Assistant Lin Has Something To SayChapter 29

At nine o’clock in the evening, Wanzhu’s office lights were still brightly lit.

As the year-end approached, businesses across the board were now entering their busiest time of the year, and Wanzhu was no exception. Lin Hui had been working overtime at the company for the past few days, a seemingly never-ending pile of work on his hands. After spending all day reading reports, he was starting to feel dizzy and fatigued. There didn’t seem to be much point in continuing, so he decided to stand up and stretch a bit, take a break. When Zhao Xiaoxiao entered the room, she saw Lin Hui standing before the floor-to-ceiling window with his arms crossed, lost in thought. GJhmsS

Zhao Xiaoxiao put down the files in her hands and said, smiling, “Assistant Lin, you look like President He.”

The unexpected mention made Lin Hui’s heart tremble for a moment. He turned his head and asked, “What?”

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“It’s just the way you’re standing in front of the window and looking outside that really reminds me of President He. He usually stands like that too.”

Perhaps it was just the exhaustion, but it took Lin Hui several seconds before he understood what Zhao Xiaoxiao was saying. Zhao Xiaoxiao actually wasn’t the first to tell him that he and He Jianshan sometimes looked alike. Lin Hui thought, “If you were to stand behind someone you admired day after day, year after year, until you could visualize their every move and expression even with your eyes closed, you would start to look like them too.” caot w

It was actually kind of amusing. Even before he liked He Jianshan, he was already subconsciously imitating him or following him. If He Jianshan wore a black shirt, he’d find himself wanting to buy dark-colored shirts as well. If He Jianshan had a camel overcoat, he wouldn’t be able to help but choose camel when coat shopping. He even went so far as to copy all the little gestures He Jianshan would use during meetings. Once, while he was having dinner with Luo Ting, he couldn’t help but lightly tap his fingers against the table. It took quite a while for him to come back to his senses and realize what it was he was doing.

At the time, he was too young to realize that it was a sign of love beginning. He just found it kind of strange that he’d suddenly become this much of a copycat out of nowhere. He even joked about it with Luo Ting, saying, “Wanzhu really has an effect on people.”

Later, he realized that it wasn’t Wanzhu that was influencing him but rather He Jianshan, who had already captured his heart a long time ago.

Nighttime always seemed to stir up the deepest desires within a person like the flip of a switch. From the moment Zhao Xiaoxiao mentioned “President He”, Lin Hui found himself inundated with thoughts of He Jianshan. During this business trip, Lin Hui and He Jianshan had basically ceased all contact. Aside from the formal email exchanges reporting their work progress, they hadn’t exchanged a single text or call in a whole week. To be honest, compared to their usual frequency of communication, this was a little overly deliberate. The two almost seemed to be competing to see who could ignore the other the longest. When his thoughts reached this point, Lin Hui couldn’t help but lower his head and look at his wrist. Not too long ago, a butterfly had landed here. He Jianshan had tied it himself. Lin Hui didn’t know what it meant, whether it was some kind of secret hint or just a casual joke. Regardless, he found himself guessing endlessly, to the point that he couldn’t fall asleep.

He Jianshan just had this ability, the ability to stir him up and leave his heart a mess.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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It all left Lin Hui both captivated and devastated.

⁂ NuQPaL

Ninghai.

In the hotel suite, He Jianshan stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the night view. The weather in Ninghai had been poor for the past couple of days. The night sky was devoid of the moon and stars. Instead, it was weighed down by heavy clouds that seemed like they would fall right out of the sky at any moment.

He Jianshan mentally went over the past few years between him and Lin Hui, from their intimate encounter a week ago to their years of working together and private conversations to their very first meeting. After thinking it all over, he realized that Lin Hui had indeed been the only one who was able to stand firmly by his side all these years.

It seemed he’d been different from the very beginning. After all, he had never been “afraid” of him. e9 UR6

It was very strange. Because of his identity, status, or various other reasons, He Jianshan had always felt a sense of awe from the other employees in the company, but not Lin Hui. Of course, Lin Hui might’ve also been nervous when he first started working for him, but that was because they were still unfamiliar with each other and he still hadn’t gotten a hang of all the work yet. He Jianshan didn’t know when it happened exactly, but, eventually, their relationship transitioned into what it would later become—

They were boss and employee, but not quite. They were friends, but not in the traditional sense.

He Jianshan clicked into WeChat and saw his own profile picture. It was the city skyline at dusk, the gray and cold buildings shedding the solemnity of winter and donning a soft golden coat. Lin Hui had taken this photo. That day, he stood in the hotel suite, smiling, and said, “President He, let me use your phone for a bit.” Behind him, the sunset was like melted gold, spreading into a golden river. He Jianshan paused what he was doing and watched Lin Hui pick up his phone. The afterglow of the sunset fell upon him like a thin layer of mist, making a soft, ticklish feeling rise up in his heart.

