AMTBYIGA Chapter 97

Chapter 97: Saying One Thing and Meaning Another

Just as Duan Miao had thought, Gu Nian was indeed going crazy. He had lost all of his usual composure, and as he ran towards the garage, he called Jiang Sheng.

“Help me check if Lin Sui has bought a train or plane ticket. Get it to me as fast as possible.”

Gu Nian got into the driver’s seat and started the engine, his shoulder clamping the phone to his ear. If you listened carefully, you could hear his voice trembling slightly.

Jiang Sheng gave a surprised “Ah” sound, then quickly realized what was happening, saying in a tone that suggested this was long expected: “Lin Sui found out you recovered?”

Gu Nian paused slightly, then urged him again.

Jiang Sheng knew he was right. He opened his computer, contacted the relevant people for information, and sighed. “I told you not to hide it from him in the first place. Now that it’s come to this, I don’t think Lin Sui will forgive you easily.”

Gu Nian pursed his lips, his mind strained to the limit, as if he couldn’t hear what Jiang Sheng was saying. He kept stepping on the gas, returning home as fast as he could.

Unsurprisingly, there was no sign that the villa’s door had been opened. Gu Nian, clinging to the last shred of hope, ran to their bedroom. The moment he opened the door, his heart sank.

The room was exactly as it had been before, with nothing missing, not even a piece of clothing or a daily necessity. This meant one of two things: either Lin Sui hadn’t had time to return yet, or Lin Sui had no intention of returning at all.

Gu Nian knew that, given Lin Sui’s personality, the latter was more likely.

He immediately asked Jiang Sheng to check Lin Sui’s bank statements, trying to find out which hotel he was staying at or which car he had taken.

While waiting, he contacted all of Lin Sui’s friends. When Shi Qingzhou heard Gu Nian suddenly asking if he had seen Lin Sui, he guessed what had happened and said coldly, “Did you do something to wrong Lin Sui?”

Considering how much Lin Sui liked Gu Nian, it was impossible for him to disappear over some small disagreement. It could only be that Gu Nian had done something very excessive to drive him away.

Gu Nian remained silent for a long time. His usually chaotic and heavy breathing seemed to convey his anxiety over the phone. Shi Qingzhou sighed and said nothing more.

Afterward, Gu Nian contacted Sui Congzhi, and received the same negative answer.

Lin Sui didn’t have many close friends; these were the only two he would likely stay with at a time like this.

Gu Nian sat listlessly on the sofa in the bedroom, looking utterly dejected. The phone screen remained constantly lit, for fear of missing a single message.

—

After leaving the banquet, Lin Sui didn’t go home, nor did he book a hotel or plane ticket as Gu Nian had imagined. Instead, he wandered aimlessly down the street, letting the cold wind buffet his body until he was shivering all over before he thought to find a place to rest.

Fortunately, there was a 24-hour convenience store nearby. Lin Sui walked in absentmindedly, the crisp sound of the bell at the door ringing out, followed by the store clerk’s sweet smile.

The convenience store had the air conditioning on, and Lin Sui gradually felt his body begin to warm up. A belated hunger pang struck his stomach, and Lin Sui squatted down to endure it, only then remembering that he hadn’t eaten anything all night.

“Do you need help?” the clerk asked worriedly, bending down. Then, she saw the handsome young man force a smile, his voice still gentle and polite despite his condition. “Could you please make me a cup of instant noodles?”

His well-behaved tone and pale face were sure to elicit sympathy. The clerk agreed without hesitation, even adding an extra egg for Lin Sui.

A few minutes later, Lin Sui sat on a stool in the convenience store, slowly eating the instant noodles. The steam brought a touch of color to his pale face, making him look much better than when he had first come in.

The clerk beside him chatted about the temperature dropping today and the need to take care of his health, while also stealing glances at Lin Sui and tidying her messy hair, disarranged because of the night shift.

The clerk had made the noodles with care, but Lin Sui really didn’t have much of an appetite. He ate half a cup and couldn’t eat any more. After paying, he earnestly thanked the clerk and pushed open the door, disappearing into the dark night.

There were several hotels nearby. Lin Sui randomly chose one and checked in. The moment he swiped his room card and pushed open the door, he felt like a little robot whose battery had run out, sliding down the door inch by inch.

The hotel was just an ordinary hotel, without carpet on the floor. Lin Sui shivered from the cold, but didn’t have the strength to get up. He curled up, hugged his legs, buried his head in his knees, and tears suddenly fell in large drops, quickly dampening the thin fabric of his suit pants.

In the silent room, Lin Sui cried silently, the overwhelming sense of grievance and self-doubt making it hard to breathe. He clutched his chest, as if only that could ease the stabbing pain there.

Actually, at first, Lin Sui was surprised and sad, but he was also very happy that Gu Nian had recovered. So even if he was angry, it was only partially. But when he found out that Duan Miao had known about it even earlier than him, the belief that had been supporting him all along suddenly collapsed.

He didn’t know that this wasn’t the inevitability of the original plot. If Duan Miao was destined to be with Gu Nian, then what was he supposed to do?

