Thirsty Skin - Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – 【That Guy Swims So Well】

Zhu Chizhou’s head suddenly buzzed as if he was struck by lightning. He quickly looked away and dared not to look at Lin Wan again.

He sat upright, lowered his head to open his notebook, and pretended to write quickly with a gel pen in his hand.

The tip of the pen drew an inverted U on the paper. … ‘This is incredible! Which decent person would actually consider whether or not it would hurt to use this thing?’

And he drew a bow under the inverted U. ‘…So this is why Director Lin still has no girlfriend even though he is almost 30 years old?’

Finally he drew a circle around the doodle heavily.

‘Stop! Zhu Chizhou, what are you thinking about? If you think about it again, your merits will be deducted!’

After Li Yanli finished speaking, Lin Wan asked him, “Have you considered the market acceptance of your product? What group is your target audience? Have you investigated the preferences of potential consumers?”

“I don’t care about other people’s preferences,” Li Yanli raised his chin and looked at people with a bit of arrogance, “I just want to do what I like.”

Lin Wan closed the business plan and said, “If a product only caters to the founder’s personal preferences and ignores the market, it will be difficult to convince us to invest.”

Li Yanli was very disdainful: “The artificial skin I use is developed by myself! No company on the market can make the touch so close to human skin, only mine can do it!”

Lin Wan nodded: “This bionic material is indeed eye-catching, but as a sex toy, it has not solved its own market pain points.”

Then, Lin Wan pointed at the samples on the table and harshly criticized Li Yanli’s masterpiece.

Li Yanli’s face turned red with anger when he heard “the design is not creative”. Then he heard “the size is not ergonomic and the user experience is not taken into consideration”, so he couldn’t help but interrupt loudly: “How do you know that my product has a bad user experience? Have you used it?”

“No,” Lin Wan continued without pause, without any sign of being offended. “But if I really wanted to do this, I would at least research what the mainstream products on the market are like. The exaggerated appearance can indeed bring visual impact, but it does not take into account the user’s comfort at all. And for this kind of product, the user’s comfort is always the first priority. Your product is priced ridiculously high, with neither innovative selling points nor comfortable user experience. It has no market competitiveness at all.”

Li Yanli was very impatient: “If you don’t understand, there will always be someone who does. It’s not that there is no market just because you don’t like it!”

Lin Wan calmly touched the edge of the frame with his finger. “I just came to this conclusion based on market preferences. It has nothing to do with my personal preferences.”

Zhu Chizhou drew a big cross on the doodle in the notebook… ‘It turned out that Lin Wan was considering the user experience of this thing from a market perspective?’

‘So meticulous, worthy of being an investment director in his twenties.’

Li Yanli and Lin Wan had completely different opinions, and Li Yanli was unable to refute them. He stood up angrily, packed up his things and was ready to leave.

Lin Wan stopped him and said, “Although I am not optimistic about your product, I think your artificial skin technology has great market value.”

Li Yanli stopped and looked up at Lin Wan.

Lin Wan said: “If you can solve its cost and scalability problems, this material will have very wide applications in medical and robotics technology. I suggest that Mr. Li can consider it from this perspective. If you are interested, we can sit down and talk in detail.”

Lin Wan gestured for him to sit down, and Li Yanli hesitated for a few seconds before sitting down again.

It was more than an hour later when Li Yanli stood up again. The anger was gone from his face, but he was still in a bad mood, as if the more profitable option did not attract him.

The three of them walked out of the conference room together. Zhu Chizhou and Lin Wan sent Li Yanli to the elevator. Lin Wan reiterated that he was very optimistic about the market prospects of the bionic material and hoped that Mr. Li would not miss the opportunity.

Then Zhu Chizhou saw that Lin Wan actually took the initiative to reach out and shake hands with Li Yanli! Zhu Chizhou was shocked.

He had been working here for half a year, and he and Lin Wan had met the founders of different products at least dozens of times. The number of times Lin Wan had taken the initiative to shake hands with others could be counted using ten fingers.

【You also think it’s a pity to use it as a sex toy.】

‘What do you mean?’

【I hope you can be more honest next time you come to see me.】

‘Am I missing some key information?’

Li Yanli walked into the elevator. Before the door closed, Lin Wan rarely smiled and said goodbye to Li Yanli.

