
Everyone present was silent for a moment, their eyes shifting between Letang and Lin Shaoxing.
Lin Shaoxing was a little older and never liked to socialize. He was even a rare guest at such banquets and gatherings. All people knew was that he was the eldest son of the Lin family and had been "someone else's child" since he was a child. Many people present were even nagged by their parents for taking him as an example. The most common thing they heard was: It would be great if you could be half as worry-free as Lin Shaoxing.
Therefore, they were not familiar with Lin Shaoxing and had a subtle aversion to him.
But it seems that Letang and Lin Shaoxing not only know each other, but are also quite familiar with each other?
Otherwise, how could Lin Shaoxing come to him in person?
Fu Zhixu and Bei Yeji both looked at Lin Shaoxing.
Kitano Ji has a very accurate intuition and his eyes are full of vigilance, like a wolf who has finally found a piece of fat meat and is reluctant to enjoy it, but suddenly a powerful lion rushes out and tries to spoil his delicious meal.
Compared to Bei Yeji, Fu Zhixu was much calmer. He just quietly tensed his back where they couldn't see him, and out of politeness, he smiled and greeted Lin Shaoxing.
Dozens of pairs of eyes were staring at Letang, all waiting for his reaction, either out of curiosity or inquiry, as every move could arouse their suspicion.
Letang had no choice but to put on a proper smile: "What a coincidence."
Fortunately, judging from Lin Shaoxing's current expression, he should have thought that he came to the banquet just as a classmate of the Fu family.
The most urgent thing is to keep Lin Shaoxing away from this group of people so that they won’t say anything nonsense again.
Lin Shaoxing happened to say, "Do you want to come with me to toast Mr. Fu?"
Letang was overjoyed and quickly picked up the cup to pull Lin Shao along.
Before he had taken a few steps, Fu Zhixu caught up with him. Fu Zhixu calmly put his arm around his shoulders, frightening Le Tang so much that he almost dropped the cup in his hand.
Fu Zhixu looked at Lin Shaoxing, still maintaining a respectable smile, but the strength of his grip on Letang's shoulders could not be ignored, making it impossible for Letang to dodge for a moment:
"Letang is my guest. It's neither right nor proper for me to trouble you. I'll take him over."
Lin Shaoxing's expression remained unchanged, as calm as usual, but his gaze behind the glasses fell on Fu Zhixu's hand on Letang's shoulder: "It's okay, I'm quite familiar with him. If we have to talk about it, I will naturally take better care of him."
Fu Zhixu tilted his head in confusion: "How did you and the eldest brother of the Lin family know each other? That's strange."
Letang felt that he could hardly hold back the smile on his face. He felt like he was caught between two tigers, and it was hard to tell who would be the one eating him tonight.
"My...my grandma had surgery, thanks to Brother Lin's help."
"No wonder, the eldest brother of the Lin family is a doctor."
Fu Zhixu nodded in understanding, but then changed the subject:
"But why didn't you tell me that your grandma was sick? I should do my part to help her. Is grandma feeling better now?"
"You'll be discharged in a few days, don't worry."
The seemingly normal conversation made Lin Shaoxing frown slightly.
"Let's go. It's not good to keep grandpa waiting too long."
Fu Zhixu took him to the main table without saying anything and toasted Mr. Fu.
Lin Shaoxing stood where he was, looking at the two men's backs leaning very close to each other, and their posture of toasting Mr. Fu together, and he always felt that it was particularly glaring.
"Looking at the look on the face of the eldest brother of the Lin family, I'm afraid he still doesn't know?"
Kitano Shu came over at some point, and I don't know how much of the conversation between the three of them he had heard.
He took a sip of wine carelessly, suppressing the bitterness that was about to overflow in his heart.
"I'm afraid you're the only one in this entire banquet, in the entire S City, who doesn't know about this?"
But if he had to choose between Fu Zhixu and Lin Shaoxing, he would rather choose Fu Zhixu.
At least Fu Zhixu won, he would feel better, he thought almost masochistically.
"If you're curious, I can tell you."
Kitano Ji drank the wine in the cup in one gulp.
Lin Shaoxing glanced at him.
"No need."
He turned to leave.
"Where's your cousin, Lin Nuo?"
Lin Shaoxing didn't understand why he suddenly brought up Lin Nuo.
But he had heard rumors about Lin Nuo from his mother several times, saying that he was entangled with the son of the Fu family and had an unclear relationship with the one of the Kitano family.
