Tan Yue couldn’t claim to know his grandfather inside out, but he was about 90% sure as to what he was thinking when he saw the table full of dishes and his face immediately turned dark.
He was only 28 years old, in the prime of his life and at an age where even the bed could shake, what on earth was going on in his grandfather’s mind?
“Why are you just sitting there? Eat up!”
Grandpa Tan was so anxious that he wanted to pick up the dishes and pour them directly into Tan Yue’s mouth.
Tan Yue replied, “I don’t have an appetite.”
“You!” Grandpa Tan was so frustrated with his uncooperative and picky grandson. “Even if you don’t have an appetite, you still have to eat for me. Otherwise, you’re not allowed to go back today!”
Tan Yue remained silent.
Song Linchu, who sipping on his mutton soup, was trying to hold back his laughter.
If there was one person in the world who could handle Tan Yue, then it would have to be his grandfather.
However, Song Linchu couldn’t figure out why Grandpa Tan insisted on feeding Tan Yue with such easily suggestive food. Could it be that he wanted to cure his inability?
Tan Mingqing had said that not even the world’s best urologist could cure Tan Yue’s condition, so how could a table of dishes fix it?
Under the tyranny of Grandpa Tan, Tan Yue had no choice but to pick up his chopsticks.
After finishing lunch, despite his cousins and the others trying to persuade him to stay, Tan Yue was determined to leave Grandpa Tan’s home.
Otherwise, if he ate so much, and he and Song Linchu ended up sharing a bed that night, he might end up staying in the bathroom all night or something unspeakable would definitely happen.
On the way back, Song Linchu found a red packet as he reached into his pocket for his phone.
“Oh, gege, I haven’t opened the red packet you gave me yet!”
Tan Yue looked at the road conditions, then said, “Open it and take a look.”
Song Linchu was a little curious about what Tan Yue would send him, so he opened the red packet and found a piece of paper with a QR code on it.
“Scan with WeChat?” Song Linchu asked.
Tan Yue replied, “Yes.”
Song Linchu scanned the code with WeChat and was taken to a small game after a “beep” sound.
The screen showed a countdown of “5, 4, 3…” and Song Linchu had no idea what was going on. He stared at the screen until the countdown ended, and suddenly, red packets began raining down on the screen. Song Linchu instinctively reached out to click on them, and the screen kept displaying the number “100” with each click.
Song Linchu: “…”
A minute later, after the red packet rain stopped, WeChat notified him that 18,200 yuan had been deposited into his account.
“Your speed is not bad,” Tan Yue complimented upon hearing the notification sound.
Song Linchu, on the other hand, was dumbfounded. “T-This is real money?”
It turned out that the saying “picking up money until your hands go numb” was indeed true.
“Yes, you can continue to snatch,” Tan Yue nodded. “There is no limit on the number of attempts.”
“So you don’t have to fight for five cents every day,” Tan Yue said.
Someone disliked using the bank cards he gave so he could only use this crude method to give him money.
“…,” Song Linchu knelt down to the wealthy.
During the Chinese New Year, he would squat and wait at the red packet grabbing platform for timed red packets until his hands were sore.
But was he just snatching money?
No, it was just fun! The happiness of the poor is something you wouldn’t understand!
Unable to control himself, Song Linchu said, “When did WeChat come up with such an inhumane little game?”
Isn’t this aimed at the poor?
“But this is not a WeChat game, I made it myself,” Tan Yue said.
“I really like it,” Song Linchu quickly changed his tone.
Tan Yue: “…”
“You also know how to code?” Song Linchu remembered that Tan Yue did not major in this field in college.
“I took an elective course in college,” Tan Yue replied.
Song Linchu: “…”
Is this okay?
Song Linchu, who had just failed an elective course in college, felt embarrassed. Who takes that as an elective course?
Song Linchu once again knelt down before the big boss.
He quickly tore off the QR code, preventing it from being picked up by someone else. Tan Yue raised an eyebrow in response. “Not interested anymore?”
“No, it’s okay. 18,000 yuan is already a lot, and it has several more zeros than Tuantuan’s,” Song Linchu said.
Tuantuan, who was reduced to a counting unit, cried in the toilet.
Tan Yue smiled helplessly and didn’t say anything.
After destroying the QR code, Song Linchu blinked and said, “But, gege, I didn’t prepare a red packet. Can I give you a New Year’s gift instead?”
Although Tan Yue didn’t expect a return gift from Song Linchu, he was still curious about what he would give and nodded in agreement.
