“Zhaoyang…” After a moment of hesitation, Yang Wen finally spoke. “Please, I’m begging you. Can you stop bullying Nini?”
Lin Zhaoyang completely lost her temper.
The brick Lin Xinhua hadn’t managed to bring down—she did.
She bent over, picked up a brick, charged forward, and smack!
It slammed directly into Yang Wen’s forehead.
Her movements were swift and decisive.
Zou Zhengting saw it happen. He could have stopped her—but he didn’t.
There was no need. She was furious, and she needed an outlet. Otherwise, she’d be the one hurting, and that would pain him even more.
“Ah!” Lin Nini screamed. “Lin Zhaoyang! What are you doing?”
“Beating a cheating scumbag. Isn’t that obvious?” Lin Zhaoyang replied righteously, raising the brick again as if she intended to hit Lin Nini next.
Yang Wen immediately shielded Lin Nini and retreated several steps.
“Well done!” Lin Daheng shouted. “That’s my daughter! That’s exactly how you deal with a blind, heartless bastard like him!”
“Uncle!” Yang Wen stared in disbelief.
He had expected Lin Daheng, as an elder, to scold Lin Zhaoyang for attacking someone with a brick.
Instead, Lin Daheng praised her in front of everyone.
Yang Wen touched the painful spot on his forehead. His palm came away covered in blood.
“Brother Wen, you’re bleeding!” Lin Nini cried, tears instantly streaming down her face. “Brother Wen, does it hurt? It’s all my fault. I caused this.”
“It hurts? Of course it hurts,” Lin Zhaoyang said, standing with her hands on her hips just a couple of steps away. “Go ahead—call the police and have me arrested!”
Yang Wen clutched his head but didn’t dare say a word.
Report Lin Zhaoyang to the police?
He wouldn’t dare.
“I wronged you first,” Yang Wen pleaded. “If hitting me helps you vent your anger, I understand. But please… don’t bully Nini anymore.”
“Zhaoyang, Nini has had a hard life. Could you show her a little more kindness?”
Every word Yang Wen spoke made him more punchable.
With every sentence, Lin Zhaoyang’s anger flared even higher.
Du Hongying shot Yang Wen a look, signaling him to stop talking before he provoked Lin Zhaoyang even further.
“Yang Wen, go comfort your mother first. She’s getting old—don’t let her get sick from anger. When you get home, talk to her properly about you and Nini. We’ll take care of things here. Nini isn’t going to die.”
As Lin Nini’s biological grandmother and the family elder, Du Hongying still carried authority.
Yang Wen wanted to marry Lin Nini, so he had to give her some respect.
Besides, he truly was worried about his mother.
He gently escorted Lin Nini to Du Hongying’s side before finally leaving, turning back every few steps with obvious reluctance.
Everyone watched the scene unfold, each with different feelings.
Lin Zhaoyang spat at Yang Wen’s retreating figure.
“Who’s that cheating bastard putting on a show for? He’s nothing but disgusting!”
Lin Nini glanced at Lin Zhaoyang, the corners of her lips lifting slightly.
Yang Wen loved her more than he loved Lin Zhaoyang.
That alone filled her with satisfaction.
Everyone had always said she was inferior to Lin Zhaoyang.
They said she wasn’t as beautiful.
That she wasn’t as educated.
She had only graduated from middle school, while Lin Zhaoyang had a university degree.
Her job was inferior too.
She was just a temporary factory worker.
Lin Zhaoyang was a tenured teacher at one of the provincial capital’s top high schools.
But so what?
The man Lin Zhaoyang was supposed to marry had chosen her.
That was all that mattered.
Lin Rongzong worked farther away than everyone else and only arrived at this point.
After riding his bicycle all the way over, he was drenched in sweat and still wiping his face as he entered.
“What was so urgent that you had to call me here?” he complained. “I’m supposed to be working.”
He glanced at Lin Zhaoyang.
“Whatever happened to Zhaoyang isn’t something I, as her second uncle, can decide.”
Since this was Lin Zhaoyang and Yang Wen’s future marital home, he naturally assumed it was something related to their wedding and was secretly annoyed at being called over.
But the call had come directly to his factory.
Although the two branches of the family hadn’t been on speaking terms these past two years, he was still her uncle in name.
If he ignored the call and stayed at work, people would criticize him.
