BTMDY Chapter 62

Bai Yanchuan raised an eyebrow and smiled at Lin Wangye.

 

“Honored you still remember me.”

 

“Wait, hold up…” Lin Wangye looked totally lost, his face a mess of confusion. “You two know each other?!”

 

Bai Yanchuan glanced over at Lu Chengxuan. “Yeah—he’s my uncle.”

 

Lin Wangye felt his scalp tingle on the spot. “Uncle?!”

 

“Yup.”

 

Bai Yanchuan nodded, then seemed to realize Lin Wangye had misunderstood something, so he smiled and added,

“He’s my uncle.”

 

Lin Wangye had never in his life come across such a bizarre family connection. His head was spinning with question marks as he looked blankly at Lu Chengxuan.

 

Since there was no need for small talk, Lu Chengxuan had already slipped back into his usual quiet mode.

 

His mind was clearly still stuck on the fact that Lin Wangye and Bai Yanchuan actually knew each other, so he didn’t jump in right away to clear up Lin Wangye’s confusion.

 

Seeing this, Bai Yanchuan turned to explain.

 

“My mom and he are from the same generation. So even though I’m seven years older than him, I’m still technically his nephew.”

 

“Ohhh, I see now!” Lin Wangye finally got it.

 

Now that his confusion was cleared up, Lu Chengxuan’s earlier question still hung in the air unanswered.

 

And Lin Wangye? He was feeling super guilty about it.

 

How could he have guessed the world was this small? He’d asked Lin Qianqian for help finding someone to do a paternity test, and somehow it had ended up landing right on the Lu family’s doorstep. It was honestly insane.

 

At the moment, only Lin Qianqian knew about the whole thing.

 

She’d promised to keep it secret, so Lin Wangye had been totally convinced that stealing a few strands of Lin Shen’s hair and sneaking around with them would stay under wraps forever.

 

But in the end, the truth got out in the wildest way imaginable.

 

Honestly though, it wasn’t even that big of a deal.

 

He’d just taken a couple of hairs and had someone run a test. It wasn’t illegal or anything. And it wasn’t even a lot—just a tiny little clump inside a plastic bag, which was so shiny it didn’t even look real. Even Lin Qianqian had no clue whose hair it was supposed to be.

 

Before all this, Dr. Bai and Lin Qianqian had never even met.

 

So naturally, there was no way Dr. Bai would know who Lin Shen was.

 

Which meant—aside from Lin Wangye himself—no one should’ve been able to figure out who that second sample belonged to.

 

But… that was just the theory.

 

There was still a chance Lin Qianqian might’ve casually mentioned the hair in front of Dr. Bai, thinking the color looked familiar.

 

Or maybe—just maybe—Dr. Bai actually did know Lin Shen.

 

Or he could’ve pieced it together from little clues.

 

Whatever the case, the real issue now was that Lin Wangye had no idea how to explain any of this to Lu Chengxuan.

 

With how smart that man was, there was no way he’d fall for a random excuse.

 

And if Lin Wangye came clean—told him he once got a paternity test done at Renmin Hospital—what would he say when Lu Chengxuan asked who it was for?

 

There was no way to explain that without digging himself a deeper hole!

 

So instead, he shoved a mini cake into his mouth and started chewing like crazy, pretending he was too busy eating to talk—just trying to buy himself some time to think.

 

After squeezing every last drop of brainpower, he finally mumbled through his full mouth, “We met at Renmin Hospital… Dr. Bai happened to be working there, right?”

 

Lu Chengxuan did know where Xu Suihe had been getting her chemo.

 

And with that line, Lin Wangye basically tossed a smoke bomb—made Lu Chengxuan naturally think of Xu Suihe staying at Renmin, and assume Lin Wangye was just dropping by often and happened to bump into Dr. Bai. Total coincidence.

 

Sure, there was a pretty huge flaw in the story: The two departments weren’t even in the same building.

 

But still—this was the best excuse he could come up with that wasn’t an outright lie, yet wasn’t the full truth either. It let him play dumb just enough to get by.

 

And honestly, his tipsy brain wasn’t exactly firing on all cylinders right now.

 

The fact he could even string together a full sentence was already a miracle!

 

Lin Wangye felt completely foggy, but still kept a close eye on Lu Chengxuan’s expression—only to find that after hearing that half-baked excuse, the man just shot a quick glance at Bai Yanchuan and didn’t press it further.

 

Bai Yanchuan didn’t say anything either. Even though the excuse was obviously full of holes, he didn’t bother calling it out. He just stayed quiet, silently playing along.

 

After all, it was a Lu family dinner. Lin Wangye and Bai Yanchuan could float around wherever they wanted, but Lu Chengxuan couldn’t keep hiding in a corner forever. And since he’d already told Xu Suinian where he was, he just told Lin Wangye to keep his phone close in case he called, and walked off toward where his parents were.

