Thirsty Skin - Chapter 17

Chapter 17 – Can Lin Wan Withstand The Test Of Human Nature?

Lin Wan persisted until noon and left early when it was almost time to get off work. He had to go home and soak in ice water, otherwise he might not be able to work normally in the afternoon.

Zhu Chizhou went to the restaurant to eat with his colleagues. They put down their plates on the table for four. Nie Xiaolan whispered, “The boss seems to be in a bad mood today. He went out alone before getting off work at noon.”

“I can see that,” Zhou Yuang turned his head and asked Zhu Chizhou beside him, “The private placement you discussed yesterday, was it not going well?”

Zhu Chizhou said absentmindedly: “It’s OK.”

He was not sure whether Lin Wan was in a bad mood, but before Lin Wan left, he heard Xu Pingchuan invite Lin Wan to dinner in the evening to discuss the project, and Lin Wan agreed.

There was nothing weird about it, it was normal for them to discuss things over the dinner table, and there was nothing wrong with meeting him alone, as Lin Wan didn’t bring him to every dinner party.

But what was unusual was that Lin Wan left right after answering Xu Pingchuan’s call. As he left, he was still thinking, 【I’ll set up the smart housekeeper first and fill the bathtub with water in advance.】

‘So Lin Wan went home to take a shower? But why did he go home to take a shower before meeting Xu Pingchuan??’

Zhu Chizhou believed that Lin Wan would not do anything rash, but he couldn’t help but make many associations.

After all, Lin Wan was the kind of person who would look serious and talk to you about serious work, and then suddenly think of touching your chest muscles!

To be fair, Xu Pingchuan had a good figure, and it was quite noticeable that he had been training hard. Although Zhu Chizhou has never heard of Lin Wan’s interest in Xu Pingchuan, what if…?

More importantly, Xu Pingchuan obviously had a crush on Lin Wan. Even if Lin Wan had no intention of touching Xu Pingchuan, what if Xu Pingchuan took the initiative to let Lin Wan touch him?

Could Lin Wan withstand the test of human nature??

Also, did Lin Wan realize that Xu Pingchuan had a crush on him?

He looked like he didn’t care about anything except work.

Isn’t he gay? Why aren’t there any gay?

Zhu Chizhou could see that something was wrong, but he didn’t react at all!

While he was daydreaming, the phone rang. It was Zhang Hengyan calling. Zhu Chizhou put down his chopsticks and walked to the corridor outside the restaurant to answer the phone.

Zhang Hengyan had been on a business trip to Hong Kong for more than half a month and would fly back to Shenhai at 7 o’clock tonight.

Usually Zhu Chizhou called him Uncle Zhang, but today he was at the company, so Zhu Chizhou answered the phone and said, “Mr. Zhang.”

“Xiao Zhou,” Zhang Hengyan watched Zhu Chizhou grow up, and was very kind to him. He asked cordially, “What are you doing?”

Zhu Chizhou told him that he was having lunch, and Zhang Hengyan asked again: “Where is Director Lin? Why didn’t he answer my call?”

Zhu Chizhou howled in his heart, ‘Director Lin went back to take a shower!!’

He endured the heart attack and helped Lin Wan cover up: “Boss Lin is out on business, maybe he’s driving, are you looking for him?”

Zhang Hengyan said, “Ask him if he has time in the evening. If he does, ask him to come pick me up at the airport. On the way back, I want to learn about the project in Chengdu from him.”

Zhu Chizhou was about to say that Director Lin had an appointment that evening. Although he felt that Lin Wan would have turned down the dinner appointment because of the boss’s summons, he somehow changed his words and said, “He… has time.”

“Okay,” Zhang Hengyan arranged, “Tell him to come in my driver’s car at 5:30.”

Zhu Chizhou’s heartbeat was a little faster after he had just lied. While he was still hot-headed, he decided to go all out and said obediently, “Don’t bother Mr. Feng. I’ll be your driver.”

It takes an hour to get from the company to the airport. He just missed lunch time when he got there after getting off work. Then he had to drive slowly to send Zhang Hengyan home from the airport. It would take another hour. It was almost nine o’clock in the round trip. With Lin Wan’s personality, he would not let a stranger wait for him that late.

If Lin Wan wanted to see Xu Pingchuan late at night, he could just drive Lin Wan there and go together.

This is all for the safety of work and the boss!

Xu Pingchuan couldn’t take his eyes off Lin Wan. Who knows if he had any bad intentions!

In the afternoon, Lin Wan came back from work feeling refreshed, and Zhu Chizhou went to talk to him about this matter.

Lin Wan was not surprised. “Okay, I get it. I called Mr. Zhang yesterday and told him that I hope he can go to Rongcheng to meet with the municipal party secretary in person. This matter is urgent. I guess that’s what he wanted to say. Send the flight number to my phone and I’ll drive to the airport to pick him up this afternoon.”

Zhu Chizhou said calmly: “Mr. Zhang told me to drive.”

Zhu Chizhou was supposed to participate in this project, so Lin Wan had no doubts: “Okay, you come with me.”

After Zhu Chizhou left, Lin Wan called Xu Pingchuan and told him that the leader had summoned him temporarily and he had to work overtime, so he could not go to dinner with him that day.

Xu Pingchuan said regretfully: “Okay, sinceMr. Lin is busy now, let’s make an appointment when you are free.”

The airport pick-up time coincided with the evening rush hour, and to avoid traffic jams, Lin Wan and Zhu Chizhou left a little earlier in the afternoon.

