Chapter 100#

The Disabled Big Shot’s Stepson#

Lin Pei knew clearly that he was dreaming.

He stood expressionlessly on the terrace, watching himself in the wheelchair tilting his head, chatting and laughing with the youth beside him. A warm atmosphere permeated the night, as if time stood still.

But it was only “as if” after all.

Lin Pei closed his eyes, not wanting to see the scene that was about to unfold.

However, this cruel dream was like a naked mockery of him. When the man opened his eyes again, what he saw was the image that was almost branded on his soul, the last moment of his beloved’s life—

He clearly saw Lin Xiaodong exchange a glance with him. There was no fear or terror on the youth’s pale face, only a bewildered confusion. He even moved his lips slightly… Was he trying to tell him something? To tell him not to worry, that he had just gone to another very distant place?

He lunged forward, his eyes bloodshot, desperately trying to grab the youth’s hand.

But, he was just a little bit short.

Lin Pei could only watch helplessly as Lin Xiaodong left him, falling into the boundless darkness.

The man lay in bed, slowly opening his eyes, his empty gaze fixed on the ceiling. Beside him, joyful cheers erupted: “The Head of the Family is awake! The Head of the Family is finally awake!”

He stiffly turned his head and saw the bed surrounded by Lin family members, most of whom were disheveled, and many were injured.

This was a retaliatory attack. Because the Lin family had helped that person, they vented their anger on the entire family. Lin Pei saw very clearly that they didn’t even want his life; they specifically came for Lin Xiaodong.

These people didn’t want him dead; they just wanted him to hurt.

And they succeeded.

Lin Pei covered his eyes and suddenly let out a low laugh. The noisy crowd around gradually quieted down. Everyone silently watched the man who had suffered two major changes, not daring to disturb him.

“Head of the Family…” Finally, Ye Shiyuan was the first to step forward, his eyes also bloodshot. “Please… accept my condolences.”

He remembered the scene he saw when he rushed out of the castle immediately after hearing the noise, his fists clenching audibly.

“I’m fine.” Lin Pei lowered his hand. Except for his eyes, which looked a bit frightening, his expression was still calm, as if nothing had happened. “Take me to see him.”

Noticing Ye Shiyuan’s hesitant gaze, the man glanced at him indifferently: “I’m really fine.”

Ye Shiyuan, of course, wouldn’t believe such words.

Before, when Lin Xiaodong went to university, he was grazed by a car on the way because it was too dark, only scraping a layer of skin on his knee. The next day, Lin Pei contacted a construction team to install streetlights along the entire road for free. His concern for the youth was evident. Now that Lin Xiaodong was… he still looked as if nothing had happened. How was that possible?

But in front of so many family members, he naturally couldn’t disobey Lin Pei’s order. He could only silently help Lin Pei push the wheelchair over. Just as he was about to help the man sit in it, he was dumbfounded to find that Lin Pei actually stood up on his own!

“Head of the Family, you can walk on your own!?” Ye Shiyuan gasped, surprised.

Lin Pei nodded silently, but his expression showed no joy. Seeing that he was still a bit unsteady on his feet, Lin Shanshan, who had been silently shedding tears nearby, wiped her eyes and brought him a gem-studded scepter that was used as a collectible.

The man leaned on it and slowly walked to the hall on the first floor, led by Ye Shiyuan.

The place originally used for the banquet was now a mess. A clear space had been made in the middle. A total of six Lin family members had died in this riot. Lin Pei slowly walked to their side, knelt down, and uncovered the white tablecloths one by one.

Suppressed sobs came from behind. Those who could attend this banquet were basically core members of the Lin family. Lin Xiaodong’s uncle and aunt, for example, couldn’t even get in no matter how hard they tried.

These well-educated elites mostly possessed extremely high endurance and cultivation, yet facing the departure of their closest and dearest, it was still difficult to suppress immense grief. One mother who had lost her son even fainted on the spot, causing another commotion in the crowd.

When he lifted the fifth white cloth, Lin Pei stopped.

The man quietly looked at the youth’s dust-covered pale face under the white cloth, and slowly wiped away the dirt with his sleeve. Then, as usual, he straightened his messy collar.

Because of the fall from a high altitude, in addition to the fatal chest wound, Lin Xiaodong’s limbs were twisted to varying degrees. This was why Ye Shiyuan, as the first discoverer, almost had a heart attack. He immediately thought about how Lin Pei would feel seeing this scene, so before the man woke up, he could only try his best to make the youth’s appearance look more peaceful.

To be honest, Ye Shiyuan didn’t know how effective this would be, but…

Now, he could only try to make the best of a bad situation.

