Second-Generation Heir x Illegitimate Son 34

The chair turned around, revealing the young man's exquisite and beautiful face.

Black hair and red lips, his eyes were gentle and full of affection even when not smiling, yet carrying a hint of coldness in the subtle details. If this wasn't the person Yan Qin longed for day and night, who else could it be?

"Young Master."

Yan Qin murmured, somewhat absentmindedly. His gaze greedily traced the facial features of the lover he hadn't seen for a long time, as if he wanted to pierce through his bone structure into his very soul.

The facts placed before his eyes dealt him a heavy blow. A look of daze and astonishment appeared on his face, rarely lingering for a few moments before slowly fading away.

Yan Qin had never thought that the behind-the-scenes boss of Sifang Technology was actually Lin Sui. But thinking about it carefully, it made perfect sense. After all, Yan Qin knew that Lin Sui was actually exceptionally intelligent, which was evident from the college entrance examination incident back then. He handled things with ease and skill, only hiding everything beneath a careless facade so that people wouldn't suspect him.

"'May you brightly manifest your radiant virtues, cultivate your excellent achievements, respectfully obey the royal mandate, and pacify (Sui) the four directions (Sifang)...' I was too slow to realize it." [Note]

Yan Qin suddenly realized that the hint had been so obvious; he just hadn't thought about it in that direction.

Yan Qin suddenly, and truly in hindsight, understood something else. His eyes brightened slightly as he approached Lin Sui, half-kneeling in front of him, holding his hand and looking up at him.

"Young Master said your surname was Qin..."

Yan Qin's breathing became rapid. His voice was hoarse from urgent, extreme excitement, and his fingers rubbed against the pendant on Lin Sui's wrist.

Was it the Qin of Yan Qin?

Sifang was established six or seven years ago, and at that time, he and Young Master had already met.

"Didn't President Yan come to discuss cooperation? Why act like this?"

Lin Sui didn't play along with Yan Qin's words. With a faint smile of indiscernible emotion on his face, he pulled his hand out of Yan Qin's grasp.

Lin Sui's mood was shrouded in clouds and mist, always making it difficult for people to grasp his true emotions beneath the surface. Seeing him acting as if he wanted to cut off all ties, Yan Qin panicked.

"Young Master, punish me."

Yan Qin's voice was obscure. He maintained that posture of looking up at Lin Sui; his tall body cast a shadow that completely covered Lin Sui's.

Those starry eyes revealed a hint of confusion and bewilderment, like a stray dog that couldn't find a place to rely on, looking at the person with deep anxiety.

Lin Sui, however, found the vulnerability he revealed at this moment to be extremely charming. But now was not the time to comfort him.

The matters between them would not end just like this.

"Let's discuss the compensation for terminating the cooperation."

Lin Sui shifted his gaze to the documents on the desk, dialed the inner line, and signaled for Gao Jing to come in.

Yan Qin pursed his lips and lowered his eyes, hiding the bitterness in his gaze.

When Gao Jing came in, what he saw was President Yan sitting upright across from his boss. The atmosphere between the two was somewhat stagnant. As they looked at each other, their auras were evenly matched, and the atmosphere vaguely felt like drawn swords and bent bows.

Gao Jing broke into a cold sweat inwardly and stood to the side, listening to their conversation.

This President Yan was just as difficult to get along with as the rumors said, refusing to yield even an inch.

How could Gao Jing know that this new money tycoon who had just pressed him step by step and filled him with awe had, a few minutes ago, been half-kneeling in front of his boss without receiving any pity?

Yan Qin originally wanted to yield profits according to Lin Sui's wishes. His heart was full of the desire to compensate; how could he be as uncompromising as in a normal business negotiation? But just as he nodded, he saw Lin Sui's brows slightly furrowed and knew Lin Sui was unhappy. Thus, he withdrew those thoughts and put on a business-like attitude. Sure enough, he saw Lin Sui's brows relax.

He became even more confused and helpless. He couldn't figure out Lin Sui's intentions and didn't know if this was Lin Sui's revenge. Yet, both of them knew in their hearts that this couldn't even be considered revenge, nor was it a heavy blow to Tianqi Company. At most, it was an investment loss and the lost opportunity to intervene in a highly promising industry, and they had even received compensation for the loss.

