Chapter 49 – Exposed
So this phone belongs to Lu Heng?
Then why did it appear under his bed? Did Meiqiu carry it back?
A string of questions crashed into Lin Yan’s mind. His legs went weak, and he sat down on the chair. What was going on?
Why would something this absurd happen?
If he really thought about it, his interactions with Lu Heng had only started recently. And as far as he remembered, yesterday was the first time Lu Heng had ever come to his house.
When someone visits for the first time, would they really leave their belongings by the corner of the bed? Normally, wouldn’t a decent person bring milk or fruit or something like that?
Who would hide personal items in such a secretive spot?
Some things were like binary code—once it clicked, it clicked. But if it didn’t, no matter how much you thought about it, nothing made sense.
Right now, Lin Yan was completely stuck. He had no idea what was going on.
Countless possibilities flashed through his mind, but not a single one could explain the situation clearly.
Now he didn’t know what to do. Should he return the phone to President Lu?
Forget it—no point torturing himself. He would just go ask directly. Besides, these clothes did look like what Lu Heng usually wore. As for why they were in his house… only Lu Heng himself could explain that.
…
On the other side, He Lingchen hung up the phone. No one had spoken on the other end, which left him puzzled. When he looked up, Lu Heng was already standing in front of him.
Seeing that he was holding his phone, He Lingchen assumed it was because the call had just connected and no one had spoken yet.
He didn’t think much of it and followed his boss into the office.
“About that project—who do you plan to assign it to?” He Lingchen asked from behind.
There was no response.
He asked again, “Which project do you want to hand over, President Lu?”
The boss sat down while staring at his phone, as if he hadn’t heard a word. No reply at all.
Who knew what he was thinking about.
Lu Heng hadn’t slept together with Lin Yan for several nights now, and he wasn’t used to it. His insomnia had returned.
Saying he didn’t miss Lin Yan would be a lie. He knew he missed him to the point of going crazy—the kind he couldn’t control.
Even though his emotions were already in chaos, he could still maintain a calm exterior.
“I wonder if his cold has gotten better…” Lu Heng murmured.
He had left in too much of a hurry yesterday and forgot to remind Lin Yan to take more medicine. That way he would recover faster.
The person waiting nearby didn’t get the answer he wanted—instead, he only heard that sentence come out of his boss’s mouth.
Completely off topic.
But as a secretary, he had to understand the hidden meaning behind his boss’s words. He immediately caught the keyword: cold.
His mind turned quickly. Yesterday, Engineer Lin had taken sick leave—and the boss had disappeared for the entire afternoon.
Putting it all together, he instantly understood what information his boss wanted.
Nothing more than whether Lin Yan had come to work and whether he was feeling better.
“Engineer Lin has returned to work,” He Lingchen said.
The only person who could cause such obvious emotional fluctuations in President Lu was Lin Yan.
As expected, upon hearing this, Lu Heng finally put down his phone.
He Lingchen, standing to the side, curled his lips into a smile, full of admiration for his own clever mind.
“What project were you just talking about?” Lu Heng asked belatedly. The sentence appeared in his mind only after Lin Yan’s name.
“The fingerprint lock upgrade,” He Lingchen continued. Now he could finally move forward with the topic. “If I remember correctly, this project was previously handled by Lin Yan as well.”
Mm. Perfect.
Lu Heng missed Lin Yan too. At first, he hadn’t known what excuse to use—now he did. “Then let him continue working on it.”
“Alright,” He Lingchen replied, then added, “Also, should we upgrade our company’s lock system at the same time?”
So there was that as well. Secretary He’s reminder jogged Lu Heng’s memory. Whenever the company had systems similar to a project, he always required internal testing first. Only after personally testing it could he feel at ease handing it over to clients.
“Mm.” Lu Heng nodded.
“Then I’ll go inform Engineer Lin.”
With that, He Lingchen turned to leave—but the next second, Lu Heng stopped him.
“Wait.” Lu Heng lowered his head and spoke in a casual tone. “Tell him to come to my office.”
He paused for a moment, then reconsidered. Lin Yan had only caught a cold yesterday and still came to work today. He didn’t know how well he had recovered—better not trouble him.
“I’ll go over instead.”
Lu Heng decided to check on Lin Yan’s condition personally.
