PBMM CH15

“Tomorrow is the college entrance examination. I hope everyone can lay down their burdens and study diligently on your own. If there’s anything you don’t understand, come ask me…” Speaking up to this point, looking at the students below who remained as lazy and undisciplined as ever, the homeroom teacher let out a sigh. “Just study well on your own.”

After the homeroom teacher left, Sun Yumeng sketched a drawing on a sheet of paper and eagerly went over to show it to Lin Chi. “A-Chi, look at what I drew. How is it?”

“Looks good.” Lin Chi cast a careless glance before lowering his head to continue reading. Seeing his perfunctory attitude, Sun Yumeng became unhappy. She glanced at the textbook in Lin Chi’s hand. “A-Chi, haven’t your grades always been pretty good? Why have you been studying so hard these past few days?”

“Leave A-Chi alone, he wants to test into Jingda, and his previous grades are still a bit risky,” Zhang Xu chimed in from the side while playing a mobile game. “If you ask me, going to any random university is fine. It’s not like we’ll ever need to look for a job in the future anyway.”

“Jingda…” Sun Yumeng murmured thoughtfully. He Qing’s first choice of university seemed to be Jingda as well.

With a trace of disgust, she looked back at the teenager curled up in the corner writing something. He had a small frame; curled up so cautiously, he looked even daintier than a girl. Soft black hair rested against his forehead, his delicate brows furrowed slightly. That pitiful appearance made Sun Yumeng scowl deeply. Did anyone bully him? Who was he putting on this act for!

If she had felt sympathy for this constantly bullied classmate before, then after learning he had once pestered Lin Chi, all that sympathy had turned entirely into disgust. Especially since every time Lin Chi looked at this person, his gaze was utterly abnormal.

Sun Yumeng couldn’t put her finger on what was wrong, but her intuition told her that even though nothing could be seen on Lin Chi’s face, He Qing definitely occupied an extraordinary position in his heart.

As she was thinking this, two classmates who usually bullied He Qing tossed two empty water bottles into the trash can, arrogantly kicking the chair the boy was sitting on. Provoking him to shrink back, they sneered mockingly: “Hey! Mute, go take out the trash! Can’t you see the trash can is almost full?”

Sun Yumeng noticed that upon hearing the commotion behind him, although Lin Chi didn’t look back, his hand writing notes paused.

Facing this kind of bullying, He Qing couldn’t fight back, so he simply stopped writing in silence. After the two walked away, he struggled to drag the trash can out. Sun Yumeng noticed that he had treasuredly tucked the notebook he was just writing in into his desk drawer. After a moment of thought, she stood up.

[She’s definitely going to take a look at it.] Dragging the trash can, He Qing was panting from exhaustion: [These past few days, the glares she shoots at me could eat me alive.]

[Is there an inevitable connection between the two?]

[You don’t understand. This is human nature; jealousy is the original sin.]

When the frail teenager dragged the trash can—far too bulky for his slight frame—back to the classroom, the shreds of paper scattered across the floor froze him on the spot. With an ashen face, he watched the pretty girl holding his diary in her hand, her haughty face dripping with disgust: “He Qing, you’d better explain to me why your diary is filled with my fiancé’s name!”

—The entire world seemed to fall dead silent.

Even He Qing’s lips were drained of all color. He watched the girl’s mouth open and close before him, yet he couldn’t hear a single word she was saying. The malicious and mocking gazes of the onlookers fell upon him like sparks raining from the sky—not fatal, but searingly painful.

Something hit him hard across the face, snapping his head violently to the side. A bright red welt instantly rose on his fair skin. The surrounding students all stood up, yet not a single person came to his aid. Sarcasm, indifference, disgust… all of it poured over him relentlessly.

Even though there were no tears in his eyes, he looked as if he were crying. Those star-bright eyes turned toward Lin Chi. When their gazes met, Lin Chi’s hand twitched; he wanted to stand up, but in the end, he averted his eyes, turning around to look away.

He Qing stood there, his spine held ramrod straight, watching Sun Yumeng rip his diary to shreds and throw it into the trash can. The rest of the class watched on in hushed whispers, occasionally casting glances at the boy said to like men as if observing an oddity.