Lin Hui captured the view before him with the cell phone. He Jianshan also captured the view before him. N7zVt0

Later, He Jianshan changed his profile picture to this photo. He still remembered how surprised Lin Hui was when he saw it. However, Lin Hui then nodded as if it were only natural and said, “You’ve always liked these.” He didn’t know how Lin Hui defined “like” or what Lin Hui thought “these” were. Compared to Lin Hui, He Jianshan did enjoy photographing buildings. They were solid, orderly, and cold. Most of the time, however, they would come alive thanks to sunlight and rain, flowers on eaves and cats in corners. Sometimes, all it took was a well-placed shadow or a splash of color.

Just like people, they too were constantly seeking out and waiting for the most suitable companion.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Lin Hui was different. He seemed to like everything. Whenever they were out on inspection, he’d often take photos along the way. Once, when they visited a park, Lin Hui took a photo of a blue manhole cover on the road. He said that he’d never seen a blue one and found it interesting. He Jianshan didn’t see what was so interesting about it, but, since Lin Hui said so, there must’ve been something interesting about it in his eyes.

When his thoughts reached this point, he suddenly felt curious. What did he look like in Lin Hui’s eyes? dwkhRf

He Jianshan shifted his gaze to Lin Hui’s WeChat. He clicked into the chat page and looked at it for a bit before locking his phone again. He and Lin Hui hadn’t contacted each other for a week. He was deliberately refrained from reaching out to him. This wasn’t some strategy or anything like that, but rather he felt they both needed some time apart to calm down.

To be honest, love wasn’t his area of ​​expertise. There wasn’t a team of professionals helping him analyze and discuss things like there was for his work. In this tangled relationship between the two of them, the only thing he could be sure of was that he liked Lin Hui, possibly for much longer than he even knew. He Jianshan was rather dumbfounded himself. He and Lin Hui were like the sky in front of him, the thick clouds blocking out a lot of things. He overlooked so much. Now, he couldn’t even figure out Lin Hui’s intentions. However, He Jianshan was never one to shy away. Once he was sure of what he wanted, he would exhaust all means to obtain it. Everything in this world was like a window with its curtains drawn. If you don’t open it, you’ll never see the moonlight.

Love was the same.

When Lin Hui asked that they pretend nothing had happened, He Jianshan realized that he had made a mistake. He had eagerly and unilaterally wanted to show his sincerity, but he hadn’t stopped to consider if Lin Hui was even on the same page as him. He couldn’t express just how excited he’d been rushing home only to find it empty, how nervous he’d been when the other came by his office two days later. He had even thought about how to approach the conversation, but Lin Hui’s desire to return to how things were left him feeling deflated. It was like popping a balloon with a needle, but, instead of ribbons and confetti, it was filled with the frost of midnight snow. FtrJvE

At that moment, He Jianshan’s heart was filled with bitterness and frustration.

He suddenly realized that, for Lin Hui, that night was a mistake and he was trying to rectify it.

For a few seconds, He Jianshan wanted to say, “No, I can’t do that, I don’t agree.” However, when he saw the confusion and helplessness in Lin Hui’s eyes, his heart softened again.

Lin Hui was uneasy. It was palpable. LN5ekJ

He Jianshan felt that this was his fault. Feng Ying was absolutely disgusting, that much was true, but hadn’t he also taken advantage of the situation for himself? He and Lin Hui were supposed to be the most well suited work partners, but, in the end, he dragged him across that boundary when he wasn’t even entirely sober, forcibly altering their relationship. Based on his understanding of Lin Hui, “going back to how things were” was probably the most prudent and seemly solution he could come up with. He should be grateful that his reckless thoughts from that morning were nipped in the bud. Love wasn’t the same as work. It was like a strict train schedule. Arriving at the station ahead of time was of no help to a relationship that had not yet matured to that stage. He shouldn’t have disregarded logic just because of his eagerness and tried to catalyze feelings from a single accident. Lin Hui deserved a complete and sincere love—rich, enduring, passionate, like soft moonlight and blooming roses.

This was what he wanted to give him.

He would pursue Lin Hui in earnest. Lin Hui didn’t need to respond, let alone test how he felt about two men being together. For him, gender, age, family background, and all the worldly concerns would never be a problem.

He only needed to concern himself with his heart. kYOdXU

Whether he was willing to extend his true feelings.

He Jianshan slowly closed his eyes. In this project that was “love”, he chose to take a step back. This time, he would stand behind Lin Hui, hand over the reins of the progress bar to him—

Play, pause, fast forward, rewind.

In this relationship, Lin Hui would be the only one in control. rBdO6

The Author Has Something To Say:

Advance by retreating.

Chrysanthemum Garden.