After hanging up the phone, he sat in his chair, staring blankly ahead.
Lin Yanshu stayed lost in thought for a long while before finally getting up and leaving the study.
Standing outside the bedroom door, he found himself without the courage to push it open.
The closed door was like an invisible barrier, separating him from Lin Qian, who lay inside.
Clearly, what had happened to her was her own doing.
Yet his whole heart still ached and felt heavy.
While he hesitated, a servant hurried over. ”Young Master, the Young Miss’s birthday party is about to begin. Please hurry.”
Lin Yanshu hesitated, casting one deep look at the bedroom door, but in the end he silently turned and followed the servant.
Inside the banquet hall, Lin Wan’er was surrounded by the crowd, like a princess adored by all.
She stood before the magnificent cake as everyone sang ”Happy Birthday” in unison.
When the song ended, she took a deep breath and blew out the candles in one go.
In an instant, colorful balloons and streamers flew through the air, and everyone cheered “Happy Birthday” to Lin Wan’er, the sound echoing through the banquet hall for a long time.
Standing among the crowd, Lin Yanshu looked at all the beaming faces, and Lin Qian’s weak, pale figure lying in bed kept surfacing in his mind.
He wanted to smile too, but no matter what, he couldn’t.
While everyone gathered around the cake, happily sharing slices, Lin Yanshu walked alone to the champagne tower in the corner, picked up a glass, and downed it in one gulp.
The champagne trickled down from the corner of his mouth, soaking his collar.
He paid it no mind, drinking glass after glass, as if battling the pain and guilt inside him.
Before long, he was stumbling, his body swaying, and the shouts and laughter around him grew blurry and distant in his ears.
With the last shred of hazy consciousness, he staggered toward the exit of the banquet hall.
Before he could reach the bedroom, a churning nausea surged up from his stomach. He rushed into the bathroom, gripped the sink, and vomited violently.
When he finished, he was gasping for breath, and his muddled mind finally began to clear.
He turned on the faucet and splashed cold water over his face again and again, until his head was completely clear.
Bracing both hands on the sink, he lifted his water-drenched face and looked up at the mirror.
In the mirror, his hair hung messily across his forehead, water dripping steadily from the strands, and his sharply chiseled features looked even more severe.
He sneered at himself, “I did nothing wrong. Why torture myself? I must be insane.”
Just then, his phone suddenly rang.
He pulled it out and saw it was Secretary Qin calling.
Lin Yanshu wiped the water from his face before answering.
“Hello.”
“President, I’ve found everything you asked me to investigate.”
“Speak.” Lin Yanshu’s voice was cold.
Secretary Qin hesitated.
Lin Yanshu grew displeased. “What is it?”
“Well… President, you should prepare yourself,” Secretary Qin said, his voice unusually strained.
Lin Yanshu’s heart tightened. He realized that what Secretary Qin was about to say might be brutal, but he still said firmly, “Mm. Go ahead.”
On the other end of the line, Secretary Qin took a deep breath before finally recounting everything that had happened to Lin Qian in prison.
“President, ever since Miss Lin Qian entered prison, she’s been beaten almost every day—slapped, forced to drink toilet water, denied sleep, made to kneel and kowtow and crawl beneath others. When she didn’t obey, they stabbed her with needles…”
Lin Yanshu’s fingers tightened around his phone, his breathing turning ragged. Through gritted teeth, he asked, “Where would she get needles in prison?”
“Because Miss Lin Qian had to learn embroidery in prison, so…”
Veins bulged on Lin Yanshu’s forehead as he forced down his rage. “Continue.”
“The worst beating Miss Lin Qian suffered was when the inmates broke six arm-thick wooden clubs over her, beating her legs until they broke. She was hospitalized directly.”
Lin Yanshu’s heart felt as if it were being carved out of his chest. The pain made his whole body tremble, his eyes bloodshot.
“President, I also found out that someone instructed those inmates to give Miss Lin Qian ‘special attention.’ And every inmate who beat her had their sentences reduced.”
“A year ago, Miss Lin Qian was hospitalized again, but I couldn’t find out why that time. It was probably another severe beating, because after she was discharged, the prison moved her to a single cell, and she was never beaten again.”
This time, Lin Yanshu’s fury surged like a flood, impossible to suppress no matter how hard he tried.
“Who!”
Secretary Qin had followed Lin Yanshu since he took the president’s seat. He knew his boss better than anyone, and immediately understood what he meant.
“It was… President Gu.”
Gu Beichen!
Gu Yilin’s older brother.
Lin Wan’er’s fiancé by an arranged childhood betrothal.
Or rather, to be precise, Lin Qian’s fiancé—after all, Lin Qian was the true daughter of the Lin family.
The air seemed to freeze. The silence stretched on for a long while.
Secretary Qin’s cautious voice came through. “President?”
“Cancel all cooperation with the Gu Corporation. Do everything in our power to crush the Gu family’s business.” Lin Yanshu’s voice was hoarse and ice-cold, and Secretary Qin couldn’t help but shudder at the sound of it.
“Pre-President, if we do that, our own Lin Group’s interests will suffer too.”
“Do as I say. And one more thing—I don’t want to see any of those people who bullied Qianqian walk out of prison in one piece.”
“Understood.”
Lin Yanshu slowly lowered the phone, his arms hanging limp at his sides, his mind filled with images of Lin Qian struggling desperately as she was beaten.
She had once been an innocent girl with a radiant smile, but now she’d been tortured beyond recognition.
Yes, she had done wrong—the law had already sentenced her to five years in prison. She should never have been subjected to such wanton cruelty.
After a long while, he walked out of the bathroom.
Standing before the bedroom door once more, he had to steel himself for a long moment before pushing it open.
But before he could even step inside, he heard Lin Qian’s low, pleading voice.
“I was wrong… I’m guilty… Please don’t hit me…”
Each nightmare-laden cry was like a knife, stabbing away every last ounce of Lin Yanshu’s courage to take a single step forward.
He quickly shut the door, sealing away the sounds within, and stumbled into his study.
Late at night.
The study was pitch black.
Lin Yanshu’s phone rang and rang, continuing for a long time with no answer, until it cut off automatically.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Father Lin was jolted awake from a deep sleep by the ringing of his phone.
He fumbled around on the nightstand until he found it. “Hello?”
Whatever was said on the other end, Father Lin—who had been groggy with sleep only a second before—shot upright in bed the next.
“What?”
The shout woke Mother Lin as well.
“What are you yelling about in the middle of the night?”
Father Lin’s face was red with fury, his neck thick with rage. “That good-for-nothing Lin Yanshu actually terminated the partnership with the Gu Corporation. In less than one night, ten billion evaporated from Gu’s market value.”
“Impossible.”
“How is it impossible? Even Beichen called personally demanding an explanation.”
Father Lin threw off his blankets and got out of bed, storming furiously to Lin Yanshu’s bedroom and kicking the door open.