Chapter 9 – Love Brain
[WTF! What the hell, are wealthy families into threats now? Our Baby Yi is such a good kid, he just got off work and now he has to clean up the mess for his trash brother?]
[So disgusting I want to puke. Although Lin Ganzhi is no good, there’s still some affection even in a short-lived marriage. Making Lin Ganzhi dig for wild vegetables, and now that it’s exposed, Baby Yi has to come out and apologize? Where’s the shame?]
[Baby Yi, Mama won’t let you be wronged! Everyone knows that on June 11th, you were stabbed by Yan Shengping and hospitalized. You still have a scar on your arm!]
[Hugs for Baby Yi, but we’ll bear the good and bad of this matter. We can’t let Baby Yi plead for his enemy!]
[What the hell? Yan Shengping, an exiled person, is still so arrogant? No, I’m going to his Weibo and cursing him out until dawn!]
[Damn, sisters, I saw Yan Shengping posted a message on Weibo. He actually severed ties with the Zhong family!]
[Just came back, it’s true. It’s so ridiculous. His own brother humbles himself to come out and apologize, and what does he do? Not even a thank you, just severs ties. Is he a child? Ridiculous!]
[Cut ties! This way Baby Yi won’t be dragged down by him!]
[Plus one. Baby Yi helped him so much, and he’s still being so pretentious. Disgusting!]
***
After taking a shower and seeing this statement, Lin Ganzhi was utterly speechless. This was so manipulative. He finally understood the Zhong family’s temperament. From beginning to end, not a single one of them had come to ask them what the truth of the matter was. They only saw the surface-level duckweed and then came to assign blame. And they claimed to be speaking up for Yan Shengping? Anyone with eyes could see this was just stirring up hate!
No, he had to go find Yan Shengping!
This was just too much!
Lin Ganzhi was a man of action. He slipped on his little shark slippers, draped a white bathrobe over himself, and padded over to the room next door!
Knock, knock, knock!
“Yan Shengping, are you asleep?” Lin Ganzhi asked softly from outside the door.
The sound of the door opening came from within. Three seconds later, Yan Shengping opened the door, and the two of them met each other’s gaze through the widening gap.
Yan Shengping must have just come out of the bathroom. He was wearing the same style of bathrobe as Lin Ganzhi, only Lin Ganzhi’s was creamy white and Yan Shengping’s was gray. Water was still dripping from the ends of his hair, and his smooth collarbones were glistening with moisture. A water droplet condensed on the high bridge of his nose. His deep eyes looked down and could see Lin Ganzhi’s fleshy cheeks, as well as the depths of his wide-open bathrobe—a sea of creamy white at a glance.
Yan Shengping’s lips pressed into a thin line, and he subconsciously started to close the door.
Lin Ganzhi, who had just snapped out of his daze from the beautiful sight, stuck his foot in the door just before it closed.
“We both just took a shower, no need to be shy~” Lin Ganzhi blinked.
The little shark slipper was nearly deformed!
Lin Ganzhi’s eyes were full of resentment, but he still managed to squeeze in.
He certainly didn’t dare to get on his boss’s bed, so he had to settle for the sofa.
“Yan Shengping, your brother—ah, no, your ex-brother, Zhong Jingyi, posted on Weibo. Tsk, that’s not speaking up for you at all, it’s clearly just stirring up trouble!” The protagonist bottom wasn’t a little sun at all, he was a thoroughly blackened Black Lotus!
Yan Shengping’s expression showed no sign of abnormality. Instead, he gave a mocking smile. “That’s just like him. Ever since I’ve known him, he’s loved to post little essays.”
Hiss—
Come to think of it, that was true. When he was reading the novel, every time the protagonist bottom encountered something, he would post a little essay on Weibo. Whether it was good or bad, as soon as his little essay was posted, a bunch of people would come out to solve his problems for him.
Yan Shengping had also fallen to his current state because of one little essay after another.
“Then it’s even more troublesome now. I just looked at his comments section. Not only have they not toned it down, but they’re all cursing you out.”
Yan Shengping gave a faint “mm” and sat on the bed. “Normal. What they’re saying isn’t all rumors.”
“But I don’t think you’re that kind of person.” Lin Ganzhi looked up at Yan Shengping. “That’s why I’m so angry. I don’t like injustice, and I don’t want people to say that about you.”
Yan Shengping’s heart skipped a beat. His expression was stunned for a long while before he said, “You’ve only known me for a few days. Maybe I’m just an out-and-out bad person, and I just haven’t shown it in front of you.”
