Chapter 34: The Vicious Ex-Boyfriend of the Impoverished Bigshot (Part 2)
While the little jellyfish was explaining, Yu Lin was called to Shen Zhou’s workplace and sat by the water.
A few yellow-haired youths were smoking, and from time to time, they would let out a strange laugh. The shadow of a tree was reflected in the water.
A sarcastic voice, overlapping with the one from last night, sounded by his ear, “Brother Lin, why did you fall asleep last night?”
He then asked, “Are you really with Shen Zhou? But he’s a guy. Don’t you think it’s perverted?”
The yellow-haired youth was smoking, his cigarette dangling from his lips.
The situation in this script was special. At the beginning of the plot, Shen Zhou was already a successful and self-made business tycoon in Jinnan Province.
He had a low-key style and was watertight in his dealings. It was almost impossible to find any entry point. In the business world, he was also decisive and ruthless.
Only in a few words of reminiscence did someone mention that in his youth, he had been deceived and humiliated by a straw-bag young master with a golden and jade-like appearance.
“…”
The early spring in Liuhe County was slightly cold, and the river seemed to still have ice floes.
Yu Lin turned his head and looked across the water. He was a little nearsighted and had to squint his eyes slightly to see a young man on the other side of the river.
The young man was wearing a black tank top, and his bones were between those of a young man and a youth. He was tall and slender, with strong and powerful muscles.
He was bending down to move a box of parts. The small shop was noisy. He was bent over, and as if he had sensed something, he turned his head, and a pair of dark and sharp eyes, which could cut a person, looked over.
Yu Lin was caught by his gaze. The two of them made eye contact. Yu Lin paused for a moment and nodded lightly at him.
Shen Zhou’s brow furrowed slightly. For some reason, he turned around, put down the box, and walked towards the small shop.
At this time, communication was not yet developed, and fashionable things were mostly popular in the provincial capital. Because of his uncle’s family, Shen Zhou would often go to the provincial capital to wholesale some things to sell.
Yu Lin looked at him, his gaze falling on the box in his hand.
The box was very heavy, but the young man’s muscles were powerful, and his features were dark. The fingers resting on the box were slightly raised.
He turned around, his chin hidden in the lines of the box. Just a fleeting glance, and he was indescribably aggressive.
He didn’t look like the submissive person in the script, nor did he look… like the good-tempered person the system had described.
Shen Zhou was very busy and was checking the accounts with the owner of the small shop. Sensing Yu Lin’s gaze, he just glanced over, nodded slightly, and then retracted his gaze.
Yu Lin looked at his figure, his eyelashes lowered, and felt that it was strange.
This body of his was picky about food, malnourished, and had a stomach problem. He usually had little interest in food.
He looked at Shen Zhou, and with just one glance, an indescribable craving arose.
He wanted to eat, to bite, to rest his forehead on Shen Zhou’s shoulder, and to be close to Shen Zhou.
Skin hunger? A word flashed through Yu Lin’s mind. He was stunned for a moment, then opened the script to take a closer look. He found that in the setting, the original host had been unsupervised since he was a child and had an excessive lack of emotion, which had caused him to develop a psychological illness and a craving for skin-to-skin contact.
Therefore, he had chosen the weak and powerless Shen Zhou of Liuhe County, and with a month of sugar-coated tactics, he had officially confirmed his relationship with Shen Zhou yesterday.
But just as it was confirmed, and before he could even have a taste, he had been instigated by the crowd to call him out and humiliate him.
“…”
So the question was, under the influence of this buff, what had he done to Shen Zhou last night?
The yellow-haired youth finished his cigarette and knocked the ash on a stone.
He turned his head and asked, “Brother Lin, what are you going to do now? When are you going to get tired of him and dump him?”
Liuhe County was small and backward. No one thought that Yu Lin would really fall for Shen Zhou. They just thought that the little young master was playing with him.
Yu Lin shook his head and looked in Shen Zhou’s direction again. The young man came out of the small shop and was talking to the owner, holding a bag of fruit candies in his hand.
In those days, goods were scarce, and fruit candies were still a rare thing.
Shen Zhou’s fingers were long and powerful, with thin calluses. When he held the plastic packaging, his knuckles were slightly raised.
A habit of many years would not change, and the person he liked would also often do this. Yu Lin looked at the colorful candies in Shen Zhou’s hand, his eyelashes slightly lowered.
Out of some intuition, he felt that the Shen Zhou in front of him was not the same as the Shen Zhou in the script.
As if someone was breaking through the paper setting and was about to walk up to him.
