Chapter 33 "He has a crush on me" //(...
As the Bugatti Chiron hurtled into the underground parking lot of the Binhai Commercial Building with a roar that seemed to tear through the air, its tires left four clear scorch marks on the epoxy floor.
Li Xinian got out of the car before the engine had even completely stopped, his icy gray eyes sharp as a hawk's in the dim light.
"Clear the area. Confirm the area around the repair shop is safe." He gave the order in a low voice into his headset, his tone still carrying the coldness and hardness he had developed from the rapid drive.
The bodyguard team quickly and silently dispersed, and a moment later, a reply came through the earpiece: "Mr. Li, it's safe. There are people in the maintenance room, but no other threats."
Li Xinian's tense jawline relaxed slightly, but he did not step forward immediately. Instead, he stopped at the corner of the elevator hall.
He stood there in the shadows, looking at the closed iron door of the repair shop, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the cold, leather edges of the car key.
Lin Suxing must be terrified; he won't come out so quickly.
He should... wait.
Ten minutes. He stood there, like a silent statue, listening to his still-beating heart, seemingly lost in thought.
When the door to the maintenance room was finally carefully pushed open a crack, Li Xinian subtly adjusted his posture to make himself appear as if he were just passing by.
The moment their eyes met, Li Xinian's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled completely. Thank goodness, he was alright.
However, after the initial shock and reliance, Lin Suxing's eyes flickered, and he forced a somewhat stiff smile, his tone deliberately distant:
"President Li? What a coincidence, you're here too. I'm Lin Suxing from Yunyuan Group. You may not know me before, but I saw you from afar at the banquet, and I've heard a lot about you."
Li Xinian's eyes darkened almost imperceptibly.
skillful?
A clear sense of confusion, even a subtle unease, swept through his mind.
The "ghost" who would shiver in his arms on stormy nights and cling to him dependently with her cool energy body was now speaking to him in the same polite tone he used to use with a stranger.
Why?
She concealed his identity as "Ghost," not wanting him to know that the extraordinary protection and closeness he received came from this seemingly ordinary young man.
Li Xinian concealed all the turbulent emotions in his eyes, and following the other person's words, calmly gave an impeccable reason, his tone as indifferent as if he were discussing the weather:
“Unfortunately.” He raised his hand slightly and gestured around. “This building belongs to the Li family. I just happened to be passing by and came to take a look. I just heard the security guard say that some people were causing trouble on this floor and making quite a commotion. I saw you on this floor, so I guess you probably saw them.”
He watched as Lin Suxing instantly relaxed, as if she truly believed it was just a "chance encounter." The unpleasant feeling he had felt due to being "estranged" quietly transformed into a more complex and indescribable emotion.
Want to play a game of concealment? Okay, I'll play along.
Upon hearing that Li Xinian was only passing by, Lin Suxing's sudden suspicions immediately vanished.
He knew it! A big shot like Li Xinian must have just been passing by. How could it be a coincidence?
Even though he had only revealed his whereabouts to Nian Nian, a virtual character in the companion module, Lin Suxing had not thought about it in that way at all.
After all... who would have thought that the cute chibi pixelated character with two heads and blue beady eyes would actually be a mixed-race man who is a head taller and has a cold face in real life?
Li Xinian deliberately maintained a just-right distance from the other party, with only a hint of familiarity in his voice that was barely perceptible and unique to the two of them: "Wen Tang mentioned you to me, so I know who you are."
All the questions about why Li Xinian knew him and why he was here were answered, and Lin Suxing completely let go of those unfounded guesses.
Standing beside Li Xinian, and looking at the obviously skilled bodyguards not far behind him, Lin Suxing finally felt that "she was safe."
Lin Suxing's feigned composure crumbled, and her light brown eyes welled up with tears as she began to pour out her grievances: "Sigh, yeah, those people were terrifying. My car broke down, and now I don't know how to get home."
He became more and more aggrieved as he spoke, and his voice trembled.
Perhaps he shouldn't have poured out his troubles to someone he didn't even know, but there was no one else around, and Li Xinian had expressed concern for him, which made him lower his guard.
