Lin Xi saw Lin Zhe wake up and was so excited she hadn’t yet spoken, but her aunt beat her to it.
“Zhe, you’re awake! I knew my method would work. Luckily I went and begged for a folk remedy—I walked thirty li to get it…”
“I wasn’t talking to you!”
Lin Zhe cut off his aunt’s rambling with disgust, then said calmly, “Are you planning to take Wang Baiwan’s bride price to pay for my treatment first, and then hand over our family’s two houses to him as collateral?”
“I’m not, I’m not… I…”
Lin Xi’s eyes flickered with panic, her gaze darting evasively, her words utterly unconvincing.
She wasn’t yet the formidable businesswoman from her past life—just a kind-hearted, simple girl who didn’t know how to lie.
Lin Zhe suddenly roared: “You know perfectly well whether you did or not. Do you realize what this is? This is marriage fraud!”
“You commit marriage fraud, but I get stuck carrying the burden for life. You want me to be your accomplice? No way. I do not consent to this marriage.”
“…”
“Marriage fraud” was something that had truly happened in his past life.
Lin Xi’s plan had seemed sound. Wang Baiwan had money and power, so naturally he wouldn’t fear her aunt’s family of shameless freeloaders.
The two houses already belonged to the Lin siblings—more than enough to cover the debt.
But she hadn’t considered that in Wang Baiwan’s eyes, how could two houses worth three hundred thousand compare to an outstanding young woman with excellent grades and nearly perfect looks, poise, and temperament?
Wang Baiwan didn’t want the houses—he wanted Lin Xi. He whipped up public opinion to force her into compliance.
Even though Lin Zhe later got rich and threw three million at Wang Baiwan, Lin Xi was still left with the dark stain of marriage fraud.
The label of Fu Di Mo followed her for the rest of her life, dragging down the Lin siblings’ entire lives.
“Zhe, how could you…”
Everyone was stunned—not only because “marriage fraud” was so shocking, but because the Lin Zhe sitting in the wheelchair had changed so dramatically.
How could a dull, slow-witted high school senior suddenly have such a fierce, penetrating gaze?
And Lin Zhe’s sharp, proud aura made Third Aunt’s whole family feel a chill of fear.
Those with guilty consciences fear a knock at the door at midnight.
“Oh my, Xi, you actually had thoughts of marriage fraud! You’re trying to get us all killed…”
“Get you killed? And you have the nerve to say that.”
Lin Zhe furiously rebuked his aunt, then turned to his sister: “Lin Xi, have you considered that if you agree to marry Wang Baiwan, you’d be required to come back to prepare for the wedding—did you think Auntie would agree otherwise?”
“But coming back to prepare for the wedding means losing your current job. You’re just an intern—Lidu Studio, an elite company like that, wouldn’t give you more than three days off.”
“Once you lose your job, our dear auntie will use ‘no financial capability’ as grounds to strip you of guardianship over me.”
“Then all our family’s houses and property would fall right into her hands.”
“You… this… how could…”
Lin Xi panicked—a bone-deep terror, as if the sky were collapsing.
She would never give up guardianship of her brother. Mom and Dad had been suddenly taken from them, and right now, Lin Zhe was the only belief keeping her going.
Lin Zhe looked at the girl who was crying helplessly in panic, and the words of reproach on the tip of his tongue could no longer come out.
Was Lin Xi stupid?
No—with the schemes she had displayed in her past life, how could she be stupid?
She was just being driven to death, nearly driven to death by him, her own younger brother.
When Lin Zhe spoke again, because of the lingering guilt he felt toward Lin Xi from his previous life, his voice unconsciously choked up.
“Sis, take me with you! Don’t abandon me… I can earn money, I can support the two of us…”
“You’re alone in Mocheng, and Aunt and the others took over our house under the pretense of taking care of me. Do you know how they treat me?”
“To avoid having to clean up my shit and piss, they often don’t give me any food for an entire day. Before you came, they fed me sleeping pills to keep me drowsy…”
“I have a fever right now because on a rainy day they threw me outside and left me soaked all night…”
“If you don’t believe me, look at the inside of my right thigh—there’s a burn scar from boiling water. They scalded me with it yesterday. If I weren’t paralyzed and couldn’t feel pain…”
“……”
“Boo-hoo-hoo-hoo~”
“Sis would never abandon you, I promise. Let Sis see your burn…”
Lin Xi was already crying her eyes out, reaching out to look at Lin Zhe’s burn.
But Lin Zhe’s aunt quickly reacted, darting in front of Lin Xi to block her.
“Oh dear, Zhe, the fever has made you delirious. Why are you talking such nonsense? When did we ever mistreat you?”
“Lu Bing, Lu Bing, come out quickly and drive Zhe to the hospital. Zhe has a fever.”
