Chapter 35
Lin Zhiqiao’s gossip radar went di-li and instantly locked onto the key words—
Who had ended things with whom? Who was free again? And who exactly was Qin Ye?
The name sounded strangely familiar.
Lin Zhiqiao thought about it for three seconds. Failing to pull up anything related to that name from his memory, he set it aside for the moment and continued pricking up his ears, focusing all his attention on the movement inside the villa.
Standing before the door, Song Fengshi had already lifted his hand halfway, but the moment he heard what was happening inside, his arm visibly paused before slowly lowering again.
Lin Zhiqiao gave a light cough. “It looks like we came at the wrong time.”
He muttered to himself in his heart, [If only we’d come a little earlier. It’s obviously already reached the tail end now—]
[Talking about endings and freedom and all that, this is clearly a breakup scene! So what new species of gossip is this now, ahhh!]
Song Fengshi: “…”
The people inside had clearly not yet realized there were people outside the door.
“Our relationship was wrong from the very beginning.” It was the same voice as before, laced with unmistakable exhaustion. “Now I’ve gotten what I wanted, and you’ve gotten what you wanted too.”
“Qin Ye, this wrong relationship… it’s time to end it.”
The room fell silent for a long time.
“Shu Lin, do you really think that?” another voice finally sounded—clearly, it was Qin Ye speaking. “Or is it… because he’s coming back?”
That question received no answer.
But at that moment, silence spoke louder than words.
Qin Ye did not hear Shu Lin’s response, but the other man’s silent silence had already given him the answer.
After a long pause, he spoke again, his tone rough and difficult. “I understand.”
The door was suddenly yanked open. Song Fengshi reacted quickly and stepped aside, not forgetting to half-raise an arm in protection in front of the person behind him.
Lin Zhiqiao instinctively took a step back and nearly missed the small step underfoot. Song Fengshi caught hold of him, and only then did he narrowly avoid falling.
The young man who shoved the door open was tall and broad. The moment he realized there were people outside, the expression that had already been ugly turned even worse.
“You—” Before he could finish the sentence, Qin Ye’s eyes met Song Fengshi’s. “President Song?”
Song Fengshi gave a calm nod. “Mm. We came to view the house.”
His tone was extremely calm and natural.
As though the person who had just been crouched at the door with Lin Zhiqiao secretly eating gossip absolutely wasn’t him.
“Viewing the house?” Qin Ye’s expression shifted, and a flicker of dejection flashed through his eyes. “I see… so he’s even preparing to sell the house.”
Afraid he would misunderstand, Lin Zhiqiao quickly said, “Not selling. Renting.”
His voice was a little soft, and with Song Fengshi standing in front of him, it was impossible to tell whether Qin Ye—immersed in his own thoughts—had heard him at all.
Lin Zhiqiao heard him murmur in a low voice, almost to himself, the bitterness impossible to conceal. “So he really doesn’t care at all…”
Qin Ye left.
Lin Zhiqiao turned to watch his back, thinking that such a tall, broad figure carrying such a lost, defeated air…
[He looks like a big dog abandoned by its owner.] he muttered inwardly. [Kind of pitiful, actually.]
Song Fengshi’s brow moved slightly, and he cast Lin Zhiqiao a sidelong glance, though he said nothing.
Only after Qin Ye’s figure disappeared did Lin Zhiqiao withdraw his gaze.
[Qin Ye, Qin Ye.] he was still turning it over in his head. [The name sounds so familiar, and he looks kind of familiar too, so who exactly is he…]
While he was still thinking, Song Fengshi had already knocked on the door. “Mr. Shu.”
No one responded.
Lin Zhiqiao poked his head out from behind Song Fengshi and glanced toward the living room on the first floor.
The thin, slender young man was sitting on the sofa, both hands covering his face. His posture was exhausted and dispirited.
And in front of him, on the sofa, the coffee table, and even the floor, many white scraps of paper were scattered everywhere, as though they had just been torn to pieces in the middle of an argument.
Song Fengshi gave him a little time, then knocked again.
This time, the young man finally heard him.
