WHI – Chapter 29

Chapter 29

“Lin Ting?” A familiar yet momentarily unrecognizable voice called from behind. Lin Ting turned abruptly – it was Gu Jiang.

He wasn’t wearing a suit today, opting for a black jacket and khaki trousers. Without the overly refined tie clips and cufflinks, he looked somewhat different from his usual self.

Lin Ting managed a weak smile. “What a coincidence.”

He had always disliked his stepfather, who appeared refined but was actually arrogant and conceited, yet he maintained a semblance of politeness.

“Are you with…” Gu Jiang didn’t ask why he hadn’t been home for a few days.

“A friend’s birthday,” Lin Ting gestured towards the crowd in the distance.

“Oh, do you have time? I want to chat with you.” Gu Jiang stepped closer and suddenly noticed the red string on Lin Ting’s wrist. His gaze lingered, examining it. “So you like this kind of thing. It suits you quite well.”

Lin Ting disliked being scrutinized. He pulled his sleeve down. “Chat about what?”

“You haven’t been home these past few days. Your mother, she’s actually very worried about you… she…” Gu Jiang said, “Besides, we father and son have never really talked. If you have time, I’d like to chat with you, about some things concerning your mother…”

The word ‘father and son’ made Lin Ting feel extremely uncomfortable. He suppressed his urge to retort and nodded. “Okay.”

Lin Ting followed him into a VIP room. Gu Jiang seemed to be a regular here, as the staff members along the way greeted him as ‘Mr. Gu’ and nodded with smiles.

“Mom… what’s wrong with her?” Lin Ting sat down on the sofa in the private room. One wall was a glass door, offering good visibility and light. The blue sky and green lawn in the distance stretched out, and the sounds of Wen Lan and the others chatting could be faintly heard.

Swish—

Gu Jiang drew the curtains.

“No rush, have some tea first.” He picked up the purple clay teapot on the sofa, poured some into a cup, and offered it to Lin Ting.

Lin Ting wasn’t in the mood for tea. He took a small sip and placed the cup on the coffee table.

Gu Jiang smoothly sat down beside him.

Lin Ting frowned slightly and subtly shifted away. “Uncle Gu, if you have something to say, please say it directly. My friends are waiting for me.”

Gu Jiang didn’t answer. Instead, he casually lifted Lin Ting’s wrist and examined the red string.

“Did a friend give this to you? Or did you buy it yourself?”

Lin Ting was very uncomfortable with the physical contact. He pulled his wrist away and stood up.

“Does this have anything to do with our chat today?”

“No, no relation. I was just asking.” Gu Jiang crossed his legs and took out his phone. “Gu Yi recently got a photo… take a look. Come, sit down.”

Lin Ting looked over curiously, but Gu Jiang’s phone screen must have had a privacy film on it, as he couldn’t see it clearly from his angle.

Gu Jiang showed no intention of adjusting the phone’s screen angle.

Lin Ting, resigned, sat back on the sofa.

Gu Jiang smiled and placed the phone in Lin Ting’s palm—

The screen showed him biting towards Wen Lan’s collarbone.

Due to the angle of the shot, Ye Wengong and the others beside him were not captured. From this perspective, it looked extremely intimate.

Lin Ting instantly felt as if he had been plunged into icy, bone-chilling seawater, his entire body numb and losing sensation.

Gu Yi’s inexplicable probing suddenly found its reason.

“It’s just some joke between classmates. What are you trying to say?” Lin Ting tried to appear calm and returned the phone.

“Is that so?” Gu Jiang leaned closer, supporting himself with one hand. “I heard you’re very close with the sole heir of the Wen family. You even borrowed clothes after staying out all night…”

He paused and then zoomed in on the photo. “How did you get this close in such a short time…”

Lin Ting didn’t intend to talk further. He got up to leave.

But when he reached for the doorknob, he realized the door was locked.

When Lin Ting turned back, Gu Jiang was dangling a key in his hand. “Don’t worry, your mother doesn’t know yet – about you being gay.”

“You’re mistaken, I’m not.”

“Whether you are or not isn’t up to you to decide.” Gu Jiang casually tossed the key to the floor and slowly approached, cornering Lin Ting against the door. He raised an arm and trapped him.

“As long as you listen to me, your mother will never know.” As he spoke, Gu Jiang grabbed Lin Ting’s chin and roughly rubbed his thumb across his lips.

“Get lost.” Lin Ting turned to run the other way, but Gu Jiang seemed to have anticipated this. His other hand smoothly grasped Lin Ting’s wrist, right on the red string.

Gu Jiang rubbed the red string with great force. “Do you know, you really suit red, whether it’s the injury on your lips last time or this red string.” He moved closer and closer, almost pressing against Lin Ting.

“Pervert! Get off me!” Lin Ting didn’t want to bite him, but he couldn’t break free with brute force. Gritting his teeth, he resorted to his most vicious move.

He lifted his leg and kicked towards Gu Jiang’s groin.

Gu Jiang immediately let go, accompanied by curses from behind him. Lin Ting lunged towards the glass door. Before he could pull open the curtains, Gu Jiang quickly caught up.

