Chapter 19#

The Self-Deceiving Liar#

Just after the New Year, a piece of explosive news spread throughout the city.

—Gu Xi is married.

As a famous eligible bachelor, there were countless socialites secretly eyeing him.

However, Gu Xi himself didn’t seem very interested in women, while rumors of him being gay were widespread. But regardless, many media outlets felt that he would at least play around for another ten or twenty years before starting a family.

They all knew Gu Xi had a young boyfriend.

But no one thought these two would eventually end up together.

—Until the proposal fireworks that night lit up more than half the city.

With the Gu Group not deliberately suppressing the news, the information spread far and wide that very night.

But Gu Xi’s confidentiality work was very good. By the time reporters rushed to the hotel upon hearing the news, he had already driven Lin Xiaodong back home. Seeing the ring on Lin Xiaodong’s hand, the butler’s expression was not too surprised, presumably because Gu Xi had already briefed him.

He calmly bowed to the two: “Master, Young Master Lin, do you need me to draw hot water now?”

This was the first time he had addressed Lin Xiaodong this way, and it must be said, it was quite gratifying for Lin Xiaodong.

“In a while. I’ll take him to the back hill first,” Gu Xi said.

“Alright.”

The back hill was the Gu family’s ancestral graveyard. When Gu Xi was sixteen, his parents were driven off the highway by insane drug dealers. By the time the ambulance arrived, both had died on the spot. Because of this, he had hated everything related to drugs since childhood. After taking over the group, he managed this area even more strictly. Unfortunately, in over a decade, several managers had been changed—they either resigned proactively or colluded with drug dealers, making it impossible to stop.

Until he met Lin Xiaodong.

This past of the Gu family couldn’t be found online at all; Lin Xiaodong had asked the system to retrieve it from the police archives. He and Gu Xi knelt together before Gu Xi’s parents’ graves. Looking at the man beside him who was more silent than ever, he hesitated for a moment but still asked: “Are you alright?”

“…I’m fine,” Gu Xi said hoarsely. “I was just thinking, after so many years, how they are doing down there.”

“Do you believe in an afterlife?”

“Mm.”

In the darkness, the youth kneeling beside him smiled softly.

“I believe in it too,” he said lightly. “Don’t look so miserable. Your parents did good deeds all their lives; they must be living comfortably now. Isn’t there a saying that if you are a good person for seven lifetimes, even the King of Hell will respect you a bit?”

System: “Don’t talk nonsense; I never said that.”

“I know,” Lin Xiaodong said as a matter of course. “I said it.”

System: “…………”

Hearing the youth’s words, Gu Xi curled his lips very slightly.

He pulled Lin Xiaodong up and said: “In a while, we’ll hold a wedding domestically. The situation is tight lately, and I can’t leave the country, so we’ll postpone registering the marriage.”

“What’s wrong,” unexpectedly, Lin Xiaodong asked him with a look of tension, “is the company going bankrupt? Or did you do something illegal and are preparing to run away?”

Gu Xi: “…What are you imagining?”

Lin Xiaodong, whose forehead was flicked, covered his forehead with a face full of grievance: “You said the situation was tight. Do you still blame me for misunderstanding?”

The man let out a sigh: “Alright, it was a slip of the tongue. My meaning is that spring is the peak season for the pier. If I don’t stay at the company during this time, someone below will surely try to smuggle drugs in troubled waters. It took a lot of courage for me to put you in that position; at a time like this, don’t make me worry anymore.”

Lin Xiaodong gave an obedient “oh.”

“Actually, as long as enough overtime pay is given, I can handle it alone,” he said with a pout.

Gu Xi laughed: “The owner of a company worth hundreds of billions is yours now, and you’re still greedy for a few thousand yuan in overtime pay?”

“Hey, even a mosquito’s leg is meat…”

Before he could finish, he was hoisted onto the man’s shoulder and strode toward the house.

“Gu, put me down!”

“I fucking &%￥#…”

“Brother, I was wrong, Brother. Be kind and let me go, okay?”

Gu Xi: “No.”

In one night, Lin Xiaodong unlocked a full five or six new titles.

In contrast, it was his tragic old waist and arms that couldn’t even move.

When he woke up the next morning, Gu Xi had already gone to work and left a note saying he had asked for leave for him, without docking his salary. Lin Xiaodong lazily crumpled the note into a ball and threw it into the trash, reaching for the phone by his pillow.

…There were a full hundred missed calls.

Last night, he had turned off his phone shortly after calling Lin Xiamian. Now it seemed it was an incredibly correct choice.

Just as he was thinking, another call came in.

System: “Not picking up?”

“No,” Lin Xiaodong said crisp and clean. “I’ve already collected Lin Xiamian’s Good Person Card; why bother with him anymore? Before, being gentle with him was a task requirement. Now? He can go play wherever he wants; I’m not keeping him company anyway.”

Although it knew Lin Xiamian deserved it, the system still couldn’t help but feel that he was a tiny bit pitiful for being used and then discarded.

