Chapter 35 Caught Playing Gay

Chapter 35: Busted

Yuan Che paused, then finally showed his first smile of the day. Lin Zaishan looked at his eyes crinkling at the corners and felt a sudden ache in his heart.

Yuan Che held the phone, gently tapped it, but accidentally opened the messaging screen. He looked up at Lin Zaishan with a hint of pleading in his eyes. Lin Zaishan reached over to help him exit that screen and then dialed the number.

Yuan Che snapped out of it, quickly pressing the phone to his ear, his whole body tensing up.

Beep—beep—beep—

Each tone dragged on. Yuan Che's eyes shifted from anticipation to unease, his brow furrowing tighter.

Then, it cut off.

Yuan Che froze, took the phone down to look at the screen, then pressed it back to his ear, as if in disbelief. After two seconds, he redialed.

This time, it rang once, twice—then went straight to a recorded message. A cold, mechanical female voice recited, "The number you have dialed is switched off."

Yuan Che sat there, holding the phone, motionless. His expression shifted from confusion to bewilderment. He slowly lowered his hand, turned to look at Lin Zaishan, and said in a low voice, "She's not answering..."

Lin Zaishan frowned. He looked at the screen in Yuan Che's hand—the number was correct. Switched off? It had rung several times a moment ago; how could it be off the second time?

"What does 'switched off' mean?" Yuan Che asked, puzzled. "Does she not want to answer my call?"

Lin Zaishan looked at him like that and for a moment didn't know how to answer.

Of course, he knew what "switched off" meant. The situation just now clearly indicated she had seen the call and turned off the phone voluntarily. So he definitely couldn't tell Yuan Che the truth.

"Maybe the battery died," Lin Zaishan said, trying to keep his tone light. "When a phone runs out of power, it shuts off automatically. That's normal."

Yuan Che stared at him for two seconds, then slowly let out an "Oh," lowered his head, and handed the phone back. The smile from earlier was completely gone, replaced by a deeper, heavier disappointment. He visibly wilted again, even more dejected than before.

Lin Zaishan took the phone, looked at him like that, and felt a sharp pang in his chest.

He set the phone on the bed, reached over, and put his arm around Yuan Che's shoulders, drawing him closer. Yuan Che didn't resist; he leaned in, resting his head against Lin Zaishan's shoulder, silent and morose.

"Don't worry," Lin Zaishan said gently, trying to soothe him. "I have a way to help you find her."

Yuan Che lifted his face from his shoulder. "What way?"

"Don't worry about that," Lin Zaishan said, lightly patting the back of his head. "Get some sleep first. We'll talk tomorrow."

The next morning, Lin Zaishan took Yuan Che to the hotel lobby.

The front desk attendant was a young girl, around twenty, with a neat low ponytail. She gave a professional smile as they approached. Lin Zaishan didn't beat around the bush; he directly asked to check the lobby's surveillance footage from the previous afternoon to find someone.

The girl's smile faded slightly, and her tone was polite but firm: "Sir, I'm sorry, but hotel surveillance involves guest privacy. We can't provide it without the proper procedures."

Yuan Che stood beside Lin Zaishan, silent, still looking listless.

Lin Zaishan nodded, not pressing her. He pulled out his phone, scrolled through his contacts, found a name, and dialed.

The call was answered quickly. Without any pleasantries, he got straight to the point: "Old Zhou, do you know anyone at Cloud Perch Manor? I need to check some surveillance footage. It's no big deal."

After hanging up, he said to the girl, "One moment, please," then turned to look at Yuan Che. Neither of them had slept well the night before. At first, Lin Zaishan thought it wasn't a big deal, but Yuan Simiao's reaction had made him uneasy.

He had contacted Yuan Simiao using a different phone earlier, not the one Yuan Che used last night. That meant Yuan Simiao had chosen to turn off her phone without knowing who was calling—that was suspicious no matter how you looked at it.

"Are you hungry?" he asked Yuan Che in a low voice.

Yuan Che shook his head.

The girl across from them glanced at the two of them, hesitated, and asked quietly, "Sir, did you lose something?"

Lin Zaishan turned to her and smiled. "Looking for someone."

The callback came faster than he expected. He answered, listened for a few words, murmured in acknowledgment, then handed the phone to the girl. "Could you take this?"

The girl was startled, took the phone, listened for a bit, and her expression shifted from confusion to surprise, then to a look of understanding. She hung up, handed the phone back to Lin Zaishan with both hands.

Lin Zaishan casually pocketed the phone and smiled at her. "Sorry for the trouble."

"No trouble at all," the girl said quickly, waving her hand. She stepped aside. "The surveillance room is this way. I'll take you."

Yuan Che followed behind Lin Zaishan, took two steps, then suddenly asked in a low voice, "You know people here?"