He was not the type to easily get close to others, but last night, after getting drunk, he had easily let down his guard with Shen Zhou. The body’s choice was an instinct. Yu Lin’s heart stirred, and he looked at Shen Zhou from across the distant water.
Shen Zhou had finished moving the boxes and was checking the bill. His back was straight, and his brow bone was high. When he slightly lowered it, there was a sharp and restrained silence in his dark eyes.
In the plot, the original host, this vicious ex-boyfriend, had not been shy about showing off his power to Shen Zhou. But his father’s investment had failed, and he had soon gone bankrupt.
On the contrary, Shen Zhou, with his keen sense, had seized the opportunity and had risen to the top, becoming a famous entrepreneur in Jinnan Province.
Yu Lin closed the plot, frowned slightly, and suddenly felt that his skin was very hot and a little uncomfortable.
His eyelids were red. He raised his eyes slightly and looked at the cold-faced Shen Zhou on the other side.
The young man’s cheeks were flushed, and his pair of amber eyes were quiet and transparent, and there seemed to be a shimmering light in them.
The yellow-haired youth was still giving advice on the side. “Brother Lin, how do you want to play? I’ll book a private room, and we’ll get him drunk together tonight?”
Yu Lin put down the cigarette butt in his hand, his slender fingers curled slightly, and his eyelashes lifted. He turned his head and said, “No need.”
The yellow-haired youth was stunned for a moment.
His name was Liu Guang. He was not particularly bad, but he was not very well-mannered either.
He was stunned for a moment. “What did you say?”
Yu Lin straightened up and said to him, “I’m not doing this for fun, nor for revenge.”
“What do you mean?” Liking men was still a novelty in Liuhe County. Liu Guang didn’t understand at first.
He was stunned for a while and took a puff of his cigarette. “No?”
He took a sharp breath, and after a long while, he said, “Brother Lin, anyway, I’ll listen to you. Whatever you say, I’ll do it. But he’s not easy to beat. If you want to sleep with him, I’ll hold him down for you?”
“…No need.”
Yu Lin turned his head and saw Liu Guang looking over in a daze, his expression serious, with a head of eye-catching yellow hair.
In the plot, the hooligan Liu Guang was one of the people who had made things difficult for Shen Zhou in his youth. After dropping out of school, he had gotten into a fight with someone and had ended up taking the blame for someone else and going to prison.
Not a good person, but very loyal.
Yu Lin looked at Liu Guang and said softly, “The teacher has urged us to go back to school several times. I’m planning on going back.”
He asked, “What about you? What are your plans?”
Liu Guang was stunned for a moment and shook his head. “Brother Lin, you go back. I’m not going. I can’t understand the books.”
Yu Lin thought for a moment and said, “If you don’t like studying, you can go to a vocational school and learn a trade.”
As the two of them were talking, the other yellow-haired youths came over, smoking.
The leader had a floral tattoo on his arm and was wearing a leather jacket. He had a cigarette in his mouth and was cursing as he kicked a stone on the road.
He walked over, spat, and cursed, “Damn, it’s so hard to deal with. Why don’t you just pay up?”
He said, “Damn Shen Zhou, damn Ning Yang, what are they? They’re just a bunch of iron roosters. Brother Lin, let’s find a chance to play him to death.”
Yu Lin frowned, glanced at him, and did not speak.
Liu Guang was stunned for a moment, looked left and right at them, and then was shocked. “Oh no! You went to find him?”
He said hurriedly, “Everyone, calm down. Brother Lin hasn’t had enough fun yet.”
***
The early spring in Liuhe County was still very cold. Even though the willow buds had sprouted, a hint of cold still seeped in through the skin.
Shen Zhou settled the bill and came straight over, stepping on the potholed stone road.
He walked all the way to Yu Lin, his expression calm, as if he hadn’t seen the few slovenly yellow-haired youths just now.
Yu Lin stood under the shade of a willow tree and looked at him quietly.
In March in Liuhe County, the willow buds had already sprouted. The biting cold wind was a little cold. The little young master’s features were quiet, and he stood by the green river and looked at him.
Shen Zhou’s eyelids moved, and his forward movement paused.
Nominally, the two of them were boyfriends who had just confirmed their relationship. Yu Lin had come over, so he must have been waiting for him.
It was noon, and the smell of food was wafting from every household.
Shen Zhou came to Yu Lin, his eyelids lowered, and suddenly asked, “Where are we going?”
His voice was very low and magnetic, not a familiar tone. Yu Lin looked up at his brow bone, thought for a moment, and held out his hand. “It’s noon. Have you eaten?”
