Chapter 17
Liang Xun didn't receive a reply from Lin Shengwen until he was almost off work in the afternoon. Lin Shengwen sent him a pitiful cat emoji and followed it up with "When will you be back?"
Liang Xun: "Five days, I'll be back next week."
Lin Shengwen replied with a cat emoticon with the text "OK~" on it.
Liang Xun stared at the cat emoticons on the phone screen for a long time without moving.
Lin Shengwen didn't know when he started to be keen on posting cat emoticons, nor did he know where he saw them and bought them. Compared with Lin Shengwen's cold face that had no expression most of the time, the cat emoticons seemed to have opened a gap for Liang Xun.
A gap that allows us to glimpse into Lin Shengwen’s rich psychological world.
In fact, Lin Shengwen is much... cuter than he imagined.
Liang Xun used to think that Lin Shengwen was handsome, and what he liked was mostly his superficial temperament. To put it bluntly, his liking for Lin Shengwen for such a long time might just be a superficial one.
It's not his fault. If Liang Xun had the courage to try to get to know Lin Shengwen earlier, he would have been rejected. To peel back Lin Shengwen's skin and get to know the flesh and blood underneath was an almost impossible task for Liang Xun - but that was in the past.
Liang Xun now finally slowly understood the soul beneath Lin Shengwen's beautiful appearance. Even though it was just a scrap, it was enough to make him ecstatic.
But Liang Xun never knew that extreme love could be materialized in the form of "feeling that the other person is cute".
He put his phone back in his pocket and walked towards the subway station.
Liang Xun first went back to his own home - he was in a hurry when moving to Lin Shengwen's house and didn't think of bringing a suitcase with him.
But he didn't expect to see cockroaches for the second time at home.
Liang Xun really couldn't tell whether this cockroach was the same one he had seen before, but fortunately, the cockroach was lying face up on the floor, and its antennae and limbs were visibly stiff, probably because it had been dead for quite some time.
Even though it was a corpse, Liang Xun still didn't dare to step into the room. He locked the door and went to a nearby shopping mall to buy a suitcase.
He bought his last suitcase online, which was relatively cheap. The brand name suitcases sold in physical stores were completely in a different league in price, so he had no choice but to pay for it with tears in his eyes.
Liang Xun pushed his luggage and squeezed into the subway to return to Lin Shengwen's home, but when he got home he found that Lin Shengwen was already at home.
"I sent you a message but you didn't reply." Lin Shengwen poked half of his body out of the kitchen and found the suitcase next to Liang Xun. "Did you go get the suitcase?"
"Newly bought," Liang Xun was about to cry, but he couldn't. Fortunately, Lin Shengwen didn't ask him much about the box, but only asked if he had eaten dinner. "Not yet."
"I knew it." Lin Shengwen said, and asked Liang Xun to wash his hands and sit down to eat.
Lin Shengwen's dietary management of Liang Xun can be said to be impeccable. He even calculates the intake of calories and several major elements.
Liang Xun didn't know how he managed it, but after eating the meals Lin Shengwen prepared for him for a while, he felt a significant improvement in his physical condition. At least he didn't feel weighed down at work, and he didn't want to sit down after standing for even a short while. It was all thanks to his sheer willpower that he managed to keep going. This was why Liang Xun hadn't yet told Lin Shengwen to stop providing him with meals.
What's more, Liang Xun discovered that his orders and discipline of Lin Shengwen were actually quite useful.
He was unwilling to admit that this was a natural habit of his and tried to find the reason in his growth trajectory.
Liang Xun's family was single-parent, and Liang was his mother's surname. His mother divorced his father when he was eight. His father wasn't a good man. After getting married, he refused to work, and the family relied on his mother's meager salary to survive. Furthermore, his father constantly bossed his mother around. Liang Xun never seemed to hear a single request from his father, only reprimands and orders. After his mother's divorce, she finally freed herself from the toxic marriage. After changing jobs and her career improved, she became even busier and less disciplined. Looking back now, Liang Xun realized that he was actually quite used to making do on his own.
So Liang Xun was also puzzled. He had clearly hated this kind of commanding tone before, so why did he happily accept it when the target changed to Lin Shengwen? Liang Xun didn't understand the psychological twists and turns, he just thought it was because Lin Shengwen was different from others.
Being managed by Lin Shengwen, he felt that this restraint should be written with care.
It was just that Lin Shengwen was probably just acting on impulse. He should have some self-awareness and treat the time he spent with Lin Shengwen as just a dream.
After all, no matter how beautiful a dream is, there will always be a day when you wake up, Liang Xun thought.
The typhoon in early summer came at a perfect time.
Liang Xun was worried that the flight wouldn't take off on time, and seeing the rain, he started to worry about it being canceled. Their flight was indeed delayed for nearly two hours, but thankfully they were still notified that they could take off. He and Sheng Biao boarded the plane, and an hour and twenty minutes later, they landed safely at Jingzhou International Airport.
