99: Chapter 99 Good Man vs. Philanthropic Playboy

After the movie, they left the theater, and Tong Liya dragged Lin Chen straight to the high-end men's clothing section.

The white T-shirt and black casual pants Lin Chen was wearing today were all designer items Yang Mi had bought for him earlier.

The fabric was high-quality, the tailoring was impeccable, and Lin Chen felt comfortable in them—he saw nothing wrong with the outfit.

But in Tong Liya's eyes, the outfit was belittled to the point where it was worse than cheap street-market goods.

She picked out a mountain of flaws, from the style to the color.

The reason was simple: she knew Yang Mi had bought these clothes.

The sour scent of jealousy was so strong you could smell it from ten meters away.

Lin Chen saw it clearly, so he kept his mouth shut the entire time and let her do as she pleased.

He really didn't have much talent for navigating emotional tug-of-wars.

But he wasn't an idiot.

He knew very well that women, regardless of age—whether a queen or a loli—no matter how much they loved you, would still become jealous pots when the time came.

In such situations, the only rule for survival was: go along with her! Never argue, and certainly don't try to reason with her.

If you dared to talk back, you would definitely be the one tortured into a nervous breakdown in the end.

As the two were holding hands and preparing to walk into a luxury store, the new phone in Lin Chen's pocket suddenly vibrated.

Tong Liya kept her head straight, pretending not to care at all.

But those big eyes couldn't help but glance sideways at the phone screen.

Lin Chen found it amusing to watch her act so tsundere.

He shoved the phone screen right in front of her face. "If you want to look, just look openly. It's not like I'm keeping a mistress on the side."

The screen displayed two characters: Huang Bo.

Confirming it wasn't some vixen calling, Tong Liya immediately withdrew her gaze and pouted haughtily. "Who cares about looking at your phone! I'm not the type of jealous woman to check up on you; I'll still give you that much personal freedom. This Empress is very magnanimous!"

Lin Chen shrugged and pressed the answer button.

"Where are you gallivanting about?" Huang Bo's highly recognizable, raspy voice came from the other end of the line.

"Beijing."

"No kidding. I know you flew back to Beijing. Beijing is huge; which district exactly?"

"Wangfujing."

"What are you doing in Wangfujing in broad daylight?"

"Watching the flag-raising ceremony." Lin Chen spouted nonsense.

"The hell there is! Going there is just to accompany a woman shopping!"

"If you know, why ask?"

Lin Chen and Huang Bo exchanged a couple of meaningless sentences.

Huang Bo changed the subject. "With your lazy-as-a-maggot personality, you definitely wouldn't go shopping alone. Which beauty are you accompanying?"

"Yaya."

"Oh—ho—"

Huang Bo intentionally drew out the tone. He originally wanted to make a dirty joke, but remembering Tong Liya was right there—and possibly on speakerphone—he immediately swallowed his words and said seriously, "Nothing major, just want to grab dinner tonight? A pure family gathering; I'll bring my wife too."

Lin Chen turned to look at Tong Liya. "Huang Bo is asking to eat. Should we go?"

Tong Liya nodded. "Sure, let's go. We don't have anything to do tonight anyway."

Lin Chen said into the phone, "Alright, send the time and location."

On the other end, Huang Bo laughed and scolded, "I used to think you were a real man, but it turns out you're henpecked! What's up? You have to ask your wife for permission and file a report just to go out for a drink with the boys?"

Lin Chen chuckled. "What's that? Judging by your tone, you don't need to apply for permission when you go out?"

Huang Bo gave a dry chuckle and immediately changed his tune. "Need to, of course I need to! All good men are like this. This is called 'birds of a feather flock together,' right?"

The last sentence was clearly eight octaves higher; he was likely saying it on purpose for his wife nearby to hear.

"Alright, stop spouting nonsense. I've sent the address to your WeChat. Don't drive tonight; we brothers must have a drink."

After hanging up, a location popped up on WeChat shortly after.

Tong Liya leaned over to take a look and said, "I know this place. We still have time, let's go buy a couple of decent outfits first."