…He didn’t mention that those criminal gangs were targeting him, but glossed over it all, as if he wanted to cover something up.
The hidden story behind this may be more complicated than he imagined.
Li Xinian listened quietly, his gaze falling on Lin Suxing's slightly red and watery eyes: "Let me take you back first, it's not safe for you to be here alone."
Lin Suxing was somewhat surprised that the other party would help her like this, and immediately said, "...Thank you, thank you for your help."
What's going on? The boss is actually going to drive this guy home himself??
*
Bugatti's cabin has excellent sound insulation, completely isolating it from outside noise and creating a closed, private space.
The car was illuminated only by the pale blue light of the dashboard and the occasional halo of the dim yellow streetlights that swept past the window.
The light, like flowing paintbrushes, briefly swept across Li Xinian's well-defined profile, only to cast him into shadow the next second, leaving behind an even more mysterious silhouette.
The shifting light and shadow also swept across Lin Suxing's slightly pale face. He was curled up in the comfortable passenger seat, his fingers unconsciously fiddling with the edge of the seatbelt.
A quiet, almost viscous atmosphere filled the air. The two were less than an arm's length apart, yet it felt as if invisible threads were pulling them together.
While waiting at a red light, Li Xinian looked up and his gaze once again focused on the top of Lin Suxing's head.
The system panel above Lin Suxing's head was still visible to him, just like when they last met. The difference this time was that he could open a more specific interface with his thoughts.
The task list is clearly visible. The main tasks are [Reveal the identity of the true young master of the Lin family in high society] and [Participate in the audition for the male lead or second male lead role in "I Am Immortal"], which are pending. The rest are shown in gray text as completed.
Li Xinian could also clearly see what kind of buffs and items could be redeemed with the existing points in the points mall.
Like Lin Sixi, Li Xinian also immediately figured out the key after learning about the task of [revealing the identity of the true young master of the Lin family within high society circles]: if Lin Yuan and Jiang Heyun wanted to reveal Lin Suxing's identity, they needed to accept Lin Suxing.
...Speaking of which, Lin Siyi is going to Europe soon to discuss a long-term collaboration with a well-known high-end luxury brand with a history spanning five centuries, which may be an excellent opportunity.
"Have you eaten yet?" Li Xinian suddenly asked, his deep voice standing out clearly in the quiet carriage.
Lin Suxing seemed startled and quickly shook her head: "Not yet."
"Let's go together." Li Xinian's suggestion came naturally, as if it were just a casual remark. "Is there anything you'd like to eat?"
"You decide." Lin Suxing certainly didn't dare to make the decision on his own. If Li Xinian had any problems, such as having multiple IUDs or allergies when going to remote areas, then he would be in trouble.
Li Xinian's gaze was fixed on the road ahead, only the slightly tightened knuckles on the steering wheel betraying a hint of his emotions.
It was too unfamiliar, as if...they didn't know each other at all, and I was just someone he respected.
Li Xinian had heard this cautious and somewhat fearful tone from countless people.
He never cared how others treated him, whether they were flattering or polite; he only cared about whether he achieved his goal.
But now... he cares a lot about such small details.
"You decide." Li Xinian's voice was deep and absolute, leaving no room for argument.
"Is hot pot okay?" Lin Suxing asked softly, with a hint of probing.
Since Li Xinian insisted that he decide, he would choose what he wanted to eat. After all, chain hot pot restaurants can usually guarantee the freshness of their food.
As expected, Li Xinian raised an eyebrow almost imperceptibly upon hearing this, seemingly somewhat surprised.
He was silent for a few seconds, and just when Lin Suxing thought she was going to be rejected, she heard his deep voice sound again: "I don't eat this often. Can you recommend a place?"
Lin Suxing's eyes lit up instantly, as if they had been struck by stars, and her previous fear was greatly reduced: "Then... Haidilao! How about we go to Haidilao? Their tomato broth is especially amazing!"
