Chapter 39
Lin Zhiqiao was so startled that his foot slipped, and he nearly smashed straight into the tree trunk beside him.
Qin Ye crushed another wild fruit in his hand. At this point, no one even knew how many innocent berries he had already crushed.
He looked toward Shu Lin in the distance with something close to horror in his eyes.
The moment their eyes met from afar, Qin Ye remembered all the times he had cried in front of Shu Lin and played up how pitiful he was just to win a little concern from him. At that moment, only three words remained in his head—
He was screwed!!!
‘The Qin family? Is it the Qin family I’m thinking of?’
‘The one that’s permanently in the top ten of the rich list, owns multiple mountains, and has a courtyard so huge that it takes three hours to drive across it??’
‘Wasn’t Brother Qin famously poor? I even saved one of his old black-history photos!!! [Qin Ye · hugging a steamed bun and sleeping under a bridge.jpg]’
‘My brain has stopped working. Can someone please tell me what’s real and what’s fake now [brain not enough.jpg]’
Qin Ye wanted to explain, but after only moving forward two steps, Shu Lin turned his head away and stopped looking at him.
Qin Ye’s heart instantly sank, and he hesitated, not daring to go any closer.
He secretly glanced at Lin Zhiqiao, who had been trailing behind him the whole time, and was so anxious that he practically wanted to spin in circles on the spot—
Fine, tear off the disguise if you must, but don’t tear off only half of it!!!
Fortunately, that “divine spoiler” still had not ended.
[The Qin family has always had only one heir in each generation, and Qin Ye’s generation is no exception. His parents had only him as their only son. From the moment he was born and entered into the family register, the Qin family’s enormous business empire had already been his for the taking.]
Lin Zhiqiao could not help it. He was practically so envious he almost cried.
[So this is how rich young masters play now? Instead of inheriting the family business properly and comfortably living the life of a rich young master, he had to run into the entertainment industry and build some kind of poor-boy persona!]
[Is this what people call experiencing life?]
[I don’t get it, I really don’t get it, wuwu yiyi!!!]
‘The way rich people experience life is truly unique [started out laughing, ended up crying.jpg]’
‘So if Brother Qin is this rich, then all those rumors that he clung to Director Shu like a parasite for money and fame collapse on the spot, don’t they?’
‘Good, good, good, so that’s how you play it? And here I was feeling sorry for how hard Brother Qin had it before [turns out I’m the clown.jpg]’
‘So Brother Qin is this rich, yet he still willingly acted in Director Shu’s project and even played along with something as childish as a contract relationship with him—he loves him so much!!!’
Lin Zhiqiao steadied himself a little, then continued.
[Oh, so Young Master Qin is currently in the middle of running away from home.] He could not help complaining. [Wait, what?! Even when your family is this rich, you still need to run away from home?]
Lin Zhiqiao declared that he did not understand, and was deeply shaken.
[Young Master Qin signed a bet agreement with his family. For three years, he was not allowed to use his identity as Young Master Qin or rely on any of the family’s money or resources. If he didn’t make it big within three years, then he would have no choice but to go home and inherit the family business—]
[So it was all for love and dreams.] Lin Zhiqiao concluded. [So this is the real-life version of if I don’t get famous, I’ll have to inherit billions in family assets?]
[Who is it that’s crying from envy? Me, it’s me, QAQ!]
‘Brother Qin: What does my family being rich have to do with me being poor? I’m just a broke little guy with all his bank cards frozen, penniless and wandering the streets… to sum it up in three words: did it to himself [dog head.jpg]’
‘Got it. So the Qin family is genuinely rich, but that doesn’t stop Young Master Qin from having been genuinely poor these past few years hahahaha’
Qin Ye nodded fiercely in his heart.
Exactly! That’s exactly it!
He was not pretending to be poor! He really was poor!!!
He still stared eagerly in Shu Lin’s direction, but unfortunately, Shu Lin was standing side by side with Zhou Zenian and did not turn back to give him even a single glance.
Qin Ye felt deeply uneasy.