He looked up, saw Song Fengshi and Lin Zhiqiao standing at the door, and stared blankly for quite a while before finally reacting.
“Sorry, something happened just now.” Shu Lin reached around on the coffee table for a moment and finally found a pair of thin-framed glasses under the messy pile of paper scraps, then put them on.
“You came to see the house, right?” He stood up. “Come in. No need to change shoes. A cleaning service will come later.”
Only then did Song Fengshi and Lin Zhiqiao step into the villa.
A few paper scraps had drifted quite far away. Lin Zhiqiao had barely taken two steps inside when he spotted a torn piece of paper by his feet.
He looked down at it—and his heart jolted.
The torn scrap was only palm-sized. The text before and after had been ripped away, but right in the center of the scrap, four words were clearly printed—
Love Contract
Lin Zhiqiao: “!!!”
What kind of love contract?
Was it the kind of love contract he was thinking of?!!!
“It’s a bit messy. Sorry about that.” Shu Lin said, casually brushing the paper scraps on the sofa and coffee table down onto the floor.
Lin Zhiqiao looked at him.
Shu Lin had refined, handsome features. Once he put on the glasses, there was a trace of literary elegance about him, together with a very peculiar fragility.
If this had been placed in some Jinjiang novel, perhaps the phrase broken beauty would have been even more fitting.
The moment Lin Zhiqiao got a clear look at his face, he sucked in a breath inside his heart.
Shu Lin! So it was this Shu Lin!
The same Shu Lin who had recently won an award for the film Black Sparrow, that brilliant new director—Director Shu, Shu Lin!!!
Lin Zhiqiao grew secretly excited.
Who would have thought that the landlord of the house Song Fengshi had found for him would actually be Shu Lin!
There was no doubt about it: Shu Lin was still very young, only a few years older than Lin Zhiqiao. He had entered the industry less than five years ago and had only directed three films in total, but each one had received a better response than the one before.
Black Sparrow, which had been released at the end of last year, had even successfully beaten out several works by long-established directors, standing out to seize the award for Best Film of the Year in one fell swoop.
Lin Zhiqiao had liked Black Sparrow very much too, and had watched the awards ceremony livestream back then, so he remembered very clearly what the award-winning director Shu Lin looked like.
Beyond that, he also knew that Director Shu Lin and the lead actor of Black Sparrow were in a relationship. In the behind-the-scenes clips from set, every single look they exchanged had been sweet enough to make people’s hearts tremble.
Edits of the two of them had extremely high play counts on that alphabet site, and Lin Zhiqiao had seen them too. Back then, he had also nearly died from shipping their beautiful love story.
—Wait!
At that thought, Lin Zhiqiao suddenly froze.
So the Qin Ye from just now was the lead actor of Black Sparrow?
A bolt from the blue split down from the sky, and Lin Zhiqiao’s vision went dark.
Another one of his shipped CPs… had broken up again and again and again?!
Shu Lin had already pulled himself together and extended a hand toward Lin Zhiqiao. “Hello. My name is Shu Lin. I’m a director.”
Lin Zhiqiao instinctively shook his hand. “Lin Zhiqiao. Actor.”
Shu Lin led the way in front, showing the two of them the general condition and layout of the house.
“If there’s no problem, then once the contract is signed in a moment, after the cleaning service comes through, you can move in and live here.” Shu Lin said.
Song Fengshi said, “Not we.”
Lin Zhiqiao snapped back to himself and added, “Me.”
[Bet you didn’t expect it—President Song is only the real estate agent today.]
Shu Lin paused. “Ah, sorry. I thought you two were—”
He stopped, then looked at Lin Zhiqiao with some confusion.
Song Fengshi knew what Shu Lin was puzzled about, but had no intention of explaining. Instead, he asked Lin Zhiqiao, “What do you think?”
Lin Zhiqiao could not find anything wrong with the place.
It was a good house. The landlord also looked easy to get along with. Most importantly—
[This is a gossip house, right? This is absolutely a gossip house!]
The little person in Lin Zhiqiao’s heart rubbed his hands together excitedly.