Zhu Chizhou was quite curious, “You think highly of him?”

Lin Wan put away his smile, hummed, and said, “It’s time to get off work, you can go first.”

Zhu Chizhou: …

This was why he had difficulty communicating with Lin Wan before he acquired the ability to read minds. Lin Wan seemed to be tired if he said one more word. Director Lin, who had just been eloquent in the conference room, seemed like a completely different person.

Zhu Chizhou turned around and walked towards his workstation, leaving Lin Wan behind.

‘It’s time to get off work and no longer have to read your boss’s thoughts.’

At this time, Lin Wan’s phone rang. Zhu Chizhou heard him pick up the phone, and his voice carried the intimacy that only existed between acquaintances.

“Well, I’ve been working overtime for a while… I haven’t… Let’s go directly… You can pick me up on the way…”

It sounded so ambiguous, and Zhu Chizhou inexplicably thought of some things that would deduct merit.

If he had taken a look at Lin Wan at this time, he should have been able to hear what the relationship between the other party and Lin Wan was, but Zhu Chizhou did not do so.

He walked quickly to his workstation, opened the drawer and took out his car keys.

But Lin Wan had not left yet. If Zhu Chizhou left now, he would inevitably meet Lin Wan. So he pretended to look for something and rummaged through the drawer for a while. He only left after Lin Wan left the office while talking on the phone.

The car drove out of the underground garage of the office building. The most congested time had long passed and the road was relatively smooth.

The car phone rang, and the caller was Ji Xun. Zhu Chizhou answered through the Bluetooth headset: “I just left. You change your clothes and wait for me.”

Ji Xun said angrily: “I swam two rounds already! If you don’t come, I’ll leave!”

Zhu Chizhou: “Damn, I just got off work!”

Ji Xun laughed loudly on the other end: “Were you tortured by Director Lin again?”

Zhu Chizhou was already feeling guilty for using the mind-reading cheat on Lin Wan, so he couldn’t complain to his friends about his boss as frankly as before: “What torture? It was just normal overtime work, okay?”

Ji Xun was a little surprised hearing his words: “Why did your attitude change? What’s the matter? Are you really going to continue?”

Zhu Chizhou held the steering wheel in a relaxed manner and smiled lazily: “How is that possible? I will leave after working for a year, and then my dad won’t be able to control me.”

The city was gradually submerged in the night, and colorful neon lights flickered in the distance.

The floor-to-ceiling glass on one side of the heated swimming pool was covered with a thin layer of mist, and the water surface rippled gently, reflecting the bright lights inside.

With a “splash”, a figure jumped into the water.

His back muscles are strong and his shoulders are broad, and the lines of his muscles are more clearly seen under the refraction of water. In the butterfly stroke, his long and strong arms cut through the water, and his tall body flies like a mermaid.

Ji Xun sat at the edge of the pool and watched. When Zhu Chizhou emerged after swimming back and forth, he couldn’t help but praise him, “You’re still in such good shape. If you participate in another Universiade, you can win another medal.”

Zhu Chizhou lay on the waterline and took off his goggles. “I’ve graduated for so long, why would I want to participate in the Universiade?”

Ji Xun urged: “It’s been less than a year since graduation, you can still participate.”

Zhu Chizhou seemed to really think about it and said, “Forget it. I’m busy. I don’t have time to practice.”

Ji Xun laughed and teased him: “Are you busy working overtime with your director?”

Zhu Chizhou frowned, pulled down his goggles, and answered with a beautiful wall-pushing turn.

It was very quiet here, with only the two of them in the entire pool. After Zhu Chizhou swam away, Ji Xun also put on his goggles and slid into the lane next to him.

Zhu Chizhou likes swimming. He feels relaxed when his body stretches in the water, and the coolness of the water brushing against his skin also makes him feel happy. He can sleep well at night after exercising.

He forgot how many times he swam back and forth, and when he emerged from the water again, Ji Xun was nowhere to be seen.

He glanced at the time on his sports watch and realized he had been swimming for almost half an hour. He was ready to swim a few more laps before leaving.

He swam slowly for the last few laps, drifting leisurely, looking through his goggles at the tiny specks of light that formed beneath the water’s surface.

It was quiet all around, with only the sound of water and his own heartbeat in his ears.