Had Shu Lin not heard it?
Or… or had he heard it and simply not believed him?
Qin Ye did not know.
His hand hanging by his side clenched into a fist, and his whole body was shrouded in an intensely oppressive low-pressure aura.
Of course Shu Lin had heard it.
Shock, doubt, even uncertainty.
If Qin Ye truly was the heir to the Qin family, then no matter how destitute he had seemed these past few years, it had never truly been a dead end for him.
Qin Ye had always had a way out.
In other words, Qin Ye could not possibly have been as cornered and desperate as Shu Lin had once believed.
So… it had not been because he was at the end of the road, but simply because he wanted to “take responsibility?”
After the initial shock passed, Shu Lin realized that his mood was actually much calmer than he had expected.
Which made sense.
Even back then, when they had just been unfamiliar upperclassman and underclassman schoolmates, Qin Ye had still reached out and helped him. That alone was enough to show that he really did have a strong sense of responsibility.
What difference did it make whether he was truly poor or only pretending to be poor?
At most, Qin Ye just had not told him.
Everyone here was an adult. Who didn’t have a few secrets they could not let others know?
Shu Lin was seeing it quite openly now.
Zhou Zenian kept shooting worried glances at him. Shu Lin shook his head and said, “I’m fine, Senior. You don’t need to worry about me.”
Zhou Zenian clearly had not really relaxed, but he did not say anything else.
Qin Ye, who had been trailing behind them from a distance the whole time, finally could not stand it anymore. He threw away the crushed fruit in his hand and rushed straight in front of Shu Lin.
“A-Lin, let’s talk.” He lowered his voice, his attitude unbelievably cautious. “Can we sit down and really talk this out, okay?”
But Shu Lin still did not agree.
“I’m not feeling very well,” he said.
Qin Ye knew perfectly well that this was only an excuse, and he still wanted to say more—but then he noticed that Shu Lin’s complexion really did look awful.
Paler than usual, and even behind the lenses, the exhaustion in his eyes could not be hidden.
Qin Ye and Zhou Zenian hurriedly sent him back to the tent, and the string of people who had been “secretly” trailing behind them through the woods followed right along like a row of little tails.
Still worried, Qin Ye called over the program’s accompanying doctor and asked him to examine Shu Lin.
“It could be seasickness and difficulty adjusting to the environment,” the doctor said. “And before this, he probably hasn’t had a proper rest in quite a long time either, right?”
Shu Lin said nothing.
Qin Ye directly exposed his background for him. “Staying up late is normal for him. When he’s busiest, his schedule is completely upside down. He often sleeps less than three hours a day, and sometimes even pulls all-nighters.”
Everyone present immediately wore very disapproving expressions.
The production team was still relatively humane. After hearing that Shu Lin was unwell, they even took the initiative to ask whether he needed to suspend filming and be sent back to the mainland for treatment and rest.
But Shu Lin did not agree.
“Since I’m already here,” he said, “I’ll just treat it as a chance to relax.”
Since he was feeling unwell, it was obviously impossible to leave any heavy or tiring tasks to Shu Lin, and so his work naturally fell onto Zhou Zenian and Qin Ye.
Neither of them complained even half a sentence. On the contrary, they were more than happy to do it.
Lin Zhiqiao observed the entire process from start to finish, then immediately turned and reported the situation to the rest of the gossip team.
Over the next few days, Qin Ye never gave up on the idea of sitting down with Shu Lin and talking things through properly. He kept trying to find chances to be alone with him.
But unfortunately, Shu Lin seemed unwilling to give him that kind of opportunity.
Among the members of the gossip team, Lin Zhiqiao was undoubtedly the one closest to the actual gossip scene.
Gradually, he discovered a pattern.
When the two owners of the gossip had direct interaction, his blind box seemed much more likely to produce useful gossip with a lot more effective information.
But when Shu Lin and Qin Ye were in a “cooling-off period,” Lin Zhiqiao managed to dig up everything from what color underwear Qin Ye had liked to wear since childhood to how many secret admirers Shu Lin had had growing up, yet still failed to get even one truly useful piece of gossip.
