Chapter 5: I’m Now a Gold Digger

“Wait, who the hell are you?”

Before Gu Jiu'an could even speak, Li Liang was the first one who couldn’t sit still.

He quickly crawled out from under the bed, grabbed a damp rag covered in dust, and stood in front of everyone, revealing his tall, sturdy, burly build.

It looked as if, as long as he wanted to, that rag could absolutely be transferred onto Yu Lin’s face in an instant.

“Liangzi, stay out of it.”

Gu Jiu'an raised his hand and pressed down on Li Liang’s shoulder, which was clearly itching to move. His cold expression remained unchanged, and his tone was especially calm.

“But he called you…”

“It’s fine.”

Being called a bastard really wasn’t a big deal. He was used to it, and he also knew he couldn’t afford to offend Yu Lin.

He lowered his eyes and looked at the gloomy man in the wheelchair. “Sorry, but as far as I know, you two are no longer in a romantic relationship.”

“Get lost.”

Yu Lin sneered. He didn’t spare him a second glance. Holding onto a single crutch, he stood up and grabbed Lin Jiangye, who had been secretly retreating.

“…Don’t touch me.” For some reason, Lin Jiangye was very resistant to Yu Lin coming near him. He wanted to leave, but Yu Lin gripped him even tighter, and a dull pain spread through his arm.

“Do you think you have the right to speak here? Come here.”

So rude.

As someone bound by a contract, Lin Jiangye very morally tried to avoid him. Unfortunately, he wasn’t strong enough. Weakly following the force pulling him, he fell onto Yu Lin’s body.

With the added inertia, the two of them fell back into the wheelchair together. Lin Jiangye lightly pursed his lips and quietly shifted his body, “coincidentally” pressing down hard on Yu Lin’s injured leg that was in a cast.

Yu Lin hissed softly from the pain, causing the bodyguards standing on both sides to look restless. Lin Jiangye, however, pretended not to notice and pressed all of his weight down on him.

Because Chen Ming, who was standing outside the dormitory, calmly pushed up his glasses and gave him a reassuring look.

As long as he called out, Uncle Chen could pack up all three people in front of him and take them away.

Of course, before that, Lin Jiangye wanted to make everything clear.

“Wangxiao and I are together now. You shouldn’t be pulling and grabbing me.” He stared at Yu Lin’s faintly reddened eyes and said softly, “This is a school, not a place for you to throw your young master tantrums.”

Yu Lin froze. The bloodshot veins in his eyes were particularly distinct. “What did you say?”

For a moment, he couldn’t react.

This was impossible. Lin Jiangye would never speak to him like this.

“I don’t like you anymore. I wish you and Lin Jingyao a long and happy life together.” Lin Jiangye was completely serious as he earnestly clarified Yu Wangxiao’s reputation. “Stop maliciously speculating about your elder. He didn’t bully me, and he didn’t force me. Understand?”

“I don’t understand!”

Yu Lin blurted out. He gripped Lin Jiangye’s wrist tightly, trying to distinguish the color of lies in his eyes.

But Lin Jiangye merely looked at him calmly, with a hint of distress.

Those round eyes that often made him feel irritated should have always been wet and uneasy, dyed with a thick inky color, like a fragile and beautiful pet wagging its tail and begging for pity… but now, Yu Lin could see nothing.

There was only an empty, condescending gaze. Strange and distant.

All the familiar details had disappeared. It was as if overnight, this little plaything he had held in his palm had been completely replaced by some terrifying foreign creature.

Yu Lin’s Adam’s apple moved slightly. He stared at him blankly, as if a little lost. “Tuantuan, when did you become so light…”

Lin Jiangye lowered his gaze to the top of his head and replied lightly, “Because I had no food to eat. Mom and Dad cut off my living expenses. They said I seduced you, stole my younger brother’s man, and had no shame.

“Half of the money I saved was taken away by my adoptive father. I asked you for help before. You scolded me for biting the hand that fed me, for funding a gambler, for betraying my parents’ good intentions, and said it was no wonder Mom and Dad didn’t love me.”

Yu Lin seemed to have never heard such a blunt complaint before. He stared in shock and loosened his grip. His formerly self-righteous posture gradually faded, and instead, he became at a loss.

Lin Jiangye quickly stood up, retreated a few steps, and kept a safe distance from this emotionally unstable man.

He couldn’t see the exact cause of Yu Lin’s death. The image above his head was like an old, worn-out television. The proportions of the people were blurry and distorted, filled with illogical, fragmented images, and the location kept changing at every moment.

It was a little strange. Perhaps it was because his divine power was insufficient, but it was more likely due to the special nature of the identity of the “world protagonist.”

This especially troublesome guess caused faint irritation to spread through Lin Jiangye’s heart.

Before he nursed his body back to health, he didn’t want to have too much contact with Yu Lin. He immediately began driving him away. “Leave. We really have broken up.”

Yu Lin tilted his head slightly, avoiding the topic, and also avoiding Lin Jiangye’s overly impatient gaze.

He was still immersed in his own emotions, as if he had been betrayed by his lover. “I didn’t know the Lin family deliberately cut off your money, Tuantuan. Why didn’t you use my card? Have you never trusted me?”

Lin Jiangye sighed and couldn’t help suspecting that the protagonist gong had memory problems.

“Your card—I only used it once, to buy medicine for my adoptive mother.” He rubbed his throbbing temples. “At the time, we were arguing. You called me and said I wanted to take the opportunity to occupy a place in my adoptive mother’s heart, to steal Lin Jingyao’s chance of receiving maternal love, and that my intentions were sinister.”