Though Shu Lin and Qin Ye had already broken up, judging from the state they were in today, there was clearly no way they could cut things off completely in one go.
Lin Zhiqiao dared to use more than twenty years of gossip-eating experience to guarantee that this melon would definitely have more to come!
888 agreed: [That’s right! Eating gossip inside a gossip house! The atmosphere level is instantly maxed out!]
Lin Zhiqiao deeply approved.
Song Fengshi: “…”
He had originally been a little worried that Lin Zhiqiao might dislike a landlord with “too much baggage.”
But now it seemed that he had worried for nothing.
Shu Lin still looked as though he had questions, but with Song Fengshi present, he did not ask any more.
The process of signing the contract naturally went very smoothly as well.
Shu Lin seemed to still have things to deal with afterward. Once the contract was signed, he handed the key to Lin Zhiqiao and hurried off.
After that, Lin Zhiqiao did not trouble Song Fengshi any further.
He called a moving company, and within a single afternoon had moved all his things into the new house.
After a full day of exhaustion, Lin Zhiqiao had a nice shower and was preparing to go to bed early.
It was already dark outside, but the moment he lay down on the bed, he received a new message.
It was from Shu Lin.
Shu Lin: Sorry, I left something in the study.
A knock sounded downstairs. Struggling, Lin Zhiqiao got up and went to open the door for Shu Lin.
Shu Lin smiled apologetically at him. “I’m really sorry. I left in too much of a hurry this afternoon.”
Lin Zhiqiao waved a hand. “It’s fine, go get it. Just lock the door for me when you leave later.”
Shu Lin nodded and hurried upstairs.
The study happened to be directly opposite the bedroom Lin Zhiqiao was now using.
By the time Lin Zhiqiao slowly wandered back to his room, Shu Lin had already opened the small hidden compartment under the desk in the study and taken out what he had left behind.
The lighting was dim. Lin Zhiqiao could vaguely make out that what he was holding seemed to be some kind of ornament—two of them, both only about palm-sized.
Lin Zhiqiao muttered inwardly, [Paired like that… could they be tokens of love?]
Shu Lin stumbled slightly.
“I…” He seemed to want to explain, but then apparently felt that explaining would be too much trouble and entirely unnecessary, so he simply stuffed the things into his pocket and said nothing.
He nodded once to Lin Zhiqiao, then hurried off again.
Late at night, Lin Zhiqiao lay in bed, drowsiness coming over him.
But this time too, he still failed to fall asleep successfully. A strange rustling sound faintly drifted up from downstairs.
Lin Zhiqiao rolled over in bed and covered his ears, trying to block out the noise.
A moment later, he realized something was wrong.
The sound seemed to be coming from inside his yard!
Lin Zhiqiao pulled open a small slit in the curtains and secretly glanced down—
A tall figure was crouching in a little corner of the yard, acting all suspicious and sneaky, doing who-knew-what.
Lin Zhiqiao: “!!!”
His house had… been broken into by a thief?
Lin Zhiqiao rummaged through things and found an ultra-powerful flashlight. Then he crept softly over to behind the front door.
Taking advantage of the fact that the person in the yard was not paying attention, he suddenly yanked open the door and shone the powerful flashlight straight at the figure.
[No matter what demon or monster you are, show your true form!!!]
The person’s eyes were hit by the powerful beam, and he hastily turned his head away from the light.
Lin Zhiqiao suddenly made a small sound of surprise.
This person… looked kind of familiar.
It felt like he had just seen him during the day.
He cautiously called out, “Qin Ye?”
The strong beam shifted away. The tall, broad figure lifted his head, and sure enough, it was Qin Ye.
Lin Zhiqiao asked him, “What are you doing in the middle of the night?”
Qin Ye spoke almost at the same time as him: “You’ve already moved in?”
Lin Zhiqiao nodded. “Mm. I signed the contract during the day and already moved in.”
Qin Ye answered too. “I… left something here.”
As he spoke, he gestured toward the little box in his hand, still covered in dirt.
Lin Zhiqiao fell into a very suspicious silence.
[No, but are you two little lovebirds really even coordinating this kind of thing too?!]
