In the past, Q i Yuan would have thought that Gong Yusheng’s provocation was truly clumsy; even his little cousin, who had just started elementary school, could see through it and scoff at it.

But thinking about what Lin Can had done for that ex-husband not long ago, Q i Yuan suddenly felt a rush of emotions.

Although Lin Can and Ran Yang had a bad relationship before their divorce, and the two of them had made quite a scene, the idea of a broken mirror being mended wasn’t unheard of. Misunderstandings could be cleared up, and discovering that the first love was still the best script—he had even seen several versions of it himself.

If there were no feelings involved, would someone like Lin Can, a scumbag, really lower himself for an ex-husband with whom he had already severed ties?

Q i Yuan completely failed to realize that he was seeking validation with an answer he already had. The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became, and he asked Gong Yusheng, “What do you mean?”

It was rare for the usually sharp Q i Yuan to be confused, and Gong Yusheng naturally wouldn’t let this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity slip by. “What else could it mean? I’ll just ask you one thing: Lin Can has been criticized online with hundreds of thousands of comments. Has he ever complained about it?”

Q i Yuan thought back carefully for a while and realized that Lin Can did seem to have a bit of a sweet-toothed attitude about it!

“He’s a scumbag, yet so self-sacrificing?” He caught on to Gong Yusheng’s unspoken words and hesitated.

“Even scumbags have feelings, even scumbags have love!” Gong Yusheng clapped his hands, speaking with great certainty, as if he had witnessed it somewhere, “True love is invincible, don’t you understand?”

With all this talk of love, Q i Yuan felt quite irritated.

So, he had become the villain in the script that was ruining the little couple, huh?!

Was a pure clown’s ending really waiting for him?!

Gong Yusheng didn’t say anything else, just kept pushing him to keep a close eye on Lin Can. “That face of his doesn’t look like someone who would stay put. There are plenty of people wanting to flirt with him. Don’t you remember what happened at Blue Shore?”

Recalling the vibrant scene at the swimming pool, along with the crowd of men and women who seemed eager to glue their eyes to Lin Can’s abs, Q i Yuan clenched his fists.

Damn it, that flirtatious Lin Can!

“He’s flirtatious, so you should assert your claim,” Gong Yusheng gently coaxed, “With your name as Q i Shao, I don’t believe anyone would dare to be blind.”

Leaning back in his chair, Q i Yuan tilted his head, his long fingers tapping absentmindedly on the table.

Assert my claim, huh?

• Q i Yuan’s apartment in Yu Jing Garden was a spacious 500-square-meter flat, and usually, apart from the housekeeper, no one else would come over.

This made Lin Can breathe a sigh of relief; if there were a bunch of people waiting on him, he would feel awkward instead.

After Xie Jun showed him his room, he was called away by a work phone call. Lin Can wandered around the room and found that even a random guest room here was several times more luxurious than the master bedroom he had at Ran Yang’s place, complete with an en-suite bathroom and even a private balcony.

He took a nap and was finally woken up by hunger. He had been through quite a lot since morning and hadn’t had time to eat.

Aside from the mint candy Wang Qian had given him, he hadn’t eaten anything else.

Glancing at the time, it was three in the afternoon, and there was no way Q i Yuan would be back by now.

He thought about finding a restaurant to grab a bite, but after wandering around downstairs, he realized that this upscale neighborhood didn’t have any small eateries.

The restaurants here were all lavishly decorated, far from something someone like Lin Can, with a bank balance of less than three digits, could afford.

After walking a few kilometers out of the neighborhood, he finally found a reasonably priced restaurant on a side road.

He ordered a bowl of rice with toppings for a little over ten bucks, and just as the food hadn’t even been served yet, he received a call from Ran Yang.

“Did Zhou Ge tell you to say that?” Ran Yang asked him.

“If Zhou Ge told me, then I’ll apologize on his behalf.”

After experiencing over ten hours of anxiety, Ran Yang’s voice now carried an unmistakable fatigue. Even when facing Lin Can, whom he least wanted to show weakness to, his tone was weak.

Lin Can didn’t notice that the boss’s daughter had been secretly taking pictures of him. He got up and walked outside, ensuring no one could hear their conversation before he spoke.

“No, it wasn’t him; it was my own decision to do this.”

“Not Zhou Ge?” Ran Yang was taken aback, not expecting to have misjudged Zhou Ge.

“Yeah.”

“Why?” Ran Yang couldn’t understand. He had always thought Lin Can was being threatened by Zhou Ge, but now Lin Can said it was voluntary, that no one had threatened him.

How could he believe that? This was Lin Can we were talking about…

Lin Can understood his confusion and said helplessly, “In the past, I wronged you. Just consider it my conscience awakening, wanting to help you one last time.”

This was quite a humorous statement, and Ran Yang instinctively wanted to scoff.

But thinking about what Lin Can had done that morning, he found it hard to smile.

Could it be that Lin Can had really turned over a new leaf?

“You said it has nothing to do with Zhou Ge, so why did my studio retweet your Weibo post as soon as you posted it?” Ran Yang asked again.

This was another reason he suspected Zhou Ge; if there hadn’t been prior communication, this clarification wouldn’t have been known to the public so quickly.

Hearing Ran Yang’s doubts, a domineering face appeared in Lin Can’s mind.

“Hello?” Not getting a response from Lin Can, Ran Yang called out again.

Lin Can rubbed his nose, “I asked someone for help…”

“Who?”

“You don’t need to worry about that; the matter has been resolved…”

“Why shouldn’t I worry?!” Ran Yang snapped, “This is my business after all! Can’t I even ask?!”

“That’s not what I meant…” Lin Can was at a loss for words, unable to gain the upper hand against someone as savvy as Ran Yang in the entertainment industry, “It’s just a bit inconvenient to say.”