“Damn it, you son of a bitch! I’m going to fuck you today.” After being kicked, Gu Jiang completely lost his composure. He was like a wild beast, a stark contrast to his earlier self. He smashed Lin Ting against the glass door behind the curtains, making a loud “thud.”

Lin Ting felt the bones in his back and the back of his head vibrate.

Before he could recover, Gu Jiang’s right hand choked Lin Ting’s neck. He felt a wave of dizziness, and the lack of oxygen made his hands lose most of their strength. Gu Jiang’s left hand unashamedly lifted Lin Ting’s shirt hem and slid into his waist.

Disgusting.

Only these two words filled Lin Ting’s mind.

Was it because of the hand choking his neck, or the hand rubbing his waist?

An unprecedented sense of disgust.

But Lin Ting had fought enough times to know how to handle himself. One of his hands had already reached the edge of the coffee table – the purple clay teapot.

Lin Ting exerted all his strength and smashed the teapot onto Gu Jiang’s head.

Crack! – The sound of the teapot cracking.

Crack! – The sound of the glass being kicked open from behind.

“Lin Ting!” Following the sharp cracks, Wen Lan’s exclamation rang out.

Ever since being kicked in the groin, Gu Jiang had been in a state of extreme adrenaline rush. Even though blood streamed down his forehead, blurring his face, he remained frenzied. He threw Lin Ting, who was still being choked, onto the sofa by the glass window.

When Wen Lan arrived, he saw Gu Jiang sitting on Lin Ting, pinning both of Lin Ting’s wrists with one hand and choking his neck with the other.

Wen Lan didn’t understand what was happening. He only knew that after finishing a game and wanting to find Lin Ting, the latter was no longer in his seat. After asking around and not finding him, he became anxious. He then heard arguing from a nearby VIP room.

Almost instinctively, he was sure Lin Ting was inside. The curtains were drawn, and the glass door couldn’t be opened from the outside. Without a second thought, he kicked open the glass door.

The moment he saw Lin Ting, an unprecedented sense of humiliation, anger, pain, and heartache surged to the surface, enraging him to lunge at the person on Lin Ting – he had met him once outside the Gu family’s house while waiting for Lin Ting, Lin Ting’s stepfather – Gu Jiang.

Wen Lan yanked Gu Jiang off and then landed a heavy punch to his nose. He then pinned Gu Jiang to the floor and delivered two more powerful punches.

Gu Jiang immediately lost the strength to resist. Just as Wen Lan was about to land another punch, Lin Ting spoke, “Enough.”

Wen Lan released his grip on Gu Jiang’s collar. The man lay motionless on the floor like a corpse, his limbs limp, but his eyes and mouth still emanated curses and contempt.

“Take me away.”

The commotion was significant. Song Mi rallied the other followers to handle the aftermath and apologized to the manager who had arrived.

The manager kindly opened another private room for Lin Ting and brought in a pot of hot tea.

Lin Ting didn’t want to talk. Wen Lan sat beside him, also unwilling to speak. After the manager left, silence enveloped the large private room, leaving only Lin Ting and Wen Lan.

“Gu Jiang?” Wen Lan poured Lin Ting a cup of tea and handed it to him.

Lin Ting was momentarily stunned. His hand trembled slightly, as if reliving the scene from ten minutes ago. But upon seeing that the person was Wen Lan, he felt a sense of relief.

He held the warm teacup, and the warmth gradually spread from his fingertips, bringing him some peace. “Yeah, thank you just now.”

He then remembered Wen Lan telling him not to say thank you before…

“It’s okay. Should I… take you to the hospital?” Wen Lan asked.

“No need. They’re just minor scrapes, nothing serious.” Lin Ting shook his head. “I could actually handle him, it’s just…”

“You still have some reservations.” Wen Lan saw the gruesome red marks on Lin Ting’s neck, remnants of Gu Jiang’s chokehold.

“Yeah, after all, he’s my mom’s current husband. I have to hold back a bit,” Lin Ting replied.

Wen Lan forcefully suppressed the anger stirred by the red marks on Lin Ting’s neck, averted his gaze, picked up the towel the manager had left, grabbed Lin Ting’s hand, and carefully wiped away the bloodstains.

“You’re quite good at biting, aren’t you? Why didn’t you bite him?”

“Disgusting,” Lin Ting curled his fingers instinctively.

Wen Lan’s hand paused, then continued wiping. “What happened? How did you guys get into a fight?”

Lin Ting didn’t know how to explain. After thinking for a long time, he could only say, “He wanted to… to me…” He trailed off, unsure how to finish.

Wen Lan keenly sensed the unspoken words hanging in the air and said softly, “He likes you.”

Lin Ting was taken aback.

He suddenly remembered that after Old Lin passed away, his mother hadn’t intended to ask him to live with her in S City. It was Gu Jiang who had prompted his mother to call him over.

“Disgusting,” Lin Ting thought of the hand that had been rubbing his waist and involuntarily repeated the word.

“Mm,” Wen Lan put down the towel. “He’s gay. No, he’s probably bisexual.”

“What?” Lin Ting asked.

“Bisexual… means he likes both men and women…”

“Not that. The sentence before,” Lin Ting interrupted.

“What?” Wen Lan smiled, realizing his mistake. A hint of sadness flickered in his eyes. “Mm, I agree with you, disgusting.”