Chapter 136: Chapter 135: A Heartless Bad Guy

"Bro, what are you up to? Come out and hang for a bit."

While he was roasting people in the group chat, Lin Chu received a private message from Lu Ming. A tone like this usually meant something serious was up.

"Sure. Let’s go. Wait for me at the door."

Lin Chu climbed out of bed and put on his island attire: a gaudy, colorful shirt. It had to be polyester—the kind that stuck to your skin when you sweated and billowed in the wind. That was the essence of island wear.

Liang Jieyu was on her phone nearby, watching a livestream. Seeing Lin Chu about to leave, she asked, "Brother, where are you going?"

"You just keep doing your thing. A buddy of mine needs to talk to me."

She hummed in acknowledgment and nodded obediently.

Watching Lin Chu’s retreating back, her mind drifted to what had happened on the sea today. It was incredible, almost nonsensical. She couldn’t quite wrap her head around Lin Chu’s way of thinking.

’He was a complete stranger. Why bother with him?’

But then she thought about it again and just felt that Lin Chu did whatever he pleased, treating money like it was nothing. That was half a million yuan, tossed into the sea just like that.

’It would’ve been so much better if you’d tossed it to me.’

Over the past few days, she had helped Lin Chu complete a few more "money-spending" missions. She watched as the number of streamers at LC Media grew. Even though most were men, every new signee got a welcome package right from their first stream: a massive traffic boost from one hundred Carnivals.

Just on this vacation, Lin Chu had already spent nearly ten million, which meant his actual cost was at least five million.

It was truly tempting.

It was a no-brainer: when they got back to Peng City, she was definitely going to stick with Lin Chu. ’Brother, make me a star!’

...

"What’s wrong?"

At the door, Lin Chu saw Lu Ming and greeted him with a smile, patting his shoulder. Noticing the faint worry on his friend’s face, he asked casually.

Lu Ming let out a long sigh. "Ai, let’s go. We can talk on the beach."

Gao Haitao followed behind him with a couple of his guys, but they kept a respectable distance.

Lin Chu and Lu Ming walked shoulder-to-shoulder toward the beach.

When they reached the white sand, Lin Chu kicked off his flip-flops and started walking barefoot.

"So, talk."

Lu Ming sighed again, his gaze drifting toward the distant ocean. He looked conflicted and a little lost. "Xiaolu wants to break up with me. She can’t take it anymore. The whole thing has blown up."

Huh?

Only then did Lin Chu remember. "That’s right. How come you didn’t bring her on this trip?"

It was a question he already knew the answer to. Lu Ming licked his lips. "What kind of trip is this?! How could I bring her? She’d go crazy! To avoid bringing her, I deliberately picked a fight with her right before we left so we’d be in a cold war. I figured that would give me an excuse, a perfect chance to get away and relax. I could just smooth things over when I got back, no problem."

Lin Chu: ...

"You sneaky bastard, you’re full of tricks."

"So what are you thinking now?"

Well, on this topic, it was the pot calling the kettle black. He was in no position to lecture his friend, so there was no point.

Still, deep down, Lin Chu actually hoped the two of them would work things out. After all, they were a good match in many ways.

"She brought up breaking up today... and I’m... still a little upset about it. I did truly love her, and we were a good fit."

Lu Ming’s voice was laced with conflict.

Lin Chu clicked his tongue.

"This reminds me of a movie, and a line from it: ’I love you... my goddamn foot!’"

"Bro, you want to be a player, but you’re also hoping to get shot by Cupid’s arrow? Are you kidding me?"

"What makes you so special? You think you can have it all? Are you better looking than Daniel Wu, a bigger deal than Jackie Chan, or richer than Li Bancheng?"

"Look, I can’t get involved in this. But if you need me to do something, just say the word."

Lu Ming nodded.

After a moment of thought, he added slowly, "Then... there’s Du Xiaoman. She and Xiaolu are thick as thieves. They’ve definitely told each other about this."