“Lin Rongzong, your daughter’s really accomplished something!” Aunt Chen immediately rushed over and eagerly recounted everything Lin Nini had done that day.
Then she summarized it in one sentence:
“Looks like you’re marrying off your daughter again! She’s really lucky—every time she steals her cousin’s fiancé, she succeeds!”
Needless to say, that wasn’t meant as a compliment.
Nothing good ever came out of Aunt Chen’s mouth.
Lin Rongzong froze.
His eyes instinctively searched for Lin Nini.
When he saw her swollen, bruised face, then glanced at Lin Zhaoyang, he almost smiled with satisfaction.
Only when he caught Zou Zhengting’s cold stare did he quickly suppress it.
He immediately realized this was definitely not the time to smile.
He strode over to Lin Nini and slapped her across the face.
“You shameless girl! You’ve disgraced our entire family!”
No matter how pleased he secretly was, he still had to put on a show.
Lin Nini had to take that slap.
He needed everyone to see how heartbroken he was over raising such a daughter.
“Enough. Things have already come to this. Beating her to death won’t solve anything,” Lin Rende said irritably.
He was also worried Lin Rongzong might hit too hard and cause Lin Nini to miscarry.
Teacher Yang obviously didn’t approve of Lin Nini.
If Lin Nini wanted to secure her place in the Yang family, the child in her womb would have to make Teacher Yang accept her.
Lin Rende wasn’t truly partial to Lin Nini.
If he had known about her scheme beforehand, he would definitely have stopped her.
After all, Lin Zhaoyang was his biological granddaughter.
If he had to choose between the two girls, he would naturally choose Lin Zhaoyang.
But now everything had already happened.
Scolding Lin Nini wouldn’t change anything.
“You two brothers should discuss how to handle this,” Lin Rende said, looking at Lin Daheng.
“Losing your temper and yelling won’t solve anything. You’re a grown man—can’t you control your temper?”
“Dad, this is Nini’s fault. Her mother and I failed to raise her properly. Big Brother, Sister-in-law, and Zhaoyang have every right to be angry,” Lin Rongzong said, spreading his hands as though he were being perfectly reasonable.
“Big Brother and Sister-in-law can decide what they want. We’re the ones in the wrong, so we have no right to object. Even if they wanted to beat Nini to death to vent Zhaoyang’s anger, I wouldn’t say a word.”
Standing behind Du Hongying with one hand over her face, Lin Nini wasn’t worried in the slightest.
She had already lived through one lifetime.
She knew her family too well.
She was certain her father was secretly overjoyed.
Seeing Lin Daheng remain silent, Lin Rende made the decision himself.
“Teacher Yang already said the marriage between Yang Wen and Zhaoyang is off. Since Nini is carrying Yang Wen’s child, let her marry Yang Wen instead. The Yang family has already booked the wedding banquet anyway, so it won’t go to waste.”
He then looked at Lin Nini.
“Apologize properly to your cousin. After today, no one is to bring this matter up again.”
Again.
That same old phrase.
“No one is to mention it anymore.”
Lin Zhaoyang slammed the brick in her hand onto the ground.
“Grandpa, it seems you’ve really decided not to acknowledge—”
Before she could finish, Wang Fenglan quickly covered her daughter’s mouth.
Lin Daheng immediately picked up where she left off.
“So Dad has chosen Lin Rongzong over me.”
He laughed bitterly.
“Fine. Since your favoritism has reached this point, I’ll accept it. What can I do? I got a stepmother, so naturally I got a stepfather too. My own mother died early. Guess that’s just my bad luck.”
“Dad, let’s go to the neighborhood committee right now and ask the director to witness it. We’ll write up a formal declaration cutting family ties.”
“My family will move out of the Lin family home this afternoon.”
“From now on, we’ll have nothing to do with each other.”
“I, Lin Daheng, will be a man with a mother—but no father.”
As Lin Daheng spoke, Wang Fenglan quietly released her hand from Lin Zhaoyang’s mouth and whispered to her daughter,
“You’re the granddaughter. Your father is here, and I’m here too. You don’t need to be the one arguing with your grandfather.”
“Even if you’re in the right, if your grandfather gets so angry that something happens to him, people will still call you unfilial.”
She glanced toward her husband.
“Let your father argue with his own father.”
“Having a father like your grandfather… our family really drew the short straw.”