Lin Pei knelt there for a long time.

“Head of the Family, the crematorium people are here.” Ye Shiyuan had to step forward again, walking to his side and whispering a reminder.

“I know,” Lin Pei lowered his head, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on the youth lying on the ground. “Let me look at him for a little longer.”

Hearing this, Ye Shiyuan’s nose tingled. He had to blink hard several times to keep himself from shedding tears.

Unlike other family members who were held back, crying and clamoring to chase the car, when Ye Shiyuan walked over again and told Lin Pei that they really couldn’t wait any longer, the man slowly covered the white cloth and stood up unsteadily on his own, without anyone’s help.

Watching the car drive away, Lin Pei was the only family member left there.

Because there were still many things waiting for him to handle.

Ye Shiyuan stood beside him, watching Lin Pei systematically give out various tasks as usual, but he didn’t assign anything to himself for a long time, which made him a bit anxious: “Head of the Family, what should I do?”

“You—” Lin Pei looked at him, his hoarse voice paused, not answering immediately, but instead reached out and beckoned Lin Shanshan over.

“Child,” he stroked the girl’s head and said calmly, “I’m sorry. I promised Xiaodong before that I would give you a complete childhood, and at least let you finish university before getting involved in these matters. But now, I might have to break my promise.”

Lin Shanshan looked up at him, her eyes filled with hatred through shimmering tears: “Head of the Family, you don’t need to worry about me. As long as I can avenge Xiaodong, I’ll do anything!”

“Good child.” Lin Pei’s large hand pressed on the girl’s thin shoulder. He seemed to want to force a smile at Lin Shanshan, but unfortunately, he failed in the end.

“Head of the Family, you’re not thinking of letting her take over the family affairs now, are you?” Ye Shiyuan said in disbelief. “But Shanshan is only fifteen! She’s still a high school freshman…”

“When I took over the Lin family, I was only this age,” Lin Pei said calmly. “And, she has me behind her. What is there to fear?”

“But this is too…”

Ye Shiyuan struggled for a while, then suddenly had a flash of inspiration: “Head of the Family, are you saying you’re going to hide behind the scenes and lure those people out?”

Lin Pei neither nodded nor shook his head, only said: “From today on, no matter who wants to see me, refuse them all. Just say I’ve been stimulated and my old injuries have relapsed.”

“Understood!”

“Since you want to force me,” the man let out a flat, emotionless laugh and muttered to himself, “then come on.”

From now on, even if he transforms into a demon from the abyss, he will definitely find those people and drag them all into hell!

Lin Shanshan looked at Lin Pei in front of her and suddenly felt a chill run through her.

On the day Lin Xiaodong’s uncle and aunt went to court, there were a full two hundred people observing the trial, and the number of online live stream viewers was countless.

The public prosecution process was basically completed, but Lin Pei would not let this family off so easily. Lin Xiaodong was gone, but he would still take back what originally belonged to the youth, and make them pay double.

This case was very difficult to fight. It should have been an easy win, but with the death of the plaintiff, although other members of the Lin family coveted the inheritance, they had no reason to intervene. Finally, Lin Pei hired a top lawyer with an annual salary of thirty million, and it took nearly half a year to find a breakthrough and successfully sue the couple again.

“I just don’t understand,” in court, the sallow and haggard aunt shrieked. She now looked no different from a madwoman in a mental hospital. “This is a matter between our family and Lin Xiaodong. Why is Lin Pei, an outsider who has nothing to do with it, meddling?”

“Silence!” The judge had to bang the gavel hard to stop her nervous laughter.

Lin Pei did not appear in court, citing poor health as the reason. So his lawyer spoke for him: “Your Honor, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, as everyone knows, my client, the plaintiff, is worth more than ten billion. The reason he is suing is simply to seek justice for his…” He paused, knowing it wasn’t appropriate to say this publicly, but due to his client’s request, he bit the bullet and continued, “for his deceased beloved.”

“Beloved!!??”

As the words fell, just as the lawyer expected, the entire court erupted in an uproar.

Both the judge and the audience looked at the lawyer in disbelief. The aunt’s eyes widened even more, her bulging eyeballs combined with her gaunt figure made her look like a gaunt ghost.

“Plaintiff’s lawyer, please state it again,” the judge thought he had misheard and confirmed with the lawyer again, “What did you just say was the relationship between the plaintiff and Lin Xiaodong?”

“Beloved.”

This time, the lawyer answered very decisively.

Seeing the judge’s tightly furrowed brow and gradually complex gaze, he knew that whether he could win this case for his client or not, it would become an extremely significant stroke in his legal career.

