Some of the Lu family members didn’t live in Ningchang, and since it was already late, by the time the drinks had gone around three times and everyone called it a night, it was close to 1 a.m. Most of them were already resting at the hotel.
Lu Wei couldn’t sleep well in unfamiliar beds, so the three of them drove back home.
Ever since his parents showed up at the banquet, Lu Chengxuan hadn’t had a single minute to himself. Even the short time he spent arranging things for Lin Wangye had to be squeezed in between everything else.
He was Lu Chenghan’s only son—and the one the family had pinned all their hopes on.
So when the rest of the Lu family came over one after another to chat with the family head, Lu Chenghan actually didn’t say much at all. It was pretty much Lu Chengxuan leading the conversation the entire time.
And he totally held his own. Calm and confident, not the least bit flustered.
Between all the toasts and small talk, he ended up drinking quite a bit too.
After sending his parents to their room, his long day finally came to an end. Just as he was about to lie down and call it a night, still feeling the buzz from all the alcohol, he heard a sudden knock on the door right after he got out of the shower.
He answered, and in came Butler Liu, handing him a phone.
That’s when Lu Chengxuan remembered—he’d left it by the front entrance along with his coat when he came back earlier.
The butler never went through anyone’s things or checked phones without permission, but he still reminded him, “It kept ringing just now. I think it was a call.”
“Mm,” Lu Chengxuan replied. Just as he was about to shut the door, the butler added—
“Lin Wangye didn’t come back.”
Lu Chengxuan frowned a little, paused for two seconds, then nodded. “Got it.”
Once the butler left, Lu Chengxuan pulled his phone out of his coat pocket. The moment he had it in his hand, it started vibrating again. He flipped the screen and saw one missed call from Xu Suinian… and one hundred and thirty missed calls from Lin Shen.
The call coming through right now was from Lin Shen.
Lu Chengxuan answered it right away, only to be met with a storm of yelling on the other end: “Well well well, look who finally remembered how to pick up a phone! Do you have any idea how many times I called?! It’s the damn New Year, don’t push me to commit murder! Are you okay or what?!”
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Lu Chengxuan rubbed his brow and answered, “I’m fine. Just busy. Haven’t had a chance to check my phone. Just got home.”
“I thought something happened. As long as you’re alive, I guess,” Lin Shen snapped, still sounding pissed. He coughed twice and then asked, “Where’s Lin Wangye? Why’s his phone off?”
“Lin Wangye…”
Lu Chengxuan opened his mouth, about to speak, but stopped. The alcohol was messing with his head a bit—his thoughts were sluggish and slow to catch up.
On a normal day, just seeing that missed call from Xu Suinian would’ve been enough for him to piece most of it together.
But right now, hearing Lin Shen ask that question, his mind went completely blank.
He stayed quiet for a long time. Then, like something took over, he blurted out—
“He’s gone.”
Hearing something like that come out of Lu Chengxuan’s mouth was downright shocking.
Lin Shen, who was spinning around in his gaming chair, completely short-circuited—his soul practically shot straight into orbit.
“Gone?!!!”
A few seconds passed. Lu Chengxuan still couldn’t say for sure where Lin Wangye was right now, so he slowly nodded.
There was a long silence.
And then something clicked in Lin Shen’s brain. He sat straight up in his chair with a loud snap.
“Lu Chengxuan?”
“I’m here,” Lu Chengxuan said.
“Are you drunk?” Lin Shen frowned hard. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.”
He replied fast, but something about his voice just didn’t sound right.
Maybe no one else would’ve noticed.
But Lin Shen had known him for years—and he could instantly tell something was off.
So he asked, “You just said Lin Wangye is gone. What do you mean, gone?”
After taking a few seconds to go over everything that had happened earlier, Lu Chengxuan finally explained, “Around nine tonight, I saw he seemed pretty drunk, so I called Xu Suinian to take him home. But when I got home just now, the butler told me he hadn’t come back after nine.”
Even a kid in elementary school could see the problem with that logic.
But Lu Chengxuan just said it, straight-faced, like it all made perfect sense.
And he didn’t seem to realize at all where the actual issue might be hiding in that story.
So even though he was answering questions just fine, Lin Shen was now one hundred percent sure—he was absolutely drunk.
“You just said Xu Suinian took him home. If he never made it back, then he must be with Xu Suinian. How could he be ‘gone’?” Lin Shen said.
Lu Chengxuan stayed quiet for a while again. “I’ll call and ask.”
“No need. I’ll ask in a bit,” Lin Shen said. “You don’t have to worry about it. Just go to sleep.”
“Alright.”
Once he was sure Lin Wangye wasn’t in any real danger, Lin Shen relaxed and leaned back in his chair.
But just before saying goodnight, a thought suddenly hit him. This kind of chance didn’t come often—once in a lifetime, maybe—so a mischievous little spark lit up in him. He didn’t care if this counted as being sneaky or not. He waited a long moment on purpose, said nothing, then casually tested the waters.
