KC | Chapter 105

October 6, 2023, the last day of the Double Festival holiday, clear skies turning into a torrential rain.

Zhang Yanrong’s words were like a bolt from the blue, instantly waking the drunken Chen Xi. Though he was drunk, he could not be brothers with someone who never knew how to keep his mouth shut. This guy could sell out Lin Yiran today, and he could sell him out another day too. Chen Xi did not chat any further. He sat in the car and waited for a designated driver.

The landlord sent a message: in winter, heating fees had to be paid, and next quarter the monthly rent would go up by 100.

Heh. He had rented that old, broken-down place for three years, and there had been no heating fee in previous winters?

Chen Xi could not be bothered to waste words on him. 100 yuan was not much anyway, besides, he had originally planned to move house…

Move house, was he still moving now?

Was he going to move in with a leader who slandered him, never told the truth, and had utterly dirty methods?

He was afraid others would think he was being fussy, so he had always hidden his mental problems, but the one who had put such heavy pressure on him and made him mentally split was precisely Lin Yiran.

Both the pressure of life and work were caused by Lin Yiran, and yet he still stupidly ran up to look for trouble. Just now he had even been thinking about doing something exciting while drunk.

Chen Xi tugged twice at the chain at his waist and thought of the scene when he had willingly let Lin Yiran pierce him. At this moment, the faint clinking sounded like mockery, as if saying: cheap, really fucking cheap!

Chen Xi unfastened the waist chain in the back seat. In the rearview mirror, the frightened eyes of the designated driver floated in the light, as if they were looking at a drunk who might poop or pee in the car at any moment. Chen Xi stopped moving and turned to look out the window.

Sili suggested to him: if he encountered things like a client not paying on time, or other matters that might cause emotional agitation, he could empty his mind for 3 minutes before dealing with them again. After 3 minutes, his emotions would calm down a bit, and he could think rationally, avoiding making wrong decisions he would regret.

Chen Xi took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Using the breathing method Sili had taught him, he tried to calm his restless emotions.

After spending this time with Lin Yiran, Chen Xi’s way of thinking had gradually become “Lin”-ified, and he often stood in the other person’s shoes to think about problems.

From a result-oriented perspective, Pingsheng did give him the money for the seam-handling work; he did not make him look for a new job, and at Lanhai he even brought him in to close the deal. Lin Yiran’s way of thinking only cared about results, so the earlier apology had only been perfunctory, and he had never truly realized he had done wrong.

But Lin Yiran had used underhanded methods, building his happiness on my pain, so did I just deserve to bear the pressure and the slander?

The Cadillac drove back to Fuhai Zhibang. Chen Xi went upstairs and into the house, changed into bunny slippers, washed his face, and when he saw the bunny towel on the wall, his agitated emotions finally eased somewhat.

Reasoning with a bastard wearing a human skin would definitely not work, he had to use some extreme methods to make him realize his mistake.

A problem with character could be taught. Make Lin Yiran kneel on a washboard for a whole night, and if he could guarantee he would not do anything immoral again in the future, then it would not be impossible to let it go.

A fight at the bedside ended at the foot of the bed, those were things that happened before we got together. As long as things could be good afterward, why keep holding on to it?

Someone who had been in a long-term state of secret love had too thick a filter over the one they loved. Even if a moral exemplar knew their lover had done something immoral, they would still go crazy trying to brainwash themselves and patch things up for Lin Yiran.

A love-struck brain would chalk this up to a bedmate’s controlling behavior, and firmly believe that after the pain, it would feel even better, endlessly brainwashing and hypnotizing itself.

The sense of safety Lin Yiran brought had built a thick barrier around Chen Xi, one that could help him withstand the sarcasm and ridicule of key clients, and also guard against the mental attacks of the three little villains. But no matter how solid a barrier was, it could not withstand the erosion of time. Every minute that passed, the barrier would crack by an inch, and Chen Xi urgently wanted Lin Yiran to come back and repair the damaged barrier.

Chen Xi was used to sleeping after drinking, but tonight he could not sleep. The barrier had been consumed from noon until the afternoon, and the moment it shattered, it seemed as if he had sat back into the car.

He drove aimlessly on the road, not knowing where it led. The fuel tank that held his sense of security lit up a warning light. He could not find a place to refuel, and could only watch the fuel run dry.

He wanted to take one more step forward, wanted to fight for more possibilities, but it was impossible.

In his mind, for the first time in a long while, the three little villains appeared again. Chen Xi did not want to hear them talk, and tried to scroll through his Moments to shift his attention. By chance, he scrolled to the news that Wang Jingjing had given birth,

“Jingjing: Honey, you worked hard!”

The picture showed a chubby little boy.

The patient with split personality began thinking about questions he had never considered in these past few days: Lin Yiran had never mentioned Wang Jingjing. After the two of them divorced, Wang Jingjing quickly remarried and had a child. One never said a word, the other used a new love to dull the old one.

If he did not love her, given Lin Yiran’s personality, he could not possibly have married her. But since they chose each other, why did they separate?

