Chapter 117 – Snapped
Lin Ganzhi quickly moved to a table two spots away from Zhong Jingyi. It wasn’t that he was interested in Zhong Jingyi himself, but the man who had just walked out was very familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before. He wanted to be absolutely sure.
“Yueshuo, it’s getting harder and harder to ask you out on weekends,” Zhong Jingyi said, though his tone was quite cheerful.
Most importantly, Lin Ganzhi heard the name “Yueshuo.” Wasn’t that Yan Shengping’s high school classmate? When he looked up again, Li Yueshuo, sitting not far away, raised his head as if sensing something. However, he wasn’t looking in his direction, but at Zhong Jingyi, who had his back to Lin Ganzhi.
The man not far away had shed his youthful immaturity; he looked almost identical to the person in the photograph!
Zhong Jingyi’s face had once been hyped by the media as being unparalleled in heaven and on earth, but with just one glance, Zhong Jingyi was completely overshadowed by Li Yueshuo. Compared to Li Yueshuo, Zhong Jingyi was at most exquisitely handsome, while Li Yueshuo’s temperament and appearance were full of spiritual energy, like the rime on a celestial mountain, or a wisp of ethereal wind—to be admired from a distance, not to be trifled with.
As if to prove Lin Ganzhi’s assessment, Li Yueshuo had only been sitting for a dozen seconds when a man from a neighboring table approached. He first greeted him politely, then his gaze landed unabashedly on Li Yueshuo.
It gave one the illusion of a little white rabbit falling into the hands of a villain.
Lin Ganzhi was still worried about how Li Yueshuo would handle it, but Li Yueshuo, who had been smiling like a spring breeze just a moment ago, instantly turned cold. His sharp gaze gave Lin Ganzhi a strange sense of familiarity. He only heard him say coldly, “Get lost.” The man was so frightened by his aura that he hastily turned and left. Afterward, Li Yueshuo’s gaze subconsciously glanced in Lin Ganzhi’s direction.
Lin Ganzhi’s heart skipped a beat. He pressed the hat on his head down firmly and hurried back. After returning home, Lin Ganzhi hastily sent a message to Yan Shengping, asking when he would be home today. His former high school classmate was involved with his rival; Lin Ganzhi felt it was very necessary to tell Yan Shengping in person.
But in the end, Yan Shengping didn’t reply even after dinner. Lin Ganzhi couldn’t help but feel a little dejected. Since Yan Shengping went to the company, it seemed he hadn’t seen him at all. He didn’t know if it was because Yan Shengping used to be so clingy, but now that he was suddenly busy, Lin Ganzhi seemed unable to get used to not having him around for so long.
After thinking it over, Lin Ganzhi decided to drink a few more cups of coffee tonight. Even if he had to stay up all night, he would wait for Yan Shengping to come back.
“Ganzhi, I have no energy left. I’m going to sleep. You, yawn~ you should go to bed early too. It’s already three in the morning,” Lu Xi said before quickly going offline. Lin Ganzhi exited the game and looked at the time, unable to help but yawn as well, yet a faint sense of unwillingness lingered in his heart.
Suddenly, a message popped up on his phone. It was from Yan Shengping!
Lin Ganzhi immediately perked up and clicked on it.
Yan Shengping: [Zhizhi, is something wrong? I just got out of the lab and I’m heading to a meeting now. I won’t have time to come home today. Get some rest and don’t stay up waiting for me.]
Lin Ganzhi’s mood instantly plummeted. To keep Yan Shengping from worrying, he resisted the urge to reply, pretending to let Yan Shengping think he was already asleep. But because of this message, Lin Ganzhi’s last bit of sleepiness vanished, followed by four long hours of insomnia. It wasn’t until seven in the morning, when sunlight streamed into the room, that Lin Ganzhi finally fell asleep, clutching the pillow that smelled of Yan Shengping.
But he didn’t sleep well. He dreamed of many chaotic things: a small wooden horse he rode as a child, which then transformed into him standing on a university speech stage. One second he was mechanically reciting a speech, the next his body began to fall into a strange room. Yan Shengping was sitting on the sofa, propping his head up and watching a movie, his lazy appearance exactly the same as usual. Just as Lin Ganzhi’s hand was about to touch Yan Shengping’s knee, Yan Shengping suddenly stood up and walked towards the kitchen peninsula.