“Yeah.”
The car soon arrived at the underground garage of Tan Yue’s villa. Song Linchu’s eyes lit up as he said, “I’ve figured out what to give you, gege.”
Tan Yue turned off the engine and asked, “What is it?”
Song Linchu’s ears turned a bit red as he said, “Close your eyes. Don’t open them until I say so.”
“Okay.” Tan Yue closed his eyes as instructed.
Song Linchu turned his body slightly. The man’s eyes were closed, and his cold and stern face was so handsome that it made people dizzy. Song Linchu blushed and slowly approached Tan Yue.
With his eyes closed, Tan Yue suddenly felt a warm breath on his cheek. He realized what Song Linchu was going to do, and something warm covered his lips.
It was the youth’s lips.
Even though he had just tasted them last night, taking the initiative and having someone else take the initiative were two completely different concepts.
Song Linchu’s movements were awkward and stiff. Despite having been in a relationship before, he was worse than Tan Yue. The tingling sensation quickly spread from his lips to his entire body, making his scalp numb.
Tan Yue’s body tensed slightly, as if something wanted to burst out of his body.
Doesn’t someone know that the things he ate at noon overheated his body?
However, with Song Linchu’s courage, the kiss was probably his limit.
He couldn’t see the other’s face, but he could imagine that Song Linchu’s face was already completely red.
As it turned out, President Tan had guessed wrong. Just as he was clenching his hand that was still on the steering wheel, enduring someone’s teasing, he suddenly felt something wet on his lips.
—Song Linchu actually licked his lips.
Then, his slippery tongue swept around in a random way, like a mischievous and clumsy fish, making people can’t help but want to catch him and bully him.
President Tan’s body immediately became hot and restless, wanting to press the person against the car and fiercely kiss him, make him pay the price for his behavior, and see if he would dare to tease him in the future.
However, just as he couldn’t control himself and was about to take action, Song Linchu had already exhausted all his courage, propped up his body, and quickly backed away.
“You, you’re not allowed to open your eyes yet!” Song Linchu said with a slight pant.
“…” President Tan could only suppress his restless heart and replied hoarsely, “Okay.”
After a moment, Tan Yue felt him open the car door, and then, the person’s voice came from outside the window: “It’s now okay, gege.”
Tan Yue opened his eyes and caught a glimpse of the person’s quickly escaping figure.
Tan Yue: “…”
Tan Yue looked at the place that was once again restless because of someone, wishing he could grab him back and give him a good beating.
Tan Yue stared at Song Linchu’s departing figure for a moment, then let out a soft chuckle.
Let him wait.
The combination of food and Song Linchu’s teasing had ignited a fire within Tan Yue.
The next morning, he woke up with two pimples on his forehead, one on each side, making him resemble the Bull Demon King. Fortunately, the bangs on his forehead were able to cover up their wicked presence. Otherwise, Tan Yue was afraid that his reputation would be ruined in an instant, and he would have become instantly depressed.
In the morning, Song Linchu came down from upstairs and saw Tan Yue sitting at the dining table drinking something.
“Gege, what are you drinking?” Song Linchu asked curiously.
Tan Yue was a person who rarely ate outside of meal times and was especially disciplined. This was the first time Song Linchu had seen him eating at this time.
Tan Yue hesitated with the soup spoon in his hand and said, “Nothing.”
Song Linchu had a keen sense of smell and detected a faint herbal scent in the air, causing his heart to tighten. “Is it medicine?”
“…No.”
Song Linchu was familiar with him, so there was no need to be so cautious. He went directly before Tan Yue and saw that the liquid in the bowl was a dark brown color. It was clearly not soup, tea, or coffee.
Song Linchu was immediately nervous and asked, “Is it something for your health?”
“It’s just herbal tea,” Tan Yue said, seeing the worry on Song Linchu’s face.
Oh, it’s just herbal tea.
Song Linchu breathed a sigh of relief. He was scared out of his wits.
“Gege, why don’t you take some cold medicine or something? A fever is usually a sign of a cold. Every time I get sick, it starts with a sore throat,” Song Linchu suggested.
“…” Tan Yue was speechless. Do you have no idea why I have a fever?
Tan Yue didn’t want to delve deeper into the topic of a fever with him, lest he provoke him to break out in pimples again. He gave a vague answer and looked at Song Linchu. “Are you going out?”
Normally, when Song Linchu was at home, he wore comfortable home clothes. But now, he was obviously dressed to go out.