Lin Ganzhi frowned. The stubborn donkey was badmouthing himself again. How could he correct this!
But this time, only Yan Shengping knew that he was telling the truth. Having been bullied by the Zhong family to this extent, he wasn’t a fool to be trifled with.
—
At ten in the evening, a cluster of lights still surrounded a certain spot by the city’s famous Star Lake. A large-scale historical idol drama was recently being filmed in the vicinity.
Zhong Jingyi changed out of his costume and sat in an outdoor chair, sipping the black chicken and ginseng soup that the popular idol Zong Zechen had brought him.
“Thank you, Zechen. I was feeling a bit cold after work,” Zhong Jingyi’s somewhat pale skin regained a bit of color.
Zong Zechen took off his sunglasses, a smile appearing on his chiseled face. “What’s this? I’ll bring it to you every day for the next few days. Your health is already poor, and you still have to suffer in the cold here. Don’t take any more roles when it’s cold next time. It’s not like your family can’t support you. If you get tired of staying at home, you can come stay at my place. Didn’t you say you wanted to soak in a hot spring before? I installed an automatic temperature-controlled swimming pool at home. When do you have time to come try it?”
“Go, go, are you the only one who did something? Jingyi, try the cake I brought you. It’s from your favorite shop. I had my assistant wait in line for a long time!” Sang Xiangwen pushed the cheesecake on the small table. He was dressed in a suit and tie, his face passable among ordinary people, but next to Zong Zechen and Zhong Jingyi, he could only be described as average.
Zhong Jingyi smiled gratefully, tried a bite with his fork, and then revealed a sweet smile. “It’s still the same taste. Thank you, Xiangwen.”
Sang Xiangwen’s breath hitched, and he quickly coughed. “I really don’t get that Luan Yuanzhou guy. He’s already won all three major film emperor awards, and he’s still filming, filming. This time he’s run off to the mountains, right? He’s been gone for two months. You caught a cold and he didn’t even come home to see you!”
Zong Zechen also frowned, clearly also filled with dissatisfaction towards Luan Yuanzhou.
Zhong Jingyi coughed and seriously explained on behalf of his fiancé, “Yuanzhou has his own ideas. Besides, even when he’s not here, you guys take good care of me. I’m very happy! Thank you~”
The two of them both smiled happily upon hearing this. To them, even if they couldn’t have Jingyi, they wanted him to shine freely and happily, because he deserved it.
“By the way, Jingyi, I saw your Weibo post. I know you’re kind, but there’s really no need to speak up for that brother of yours anymore. Look, has he even thanked you?” Sang Xiangwen’s tone was full of severe dissatisfaction!
Zhong Jingyi’s expression softened, his eyes showing a hint of hurt. “But he is my brother, after all.”
“Brother? He was adopted thanks to you, but he’s never once said thank you to you. Can you call someone like that a brother? Jingyi, you’re just too soft-hearted!” Zong Zechen snorted.
Sang Xiangwen didn’t speak. It wasn’t until Zhong Jingyi was taken back to the hotel by his assistant that he stopped Zong Zechen, who was about to leave.
“What?”
Sang Xiangwen smiled. “Go for a drink?”
“With you?” Zong Zechen sneered.
Although Sang Xiangwen was dissatisfied with this person, Zhong Jingyi cared about him, so he couldn’t touch him. After all, the two of them still had a common enemy.
“Drinking is secondary. Tell me the truth, can you really stand Yan Shengping prancing around in front of Jingyi every day, wasting Jingyi’s feelings?”
Zong Zechen stopped in his tracks. “Do you have another way?”
Sang Xiangwen smiled sinisterly. “How do you think I got Lin Ganzhi to willingly marry him in the first place?”
—
Lin Ganzhi and Yan Shengping were at a standoff for three minutes. Seeing that he had no intention of revealing the truth about the past, he gave up. But he probably had a good idea of what happened now. It was only a matter of time before he knew the truth.
Seeing that Yan Shengping’s face was already looking very pale after just sitting for a while, he quickly got up and helped him lie down.
“You should rest early. Your body is already weak, staying up late is just irresponsible to your body!” Helping the unresponsive Yan Shengping lie down, Lin Ganzhi carefully tucked him in on both sides.
The faint scent of coconut milk wafted to Yan Shengping’s nose. Yan Shengping unintentionally glanced at Lin Ganzhi’s chest again. The collar of his robe had gaped open even more when he bent over. With just a slightly careful look, one could see more scenery.
Yan Shengping quickly turned his head away!
The clueless Lin Ganzhi: ? Did I say something I shouldn’t have?
