Witnessing their mother's unraveling, Lin Xiaotong and Lin Shiyan realized the silver lock was no ordinary trinket.
Lin Xiaotong spoke swiftly. "Lin Yu, you signed the agreement. Put down the Lin family's property, this doesn't belong to you."
"'The Lin family's property'?" Lin Yu's voice was ice-cold. "This is the only keepsake my mother left me. Since when does it belong to you?" His tone sharpened. "Has the Lin family sunk so low you'd steal the little I brought with me?"
Lan Lin could no longer hold back. She wept openly. "Yu'er, I...Mom's sorry. Please, don't leave me. Stay, please."
The sight of the silver lock stirred something in Lin Yuan. Blood ties surged, and his voice trembled. "Son… Lin Yu… I"
"Lin Yu is dead!" Lin Yu roared, cutting him off.
Then, exhaling sharply, he spoke with eerie calm.
"If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave. May the Lin family honor their oath, henceforth let us never meet again."
With that, he limped past the stunned crowd and out of the bathroom.
Lan Lin lunged to grab him, but Lin Yu sidestepped her grasp. The others could only watch as he approached Lin Tianyang and paused.
Lin Yu stopped before Lin Tianyang, whose face had turned ashen. Without meeting his eyes, Lin Yu asked coolly, "Benefactor Lin, do you know why I helped you?"
Lin Tianyang, towering over 1.8 meters, pressed his thin lips together and said nothing.
"One rotten orange is just one. A basket of them? That's true decay." Lin Yu's voice was soft but razor-sharp. "Work hard, Benefactor Lin. This humble monk has high hopes for you."
Without waiting for a reply, Lin Yu brushed past him. Forgoing the elevator, he descended the stairs step by step.
His parting words struck the Lin family like lightning in a silent storm.
They stood frozen, watching helplessly as Lin Yu vanished from the sixth floor. No one spoke.
After a long silence, Lan Lin stumbled to the elevator like a woman possessed, jabbing the button frantically. The doors, already on their floor, shuddered under her relentless pressing but refused to open.
Desperate, she bolted for the stairwell, the others trailing behind. Soon, the sixth floor was empty except for Lin Tianyang, his face still drained of color.
As the last footsteps faded, his expression twisted with fury. For sixteen years, he'd never been ignored by the Lin family. The humiliation seared him but the fear was worse.
Lin Yu's final words terrified him most. His carefully crafted facade, the dutiful brilliant heir had fooled the family, but not Lin Yu.
For years, while polishing his image, Lin Tianyang had worked tirelessly to tarnish Lin Yu's name. He'd thought Lin Yu was clueless. But that last sentence laid bare the truth, Lin Yu had known everything. He'd simply chosen not to expose him.
This boy from the countryside wasn't the weakling Lin Tianyang had assumed. Lin Yu had preserved the family's harmony, until now.
Worse, Lin Tianyang had felt it, the undercurrent of lethal intent in those words. A clear warning. Your schemes are child's play to me.
"Lin Yu… why won't you just die?"
His jaw clenched.
"Fine, If you threaten my place, I won't let you live."
Slowly, Lin Tianyang's expression smoothed into its usual gentle mask. He hurried after the others, calling out
"Dad! Mom! Eldest Sister! Second Sister! If Brother insists on leaving, at least let him eat first. I'll give him all my savings, so he won't suffer out there."
By the time the family reached the first-floor living room, Lin Yu had already passed the villa's gates, his limping figure fading into the distance.
Lin Xiaotong frowned. "Dad, Mom, did you injure his leg? Why is he limping?"
Lin Yuan stared after Lin Yu, silent. Lan Lin shook her head. "No. We only struck his upper body, his face, mostly. Never his legs."
Lin Shiyan's brow furrowed. "Was he always crippled?"
"No," Lin Xiaotong said firmly. "When we found him, he had a full medical exam at our hospital. Aside from malnutrition, he was healthy."
Lin Yuan's temper flared.
"Enough! What does it matter if he's crippled? He's betrayed this family. After everything we've done, he's still ungrateful. Tianyang, raised by us since childhood has humbled himself repeatedly, yet Lin Yu won't relent."
His voice turned venomous. "I don't care if he's crippled. If he dies out there, it's his own fault."
Though Lin Xiaotong and Lin Shiyan detected no remorse in their father's words, Lin Tianyang did. That flicker of regret had to be extinguished now. Otherwise, it might one day be rekindle.
"Time to twist the knife."
Lin Tianyang's eyes brimmed with tears. "Dad, Mom… don't worry. I'll bring Brother back." His voice cracked.
"You've raised me for sixteen years. I'm so grateful, how could I steal his life? I'll just… leave."
He turned to his sisters, trembling.
"Eldest Sister, Second Sister… after I'm gone, take care of Mom and Dad. They've sacrificed so much for us…"
Lan Lin, still raw from the lock's revelation, paled. "Tianyang! Are you trying to break my heart?"
Lin Yuan gripped Lin Tianyang's shoulder. "Nonsense! You'll always be our son. That ingrate? Let him go. We're done with him."
His voice hardened. "He's been trouble from day one. Spoiled, selfish, and now he's sabotaged the family business. The West Suburb land was our ticket into real estate. Because of him, we lost over a billion. A billion."
Lin Yuan scoffed. "Good riddance."
Nearby, Old Qin hesitated before approaching. "Master… the eldest young master likely has less than a hundred yuan. If he leaves like this, how will he survive? Should we…?"
Lin Yuan rounded on him. "Less than a hundred? We've given him plenty only slightly less than Tianyang. And now he's whining to you about poverty? Shameless."
Old Qin sighed inwardly and retreated.
-----
As expected, Lin Yu had almost nothing. At the bus stop, he inspected his tattered jacket worn for three years, now torn in several places. After a moment, he pulled out his phone.
Time to call his adoptive father.
Though the man had never allowed him to say "Dad", only Master he'd always been kind.
Lin Yu's life before twelve had been simple, almost peaceful. The only thing missing was a mother's warmth.
His adoptive father was a true saint. His name was Xuan Ce.