BTMDY Chapter 119

Hearing that, Lin Shen’s face went a little weird — part surprised, part ‘well, that figures.’

He actually had a lot he wanted to know about the extra twenty years in the other timeline, plenty of important questions. But somehow this one thing grabbed him the most — even more than why he died.

Lin Shen liked to hide his true thoughts from Lu Chengxuan, but he never cared about showing his cruder tastes in front of him. He didn’t hesitate — he went straight into picking this apart.

“When — and under what name?” he asked.

Lu Chengxuan knew once Lin Shen started the topic, he wasn’t leaving anytime soon. He cut the engine, dropped his eyes, and fiddled with the gauze and bandages on his right hand, as if buying a few seconds to sort his words. After a moment, he answered.

“At Lin Wangye’s first birthday party. You had someone send the room card to me.”

A look of surprise flashed across Lin Shen’s face. He thought for a beat, then couldn’t hold it — he laughed out loud, puzzled, and earnestly tried to work out what he’d been thinking back then. “Xiao Lin’s first birthday… Based on the time gap you gave, shouldn’t you have been in Northern Europe then?”

Saying that, Lin Shen let his mind run a bit longer and went on. “With my temper, whatever your aim was, if you were abroad I’d automatically assume you chose career over us — I’d be pissed. Back then our relationship must’ve been awful, and you still had the nerve to show up at my son’s birthday?”

Lu Chengxuan looked at him quietly, his voice flat. “I wasn’t always abroad. I came back sometimes. The timing of your party just happened to fall on the days I returned, and you sent me an invitation.”

When he finished, Lin Shen burst out laughing again. “So I really had bad intentions… Wait, no, I can’t figure it out. What was I trying to do — piss you off on purpose, or hook up with you? When you came to the room, what was I doing? I wouldn’t have been in the shower, naked waiting for you, would I? No, that’s impossible.”

“When I got there the door wasn’t closed, you were drinking. After you saw it was me you said the room card was sent to the wrong person — you were actually trying to invite some blond, blue-eyed hottie.”

Lin Shen couldn’t stop himself: “That was 100% on purpose to make you mad. Who the heck did I get to deliver your room card?”

Lu Chengxuan was quiet for a moment, expressionless. “Lin Wangye,” he said.

Lin Shen laughed so hard his stomach hurt. “No way… that kid was only one year old then, couldn’t even walk steady — how could he deliver the room card to the right person?”

Lu Chengxuan didn’t say anything else; he sat there quietly, waiting for Lin Shen to catch his breath.

Bent over and laughing for a long while, Lin Shen finally calmed down. He wiped the few tears at the corners of his eyes and sighed, “I don’t even need to guess — afterwards I’d definitely lose it and kick you out without mercy.”

“I woke up, and you were already gone,” Lu Chengxuan said.

Lin Shen froze for a moment, bLin Shenking at him with a look of utter confusion on his face. “Wait… I could still walk? So, uh… who did what to whom?”

Clearly, Lu Chengxuan’s upbringing wouldn’t let him answer something so bluntly. He paused, chose his words carefully, and said softly, “It wasn’t… that intense. You weren’t fully ready, and I didn’t want to hurt you.”

Even with the tactful phrasing, Lin Shen had already been through something similar before. As soon as the words hit, his mind immediately filled with all kinds of related images. His breathing faltered slightly, and he felt… off.

He tried to push away those lingering, intimate images, but he failed.

Originally, he had been the one to dig for details, but now Lin Shen was the first to falter. He looked away from Lu Chengxuan and forced a stiff change of topic. “Did… it happen again after that?”

“No,” Lu Chengxuan said.

No matter why Lin Shen had tried to divert the conversation, Lu Chengxuan didn’t press. He followed Lin Shen’s lead, steering away from the previous topic.

“But after that, I started doubting Lin Wangye’s background. I looked into it carefully — and the results were exactly what I expected.”

Even now, Lin Shen felt a little dazed by the truth. Especially that Lin Wangye really was his own son.

He’d seen children before, knew how fragile a baby in swaddling was. And yet, this was a man who hadn’t even been able to keep a goldfish or rabbit alive growing up — and somehow, he’d raised a human child.

Lin Shen leaned back in his seat for a long time, then suddenly asked, “Lu Chengxuan… am I a good dad?”

“That’s a question you should ask Lin Wangye,” Lu Chengxuan said. “I can’t answer for him, but I think you are. You protected him well, and he had a happy childhood.”

Lin Shen let out a slow breath, a wave of relief washing over him.

“That’s good,” he said. But his thoughts quickly wandered elsewhere, and suddenly he realized something didn’t add up. “So… him getting involved with Xu Suinian so quickly — is that related to the other timeline? Wait… Xu Suinian is about my age. When he was twenty, Lin Wangye had just been born!”

Lu Chengxuan fell silent.

After a mental struggle, he knew he couldn’t hide the truth forever. He decided honesty was worth a small betrayal of little Lin Shen. “You and Shi Yuan — that is, Xu Suinian — were very good friends in that timeline. Lin Wangye met him when he was very young. He cared for Lin Wangye a lot, and that necklace Lin Wangye treasures so much… he gave it to him.”

Lin Shen’s eyes went wide, fists clenching hard. “No way… don’t scare me! Xu Suinian went nuts! He’s practically a generation older than my son, and he… hooked up with him?! I’m gonna go upstairs and break his legs!”

