The Vicious Cannon Fodder Despised by Everyone Really Doesn't Want to Go Viral - Chapter 44

It was too close.

Lin Zhiyu felt the blood in his entire body rush to his head in an instant. He remained stiff, feeling as though the slightest movement would cause him to brush against Mu Sui’s nose or feel his scorching breath.

His eyes darted around until, for some reason, he finally turned his head slowly to look at Mu Sui, crashing straight into his gaze. It was narrow, playful, and carried a clear, bright light.

The vast living room suddenly seemed to collapse inward. The surrounding air felt as if it had been vacuumed away, making breathing feel like a luxury. He tried his best to restrain his increasingly heavy and rapid breaths, but everything only felt more suffocating. Even Mu Sui’s playful voice seemed to have a barb at the end, running wild against the curve of his ear.

Lin Zhiyu instinctively tried to back away to escape Mu Sui’s hand, but the soft sofa caused him to lose his balance. His waist bumped hard against the armrest of the wheelchair.

Lin Zhiyu let out a pained hiss. Mu Sui’s hand, however, slid unhurriedly past the back of his head. The lingering warmth of his fingertips left a tingling, numbing sensation on his skin. Then, Mu Sui supported his elbow to help him stand steady. “Be careful.”

With one leg planted firmly on the floor, Lin Zhiyu finally balanced himself. His mind was a mess and his heart was thumping irregularly, as if being pulled by an uncontrollable force.

Like a bouncy ball, it hit the ground hard only to snap back up instantly. At such a close distance, Lin Zhiyu feared that both Mu Sui and Zhou Ming could clearly hear his abnormal heart rate. He hurriedly shook off these wild thoughts, rubbed his neck to feign composure, and quickly looked away from Mu Sui. Because of this, he failed to see Mu Sui’s fingers curl slightly in a trace of regret.

“This is not a matter of money,” Lin Zhiyu grumbled, avoiding Mu Sui’s eyes and forcing a casual smile. “It is a matter of whether I am crazy or the world is crazy. For it to be this expensive, for just a few photos.”

He was both annoyed and helpless.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Ming said unconsciously, “This is nothing. The photos of Mr. Lin on the red carpet are even more expensive than these.”

Lin Zhiyu looked at him with a face full of confusion. However, Zhou Ming blinked as if startled and showed no intention of continuing.

“Handle the matter well,” Mu Sui said neutrally. “You may go back now.”

Zhou Ming said, “Alright,” and politely bid farewell to Lin Zhiyu. He then handed the tablet to Mu Sui and turned to leave.

Lin Zhiyu stared at Zhou Ming’s retreating back and thought about it repeatedly, but he could not recall how this involved his red carpet photos. He decided not to dwell on it.

Instead, Mu Sui watched him sit cross-legged on the sofa, his eyes wandering everywhere except toward him. His head was lowered like a quail, and his lips moved several times as if he were counting down the seconds until Mu Sui left. Mu Sui found it somewhat amusing and deliberately chose not to grant Lin Zhiyu’s wish. He scrolled through the photos on the tablet and asked with feigned calmness, “Did you go to dinner with Jiang Yubai tonight?”

The agreement did not include a clause about reporting itineraries to each other, so Lin Zhiyu did not have to answer. However, he instinctively opened his mouth and whispered, “He said Mom wanted to see me, so we had a meal together.”

Upon hearing this, Mu Sui’s face showed no other emotion, and he did not respond immediately.

In the brief silence, Lin Zhiyu peeked at him. He saw that the photo on the tablet was the one where Jiang Yubai was handing him a coat at the restaurant entrance. Mu Sui’s finger paused on the cold screen.

What is he looking at? Lin Zhiyu could not stop wondering.

His heart rate accelerated again. The thick atmosphere in the air felt like it could explode at any moment. He felt that Mu Sui’s gaze was not scrutinizing the photo but was falling directly on him, making him feel uncomfortable.

Actually, he should wonder if Mu Sui was dissatisfied because he was with Jiang Yubai. Although the original novel did not clearly describe when Mu Sui developed feelings for Jiang Yubai, Lin Zhiyu instinctively felt that was not the case here. But he could not explain why. Was it a subconscious belief that Mu Sui would not get angry over Jiang Yubai? Or that he would not get angry at him because of Jiang Yubai? Lin Zhiyu’s muddled head could not straighten out a single thought.

After a long while, Mu Sui set the tablet down. The images scrolled by, and the figure of Xu Cheng secretly wiping away tears behind them appeared on the screen.

“It seems they have forgiven you,” Mu Sui said.

“Yes,” Lin Zhiyu paused. “Mom has forgiven me, but Dad has not.”

Mu Sui said, “You and Jiang Yubai also get along quite well.”

“I suppose so. Now the whole internet knows about our century reconciliation,” Lin Zhiyu murmured.

“More than that.” Mu Sui let out a light laugh and nodded, staring straight at his face. His eyes held a darkness that Lin Zhiyu could not understand, steady as if he were admiring a rare work of art.

Whether it was an illusion caused by the reflection of the floor lamp, Lin Zhiyu found that a soft light seemed to ripple in Mu Sui’s eyes. Upon making eye contact, a ticklish feeling like a spring breeze blew through his heart, making him fall in involuntarily. He did not understand what Mu Sui was looking at, nor did he dare to speak.