Ran Yang almost reacted in a second, “What do you mean? Did you sell yourself?”

Lin Can felt embarrassed, “Don’t, don’t say it like that…”

“Lin Can!” Ran Yang shouted angrily, startling the staff passing by, who nearly dropped their water cups.

“Did you really sell yourself?! Just to help me solve this issue?!”

“Didn’t I already say you don’t need to worry about it?! You treated me so poorly during the marriage, and now you come back pretending to be a good person! Lin Can, are you out of your mind?!”

Lin Can felt helpless; the one who did bad things was the original Lin Can, what did that have to do with him?

He did this partly to ease his conscience.

And partly because he didn’t want to be threatened by Song Xiao.

He didn’t want to follow the original’s path, nor did he want to be resented by the protagonist, so he could only step in to help, even if it meant making a deal with Q i Yuan.

“All of this was my decision; you don’t need to worry about it anymore,” he could only say to Ran Yang, “Let’s keep in touch less in the future.”

Ran Yang was so angry that he hung up the phone directly.

What the hell did Lin Can mean by that?!

He was the one who had tried every means to get married, the one who had shamelessly drained him, and now he was the one who had divorced so decisively, and he was also the one making sacrifices to help him!

Ran Yang had never seen someone as fragmented as Lin Can!

Zhou Ge walked in carrying a bag of afternoon tea, first rewarding the public relations staff who had just relaxed after a long day, and then handed a coffee to Ran Yang.

Seeing his expression was off, even though they had just had an unpleasant encounter not long ago, he couldn’t help but show concern.

“What’s wrong?”

“Lin…” Ran Yang opened his mouth, but thinking about Zhou Ge’s bad impression of Lin Can, he shook his head, “It’s nothing, just a bit tired.”

Zhou Ge didn’t think much of it and patted his shoulder, “If you’re tired, just go home and rest for a few days; you don’t have much work anyway.”

Mentioning work made Ran Yang’s mood even worse.

After his marriage news broke, almost all his partners had immediately proposed to terminate their collaborations, and now he had to rest even if he didn’t want to.

Zhou Ge comforted him, “It’s okay, just consider it a vacation. This incident can also help you gain some popularity; what show can’t you be on later?”

Ran Yang forced a smile.

Zhou Ge felt heartbroken; he had seen how hard Ran Yang had worked to get to this point, and just when it seemed like he was finally breaking through, he was hit hard again.

Thank goodness Lin Can had a change of heart this time; otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

Hearing Zhou Ge mention Lin Can’s name, Ran Yang’s mood became even more complicated, and he remained in a daze until he got home.

Lin Can had already moved out, but there were still plenty of things left in the house. Ran Yang lay back on the sofa and suddenly remembered the night before their divorce when Lin Can had cooked a whole table of dishes, filling the entire first floor with the warm aroma of food.

That was Lin Can’s first time cooking.

Ran Yang closed his eyes, thinking about Lin Can’s “selling himself,” and he couldn’t calm his emotions no matter what.

• On the other side, Lin Can finished his rice bowl with a taste as bland as chewing wax.

After paying, he looked at his balance and saw it was only two digits, and he became alert again.

Someone with less than a hundred bucks didn’t deserve to be sentimental.

Following the same path back, he was stopped at the entrance of the neighborhood by the security guard, who didn’t recognize Lin Can and asked him to provide proof of residence.

Lin Can didn’t have Xie Jun’s number or Q i Yuan’s, so he could only awkwardly explain, “I live with Q i Yuan; can you help me contact him?”

The security guard was suspicious, “You live together, yet you don’t know each other’s phone numbers?”

This neighborhood was famous in Jing City for being a wealthy area, and there were always people trying to find ways to get in, dreaming of being the protagonists of idol dramas. The security guard was used to it and had developed a keen eye.

Just based on Lin Can’s words, he would refuse him entry.

Lin Can spoke until his mouth was dry but still couldn’t get in, so he could only helplessly find a place to sit and wait for Q i Yuan to come find him.

He waited until evening.

Lin Can was almost falling asleep when he suddenly felt someone run up to him, pushing him and calling him to get up.

“Someone is looking for you; hurry up and go!”

Lin Can looked up, and the person calling him was the same security guard who had previously refused to let him into the neighborhood.

He shook his head vigorously, and after regaining some clarity, he got up, “Who?”

“Who else could it be? Q i Shao!” The security guard spoke quickly, taking large strides, occasionally looking back to check if Lin Can was following, “I told you, you really know Q i Shao! Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

Lin Can was speechless; he had said it until he was hoarse, yet the guard hadn’t believed him.

The two of them passed through the security booth and arrived at a small office.

Q i Yuan was sitting on the sofa, his aura so low it was frightening, surrounded by a group of men in suits, looking like property managers and housekeepers.

Seeing Lin Can arrive, everyone secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

“Where have you been?” Q i Yuan’s face was dark, his sharp gaze sweeping over Lin Can, “You want to escape on your first day here?”

Lin Can looked innocent, “I just went out to eat.”

Q i Yuan’s dark aura momentarily froze, “And? You’ve been eating until now?”

“Then I couldn’t get back in,” Lin Can said honestly, “I don’t have an ID card, and the security guard thought I didn’t live here.”

Q i Yuan clicked his tongue heavily, making the head of security tremble in fear, “You didn’t think to look for me?”

“I didn’t have your number.”

Q i Yuan found it amusing, “I called you before; what’s the matter? Didn’t you save it?”

Lin Can silently shut his mouth.

Q i Yuan’s mood became even worse.

What did this mean?

Was he really not appealing to this scumbag Lin?