The bedroom door opened, and two men inside were smoking. The younger one sauntered out lazily.
“Didn’t you say we men weren’t allowed to be part of your conversation? Why think of us now?”
Lu Bing, Lin Zhe’s cousin, was the biggest beneficiary of the house-seizing incident, and also one of the people Lin Zhe hated most in his previous life.
“Oh, my dear little brother, you’ve actually learned to tell lies. But I won’t hold it against you, cousin. We’ll get you to the hospital right away!”
Lu Bing flashed Lin Xi a smile he thought was charming, then very gentlemanly pushed Lin Zhe out the door.
But when his back was turned to Lin Xi, his fair, clean face was covered in gloom and contempt.
Lin Xi pushed aside the aunt blocking her way and said with a cold face: “We don’t need your kindness. I’ll take my brother to the hospital myself!”
The cousin sitting on the sofa with her legs crossed muttered: “So you actually have money, cousin! You were so stingy just now, not even willing to give Lin Zhe his living expenses. You’re keeping Lin Zhe in your grasp just for that half of the house, aren’t you?”
“……”
Lin Xi was so furious she nearly ground her teeth to pieces. When she first arrived today, she still had a little money on her.
But as soon as she walked in the door, the aunt took it away under various pretexts—”Lin Zhe’s food expenses,” “diaper expenses,” and so on.
Now the money in Lin Xi’s pocket was only enough to buy a ticket back to Mocheng, nowhere near enough to cover a trip to the hospital.
While Lin Xi hesitated for just a moment, Lu Bing had already opened the door and pushed Lin Zhe outside.
Lin Zhe’s home was a six-story building with no elevator, only stairs.
When they reached the edge of the stairs, Lin Zhe suddenly felt the world spinning, and he tumbled down the stairs along with his wheelchair.
“Oh dear, why are you squirming around, little cousin! You really…”
Lu Bing stood innocently at the top of the stairs, watching Lin Zhe tumble down, his face full of smiles.
But when he saw that Lin Zhe, having fallen down, was not breaking down as before but instead meeting his gaze with eyes cold as knives, his heart couldn’t help but skip a beat.
Strange—why am I afraid of a cripple?
“Get lost!”
Lin Xi rushed out from behind in a panic, shoved past Lu Bing, ran down to the stairwell corner, picked up the wheelchair, and lifted Lin Zhe into it.
When she felt how much lighter her brother had become in just a few months, her heart felt like it was being cut by a knife.
Her brother, at one point eight meters tall, probably weighed less than a hundred jin now.
How could a person with high-level paralysis move around so much?
How much suffering had her brother endured during these months at their aunt’s house?
Lin Xi slowly turned her head, staring at Lu Bing, and said word by word: “Why… did you push him down?”
“Xi, that’s not fair of you. How could I possibly have pushed him down?
Forget it—take him to the hospital yourselves! We can’t afford to take that responsibility.”
Lu Bing turned around and went back home, washing his hands of the whole thing.
Doors opened upstairs and downstairs as several neighbors, hearing the commotion, poked their heads out to look. Lin Zhe’s aunt immediately began crying out her grievances.
“How can you two sisters slander our Lu Bing like this? He kindly offered to take Zhe to the hospital—how could he have deliberately pushed him down? I told you to buy him a better wheelchair…”
“I know why!”
Even though every part of his body ached, Lin Zhe still spoke calmly: “Because of money. Because you just now scraped my sister clean of every last cent.
If I could be dropped and have my arms and legs broken, she wouldn’t be able to afford the medical bills, and then you could drive my sister to the point of collapse, making her agree to marry Wang Baiwan, the man in his forties.
A married daughter is like spilled water—she’d have no right to interfere in Lin family affairs anymore.”
“……..”
“Is that really what happened?”
“You’d never guess it—a blood aunt could be so heartless.”
“Marry the forty-something Wang Baiwan” was absolutely juicy gossip, and it immediately set the neighbors whispering, drawing even more of them out.
Seeing that a good crowd had gathered, Lin Zhe decided not to delay any longer and played his trump card.
“Aunt, Lu Bing’s gambling addiction has lost hundreds of thousands. Not only do you refuse to reflect on how you raised your son, you seized our family’s house to pay off his debts, and you even tried to pocket my sister’s bride price to pay for your own daughter-in-law…”
“What the hell are you spouting? Believe me, I’ll slap you!”
Lu Bing, who had already gone inside, came back out, his fair face trembling—the very picture of rage born of humiliation.
“Slap away! It wouldn’t be the first time you’ve hit me—every time you lose at gambling, you take it out on me.”