They had been married for 2 years, already used to each other’s lives. Why did they suddenly divorce?

What irreversible thing had happened between them, that they were so desperate to forget each other?

The first reason Chen Xi thought of was: cheating.

He patted his head, which had become a mess of mush, and forced himself not to think any more, not to think any more.

Today’s Moments were mostly vacation-return photos. Chen Xi would not allow himself to slack off, and like an obsessive-compulsive patient, he finished scrolling through today before continuing to scroll through yesterday.

Meng Hai had posted a video late last night. There was a row of Ace of Spades on the table, clearly a high-end club. When the iPhone was on Wi-Fi, the video auto-played, and suddenly a pair of familiar hands appeared in the frame, with an IWC on the wrist.

Chen Xi immediately sat up on the sofa, paused the video, took a screenshot and enlarged it, then looked closely, it really was an IWC perpetual calendar.

Sales negotiations usually had both sides seated on opposite ends. That person was sitting on Meng Hai’s side, clearly on the same side as him, meaning he was also the contractor. In the Yu City advertising circle, there was only one person who wore an IWC perpetual calendar, and he had connections with both Chen Xi and Meng Hai, it was Lin Yiran.

Why had Lin Yiran returned to Yu City last night and not told me?

Was it because he was afraid I would get in the way, and it would not be convenient for him to entertain the client and visit a prostitute?

What had Lin Yiran done at the business KTV?

Chen Xi stood up and paced around the room, sat down, and before two minutes had passed, stood up again, restless and uneasy.

Fuck the breathing method, I got stabbed in the ass by a rotten cucumber all night while pretty girls sang and danced, and I still brainwashed myself into swallowing the anger!

The powder keg was instantly lit. Chen Xi could not suppress his anger, and without thinking directly dialed Meng Hai.

“Hello, Chen Xi.” Meng Hai’s voice was very low and hoarse, clearly because he had drunk too much last night and had not gotten up after the hangover.

The call was abrupt. The other side was a former coworker who had not spoken in a long time. Chen Xi tried his best to make his tone sound calm: “Brother Hai, I’ve got a job here. Yige Wooden Doors wants to find an offline execution team. I saw before in Brother Hai’s Moments that you had resources in this area, so I figured I’d ask.”

“Sure.” No KA could resist the temptation of a key client. Meng Hai perked up, and his volume rose a little. “When’s convenient? We can talk together?”

“I had wanted to come this morning, but I was worried Brother Hai hadn’t gotten up…”

“Hey, when there’s a client, even if you don’t sleep you still have to go talk business.” Meng Hai laughed loudly. “Brother, don’t worry. You think of your brother, and later when your brother has work, he’ll think of you too.”

Chen Xi let out two emotionless snorts of laughter, and kept fishing for information: “What kind of business were you talking about yesterday, was it because you and Brother Lin were close, so you didn’t call me?”

Meng Hai paused on the other end, seeming a little embarrassed: “This client, Old Lin knows him. Before, I was always working together with him at Wanxiu Glory. Next time there’s work, let’s switch to a more suitable place…”

A few coy moans came through the background, as if expressing dissatisfaction to the client that after paying for sex, they were still changing places.

With a “clunk,” the phone fell to the floor.

Chen Xi’s eyes were utterly dead.

When a happy event happens, a person is refreshed. Although he had slept late last night, Lin Yiran was in high spirits and got up before 8:00.

After breakfast, he stepped into the 4S dealership at 9:00 opening time. With the attitude of saving where he should save and spending where he should spend, he successfully avoided all the sales tricks, bargained from front-line sales to supervisor, compared three stores and crossed two districts in Yu City, and after fighting for 3 hours, he picked up a top-spec Mercedes S400L.

A perfectionist liked to do things to the extreme. After handling the insurance, road fees, license plate selection and registration, another 3 hours had passed.

The time-management master squeezed in a piece of bread, got his hair done at an unknown barbershop nearby, and then walked 2KM to the nearest flower shop to buy a huge bouquet of tacky red roses.

Although he very much wanted to drive the car home himself, he could not break the law knowingly. The Mercedes dealership salesperson took the initiative to volunteer and sent this great Buddha back to Fuhai Zhibang.

In the elevator, Lin Yiran kept rubbing the Mercedes key in his pants pocket. The tiny key was loaded with promises for the future, and even when he had met entrepreneurs worth over 100 million in person, he had never been this nervous.

He scanned his fingerprint to enter the house, and Chen Xi was sitting in the living room as usual.

Lin Yiran’s heartbeat sped up uncontrollably, and his hand gripping the car key was damp with sweat. He tried his best to keep his voice steady: “When did you get back?”

Chen Xi did not speak.

Lin Yiran walked slowly and solemnly to stand before Chen Xi, then knelt on one knee on the carpet under the sofa, in a posture like a proposal. He held the huge bouquet of roses to his chest, the light in his eyes even brighter than the sunset outside the window, and he curled his lips slightly as he said, “I bought flowers.”