Seeing the instant radiance in the person beside him, a faint, almost imperceptible gentleness flickered deep within Li Xinian's grey-blue eyes. He turned his gaze back to the road ahead and replied softly:
"good."
*
The bubbling, spicy broth exudes an enticing aroma, contrasting sharply with the sweet and refreshing tomato broth.
Li Xinian was clearly unfamiliar with the sea of red in front of him. He calmly picked up a piece of tripe, dipped it in the spicy broth according to the "seven dips and eight lifts" method that Lin Suxing had whispered to him, and then calmly put it into his mouth.
However, the overpowering spiciness and slightly pungent aroma of Sichuan peppercorns exceeded his expectations. His movements stopped almost imperceptibly, his throat moved slightly, and his brows furrowed slightly, but he did not cough. Only a faint, barely perceptible redness quickly appeared at the corner of his eyes.
Lin Suxing, who had been secretly watching him, immediately noticed and, without thinking, picked up the iced yogurt next to her and eagerly handed it over: "President Li, drink this to cool down the spiciness!"
Li Xinian reached out to take it, his fingertips just touching Lin Suxing's fingers as she held the cup.
The cool touch made Li Xinian feel awkward for a moment, but he quickly masked it.
Lin Suxing: !
Lin Suxing's hand trembled suddenly, and his expression became somewhat uneasy.
Strangely enough, he had encountered other people by chance before, but he always felt inexplicably intimidated by Li Xinian.
Perhaps because the other person seemed too unapproachable, Lin Suxing didn't even know what to say to him.
Li Xinian clearly captured Lin Suxing's momentary panic, as well as the complex light that flashed in her light brown eyes, a mixture of admiration and inferiority.
All the previous doubts about "estrangement" and "concealment" seemed to have a reasonable explanation at this moment.
I see.
Holding the cold yogurt, Li Xinian felt the unpleasantness in his heart caused by being "deceived" melt away like ice and snow, instantly transforming into a deep, tender feeling with a stinging sensation.
He recalled the investigation materials that Carl had given him earlier, which stated that Lin Suxing had been switched at birth and raised by an adoptive mother. Because his adoptive mother was engaged in charity work, the family had always been very poor.
Later, Lin Suxing's adoptive mother fell seriously ill, forcing Lin Suxing to drop out of school and work. He stumbled and struggled his way to where he is today, having endured too much hardship.
It seems quite reasonable that a child who grew up in the storms of life would fall in love with someone cautiously, but feel inferior and timid because of the vast difference in their social status, and only dare to silently protect them as a "ghost" in the shadows where no one knows.
He wasn't trying to lie to me; he was afraid of being pushed away and losing even the right to protect me like this.
This realization made Li Xinian's heart feel as if it were being gently gripped by an invisible hand, causing a subtle pain.
He calmly took a sip of yogurt, suppressing the lingering spiciness in his throat. When he looked up again, he had carefully concealed all the surging heartache and deeper emotions in his deep eyes.
Looking at Lin Suxing across from him, whose ears were bright red and who was practically burying himself in the bowl, an unprecedented sense of protectiveness and determination quietly grew within him.
He put down his cup, his tone returning to its usual calm, but with an added, indescribable gentleness: "It tastes good."
Lin Suxing suddenly looked up and met his calm gaze. As if she had received great encouragement, her eyes sparkled, and she nodded vigorously: "Yes!"
This was the first time he had ever sat down to eat with such a big shot, and it wasn't some Michelin-starred French restaurant, but rather his favorite hot pot.
Lin Suxing really didn't expect that Li Xinian, who seemed to be aloof and unapproachable, would be so approachable and easy to talk to, and even treat him, a complete stranger, with such gentleness!
"He's such a good person," Lin Suxing thought sincerely.
Seeing how easily satisfied he was, Li Xinian felt his heart soften even more. He decided to maintain this "window paper" for the time being and not rush to expose the other's "little secret."
Anyway... there's plenty of time.
He will let this timid little deer walk towards him step by step, feeling safe and secure.
*
When Lin Suxing returned home, Jiang Heyun and Lin Yuan were sitting in the living room with gloomy expressions.
