A Love Between Three

Lin Shuyang had spent his life wild, carefree, and partial to older women. Ever since his teens, every girl he had dated had been older than him.

He lacked neither love nor money. It was simply his personal preference.

In his sophomore year, he fell for a senior at first sight. After three months of dogged pursuit, she accepted his confession.

He had thought everything was going well. Lin Shuyang had even decided they would get married after he graduated, but the unexpected always found a way to happen.

Just as he was preparing to take his older girlfriend home to meet his parents and settle their future together, she used him as a stepping stone to hook up with a rich heir, then coldly waved him goodbye.

Lin Shuyang's world came crashing down.

But his girlfriend suffered an even bigger shock. When they turned up at the same banquet and she discovered that her new rich boyfriend had to respectfully address him as Young Master Lin, she nearly turned green with regret.

Afterward, she tried to come back to him, but Lin Shuyang refused to give the woman who had destroyed his perfect romance the time of day.

That incident also sent Lin Shuyang down an obsessive rabbit hole. Every time he started dating someone, he would hire someone to act out a melodramatic "I'll give you five million to leave him" scene.

The results were always the same. To date, not a single clearheaded girl had passed the test.

Every one of them looked troubled and said, "Wouldn't that be wrong?" Then, a second later, they picked up the check and left happily.

Lin Shuyang, hiding off to the side: "..."

The more setbacks Lin Shuyang suffered, the harder he tried, until he came up with a crooked idea. Since it always came down to money, he might as well pretend to be a poor boy-one with a paralyzed father, a brother with an intellectual disability, and a tragic family in which he was the only one who was more or less normal.

He had to admit that the tactic worked. Well, at least he hadn't managed to get a girlfriend for six months.

Fortunately, fate treated him kindly. While drowning his disappointment in alcohol, he met his current older girlfriend.

She was a very ordinary girl, a little plump, but her smile revealed two sweet dimples. She spoke in a soft Wu dialect and had a steady temperament. Even when she was angry, she never shouted; she only glared at him with her round eyes.

Lin Shuyang had never met anyone like her. Within a single week, he had fallen head over heels and couldn't pull himself out.

Because of the poor-boy persona he had invented, he had no choice but to miserably pretend to look for work and do part-time jobs every day.

In reality, he went to his brother's office and played games for half the day, then moved to his father's office in the afternoon to sleep. Occasionally, he accompanied his mother to play mahjong with a group of wealthy wives.

At night, he changed into clothes bought through Pinduoduo's ten-billion-yuan subsidy promotion, then ran to his girlfriend for comfort.

As their relationship heated up, Lin Shuyang grew increasingly troubled. He feared that this romance would fail the test again, but he also feared that, if she truly passed, he wouldn't know how to resolve his fake identity.

Ji Huaijin's response was, "Put an end to this cheap little test while you still can. If you're scared, you don't have to date."

What right did he have to turn unsuspecting people into test subjects because of the hurt he had suffered?

Lin Shuyang said nothing and drank gloomily.

Seeing the mood turn cold, Tang Jiaran and the others changed the subject. "By the way, Huaijin, my cousin's been transferred to Sucheng."

Of course, that wasn't just idle chatter. What he meant was that he wanted Ji Huaijin to put in a word with his family and have them offer his cousin a little guidance.

Ji Huaijin understood. The Tang family was decent enough, with impeccable establishment credentials. There was no harm in helping them, as long as it didn't violate his principles.

The adult world was tangled up in far too many interests, especially for families like theirs: exchanging resources for mutual benefit.

At eleven thirty that night, the drinking session ended. The group left the private room, chatting and laughing. The moment they opened the door, a crowd of swaggering young heirs approached them.

Each had someone on either arm, and their filthy remarks filled the empty corridor.

With their way blocked, Ji Huaijin and the others stopped.

"Tsk. When the tiger's away, the monkeys crown themselves king."

Lin Shuyang leaned against the door with his arms folded. He sounded almost wistful, but his eyes were full of mockery.

Xi Ming immediately joined the attack. "Judging by the breed, they must be Mount Emei monkeys."

"Pfft, hahahaha!"

Laughter broke out all around. Even Tang Jiaran couldn't help slapping the two of them on the shoulders. "Did you two go to Tianjin together to take advanced lessons in crosstalk?"

The commotion caught the young heirs' attention. They were about to lose their tempers, but once they saw who was opposite them, it was as though a bucket of water had doused their anger. Their brazen laughter died away all at once.

Ji Huaijin didn't so much as lift his eyelids. With an indifferent expression, he moved past the crowd and headed toward the elevator.

Tang Jiaran and the others followed close behind. As they passed the young heirs, Lin Shuyang couldn't quite hold his tongue.

"Hey, didn't Chu Jiye leave the capital? Is he still coming back for meals?"

The young heir at the front, dressed in a leather jacket and a loud patterned shirt, shot him a resentful look. "No need for you to worry about that, Young Master Lin!"

But he couldn't bring himself to add, "Mind your own business."

Normally, they would have had no qualms about snapping back at another rich kid who was just as idle and uneducated as they were. Unfortunately, Tang Jiaran wasn't the only one here today. If they weren't mistaken...

The man who had just walked past them was the one from the Ji Family who had returned from abroad.

Lin Shuyang shrugged. He didn't mind not getting the answer he wanted. He had only asked out of curiosity.

"We're off. Have fun, and remember to pace yourselves."

Two partners apiece. Aren't they afraid of wearing themselves out?

He left without a care, while the young heirs behind him glared at his back as though they wanted to burn holes through it.

Lin Shuyang had no time to trade barbs with them. His hunger for gossip was burning bright. He hurried to catch up and leaned toward Ji Huaijin, murmuring away.

"Chu Jiye went off into some remote mountain forest to nurse his wounds. Have you heard?"

Ji Huaijin glanced at him, then turned to speak to Tang Jiaran.

His refusal to engage did nothing to stop Lin Shuyang from talking to himself. "What was once a love between three has now fallen apart, with each of them heading off somewhere far from home. How tragic! How sad!"

The real pity was that he could no longer follow the latest installments of their gossip.

At that, Ji Huaijin looked at him. "If you're really that bored, you could go over what you learned at university again."

Lin Shuyang: "..."

All those times he had called him "my handsome older brother" back then had been wasted after all.

They said a setback made you wiser. After the lesson he had learned last time, Cheng Yue would never punish his own body again.

If there was food, he ate it. Why turn down a free meal?

After his shower that evening, he found the leftover ointment from last time and applied it, his movements so practiced that it was heartbreaking.

Cheng Yue let out a long sigh and comforted himself.

It's fine. A gentleman can wait ten years for revenge; a petty man works on it day and night.

One day, I'll take back everything I've lost!

Sure enough, three days later, he found his chance.

It was another night shift, and a familiar little electric scooter stopped at the entrance.

Cheng Yue put on the air of a conscientious employee. "You can't go in. Tell him to come out and get it himself."

The delivery rider was exasperated. "Can't I go in and leave the scooter outside?"

Cheng Yue remained unmoved.

With no other choice, the delivery rider took out his phone to make a call, muttering under his breath, "They usually let me in. Why not today?"

The few times he had happened to come here, Cheng Yue hadn't been on duty.

"Don't make things up. We have rules. Strangers aren't allowed to come and go freely in this residential complex."

Besides, it was the middle of the night. Who knew what kind of person he was?

Cheng Yue looked so righteous and stern that he didn't seem to be deliberately making things difficult at all.