Chapter 18#
The Self-Deceiving Liar#
After successfully currying favor with the system with a bit of flattery, Lin Xiaodong hurried to the hotel’s location.
The hotel’s back garden and lobby were open to the public. He originally intended to just walk in openly and look for the person, but he didn’t expect that the impression left on the hotel security by his last “touching porcelain” incident was so deep that he was stopped before he even entered the door.
Even the lobby manager came out in person and said politely to him: “Sorry, we’re a small business and really can’t afford this. It’s better to trouble your company to change locations.”
As he spoke, he also looked around behind Lin Xiaodong, as if fearing that one, two, three, four, five, or six yellow-haired thugs would suddenly jump out from a corner.
Lin Xiaodong was speechless for two seconds: “No, I’m here to find someone today.”
“I know,” the lobby manager said, “looking for a business target.”
“…I’m not here to collect debts; I’ve changed careers!” Lin Xiaodong had no choice but to take out his employee ID to show him. “Look, a properly contracted employee, the kind who pays social security. I’m here to find our boss. Is that a problem?”
The lobby manager gave him a skeptical look.
But he eventually let him through. Lin Xiaodong breathed a sigh of relief, first circled the lobby without finding anyone, and then followed a pebble path to the garden behind the hotel.
He remembered that he and Brother Long’s crew met here last time. In a flash, so much time had passed.
Lin Xiaodong lamented in his heart, withdrew his gaze, and saw Gu Xi sitting under a parasol not far away at a glance.
He walked up to the man. Gu Xi was clearly also surprised to see Lin Xiaodong here.
He asked: “Why are you here?”
Brother, the way you said that, you’re practically making a misunderstanding even if there wasn’t one. Lin Xiaodong rolled his eyes inwardly, but on the surface, he just smiled at him: “What, surprised to see me?”
“No, but…”
Gu Xi knitted his brows and thought for a moment, as if suddenly understanding something. His expression gradually became solemn.
“You… didn’t misunderstand anything, did you?”
“No, how could I?” Lin Xiaodong sat down beside him and smilingly kissed the corner of his mouth.
“Don’t worry, I’ll always believe in you.”
Gu Xi lowered his eyes and punitively pinched Lin Xiaodong’s earlobe.
“Little liar,” he said.
This was a public place after all. Although there weren’t many people, their intimacy had already attracted the attention of a table further away. Lin Xiaodong wanted to lean a bit further away, but Gu Xi firmly grabbed his hand and led him to the main entrance.
The lobby manager was reporting something to a short-haired woman in smart professional attire. Seeing Gu Xi and Lin Xiaodong walking over hand-in-hand, he was so surprised he couldn’t even speak. That woman seemed much more experienced than him; after a brief daze, she immediately reacted, revealing her usual perfect and friendly smile: “President Gu, who is this?”
“I’m Lin Xiaodong, a manager of the Gu Group. Hello, hello.” Gu Xi opened his mouth, and Lin Xiaodong, fearing he would introduce him as the “President’s spouse” as soon as he spoke, preemptively introduced himself before the other could say anything.
He was truly frightened by that book The Runaway Little Bride of the Overbearing President before; just a colorful cover alone could make one’s scalp tingle. The scariest part was that Gu Xi actually downloaded its audiobook in the car!
“So it’s Mr. Lin,” the smile on the short-haired woman’s face deepened, and she proactively said with great discernment, “President Gu is an SVIP customer of our hotel. According to regulations, with the guarantee of one SVIP user, a person can automatically upgrade to a member of the same level. If you’re free now, could you please step to the front desk so our staff can handle the membership registration procedure for you? At that time, not only can you enjoy the hotel’s pool, bar, and Michelin-starred restaurant indefinitely, but whenever you book, you can also be automatically upgraded to a presidential suite if you contact the hotel.”
From beginning to end, she didn’t ask for Gu Xi’s opinion, but her words were so well-considered that they were beyond reproach.
Lin Xiaodong nodded: “Sure.”
It seemed this trip was indeed not in vain.
In the evening, he lay comfortably on a lounger by the pool with a straw in his mouth. Taking advantage of the brief moment Gu Xi left to get a drink, he dialed Lin Xiamian’s number.
“Xiamian,” the moment the call connected, his voice seamlessly switched to a heart-disheartened channel, “you were right. I saw him at the hotel.”
Without waiting for Lin Xiamian’s answer, he added: “But I still can’t let go of him. Xiamian, don’t try to persuade me either. During this time, let me be alone for a bit.”
“Brother, where are you now?” Lin Xiamian got anxious as soon as he heard this. “Don’t do anything stupid!”
“I won’t,” the youth let out a bitter laugh on the phone, letting out a heavy and weary sigh. “Thank you for worrying about me, Xiamian. I’m sorry, it’s all my fault as the older brother for getting you innocently involved as well.”
No matter how thick Lin Xiamian’s skin was, hearing Lin Xiaodong actually apologize to him, the instigator, he couldn’t help but feel guilty.