“Lu Chengxuan?”
“I’m here.”
“Why aren’t you hanging up?”
“…”
The other side went silent again. Just when Lin Shen thought Lu Chengxuan would hang up without a word, he heard his voice through the speaker again.
“Because it’s been a long time since you called me,” Lu Chengxuan said.
Lin Shen froze, just a little. His gaming chair stopped moving.
There was a time when he and Lu Chengxuan were practically glued at the hip—walking to and from school together almost every day. Lu Chengxuan didn’t talk much, but he was a great listener.
And back then, Lin Shen had endless things to say.
Even after going home, if something funny or interesting happened, he’d call Lu Chengxuan right away to share it.
Because other people would always steer the topic back to whatever they cared about, or tell him he talked too much.
But Lu Chengxuan never interrupted him. Not once.
Things didn’t start to change until after his mom passed away.
After that, it became really hard to feel happy the way he used to. For a long time, he gave up on keeping in touch with anyone, completely shutting himself off from the world.
When he finally started to crawl his way out of that hole, he realized Lu Chengxuan—who never really knew how to connect with people in the first place—had just stayed there, in the same spot, waiting.
Maybe Lu Chengxuan didn’t even understand why he’d been pushed away.
He never walked away, though. Just stayed standing right there, stuck on the edge of a friendship that used to mean everything.
That’s why Lin Shen wanted to ask him to visit Yingtian Mountain—his mom had once promised to take him there, and he wanted to go with Lu Chengxuan.
But even then, Lu Chengxuan let him down.
For a long time, Lin Shen truly couldn’t forgive him—not deep down. He held onto that anger, carried it like a chip on his shoulder, and made a point to be close with everyone around him… except for the one person who used to mean the most.
Back then, all fired up and young, he didn’t even know why he acted like that.
He just thought it made him feel better—more at peace.
But over time, that sense of revenge stopped working.
Because he realized Lu Chengxuan had turned back into the way he was in the beginning.
Quiet. Withdrawn. Always alone.
He didn’t even care about all the cool, trendy stuff that kids their age were into anymore.
At some point, Lin Shen had stopped calling to ramble about random stuff—but he couldn’t even remember when.
Lu Chengxuan never once said anything about it.
So Lin Shen didn’t think much of it either. He never saw it as some huge, unforgivable thing.
Time just takes things away sometimes.
He figured that was just part of growing up.
But now, because of that one random sentence that slipped out without thinking—probably thanks to the alcohol—Lin Shen suddenly realized something.
Lu Chengxuan actually did care.
These days, he really didn’t call Lu Chengxuan unless he had something important to say. And even then, he’d hang up right after.
His throat tightened. He swallowed hard, then asked quietly, “Do you want me to call you?”
There was no answer right away. It was like the last bit of logic in Lu Chengxuan’s head had just realized that what he said earlier had totally bypassed the usual filter. After a short pause, he finally replied, choosing his words carefully.
“I mean… if there’s something on your mind, you can talk to me.”
Even if they weren’t like they used to be—talking about everything and nothing.
At the very least, he didn’t want Lin Shen to bottle it all up inside.
When he finished speaking, Lin Shen covered his eyes with one hand and went quiet for a while. Then all of a sudden, he understood what Lu Chengxuan was really trying to say. His tone lightened, a little more relaxed than before.
“Then let me ask you something.”
“Go ahead.”
Lin Shen knew that in this state, Lu Chengxuan might not even remember anything tomorrow. And even if he did, it’d probably all be fuzzy. So he leaned back, crossed one leg over the other, and stared up at the ceiling. “If one day, you had to choose between freedom and responsibility, knowing that picking one might mean losing the other… what would you choose?”
Lu Chengxuan thought about it for a moment, then said—
“There’s no need to choose.”
Lin Shen’s fingers paused mid-tap on the armrest.
“What do you mean?”
Lu Chengxuan replied slowly, “If you’re strong enough, you don’t need anyone’s approval to do what you want. And you don’t have to lose anything either.”
Lin Shen didn’t say anything for a long while.
Then he picked up his lighter, lit a cigarette, took a drag, and exhaled softly. “Hang up now, send me five hundred bucks so I can buy the New Year limited-edition skin. Then go to sleep.”
Two seconds later, the call ended.
A ‘ding’ from WeChat popped up with a message notification. Lin Shen lowered his eyes, tapped his finger across the screen, and opened it.
[Lu Chengxuan: [Wishing you wealth and good fortune]]
[Lu Chengxuan: [Wishing you wealth and good fortune]]
[Lu Chengxuan: [Wishing you wealth and good fortune]]
Lin Shen let out a silent chuckle, grabbed all the red packets without hesitation, then reached over to move his mouse, lighting up his monitor and staring at the green-and-red chaos of the stock market.
