21. Exposure
73.
Lin Can had never seen such a scene before.
He opened his eyes wide, trying to take in all the paintings, but there were too many of them to see in one glance.
He knew before that there was a studio hidden in Fu Xingzhi's bedroom. Out of respect for his privacy, he had never been in. He didn't know that all the portraits in it were not of him.
The bright lights of the studio were reflected in Lin Can's eyes, and his eyelashes trembled slightly.
During this period, Fu Xingzhi had already completed a series of actions, including driving Jiang Wenxi downstairs, threatening her that he would report her whereabouts to her parents if she dared to enter his bedroom again, and returning to the bedroom and locking the door.
When he stood in front of Lin Can again, Lin Can had already looked at all the paintings one by one.
Fu Xingzhi studied art for more than ten years when he was young, and he himself has a good aesthetic sense. Even though he is now a businessman, it does not affect his painting skills. Therefore, when Lin Can saw so many portraits of himself, he was not too scared. Instead, he was amazed by the bright colors and smooth lines in these paintings.
Fu Xingzhi stood at the door of the studio. There was darkness behind him, making it difficult to see his expression, but Lin Can could see a hint of nervousness in him.
His fingertips hanging at his sides were trembling.
Lin Can asked him: "Did you draw all these?"
Fu Xingzhi hummed, his emotion unrecognizable.
Lin Can nodded and continued to watch carefully.
Fu Xingzhi's obsessive-compulsive disorder is extremely serious. Even his paintings have to be arranged in chronological order from the inside to the outside. The innermost one is the first sketch he drew for Lin Can. It has been badly worn out and you can tell it's been around for a while, which is indeed the case. It shows little Lin Can being abducted by Jiang Wenxi and then caught. He is sitting on a roadside bench holding Mickey Mouse with a guilty look on his face.
Recalling the embarrassing things in his childhood, Lin Can couldn't help but laugh.
The rest were basically sketches, until Lin Can was eleven years old.
That year, Lin Can's father imprisoned Fu Xingzhi.
74.
It was in this place, Fu Xingzhi's current bedroom, that Lin Yecheng began his illegal imprisonment that lasted for two months.
It was summer vacation at that time, and Fu Xingzhi came back from university to help Lin Yecheng run the business. He was full of energy and didn't know that what happened next would change the destiny of his life.
Lin Can was deliberately transferred away, happily carrying his little schoolbag to attend summer camp, so he didn't know what happened exactly that year. He only knew that after returning from summer camp, his big brother never smiled again...
His father, who had always been indifferent to him, simply told him: "Xingzhi has changed his surname to Fu, so you should also change your name. From now on, don't call him brother."
Lin Jingxing, who was still unaware that he was about to change his name to Lin Can, nodded obediently, "Oh, I understand."
He was too young at that time and didn't understand why Fu Xingzhi, who was sitting next to him, had such a pale face.
Lin Can put away his memories and looked at the wall in front of him. Fu Xingzhi never drew a sketch for him after he was eleven years old.
The next timeline jumps directly to when Lin Can was fourteen years old.
At that time, a major event happened in the family - Lin Yecheng died.
This painting was directly transformed from a sketch into a traditional Chinese painting. It depicts Fu Xingzhi holding Lin Can's hand and sending him to the school gate in the morning. The two silhouettes and a few light strokes outline the painter's relaxed and bright mood, implying a sense of rebirth.
Fu Xingzhi has been painting Chinese paintings for several years, but he doesn't produce many works, almost one per year. The meaning of this is similar to parents taking photos of their children to record their growth process.
Until I was seventeen, and then everything changed.
Lin Can's portrait changed from traditional Chinese painting to oil painting, and the colors are more gorgeous than before.
If the previous paintings convey the meaning of "loving father and filial son", then starting from the painting at the age of seventeen, the feeling of the entire picture changes from positive to ambiguous.
Lin Can in the painting looked like he had just finished exercising, with beads of sweat on his body and face. He was holding a bottle of mineral water and drinking it with his head tilted back. His rosy lips could not hold the bottle, and a line of clear water flowed out from the corner of his mouth, breaking into water droplets and flowing to the collar of his T-shirt, wetting his chest.
It was clearly just drinking water, but the liquid was drawn in a… not very serious way.
Lin Can thought, how can my lips be that red?
Fu Xingzhi has a solid foundation, his proportions are excellent, and the picture is full of tension. Although it is a static painting, one can still see the dynamic effect.
The paintings at the end were all more improper than the last, with a lot of red among the three primary colors. Lin Can almost thought that he had been maliciously seducing Fu Xingzhi for the past two years.
He didn't paint many paintings before he was seventeen, but the paintings after that were so numerous that they almost recorded every aspect of his life. The love-filled brushstrokes and crimson tones were so touching that Lin Can had no idea what to understand after seeing them.
75.
Fu Xingzhi waited patiently for Lin Can to finish reading before finally speaking.
"Jingxing, do you want to say something?"
As soon as this name came out, Lin Can knew that he was nervous.
If he insisted on thinking maliciously of Fu Xingzhi, it would be no different from committing a crime with an acquaintance: the old pervert lurked around the teenager, using the convenience of his identity to monitor his every move, and even drew pictures to fantasize about. No one knew if he did anything strange while drawing these pictures.
Lin Can also imagined a scene in his mind. He showed a disgusted expression and said to Fu Xingzhi: "Please book me a ticket to fly abroad tomorrow. Anywhere is fine, as long as I don't have to stay with you, a pervert who fantasizes about me every day."
He was amused by his own imagination.
Fu Xingzhi paused, thinking that the child was frightened.
"Jingxing? Can you calm down?"
Lin Can forced himself to act serious in such an important occasion and slowly walked to Fu Xingzhi.
He didn't know that every step he took was like a torture to Fu Xingzhi.
Fu Xingzhi lost his composure and chuckled to himself, "I'll inform my secretary now. Go and handle the paperwork tomorrow. I'll return your father's shares to you, along with all the movable and immovable property I'm holding for you."
Lin Can stopped and blinked, "And then?"
He thought Fu Xingzhi was thinking the same thing as he had just imagined, but he was caught off guard by a pair of strong hands pulling him into their arms and holding him tightly.
Having known him for so many years, Lin Can always saw Fu Xingzhi as calm and rational, and he had never been like this before.
He said in a hoarse voice, "I will return to you everything your father gave me. I don't owe him anything. I only want you."
Fu Xingzhi had sacrificed three of his most precious years for Lin Yecheng's upbringing. Now that Lin Yecheng's business was growing larger and larger under his management, he felt that as long as he gave it all back to Lin Can, he would no longer owe Lin Yecheng anything. He had discarded his previous identity as Lin Can's brother and no longer wanted to be with him as Lin Can's long-time admirer.
Fu Xingzhi seemed to be in a state of nightmare, and he kept repeating: "I don't owe him anything anymore, I only want you."
He kept kissing the top of Lin Can's head, "Jingxing, I love you. It started when you were still a minor. I've been thinking about you every day since you were seventeen. I'm sorry, I love you too much. Don't be afraid of me..."
Lin Can was held by two strong arms and could hardly breathe.
Although Fu Xingzhi's surname is not Lin, his stubborn and somewhat paranoid personality is exactly the same as that of the father and son of the Lin family.
Lin Can tried to catch his breath and said with his dying breath: "I haven't... said anything yet..."
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