At that moment, Lin Ganzhi’s phone rang at an inopportune time. It was a strange number. He searched the original owner’s friends list—ah, he had no friends, except for Nini, whom he had just met today.
So he boldly answered the phone.
“Hello? I’m not changing my plan. Are you from China Mobile? Then do me a favor and tell your rival China Telecom that I’m not changing my Telecom card either. If you call again, I’ll cancel my phone card. I’ll start writing letters from now on!”
Yan Shengping: …
Just go away! At least don’t say stupid things where he can hear you. It’s embarrassing!
“Lin Ganzhi, are you sick? You deleted me, and you didn’t even save my number?!” Sang Xiangwen gritted his teeth. He had just tried to contact Lin Ganzhi on WeChat, only to be met with an exclamation mark! And now he calls and gets treated like a customer service rep.
Lin Ganzhi was also stunned. Did he accidentally delete him on WeChat too?
“Who are you?”
The other end of the line was silent for a moment. “You don’t even recognize my voice? I’m the matchmaker who pulled the strings for you!”
Matchmaker? Pulled the strings?
He seemed to remember now. A huge fucking idiot gave the original owner’s aunt’s family three million, and his aunt used emotional blackmail to force the original owner to marry Yan Shengping. And that huge fucking idiot was named Sang Xiangwen.
“Oh, not familiar,” Lin Ganzhi’s tone was icy, with no intention of avoiding Yan Shengping.
Sang Xiangwen was about to explode with anger on the other end. The key was that Zong Zechen was sitting right next to him, and he couldn’t let him see him lose face.
“Not familiar? Are you sure, Lin Ganzhi? Your aunt’s family took my three million and sold you. It was just because I didn’t want you to have it easy. Now, you have two choices. One, continue to suffer by Yan Shengping’s side. Two, work for me, testify that Yan Shengping abused you, and I’ll help you divorce him. You choose.”
Sang Xiangwen knew which one Lin Ganzhi would choose even with his eyes closed. He leisurely took a sip of wine.
You’ll help me get a divorce? Yan Shengping would love to divorce him in a heartbeat!
“I choose the third option: to live happily with Yan Shengping for the rest of my life,” Lin Ganzhi said with a blissful expression.
Yan Shengping could roughly guess who was calling Lin Ganzhi, but he never expected this idiot to say such a thing. A lifetime? With him?
His fingers subconsciously curled.
“Cough, cough, cough! Did you take the wrong medicine?” Sang Xiangwen was so choked by this sentence that he coughed. The beautiful woman next to him disgustedly moved away.
Damn it!
“Lin Ganzhi, now is not the time to be stubborn. Have you not learned your lesson after defying me for so long? You’ve been reduced to digging for wild vegetables!” Sang Xiangwen mocked mercilessly.
“What are you talking about? I should thank you for letting me marry Shengping. I was originally trying to get close to Luan Yuanzhou just to get Zhong Jingyi’s attention. I thought it would take a long time to actually get close to Shengping, but I never expected to get your strong support. Thanks~” Lin Ganzhi sarcastically thanked the big sucker brother. He spent money to support his bloodsucking relatives, and now he had introduced him to such a lucrative job.
But then again, this was Lin Ganzhi, not the original owner. He knew his place very well. Sang Xiangwen was still a scumbag in his eyes. He was just trying to piss him off.
“What did you say? You like that sickly Yan Shengping?” Sang Xiangwen couldn’t believe it. He didn’t believe it the first time, but the second time, Lin Ganzhi’s words sounded exactly like his love-struck cousin.
“Please watch your words. He’s not a sickly person, he’s a great beauty!” Lin Ganzhi said righteously, looking exactly like a certain love brain.
Yan Shengping wanted to throw him out, but first, hang up the phone.
Zong Zechen, on the side, had also heard some of the content and was also in disbelief. What a joke. Lin Ganzhi had been so crazy about Luan Yuanzhou before. How long had it been, and he had already moved on, and even fallen for that scum Yan Shengping?
Sang Xiangwen just felt that the world had gone mad. If, by any chance, Lin Ganzhi really liked Yan Shengping, then wouldn’t he have become the big sucker who pushed the boat along with the current, and even lost three million in the process?
“Heh, Lin Ganzhi, I think you’re just being stubborn. You’re trying to save face now. Then you can stay with Yan Shengping for the rest of your life!” Sang Xiangwen cursed viciously, refusing to admit that this guy really liked Yan Shengping.
Lin Ganzhi’s expression didn’t change. “Thank you for your blessing~”
Damn it!
Sang Xiangwen angrily hung up the phone.