Suddenly, a smooth calf stretched out from the swimming lane next to him. The ankle was very thin, and the sole of the foot was not very flexible. Looking over, the person had long thighs, a slim waist and round buttocks. He was wearing four-legged swimming trunks. It was a man.

Zhu Chizhou turned his eyes away, thinking that the man was probably a novice who was still learning breaststroke and was very nervous, with his toes curled up when he kicked the water.

As we all know, the most important thing in swimming is to relax. If one is nervous, one will not float up and will only sink.

Zhu Chizhou was not interested in meddling in other people’s business since there were lifeguards on the sidelines anyway.

He took a deep breath, lowered his head, and swam forward at a faster speed.

When returning, he looked up and saw that the beginner was holding a float in his hands, and he didn’t seem to be able to breathe at all, with his face exposed above the water.

The man was wearing large-framed swimming goggles that covered the upper half of his face, revealing his delicate nose tip and handsome chin. His slightly open lips were wet, and against the backdrop of the water, they looked unusually bright red.

Zhu Chizhou was wondering why the person looked familiar, and then a familiar voice sounded in his mind:

【That guy swims so well. I’m so envious】

‘The man’ stiffened, exhaled with gurgling breath, and sank to the bottom of the pool like an iron plate.

‘How come we meet here?’

Zhu Chizhou definitely didn’t want to run into his boss after getting off work or during his leisure time.

He felt that as long as Lin Wan saw him, he would ask him to organize the content of the day’s meeting and hand it in before work the next morning!

The level of terror is comparable to the death stare given by a high school teacher!

Zhu Chizhou swam to the finish line at the speed he would in the finals and pushed himself ashore with one hand.

Looking back, Lin Wan was still struggling cautiously in the water. He kicked his legs more than ten times but had not swum more than three meters.

Zhu Chizhou: “…”

Zhu Chizhou put on his slippers and walked along the pool bank to the locker room.

Zhu Chizhou looked around on the way and didn’t see any lifeguard. He stopped, paused for two seconds, and turned around to the front desk.

After walking a few steps, there was a sudden sound of rapid splashing water in the swimming pool. Zhu Chizhou looked back and saw that Lin Wan’s float had somehow drifted away from him. He was struggling in the water, his arms tumbling, his movements chaotic and helpless.

Water splashed everywhere, and the lower half of his face, which was exposed from his goggles, was filled with fear and panic. His lips moved desperately but were constantly submerged by the clear water.

When Zhu Chizhou saw this scene, he had no time to think, and his body acted before his consciousness.

He rushed to the shore, threw off his slippers, dived into the pool, and swam quickly towards Lin Wan.

Chapter 3 [It’s so comfortable to hold onto]

Zhu Chizhou had learned how to save people, but it was his first time in actual combat.

Saving people from water is a very dangerous thing. He had no time to think about it at this moment. Relying on the posture he had learned from memory, he went around behind Lin Wan, put his hands under Lin Wan’s armpits, and lifted the person up with force.

When Zhu Chizhou pressed his warm chest against Lin Wan’s back, Lin Wan’s body seemed to soften. He stopped struggling and let Zhu Chizhou push him up, with his head out of the water.

Zhu Chizhou held Lin Wan tightly with both hands, and did a reverse breaststroke with his legs in the water. As if he was afraid of scaring Lin Wan, he moved very gently, slowly and steadily, bringing Lin Wan to the edge of the swimming pool.

Just when they were about to get ashore safely, Lin Wan seemed to finally come to his senses and suddenly grabbed Zhu Chizhou’s arm forcefully.

Zhu Chizhou thought he was still afraid, so he comforted him softly, telling him not to be afraid. But Lin Wan’s breathing became more rapid, and his body was shaking slightly, showing even more fear than when he was in the deep water just now.

Zhu Chizhou grabbed the edge of the swimming pool with one hand, and with the other hand, he held Lin Wan in his arms and pushed Lin Wan with his body, trying to get Lin Wan closer to the pool wall.

Lin Wan was only holding his arm unconsciously, but when his body touched the cold and hard tiles, he suddenly let go and turned around to hug his neck.

Lin Wan had been very cooperative from the time he was rescued to the time he reached the shore, but for some reason he suddenly became emotional. Zhu Chizhou was a little overwhelmed, and he didn’t dare to pull him away, so he had to hold on to the edge of the pool with both hands to keep his balance.