Finally, Mu Sui’s lips met and parted as he said lightly, “I should add another clause to the agreement.”

Lin Zhiyu looked at him in confusion. “What?”

Mu Sui glanced at him and then withdrew his gaze. “I am regretting it.”

Lin Zhiyu had no idea what he was regretting. He was completely baffled by these two cryptic sentences, and his previous chaotic thoughts were tossed aside. However, Mu Sui showed no intention of continuing the conversation. He operated his wheelchair and returned to his bedroom, leaving Lin Zhiyu in a daze.

Lin Zhiyu sat in the living room for a long time before slowly moving back to his own room. Even as he turned on the hot water in the bathroom, he was still pondering the meaning of Mu Sui’s words. He surely could not mean that because the Lin family was no longer angry, he felt he should not have to pay for the photos? Did he want to add a clause saying that in addition to the 300,000 per month, extra expenses shall be borne by Lin Zhiyu personally?

However, on second thought, he felt Mu Sui could not be such a stingy person.

Lin Zhiyu was usually very open-minded. If he could not figure something out, he would stop thinking about it to avoid self-inflicted trouble. Yet, he was tormented by this sentence, tossing and turning in bed all night. The result was that on the way to the company the next day, he yawned five or six times every minute.

“Brother Lin, did you stay up all night practicing?” Chen Chen had just placed the coffee he bought downstairs on the table when he saw Lin Zhiyu urgently tear open the bag, take out the coffee, and jab the straw in to drink over half the cup.

“How is that possible?” Lin Zhiyu yawned again, looking listless as he still wondered what Mu Sui regretted. He could not possibly regret marrying him. If that were the case, they could just get a divorce now. But then there would be no money, which Lin Zhiyu felt was a bit of a pity.

He curled his lip and said earnestly to Chen Chen, “From now on, my lifelong enemies are all people who speak in riddles.”

Chen Chen let out an “ah,” and after a few seconds, he said innocently, “But Brother Lin, you seem a lot like a riddle speaker right now too.”

Lin Zhiyu was so annoyed he wanted to hit him.

Just as they were talking, the sound of the drums in the practice room finally stopped. The door was kicked open with a bang, and Mu Yunji stood at the doorway looking impatient.

“I know he is coming, but I am practicing. What is wrong with making him wait a bit?”

He held his head with one hand, casually running his fingers through his already messy hair, leaning half his body against the doorframe. In the cold December weather, he wore only a black sleeveless top, with a red plaid shirt tied around his waist and an exaggerated metal chain hanging from his neck. The muscles on his arms were lean and beautiful, especially the upper arms, which were glistening with sweat and glowing like honey under the hallway lights.

Lin Zhiyu’s first reaction was that it was a very carefully designed and pretentious entrance. As expected of you, the arrogant King Mu Yunji.

Although Lin Zhiyu had finished filming Blue Bird, there was still some related work to complete, such as recording Xie Yunce’s exclusive character song. Even though he had told Zhao Jinyu countless times that he was tone-deaf, his singing level was enough to be hated by both humans and dogs in a KTV. Zhao Jinyu remained stubborn. She insisted he record the song himself to show the production’s sincerity toward the character.

Under her repeated persuasion of “just record it and leave the rest to post-production,” Lin Zhiyu eventually gave in. However, it was only when the notification arrived on his phone that he remembered the team responsible for the Blue Bird soundtrack was Mu Yunji’s. Looking at Mu Yunji’s incredibly annoyed face, he thought silently that he should not be blamed, as he did not choose to come here to torture him.

Mu Yunji scanned him up and down, kicked the door open a bit wider with the tip of his shoe, and said crossly, “You are here to record, right? Come in.”

Lin Zhiyu waved Chen Chen away to go play elsewhere and followed Mu Yunji into the recording studio. Mu Yunji’s studio was near Infinite Entertainment. He heard it was originally on the top floor of the company, but the second young master found it too small and inconvenient, so he paid out of his own pocket to rent a larger space.

Lin Zhiyu’s gaze swept across the room discreetly, and he greeted the staff members sitting nearby. When Mu Yunji turned back, he caught Lin Zhiyu pulling back his smile and could not help but snort before handing over the lyric sheet.

“Are you ready? If so, we will start recording immediately.”

Lin Zhiyu took the sheet. The content was identical to what Zhao Jinyu had sent him.

“I have a problem,” he said seriously, like a model student being questioned in class. “Teacher, I cannot find the tune.”

Mu Yunji’s eyelid jumped. He curled his lip wickedly and said word by word, “Lin Zhiyu, stop bluffing. You used this trick during the survival show. Do you really think everyone is a fool?”

As he spoke, he unceremoniously pushed Lin Zhiyu into the soundproof booth and urged, “Record it quickly and leave. Do not waste my time.”

“You said it,” Lin Zhiyu replied.

Mu Yunji raised an eyebrow and walked behind the recording engineer to signal him. Lin Zhiyu gave him a helpless look and resignedly clipped the lyric sheet to the stand.

Five minutes later, everyone present, subjected to Lin Zhiyu’s ear-piercing singing, wore expressions of utter despair, as if they were competing to see who could die first.