Lin Ganzhi subconsciously started to follow, but then he saw a young man in a white shirt standing at the peninsula. His face was blurry, but Lin Ganzhi recognized him at a glance. It was Li Yueshuo, whom he had met during the day yesterday. Yan Shengping leaned on the counter, bent down, and kissed Li Yueshuo’s forehead. Then, Li Yueshuo dependently hugged Yan Shengping.
Lin Ganzhi’s eyes instantly turned red. He couldn’t make a sound, only able to watch helplessly as the world in his dream slowly drifted away from him like a falling old photograph.
“Ganzhi, Ganzhi!” Lin Ganzhi was groggily shaken awake. The moment he opened his eyes, tears streamed down his cheeks and into the quilt.
“Uncle, Yan?” Lin Ganzhi called out in a hoarse voice, only then realizing his throat felt like it was being scraped by razor blades.
Uncle Yan, standing by the bed, sighed and said, “You child, how could you not cover yourself with a blanket when you sleep at night? It’s still early spring, and it’s cold at night. My senior brother came over earlier and gave you a shot to bring down the fever. I’ve ordered some light food. Get up and eat something before you go back to sleep.”
Lin Ganzhi was stunned for a moment, subconsciously touching his forehead. It was still hot. He hadn’t expected to actually have a fever.
“Where’s Yan Shengping? Is he still not back?” Lin Ganzhi was muddled from the fever, but he subconsciously mentioned Yan Shengping. The scene from his dream was still vivid in his mind, and Lin Ganzhi was still shaken.
“The master is still at the company. I was so busy taking care of you just now that I haven’t had a chance to tell him. I’ll tell him now and ask him to come back early today,” Uncle Yan said, pulling his phone out of his pocket.
Lin Ganzhi immediately disregarded his dizziness and shot up to stop Uncle Yan. “Uncle Yan, don’t tell Yan Shengping. He’s so busy with work right now. If he knows I’m not feeling well, it will affect his work. He’s so close to finally achieving his goal.” After speaking, Lin Ganzhi collapsed weakly, his head feeling as if it were stuffed with cotton. He hadn’t had a fever in a long time and had almost forgotten what it felt like.
Uncle Yan’s heart ached for him. The child was so sensible it made one’s heart ache even more. He was always thinking of the master, why didn’t he ever think of himself?
“Sigh, Ganzhi,” Uncle Yan wanted to say something, but seeing Lin Ganzhi’s flushed face and expectant eyes, he couldn’t bring himself to say anything more. He could only instruct, “Alright, Uncle Yan won’t say anything for now. Ganzhi, don’t fall asleep yet. I’ll go down and bring you something to eat first. I’ll also bring you a small bowl of the pickled radishes you made before.”
Lin Ganzhi obediently thanked Uncle Yan. When Uncle Yan closed the door, Lin Ganzhi’s gaze dimmed again. He took out his phone and clicked on the message from Yan Shengping last night.
It was already one in the afternoon. Lin Ganzhi thought for a moment and replied: [Okay. Take some time to rest at the company too. Don’t work too hard. Are you coming back tonight?]
Lin Ganzhi had mulled over the last sentence for a long time before sending it. He felt like a statue waiting for her husband to return, eagerly awaiting Yan Shengping’s return.
He wanted to talk to him about his past dreams, tell him about Li Yueshuo, and also tell him that he missed him.
This time, Yan Shengping’s reply came quickly. Just after Lin Ganzhi finished eating, a message came through: [Zhizhi, I won’t be back tonight either. Take good care of yourself. Don’t toss and turn so much at night and kick off the covers. If you have to, turn on the air conditioner at night. Don’t catch a cold.]
In fact, he had already caught a cold. Lin Ganzhi pulled the quilt over his chin, revealing only his eyes, which were filled with disappointment.
Forget it. If Yan Shengping isn’t coming back, it’s a good time for me to recover. I don’t want him to see me with a fever. Although I haven’t been sick before, I have a blind guess that Yan Shengping will get very fierce!
After comforting himself, Lin Ganzhi tried to force himself to sleep. Perhaps when he woke up, he would be better!
