Falling out

The hotel's lower floors housed dining, leisure, and entertainment areas, bustling with people.

The two tall, handsome men would have drawn plenty of looks from passersby to begin with, but with dark circles around both their eyes, they attracted even more attention.

Wherever Lin Fengmian went, Xia Qinghe followed.

Looking at Xia Qinghe standing a few steps away, still refusing to give up, Lin Fengmian laughed in exasperation. He strode over, grabbed his collar, and dragged him behind a large potted plant until they were nose to nose.

"You shameless bastard. Didn't you used to think this was beneath you?"

Xia Qinghe had no justification, but that did nothing to dent his confidence. "Yes, and I still think using my own is beneath me. I'll feel the same in the future, too. I've always been consistent. My original principles haven't changed."

"Try mine if you don't believe me. You'll be blown away. It really feels different. It's addictive."

Lin Fengmian imagined it and realized he actually wasn't averse to it. That was the scariest part, okay? He shook his head like a rattle drum. "No. I can't accept that."

Xia Qinghe grew frantic. "Why can't you accept it? I've never been with anyone else. I'm completely clean, body and soul. And I'm your best buddy. We know each other inside out. Don't you know better than anyone what kind of person I am?"

"That has nothing to do with it." Lin Fengmian let him go. Holding up someone who weighed over a hundred jin was pretty tiring. He found a comfortable spot against Xia Qinghe and leaned on him.

"Then what does it have to do with?" Xia Qinghe didn't want to be cruelly deprived of his newly discovered hobby. "Am I not your best buddy anymore? You won't even grant this tiny request? It's not like I'm asking you to kill someone, commit arson, or do anything illegal. Can't I just borrow yours?"

Lin Fengmian clapped a hand over his mouth and looked around. Only after seeing that no one was paying attention to them in the corner did he breathe a sigh of relief. "Can you fucking keep your voice down? Of course you can borrow it, but not for what you fucking want to use it for."

He had made Lin Fengmian so angry that he swore twice in a row.

Xia Qinghe hurriedly rubbed his back and softened his voice. "Mianmian, seriously, please. I'm not asking for much. Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. Just four days a week."

Lin Fengmian's mouth twitched. Just four days? Will I even be able to eat with this hand anymore? Am I doomed to shovel food in with a spoon from now on?

"No." Lin Fengmian was absolutely decisive, leaving no room for negotiation.

Xia Qinghe stood in the shadows with his head lowered and his lips jutting out, sniffing and giving his shoulders a little shake now and then.

After a long while, Lin Fengmian lost patience. "Stop pretending."

"Then say yes."

"I can't agree to that."

"Why? You have to give me a convincing reason, or you'll hurt my feelings."

"Is this something best buddies do together? Isn't this something..."

Lin Fengmian abruptly stopped. Alarm bells blared in Xia Qinghe's mind. "Something what? Were you going to say a girlfriend? A wife?"

"Exactly." Lin Fengmian didn't want to argue with him. He pushed him aside and walked out.

Xia Qinghe remained where he was, watching Lin Fengmian walk away without looking back, his lips pressed into a straight line. Lin Fengmian's uncompromising words were like tiny shards of ice, stabbing into his heart again and again, the dense, prickling pain spreading throughout his body.

Did even the best buddy ultimately lose out to a girlfriend or a wife?

Why should he?

Hadn't he treated him well enough?

Why was he treating him like this?

A sense of grievance lodged in his chest, refusing to move either way, stifling him until his eyes reddened.

His fingers curled into fists, his nails digging into his palms, yet he felt no pain at all, only the bitterness and disappointment surging endlessly in his heart.

Xia Qinghe's eyes widened, bloodshot, his gaze as sharp as a hawk's and filled with defiance. Veins bulged on his forehead as a low roar rose from his throat. "Lin Fengmian, just try taking another step."

Try it and die.

I'll show you what happens when you provoke me, Xia Qinghe.

Without even turning his head, Lin Fengmian raised a hand and waved.

Buh-bye to you.

Xia Qinghe gritted his teeth so hard they audibly ground together. Well done, Lin Fengmian. Just you wait.

Standing not far away, Lin Sui's brows were tightly furrowed.

After a fight like this, was there really any chance they could make up?

Lin Sui looked worriedly toward the unruffled Secretary Su, hoping he could give him a definite answer.

Secretary Su sighed, making Lin Sui's heart leap with alarm. "They aren't really beyond making up, are they?"

If these two fell out, even Shengjing would feel the tremors.

In a remote southern town, a tall figure dressed in a plain white T-shirt and black trousers stood in the backyard of a two-story building. He held a dipper for spreading manure in one hand and a phone in the other, his lashes lowered, concealing the emotions in his eyes.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. Who knows what Xia Mad Dog did to upset Lin Fengmian? They had an argument in public, and Lin Fengmian packed up and left Lanhai that very night. He didn't stay in Lanhai to help Xia Mad Dog intimidate the local authorities."

The young man pondered for so long that the person on the other end thought he wasn't going to answer again. Then a soft chuckle came through. "Don't underestimate Lin Fengmian. He's cleverer than any of us imagined."

The young man lowered his gaze to the brilliant yellow rapeseed blossoms. A little bee quietly fluttered its wings, landed on one of the flowers, and burrowed inside.

The person on the other end didn't understand what he meant. In his eyes, Lin Fengmian merely came from a powerful, influential family. The man himself was a lazy good-for-nothing, a rich playboy who did nothing but eat, drink, and amuse himself. "What should we do next?"

The young man sighed. "That depends on how far Li Yang is willing to go for Xia Qinghe." When he had made this move, he had known it would, at most, make Xia Qinghe uncomfortable for a while. This project alone couldn't bring him down.

"What about Yu Youyou and Feng Chuyue? How should we deal with them?"

"Leave them alone. Don't expose yourselves. Let them fight like dogs."

"Understood."

The young man hung up and stared at Lin Fengmian on his phone screen. Wearing his master's graduation gown and holding a bouquet of sunflowers, Lin Fengmian smiled brilliantly at the person taking the picture, his smile even brighter than the sunflowers in his arms.

"Lin Fengmian, why did you come into my life so late?"

Lying on his stomach on the bed, Lin Fengmian let out an enormous sneeze, just as Song Su came in carrying his herbal medicine. She heard it. "You were only away for a few days. How did you catch such a bad cold? Were you not eating or sleeping properly?"

Lin Fengmian had been born premature and had a weak constitution. As a child, he had been prone to colds and fevers.

He had gradually grown much healthier as he got older, and Song Su had almost forgotten how frail he was.

She came over, picked the quilt up off the floor, and covered Lin Fengmian with it. Then she picked up the herbal medicine again and brought the straw to his lips. "It's cooled down already. Drink it."

Lin Fengmian didn't dare disobey. He took the straw between his lips and drained the bowl of medicine in one go, but the bitterness still lingered in his throat.

Like a little kitten, he called out, "Mom, Mom."

His calls melted Song Su's heart. She hurriedly popped a sweet-and-sour preserved plum into his mouth. "You're a grown man. Why are you still like a child? How will you take care of a wife and children someday?"

She sighed softly. She wanted him to marry, yet she worried that he wouldn't be able to shoulder the responsibilities of a family as he was. Even more, she feared he would wear himself out trying to shoulder them and end up sick from exhaustion like this.

A parent truly never stopped worrying.