“I’ve long felt he was different from us, all sissy and delicate. Turns out he likes men.”

“Sun Yumeng is so pissed, could Young Master Chi actually have a thing with the mute?”

“How could that be? Young Master Chi isn’t blind. Even if he wanted to mess around with a guy, he wouldn’t pick him!”

Lin Chi kept his head lowered, fists clenched deathly tight. His body shifted as he was about to stand, but Zhang Xu hurriedly held him back, whispering a sharp warning: “A-Chi, whatever you do, don’t piss off Yumeng right now.”

Seeing Lin Chi still wanting to get up, Zhang Xu gritted his teeth and whispered, “Just this one night! As long as we succeed tonight and you take over Lin Corporation, you can do whatever the hell you want in the future! We’re right on the verge of victory, don’t let all our efforts go down the drain!”

He Qing was right behind him; Lin Chi only needed to turn his head to see him and give him a comforting look. Yet until the end of school, he never looked back once.

After school, Lin Chi walked out of the classroom, with Sun Yumeng following closely behind.

His eyes rimmed in red, He Qing curled up in his seat, staring blankly into space. His phone suddenly vibrated. The word ‘A-Chi’ on the screen made his eyes light up slightly. Brimming with anticipation, he carefully pressed answer and brought the phone to his ear, his face filled with longing hope.

Yet the voice coming from the receiver belonged to Sun Yumeng.

“A-Chi, tell me the truth. Do you like He Qing?”

“No.” Lin Chi’s unhesitating reply drifted through the phone.

He Qing’s face turned completely ashen in an instant. The voice from the phone continued: “Really? Don’t lie to me. Weren’t you two together every single day a while ago?”

Lin Chi’s voice already carried a trace of impatience: “Really! Why would I lie to you! It was just a game, how could I possibly like a man! Do you have anything else? If not, get out of my way!”

There was static and rustling noise, and after a moment, Sun Yumeng’s voice rang out: “He Qing, go downstairs and take a look at the bulletin board. See for yourself whether anyone could ever like someone like you!”

The teenager calmly hung up the phone. He walked downstairs and saw several students discussing something by the bulletin board. Seeing him approach, they all looked at him with strange glances, occasionally asking in disgusted tones: “Is it him?”

“That’s him, his name is He Qing. Look, isn’t it all written up there!”

He Qing walked away from the crowd. Wherever he passed, people parted ways in a hurry as if avoiding a virus. Like a walking corpse, he made his way up to the rooftop.

————

“I hold thirty percent of the shares in my hand, collected ten percent myself, and with what Uncle Sun purchased from various shareholders, it totals fifty-one percent. Father, it is no longer appropriate for you to occupy this position as Chairman.”

Lin Chi’s features still carried a touch of youthfulness, but the ambition in his eyes was too stark to ignore. Facing Lin Cheng seated at the head of the table, he showed no fear for the very first time. He had leverage; all these days of endurance would definitely culminate in victory in one fell swoop.

As long as he held Lin Corporation in his grip, no one could question whatever he wished to do, and A-Qing could return to his side.

Certain of his victory, Lin Chi looked at Lin Cheng, hoping to catch a flicker of panic on the face of this man who was always perched high above. But to his disappointment, Lin Cheng’s expression did not change in the slightest. The man signed the documents, his voice remaining aloof and icy: “I, Lin Cheng, resign from the position of Chairman.”

With that, he stood up, his long legs straight and powerful, looking as though what he had just signed was not a contract handing over all his wealth. Lin Cheng glanced down at his watch; thinking of something, a hint of warmth surfaced in his eyes: “I have to pick up my boyfriend for dinner. That will be all for today.”

Lin Chi stared in disbelief as the man prepared to leave as if nothing had happened. He had imagined countless reactions from Lin Cheng, but none of them was this calm—as if he didn’t care about this company at all.

Boyfriend…

Is it A-Qing?

Lin Chi stood up abruptly. The person in power at Lin Corporation was now him, Lin Chi! A-Qing could only belong to him as well!

As if competing against each other, the two drove onto the school campus one after the other.

Yet neither of them expected that what awaited them was a ground drenched in blood.