Chapter 113
The sea breeze was cool, yet Lin Zhiqiao felt a little hot. Not only were his cheeks burning, even the air leaving his nose seemed to carry a scalding warmth.
For a moment, he said nothing. Song Fengshi did not urge him either, only waited quietly for his reply.
Lin Zhiqiao’s breathing was uneven. He stared at those dark eyes reflecting his own face for a long while before finally forcing out a sound from his throat. “Okay.”
He had tried to sound calm, but a slight tremor still slipped into his voice.
Song Fengshi smiled.
He lowered his head again and kissed Lin Zhiqiao’s fingertips once more—this time, for real. His soft lips lingered over the warm pads of his fingers for quite a while before he finally lifted his head and asked, “Can I kiss you?”
Lin Zhiqiao’s senses were still caught up in that delicate kiss on his fingertips, so for a moment he did not react. He only gave a blank little, “Huh?”
That breathy response made Song Fengshi take it as consent, so a kiss fell against the corner of Lin Zhiqiao’s slightly pursed lips.
Lin Zhiqiao’s eyes flew wide open.
Right before him was Song Fengshi’s magnified handsome face. In his ears was the sound of his own wildly disordered heartbeat, pounding louder and louder. Heat shot through his whole body in an instant.
He licked his lips and said softly, “The livestream is still on.”
Song Fengshi asked, “You don’t want other people to see?”
Lin Zhiqiao thought about it.
Apparently… he did not really mind.
And if that was the case, then it seemed he had no reason to refuse this kiss.
He lifted his eyes, then suddenly raised a hand to rest on Song Fengshi’s shoulder, pulling them even closer together once more.
Both of them were clumsy in the way only first-time lovers could be, but the ambiguous tension of hormones made up for that small awkwardness.
Small gasps and excited, suppressed squeals rose from the deck.
By the time the kiss ended, Lin Zhiqiao vaguely heard Song Fengshi murmur by his ear, “Thank you.”
[Holy shit holy shit holy shit—is this the full gift-confession-kiss combo all in one go?!]
[FengQiao CP legendary sugar scene!!! [screaming wildly.jpg]]
[The CP I ship is actually real! My life is complete, ahhh!]
[President Song is so good at this! Skilled and capable too—no wonder he managed to move Xiao Qiao’s little heart that only wanted to eat gossip (not really)]
Director Sun Ming watched the livestream viewer count skyrocket and grinned from ear to ear.
At first, he had been a little worried that airing everything live would lower the play rate of the edited version later on. But who would have thought he would get such an unexpected delight?
With Song Fengshi and Lin Zhiqiao, this living, breathing golden signboard, he did not need to worry about future viewership at all.
Sun Ming was extremely satisfied with this.
Ji Ran and the others, who had witnessed Song Fengshi’s confession in person, were also very satisfied.
The only place where the pressure seemed low and the air almost frozen was the little area where the Lin family sat. Every one of their expressions was a sight to behold.
Father Lin and Mother Lin had never imagined that Song Fengshi would truly fall for Lin Zhiqiao.
Song Fengshi was the man in charge of the Song Group! If the Lin family could gain his support, they might actually have a chance to step into the ranks of the real elite families.
If it had been any one of their other three children, Father Lin and Mother Lin would be smiling from ear to ear right now.
But it just had to be Lin Zhiqiao.
Their relationship with Lin Zhiqiao had already deteriorated to the extreme. They were only one step away from truly tearing things apart—
Father Lin narrowed his eyes.
No… not necessarily.
After all, Lin Zhiqiao was still their biological child. Children loving their parents was natural. He did not believe Lin Zhiqiao would truly refuse to acknowledge them.
As long as they took the initiative to show some goodwill and softened their tone a little, he was sure Lin Zhiqiao would eventually come around.
Father Lin and Mother Lin exchanged a glance and immediately knew they were thinking the same thing.
Lin Chen and Lin Juezhou, however, were not nearly as “optimistic” as their parents.
Lin Mubai could tell that none of his family members were in a good mood—just like he himself was not.
The intimacy between Song Fengshi and Lin Zhiqiao was unbearably harsh on the eyes.
He was the one who was supposed to be the universal darling! He was the one who should have been adored by everyone! So why was it Lin Zhiqiao whom public opinion was now supporting across the board?!