Secretary He watched his boss’s departing figure. He had just been praising his own intelligence—only for it to be immediately overturned.
How had he not thought of that? If you wanted to check on someone’s condition, of course you had to go see them in person.
Mm. He’d remember that next time.
When Lu Heng reached the office doorway, he looked through the glass door and saw Lin Yan chatting with his coworkers, laughing and smiling.
Perhaps liking someone inevitably came with selfishness and jealousy. He wished Lin Yan’s smile belonged to him alone.
But whenever things reached this critical point, a thought would always pop into Lu Heng’s mind—and he would retreat.
It stopped him from taking even one step closer.
The people inside noticed Lu Heng standing outside. Just moments ago they had been chatting happily; now the room fell completely silent.
Everyone except Lin Yan turned back to their computers and began working seriously.
Lin Yan held his cup, sitting upright. The steam rising from it warmed his face, yet when he looked at the person walking toward him, the warmth in his heart dimmed slightly.
He didn’t know what was wrong with him—only that these past few days felt like riding a roller coaster, full of ups and downs.
At the moment their eyes met, Lu Heng stopped thinking about everything else. He only wanted to speak to this person, to hear his voice—the same voice that used to murmur by his ear every day.
“Are you… feeling better?”
The words of concern finally slipped out. Lu Heng thought it wouldn’t seem strange.
Little did he know that, in the eyes of others, his concern had already gone far beyond that of a superior toward a subordinate.
In truth, the moment Lin Yan saw Lu Heng walking toward him, he wanted to ask— Why were you so hot and cold toward me?
Why did you come to my house to take care of me when I was sick, only to leave without saying anything?
And why had Lu Heng’s personal belongings appeared in his home?
Lin Yan wanted to ask everything—every single question he had in his mind.
But he hesitated. Even if he asked and got answers, what would that change?
Besides, this was the office. Asking those kinds of questions here wasn’t appropriate.
In the end, Lin Yan swallowed his doubts and answered Lu Heng instead.
“Yes, I’m better now. Thank you for your concern, President Lu.”
Although he received a positive reply, Lu Heng still felt that something was off.
Was Lin Yan’s attitude a little too cold?
Reason quickly reminded him that he wasn’t Meiqiu right now. Lin Yan wouldn’t respond to him in a soft, affectionate voice.
That thought seemed to comfort him somewhat. He continued, “There’s a password lock project that your department needs to handle. Secretary He will contact you with the specific data and requirements.”
After saying that, Lu Heng left.
After all, the purpose of his visit had already been achieved—there was no need to stay any longer.
“Ah… so we really have to do this project after all.” Wang Hao groaned.
Sometimes, the more you feared something, the more likely it was to happen. Ever since Lin Yan mentioned yesterday that they might take on this project, Wang Hao had been on edge.
Now that President Lu had come to announce it personally, there was no way to escape.
They had worked on this project before, but back then it had been a collaboration with other departments.
Judging by President Lu’s attitude just now, this time it would be handled solely by their department.
“Just do your best,” Yang Yang said, resting an arm on Wang Hao’s shoulder and giving it a light pat. “The boss came in person—it means he really values it.”
Everyone else was focused on the project discussion. Only Chen Xin sensed something different.
A strong BE vibe.
Could it be that the CP she’d been shipping had already gone BE?
Something felt strange—both of them were strange. President Lu was clearly concerned, yet he left like a block of wood without saying anything else.
And she could even sense that Lin Yan seemed a little angry.
What stage were they even at? Had she missed something?
She wanted to ask, but it didn’t feel appropriate. Lin Yan hadn’t been in a good state these past few days.
“Ahhh—” Wang Hao collapsed face-down on his desk. “You can make me do anything else, but this project will definitely force us to update the entire company system.”
Updating itself wasn’t difficult—it was just messy.
The data volume was huge, the steps were tedious, and no one liked doing it.
“I’ll handle the system updates,” Lin Yan said after taking a sip of water. “You guys can focus on writing the specific update code for the project and pass it to me.”
The moment someone volunteered to take on the most troublesome task, Wang Hao instantly perked up, ready to go all out.
Soon after, Lin Yan received the data files sent by He Lingchen.
They contained the project requirements as well as fingerprint information for everyone in the company.
Without even needing to think about it, it was obvious—the company’s system would have to be fully updated this time.
