Chapter 4#

The Liar Who Deceives Himself#

After a brief moment of surprise, Lin Xiamian quickly regained his composure.

He took the initiative to introduce her: “Brother, this is my classmate from the competition team, Lu Yuanyuan.”

Lin Xiaodong exchanged a glance with him.

Lu Yuanyuan was clearly the “little girl” type. She lowered her head and greeted Lin Xiaodong somewhat shyly: “Hello.”

“Hello, hello,” the young man was very enthusiastic towards his future sister-in-law. “Come in. I just bought some crayfish; why don’t you stay and have dinner with us?”

“No, no need. I came today to discuss competition problems with Lin Xiamian…”

“Oh, don’t be so polite. Anyway, there’s plenty of crayfish. If it’s not enough, we’ll order more.” Lin Xiaodong was generous for once. He waved his hand grandly: “Today is my treat!” Even though it usually is anyway.

Lin Xiamian looked at him suspiciously: “Brother, did you win the lottery?”

“How is that possible? My luck has always been terrible, as you well know.”

“Then why…” Lin Xiamian then noticed Lin Xiaodong’s foot, and his voice immediately rose an octave, “What happened to your leg!?”

“Ah, bad luck. I was hit by a car on the road.” Lin Xiaodong told a casual lie and said with a proud expression, “It’s no big deal, just a sprained foot. But that ‘sucker’ paid me a large sum of money.”

“How could you be so careless,” Lin Xiamian helped him sit on the sofa with a look of heartache. “How much was the compensation?”

“Twenty…”

Lin Xiaodong was about to tell the truth, but immediately realized that getting 200,000 yuan for a sprained foot was too outrageous.

So he immediately changed his words, “Twenty thousand yuan!”

“That much?”

Lin Xiamian’s eyes widened. Twenty thousand yuan was a huge sum for their family. “Which sucker was it?”

Lin Xiaodong made it up: “Just… Gu Xi! You know him, right? The CEO of the famous Gu Group. He’s very rich; twenty thousand yuan is just pocket change to him.”

Lin Xiamian was skeptical.

However, his focus was soon shifted by the conversation between Lin Xiaodong and Lu Yuanyuan.

“You actually know how to play the guitar?” the girl asked with great surprise. It seemed that a boy playing the guitar was indeed a very attractive skill in the eyes of the opposite sex. “Can you play a song? I want to hear it.”

Lin Xiaodong replied with a smile: “Sure.”

He was about to walk to the corner to get the guitar when Lin Xiamian suddenly blocked him with a stride.

“Brother,” he said calmly, “you haven’t played that guitar for a long time. Let me wipe it for you first.”

Lin Xiaodong raised an eyebrow: “No need. I can do such a small thing myself.”

“Brother!”

The youth’s voice rose slightly. After noticing Lu Yuanyuan’s surprised look, he calmed down again, took a deep breath, and said: “Alright then, I’ll go get a towel for you.”

Watching Lin Xiamian’s silent departure, Lin Xiaodong took the guitar into his arms, sat cross-legged on the floor, and began to tune the strings.

“My younger brother has grown up with me since childhood. He’s been spoiled by me and is prone to jealousy,” after a while, the young man suddenly raised his head and smiled at Lu Yuanyuan. “Pardon the joke.”

Lu Yuanyuan felt something was not quite right, but she still answered subconsciously: “It’s okay.”

Hearing the cheerful conversation between Lin Xiaodong and the girl outside, Lin Xiamian’s fingers on the drawer gradually tightened. He suddenly regretted his decision to bring his classmate home.

He didn’t want to see his brother smile like that at anyone else.

Lin Xiaodong had learned guitar before. He played “The Brightest Star in the Night Sky” with ease, very satisfied that his skills hadn’t faded much. After the song ended, Lu Yuanyuan clapped excitedly and praised: “You play so well.”