Lin Mubai ground his back teeth hard and could only comfort himself inwardly—
Song Fengshi was just a dying man. It was only because he himself had not wanted to waste energy conquering someone “already as good as dead” that Lin Zhiqiao had managed to slip into the gap and attract Song Fengshi’s attention.
That line of reasoning worked fairly well. He calmed down quickly enough.
Lin Mubai stopped looking in their direction and tugged his tightly pressed lips into a somewhat twisted smile.
If he counted carefully, then it would only be around this period of time before Song Fengshi met with disaster.
It would not be long now before the position of Song Group’s head changed hands. Once Song Chuan took over Song Group, everything Lin Zhiqiao had now would all become his!
—Be patient.
Lin Mubai told himself this in silence. He had already waited so long. Only this final stretch remained. He absolutely had to keep steady.
As for all those irritating comments online… they were nothing more than the darkness before dawn. He could not let them knock him down.
*
After they officially got together, Lin Zhiqiao discovered that the way he and Song Fengshi got along seemed unchanged, and yet somehow different too.
Once the beach trip at the second stop ended, the group spent one more night resting at the seaside villa, and then it was the Lin family’s turn to arrange the schedule.
Lin Mubai’s family’s plan was completely different from the first two families’.
They chose an orphanage as the destination for this part of the trip.
As for their explanation, it was: “There are still many vulnerable groups in this world who need attention. In our free time, we often visit welfare homes and retirement homes to do volunteer work.”
When he said this, Lin Mubai smiled gently, his tone sincere. “I thought that, through this livestream, we could also use the opportunity to get more people to pay attention to these groups.”
[Our Xiao Bai really is the kindest, sob sob sob]
[While certain people are making a big spectacle of falling in love, only our Xiao Bai is thinking about something this meaningful. [tearful.jpg]]
[How could such a kind Xiao Bai possibly be the third party who ruined someone else’s relationship!]
[Protect our Xiao Bai, haters get lost!!!]
[Why do I feel like this is a little deliberate… Could this be persona-building damage control?]
[So what if it is? Even if it’s image-building, at least our Xiao Bai is actually doing charity. That’s better than people who do nothing at all, right?]
Seeing these newly appeared comments, Lin Mubai finally felt some of the gloom inside him dissipate.
Sure enough, his decision back then had been the right one.
Before long, the production team’s car arrived at their destination—
“Hope Home” Orphanage.
The director had already received notice ahead of time and was waiting at the entrance to greet them.
Lin Mubai’s family got out first, and the director approached with a bright smile. “This must be Mr. Lin Mubai, right? You really do look kind-hearted. I—”
Before she could finish, she suddenly spotted the person following behind. “Mr. Song? Why are you here too?”
Song Fengshi walked forward at an even pace and gave her a slight nod. “I’m here to film a program.”
Lin Mubai froze for a second, then his heart gave a jolt. “Director, you know Mr. Song too?”
The woman’s smile brightened. “Of course I do. Mr. Song has donated a great deal of money to us—how could I not know him?”
Facing the camera, she immediately began speaking at length in gratitude. “Not just us either. Mr. Song has sponsored many welfare homes and helped all of us tremendously!”
While she was speaking, she suddenly heard another familiar voice. “Auntie Zheng, long time no see.”
Director Zheng paused, then looked past Song Fengshi—and her eyes lit up all over again. “Xiao Qiao! Why are you—are you here to film too?”
Lin Zhiqiao smiled and said, “Yeah. What a coincidence. I didn’t know we’d be coming here, otherwise I would’ve brought something for the kids.”
Auntie Zheng stepped forward and gave him a natural, affectionate hug. “You’ve gotten thinner again. Have you not been eating properly lately?”
Song Fengshi tilted his head and glanced at them. Seeming to think of something, he pressed his lips into a straight line and tightened his grip on Lin Zhiqiao’s hand just a little.
Mother Song asked curiously, “You two know each other too?”
“Of course we do.” Director Zheng was all smiles. “Xiao Qiao is—”
She suddenly stopped, glanced at the filming cameras, and a hesitant look flashed across her face, as though she were unsure whether or not this could be said aloud.
Lin Zhiqiao, however, had no intention of hiding it. His gaze swept across Father Lin and Mother Lin standing not far away, and under the curious stares of the crowd, he said in a light tone, “I lived here for a while.”
The expressions on Father Lin and Mother Lin’s faces instantly turned extremely ugly. They almost could not even keep the strained smiles on their faces in place.