"No," Lin Zaishan replied, "but there's always someone who does."

The surveillance footage was pulled up, and the frames played one by one.

Yuan Che stared at the screen, not daring to blink. Lin Zaishan stood beside him, not rushing, only occasionally glancing at him.

"Stop," Yuan Che suddenly said.

The frame froze. Lin Zaishan followed his gaze—near the side door of the lobby, a figure was walking past the edge of the frame, showing only half a profile, moving hurriedly, as if in a rush.

"That... that's my sister," Yuan Che said, his tone clearly getting anxious.

Lin Zaishan patted his shoulder, said nothing more, and turned to ask the staff member, "Can you check her check-in information?"

The staff member typed furiously, searched for a while, then shook their head. "Sir, there's no registration record under this name."

"Then where did she come in from?" Lin Zaishan asked.

The staff member rewound the footage further, tracking the figure's path, and finally pointed at the screen. "She came in through the side door, walked around, and went back out the same way. That side door leads to the back, which is outside our manor's jurisdiction."

"Outside your jurisdiction?"

"Yes," the staff member pointed out the window. "Behind the manor are several villages, about a ten-minute walk. Sometimes villagers come over here to sell local products. That person... didn't look like a hotel guest. They might have come from the village."

Lin Zaishan followed their finger to the window, where rolling mountains and layered tree shadows stretched out, with faint wisps of smoke visible in a distant valley.

"A village?" he repeated.

"Yeah, a few old villages. Pretty remote, with bad roads. Regular guests don't usually go that way."

Yuan Che stood behind him, eyes downcast, silent for a long time. Lin Zaishan turned and looked at his drooping shoulders, sighing inwardly. He should have checked things out first. Now, after all this, the guy was even more dejected. What a mess...

After thanking the girl, Lin Zaishan led Yuan Che out. He planned to coax him back to the room slowly, but when he turned and saw Yuan Che's expression, his heart softened. Forgetting about appearances, he found a less crowded corridor halfway and pulled Yuan Che inside.

Yuan Che was like a robot that had crashed—lifeless and compliant. Whatever Lin Zaishan said, he did. Being dragged into a small corner didn't bother him; his gaze was vacant.

"Can we cheer up a bit?" Lin Zaishan leaned in, coaxing in a low voice, his tone not harsh but definitely not gentle. "Do you know how many things I put aside for this trip? Just to be with you. And you're still pulling a long face. If this keeps up, I'm never taking you out again."

Lin Zaishan had meant to say something soft, but he was terrible at comforting men. What he planned as sweet talk came out sounding more like a threat.

"I'm sorry..." The poor guy quickly lowered his head and apologized.

"Tch, that's not what I meant," Lin Zaishan said, utterly helpless. "I know you're worried about your sister, but can you trust me this one time?"

Yuan Che looked at him upon hearing this, not understanding what he meant.

"Just trust me, that's enough." Lin Zaishan couldn't be bothered to explain further. "Tomorrow, I'll have Meng Lang and the others leave first. I'll take you to the village she mentioned. If we find her, great; if not, I'll send people to keep searching when we get home. Give me three days, and I'll make sure you see your sister."

Hearing this, Yuan Che's eyes immediately lit up. "Really?"

"Really." Lin Zaishan started to add, "Have I ever lied to you?" but then thought better of it—he'd lied plenty of times, and saying that would feel dishonest. So he stopped himself and said something else. "Don't worry, I won't let you down."

Yuan Che looked at him, the corners of his mouth curving up bit by bit until his whole face lit up. He grabbed Lin Zaishan's hand and shouted excitedly, "Babe! You're the best!"

Lin Zaishan was now completely desensitized to this level of physical contact; being touched didn't even make him flinch. But seeing Yuan Che's smile, he felt a warmth in his heart—not the smug kind of "I'm so great," but the kind... how should he put it? Seeing him finally happy made Lin Zaishan happy too.

Without really thinking about it, he reached out and placed his hand on Yuan Che's face.

The moment his palm touched, he was startled for a moment. But Yuan Che didn't pull away; instead, he smiled and tilted his head, rubbing his cheek against Lin Zaishan's palm.

Lin Zaishan looked at those eyes that had brightened again, and his thumb unconsciously brushed across Yuan Che's cheekbone. A thought suddenly came to him—so this is what he looks like when he's cheered up. Pretty good-looking.

Before he could push the thought away, Meng Lang's loud voice came from around the corner of the hallway.

"Bro? Bro, where are you? Are you still coming for breakfast—"

The voice drew closer, then abruptly stopped.

At the other end of the hallway, Meng Lang and the others were frozen at the corner, mouths hanging open, eyes wide, all three of them staring speechless at the scene before them.