“Thank you,” Lin Xiaodong said politely, then looked at Lin Xiamian, who was sitting aside with a grim face. “Xiamian, what do you think?”

“Brother plays the best, of course.”

After saying that, Lin Xiamian stood up impatiently: “But I’m a bit hungry. Let’s eat first.”

Lin Xiaodong spread his hands: “Alright, as you wish.”

Dinner was over before dark. The two high school students sat at the desk discussing problems. Lin Xiaodong, with nothing to do, slumped on the sofa in an unseemly manner, staring blankly at the orange-red sunset outside the window.

The sounds of the two kids arguing intensely reached his ears:

“This part requires differentiation. Your auxiliary line is wrong, so it’s hard to solve.”

“No, your method is too tricky. The teacher said the correct steps should be like this…”

Lin Xiaodong looked away. He stared at the high school uniforms on Lin Xiamian and Lu Yuanyuan, and suddenly remembered that not long ago, the “Lin Xiaodong” of this world was also a student studying in a classroom, just like them.

The clock pointed to 7:30 PM.

Lu Yuanyuan prepared to leave after saying goodbye. Lin Xiaodong asked Lin Xiamian to walk her home, but the stubborn kid insisted her home was very close and refused to go.

Lin Xiaodong didn’t say anything more.

He just ignored him all night.

As a result, after only two hours, the little rascal couldn’t hold it back anymore. After showering, he lingered near him, trying hard to find a topic: “Brother, don’t be angry.”

Lin Xiaodong turned over: “Can’t hear you, I’m asleep.”

Lin Xiamian: “…”

After a while, he came over again and said: “Brother, actually I saw Gu Xi today too.”

“Get lost, I saw the Jade Emperor too,” Lin Xiaodong said without looking up.

“It’s true!” Lin Xiamian became anxious. “Our principal organized a dinner. Didn’t the Gu Group set up a scholarship at High School No. 1? At noon, the principal took me and a few others from the competition class to a restaurant to have dinner with Gu Xi, to thank him for his generous donation. I even toasted him.”

Lin Xiaodong finally showed some interest. He sat up and asked: “Where did you eat?”

“Yunjiang Grand Restaurant.”

“…” Lin Xiaodong thought, holy cow, the place where you ate with Gu Xi is less than a kilometer from your brother’s staged accident scene.

“What that guy Gu look like?” he asked casually. “Does he have a beer belly?”

Lin Xiamian shook his head honestly: “No, he’s only twenty-nine. How could he have a beer belly? And he’s really handsome. Lu Yuanyuan even said he’s her ideal type.”

“Did he say anything to you?” Lin Xiaodong said. “Rich people like that usually have their eyes on top of their heads. Being cold is normal. No matter what he says, don’t take it to heart, understand?”

“Actually, his attitude towards us students was quite gentle,” Lin Xiamian said. Then he suddenly remembered a small episode during the meal. “But he seemed… to pay a bit of special attention to me.”

During the meal, Gu Xi looked at him several times. In the middle, Lin Xiamian even looked up and saw the man staring at his face.

Otherwise, the principal wouldn’t have asked him to toast Gu Xi as the student representative.

Hearing this, Lin Xiaodong narrowed his eyes.

In the plot introduction given to him by the System, there were only two key characters: Lin Xiamian and the big shot who took a fancy to him.

But Lin Xiaodong still didn’t know the name of this big shot. He had specifically asked the System why, and the answer was that there was a big problem with the headquarters’ data, which probably wouldn’t be resolved until they sacrificed a programmer to the heavens.

To this explanation, Lin Xiaodong had nothing to say.

But could this guy Gu be the big shot in the plot who fell in love with Lin Xiamian at first sight?

Lin Xiamian is in high school now, and they met at the dinner table… Doesn’t that mean the plot has already started? Gu Xi has already fallen for Lin Xiamian?

Lin Xiaodong finally understood a little why the System had repeatedly told him before he crossed over that the main plot couldn’t be changed.

