Chapter 91#

The Disabled Big Shot’s Stepson#

Lin Xiaodong’s room originally had an air conditioner too.

But clearly, his uncle and aunt wished he would freeze to death. Turning on the air conditioner? That was impossible.

Even before, when they saw their son secretly sneak into Lin Xiaodong’s room and cut the air conditioner pipe, they even adopted an encouraging and praising attitude. Since then, Lin Qi, who was originally somewhat afraid of Lin Xiaodong, was encouraged and began to bully this “outsider” living in their home with increasing intensity.

Therefore, when the air conditioner repairman came to the door with his toolbox and earnestly said he wanted to help them repair all the air conditioners in the entire house for free, the couple exchanged glances, and both saw reluctance in each other’s eyes.

“The room on the far east of the first floor, the one with the door always closed, you don’t need to go there,” the aunt proactively said. “That’s a storage room, it doesn’t matter.”

“Don’t worry, all our repairs are completely free,” but the repairman still insisted, “Even if you don’t need it now, maybe you will in the future? Currently, the company is having a promotion, and the opportunity is only once.”

“Then… alright.”

In the end, the psychology of taking small advantages still prevailed.

Anyway, that ungrateful brat would soon be gone, and then the whole house would be theirs, the aunt thought. Since it was free, there was no reason not to take advantage of it.

There were three repairmen in total. Two were responsible for the second floor, and one, a younger one, said he was an apprentice. He stood silently by the side wearing a hat and a mask. When it was time to work, he carried his bag and walked towards the storage room.

The aunt almost rolled her eyes to the sky. The other two experienced masters quickly comforted her: “Young people don’t know any better, don’t mind him.”

The young man walked to the closed door and knocked: “Hello, we’re here to fix the air conditioner.”

About half a minute later, the door finally opened slowly. Lin Xiaodong, with a head of messy hair, slowly lifted his eyelids: “What… cough!” He stared at Ye Shiyuan, who had taken off his mask and was winking at him, and almost choked to death on his own saliva.

“No, Mr. Ye?” He lowered his voice, quickly scanned the living room, and only slightly relaxed when he didn’t see the couple’s shadows. He continued to ask, “Why are you here?”

“Come in and talk.”

Ye Shiyuan pushed him into the room, turned around, and closed the door. He took off his hat, let out a long sigh, and looked at the surprised Lin Xiaodong with a brilliant smile: “How are you doing recently?”

Lin Xiaodong: “Uh… alright?”

“Alas, you don’t know how miserable I’ve been,” Ye Shiyuan sighed, pouring out his grievances. “I was sent to Sweden by the Head of the Family! Sweden! I didn’t see the sun for a week there! And I had to plant potatoes or something; it was practically killing me…”

Lin Xiaodong rummaged through his backpack, pulled out a bottle of mineral water, and handed it to him, sympathizing, “Don’t get excited, Mr. Ye, take your time.”

Ye Shiyuan subconsciously took it and gulped down several mouthfuls. When the man calmed down, he looked around and instantly flew into a rage when he saw the empty room with only a bed: “They just let you stay in this godforsaken place? In this cold weather, they don’t even give you a cup of hot water?”

He originally wanted to go out immediately to settle accounts with the couple, but remembering Lin Pei’s instructions, he clenched the mineral water bottle and held back.

“Xiaodong, you’ve been wronged,” he said with concern.

Lin Xiaodong pretended not to see the mineral water bottle twisted into a knot, sat down on the bed, and said helplessly, “So, Lin Pei sent you to find me? And fixing the air conditioner, why pretend like this?”

“I actually just wanted to come and see you. The Head of the Family, he…” Ye Shiyuan spoke halfway, then suddenly clamped his mouth shut as if he was wary of something. Lin Xiaodong tilted his head, looking at him in confusion: “What’s wrong with Lin Pei?”

“The Head of the Family is doing very well,” Ye Shiyuan smiled, subtly changing the subject. “Also, I have another task this time. We plan to secretly install cameras in this house to ensure your safety.”

“Why?”

“Don’t you know? Your aunt has been pulling strings these past few days, hoping to invite that famous family doctor, renowned nationwide, to treat her son,” Ye Shiyuan spread his hands. “She also brought a bunch of relatives to the door. Do you think this is normal?”

