After lying in bed for a full day, Father Lin finally woke up.
Once awake, he chuckled twice. “Oh my goodness, why do you two look so worried? I was just taking a slightly deeper sleep.”
“Dad, you’re awake!” Lin Ze stood up, supporting himself with both hands on the bed as he looked at him with delight.
“Darling.”
Xiao Qingyao’s eyes lit up.
“Are you still sleepy? Are you hungry? Do you want to eat something?” In her excitement, she didn’t even know what she was saying.
“Hehe, I actually do feel a bit hungry. Just whip up anything simple,” he said as he sat up and licked his slightly chapped lips.
Noticing this subtle movement by Father Lin, Lin Ze agilely poured a glass of water and handed it to him. “Dad, drink some water.”
“Ah, good.”
Shortly after, Xiao Qingyao also brought over some warmed food. Watching Father Lin happily finish it, the two of them felt a sudden, small sense of reassurance.
Father Lin noticed the hidden look of worry in both of their eyes.
While eating, he tried to comfort Lin Ze and his wife. “Aha, doing business inevitably comes with a few bumps. The company’s issue this time will blow over soon enough. Now that I think about it, I still have an old classmate. If I contact him, maybe he’ll help me out. You two don’t need to worry.”
With a smile blooming on his face, Father Lin confidently patted his own chest.
“Darling, really?”
Xiao Qingyao remained somewhat doubtful, but upon meeting Father Lin’s firm gaze, she let out a reassured breath of relief.
Looking at Father Lin’s beaming expression, however, Lin Ze couldn’t manage to pull off a smile to join in on the scene.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that his dad was just putting on a brave face.
At midnight, when the dead of night had settled, Father Lin cautiously opened the door on tiptoe and slipped out into a study.
Turning on the light, he pulled out a thick stack of documents and began flipping through them. The sound of turning pages was very light, yet clearly audible in the quiet of the night.
Using a pen, he crossed out the names of various unreachable brothers, scribbling and marking among the many numbers without managing to find a single person who could help him.
Frustrated, he scratched his head. After racking his brain for a long time, he still had no idea what to do.
Following a heavy, sorrowful sigh, he was about to stand up and leave when he got the fright of his life.
Patting his chest, he exclaimed, “Oh, Zeze, what are you doing here so late? When did you get here? You didn’t make a sound or say anything, you scared me to death.”
“Dad, that’s my line. What are you doing here in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?”
With his arms crossed, Lin Ze leaned against the doorway, quietly watching Father Lin.
“I, well, I couldn’t sleep, so I came to read some book, hoping it would make me sleepy quickly.”
Lin Zhixun chuckled as he explained, secretly sliding the papers containing those contact numbers away on the desk.
“Stop hiding it, Dad. I’ve been standing here for a long time.” Lin Ze spoke in a muffled tone.
Father Lin: “…”
Lin Ze closed the door and locked it behind him.
Walking right up to Lin Zhixun, he said, “Dad, our family situation. I basically know all about it, you don’t need to hide anything from me anymore.”
Father Lin dropped his eyelids into silence. A moment later, his eyes reddened as he began to sob intermittently, though he didn’t dare make it too loud for fear of waking Xiao Qingyao.
“Zeze, our family. Our family might really be tens of millions in debt.”
Lin Ze knew it. He knew they would eventually face this kind of situation. The physical and mental exhaustion left him feeling completely drained, but he was even more worried about Lin Zhixun’s physical condition.
Every time Lin Zhixun received a shock or blow and fell into such deep exhaustion, Lin Ze was terrified that his father wouldn’t be able to bear the blow in his heart.
“But I’m not resigned to this. I was clearly already making progress in a better direction, but a single wrong step sent our family right back to the starting point. No. It’s not even the starting point anymore, we have nothing left, and we’re even drowning in debt.”
“Dad.”
Lin Ze gently patted Lin Zhixun’s back. Right now, he felt just as panicked and helpless as his father.
“What do we do? What do we do?” Covering his face, Lin Zhixun wailed.
Lin Ze took three consecutive days off. During these three days, he didn’t go to school or the bar once.
Until the manager, unable to bear the pressure, called to inquire and even passed along a message dictated by higher-ups: “Take one more day off, and a third of your salary will be deducted according to the contract.”
After saying goodbye to his parents, Lin Ze rushed straight back to the bar.
“Lin Ze, I’m sorry. I know something happened at home, but this really.” Upon seeing Lin Ze arrive, the manager looked somewhat awkward as she tried to explain.
Instead, Lin Ze forced a faint smile and interrupted her. “It’s fine, Manager Qin. I understand, it’s a requirement of the job, nothing major.”
“Oh right, Manager Qin.” Seeming to recall something, Lin Ze suddenly called out to her.
“Huh?”
Manager Qin responded.
“That contract you mentioned before, can I still sign it now?” he asked.
“Yes! Of course you can!”
Manager Qin didn’t know why Lin Ze had suddenly changed his mind, but since the task assigned by her superiors was completed, she let out a sigh of relief.
Lin Ze picked up his work uniform and went to the locker room to change.
As he came back out, he saw Yi Yan standing right at the entrance, their gazes locking instantly.
With his phoenix eyes glowing and his shirt open with two unbuttoned buttons, Yi Yan fixed a burning, intense gaze firmly on Lin Ze.
“You haven’t come to work for days, I’ve missed you so much.” Closing in step by step, he exuded an ambiguous and seductive aura, his thin lips curved into an elusive smile.
Lin Ze furrowed his brow slightly and pushed him aside. “Yi Yan, I’ve already made myself very clear to you. I really don’t have time to keep messing around with you.”
Pushed to the side, Yi Yan wore a slightly wounded expression.
“Zeze, you really break my heart acting like this.”
Lin Ze didn’t want to entertain him any further. Without replying, he strode straight ahead.
“I’ve already heard about what happened with your family.”
This sentence coming from behind made Lin Ze freeze in his tracks.
“Oh, and then? Are you here to laugh at me? Go ahead, please.” Lin Ze didn’t turn around, his tone somewhat cold.
He could easily guess. After all, he had rejected Yi Yan so many times, and every single rejection was undoubtedly like a loud slap to Yi Yan’s face.
So, a proud, arrogant young master like Yi Yan would definitely mock him back.