Lin covered his eyes with his hand and wished he could forget what he saw.
"Mr. Li," Jiang Wei gritted through his teeth, "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Shi Lin could not hear what the other man was saying, but he suddenly felt superfluous. He remained silent and frowned that he had no place, so he thought. The expression on Jiang Wei's face changed. He did not answer, but only listened and his fist clenched.
When he finished speaking, he stood up and prepared to leave. In response to a surprised look, he threw:
"I must go," and walked out. The young man suddenly crumpled up and dulled into his coffee. Shi Meili approached him and sank quietly down beside him. She saw her eldest son's slouching back and decided it was time to ask some questions.
"A-Lin, tell your mother what happened to you in town?" she said softly.
"I don't know myself," Lin answered uncertainly.
"You'll figure it out for sure, but tell me, what's your relationship with Jiang Wei?" Shi Meili didn't back down.
"It's... it seems hard for me to explain..." Shi Lin looked at his mother with a pleading look.
Shi Meili hugged her son and kissed his hair. She felt her eldest son's condition particularly subtly, but she did not know the whole situation to help.
Jiang Wei did not return that evening and the family dinner passed peacefully. Shi Lin lay in bed in complete silence and wondered where his boss was now. But what he was really worried about was whether Jiang Wei had gone to Li Guang.
The secretary knew that this treacherous man could not be trusted, so he restlessly tossed about half the night. As if out of spite, he was bored at home. His mother would not allow him to work in the restaurant and insisted that Lin rest.
The next day Lin got up early and cleaned his workshop for two hours before breakfast. At the same time he sorted out his works, arranged the most successful ones for inspiration and went to take a shower.
Breakfast and a note wishing him a good day were waiting for him on the table. The Shi family went to work. After finishing eating, Lin finally turned on his phone. Since Jiang had left, he decided to stay in touch.
There were several unknown numbers in his inbox and a couple of messages. Someone texted him that a position had been reserved for him at a modeling agency, a salary was also voiced. The amount was decent, more than his salary, but Lin had never considered a modeling career.
The second message was from his boss, and Lin immediately tensed up. Jiang Wei demanded that Lin be on the phone (obeying) and at the end of it, he wrote down that Guan was in trouble.
"Shit!" cursed Lin, but he himself did not know why. He knew the boss's feelings for Mr. Li and about the latter's wedding, too. If somehow they got back together again, wouldn't that be good news?
Why was he angry then? Didn't trust this man, worried about Jiang Wei?
It's all about betrayal. If Li Guang had bitten once, it was doubly dangerous for Jiang Wei to fall into his clutches. Shi Lin clenched his fists. He himself hadn't noticed how he began to take everything that happened to his boss to heart, seeking to patronize and protect him.
After thinking for a while, he dialed Jiang Wei, but he didn't answer. Lin became enraged. He had encountered enough insidiousness to stop being a naive simpleton. In a world where big money ruled, people would do desperate and dirty things in the struggle for primacy and power.
Shi Lin left his mother a note and got into the car. He had to make sure his boss was having a nice time and not lying tied up in a basement somewhere.
As Lin drove into town, he considered a thousand options. For starters, he called his boss's housekeeper and found out he hadn't shown up. So he didn't spend the night at home. There was one more number left, and that was the Lee family butler.
Having previously arranged for his boss to meet a friend, Lin had usually contacted this person. But each time it felt like a disgusting caterpillar was crawling all over him.
Nevertheless, Lin dialed the number and, waiting for an answer, laid out a hastily composed story. He couldn't get hold of his boss, and he went to see Mr. Lee, and wondered if the distinguished butler had seen the two of them.
Lin knew he had made many mistakes in addressing the butler, and the whole conversation looked silly, but inwardly he was looking for a reason to stop worrying about the boss.
"I can't give you all the details, but Mr. Guan is temporarily in hiding," the butler replied and hung up.
"What do you mean hiding?" Lin stopped the car and rested his hands on the steering wheel. He had no idea where to look for the two men. But then Lin remembered that he had once been introduced to a journalist who helped handle sensitive situations. Lin called him and introduced himself as Jiang Wei's secretary and briefly described the situation.
The journalist did not speak over the phone, instead gave the address. Lin speeded up in order to make it in time for the meeting. The place turned out to be an old bar, with room for up to twenty customers. Just now it was almost full.
Shi Lin stepped inside and in the dim light tried to see if anyone he knew was waiting for him. A man in a khaki jacket was sitting on the edge of the bar and lazily sipping something from a glass.
He looked around leisurely and raised his glass in greeting. Lin went straight to him, but suddenly two drunken bodies blocked the way. The incoherent speech was slurred, and Lin only nodded to keep from displeasing them.
Suddenly someone grabbed him by the neck and pulled him aside. He turned his head and saw a journalist. They walked out of the bar and got into Lin's car.
"Let's go," the journalist commanded and Lin drove off without much direction.
"Thank you for being able to meet with me," the young man began, "I hope you have information, I'll thank you."