“Yes, my friend invited me out for lunch, so I won’t be back for lunch,” Song Linchu said.
Song Linchu’s friend was actually his maxed out green tea senior sister, Liang Xinxin.
Liang Xinxin had a design that she was not satisfied with, and she wanted him to help her improve it. Since Liang Xinxin had helped Song Linchu in a big way, he naturally couldn’t refuse to help her. He even took the initiative to invite her out for a meal. Liang Xinxin didn’t refuse either.
Tan Yue nodded and said, “The weather forecast says it’s going to snow tonight. Come back early.”
“Okay, gege, bye.”
“Bye.”
The restaurant they dined at was a light cuisine place handpicked by Liang Xinxin. After eating so greasy during the New Year, eating something simple felt refreshing. Moreover, the shrimp they served was fresh and plump, and the beef was cooked to perfection, healthy yet delicious.
“Now, how are those two doing?” Song Linchu asked after eating a piece of shrimp.
“They are on the verge of breaking up. Su Zhan doesn’t want to give up on him and calls him every day to persuade him, but you know how it is with scumbags. The more Su Zhan tries to win him over, the more he gets annoyed. He even confessed to me vaguely a while ago, but I didn’t respond directly, just kept him hanging,” Liang Xinxin said.
This scumbag not only hasn’t broken up with Su Zhan yet, but also confessed to Liang Xinxin.
What kind of scumbag is this?
Song Linchu even felt grateful that Su Zhan came between them. It made him cut his losses in time. Otherwise, if he fell too deeply in love with Tang Mingqing, he wouldn’t be able to move on so quickly.
Just then, Liang Xinxin’s phone, which she had placed on the table, rang.
Liang Xinxin glanced at it, picked it up, and turned the screen towards Song Linchu, saying with a mischievous grin, “Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.”
On the phone screen was a voice call from Tan Mingqing.
Liang Xinxin flashed a wicked smile at him and said, “Watch me torture him.”
With that, she lazily answered the voice call with a casual “hello.”
As they were sitting in a private room and there weren’t any other guests around on the second day of the new year, Liang Xinxin didn’t hesitate to press the speakerphone button.
Tang Mingqing’s voice floated out of the receiver, “Senior, are you outside?”
Liang Xinxin pretended to be surprised, “How did you know?”
“I heard the music from your end.”
“Oh, I’m having dinner with friends.”
Tang Mingqing replied with a joking tone, “Wow, how lucky to have dinner with senior, is he a guy or a girl?”
“Um…a handsome young man.”
“Wow, how handsome is he? More handsome than me?”
Song Linchu almost vomited.
So greasy!
Liang Xinxin seemed unaware and continued in a sweet and soft voice, “Of course, he was the male god in my high school.”
“…” Tang Mingqing’s voice stuck in his throat.
After a moment of silence, he asked again, “When will you finish eating? I want to ask you out to watch a movie. The one that’s really popular this New Year’s, it was hard to get tickets so I spent a lot of effort to get two.”
Liang Xinxin’s tone was still lazy, “What a coincidence, he also invited me to watch that movie. You should ask someone else, sorry.”
“…”
Song Linchu almost died laughing.
“Oh well,” Tang Mingqing’s voice became noticeably dejected, “Senior, have fun. I’ll hang up now.”
“Okay, oh, by the way, I wore the scarf you gave me last time. It looks really good and keeps me warm. I love it.”
“Really?” Tang Mingqing’s hope was reignited and his voice became more lively.
“Um, my friend is calling me, I have to go now. Bye.”
With that, Liang Xinxin hung up the phone without waiting for Tang Mingqing to say anything.
“How was that?” Liang Xinxin raised her eyebrows at Song Linchu, “Wasn’t I cruel enough?”
Song Linchu laughed, “You’ve taken all the bamboo shoots on the mountain.”
Liang Xinxin first talked about having dinner with a young and handsome guy, who also happened to be her high school male god. Then, she declined Tang Mingqing’s invitation to watch the movie that he had put so much effort into getting tickets for. Liang Xinxin made Tang Mingqing’s mood plummet, only to raise his hopes again by mentioning how much she liked the scarf he gave her before abruptly hanging up the phone, leaving Tang Mingqing’s hopes dashed midway.
At this moment, Tan Mingqing was surely feeling suffocated, unable to focus on anything as he couldn’t get the image of Liang Xinxin out of his head, despite knowing that she had shown interest in him. This scumbag of a man was receiving the punishment he deserved.