Next, Tong Liya initiated crazy shopping mode, picking out two new outfits for Lin Chen from head to toe, inside and out—she didn't even leave out the underwear.

Lin Chen's body had been enhanced by the system; his muscle lines were as perfect as a sculpture. He was a walking clothes hanger who would look handsome even in a burlap sack.

This gave Tong Liya a great sense of accomplishment when shopping. If they didn't have to keep their appointment tonight, she could have rented out the entire mall.

Besides formal wear, she also bought a bunch of small accessories like sunglasses and hats.

She didn't buy anything for herself, but while Lin Chen wasn't paying attention, she snuck into a lingerie shop and bought a set of black, extremely revealing sexy lingerie, stuffing it directly into her bag so Lin Chen wouldn't see.

Leaving the mall, the two drove to the dinner location.

The place Huang Bo chose was a teahouse hidden in a hutong within the Third Ring Road.

Though it was called a teahouse, it was actually a private kitchen with a very quiet and secluded environment.

This place was made by connecting several siheyuan together.

In this area where every inch of land is worth gold, the property rights for this place alone were estimated to be worth several hundred million.

When the two arrived, Huang Bo and his wife were already waiting at the entrance.

The four met up and greeted each other with smiles.

Huang Bo's wife wasn't in the entertainment industry; she had endured quite a bit of hardship with him before they finally made it.

Her appearance was indeed ordinary, but she had a gentle and tranquil aura, and she was very comfortable to be around.

As soon as they met, she warmly took Tong Liya's hand, making people feel very close to her.

Come to think of it, Huang Bo and his wife were definitely a breath of fresh air in the industry.

Given Huang Bo's current status in the industry, if he wanted to, every night there would be countless starlets looking to climb the ladder, lining up to crawl into his bed.

Yet he managed to remain completely untainted, without a single scandal, and had cherished his wife for decades as if it were day one.

For that alone, he was absolutely a top-tier good man, beating someone like Lin Chen—a playboy—by eight hundred streets.

Of course, Lin Chen didn't feel ashamed in the slightest; deep down, he felt that he and Huang Bo were the same kind of person.

Both were peerless good men; it was just that Huang Bo gave his love to one woman, while he was poly-loving and simply divided his love equally among five women.

The four walked into the teahouse.

Lin Chen and Huang Bo walked in front chatting, while Tong Liya and Huang Bo's wife followed behind whispering to each other.

"Not a bad place, right? People in the industry often come here to gather. The environment is private; no need to worry about paparazzi sneaking photos while eating. The owner is an old veteran, a genuine Beijing 'old gun,' and this courtyard house was left by his ancestors."

"Don't look at the large area and think it's worth a few hundred million. In reality, siheyuan in Beijing are priceless—there's no market for them. Agents hype them up to the skies, but if you really want to buy one with money, not many are traded in a year."

Huang Bo lowered his voice to educate Lin Chen.

The two women behind them were also chatting heatedly.

"Our Old Huang is a social butterfly with friends everywhere. But in the last few years, the only person he mentions every day is your Lin Chen. The two have a twelve-year age gap, and I don't know how they got so close."

Tong Liya pursed her lips and smiled. "Mine is the real weirdo. Don't look at how amiable he is right now; that's because he respects you as his sister-in-law. If it were anyone else, he'd be incredibly arrogant—if he says a single word to them, that's already giving them face."

Huang Bo's wife covered her mouth and giggled. "Well, he's a genius; they all have some character flaws. If he were as slick as an ordinary person, would he still be a genius?"

While chatting and laughing, the four entered the pre-booked private room.

The private room was decorated in an antique style.

There was a full set of mahogany furniture, with an exquisite tea set and root carving placed to the side, and several ink landscape paintings hanging on the walls.

The room wasn't completely enclosed; through the hollowed-out wooden carved window lattice, one could see the small bridge and flowing water in the courtyard.

"You order or should I?" Huang Bo handed the menu to Lin Chen.

Lin Chen leaned back in his chair and casually glanced at the calligraphy and paintings on the wall. "You go ahead, I'm not picky. How about you, Yaya?"

"I'm fine with anything."