It looked like a storm was brewing.
After a long day, with no concern from her parents, Lin Suxing didn't want to pay them any attention. She greeted them and went upstairs.
Unexpectedly, before she had taken two steps, Lin Yuan called out to her: "Su Xing, come and sit down. Your mother and I have something to talk to you about."
"What? I'm exhausted from the audition today and want to rest early." Lin Suxing frowned, but still turned back and stood in front of them.
Lin Yuan looked at him, seemingly trying to determine whether he was just too mentally strong or innocent: "We found the necklace your mother thought she had lost in your room. Do you have an explanation for that?"
"Huh?" Lin Suxing realized in 0.1 seconds that this was definitely a trick by Lin Ke to frame him. "What did I steal? Please tell me. What did Lin Ke say to you?"
"You say you didn't steal anything, then how do you explain finding this diamond necklace in your room!"
The woman's voice trembled, echoing in the large living room.
The gray-white marble floor reflects the three-story crystal chandelier, and sixteen sets of brass candlestick-shaped light bulbs hang from the dome, their icicle-like facets shattering the morning light into a shower of diamonds.
A full-length, curved window runs through the east and west walls, without curtains, allowing the blue plumbago branches in the courtyard to cast their shadows on the walnut wainscoting.
"You child, when Keke told me, your father and I couldn't believe it. How could you do such a thing? If you like something, you can just ask, and Mom will buy it for you. But you can't just steal it!"
The middle-aged woman speaking possessed a graceful and elegant demeanor, and even though she was angry, she did not appear to lose her composure in any way.
However, the deep disappointment in his tone was hard to conceal, which made the person being scolded even more silent.
Lin Suxing was speechless.
He didn't understand why Jiang Heyun suddenly went from being silent to erupting into a roaring and screaming state; he only felt that the supersonic roar just now had made his brain explode.
A sharp, numbing pain.
The boy standing in front of the middle-aged woman had his head down. His porcelain-white skin gleamed with a cold, glazed light under the chandelier, and the shadow of his drooping eyelashes perfectly concealed the beauty mark at the corner of his eye.
Her rose-colored lips were bitten until crescent-shaped white marks appeared, yet she stubbornly kept them pursed.
Hearing those clearly unjust words, Lin Suxing merely touched her left cheek with the tip of her tongue, the newly pierced silver ring on her earlobe sparkling like a shooting star in the warm light.
"Are you out of your minds? There are so many cameras in the house, go and check the surveillance footage, and you'll see everything clearly," Lin Suxing said, delivering a fatal blow right from the start.
He was originally too lazy to argue, but the plot was so ridiculous that he couldn't help but complain: "Besides, there are no fingerprints on the necklace. You can just call the police to have it checked. Anyway, I'm innocent and I'm not afraid at all."
"Talking back again! Making a mistake and not admitting it! You're no match for our Xiao Ke in any way. I think Xiao Ke is more like our own child." The middle-aged man beside him looked at the boy with undisguised contempt.
It seems that this is not his biological child, but a stranger who has broken into his home.
Lin Yuan rubbed his forehead, seemingly very troubled by the child in front of him who was related to him by blood but whom he disliked: "Fifteen days of solitary confinement, and no pocket money."
Lin Suxing looked up, her gaze towards her biological parents flickering with disappointment: "When my brother comes back, you can talk to him and see how he will judge your behavior of believing Lin Ke without thinking."
If he laughs and gets rich, he'll be heartbroken; that's a loss for him.
These two buildings are sheltering from the wind, right?
Lin Siyi was away today, and Lin Ke's scheming scheme, which she had been brewing for days, was immediately unleashed.
As soon as he entered the house, Jiang Heyun and Lin Yuan called him to the living room, which led to Jiang Heyun's loud questioning in the living room just now.
"Siyi won't help you either, don't worry!" Lin Yuan had long been dissatisfied with Lin Suxing's tendency to talk back, after all, it made it impossible for him to express his fatherly feelings and satisfy his need to be flattered.