Shen Zhou paused for a moment, and for some reason, he thought of his appearance last night. He reached into his pocket, took out a candy and placed it in his hand, and said, “No.”
Yu Lin looked at the candy in his hand and did not speak.
There was a restaurant in the county. The food was delicious, but the prices were high, so not many people ate there.
The two of them walked forward. Yu Lin was led to the entrance of the restaurant and looked up at the sign. “Here?”
“What’s wrong?” Shen Zhou turned his head, his dark eyes looking straight over. “You don’t like it? Then let’s go somewhere else?”
“No.” Yu Lin blinked. “No need.”
The manager of the restaurant knew Yu Lin. Hearing that he was here, he hurried up to serve him. Seeing Shen Zhou by his side, he hesitated slightly. “Oh my, you two are together?”
Shen Zhou nodded, his dark eyes sweeping over. “En.”
Yu Lin said softly, “En, we’re together.”
Neither of them liked a lively atmosphere, so they didn’t sit in the main hall, but booked a private room and ordered a few signature dishes.
This body of Yu Lin’s was very thin. He had not been eating well for a long time and had no appetite for meat dishes.
He only ate a little egg custard and half a bowl of rice for the entire meal. Shen Zhou had given him some braised pork in the middle, but he had only taken a small bite after looking at it.
Shen Zhou looked at his small bowl, was silent for a moment, and suddenly frowned. “Is the food not good?”
“No.”
Yu Lin blinked and shook his head at him. “I’m full.”
Shen Zhou glanced at the dishes on the table and was silent for a moment.
He nodded. “Then let’s go and buy some milk in a bit. Can you drink it?”
Yu Lin said hesitantly, “I can.”
“En.”
Shen Zhou ate quickly and finished the rest of the food. The two of them went out of the private room. The manager was standing and giving instructions to someone, and he came over with a smile.
He looked at Yu Lin. “Little Young Master Yu is still putting it on the tab?”
“En.”
Just as Yu Lin was about to nod, his arm felt a warmth. Shen Zhou pushed him back a little, his eyelids lifted slightly, and he said to the manager, “No, we’ll pay now.”
“Pay now?” The manager looked at him in surprise.
The manager led Shen Zhou to the counter to pay the bill. The meal was not a small sum, and he counted it out one by one.
The manager looked at Shen Zhou, glanced at Yu Lin who was sitting in the main hall, and let out a light sigh. “Why bother?”
Shen Zhou pressed his lips together slightly and did not speak.
The midday sun in Liuhe County was slightly warm. After walking out of the restaurant, his shoulders were lightly wrapped in a hint of warmth. Shen Zhou had work in the afternoon, helping a factory with orders, and could not be delayed.
Seeing Yu Lin yawn, he looked over. “Sleepy?”
Yu Lin was a little dazed. When he looked up at him, his eyelashes were still wet with moisture.
For some reason, Shen Zhou’s heart softened.
He said, “I’m not here in the afternoon. Why don’t you go and sleep in the shop?”
Few people knew that the owner of the small shop was preparing to go out and make a living, and the shop had been taken over by Shen Zhou.
In the plot, the little young master had used sugar-coated bullets and had chased Shen Zhou for several months before Shen Zhou had finally agreed.
The two of them had been in a lukewarm relationship and had broken up not long after.
Shen Zhou didn’t know why he had agreed to this relationship. When he woke up, he had originally thought that he had been bewitched. But last night, when he saw Yu Lin, he had been bewitched again and had felt that it was very good.
As if the him from before was not him, and something was guiding him.
Inexplicably, he wanted to be responsible for this farce.
His eyelids were slightly lowered as he looked at Yu Lin. “That small shop is mine now.”
Yu Lin’s eyelashes blinked lightly. He didn’t ask why, and just said to him, “Okay.”
“En.” Shen Zhou said, “I’ll take you there.”
By the road were old utility poles, and the brick walls and houses were low and old. The road was full of potholes.
The two of them stood side by side by the road. A yellow dog passed by, first barking and circling around Shen Zhou, and then it went forward and rubbed against Yu Lin’s calf.
Yu Lin was afraid of dogs. He was stunned for a moment, his body stiffened slightly, and he subconsciously looked up at Shen Zhou.
Shen Zhou pressed his lips together, half-knelt, and with a forceful finger, he grabbed the barking dog that was lying on Yu Lin’s foot.
“Let go.” he said, his eyelids slightly lowered. In the yellow dog’s eager expression, he said to it, “Don’t scare him.”