Lin Chu glanced at him and chuckled. "If she dares to cause trouble, she can get lost."

Lu Ming: ...

"Isn’t that a little too extreme?"

He still had a nagging feeling that it wasn’t right. It was too domineering.

"So what’s the alternative? She throws a fit, and you beg, apologize, slap your own face, kneel on a durian, kneel on a washboard, send her money, buy her flowers, buy her gifts, or... hmm? Maybe you should just jump off a building and end it all?"

Lin Chu asked with a smile.

Lu Ming: ’...Bro, that stings. Stop, please stop.’

"What about that dive buddy of yours?"

Lin Chu asked again.

A grin Lu Ming couldn’t suppress spread across his face. He chuckled. "She’s alright. Pretty great, actually."

Lin Chu couldn’t help but give him a light kick, cursing with a laugh, "Then get the hell out of here!"

"Wasting my damn time!"

"What’s with all this damn melodrama?!"

...

"Brother Chu, Lu Ming wants to break up with me. (pitiful)(pitiful)"

Just as they were talking, Lin Chu suddenly received a message from Xiaolu. She had come to him for judgment.

Lin Chu: ?

He showed the phone to Lu Ming.

’What the hell.’

Lu Ming glanced at the screen, and the smile immediately vanished from his face. He looked up at Lin Chu, curious to see how he would handle this.

"Hm? What happened? Are you acting up again?"

Lin Chu replied, feigning ignorance.

Lu Ming: ’...Damn, he’s good. That phrase, "acting up," was the perfect touch.’

Xiaolu quickly replied, "No way! I wasn’t acting up! About a week ago, I mentioned that the Qixi Festival was coming up and asked how we should celebrate. I just brought it up, and he suddenly got mad and started a fight with me. Did you guys go on a trip together?"

Lin Chu glanced at the message, then back at Lu Ming.

Lu Ming suddenly became agitated. "Fuck, Qixi, what fucking Qixi Festival! We have to celebrate Valentine’s Day, then Girls’ Day on March 7th, then Women’s Day on March 8th, even April Fools’ Day on April 1st and Labor Day on May 1st! Then there’s 520 and 521, two more fucking holidays, and holy shit, she even wants to celebrate Children’s Day on June 1st! Is she a child?! I’m gonna puke, I’m really gonna puke."

Hearing this, Lin Chu couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst out laughing.

Er...

This... Yeah, Xiaolu really was taking it a bit too far.

Then again, Li Yaoyao had been about the same back in the day.

"Break up! We have to break up! Fuck, I’m done! Celebrate a bunch of damn holidays! It’s not that I don’t have a sense of occasion, but at this rate, can we have a single day that *isn’t* an occasion? Is there ever a time when we’re *not* celebrating something?!"

At that moment, Lu Ming seemed to have finally made up his mind.

"Fine. Then go ahead and delete her for me. Stop her from polluting my feed too."

Lin Chu casually handed his phone to Lu Ming.

It took Lu Ming a second to process this. He took the phone, hesitated for a moment, then steeled himself and deleted Xiaolu from Lin Chu’s WeChat contacts.

Then he let out a long breath of relief.

Lin Chu also let out a long sigh and casually sent a message to Du Xiaoman: "Lu Ming and Xiaolu fought and broke up. What are your thoughts?"

「At that moment.」

In a dorm room at Peng City University, the two girls stared at the red exclamation mark on one phone and the message from Lin Chu on the other, then looked at each other.

Du Xiaoman scratched her head, feeling an inexplicable sense of panic.

’Ah, this feels like it’s all about to fall apart.’

’Time to use my brain.’

She quickly thought about her response and typed: "Brother, I... I’ll calm Xiaolu down first. Leave this to me, don’t worry. I’ll be waiting for you to come back. I miss you so much. (muah)"

Lin Chu showed the message to Lu Ming. "See? Isn’t she sensible?"

Lu Ming: ...

’So, the "heartless bastard" is the one at the top of the food chain in these games of love, huh?’

...

...