He forwarded the basic requirements to the group chat.
Only after everyone sent him the updated data did he plan to move on to the next step.
Before he realized it, it was already time to get off work. Only then did Lin Yan feel like his soul had finally returned to his body.
He had been absent-minded all day. Everything he did relied purely on habit. The things he hadn’t figured out still lingered in his mind—until he saw the number plate on his apartment door. Only then did he snap back to reality.
How had he already come home?
He had originally planned to work overtime and finish that task, but without realizing it, he had formed a habit during the past period—going straight home the moment it was time to clock out.
The reason he used to rush home was Meiqiu.
Now, that reason no longer existed.
Yet he still arrived home at the same time out of habit. He cooked for himself, ate alone, washed the dishes alone. Life seemed to have returned to how it was at the very beginning.
Lonely.
If he had never experienced those days before, Lin Yan probably wouldn’t have felt loneliness so clearly. But because he had experienced them, the contrast now felt especially sharp.
Suddenly, the corners of his eyes reddened. His nose stung, and tears slid down his cheeks. He cried silently for a while.
Then his phone rang.
Wang Hao and the others had already sent him the updated code.
Lin Yan wiped away his tears and pulled himself together. Since being alone only made his thoughts spiral, he might as well keep himself busy so he wouldn’t think too much.
After thinking for a moment, he remembered that his responsibility was to update the company’s system. He prepared to head back to the office—but when he stepped out, his gaze fell on the lock at his front door.
He thought for a while, then put his keys down and decided not to go.
Running back and forth would be inconvenient anyway.
He might as well test it using the lock at home. If the lock at his place worked, then there wouldn’t be any issues with the company’s system either.
He searched for tutorial videos and followed the steps carefully—disassembling the lock, removing the key chip, and placing it on his desk to work on it.
Once everything was ready, he opened the company employees’ fingerprint data that He Lingchen had sent him and selected all of it for input.
After waiting a few seconds, the program froze. He adjusted the settings and managed to get it running again.
But not long after, an error popped up.
Lin Yan narrowed his eyes slightly. This early, and it’s already throwing an error?
He checked the error message and saw the reason: duplicate fingerprints.
That made sense—his own fingerprint was included. No wonder it failed.
He deleted his fingerprint and tried again.
The screen still displayed an error.
“That’s strange…” Lin Yan stared at the screen and realized the error reason was exactly the same as before.
How could there be someone else’s fingerprint in his home?
His breath caught in his throat. For some reason, he had a strong feeling that this fingerprint belonged to that person.
The next second, his fingers trembled slightly. Without any hesitation, he opened the error system and checked the fingerprint that caused the conflict.
The source displayed: Lu Heng.
Along with the name, a photo appeared—Lu Heng’s official ID picture.
He had wanted to cling to a sliver of hope, thinking it was just a program malfunction. But when the photo appeared clearly on the screen, it felt as though every unanswered question finally had its answer.
Without thinking further, Lin Yan turned his head toward the security camera in his apartment.
Only then did he realize the camera had never been plugged in.
He walked over, connected the power, and restarted it.
Opening the app on his phone, the live footage appeared on the screen in an instant.
He tapped to view the recordings.
The surveillance camera hadn’t been activated very often, so there were only a few clips captured. On top of that, Lin Yan hadn’t purchased the membership, so the footage was fragmented—only several short, disconnected scenes.
Lin Yan’s eyes widened.
He saw Meiqiu inside the apartment.
Then, in the very next second, a human figure appeared—and the video ended abruptly.
He couldn’t clearly see who that person was, but in his heart, he already had the answer.
With trembling fingers, he scrolled downward.
There was still one video he hadn’t watched yet—only six seconds long.
Yet it shocked him even more than the previous clip.
He covered his mouth, so stunned that he couldn’t utter a single word.
His legs went weak. Supporting himself on the chair beside him, he slowly slid down and sat on the floor, a single thought looping endlessly in his mind.
Everything finally made sense.
All the uncertainties, all the strange things that had happened around him—they all made sense now.
He suppressed the emotions surging inside him and looked at the small ball Meiqiu had knocked aside while playing.
The simple fragments recorded by the camera were enough for Lin Yan to confirm one undeniable truth.
Meiqiu… was Lu Heng.