“How did it go?” Zong Zechen asked, knowing the answer, a hint of schadenfreude in his tone.
“What do you mean, how did it go? A brainless thing. To save a little face, he’s going to fight me to the death. Forget it. With someone like Yan Shengping, even if I don’t do anything, he’ll be drowned in the saliva of public opinion. Forget it, I’ll spend a hundred thousand to buy some water army to add some fuel to the fire for Yan Shengping,” Sang Xiangwen smiled sinisterly.
“No need. I’ve already spent a million to find marketing accounts and a water army,” Zong Zechen put down his wine glass, stood up, and glanced at Sang Xiangwen with the air of a victor, then left gracefully.
“Damn it, what’s so great about a mere million? I’ll spend five!” Sang Xiangwen took a big gulp of wine.
“Aiya, Young Master Sang, I’ve been with you all night. How much are you planning to give me?” a beautiful woman cozied up to him.
Sang Xiangwen disgustedly waved her away. “Scram, scram, what are you? Don’t bother me!”
The beautiful woman’s face stiffened. She picked up her bag and left, cursing under her breath. Sang Xiangwen could vaguely hear her say, “I’ve never seen such a pathetic simp!”
Damn it!
After hanging up the phone, Lin Ganzhi turned around very sincerely and looked at Yan Shengping. “Yan Shengping, the one who called was—”
“No need,” he wasn’t deaf. “You should go back and rest.” Yan Shengping indicated that he had heard enough.
If this wasn’t called trust!
Lin Ganzhi’s mood instantly became wonderful.
Yan Shengping was made uncomfortable by this gaze. What kind of nonsense was he imagining now?
Lin Ganzhi put away his phone and was about to leave when he suddenly remembered something. He immediately came back. He had forgotten to ask all this time. If this was the case, he would feel very uneasy taking the one million a month.
“Yan Shengping, I heard your ex-mom say that the family only gave you five million.”
Yan Shengping nodded, indicating yes.
So it was true!
Lin Ganzhi’s conscience began to ache!
“Then you still give me one million a month. What about your medical expenses? You can’t be such a love brain!” Lin Ganzhi raised his eyebrows.
Yan Shengping thought: I’ll return those words to you exactly as you said them.
He thought it was something important.
But the suspicion weighing on his mind prevented him from telling the truth right away.
“To be precise, three million of the five million has already been spent on buying a car and renovating the villa,” Yan Shengping said thoughtfully.
Lin Ganzhi felt the phone in his hand grow hot. Although it pained him immensely, being able to live again was the greatest opportunity he had been given. At worst, he could just work a bit. The scope of his travels would change from the whole world to the whole country. He could save up for a house and retire in a decent third- or fourth-tier city. Anyway, he wasn’t getting married, so he didn’t need to save for a bride price or a house and car.
“Then, I’ll… I’ll return the one million in my account to you now. Send me your account number. We’ll be a bit more frugal in the future. Spend more money on food. Your stomach condition can’t be taken lightly,” Lin Ganzhi opened his phone and started calculating.
He looked like a deflated little steamed bun, pitiful and yet still thinking of others.
The last bit of doubt in Yan Shengping’s heart disappeared, replaced by self-reproach. Giving him only one million a month was indeed too much. He couldn’t even afford a decent car.
“I haven’t finished. The five million was what they gave me, but I still have some money in my own account. Although it’s not much, I still have a few hundred million.”
“You’ve worked hard cooking during this time. I’ll transfer you three million tomorrow. You can buy a better car. It’ll be more convenient for you to go out.”
Lin Ganzhi’s expression hadn’t changed since he left Yan Shengping’s room. He looked exactly like the terrified cat meme online.
In the process, he first experienced shock, then anger at being deceived, then the bewildered panic of having three million suddenly dropped on him. Finally, if not for the last thread of reason forcefully pulling him back, he might have bowed 360 degrees and called Yan Shengping “Dad.”
As Lin Ganzhi was leaving Yan Shengping’s room, he happened to bump into Uncle Yan, who was coming up with some documents.
Uncle Yan was first startled, then his expression became somewhat subtle. He smiled kindly. “Ganzhi just came out of the master’s room?”
***
After a ten-second delay, Lin Ganzhi’s face turned bright red. “No, no, no, I just had something to discuss with Yan Shengping. I… I’ll go rest now!” Then he quickly slipped into his own room.
Wait, that’s not right. Isn’t his persona supposed to be an infatuated fool who likes Yan Shengping? Why did three million make him act like a primary schooler who just fell in love?
Not allowed next time!