What was he, then?

He had nothing in this world. In the beginning, he only had himself. Later, he had Gu Nian. But now half of his world had suddenly been taken away, leaving him with only those memories, constantly on the verge of falling into the abyss.

Lin Sui cried as he thought about many things. He thought about how Gu Nian had refused to let him accompany him to rehabilitation no matter what, about Gu Nian deliberately hiding his recovery from him, about Duan Miao’s calm reaction when he saw Gu Nian stand up, and even earlier, about Gu Nian’s coldness towards him.

He had been so, so, so eagerly anticipating Gu Nian’s recovery, and had even secretly planned the places he wanted to go with Gu Nian afterward. His dream used to be to travel around the world. Later, one day, that dream included another person, so all the travel guides included the other person’s shadow.

Now it seemed that all the efforts he had made were so ridiculous. The person he had been thinking about from beginning to end had never trusted him, and didn’t even value him as much as someone he had only known for a few days.

Lin Sui wiped away his tears self-deprecatingly, stumbled toward the not-so-soft and comfortable bed, curled up in a ball, and frowned as he fell asleep.

He slept poorly, and his dreams were chaotic. One moment, Gu Nian was holding his face and saying he liked him. The next, Gu Nian was standing next to Duan Miao, looking at him coldly. Then, it suddenly switched to things that had happened in his previous life. Even in his dreams, Lin Sui unconsciously hugged himself tightly, fighting against the loneliness.

When Lin Sui woke up the next day, he felt like his head and eyes had been hit with a blunt stick. He dragged his exhausted body to the bathroom and saw, unsurprisingly, that his eyes were swollen, and his eye sockets were red, making him look pitiful and miserable.

Lin Sui looked at himself in the mirror and tried to curl his lips, but his smile was even more unsightly than if he had cried.

It seemed that he really couldn’t live without Gu Nian. It had only been this long and he was already like this. Lin Sui laughed self-deprecatingly, washed his tear-streaked face with cold water, and, too lazy to deal with his wet hair, buried his head in the pillow, preparing to sleep some more.

But before he could fall asleep, there was a knock on the door. Lin Sui assumed it was room service and called out that he didn’t need it. The person outside paused slightly, but the next second, the knocking became even more frantic.

Lin Sui sat up irritably, losing his usual gentleness for once. He opened the door impatiently, wanting to emphasize that he didn’t need any service, but before he could even open his mouth, he was suddenly embraced by someone, pressed headfirst into a broad chest, the cold, sharp outdoor air filling his nostrils.

He froze for a second, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, struggling fiercely.

“Let go of me, Gu Nian! Let go of me!” Lin Sui roared in a trembling voice, rejecting Gu Nian’s touch from the bottom of his heart. Just the thought that the other person might not truly like him made him feel excruciating pain. All those past intimate actions had become the sharpest knives, cutting him and drawing blood.

The most pathetic thing was that, feeling the coldness on Gu Nian’s body, his first reaction was actually that Gu Nian’s constitution was cold and he shouldn’t be getting so cold.

Lin Sui’s nose stung, and tears welled up in his eyes again, this time for his own hopeless self.

Gu Nian allowed the angry fists to hit him, silently like a sandbag without any temper. He buried himself in Lin Sui’s shoulder, greedily inhaling the other person’s scent. The unease that had tormented him all night finally disappeared a little.

But this comfort didn’t last long, because Lin Sui was struggling too violently. Gu Nian was afraid of hurting him, so he had no choice but to release him.

Almost at the same time, Lin Sui backed away and created distance, then raised his hand—

With a crisp “smack,” Lin Sui and Gu Nian both froze.

A red handprint appeared on half of Gu Nian’s face. Lin Sui stared blankly at the red mark, his mind a blank, belatedly realizing what he had done.

A surge of panic suddenly occupied his heart.

What had he done?

He had actually hit Gu Nian?

How could he, how could he hit this person, how could he hurt the person he loved?

The conflicting emotions pushed Lin Sui to the brink of collapse. His hand, suspended in the air, trembled violently like a broken part, as if it would fall off any second. Then, Gu Nian suddenly approached and raised his hand—gently touching the corner of Lin Sui’s eye.

“Don’t cry.” Gu Nian acted as if nothing had happened, only tenderly wiping away Lin Sui’s tears.

Lin Sui touched his face and realized it was already wet. So he had been crying.

He wiped away his tears haphazardly, stubbornly taking a step back to prevent Gu Nian from touching him, trying to make his voice sound cold. “What are you here for?”

Gu Nian withdrew his hand dejectedly, revealing a flattering smile. “I’m here to beg you. Will you listen to my explanation?”

“What’s there to explain?” Lin Sui told himself over and over that he couldn’t be soft-hearted this time, or he would be abandoned again. So he pretended to be nonchalant, saying coldly, “We don’t have any feelings for each other anyway. We agreed from the beginning that it was just a temporary marriage.”

After a long pause, Lin Sui slowly continued, “If you want to break up now, I have no objection.”