“As for whether I’m making this up? Heh. You lost one hundred seventy thousand to Liang Simao of Nancheng, one hundred ten thousand to Chen Qing of Taihu… Have Huo Basheng look into it, and won’t we know whether I’m lying?”
The whole aunt’s family was stunned, and Lu Bing in particular charged down with a face ashen with fury.
His rashness was understandable, because Huo Basheng was a famous multimillionaire in Sucheng—and he had a precious daughter who weighed two hundred jin.
Lu Bing was somewhat handsome, with his silver tongue maxed out, and a few days ago he had finally coaxed that girl into a relationship. They were on the verge of discussing marriage—even the bride price had already been negotiated.
And at this moment, Lin Zhe had actually publicly accused him of being a compulsive gambler, naming his creditors and the amount of his debts.
If word of this reached Huo Basheng’s ears, how could he possibly fail to investigate?
Did they really think those businessmen who made their fortunes through harmony were fools? Even if they were outsiders, did you think they lacked connections locally?
So when Lu Bing charged down, there was only one thought in his mind:
Smash Lin Zhe’s mouth to pieces, make him stop talking—whatever it takes, don’t ruin his dream of becoming a kept son-in-law in a wealthy family.
But before Lu Bing could even get close to Lin Zhe, he saw the delicate Lin Xi leap into the air.
A spin mid-air, her waist extending, her legs swinging with force.
Lin Xi executed a perfect flying roundhouse kick.
“Slap~”
The top of Lin Xi’s shoe made intimate contact with Lu Bing’s head, producing a crisp sound.
Then Lu Bing, like a sack of rice thrown by a porter, smacked against the wall with a splat, before sliding limply to the ground.
Silence. Absolute silence. Even the aunt who doted most on her son stood dumbfounded for several seconds.
Lin Zhe, in his wheelchair, was stunned for a moment, then smiled helplessly.
He still hadn’t recovered from the perceptions of the latter half of his previous life.
Back then, Lin Xi had already become a powerful woman who could look down on everyone with her aura alone—where would there ever be a chance to show off the martial arts she’d practiced since childhood?
“Ohhh~”
“So cool~”
The onlookers around them went wild, and several children looked at Lin Xi with adoring eyes.
Lu Bing’s family had only moved in a few months ago, and nobody knew their background.
After hearing what Lin Zhe had just said, the way people looked at Lu Bing changed.
Setting aside whether the gambling was true or not, the mere fact that a grown man had been taken down by a frail woman was enough gossip for the crowd.
Lying on the ground, Lu Bing glared venomously at Lin Xi and said, “C-c-call… the police… assault…”
But Lin Zhe immediately cut in: “Go ahead! I can report to the police officers about your illegal gambling operation and your embezzlement of other people’s property!”
“……”
Lu Bing’s whole family froze. Lin Zhe wasn’t afraid of making a scene, but they certainly didn’t want this broadcast to everyone.
They were still counting on Lu Bing marrying into a wealthy family and dragging them all up with him!
They couldn’t understand it at all—just days ago, Lin Zhe was a kid who didn’t dare talk back even after being beaten. How had he become so cold-blooded, so tough?
And Lin Xi, standing at only 166 centimeters with a slender frame, blocked Lin Zhe’s front, arching her back like a beast ready to pounce and tear into someone at any moment.
Normally, facing the 1.8-meter-tall Lu Bing, Lin Xi was like a very weak little kitten.
But when the kitten’s fur stood completely on , people suddenly realized:
The fierce, powerful tiger belongs to the feline family.
For the first time, the Lin siblings stood up to the shameless aunt with real force.
Isn’t your family shameless?
Come on—soft or hard, take your pick!
“What’s wrong with this Lin Yuehua? I thought she came out of kindness to look after the Lin siblings!”
“No idea, but the night before last when I got up to use the bathroom, I saw Zhe left downstairs in the rain…”
With the Lin siblings’ toughness plus the pointing and whispering of the surrounding neighbors, no matter how shameless Lu Bing’s family was, they didn’t dare pursue the matter against the Lin siblings any further.
And a mocking, cold smile curled at the corner of Lin Zhe’s mouth.
No one could have imagined that inside Lin Zhe’s frail body at this moment lived a soul that had lived through three lifetimes.
Patient and cunning, like a beast lying in wait for its prey, calmly tearing apart its victim’s defenses bit by bit.
But never underestimate the power of these gossipy neighbors. In just a few days, the scene that had unfolded in the stairwell would spread through half of Sucheng, and it would surely reach Huo Basheng’s ears.
By then, would Lu Bing still dream of marrying the rich second-generation heiress Huo Xiaoyuan? Still dreaming of becoming the son-in-law of a multimillion-dollar family?
Go ahead and keep dreaming!
All the good girls in this world should be left for me, Lin Zhe.