 

Lin Wangye glanced nervously at Bai Yanchuan, but figured the less he said, the better—so he kept quiet too.

 

Thinking back to that look Lu Chengxuan gave before walking away, Bai Yanchuan took a moment to process it. In the end, he didn’t follow. He just quietly sat down next to Lin Wangye, staying silent the whole time.

 

About twenty minutes later, Lin Wangye’s phone rang.

 

He instantly guessed who it was. Without even checking the screen, he flipped it up and answered, grinning as he spoke in a sticky-sweet tone, “You’re here to pick me up, babe?”

 

There was a pause on the other end, and then came Lin Shen’s annoyed voice.

 

“Are you seriously out of your mind?”

 

Lin Wangye’s brain short-circuited for a second. He turned and glanced at the screen to check the caller ID, then quickly brought the phone back to his ear.

 

“Ohh—it’s you. What’s up?”

 

“I can’t call you if there’s nothing going on?”

 

“You totally can, of course you can.” Lin Wangye nodded like crazy, then quickly added, “But if it’s nothing urgent, I really gotta hang up. I’m waiting for a call from my boyfriend, don’t tie up the line.”

 

There was a long silence from Lin Shen’s side—probably him trying to swallow down the string of insults that wanted to burst out, considering it was the first day of the new year. Then he finally spoke.

 

“You’re at the Lu family dinner, right? They’re not giving you a hard time, are they? I told Lu Chengxuan earlier to look out for you. Just called him, but he didn’t pick up. Is he near you now?”

 

“Nope.” Lin Wangye stretched his neck, glanced around, spotted Lu Chengxuan, then said, “Brother Lu’s busy. Doesn’t have time to answer calls.”

 

“Oh. No one’s picking on you, right?” Lin Shen asked.

 

“As if! No one would dare.”

 

Lin Wangye patted the bulging pocket at his side and couldn’t help grinning like an idiot.

 

Lin Shen picked up on something weird in his tone and quickly guessed what was up.

 

“You’ve been drinking, haven’t you?”

 

“Just a teeny-tiny bit.”

 

Right after he said that, Lin Wangye suddenly remembered—Shi Yuan should be arriving about now. He quickly said, “Xu Suinian’s coming to pick me up. I really gotta hang up, or he’ll panic if he can’t get through.”

 

“You’re unbelievable, even during New Year’s,” Lin Shen grumbled. “Fine, hang up!”

 

As luck would have it, Shi Yuan’s call had come in right around the same time as Lin Shen’s—just a few seconds too late. When he called, the line was already busy.

 

After hanging up, Lin Wangye immediately saw the unread messages that had just popped up.

 

[Why’s your line busy?]

 

[Call me back as soon as you see this.]

 

[I’m downstairs at the hotel.]

 

The second he saw those, Lin Wangye jumped up. Noticing that Lu Chengxuan was still tied up, he looked down, shot him a quick message to let him know, then turned and walked off.

 

Just as he was calling back, the phone screen suddenly went black.

 

Lin Wangye pressed the power button a few times, confused, before it finally hit him—he’d stayed over at Yang Qingsen’s place last night and never went home. His phone hadn’t been charged this whole time.

 

Since the person was already downstairs, he didn’t overthink it and headed straight for the elevator. Just as he stepped in, he noticed Bai Yanchuan slipping in right after him.

 

Lin Wangye gave him a puzzled look. “Dr. Bai?”

 

Maybe it was because his department at the hospital was relatively calm—none of that life-or-death chaos aside from the occasional dramatic mess—but as a doctor, Bai Yanchuan didn’t have that cold, rigid air. He always seemed to have a smile on his face.

 

“Someone’s picking you up, right?”

 

As he spoke, he handed over his own phone. “Let me take you down. That way I can report back to my uncle too.”

 

“Thanks!”

 

Lin Wangye quickly thanked him, waving his hand. “It’s okay though, really. He’s already downstairs. If he can’t get through, he’ll probably just wait somewhere I can see him.”

 

Bai Yanchuan nodded and put his phone away.

 

When the elevator reached the ground floor, Bai Yanchuan led the way through the hotel lobby. Sure enough, Lin Wangye spotted Shi Yuan right away—he’d clearly already seen him and was hurrying over.

 

Grinning from ear to ear, Lin Wangye jogged over.

 

“You got here so fast!”

 

Shi Yuan smiled brightly and nodded, then looked over at Bai Yanchuan, who was following just behind. He gave a polite nod. “Hello.”

 

“Hi.” Bai Yanchuan stopped walking, and as he casually stuck his hands in his pockets, there was something about the way he did it that gave off a subtle doctor vibe.

 

“I noticed Xiao Lin was a little tipsy, so I didn’t feel right letting him come down on his own.”

