Chapter 442 Xiang Lin's Decision

Capital City.

Xiang Lin walked into the building of Chestnut Entertainment with a wan expression. There were dark circles under his eyes as if he had been staying up all night without sleep.

"Xiao Lin, you're here so early!" an officemate greeted him with a smile. Seeing Xiang Lin's dispirited attitude that morning, he somewhat found him pitiful. He dragged him to his office desk and placed a muffin cake in his hand.

"Did you forget to eat breakfast again?" the officemate kindly made excuses in front of their other colleagues. Who didn't know that Xiang Lin was so poor that he couldn't buy a proper single meal every day?

"Thank you, Sui Ge. But I'm not hungry." Xiang Lin politely refused, but the officemate thought that he was being too humble and polite so in the end, Xiang Lin had to accept it.

When he left the office, his arms were filled with food that was unopened. It was always like this in the morning when he visited Chestnut.

Xiang Lin looked down on the food he had in his arms and sighed. He was really not hungry, but these people thought he was too embarrassed to take their food with him.

Truth to be told, he had already eaten a lot this morning. He even went to one of the most popular breakfast restaurants in the city!

"Xiang Lin!"

Before Xiang Lin could savor the taste of the food he ate before going to the office building, his name was loudly called in the corridor. The people in the same area with him couldn't help but turn their head in the direction of the noise.

At the other end of the corridor was Feng Huai.

"Hey, it's Huai Ge."

"Is he in the office to sign a big deal for Zhang Yiqing again?"

"I heard Zhang Yiqing just finished his tour in Mirror City. Huai Ge might be planning to get the endorsement deal with the famous shoe brand from an international brand that Chestnut got!"

The people who were in the corridor couldn't help but gossip. They knew who Feng Huai was. He is the assistant manager of the Chief Agent of Chestnut Zhao Fei. Currently, he is also working as the manager of Zhang Yiqing. When everyone found out he was promoted to being a full-fledged manager and got assigned to an award-winning singer like Zhang Yiqing, a lot of them were envious.

But even though they were jealous of Feng Huai's fortune, they couldn't help but sweat at how strict and disciplined he was.

Just look at that assistant manager already paling on the face at the sight of Feng Huai. The rumors must be true.

Feng Huai strided quickly over to where Xiang Lin was standing. And under everyone's eyes, he grabbed him on the collar and pushed him to an empty meeting room.

"You… Are you crazy?! Where did you go two days ago? I thought I clearly told you to meet me at the usual place at the usual time to meet Editor Chang; but you didn't even show your face!" Feng Huai angrily said in one breath.

Two days ago, they made an agreement to meet with the editor from Dauntless. They planned to hand over the USB containing several personal information of Chestnut artists. Once the handover was done, Gong Chun will be promoted, then Feng Huai can transfer there under his brother-in-law's recommendation.

But on the day that they were supposed to meet and give away the flash drive to Editor Chang, Xiang Lin didn't arrive!

"Do you even know how humiliated I and my brother-in-law felt when we met with Mr. Chang empty-handed?" Feng Huai let go of Xiang Lin's collar as if he was disgusted.

But even after his outbursts, Xiang Lin didn't react to him.

"What's with you?" Feng Huai was startled at the way Xiang Lin remained unperturbed.

"Huai Ge… My sister failed the examination. I need her to graduate so she can lead a good future. Can you help me?" Out of nowhere, Xiang Lin asked him.

Feng Huai's brows furrowed. "Why are you asking me? It isn't my fault that your sister failed in her examination."

"But it was because she found out what we've been doing that she failed the examination."

"What? Did you… did you tell her?" Feng Huai was scared. He didn't want anyone else to find out about their actions.

Xiang Lin shook his head, "She mistook the USB I brought home with me as the one she's using for her thesis. That's when she found out."

"YOU IDIOT!" Feng Huai raged on. "Where is it now then? You have it with you, right? I don't care if it's the reason why your sister failed, but you should have taken it from her, right?  Ah, that's right. You should also make sure that your sister won't tell anyone about this. Tell her to not say anything to anyone!"

There was a condition that Feng Huai had to follow before he could transfer to Dauntless. It was that whatever he did, there should be no one who finds out about it. Xiang Lin was a conspirator so there was no problem with him discovering about his plan to ruin Chestnut. However, it was another story if Xiang Lin's younger sister found out about their intentions.

Xiang Lin frowned and said, "The flash drive is… it's not with me anymore."

"What do you mean you don't have it?"

"My sister… She threw it in the toilet bowl after she learned the truth."

Pa!

A shadow as quick as light flew in the air. By the time Xiang Lin realized what happened, a stinging pain was felt on his left cheek.

Feng Huai slapped him.

Ha, he actually slapped him!

Xiang Lin's fists curled inwardly until white appeared on his palms. His nails aren't long enough to draw blood but it still left marks on his skin.

Today's event was meticulously planned two days ago. Xiang Lin had taken those two days to think of what he must do. He couldn't erase the fact that he had a hand in Feng Huai's malicious actions but he couldn't completely give up the blank check Ran Xueyi gave to him.

It was not because he was tempted by the amount of money he would get if he used it, but because the weight of the check weighed down on his shoulders. Ran Xueyi did not trust him. There was no way she would after what he had done, but after meeting her, he realized that she was testing him.

Ran Xueyi wanted to find out whether Xiang Lin was capable of standing on his own feet without Feng Huai.

After two days of thinking it over, Xiang Lin came up with a plan. He wanted to test Feng Huai and find out what he would do if he ended up losing the flash drive containing the secrets of Chestnut's artists.

His sister learning the truth and throwing the flash drive to the toilet bowl were lies.

Xiang Lin bit his lips and forced down the urge to cry and punch Feng Huai. "Huai Ge, I'll compile them again. You just need to go to Zhao Fei's office and open the files in her computer. But I need to know what to do with my sister? She failed the exam because of us. Huai Ge, help me, okay?"

"Bullshit!" Feng Huai didn't even feel sorry for slapping him out of anger. "You're the one who carelessly left the flash drive and let your sister see it. Why is it my problem if she failed? Besides, haven't I already given you money for your sister's school fee?"

"Xiang Lin, let's be honest here. Did you actually believe that I helped you because I wanted to? I gave you money because I want to use your hacking skills. So don't think too much about how kind I treated you because you're a little bit useful to me!"

To him, Xiang Lin was just an inferior being to him. When he transfers to Dauntless, he won't ask his brother-in-law to vacate a position for Xiang Lin. He was already scolded by his brother-in-law when they met with Editor Chang without the flash drive. Feng Huai could no longer let Xiang Lin stay beside him.

A bad root should be pulled out before it becomes a wild plant!"It's all your fault so think of how to fix all of these! Don't forget to retrieve the file and compile them again. Give them to me at the end of the day, or else… Don't even think of appearing in front of me!"

After saying what he wanted to say, Feng Huai didn't want to stay in the same space as Xiang Lin anymore.

But he didn't know that when he turned his back, Xiang Lin's mouth curled up into a sneer.

Xiang Lin previously thought of the time he had spent with Feng Huai as his partner in crime. He thought that even though he was treated unfairly, Feng Huai still treated him slightly better. He even gave him money for his younger sister to use to pay for her school fees when they needed it the most.

He thought that he needed to pay this favor he received from Feng Huai through using his knowledge in hacking. And honestly, the praises he heard and got from Feng Huai did indeed made him feel giddy and satisfied.

But who would have thought that everything Feng Huai did and said to him was all because he was a 'little bit useful'. There was nothing more hurtful than expecting a friendship that never existed to bloom.