Although his opinion of Lin Suxing had improved slightly a few days ago, this incident of Lin Suxing "stealing" has brought his impression of Lin Suxing back to its original state.
To put it bluntly, Lin Yuan himself is a rich second-generation and believes in the clear distinction between social classes, which is why he looks down on Lin Suxing, a country bumpkin who grew up in what he considers a "commoner" family.
Therefore, everything Lin Suxing does is wrong, even breathing.
"As expected, those who aren't raised by our own family aren't trustworthy or worthy of our attention! What does our Lin family lack from him? He's already stealing things as soon as he gets back!"
The crystal chandelier reflected tiny diamond-shaped spots of light onto the mirrored wall. The belt of the middle-aged woman's silk nightgown hung loosely, revealing a full-green jade pendant that was still on her collarbone.
Even after his parents had gone far away, their faint complaints could still reach Lin Suxing's ears.
The initial hope for family affection was like a faint flame, but in the past two weeks, the disdain and favoritism of my biological parents have been doused with cold water and completely extinguished.
"Host, why don't you explain yourself? Say that Lin Ke deliberately smeared you, then say something!"
The mechanical sound suddenly rang out, but Lin Suxing acted as if nothing had happened, walking towards her room without noticing that her parents, who were leaving behind her, had stopped.
"Didn't I already say that if they don't listen to me, what can I do? I can't just rush up and slap them all across the face to bring them to their senses," Lin Suxing said.
Lin's mother looked at Lin's father with a puzzled expression, only to meet his equally confused look.
"Host, say something, host!"
"There's no need to waste time with this kind of NPC," Lin Suxing replied calmly.
"Where you are knocked down, lie down there. If you provoke me, I will become furry." This is the life philosophy that Lin Suxing, with his capybara personality, has always adhered to.
The system was furious at Lin Suxing for accepting his confinement without a word: "Host, if you just tell us how Lin Ke secretly slipped the necklace into your room through the maid, they'll believe you!"
"Forget it, they won't believe me anyway." Knowing her future fate, Lin Suxing had completely lost hope in her parents.
Lin Suxing's biological father, Lin Yuan, turned around suspiciously in Lin Suxing's direction and whispered, "This is...?"
Lin Suxing's biological mother, Jiang Heyun, nodded: "I heard it too."
The strange mechanical voice was coming from beside Lin Suxing, and Lin Suxing was even talking to that voice!
Judging from the mechanical sounds, Lin Suxing was wrongly accused of theft today!
The two exchanged glances and decided to stop and listen to what the mechanical voice might say.
"Host, I know you're speechless with them, but this is a newly released side quest [Persuade your parents to clear your name of theft], and you'll get 500 points for completing it!" Seeing that Lin Suxing was ignoring her, the system once again used its divine skill of pestering her.
Lin Suxing walked further and further away, about to return to her room and miss the "clarify yourself" task point. The system, in a panic, started to resort to desperate measures: "If you complete it, I...I'll tell you a big scoop!"
"Big news about your family! Your grandfather is over eighty years old, but he has a two-year-old illegitimate child! Do you want to hear it? Go back and explain to your parents now, and after you explain, I...I'll tell you everything!!"
Lin Suxing: ?
"Over eighty years old, with a two-year-old child? Did he eat tiger penis? Even those middle-aged men who shout 'I must drive the 318 in this lifetime' aren't as fierce as him!" Although he was a taciturn person, Lin Suxing, whose吐槽 (tu cao, a Chinese internet slang term for sarcastic or critical comments) attribute was full, did not hold back in his吐槽.
Mr. and Mrs. Lin: ! What?!
Old Master Lin is Lin Yuan's father, and he's over eighty years old. How could he possibly have a two-year-old illegitimate child?!
-----------------------
Author's Note: I've changed the system to automatically suggest the specific address for the stars in the previous chapter; otherwise, it would have immediately revealed my identity!
I need to revise some parts of this chapter later. My head hurts so much today, I can't hold on any longer, I need to rest now. (Lying down)
Every year I'm also working on my own strategy [winking emoji]
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