Did he want to make a clean break and never interact with him again?

Yan Qin was anxious inwardly, but his face remained exceptionally calm and cold as he signed his name on the contract Gao Jing handed over.

Only then did Lin Sui reveal a somewhat genuine smile. Watching the large dog being teased into spinning in circles, looking anxious beyond belief, he issued him an invitation.

"I have a minor surgery. Do you want to come with me?"

He didn't call him President Yan or Mr. Yan anymore. His attitude was very casual, which surprisingly made Yan Qin overjoyed, but he soon became worried and anxious over the content of Lin Sui's words.

"Are you sick? Where are you feeling unwell? Why do you need surgery?"

Yan Qin first thought that maybe Lin Sui had fallen ill during the time they hadn't seen each other, and then he wondered if the period he had kept Lin Sui locked up had caused him physical discomfort. His thoughts were complicated, and his heart was a tangled mess.

Gao Jing knew that Lin Sui was going to have surgery; after all, he and Fang Yuwei had overseen that original surgery. But Yan Qin's attitude made it seem like he and the boss were old acquaintances, although their previous behavior hadn't seemed like it.

However, Gao Jing wouldn't pry too much into his boss's affairs. He just stood by and said, "Everything is arranged. Boss, you can go now."

"It's just a minor surgery. You'll know in a bit."

Lin Sui waved at Yan Qin and walked towards the door. As he said this, he tilted his head to look at Yan Qin, a hint of profound meaning hidden in his eyes.

In the operating room, Lin Sui received local anesthesia and sat on a chair, watching the doctor slice open his left arm.

When the implanted object was taken out, Yan Qin, separated by a layer of glass, felt his heart go cold.

Without shifting his gaze, he asked Gao Jing beside him, "What is that?"

Yan Qin had actually already guessed what it was in his heart, but he still found it somewhat unbelievable.

"A satellite tracking chip. The boss implanted it in his body about half a year ago. At the time, we all advised him it was unnecessary. Although the bio-tech protective film wrapped around it had been repeatedly tested in the laboratory and was considered mature, no one could say for sure. But no one can change the boss's decisions."

Under Lin Sui's signaling gaze, Gao Jing informed Yan Qin of the inside story. Even now, he didn't know why Lin Sui was playing this trick. That kid Wu Qiu seemed to understand, but he was acting all mysterious and wouldn't tell him.

Yan Qin's throat felt a burst of dryness. He stared straight at the young man sitting over there, his facial nerves stiff.

So, from the very beginning, there had never been any captivity?

Why... did he do this?

The young man on the other side of the glass looked peaceful, entirely indifferent to the muscle tissue being cut open and stitched up at his side. Meeting his gaze, he slowly revealed a smile.

The smile was not wide, merely a slight upturn of the corners of his mouth, yet it made one feel that it was terrifyingly dangerous, and bizarrely charming.

Yan Qin felt waves of palpitations, even a bit dizzy and mesmerized.

He seemed to have fallen into a trap named 'Lin Sui', a gradually sinking quagmire with no direction to be found.

Did he want to induce his madness and see him in a sorry state?

Yan Qin thought he understood, but found out that he seemingly didn't.

At this moment, he was the prey whose neck was being tightened by a coiling snake, the defeated dog bewitched by a poisonous butterfly. Within the sudden, violent fluctuations of his emotions, there was actually a subtle, strange, and even twisted sense of pleasure.

Lin Sui was guessing at him, watching him, calculating him, waiting for him to take the bait, waiting for him to sink.

Lin Sui cared about him.

Yan Qin quietly watched Lin Sui, hiding his infatuation deep within.

The surgery did not last long; after about half an hour, Lin Sui walked out with gauze wrapped around his forearm.

His face was slightly pale, but his mood was quite good. He smiled lightly at everyone he saw. That already gorgeous and handsome face became even more enchanting; its scorching brilliance made people afraid to look for too long.

Lin Sui didn't ask Gao Jing to accompany him, walking side by side with Yan Qin through the empty corridor.

Because he had to undergo surgery, Lin Sui had taken off that thin gold chain and was toying with it in the palm of his hand.