Upon waking up, thinking his beloved had finally broken up with his partner, only to find out it was news of their engagement—the plan backfired. Lin Xiamian must be dying of frustration right now.

“Ah~ what a refreshing mood.” Lin Xiaodong stretched his arms on the bed, only to immediately cover his old waist with a grimace. “Fuck, Gu Xi was like a mad dog last night. What kind of wrong medicine did he take?”

He thought about it; it seemed the man’s strangeness started from when he discussed luxury goods with him.

Lin Xiaodong said indignantly: “I’ve basically got half a foot in a wealthy family now. Isn’t it not too much to discuss luxury goods?”

“It’s not too much,” the system said in a flat voice. “But I think no normal person wants to sit on the bed with their other half on their engagement night and discuss whether a Dior coffin is better or an Armani urn is more beautiful.”

Lin Xiaodong: “Wasn’t I trying to raise my artistic taste?”

“Art can be grounded, but not grounded in the underworld.” The system taught him earnestly.

“Got it,” Lin Xiaodong said with a drawn-out voice. He relaxed on the bed for a bit, then went to the bathroom to wash up, and as expected, found his eyes were swollen in the mirror. The youth puffed out his cheeks, spat out a mouthful of white foam, rinsed his face with water to freshen up, and heard the butler knocking on the door outside: “Young Master Lin, are you awake?”

“Awake.” Lin Xiaodong wiped his face and was pounced upon by his own “son” as soon as he opened the door.

“Woof!”

Lin Puppy straightened up, wagging his tail desperately and trying to lick his face. Lin Xiaodong was startled by his son’s enthusiasm but soon beamed: “Uncle Zhong, why did you bring him here?”

The butler didn’t refute him calling him that. He stood with his hands folded in front of him and said with lowered brows: “He’s too boisterous; an old man like me really can’t handle him. Young Master Lin, you’d better raise him yourself.”

“You’ve worked hard during this time too,” Lin Xiaodong said with a smile while holding the leash. “You’re almost at retirement age, aren’t you? I can see that you truly care for Gu Xi. If there’s ever a day when I’m not by his side, please make a few more trips to look after him.”

“I’ve watched the Master grow up since he was a child, serving three generations of the Gu family. This is only natural.”

The butler said neither humbly nor overbearingly.

But Lin Xiaodong’s words still made him frown involuntarily, feeling as if there was some deeper meaning.

But before the butler could figure out the meaning behind the words, Lin Xiaodong had already rushed out of the room with the Husky, charged down to the second floor, and started playing with each other in the mansion in a way that made the butler’s blood pressure soar.

“This is a freshly washed, hand-woven carpet, three thousand eight hundred per foot…” The butler stared at these two, one big and one small, not knowing who was really the dog. In the end, he just let out a deep sigh.

Forget it, let them be.

Although Gu Xi had asked for leave for him today, Lin Xiaodong took a look at the work group and decided to go in the afternoon to check the situation.

The man was right last night; during the low-water season and high-water season every year, the pier was a completely different sight.

Spring meant not only the revival of all things and economic prosperity but also the breeding of various hotbeds for crime. Especially drug dealers—cases where a few grams were smuggled in by individuals were minor. The most feared were those large ships smuggling tens or even hundreds of kilograms, sometimes even up to tons.

This meant not only a huge amount of crime but also that there were often organized groups and deep-rooted connections behind them. And because being caught meant certain death, these people were often desperate and extremely vicious criminals, completely different from small-time punks like Brother Long’s crew who even had to use stickers for their tattoos to look tough.

“Manager Lin, congratulations, congratulations!”

“Remember to give us wedding candy when the time comes!”

As soon as he arrived at the company, everyone who saw him crowded around. Lin Xiaodong finally managed to send them away, his face stiff from smiling. The youth rubbed the muscles in his cheeks and walked to the accountant in charge of filling out customs declaration forms: “Make a copy of the accounts for me. I’m going to the pier to take a look.”

“Ah, now?” the glasses-wearing accountant girl was stunned for a moment. “But hasn’t the random inspection for this month already been done?”

“Just give it to me.”

“Alright…” She searched everywhere on the messy table and finally managed to copy a thick stack of account books. Lin Xiaodong said thanks, took the account books, and left the office.

The accountant girl looked at his tall and thin back, secretly took a photo, and sent it to a small group the sisters had set up privately, which immediately triggered a wave of “lady-like” wolf howls: “Manager Lin’s waist, a life-taking curved blade!”

“Another day of envying President Gu +1”

“What is Manager Lin doing? He just arrived less than half an hour ago and is leaving again?”

The accountant girl typed away: “He said he’s going for a temporary random inspection at the pier. To be honest, aside from his relationship with President Gu, Manager Lin is truly a top-notch boss. Young, handsome, responsible, and knows how to be considerate toward employees, never works overtime!”

After reaping countless “envious, jealous, and hateful” emojis, she put away her phone contentedly and thought sincerely:

I really hope Manager Lin can stay in the company forever and keep working for a long, long time.