If time could rewind, Lin Yiran would definitely have driven straight home as soon as he got the car, so Chen Xi would not have seen Meng Hai’s Moments.

He would have been very happy to receive flowers, ecstatic to receive the Mercedes, and when he heard a few greasy sweet words, he would have been so happy he floated into the sky blowing bubbles.

But there was no if.

This was the first time he had given him flowers, and Chen Xi’s first time receiving flowers.

There was no expected delight. Chen Xi looked quietly at the blazing roses and asked, “Is this a gift to apologize to me because you did something wrong?”

Lin Yiran’s smile froze on his face. Not knowing what else he had discovered, he tested cautiously, “When did I offend Boss Chen again?”

Was it two years ago, or two months ago?

Chen Xi: “Do you have anything you want to say to me?”

This question was exactly the same as half a month ago when he had pried into Pingsheng’s business. Lin Yiran guessed it probably was not something especially serious, and half-bluffed, half-coaxed, lowering his head to admit fault: “I followed up on Deyang Aluminum for more than half a year. On Christmas two years ago, the client said they wanted to use the license you were following to run the accounts. I got possessed for a moment and then…”

Lin Yiran walked to the side of the sofa, lowered his voice, and seemed a little aggrieved: “When I passed by the McDonald’s dessert shop last month, I already wanted to tell you, it was you who didn’t want to hear it.”

Chen Xi’s expression was still calm, only his tone had grown colder than before: “I asked you once before, that was the second time just now, and now I’m asking you one last time. Lin Yiran, do you have anything you want to say to me?”

During these days together, whenever Chen Xi got angry before, he would just directly yell at Lin Yiran. Now that he was like this, Lin Yiran instead felt a little at a loss.

He could scold Lin Yiran for half a day over Pingsheng, and the nature of stealing a deal was even more serious than poaching business, so why had the fire gone out instead?

Lin Yiran had always used deceit to cover up the peace, because he feared that after honesty, Chen Xi would no longer like him. Covering one’s ears to steal a bell was not a good solution. Today Chen Xi clearly knew about what happened three months ago. After thinking it over several times, Lin Yiran chose his words carefully and said, “The clients in the Yu City advertising circle are all familiar with my people. Before, when you were looking for a job, the key clients written on your resume were all mine.”

Lin Yiran threw out this lead precisely to guide Chen Xi into shifting his attention. A negotiation expert could dangle a client and keep them on edge, but seeing that his boyfriend still did not speak, he took the initiative and confessed everything: “Someone had done a background check on you before. At that time, in order not to let you leave, I said some bad things.”

Chen Xi finally said something different: “Was it because if I left, you would feel guilty, right?”

Lin Yiran nodded.

Chen Xi’s arm hanging by his side trembled slightly, and he thought: the beginning of our story was an immoral accident, and the reason this accident kept developing was not because of “liking,” but because of “guilt.”

The liking I held in the tip of my heart ended up being met with an unequal emotion.

Chen Xi’s face was still calm, but his eyes were no longer clear, carrying the gloom before a storm: “If you wanted to screw me, then you screwed me. If you didn’t want me to leave, then I couldn’t leave. Lin Yiran, since you’re so carefree, did you ever consider my feelings?”

Lin Yiran thought Chen Xi was just being temperamental, and explained patiently: “At that time I wasn’t sure about my feelings for you, I just felt I couldn’t let you leave. Baby, don’t be angry, I really was wrong. I will never make you sad again.”

“You said you were sorry before, and I thought you knew how to repent. Now it seems your apology is far too cheap.” Chen Xi’s voice rose slightly, “In order to keep me, you slandered my character to others, and one sorry is enough to solve it?”

Lin Yiran had originally wanted to give Chen Xi a surprise, but did not expect to receive a scare instead. Reading the situation, Lin Yiran’s instinct told him today was not a good time to give the car, so he placed the flowers on the living room table.

Chen Xi said, “I originally thought a weak sense of morality was not a big deal. I was even willing to give you a chance until just now, but you keep saying nothing.”

The powder keg shouted out all the emotions it had suppressed for a long time: “You think hooking up isn’t a big deal, so after having sex with me, you were too disdainful to explain that you had already divorced. I thought you hadn’t divorced, and after that night, every day was agony. I liked you, but I couldn’t bear to destroy your family, so I wanted to quit. I had no money, I needed a job, but when I looked for work I hit walls everywhere. The real culprit was actually you!”

Chen Xi could not stop the loud explosion in his head. Angry No. 1 replaced him and roared madly: “Why should your guilt be something I have to bear? Why do I have to pay for your indulgence? What is that smell on you, did you go to Wanxiu Glory to find hostesses last night?”

The droplets of water on the roses were not dry, but the heart overflowing with happiness had dried out completely.

The emotions between the two had already developed cracks. If the car were given at this moment, it would turn into a breakup gift.

The car-giving opening line he had rehearsed countless times turned into a worthless “sorry.”

The Mercedes key lay quietly in his pants pocket. Without an emotional foundation of trust, it could not bear the promise of the future.