After a long trial, lasting nearly four hours, the judge finally began the final verdict. Accompanied by the clerk’s “all rise,” whether it was the lawyer in court or Lin Pei, who had been silently watching the live broadcast of the trial in his room, their heartbeats couldn’t help but gradually accelerate.

“This court finds that the couple Lin XX and Wang XX failed to properly fulfill their guardian responsibilities. The crime of property embezzlement is confirmed, and the amount is substantial, with a malicious attitude…”

Upon hearing the first sentence, the experienced lawyer immediately breathed a sigh of relief and showed a confident smile to the camera.

It’s settled!

“…Sentenced to ten years in prison, ordered to return 7.84 million yuan within a limited period!”

With a bang of the gavel, the aunt stood expressionless in the defendant’s dock, and along with her husband, who was crying with regret and tears streaming down his face, they were once again handcuffed.

For them, a ten-year sentence was indeed neither painful nor itchy—they were already serving a life sentence anyway, so an additional ten years made no difference.

But it goes without saying that the couple’s days in prison would probably not be easy. Generally, for a life sentence without murder, early release is possible with good behavior, but now?

They would probably spend their entire lives in prison, working the sewing machine until they died.

Having seen the grand finale, Lin Pei ignored the enthusiastic discussions and gossip of the audience in the live broadcast room, only let out a long sigh and closed the tablet in his hand.

After Lin Xiaodong’s death, Ye Shiyuan had always been worried that Lin Pei would revert to his previous gloomy and reclusive life. But Lin Pei thought he was overthinking it—a person who has seen the sun, even if they are in darkness again, can no longer return to their original state of life.

Many people believe that momentary hope is fleeting and cruel. If one is destined to be alone for life, they would rather never have embraced the light.

But Lin Pei didn’t think so.

His experience with Lin Xiaodong was very short, but it was the happiest time in his decades of life.

Lin Pei never regretted bringing the youth to the castle.

If he were given another chance, he would still reach out, hold the youth tightly in his arms, engrave him into his bones and blood, until death.

In the sixteenth year after that tragedy, Lin Pei finally found the person who had shot Lin Xiaodong.

The Lin family had long since pledged allegiance to him, becoming the sharpest blade in his hand. While secretly guarding national security, Lin Pei also used national intelligence to continuously search for his target for sixteen years.

The mastermind behind the attack had already been killed in an anti-terrorism operation. Now, he had finally caught the last fish that slipped through the net.

Lin Pei, who hadn’t left the castle for a long time, made a special trip to the capital for this. Seeing the imposing female CEO in a dashing trench coat, standing like a beautiful landscape in front of the Lin Group building, commanding with authority, Lin Pei smiled from inside the car. He didn’t go down to greet her, just watched quietly for a while, then had the driver drive back to his residence.

Sixteen years.

The little girl who once wore two pigtails had also become a young entrepreneur worthy of everyone’s admiration.

Lin Pei could finally rest assured, entrusting the Lin family completely into her hands.

Ye Shiyuan’s son was taking the college entrance exam this year. He was busy sending his son to tutoring classes and also helping Lin Pei catch people, so he was overwhelmed. His once handsome hairline had receded in a straight line, and he had to seriously consider hair transplants.

Compared to him, Lin Pei was still the same, except for a few more gray hairs at his temples and faint wrinkles around his eyes.

Only Lin Xiaodong remained in his most beautiful form, forever frozen in his nineteen years.

After returning to the castle, taking advantage of Ye Shiyuan, who had recently become more and more like an old mother, going to attend a college application training for his son, Lin Pei dismissed all the servants. He packed up the torture tools he would need next and went for a walk by the lake alone.

He looked up at the sunflower field not far away, and in a trance, he saw the youth in a straw hat running towards him again.

The corner of the man’s lips unconsciously curved into a smile. He stopped, walked to a small tombstone on the hillside, and placed the flowers in his hand on the ground.

“This is the last time I’ll see you,” his large hand pressed on the tombstone, and he said softly, “I’m sorry, but… if there really is a heaven, I might not be able to accompany you there.”

For these sixteen years, Lin Pei had not told anyone, but his heart was constantly burning with the fire of hatred, without a moment’s rest.

This heartbreaking hatred, he would soon repay it double to the murderer.

A few minutes later, Lin Pei stood up, took one last look at the tombstone, and turned to leave.

The wind gently swayed the grass leaves, and petals drifted away with the wind. A line of words was carved on the tombstone, carved by Lin Pei himself, little by little—

“Life lies in stillness. Here lies a person who no longer wished to run.”

“Shh, please don’t wake him.”