His mother didn't like Lin Nuo and reminded him many times that if he met someone like Lin Nuo, he must stay away from him.
So when Bei Yeji suddenly asked about Lin Nuo, he was not surprised. He just thought that he was asking why Lin Nuo was not present at Mr. Fu’s birthday today.
"You can ask him yourself."
Letang and Fu Zhixu had already returned from their toast. Lin Shaoxing was standing on the only way for them to return to their seats, so he stood there waiting for them to come over.
As soon as Letang saw him, he subtly distanced himself from Fu Zhixu.
Fu Zhixu no longer insisted on holding him, but just kept half a step away and walked with him closely.
"As it happens, you are all here, so I'll just tell you straight out."
Kitano Shu put the empty wine glass on the table beside him.
"The person who previously spread rumors about Letang used an overseas IP address and hired professional hackers to hide it, but I've already found out who it is."
Lin Shaoxing was unaware of this and looked at Letang with a frown, as if asking: When did this happen?
Letang lowered his head as if he had done something wrong, avoiding eye contact.
Several people, whose appetite had been whetted, urged him: "Who is it?"
"Lin Nuo."
"……who?"
Everyone's expression was blank for a moment.
Even Letang widened his eyes in disbelief.
"Impossible? How could Lin Nuo...he wouldn't do that, right?"
Bei Ye Ji faced everyone's questioning gazes and sneered calmly: "Don't believe it? If you don't believe it, you can go ask him yourself. But I don't think he will admit it himself."
He turned to look at Lin Shaoxing again: "Lin Nuo is your cousin after all. He did something like this, so don't cover up for him."
The banquet lasted until very late.
Letang was about to go find Lin Shaoxing, but was stopped by Fu Zhixu.
"Let me take you back."
Amidst the crowd's jeers, he leaned over and whispered in Letang's ear, "Perform the whole act, hold on a little longer."
Letang had no choice but to nod and agree and get into his car.
On the way, he sent several messages to Lin Shaoxing, but received no reply, and he couldn't help feeling anxious.
Fu Zhixu seemed to notice that he was absent-minded, and left without saying a word after sending him to the gate of the community.
"Go to bed early."
But Letang stopped him: "Lin Nuo's matter..."
"You don't have to worry."
Fu Zhixu drove away.
It was not until very late, when Letang was almost unable to hold on and about to fall asleep on the sofa, that he received a reply from Lin Shaoxing.
"Open the door."
Lin Shaoxing had a spare key to his house, which Letang gave to him when the house was just bought.
Letang hurried to open the door.
"Fu Zhixu and I..."
"I know everything."
Lin Shaoxing interrupted him, holding him and leaning quietly against the door. In the darkness, Le Tang could hear the strong heartbeat in his chest, but he was not completely at ease and struggled to see Lin Shaoxing's expression.
Letang was moving around in his arms, and Lin Shaoxing was afraid of hurting him, so he had to let go.
Letang carefully observed his expression, and it seemed that apart from fatigue, he had no other particularly excited emotions.
"Don't worry." He stretched out his broad palm, rubbed Letang's head, and comforted him, "But you, you suffered so much, why didn't you tell me? I also want to settle these things for you..."
When Letang heard his words, the grievances he had felt for many days suddenly surged up uncontrollably. Fearing that Lin Shaoxing might worry, he quickly suppressed the sour feeling in his nose.
"But, how could it be Lin Nuo? And Lin Nuo is your cousin... It's not easy for you to intervene in this matter. After all, you are his relative. I don't want you to be caught in the middle."
Lin Shaoxing looked into his eyes for a long time, suddenly let out a long breath, and gently pinched his nose.
"No, don't worry. Our family and the Lin Nuo family don't have a close relationship. Besides, in my heart, I will only favor you, understand?"
Letang felt warm in her heart and nodded slightly in his arms.
"But," he changed the subject, "I've suddenly become the third party, and I feel bad. Moreover, I actually heard about this from someone else. If I hadn't gone to Mr. Fu's birthday party today, when would you have told me the truth?"
Letang was speechless.
He was indeed sorry to Lin Shaoxing in this regard.
He stammered, "Wait... wait until this period of hype has passed, then... I'll give you a legitimate status..."
Lin Shaoxing suddenly laughed softly, his chest vibrating Le Tang's eardrums and making his heart beat faster.
"Okay, you said it. Don't deny it when the time comes."
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