After leaving the airport, Sheng Biao stopped a taxi at the taxi stand and took them to the hotel where they were staying. After putting their luggage down, they went to the stone company's factory.
The factory is very large. Surprisingly, the stone company's factory buildings are all indoors, but the ventilation conditions are very good. This was probably taken into consideration when the factory was built, so in this weather, the workers in the factory are still working in an orderly manner.
The stone company's secretary took them on a tour of the factory twice, then to a nearby warehouse filled with finished products, primarily marble. Liang Xun noticed that they made a lot of marble furniture, such as dining tables and coffee tables, and that the finished products were all polished. Given the beauty of the stone itself, the resulting furniture certainly couldn't be less beautiful.
Sheng Biao asked the secretary some questions, and the details would have to wait until the next day when the boss of the stone company came back to discuss it together, so Liang Xun and he went home.
Although the rain in Jingzhou was not heavy, it was still heavy enough that they had to bring an umbrella. Liang Xun and Sheng Biao searched for a long time near the hotel before they found a restaurant serving southern cuisine.
Not long after he sat down, Liang Xun received a message from Lin Shengwen on his mobile phone, asking him whether he had arrived in Jingzhou and whether he had arranged for dinner.
Liang Xun raised his phone and took photos of the dishes and soup he and Sheng Biao ordered, and sent them to Lin Shengwen.
Lin Shengwen replied: "Eat more."
Liang Xun didn't know whether he should reply or not. After hesitating for a long time, he just replied "OK, got it", as if he was reporting on his work.
Sheng Biao noticed him touching his phone, put a piece of fish into his mouth, and asked Liang Xun, "Any news about your boyfriend?"
Liang Xun awkwardly put his phone away and nodded again. Sheng Biao had previously mentioned the rumor that Lin Shengwen might be Lin Yunshen's younger brother, and it had always been like a thorn in his chest, so when Sheng Biao suddenly asked about his "boyfriend", he felt somewhat uncomfortable.
Luckily, Sheng Biao didn't ask any more questions. He pointed to the stir-fried mushrooms and vegetables in front of him and said, "Eat quickly, or it will get cold. It won't taste good if it's cold."
"Okay." Liang Xun then picked up the chopsticks and started eating.
Although they were not drunk enough, they were full after eating. Liang Xun and Sheng Biao settled the bill, got an invoice for reimbursement, and walked back to the hotel.
Shortly after returning to the hotel, Sheng Biao said he wanted to go smoke.
When he touched his trouser pocket, he remembered that his lighter was confiscated during the airport security check. He was in a hurry to go out that morning and forgot to leave his lighter at home. He lost a lighter in vain. Fortunately, it was not expensive and the engine oil was almost used up, so it was not too bad.
Sheng Biao took the room card and was about to go out to the nearby store to buy a new one. Liang Xun wanted to go with him, but his cell phone suddenly rang again.
"Hey, I'll go by myself. You answer your phone," Sheng Biao said, not knowing whether he had guessed or was just talking nonsense. "I'm afraid I'll be a third wheel here, especially at a very high wattage."
Liang Xun smiled and added "What nonsense", watched Sheng Biao leave the door, opened his phone and found that it was actually Lin Shengwen's call.
He picked up the phone.
"Good evening, Liang Xun."
Lin Shengwen's voice was very soft, and he could hear the sound of pages turning very lightly. He guessed that Lin Shengwen should be in the study at this moment.
"Good evening," Liang Xun replied, and asked, "What's wrong? Why are you calling so suddenly?"
"Oh, nothing else," Lin Shengwen said, then paused, "--actually, there is something."
"Vice President Yu told me today that he will be coming to Dajiang Yuehua to attend his nephew's birthday party in a while, and he wants to stop by our house."
Lin Shengwen said, "I might have to have dinner with Teacher Yu. Do you mind?"
"Why would I mind? You asked me for help mainly for this," Liang Xun tactfully referred to marrying Lin Shengwen as "help." He understood and said, "Isn't this where I can help?"
Liang Xun asked, "What preparations should I make?"
"I'll be ready, but I might need you to be a little more intimate with me."
"Oh, no problem."
Although Liang Xun said this readily, he was still quite unsure. He was supposed to act intimate with Lin Shengwen, but how close would that be? No matter how hard he tried to act, he couldn't possibly have excessive physical contact in front of Lin Shengwen's boss... At most, he could get a little closer to Lin Shengwen, maybe hold hands or something like that? ... Liang Xun was worried that it wouldn't be revealed.
"Then I'll trouble you."
After Lin Shengwen finished speaking, there was no further follow-up for a long time.
Liang Xun took the phone from his ear and stared at the ever-increasing call time. He couldn't tell if Lin Shengwen had something else to say or if he simply forgot to hang up.
He was just wondering when Lin Shengwen spoke again.
"When you come back from Jingzhou, I'll pick you up at the airport."
Liang Xun was stunned when he heard Lin Shengwen say on the other end of the phone.
"Vice President Yu is coming, so we have to go buy a pair of wedding rings first."
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