“Brother, whatever you do, don’t say that,” he composed himself but still didn’t admit that everything was self-directed and self-acted behind the scenes. Instead, he redoubled his use of Lin Xiaodong’s “self-blame” to draw their relationship closer. “I will never blame you. You are my only relative in this world; only we truly consider each other’s interests. You must be well, hear me?”
“Mm.”
Lin Xiamian gave a few more instructions and hung up the phone contentedly.
System: “Ding! Good Person Card fragment +1, Good Person Card +1.”
Lin Xiaodong hummed a laugh, staring at the phone screen which had already gone black: “Finally settled?”
System: “Yes, congratulations. The task progress for this world has reached ninety-five percent. The only thing left is that last fragment from Gu Xi.”
At the mention of this, Lin Xiaodong felt a bit of doubt. He felt he had behaved kindly and devotedly enough in front of Gu Xi; why hadn’t the man given him that fragment yet?
This afternoon, he even called him “little liar”… could he have discovered something?
“I have to remind you of one thing,” the system said. “Lately I’ve been feeling a strange energy field lingering in this world, seemingly caused by some invasive life form. But since I can’t contact headquarters now, I can’t help you judge its source. You’d better be careful.”
“It’s fine,” Lin Xiaodong said. “Anyway, it’s just the last step. Once I collect this Good Person Card, I’ll leave.”
He rolled over on the lounger and suddenly found that everyone around the pool had disappeared, and the originally brightly lit hotel building was also instantly pitch black.
Lin Xiaodong sat up: “What’s up? A power outage?”
Just as he was still figuring out the situation, a huge firework suddenly bloomed in the night sky. The deafening sound startled Lin Xiaodong.
Immediately, a familiar guitar melody rang in his ears.
Amidst the melodious accompaniment of the band, the names of two people lit up on the hotel building.
The youth, wrapped in a bath towel, stood by the pool and looked up at the pattern formed by the lights for a few seconds. Then he curled his lips and said to the person behind him without looking back: “I was wondering why the staff here were looking at me so strangely today; so you were preparing to do this kind of thing.”
Gu Xi gave a low laugh: “Don’t like it?”
“This must have cost quite a bit of money,” Lin Xiaodong said. “I like it. Even if it’s social death, I still like it; this is all cold, hard cash.”
He turned around and looked at Gu Xi, who had changed into formal attire at some unknown point, watching the man face him and slowly kneel on one knee.
Quite the scheming boy, he thought.
Dressed so handsomely himself, while leaving him wrapped in a bath towel.
“Lin Xiaodong,” Gu Xi pulled out a small velvet box from his chest and opened it, asking softly, “Will you marry me?”
The hotel staff had gathered at some unknown time, some lighting the scene, some recording, and a large portion remaining as the atmosphere crew. Seeing this, the other guests in the pool also shouted and cheered loudly: “Marry him! Marry him!”
Lin Xiaodong’s face was expressionless, but his eyes held a hint of a smile: “I don’t like the word ‘marry’ (as in ‘marry into the family’). Change it.”
Gu Xi followed his lead and changed his wording: “Then are you willing to become my companion for life?”
The system also reminded him: “You’d better think it through.”
“I know,” Lin Xiaodong was silent for a moment, being serious for once. “It’s my fault; I shouldn’t have delayed him.”
Now he was left with no more than two choices:
First, refuse to his face to make Gu Xi give up; second, leave after the task is completed and leave the man widowed.
Either way, he’d be a scoundrel. Lin Xiaodong closed his eyes and still decided to delay for a while longer.
To tell the truth, he didn’t know how much of his own selfishness was included in this.
“I do.”
Amidst the cheers, Lin Xiaodong lowered his head, staring unblinkingly as Gu Xi slipped the ring onto his ring finger.
But when Gu Xi stood up, wanting to put on a ring himself, he was stopped by Lin Xiaodong.
Looking at the man’s puzzled expression, Lin Xiaodong smiled, took the ring from his hand, and knelt down himself.
“How does that saying go,” he scratched his head, feeling unusually embarrassed, “no matter sickness or being a pauper?… Ah, anyway, it’s that kind of meaning, you understand.”
Gu Xi sighed: “It’s ‘whether in sickness or in health, whether in health or in wealth, always be unswerving toward him until the end of life.’”
Lin Xiaodong suddenly realized: “Right, that’s what I wanted to say!”
He acted as if he didn’t see the helpless expression on Gu Xi’s face, grabbed the man’s hand, and while repeating those words, he put the ring on him: “I swear, whether in sickness or in health, whether in health or in wealth, to always be unswerving toward Mr. Gu… until death do us part.”
Gu Xi didn’t notice that Lin Xiaodong had taken the liberty of altering the lines—or rather he did, but he didn’t perceive anything wrong.
Fireworks lit up the night sky. Gu Xi exchanged a deep gaze with the black-haired youth smiling at him. He reached out and interlaced his fingers with him, the rings on their ring fingers sparkling under the fireworks.
“Mm, until death do us part.”