He had a rare moment of kindness and advised earnestly: “You’re still in high school and haven’t turned eighteen. If you date a rich and powerful old man like that, you’ll be eaten like a little white rabbit until not even your bones are left.”

Lin Xiamian: “?”

“No, brother, what are you saying?” he said, between laughter and tears. “We just had a meal together. How did it get to dating?”

Lin Xiaodong snorted. The man had already fallen for you at first sight. Even if you’re unwilling, the big shot will surely use various means to make you change your mind.

“The same old saying: after the college entrance exam, you can date whoever you want,” he said. “But for now, stay away from that guy named Gu.” Otherwise, you won’t even be able to get into university.

“Got it,” Lin Xiamian said obediently.

“But brother, Gu Xi gave each student present a scholarship, and it was quite a lot. Do you want to see it?”

Lin Xiaodong watched him run to the living room, take out an anonymous bank card from his backpack, and hand it to him. He couldn’t help but frown and ask, “How much is in it?”

“Also twenty thousand yuan,” Lin Xiamian said. “Brother, you take it for me.”

This was a lot of money, so Lin Xiaodong didn’t decline. Anyway, he was keeping it for Lin Xiamian’s university.

For the sake of this large sum of money, Lin Xiaodong reluctantly said a few good words for Gu Xi: “He’s quite generous.”

Lin Xiamian nodded: “He’s a big boss and usually has no intersection with us. We only benefited from Teacher Zhao’s prestige this time.”

“What exactly does this Teacher Zhao do, that he can know Gu Xi?”

“I don’t know either. It’s said his family has connections, so they made the link.” Lin Xiamian sighed. “Brother, I know you care about me, but you don’t need to be overly nervous. What kind of person can Gu Xi not have? Why would he take a fancy to a penniless high school student like me?”

“You’re not bad-looking,” Lin Xiaodong said. “Students are the easiest to be deceived. Look at me, I never worry about this.”

Lin Xiamian wanted to say, Brother, you look so much like me, why shouldn’t you be worried?

But he looked at Lin Xiaodong’s patchy yellow hair and silently swallowed his words.

Unless there was something wrong with his taste, it was indeed unlikely that Gu Xi would take a fancy to Lin Xiaodong.

But he didn’t want to share with anyone either, Lin Xiamian thought to himself.

Only he knew his brother’s goodness.

Before turning off the lights, the System asked: “Aren’t you going to tell him the news that you earned 200,000 yuan?”

“Wait until he finishes the college entrance exam,” Lin Xiaodong said lazily with his eyes closed. “Treat it as a surprise for him.”

But Lin Xiaodong didn’t expect that before then, Lin Xiamian would give him an even bigger “surprise.”

Not long after they received these payments, Guangtou and the group of brothers he had brought along all met with misfortune one after another. Some were injured, some were disabled. The most serious one was still lying unconscious in the hospital, and his earned money probably wasn’t enough to cover the medical expenses.

Fortunately, Guangtou was smart and escaped when he was cornered, only breaking an arm. Otherwise, his fate wouldn’t have been any better.

“It must be retaliation.”

One evening, he invited Lin Xiaodong to have a drink at a roadside stall, sighing as he drank.

“The water in this business is very deep. I don’t even know which employer leaked the news that made my brothers like this.”

Guangtou drank a lot of wine with his head down. Lin Xiaodong sat opposite him, silently refilling his glass when it was empty.

After a long time, he finally asked: “So, are you going to wash your hands and quit?”

Guangtou gave a bitter smile: “Brother Long advised me to stay. But Xiaodong, I’m different from you guys. I have a wife and children to support. I can’t let them live in fear for me every day, and I certainly can’t let them be affected.”

“I understand,” Lin Xiaodong said. “If anyone touched my brother, I would definitely fight them to the death.”

The man, whose face was red from drinking, smiled drunkenly: “As expected, Xiaodong, you only show such a serious expression when it comes to things related to your brother.”