Huang Bo nodded. Without standing on ceremony, he directly recited several of the private kitchen's signature dishes and then asked the waiter to bring two bottles of Feitian Moutai.

Lin Chen raised an eyebrow slightly. "One bottle each? Can you handle that?"

Huang Bo rolled his eyes disdainfully and sneered. "Don't just run your mouth. Whether it's a mule or a horse, we'll see the truth once we pour it into our stomachs later."

Lin Chen shrugged and didn't respond.

The cold dishes were quickly served, and the two clinked glasses for the first drink.

The strong liquor went down the throat like swallowing a ball of fire, followed by a rich, savory aroma.

Honestly speaking, Lin Chen's tolerance for alcohol was just average.

In his previous life, he was a total lightweight; he just drank recklessly out of sheer guts, and after a few glasses, his face would turn as red as a monkey's butt.

In this life, although it didn't show on his face as much, his capacity hadn't increased by much.

At most, he could handle two or three bottles of beer; any more and he'd be crawling under the table.

Ever since his physique received a comprehensive upgrade, his alcohol tolerance had risen accordingly.

But because his foundation was so poor, even after the improvement, it was barely at the level of an average person.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have been drunk under the table by Bayar's eldest son on the grassland last time.

"Tell me, brother, did you get water in your brain? The Production Team offered you 20 million for free and you didn't want it? What are you after? Saving money for the capitalists? You put in all that effort to record the show; isn't it only right and proper to take the pay?"

After three rounds of drinks, the topic naturally turned to Divas Hit the Road. Hearing that Lin Chen had directly rejected the 20 million salary, Huang Bo was so anxious he slapped his thigh.

Lin Chen held his glass, his fingers tapping lightly on the table. "A salary of 20 million—according to industry rules, the breach-of-contract penalty is at least ten times that, 200 million. Once I take that money, this contract is basically a death warrant. If they tell me to go east later, do I dare go west? Why should I suffer that kind of humiliation?"

"They want to make me a puppet for 20 million? My worth isn't that cheap. I won't take a single cent; I'll do whatever I want on the show. If I'm happy, I'll laugh; if I'm unhappy, I'll pull a long face. If the director dares to complain, I'll quit on the spot. I'm just after peace of mind!"

Huang Bo clinked glasses with him, smacked his lips, and sighed. "Little brother, I understand what you mean. But as someone who's been through it, let me say this from the bottom of my heart: where in this world is there absolute freedom? When people live, there's always a time to bow your head and suffer grievances, right? You can throw a tantrum now, but what about later?"

Lin Chen leaned against the back of the chair, crossed his legs, and said in a flat tone, "I won't suffer them later either."

Huang Bo laughed in frustration. "Then what are you going to live off of in the future? Do you really plan to be a gigolo for the rest of your life, relying on your wife to support you?"

Lin Chen smiled. "If I want to make money, there are plenty of ways. It's just that I'm too lazy to move right now."

The two downed another glass.

Just then, a white unidentified flying object suddenly whizzed toward Huang Bo's face.

It scared him so much that he leaned back, falling into his chair with a thump.

In the blink of an eye, Lin Chen, who had his back to the door, suddenly reached out his right hand and grabbed the object with pinpoint accuracy.

He opened his hand to see that it was actually a pack of C&S tissues.

"Teacher Huang! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I really didn't mean it! I wanted to throw it at Teacher Lin as a joke, but my hand slipped and I threw it off course. I didn't scare you, did I? I'm so sorry!"

Just as the four were looking at each other in confusion, a chubby guy ran in, smiling all over his face and bowing repeatedly.

The person who arrived was none other than Yue Yunpeng from the Deyun Society.

He happened to be here for a business dinner tonight. Just now, on his way back from the restroom, he passed the hallway and heard Lin Chen's voice inside, so he thought he'd throw a pack of tissues as a prank, never expecting he'd almost hurt Huang Bo.

"You little fatty, you scared the hell out of me! I thought someone was trying to assassinate me with a hidden weapon!" Huang Bo clearly knew Yue Yunpeng.

The two had recorded the same reality show before; while they weren't close friends, they were familiar faces.