However… “If you keep him hanging like this, won’t he start to like someone else again?”
“Don’t worry, the more unattainable I am, the more he desires me. You never agreed to be with him in the first place, yet he persistently pursued you for almost a year.”
Song Linchu smiled at this reassurance. “Thank you, senior, for helping me vent my frustration.”
After finishing lunch, the two of them went to a coffee shop to help Liang Xinxin revise her design. It was not an easy task, as Song Linchu proposed several modifications until they finally finished in the late afternoon. Liang Xinxin was very satisfied with the outcome and insisted on treating Song Linchu to dinner in gratitude.
Thinking of Tan Yue’s warning, Song Linchu declined her invitation. He went back home and found that Tan Yue was not there. He had gone to work overtime at the company.
It was not because Tan Yue was a workaholic that he would go work overtime on a holiday, but because the incident where Song Linchu had witnessed someone leaking commercial secrets to another company at the annual meeting finally had some clues.
At first, Song Linchu had no idea how serious the situation was, as he only overheard a conversation and did not record them or call Tan Yue. However, they both knew the serious consequences of commercial espionage and denied everything when they were taken to the police station.
They had already destroyed all the evidence, leaving the police with no choice but to release them. The project they were working on at the time was not a core project, and the information they had on hand was not too critical.
However, with Song Linchu’s reminder on how they utilized this to secure a director’s position, he thoroughly investigated which company had obtained their information and what data they had. After all, this was a product they were planning to release early in the year, and if their important data was stolen, the consequences would be disastrous.
They had been investigating for several days with no leads, but eventually had to resort to illegal means to extract the truth from the two people involved. In the end, the woman couldn’t handle the pressure and revealed the truth.
She obtained almost all of the product information.
According to her confession, it was the personnel from the company she was about to switch to who approached her beforehand. With premeditation, she took advantage of a moment when the project leader wasn’t paying attention and copied the materials on his computer.
The situation had escalated to a point where it couldn’t be resolved by just holding the two responsible legally. The company that asked them for the information denied the incident and they didn’t have sufficient evidence. The person the woman accused wasn’t even an employee of their company.
The situation had reached an impasse, and they had to come up with a plan; otherwise, it would cause significant trouble.
Now that it was the holiday season, many employees were from out of town and wouldn’t be able to return for a while. Therefore, Tan Yue had to handle the matter personally.
Song Linchu was both distressed and angry. He saw Butler Liu picking up a large food box and asked, “Butler Liu, are you going to deliver food to my gege?”
“Yes, during the Chinese New Year, the few restaurants Master usually orders delivery from aren’t open, and he’s a picky eater, so we have to send it from home.”
“Oh, can I come along? I won’t cause trouble for gege, and I won’t delay his work either.”
Butler Liu, who had followed Tan Yue for many years, knew him well and could tell that Song Linchu had a special place in Tan Yue’s heart.
The fact that Tan Yue had agreed to marry him was already proof that his status had surpassed everyone around Tan Yue.
He smiled and said, “Of course, Master will be very happy.”
This was the first time Song Linchu had come to Tan Yue’s company.
As expected, Tan Yue’s company owned an entire building, with his office located on a high floor. Butler Liu led him to the elevator and up to Tan Yue’s office floor.
Tan Yue had just finished a meeting and came out of the conference room with a cold face, followed by several executives who were sweating profusely.
“President Tan, President Tan,” the executives almost pleaded with him, “Your proposal is not feasible. The technical requirements are too high, and our team is still short of so many people. It’s impossible to complete it in such a short time.”
Tan Yue’s voice was indifferent, “Don’t we have someone coming in early tomorrow?”
“Yes, but he’s just a senior in college and has only been here for a month. He can only assist us temporarily.”
Tan Yue’s face immediately darkened, “Since when did we start hiring college students? Can’t we afford to pay qualified individuals?”
The executives were no longer surprised by Tan Yue’s sharp tongue and wiped their sweat, “No, it’s just that he was recruited for his outstanding academic record. He is very capable, but just hasn’t gotten the hang of it yet.”
“Well, pigs can be very capable too. Why don’t we hire one?” Tan Yue retorted.
The executives were at a loss for words.
“I said, college students…” Tan Yue added.
At this point, Tan Yue saw the innocent-looking college student standing at the door of his office.
Song Linchu blinked and looked at him innocently.
“…Are pretty good,” Mr. Tan maintained his expressionless demeanor.
The executives: ???