“…Did I? I don’t really remember.”

Yu Lin was silent for a long time before murmuring hoarsely in disbelief.

But these were clearly all the original owner’s real experiences. Lin Jiangye had only skimmed through the plot, yet because it had been too incomprehensible, he remembered it all clearly.

The usual Yu Lin was actually fairly gentle toward the original owner and didn’t frequently say hurtful things.

But as soon as conflict arose and they started arguing, he would become like a completely different person, full of hostility and especially careless with his words. He especially liked bringing up Lin Jingyao and using him as an excuse to accuse the original owner.

Every word was cold contempt from someone high above, stabbing right into another person’s sore spots.

At that time, the matter of being a substitute had not yet been exposed. Remembering how good Yu Lin usually was to him, the original owner had accepted all the hurt he suffered during their arguments. He forcefully endured his grievances until he ended up developing psychological problems.

Now, it seemed Yu Lin did indeed have some feelings for the original owner. When he heard about the grievances the original owner had suffered, even his gaze trembled.

As long as they opened their mouths and talked, they probably had a chance to communicate properly.

But unfortunately, Lin Jiangye would absolutely never be willing to do such a bitter task that would leave himself covered in wounds.

“Whether you remember or not, we’re already over. From now on, we’re uncle and nephew.” His attitude was extremely resolute.

“…I’m sorry. I was wrong before. When I’m angry, I’ve always spoken this harshly. Just treat it as my foul mouth letting out a fart, okay?”

Lin Jiangye seriously stiffened his face. “No. Hurry up and leave. I don’t want to see you.”

The redness in Yu Lin’s eyes deepened, and he became somewhat anxious. “Tuantuan, listen to me. Don’t be deceived by my little uncle. Yu Wangxiao really is a lunatic. You don’t understand how dangerous he is! I really know I was wrong. Don’t act recklessly.”

The high and mighty eldest young master of the Yu family was actually lowering himself in front of everyone in the dormitory, apologizing repeatedly… yet in the past, in front of the original owner, he had refused to soften no matter what.

The contrast was somewhat ironic, but Lin Jiangye truly had no patience to continue.

He didn’t care at all about the emotional value brought by romance. He urgently needed real, tangible benefits and resources to ensure his safety after gaining a new life.

Yu Lin couldn’t give him those things.

After all, as long as Yu Wangxiao didn’t die, Yu Lin was merely an “heir” in an awkward position.

Recalling the romance movie he had studied last night, Lin Jiangye rejected him with even more confidence. Imitating the villain, he solemnly emphasized, “Yu Lin, don’t be so love-brained. It’s honestly really pathetic.

“Also, I’m a gold digger now. Wangxiao is richer than you. I only want to dig money out of him. You no longer have any value to use. Do you understand?”

Yu Lin listened in a daze. His face turned a few shades paler. He had never expected Lin Jiangye to say something like this.

“Pfft.”

And the moment the words fell, Li Liang couldn’t hold back and laughed. Then Jin Long swiftly elbowed him in the waist, making him quickly cover his mouth and stay silent.

The tense atmosphere lingering in the dormitory suddenly became subtle and awkward.

That mocking laugh finally made Yu Lin wake up as if from a dream.

If this went on, there would be no dignified way to end things. This wasn’t a suitable place for a private conversation.

He raised his eyes and swept a gloomy glance around the room. His gaze only paused briefly on Gu Jiu'an’s indifferent face. He didn’t put the remaining two spectators in his eyes at all.

Lin Jiangye refused to leave with him, and in truth, there was nothing he could do. No matter how capable his bodyguards were, they still had to consider Yu Wangxiao’s face.

No one dared forcibly take Lin Jiangye away in front of Chen Ming.

At the end of the day, even the wild grass in Yu Wangxiao’s house had more say than he did.

Yu Lin let out a self-mocking chuckle and, for some inexplicable reason, calmed down.

He no longer continued pestering him. Before leaving, he merely lowered his eyes and added coldly, “Lin Jiangye, you’re angry right now. You just want to see me suffer. That’s reasonable. But no matter how dissatisfied you are with me, you shouldn’t deliberately bully Xiao Yao, much less join hands with Yu Wangxiao just to anger me.

“Don’t see my little uncle again. Don’t force yourself onto a dead end… Those cards are my compensation to you. I won’t check the statements, and I won’t scold you. Use them however you want.”

After saying his piece, the injured-legged protagonist gong left in his wheelchair, surrounded by bodyguards, leaving Lin Jiangye to let out a relieved breath while also being utterly confused.

—When had he bullied Lin Jingyao?

He didn’t even have Lin Jingyao’s contact information.

Ever since this greatly wronged fake young master had set off to return to the country, neither he nor the original owner had any intention of stepping into the Lin family’s door, nor had they paid attention to any messages from the family.

He had already given way to this extent, yet Yu Lin still wasn’t satisfied. What else did he want him to do?

And… why was being together with Yu Wangxiao equivalent to “forcing himself onto a dead end”?

There had to be a misunderstanding here, and also a secret. Yu Wangxiao was still busy with work, so he had to find Lin Jingyao first and test things out.

He opened the chat with his eldest brother, Lin Yu. Large chunks of inexplicably furious scolding and questioning came surging in, almost freezing his phone again.

Lin Jiangye calmly ignored all the messages. Slowly, he began typing, doing his best to imitate the way young humans spoke.

[Ge, I want Lin Jingyao’s WeChat. Send it to me, thanks.]

[Are you done yet? You actually still want to use an alt account to curse him out! Don’t go too far, Lin Jiangye. Do you really think I don’t know how vicious you are?!]