*
On the second day of the new year, the smell of firecrackers still lingered in the air.
Lin Shen woke up naturally, no alarm, and took a cab to the hotel. When he stood in front of the door and realized—once again—it was that damn room number 520, he instantly felt annoyed and knocked hard.
It took a while, but finally, the door cracked open.
Lin Wangye, eyes still half-shut and puffy with sleep, took one look at who it was, turned around, and flopped right back onto the bed, butt in the air, trying to keep sleeping.
The second Lin Shen walked in, he sensed something was off.
Even though the scent of shampoo and body wash filled the air, there was still a faint, familiar smell lingering underneath it all—one he couldn’t quite place but knew he’d smelled before.
“Do you even know what time it is? Still sleeping,” Lin Shen said, yanking the curtains open. Then he walked back to the bed and dragged Lin Wangye up. “Come on, get up! The streets are lively today. You’re coming to the market with me.”
Lin Wangye was like a soggy rag—barely sat up before collapsing again, flopping back down into the sheets. “So sleepy…”
As Lin Shen dragged him up, he kept muttering, “Open your eyes and look—it’s the afternoon already. Checkout at this hotel is noon. If you keep stalling, they’re gonna take the deposit!”
Lin Wangye collapsed back into bed with his eyes shut.
“Then I’ll just book another day. I’m rich, okay…”
Lin Shen hit him with his secret weapon: “If you don’t get up, I’ll kill myself right here.”
As soon as the words were out, Lin Wangye cracked one eye open, then finally, and very reluctantly, crawled out of bed. With his hair a wild, fluffy mess, he shuffled into the bathroom.
“So annoying… Can’t even sleep in during the holidays.”
“You start washing up. I’ll go out and get you something to eat.”
Seeing he was being obedient for once, Lin Shen turned and left the room.
Most shops were still closed for the New Year, and Lin Shen had to walk nearly 200 meters before spotting an open dumpling shop. He went in and bought a handmade batch stuffed with shrimp.
When he got back to the hotel, Lin Wangye was already cleaned up and dressed.
He was sitting cross-legged on the bed, surrounded by opened red envelopes. Lin Shen walked over and was nearly blinded by the golden shine of all that cash.
“What the hell is this?”
“Got ‘em last night at Brother Lu’s house!” Lin Wangye was over the moon, his eyes sparkling brighter than car headlights in the middle of the night. “I counted—over 130K!”
“You little—”
Even someone like Lin Shen, who’d seen a thing or two, was a little stunned. He grabbed one bill out of Lin Wangye’s hands and held it up. “These are commemorative notes.”
“Yup!” Lin Wangye gathered the money into one neat stack, pressed his palms together like he was praying. “As soon as the banks reopen, I’m cashing all of it and putting it in my account!”
“Yeah yeah yeah.”
Lin Shen couldn’t help but laugh at how obsessed he looked. But just then, something felt off. From the corner of his eye, he caught a detail, raised Wangye’s chin, and squinted. “What happened to the corner of your mouth?”
Lin Wangye blinked fast, stuck out his tongue to lightly lick the spot. The sting hit right away, and for a second, his brain blanked. Then his face suddenly burned with heat. He looked away, swallowed hard, and muttered, “Dry weather… cracked lip.”
Lin Shen narrowed his eyes, not buying it, but didn’t push. He pulled back his hand and set the dumplings on the table. “Eat up. And once you’re done, let’s get out of here. You really wanna lose your whole deposit?”
Lin Wangye might’ve been flush with cash, but he wasn’t dumb enough to waste it. He immediately hopped off the bed, slipped on his shoes, and started eating.
Once he finished, the two of them went to check out.
Lin Shen, always the one playing caretaker, took the lead and talked to the front desk, while Wangye—playing the pampered one as usual—leaned on the counter texting Shi Yuan.
“Hello. Your deposit was 300. You’re two hours past checkout, so 100’s deducted. After subtracting room charges, you’ll get 137 yuan back. Here’s your receipt.”
“Thanks.”
Lin Shen took the invoice and the receipt, and as he led Lin Wangye out of the hotel, something still felt off.
What the hell did they buy in that room to run up that much?
Curious, he lowered his head and glanced at the itemized receipt.
Mizone Low-Sugar Vitamin Drink – ¥8
XX Water-Based Lubricant – ¥25
XXX Ultra-Thin Zero-Feel Condoms, 2-Pack – ¥30
Lin Shen: “…”
Hello, everyone ヾ(＾∇＾). I hope you enjoyed the story! If you’re feeling generous, please buy me a coffee, share/comment on my translated works! Check out the link below for early chapters. (๑>ᴗ<๑)
![Assistant Lin Has Something To Say [BL]](https://www.freenovels.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Assist.jpg "Assistant Lin Has Something To Say [BL]")