Of course not normal.

Lin Xiaodong thought for a moment and roughly understood what they wanted to do. He shook his head, thinking to himself that this was truly self-inflicted misery. From Lin Qi to his parents, this family’s way of courting death was exactly the same.

“Thank you, Mr. Ye,” the youth said obediently. “When I leave here, I’ll treat you to a meal.”

“How can I let a child like you treat me to a meal? It should be me treating you,” Ye Shiyuan said with a smile, rubbing his hair. “Also, the Head of the Family is already preparing your 18th birthday gift. It might be a bit late, so don’t mind.”

“What is it?” Lin Xiaodong was still a bit curious.

“It’s a secret for now,” Ye Shiyuan said mysteriously.

The man stood up and opened the toolbox he carried: “Alright, although it’s just for show, it has to look a bit convincing. Remember to download a universal remote control app on your phone, so you can turn on the air conditioner whenever you feel cold.”

But Lin Xiaodong watched with wide eyes as the confident Ye Shiyuan stood on a chair and fiddled with the wall for a long time, actually making the air conditioner, which only had a broken pipe, emit black smoke, looking like it was about to explode on the spot.

“…………”

“Anyway, the surveillance is installed,” Ye Shiyuan coughed, somewhat guiltily. “As for this air conditioner… well, it’s not going to benefit their family anyway. Just bear with it for a few days.”

He put on his hat and mask again, picked up his toolbox, and quickly left the room, his retreating figure looking somewhat like a hasty escape.

Lin Xiaodong: “…………”

This person is too unreliable!

No choice, he had to do it himself, and barely managed to fix the air conditioner to look no different from its original state—of course, the pipe was still broken. Then he lay back on the bed, idly fiddling with the mobile phone Ye Shiyuan had left on the table.

There were only two contacts in it: Ye Shiyuan and Lin Pei.

Lin Xiaodong thought for a moment and sent a “thank you” to Ye Shiyuan, but his finger hovered over Lin Pei’s number, unsure what to text the man.

When they were together, Lin Xiaodong never felt any awkwardness or discomfort; their interactions always felt natural and casual. But now, after only a week apart, Lin Xiaodong felt a strange hesitation—Lin Pei didn’t even show up when he left the castle. Wouldn’t sending some irrelevant messages now just make him seem self-important?

The system couldn’t understand what he was thinking. Clearly, Gu Xi in the first world had done the same thing, even having the housekeeper throw him out with his luggage, but Lin Xiaodong at that time was full of confidence and not flustered at all.

“You seem to have become timid,” the system said.

“…No,” Lin Xiaodong lowered his eyes. “I’m never the timid one.”

The man in this world was different from all the men in previous worlds.

His disability was a blow to him far beyond the physical, extending to the mental. Even Gu Xingzhai, born in the most conservative era, was far less enduring than the seemingly frank and composed Lin Pei.

Towards Gu Xingzhai, Lin Xiaodong could be bold, actively teasing and provoking, but towards Lin Pei…

So far, his most outrageous act was merely waking up in the man’s room after fainting and half-jokingly showing him his healthy legs.

“This is really difficult,” he sighed. “Even if these psychological issues are superficially resolved, if the fundamental problem isn’t addressed, it’s all in vain. Or, in this world, do I have to wait until Lin Pei truly stands up from his wheelchair to get that Good Person Card?”

But even the system couldn’t be sure: could the man really stand up on his own two feet again?

After a moment of contemplation, Lin Xiaodong still sent a message to Lin Pei—

“Where did you put the sunflowers I painted?”

But he didn’t receive a reply for a long time.

The youth yawned sleepily, closed his eyes, and fell into a deep sleep.

Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometers away in the castle, on the second floor, the pale-faced man lay on a bed surrounded by instruments, staring at the lit screen, watching silently for a long time.

The walls around him were covered with sunflower paintings in various shades of yellow—pale yellow, Indian yellow, chrome lemon yellow, lemon yellow, orange chrome yellow…

Some were Lin Xiaodong’s weekly assignments to him, others were discarded drafts from when he first came to the castle. Lin Xiaodong had forgotten their existence and hadn’t bothered to take them. Now, they were all collected by Lin Pei, filling the entire room.

—Therefore, even in the darkness, this passionate and brilliant yellow embraced him like sunlight.