The journalist nodded, but when he heard about the reward he brushed it off.
"What I know I can't use for an article because it might shorten my life," the man spoke, "Li Guang didn't kill that man, but ended up at the murder scene because of his fiancée."
"What?" Lin didn't expect to hear such a violent narrative.
"She's been stoned a lot lately; only a blind man wouldn't notice that. Eventually, her daddy decided to track down the supplier and sent some men to watch the heiress."
"She wasn't particularly careful and led the surveillance right to that restaurant. You could get a room there and spend time with someone until morning."
"She met with the vendor, but he, noticing the surveillance, made the girl swallow something, she passed out, and then a fight broke out."
"The dealer was finished off on the spot. The girl woke up twenty minutes later and found she was covered in blood. She called Lee Guan, who rushed over. "
"The police arrived and were called by the administration. And this is how it turned out: Li Guang is feeling the dead man's pulse and the police burst into the room. He was arrested and charged with murder and drug trafficking."
Shi Lin listened and tried to keep his eyes on the road at the same time. There was a feeling that this wasn't the whole story.
"And next?" he asked.
"Next, the girl was taken to the hospital, as she was still out of it, and Mr. Li to the police. He was released by morning, as the bride came to her senses and testified, confirming the time she had called her fiancé. But barely on his way out, Guan was beaten by unidentified men, most likely deciding that he was the one who killed the dealer."
"Mr. Li crossed the wrong people," commented Shi Lin.
"Exactly!" confirmed the journalist, "now Mr. Lee is in hiding, although his family promised him full support. It seems to me that he is benefiting from this for some personal reason, given what you have told us. Surely now he and Mr. Jiang are sitting in a cozy love nest and laughing at everyone," the journalist savored the facts.
Shi Lin felt a venomous snake crawl into his heart. He gripped the steering wheel tighter. After silent for a while, he still asked.
"Do you have any idea where Li Guang might be hiding?"
"Well, I would think he's at Jiang Wei's, but since you're here and asking that question, I'm stumped, too. Mr. Shi, take me to the subway station."
After dropping the journalist off, Shi Lin thanked him and drove to Jiang Wei's house. It was the only place where he could spend the night. Besides, the boss kind of owed him one. The code remained the same, so the young man entered the house unhindered and collapsed on the couch. It had been a very long and difficult day. The young man could hardly breathe from fatigue and thirst.
Gathering his strength into a fist, Lin first drank two glasses of water and then went to take a shower. It was a strange and dangerous feeling "being in the boss's house, but the young man was no longer so much afraid of his boss. He foresaw that he might make a scene or just cut him out of his life, but to hurt him no, that wouldn't happen.
After eating his dinner, Lin pulled out his phone and texted Jiang Wei briefly, "I'm in town. I'm spending the night at your place. Are you okay?"
"Since when are we so related?" Lin grimaced, but didn't change the message and clicked "send". Suddenly the message was read. Lin stared at the phone as it instantly glowed in his hand. There was no reply. The young man assumed his message might have been read by Li Guang and smiled crookedly.
"Good night, Wei," he said before going to sleep and fell into a slumber. Somewhere in the middle of the night, he heard a lock pick. Instantly waking up, the young man became alert. It could only be Jiang Wei, most likely.
"But what if it wasn't him?" Quiet footsteps were heard quite close by. Shi Lin opened his eyes and stared at the man who was walking toward him. It was his boss, after all. Lin slowly sat down on the couch and waited in silence.
Jiang Wei had drunk a lot; he reeked of alcohol a mile away. Shi Lin grimaced and got up from the bed. Stopping in front of the young man, Jiang Wei staggered a little and then almost fell over. Lin supported him and patted him on the back.
"Boss," he said, "you're back."
"Mmm," was the reply.
Jiang Wei leaned on the young man and pointed his hand toward the second floor, hinting that he needed help.
Lin dragged his boss upstairs, experiencing deja vu. Leading him into the bathroom, where Jiang Wei vomited several times. An aide brought water and a clean towel. Jiang Wei refused the water and went into the shower directly in his clothes.
Lin cried out in surprise as water splattered from the shower directly onto his boss's suit. He started grunting and pulling the suit down. The boss didn't resist, on the contrary he looked submissive and unhappy.
"What the hell?" perplexed Shi Lin.
He paused, unsure whether he should take his boss's pants off or leave them as they were. Jiang Wei stood under the jets of water with his eyes closed, seemingly immersed in himself, and unresponsive to anything.
Shi Lin rubbed his temples. Okay--he unbuckled his belt in a quick motion and pulled down his pants, the chief obediently climbed out of them and slipped his thumbs under the elastic of his underpants and was about to take off his underwear as well.
"That's without me, please," Lyn blurted out, raked up his clothes, and staggered toward the door. The boss paid him no attention and flashed his buns after all.
Lin covered his eyes with his hand and wished he could forget what he saw. He tossed his clothes into the washing machine and stared at his reflection, leaning against the sink.
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