Yan Qin had many things he wanted to ask, about the chip, about the surname Lin Sui had publicly claimed... so many things. But all of them were pushed to the back of his mind by Lin Sui's actions.

He watched Lin Sui's hand movements with his heart in his throat, carefully observing the furnishings in the corridor. There were no trash cans in this corridor, but there might be downstairs. Even if there weren't any downstairs, as long as Lin Sui wanted to discard it, he could leave it anywhere.

"Yan Qin, do you still remember that book I used to use as bedtime reading back then?"

"Did you ever notice that in the Ke Jiao Real Estate case, one piece of data was wrong?"

Lin Sui stood against the light, his face half-illuminated and half-shadowed.

Yan Qin abruptly stopped in his tracks. The emotions in his heart were so complex that his face exhibited an extreme sense of calm.

"In the angel financing round, there's a figure that doesn't match the latter ones."

Even though it was a book he had read almost seven years ago, Yan Qin had memorized it and had even transcribed some of the classic cases. He still had a vivid memory of that black-covered book.

At that time, he thought it was a book of the Lin Family's experiences. Even though some of the cases had no trace in the real world, it seemed now that this was not the case.

"At the time, I was still an illegitimate son. Why?"

Those chaotic, disjointed lines became clearly connected in Yan Qin's mind at this moment.

It turned out that from the very first time they met, everything could be traced back.

"Don't you find this very interesting?"

Lin Sui turned around and continued to walk forward. The sound of his leather shoes made clacking noises on the marble floor, as if striking directly on a person's heart.

"Picking up a dog, letting it grow with ambition, and turning it into a wolf. What a fulfilling taming process."

The young man's voice was wonderfully pleasant, full of nonchalance, calm and gentle yet concealing a reckless evil aura.

Of course, it wasn't entirely like this, but there were some reasons Lin Sui couldn't say.

Because you are the protagonist.

Because you are Yan Qin.

"I said back then that I don't like trash, so please don't disappoint me."

Lin Sui walked to the light source. This long corridor was dim. He stood in the light and turned around, making it impossible for the person behind him to clearly see his face and expression. He could only hear his soft sigh containing a faint smile.

Lin Sui left, leaving Yan Qin standing in place.

Yan Qin quickly understood what Lin Sui meant, because Sifang had already begun to build momentum.

As soon as the news of the holographic online game came out, it caused a global heated discussion.

The Lin Family terminated their project with Tianqi Company and switched to connecting with Sifang. This was actually very cost-ineffective, but the Lin Family didn't care.

Sifang successively stopped all cooperation with Tianqi Company. Everyone could see clearly that the Lin Family and Yan Qin were going head-to-head.

Commercial warfare was not children playing house; a single move could affect the whole situation. In a short time, Tianqi Company's capital chain broke, and it found itself trapped in a predicament.

'Why are you doing this? Do you want to seize his luck and make him fail?'

The System was completely baffled and extremely anxious by these twisting turns of events.

Lin Sui leisurely said: 'The original owner himself was an existence that created trouble for Yan Qin. What's wrong with me following the character setting?'

'I did say I was going to be a villain, after all.'

The System warned: 'You just know how to be bad. Don't do unnecessary things!'

Lin Sui didn't answer, but a sense of vigilance arose in his heart.

He suddenly felt that this System didn't seem to favor Yan Qin very much either.

The Jade Slips left behind in the ancient lands contained records of the Soul Refining art. The more tempering and setbacks a split soul experienced, the tougher and stronger the soul became. Therefore, when mighty figures split their souls for experiential learning, they sought out bumps and setbacks for themselves so they could be tempered into steel.

Yan Qin's remnant soul had come to this point. If everything went smoothly, the soul power he gained would instead be weakened.

Lin Sui restrained his thoughts. A villain to a protagonist was like a whetstone.

He would become Yan Qin's best whetstone and properly teach him how to grow.

The author has something to say:

The System is a villain, and not very smart at that. It's doomed sooner or later.

[Note] "May you brightly manifest your radiant virtues, cultivate your excellent achievements, respectfully obey the royal mandate, and pacify the four directions" — Records of the Three Kingdoms: Biography of Lu Xun