Lin Wan didn’t dare to look at Zhu Chizhou the whole day, nor did he dare to get too close to Zhu Chizhou. Now he had to ride in the same car with him, and they would have to be in close contact in a small space.

The clothes Zhu Chizhou wore today were really… very tempting. Lin Wan could hardly control himself from looking at him and coveting him silently in his heart…

【If I could unbutton his buttons one by one in the car, run my fingers down his chest to his belly, and hug him and touch him for an hour, I can’t imagine how happy I would be. 】

Zhu Chizhou’s head was buzzing, his face and ears suddenly turned red, his finger that was about to press the start button stopped, and he couldn’t even step on the brake steadily.

“I… I… I… I… I!” Zhu Chizhou hurriedly unbuckled his seat belt. “I suddenly feel so cold! I’ll go get a coat!!”

Then he opened the car door and ran away, looking like he was fleeing in desperation.

Lin Wan looked down at his phone. The temperature outside was 27 degrees…

When he came down again, Zhu Chizhou was wearing a tie and a black flight jacket. His short hair was wet and there were water droplets on his face, which made him look like he had just washed his face.

He had been running all the way and was still a little out of breath. He fastened his seat belt and said, “Let’s go.”

Lin Wan said nothing, but turned his face away silently.

‘Even though I’ve seen him many times, I still think he looks so handsome in black.’

Driving out of the underground garage of the office building, it was still very sunny outside, and Lin Wan squinted his eyes because of the glare of the sun. A big hand reached out and helped him open the sun visor.

The sleeves of the flight jacket were close at hand, and Lin Wan smelled that familiar scent again. He didn’t know whether it was perfume or shower gel. It was very special, and Lin Wan had never smelled it on anyone else.

Zhu Chizhou didn’t look at him when he did this, but looked straight ahead. After helping him, he held the steering wheel with both hands again.

Lin Wan was rarely taken care of like this, and his heart was a little swollen. It seemed awkward to thank him for such a small thing. He cleared his throat and took the initiative to talk about the day after they slept together: “On the day you did due diligence at the company, I went to the government for a meeting and told the deputy mayor in charge of state-owned assets about our investment plan for Qiuge Industrial. They were still very interested.”

Zhu Chizhou knew the whole story, “Will they invest money? How much will they invest?”

“It’s not clear yet, but it shouldn’t be a problem for them to help alleviate some of the debt.” Lin Wan’s voice was light and gentle. “You’ve seen the company’s financial situation. In fact, most of their debts are bank loans. As long as the bank doesn’t urge them to pay back the money and gives them more time, they can definitely get through this difficult time.”

Zhu Chizhou had never been exposed to this and was curious, “If the government asked banks to continue lending, will the banks agree?”

“On the one hand, of course, the city leaders need to coordinate with the banks. On the other hand, a government platform company may be needed to back Qiuge Industrial.”

Zhu Chizhou went abroad after graduating from high school and was not familiar with the domestic system: “Backbone? What does that mean?”

“That means holding a portion of the shares, letting creditors know that the company has a state-owned background, and the state-owned platform will pay back the money they cannot pay in the future.”

Zhu Chizhou understood now, “It’s actually equivalent to using the name of the state-owned platform to help them guarantee their credibility, right?”

Lin Wan nodded approvingly. “That’s right. With the government’s intervention, at least banks and other creditors can be reassured. The company will also have more time to adjust its business strategies and seek new development opportunities.”

Zhu Chizhou had worked with Lin Wan for half a year. From a young boy who knew nothing, he could now speak fluently. “Should we consider increasing investment and gaining more control?”

“There is no need to rush. Let’s see what conditions the government offers first.”

“Yes, maybe the government thinks this project is too risky and is unwilling to offer too good conditions.”

“I don’t think so.” Seeing Zhu Chizhou wrapped up so tightly, Lin Wan felt uncomfortable for him because of the heat. He closed the car window and turned on the air conditioner. “For the government, this is a livelihood issue. If Qiuge Industry goes bankrupt, five to six thousand people will lose their jobs, which is a matter related to social stability. If someone offers money and resources to take over and actively seeks cooperation, the government will certainly be happy to see it happen. Their conditions should not be too bad.”

“So you actually knew that this cooperation would be successful a long time ago?” Zhu Chizhou turned his head and glanced at Lin Wan. “Then why didn’t you propose this plan when you first went there?”

Lin Wan spoke frankly, “This kind of project cycle is very long, and the expected return is far lower than the venture capital projects we usually do. Moreover, cooperating with the government will increase the difficulty of exiting. Generally speaking, it will not pass the investment decision meeting, so I couldn’t go to the Chengdu Municipal Government in advance.”

After saying that, Lin Wan sighed, “I just didn’t expect that President Lei would make additional investments to do this. It seems that he has a strong sense of social responsibility.”

Having his father being praised indirectly in person, Zhu Chizhou felt proud: “You are quite amazing to have thought of this. Go talk to the deputy mayor in charge yourself.”

“Of course, no one wants to start with a bad hand, but since you have a bad hand, try your best to get a teammate to play this hand together.”

Zhu Chizhou thought of Lin Wan’s style of playing cards. No matter how bad the cards in his hand were, he could always make the most of them.

Lin Wan had a very pure energy that made Zhu Chizhou’s heart soften. He resisted turning to look at Lin Wan, nodded slowly and said, “Yes, there are no bad cards, only bad ways to play them.”