Chapter 94#

The Disabled Big Shot’s Stepson#

When he returned to the castle, there was no grand welcoming ceremony like last time. Although it was already night, only a few lights were sparsely lit in the castle, making it appear desolate and quiet.

Lin Xiaodong looked at the garden, enclosed by tall green walls under the night sky, and asked curiously, “What are you guys doing?”

Ye Shiyuan, in the driver’s seat, glanced at him without speaking, but a smile appeared on his face.

“Another secret, isn’t it?” Lin Xiaodong said helplessly. “Alright, but I can probably guess.”

Because they returned too late, Ye Shiyuan didn’t want to disturb Lin Pei’s rest, so he arranged for Lin Xiaodong to sleep in his original room. Their conversation in the corridor even startled Lin Shanshan, who was sleeping in the adjacent room. The girl rubbed her eyes and opened the door, her surprise immeasurable the moment she saw Lin Xiaodong: “You’re back!?”

“Yeah,” Lin Xiaodong rubbed his nose and coughed.

He wasn’t blind; how could he not notice Lin Shanshan’s feelings? But not to mention Lin Xiaodong’s gender and preference for men, even if he liked women, being attracted to a middle school girl would be considered perverse.

Ye Shiyuan gave him a look that said, “You’d better figure out how to handle this.” He pretended not to see it. After a brief chat with Lin Shanshan, he used the excuse of being too tired from the journey and retreated to his room to sleep.

“What’s wrong with him?”

Lin Shanshan felt a little wronged by his attitude, as if he was avoiding her.

Ye Shiyuan looked at the two young people with amusement and patted the girl’s shoulder: “It’s late. You should go back to sleep too.”

“Mr. Ye, now that he’s back, will he continue studying with us?” Lin Shanshan looked up and asked him, her expression still eager. She wasn’t afraid of challenges. Lin Shanshan even felt a subtle joy at having Lin Xiaodong as a rival.

The so-called “studying” was just a euphemism for the selection. Ye Shiyuan understood Lin Shanshan’s meaning, but under the girl’s disappointed gaze, the man shook his head and said, “No. I’ve already discussed it with Xiaodong on the way. His dream is to get into an art academy, so he will take the college entrance exam. He’s not on the same path as you.”

“I see…” Lin Shanshan was very disappointed.

Lin Xiaodong still didn’t know that another young girl’s heart had withered in its cradle because of him. After returning to his room, he casually glanced around and immediately noticed something was off—someone had been in this room.

This didn’t refer to the cleaning lady, but a sense of lived-in atmosphere that was hard to describe in words. Anyone with experience living in dorms or traveling for business understands that a house that has been uninhabited for a long time feels completely different from one that is lived in.

Even if the exterior looked identical, with neat bedding and a clean desk, it didn’t stop Lin Xiaodong from feeling uncomfortable.

It wasn’t that he wouldn’t allow others to stay in a room he had used; he wasn’t that domineering. But the castle was so large, fourteen of the sixteen children had left, so there should be many empty rooms. Why would someone choose his remote room and coincidentally stay there until just before he returned?

Lin Xiaodong walked to the side of the large bed, stood quietly for a moment, then suddenly squatted down, lifted the bedsheet, and carefully examined the mattress.

Upon seeing the two faint indentations on it, he snorted lightly and curled his lips.

Just as he thought.

System asked: “Are you going upstairs to find him?”

Lin Pei should be upstairs now. Although Ye Shiyuan didn’t want to wake him up for this, they both knew the man couldn’t possibly be unaware that Lin Xiaodong had arrived at the castle.

“I’m not doing that,” Lin Xiaodong flopped onto the bed. The quilt, freshly sunned today, was dry and warm, making the youth happily narrow his eyes. “Isn’t he trying to save face and endure? Then I’ll see how long he can last.”

But remembering what Dr. Lin had told him earlier, Lin Xiaodong hesitated a bit.

“Let’s talk about it tomorrow,” he closed his eyes and murmured.

A good night’s sleep.

The next day, upon waking, Lin Xiaodong received good news—his dear uncle and aunt, due to filing a false police report, had their identities, personal information, and family assets thoroughly investigated by the police (with Ye Shiyuan’s push, of course). They were now found to have embezzled state assets, and the amount was not small, making it almost certain they would go to jail.