He spun toward the car door, but Lu Chengxuan quickly locked it in time.

“Don’t act on impulse,” Lu Chengxuan said. “From what I know, Shi Yuan never married, but he also never had a romantic relationship with Lin Wangye. He was just caring for him as an elder.”

Lin Shen’s face went almost green. “Why the hell! Xu Suinian knows who Lin Wangye is — so why is he throwing himself at the kid?! What the hell kind of weird fetish does he have?!”

“Shi Yuan really did care for Lin Wangye,” Lu Chengxuan said. “It seems Lin Wangye was the one who developed feelings beyond family affection. Shi Yuan was initially entrusted by you to take care of the child. Perhaps for moral or ethical reasons, he didn’t reciprocate Lin Wangye’s feelings.”

Lin Shen’s vision darkened, almost passing out. He leaned back in his seat and furiously pinched the spot between his nose and upper lip.

“Good thing I died early in my last life…” he muttered.

“Don’t say that,” Lu Chengxuan said, suddenly frowning — a rare show of emotion. “I don’t like hearing it either.”

Lin Shen felt his chest drop like a stone. It was as if Lu Chengxuan had flipped some precise switch inside him, unleashing a scorching torrent of emotions, a resonance deep within his soul.

He knew what losing a loved one felt like, so he could empathize with Lin Wangye. But even now, he couldn’t imagine what his death had done to Lu Chengxuan.

From the moment the truth had been revealed, Lu Chengxuan had shown no signs of pain — but that didn’t mean he hadn’t suffered.

If the roles were reversed, Lin Shen couldn’t even begin to accept losing someone like that, let alone figure out how to deal with it. Just imagining it was enough to tear his heart apart. And Lu Chengxuan had lived through it firsthand.

Lin Shen suddenly opened his eyes, his throat moving slightly, and lowered his head to speak softly.

“This time… let’s live properly.”

Lu Chengxuan gave a quiet “Mm,” and didn’t say anything else.

He didn’t know if Lin Shen had more questions, so he sat quietly for a moment. Once he was sure Lin Shen wasn’t about to ask anything else, he asked, “Shall we go?”

To protect Lin Shen and Lin Wangye as much as possible, Lu Chengxuan had long been used to playing the driver. Lin Shen, in turn, was used to the passenger seat.

But now Lin Shen glanced at the gauze wrapped around Lu Chengxuan’s hand, realizing a bit late, and tilted his chin toward the back seat. “Go sit back there. I’ll drive.”

Lu Chengxuan’s main injuries were on his arm. The wounds on his hand weren’t too severe, but driving would still be somewhat affected.

They had come in Lin Shen’s car anyway. Over time, habit had quietly returned him to the seat he was most familiar with.

Hearing Lin Shen’s words, Lu Chengxuan didn’t overthink it. He opened the door and moved to the back seat.

Lin Shen got out of the passenger side but didn’t go around to the driver’s seat. Instead, he turned, opened the rear door, and climbed in.

Hospitals are places people move through quickly; few notice the surroundings. Underground parking lots aren’t usually fancy, less so than shopping malls, with dimmer lighting.

The sedan’s limited space made it inconvenient to shuttle things back and forth for Lin Wangye, who was staying in the hospital. So Lu Chengxuan had switched to a bigger, more spacious G-Class.

This car’s standout features were high performance, high fuel consumption, and a high chassis.

With the same one-way tint on the windows, it was much harder for someone outside to see inside compared to other cars.

Because the car was large and took up extra space, Lu Chengxuan had deliberately parked it in the farthest corner of the underground garage so as not to inconvenience anyone.

It was the farthest spot from the hospital elevators — a hassle for anyone coming to see a doctor or visit a patient — so hardly anyone came this way, and there were few cars nearby.

With a ‘bang’, the rear door shut. As Lin Shen turned, he shrugged off his coat. Before Lu Chengxuan could react, Lin Shen twisted around and straddled him.

The car went quiet, the air turning thick and heavy.

That position shrank the distance between them to nothing. Their eyes inevitably locked, pulled toward each other, and the desire between them flared back to life like sparks reigniting from ashes.

Kneeling like that gave Lin Shen a higher angle. He lowered his eyes, hovering close enough to kiss but not quite, his hand slowly lifting to Lu Chengxuan’s ear. His fingers pinched lightly at the edge of it, rubbing in small strokes as he stared down at him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the tips of Lu Chengxuan’s ears turning red.

Lin Shen’s brows quirked as he leaned down and whispered, “So you’ve got two sides to you.”

Lu Chengxuan stayed still, feeLin Sheng the warm breath fanning against his ear, his throat bobbing faintly. In a deeper voice, he couldn’t help warning, “Lin Shen… there’s nothing in the car.”

“According to what you just said, there wasn’t anything at Xiao Lin’s first birthday either.”

Lin Shen’s eyes narrowed slightly, a subtle curve at his lips. His fingertip traced down from Lu Chengxuan’s lips to his throat, then, without effort, flicked open the first button of his neatly fastened shirt.

“Show me, then. How exactly did you manage to make it feel good even when I wasn’t ready?”

*

Lin Wangye: Turns out I was just the prop for you two in both lifetimes…

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