Lin Xiaodong raised an eyebrow: “Do I? I’m quite serious when I play pool normally.”

“It’s different,” Guangtou shook his head with a slurred voice. “You kid, you’re smart! But also a fool. You can’t tell truth from lies. High… high-level liars are like this, telling lies until they even believe them themselves.”

After saying that, he fell asleep on the table, loud snores coming from his nose.

Lin Xiaodong sighed.

He called a Didi for Guangtou and put an anonymous bank card with 20,000 yuan into Guangtou’s pocket, along with a note saying “take good care of the brothers.” He then walked back home.

Before arriving home, he received a text message from Guangtou:

“Xiaodong, you must be careful. Those people definitely won’t let you off alone. Not taking action now doesn’t mean they won’t later. I’ll thick-headedly accept this 20,000 for the brothers. If you have any difficulties, let me know at any time. Even if I’ve washed my hands, I’ll definitely come back to help you.”

At the same time, the familiar prompt sounded in his ear again:

“Ding! Good Person Card +1.”

Lin Xiaodong leaned in the hallway and smiled briefly at the text message.

He only replied with one word: “Okay.”

It was September now, and school had started. Under his “coercion and inducement,” Lin Xiamian lived on campus. Lin Xiaodong hadn’t been out much lately, relying entirely on takeout for meals. He really couldn’t think of how those people could retaliate against him.

—Until he was called to Lin Xiamian’s school by a phone call.

“To be honest, it’s really complicated to see you again,” the Dean sat in her office, looking up at the young man who was clearly much thinner than when he was in school, and asked softly, “Lin Xiaodong, how have you been lately?”

Lin Xiaodong had specifically bought a hat to press on his head before coming to High School No. 1 this time, but he still couldn’t cover his eye-catching yellow hair.

Hearing the teacher who had once taught him ask this, he coughed somewhat awkwardly: “…I’m, I’m okay.”

But the Dean had taught for decades; how could she not see that the youth who used to chase after her with exam papers, wanting nothing more than to be admitted to a media university to become a music producer, could never return.

Clearly, he loved studying so much, but in the end, he gave the opportunity to his brother.

She scolded him with frustration: “Lin Xiaodong, oh Lin Xiaodong, what should I say about you? You’re too stupid! Do you know that if you were still in the competition team, our school wouldn’t have to compete with a team of No. 3 High School’s level for provincial slots at all? Although your brother’s grades aren’t bad, they are nowhere near as outstanding as yours back then!”

“Ding! Good Person Card +1.”

Lin Xiaodong looked up in surprise. He really didn’t expect that even though he hadn’t done anything, he could still get a Good Person Card from a teacher who had taught him.

It seemed that his dropping out of school was indeed a knot in the Dean’s heart.

“Forget it, what’s done is done. You brothers made your own decision, and I won’t say anything more,” the Dean saw him looking like his mind was elsewhere, sighed, and finally changed the subject, “Let’s talk about your brother. I’m also aware of your family’s situation, which is why I called you today.”

At the mention of serious business, Lin Xiaodong finally perked up.

“Teacher, what did that kid do?”

The Dean looked at the young man who was still completely unaware of the seriousness of the situation, and a trace of deep pity appeared in her eyes.

She said: “Lin Xiamian… has skipped evening self-study to work off-campus for a month consecutively. According to school rules, we have the right to expel him.”

Lin Xiaodong was stunned.

He really didn’t expect that Lin Xiamian, who usually looked like a good student, would have such courage.

But before he could regain his composure, the Dean continued: “If it were just that, I’d plead for him considering your special family circumstances. A bit of internal criticism within the school would suffice, and the academic affairs office wouldn’t record it. But do you know where he is working?”

Translator’s Note: “Jade Emperor” is a supreme deity in Chinese mythology. “Didi” is a popular ride-hailing service in China.