 

Lin Wangye had been drinking, but not enough to be fully out of it. Just a mild buzz—maybe five or six out of ten. He could walk fine and wasn’t acting totally out of it.

 

His brain was just running a little slower than usual.

 

Now that the two had officially met, Lin Wangye quickly tried to make introductions. “This is Brother Lu’s relative, Bai, Bai…”

 

Right then, he realized—he had no idea what Dr. Bai’s full name was.

 

When Lin Qianqian introduced him, she’d only mentioned his last name.

 

Scratching his head, Lin Wangye looked over. “Sorry, you’re Bai… what again?”

 

Bai Yanchuan smiled generously and held out his hand. “Bai Yanchuan.”

 

“Nice to meet you, I’m Xu Suinian.”

 

Shi Yuan politely reached out for a handshake, then added,

“Thanks for bringing him down in person. I’ll take him from here, won’t keep you any longer.”

 

Once the hand-off was done, both sides had completed their mission. They said goodbye and went their separate ways.

 

The two of them hopped in a cab and sat in the back seat, heading toward the Lu family home.

 

Along the way, Lin Wangye leaned against Shi Yuan’s shoulder, head down, fiddling with his fingers. It wasn’t until they reached that big, familiar iron gate that it finally hit him—they were about to split up again. He started pestering Shi Yuan, begging him to let him stay over at his place instead.

 

But Shi Yuan knew all too well that the man had already been released—there was no way he could take Lin Wangye home.

 

All he wanted was for Lin Wangye to stay far, far away from that place.

 

But Lin Wangye just wouldn’t give up, begging again and again, refusing to get out of the car. Even the driver couldn’t take it anymore and said they were holding up his next ride. Shi Yuan had no choice but to pay the fare and get out of the car with him.

 

The truth was, Lin Wangye wasn’t just being drunk and dramatic.

 

He knew exactly what he was doing. Most of the time, he was the type to act mature and obedient—if he ever threw a fit, it was only over harmless little things. He couldn’t truly let go and be reckless.

 

He also knew the man in front of him was really, really busy.

 

But ever since they came back from that trip to Yingtian Mountain, the two of them hadn’t had a single moment to just relax and be together.

 

Sometimes it made Lin Wangye feel sad. But there wasn’t much he could do about it.

 

Winter wasn’t over yet, and the cold wind at night was still biting. Lin Wangye’s cheeks and the corners of his eyes were tinged red—it looked like he’d had too much to drink.

 

He sat on the bench at the bus stop, clutching the other man’s hand tightly.

 

Shi Yuan stood on the side that shielded him from the wind. He gently cupped his face and said softly,

 

“Let’s get you home. If you stay out here too long, you’ll catch a cold.”

 

Lin Wangye tilted his chin up and looked at him with pleading eyes.

 

“I don’t wanna go back to Brother Lu’s place. If I do, I won’t see you again. You’re back to work tomorrow, and every time I get to be with you, it feels like stolen time. Can’t you stay with me tonight? Just tonight, that’s all I’m asking…”

 

Maybe this is what people meant when they talked about how love comes with its own share of sadness and trouble.

 

Before meeting Lin Wangye, Shi Yuan never stopped for anyone or anything.

 

Even now, he hadn’t made any wrong turns—not in the path he chose.

 

But still, he couldn’t figure out how to make sure the person he cared about didn’t feel wronged along the way. And he didn’t know how to make up for the guilt he carried.

 

Shi Yuan let out a quiet sigh. The mist of his breath disappeared quickly in the cold wind. He stepped forward and gently pulled Lin Wangye into his arms, whispering, “Okay.”

 

There was no way they could go back to the house near the village.

 

The hospital didn’t have enough space, and it wasn’t somewhere you could really rest. Lu Chengxuan’s place was even more out of the question.

 

Alcohol numbs your nerves, speeds up your circulation. Standing around in the cold after drinking is a surefire way to catch a chill. Shi Yuan didn’t think too long about it—he helped Lin Wangye up and found a nearby hotel to book a room.

 

From the second they stepped into the hotel, Lin Wangye didn’t even dare to breathe too loud.

 

He just watched wide-eyed as Shi Yuan pulled out his ID, paid the deposit, got the room key, and then—key card in hand—led him into the elevator, found the right room, swiped the card, and closed the door behind them.

 

His brain was still a complete fog through it all.

 

He sat down at the edge of the bed, watching Shi Yuan walk over with a pair of slippers and place them on the floor. Then he crouched down in front of him and started untying his shoes.

 

And all Lin Wangye could do was stare and say, stunned: “You really brought me to a hotel.”

 

*

 

Author’s Note:

 

Lin Shen: WHO told you to send him to pick the kid up?! He went and took him to a hotel! You ready to take the fall for this?? I must’ve burned my karma clean eight lifetimes ago!

 

Lu Chengxuan: I’m drunk. Come pick me up.

 

Lin Shen: …what???

 

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