Perhaps it was because of his sincere wish, but by noon the next day, after breaking a sweat, Lin Ganzhi’s low-grade fever had finally subsided. Lin Ganzhi got up, took a shower, and decided to make some delicious food to take to Yan Shengping’s company. If the mountain won’t come to me, I’ll go to the mountain. Yan Shengping was very busy, but Lin Ganzhi had plenty of time. At worst, he would wait at the company until he could have dinner!
With this thought, Lin Ganzhi went to the kitchen in high spirits and made several of Yan Shengping’s favorite dishes, making sure not to add any green onions. Uncle Yan was also happy to see the revitalized Lin Ganzhi and thoughtfully helped out, even personally driving Lin Ganzhi to Yan Shengping’s company.
At first, Lin Ganzhi had imagined Yan Shengping’s company to be a rented floor in some tall building. But then Uncle Yan pointed to a glass building that looked to be over thirty stories high and said this was the master’s company.
Lin Ganzhi suddenly realized how rich his partner was. Not just ordinarily rich, but super-rich!
And so, Lin Ganzhi’s eyes never dimmed from the moment he got out of the car until he entered the building.
Walking through the revolving doors, Lin Ganzhi still felt a little intimidated. Just as he was about to send a message to Yan Shengping first, the 1.7-meter-tall receptionist suddenly stood up and walked excitedly towards Lin Ganzhi in her ten-centimeter high heels.
“Are you Ganzhi?” the young lady asked excitedly.
Lin Ganzhi subconsciously took a step back. Weren’t his mask and hat discreet enough? How was he recognized just like that? Did he have any face left to save!
The receptionist seemed to have read Lin Ganzhi’s mind. She deftly pulled out her phone from her pocket and swiped through the photos one by one for Lin Ganzhi to see.
Most of these photos were street snapshots taken by fans and screenshots from the variety show. There were photos with and without a mask, bending over and climbing trees, in the water and sleeping—one from every angle.
“This is part of our front desk interview. We have to be able to recognize our boss’s wife from three hundred and sixty degrees without any blind spots. And don’t worry, everyone in our company has signed a confidentiality agreement. We won’t expose CEO Yan’s and your identities before the official launch. That’s CEO Yan’s private elevator. CEO Yan should be in his office on the top floor right now!” the receptionist said enthusiastically.
Lin Ganzhi was flattered and said thank you. After taking a few steps, he turned back. Under the receptionist’s puzzled gaze, he took out a piece of milk candy from his white jacket pocket and handed it to her.
“Thank you,” Lin Ganzhi said in a soft, sweet voice.
The young lady was a little out of it and just hummed in response. Lin Ganzhi didn’t dwell on it and went up the elevator with the lunch box. After the elevator doors closed, the young lady finally snapped out of her daze and frantically showed off the candy in her hand to another colleague. “The boss’s wife gave me candy! He’s so cute!” The young lady was instantly converted into a fan!
One side of the private elevator was mirrored, and Lin Ganzhi subconsciously adjusted the wrinkles on his clothes, still feeling a little uneasy in the unfamiliar environment.
With a ding from the elevator, Lin Ganzhi stepped out with the lunch box. After passing through a long corridor, he could see a transparent office with several young ladies in professional attire sitting inside. But one of them immediately stood up excitedly upon seeing Lin Ganzhi.
“Boss’s wife! Ahem, no, I mean, Ganzhi, CEO Yan just finished a meeting and is in his office. Just keep walking straight ahead, it’s the one at the very end!” The secretary blurted out the heartfelt title before she could stop herself.
Lin Ganzhi blushed for a moment, then politely thanked them and walked in with the lunch box.
The door to the last office was slightly ajar. The thought of seeing Yan Shengping soon made Lin Ganzhi’s steps lighter. As he was about to reach the door, the sound of a conversation from inside reached him.
“Why don’t you smile at me like you used to?” a strange male voice said with a hint of flirtation, as if teasing an old friend he hadn’t seen in years.
Lin Ganzhi peeked through the crack in the door and saw Li Yueshuo in a suit, sitting on Yan Shengping’s desk, casually fiddling with the end of a pen from Yan Shengping’s pen holder. Yan Shengping’s face showed no signs of annoyance. He tilted his head up slightly, his lazy expression exactly the same as in Lin Ganzhi’s dream.
It felt as if a string in Lin Ganzhi’s heart snapped at that moment.