“I never thought they’d be so bold,” Ye Shiyuan sighed during breakfast. “The moment that amount came out, it startled even the auditors. It’s been a long time since our city had a case involving such a huge sum. The mayor even called us at four in the morning yesterday to inquire about the progress. Your uncle and aunt will definitely be in big trouble, no surprise there.”

Lin Xiaodong asked: “Then how many years will they be sentenced?”

“It’s no longer a matter of a few years,” Ye Shiyuan sneered. “Such a large amount of state assets being transferred could even be deemed treason! Now, all relevant personnel have been restricted from leaving and are awaiting further interrogation. As for the main culprits, it’s a blessing if they don’t lose their heads!”

He even took out his phone and let Lin Xiaodong “enjoy” the interrogation records.

In the surveillance video, the aunt initially remained stubborn and refused to admit anything, even cursing that the police were unprofessional and were being led around by the nose by that ungrateful wretch Lin Xiaodong. But when the police presented the evidence provided by Ye Shiyuan and his team one by one, the woman’s expression almost instantly turned pale, and her body began to tremble uncontrollably.

And her cowardly and incompetent husband was even easier to deal with.

He woke up shortly after being sent to the hospital, and the police only used some psychological techniques to interrogate him. The man himself became flustered, his words disjointed.

“I… I really don’t know anything! Really!” He cried hysterically, collapsing on the bed, insisting that it was all his wife’s idea. “It was all her idea! I tried to persuade her at the time, but it was no use. What a wasteful woman; what sin did I commit in my previous life to marry her…”

On the hospital bed, this middle-aged man, over fifty, covered his face and wailed like a three-year-old child.

But he received not an ounce of sympathy from anyone present.

At a critical moment, as a man, he unhesitatingly pushed all the blame onto his wife. Even the young auxiliary police officer nearby looked at him with disdain—not to mention the dirty deeds he had done, a man who only knew how to shift blame when things went wrong was simply too shameless!

However, because he had recently fainted and had a history of heart disease and stroke, the police didn’t dare to interrogate him too harshly. They simply sent his recording to their colleagues at the police station.

And upon hearing her husband’s recording, which unhesitatingly betrayed her, the originally desperate woman suddenly went mad and began to curse him, from his infidelity in his youth that she caught him in the act, to his secret cheating at the mahjong table, to even intimate details like his “thirty-second lipstick man” habit. Several police officers couldn’t hold her back. The vulgarity of her words was simply unbearable…

Upon seeing this part, Ye Shiyuan quickly cut off the video.

Lin Xiaodong still smacked his lips, not quite satisfied.

This video was too exciting. Some couples are like birds of the same forest, flying their separate ways in times of great disaster. But this pair of scumbag spouses was even more impressive: they were like dogs biting dogs in times of great disaster, disregarding even basic dignity to save themselves.

“Cough, that’s basically the situation,” he said to Lin Xiaodong. “This incident caused a huge stir. The local prosecutor’s office will file a public prosecution with the court. If you want to get back the inheritance your parents left you, the Head of the Family will definitely hire the best lawyers for you, but it might require you to appear in court for some time. What do you think?”

“No problem,” Lin Xiaodong agreed immediately.

“Alright then, I’ll go prepare now!”

Ye Shiyuan loved doing this kind of work. He didn’t even bother to finish his meal, picked up his plate, and left in a hurry.

Lin Xiaodong no longer needed to participate in the selection, so he naturally didn’t have to painstakingly exchange medals for three meals a day. He couldn’t bear to leave without finishing breakfast. The youth sat in the sun-drenched room, peeling an egg, and asked the system to replay the video Ye Shiyuan had shown him earlier from the beginning.

It was quite entertaining.

“But,” he suddenly remembered something, “what about Lin Qi?”

“The Lin family has a special sanatorium specifically for elderly people without children to care for them,” a calm, slightly hoarse voice came from behind him. “Although Lin Qi is still young, given his current condition, no one would adopt him, so he will also be sent there.”

Before he could turn around, a warm large hand had already covered Lin Xiaodong’s back.

“You…”

Lin Pei turned his head, gazing at the youth’s stiff profile. Maintaining this half-embrace, he gently curled the corner of his lips. But hidden beneath the gentle facade was a deep obsession that made one involuntarily tremble.

The man asked softly, “You came back last night. Why didn’t you come to greet me?”