Chapter 17 I’m Bad, I’m Bad

Chapter 17 I'm So Bad

Lin Zaishan steadied himself and turned to look at him. "Come on, tell me what exactly you're mad about. Let's have a good talk."

Yuan Che, undaunted, met his gaze as if he had been expecting it. "I feel like you're not as good to me as you were the first time we met."

Lin Zaishan was taken aback by this sudden honesty.

He opened his mouth, but for a long moment couldn't find words. He had thought Yuan Che might be angry about all sorts of things, but never imagined it would be such an emotional reason.

This kind of topic was not his strong suit, so naturally he was at a disadvantage now.

He stared into Yuan Che's eyes and barely managed to respond: "...Was I good to you the first time we met?"

"Yes." Yuan Che nodded, his gaze sincere. "I like gentle people, but you're not gentle at all now. Last night in the car, I wanted to talk to you, but you kept pushing me away. You said you wanted to sleep with me, but the moment I got close, you kicked me. In the morning, you ignored me, and before you left, you glared at me—I saw it all."

He paused, as if letting out a sigh before continuing. "Just now at Mom's house, you yelled at both of us, got angry without even asking what happened. You scared Mom—couldn't you see that?"

Well, now it was "both of us."

Listening to this list of grievances, Lin Zaishan suddenly felt like laughing. The kid had a point, and more importantly, he really wasn't that easy to fool.

Looking at Yuan Che's earnest, slightly aggrieved eyes, he felt a twinge of guilt. After today's events, he actually thought this guy wasn't faking it—otherwise he'd be too good an actor.

"So what do you want me to do?" he asked, surrendering, his tone tinged with helplessness.

Yuan Che blinked, thinking seriously for a moment. "Do you realize you were wrong?"

This question made Lin Zaishan laugh. He was about to speak when a car suddenly sped past on the road, clearly not slowing down. Yuan Che, standing on the outside with his back to the street, didn't notice at all.

Lin Zaishan instinctively reached out, grabbed the man and pulled him into his arms, turning his own back to the lane. The car brushed past, and a splash of water drenched his back.

Yuan Che, terrified, was held in his arms, clearly not yet processing what had happened. Lin Zaishan looked down—not just his shoes, but his clothes, pants, even his hair were dripping.

His first instinct was to curse the careless driver.

But then he reconsidered—

This little brat liked gentle people, didn't he?

Fine, he'd tough it out.

He looked up at Yuan Che, purposely pulled him closer, and smiled. "Are we even now?"

Yuan Che froze in his arms, too stunned to speak, his eyes wide, tiny droplets still clinging to his eyelashes.

Lin Zaishan released him, patted his shoulder, and turned to walk forward.

There was still plenty of water on the road ahead. He stepped through the puddles, his shoes making splashing sounds.

The street was quiet, the city's nightscape unusually clear in the humid post-rain air, streetlight halos diffused through the moisture.

Yuan Che stood there, dazed, savoring the hug. After a moment, he snapped out of it and hurried to catch up.

"There doesn't seem to be any taxis around here?" He strode to Lin Zaishan's side.

"No car, then we walk home."

"But..." Yuan Che glanced at his soaked back. "You're completely soaked."

"Then let's hurry."

Lin Zaishan grabbed his wrist and pulled him into a jog toward home. Yuan Che was startled, then followed along, but as they ran, he noticed something off—Lin Zaishan seemed to be deliberately stomping in the puddles, splashing water onto him.

He turned to look and saw the man barely suppressing a smile, his profile handsome and sly under the streetlight.

Yuan Che couldn't help laughing too—Tsk, tsk, hubby was such a real big bad wolf!!

After that rainy night, Lin Zaishan caught a mild cold. But he worked out regularly and had a strong constitution, so he endured it for a few days without shots or medicine, and it passed.

Those days were relatively quiet. The little queer had resumed his clingy behavior toward him, and Lin Zaishan gritted his teeth and played the "gentle husband" role, playing along. Over a few days of interaction, he had figured out the little queer's temperament—sometimes stupid, sometimes normal, and overall, though not the brightest, essentially not a major problem.

By now, the bump on the little queer's forehead had gone down, but Lin Zaishan still didn't feel comfortable letting him roam freely. It wasn't that he feared anything else—just that the guy might contact that crazy sister and say something unnecessary, causing him more trouble.

Right now, the fewer complications, the better. The most efficient way was to completely restrict the little queer's range of movement—as long as he was under his watch, everything was manageable.

Work was busy, so bringing him to the office was out of the question. But Lin Zaishan quickly came up with a solution: since the little queer liked going to his mother's house to watch TV, let him watch all he wanted. So every morning before work, Lin Zaishan used the excuse that "there's no TV at home" to drag the little queer out the door. First, the driver dropped him at the office, then dropped the little queer off at Lin Yajun's place.

The little queer played along. Apart from showing a bit of disappointment when he heard there was no phone at home, he didn't complain much. Every day, he "went to work" with Lin Zaishan on schedule, and when Lin Zaishan's work was done, he would pick him up in person.

At first, Lin Zaishan complained a little inwardly—work was tiring enough without this extra errand. But he quickly realized it was a win-win.

For one, the old lady had company, smiled more often, and rarely called him during work hours to nag about this and that. For another, the little queer was under his own mother's watch—absolutely safe, absolutely reliable. He had specifically instructed Lin Yajun: absolutely no phone for the male wife, not even lending him one. Lin Yajun asked why, and he dodged the question—he couldn't exactly say he was trying to prevent the guy from contacting his sister, could he?

As for Yuan Simiao, Lin Zaishan had already thought it through. The reason he was afraid of that crazy woman was ultimately because he had to kowtow to the Yuan family for the money, right? Once his company got back on its feet, the first thing he'd do is deal with the Yuan family mess. By then, with enough leverage, even if the old man didn't step in, he could sit down with Yuan Simiao and discuss the return policy.

And from the looks of it, the company's recovery was just a matter of time.

The supplementary regulations from the Construction Department had recently been implemented, just as Director Wang had hinted: encouraging local procurement. Although his old mine was shut down, the new production line was just in time to ride this wave and become one of the first qualified local suppliers. Several major projects that had previously hesitated to use his supply now actively approached him.

Once these orders were completed, his cash flow would no longer be a concern. The hardest time was two months ago, when cash flow nearly dried up. He had poured in 200 million of his own money. Some people advised him not to take the risk, but he said, "It's my money, I'll decide." Now, that gamble paid off.

Of course, that 200 million wouldn't have been possible without the Yuan family's help, but once the company was running smoothly again, he'd simply pay them back double. No matter how rich the Yuan family was, they wouldn't turn down money, right? He had been serving the Yuan family's son more attentively than he would a real wife. Even if Yuan Jingtian lost his temper, this male wife could put in a good word for him.

When they divorced, even if they couldn't be married, they could still be brothers. The little queer, though sometimes not quite all there, was essentially pure and honest. If he wanted, Lin Zaishan wouldn't mind taking him as a younger brother. Are there any good guys in the mainland? He could also help keep a lookout—after all, the little queer liked men, right?

Though it was hard to find anyone in the entire A City with better conditions than him, settling for a rich, good-natured older gay guy as a husband should still be possible. When the two men get happily married, who would even remember this brief marriage between him and the little queer?

In short, from Lin Zaishan's perspective, everything was moving in the right direction.

If there was one issue, it was that he absolutely could not stand sharing a bed with a man every night!