These past few days, the team’s gossip progress had been nearly zero. The gossip squad members all expressed that with no melon to eat, life was unbearably lonely.
‘Understood. So this episode’s dating show is also known as: “Large-Scale Gossip Variety: The Battle for Director Shu”!’
‘The director really has a perfect grip on the traffic code. He knows exactly what we gossip gremlins love to watch [dog head.jpg]’
It was not until the fifth day after everyone had come to the island—when Qin Ye’s dog tail was practically dragging on the ground and rubbing bald—that heaven finally seemed unable to bear watching anymore and gave him a chance.
Today’s task was very easy, so Shu Lin joined in as well.
When the random partners were assigned, Shu Lin and Qin Ye were finally put in the same team.
The doggy eyes that had been dim for days suddenly lit up.
And at the same time, what lit up was not only Lin Zhiqiao’s heart, but also the fiercely burning gossiping souls inside every member of the gossip squad.
Holding the task card in his hands, Qin Ye carefully edged over to Shu Lin. “A-Lin, if you’re still not feeling well, you can go rest. I can do the task alone.”
Shu Lin was silent for a moment, then shook his head. “No need. We’ll go together.”
Qin Ye immediately heard the hidden meaning in his words.
It seemed Shu Lin had finally loosened up and decided to give the two of them a real chance to talk.
For some reason, the production team seemed especially fond of the small woods by the sea.
Shu Lin walked in front, and Qin Ye followed half a step behind him the whole way, occasionally reaching out to move aside branches that blocked Shu Lin’s path.
Even though they had a task, the two of them wandered without any real direction.
Shu Lin did not speak, and so Qin Ye did not dare speak either, as if afraid that the slightest wrong word would ruin this rare chance to be alone together.
Until Shu Lin suddenly stopped.
Qin Ye stopped with him. He was almost a full head taller than Shu Lin, and because he stopped too abruptly, he nearly crashed right into the person in front of him.
Shu Lin turned around. “Go on then. What did you want to talk to me about?” His tone was calm. “I thought we had already made things very clear that day.”
Qin Ye knew that the day Shu Lin meant was the day the relationship contract had been torn apart.
“I have a lot of questions I want to ask you,” Qin Ye said, his voice sounding terribly aggrieved. “But I was too angry that day. I didn’t want to take it out on you, so I thought I’d calm down by myself first and come back to find you later.”
And that “cooling down” had lasted until now, and only now had he finally found a proper chance to talk.
Shu Lin said nothing, only looked at Qin Ye with a gaze that silently asked him what else he still wanted to ask.
Qin Ye looked at him once, then quickly dropped his eyes again.
“The person you’ve never been able to forget… is it him?” Qin Ye asked in a low voice.
It seemed Shu Lin had not expected that question. His entire body visibly froze.
Once the first sentence was out, the rest became much easier to ask.
Qin Ye’s questions came out like a machine-gun volley, all fired in one breath:
“I just want to know—exactly where am I inferior to him?”
“He only met you in college, but we knew each other back in high school! I’m the one who came first!”
“He went abroad, but I went abroad too, and I even came back earlier than he did.”
“He can cook, but I can cook too—and I cook better than him.”
“He…”
Qin Ye rattled off count after count. When he saw Shu Lin still saying nothing, his nose wrinkled slightly. “And I’m really good. I’m good at everything. Definitely better than him. You personally certified that! You clearly liked it too!”
Shu Lin: “…”
Far away, behind a tree that was not even especially thick, there poked out a whole string of curious raccoon-dog heads.
They were too far away to hear what Qin Ye and Shu Lin were saying.
But Lin Zhiqiao had 888, and everyone else had Lin Zhiqiao.
[Good at what? Good where? What do you mean by personally certified? Is it the kind of “good” I’m thinking of?]
Lin Zhiqiao sucked in a sharp breath. [Holy shit holy shit! Starting off this explosively? Young Master Qin has some guts! Is this really the kind of thing we’re allowed to hear without paying for VIP?!]
