Chapter III Compensation 1

The house where Lin Yao lived was located in the northwest corner of Delin Manor, and it was as far away from the main courtyard hall as possible. Lin Yao followed the servant towards the main hall, and the more he walked, the more he felt something was wrong.

The servant leading the way was a sturdy middle-aged man wearing the Lin family's uniform gray uniform. He took big and fast steps, as if there were Zerg chasing him from behind.

He was walking in front, and never even slowed down his pace, let alone turning back to wait for Lin Yao.

The military boots made a "clicking" sound when they collided with the road, making Lin Yao look particularly weak and pitiful.

He remembered that because the estate was so large, the Delin family had some kind of transportation. He'd seen several of them in the few minutes he'd been walking down the road. They were either from the kitchen delivering food or security on patrol.

No matter how useless Lin Yao was, he was still a master. The original owner could usually ride this kind of vehicle, but why did he have to rely on bus number 11 after crossing over? This was intolerable!

Lin Yao was panting, sweat already forming on his forehead. He thought to himself, "Why is this guy rushing to the feast so quickly?"

The original owner's body was already very weak due to illness. At this moment, the sun had risen to the top of his head, and the scorching sun made his skin hot. Lin Yao felt dizzy and his calves were trembling.

Lin Yao called out to the hurried figure, but the man seemed not to hear him. Instead, he quickened his pace, muttering, "Stop dawdling! Hurry up..."

"Hey, I have such a bad temper!" Lin Yao's complaints were like a flood that burst out:

"If you don't like me, don't invite me to the main hall!" "You invited someone and didn't treat them well, what's the point of that?" "So you should keep going as long as you can, and you deserve to die of exhaustion?"

Anyway, it was the head of the family who said he wanted to see him first, and he didn't rush to see him.

So Lin Yao decided to throw in the towel. He simply stopped and leaned against a tree by the roadside, breathing heavily.

"I can't walk anymore!"

His eyes fell on the front. There were several hovercrafts parked in front of the building. The silver-gray bodies were shining in the sun. It was obvious that they were fast and stable models.

The mobility scooter was left there gathering dust, while a seriously ill person had to walk several kilometers.

The original owner might have obeyed, but he was not the original owner, so he had to let this stubborn slave bring a car to pick him up, otherwise he would never take a step forward even if he died.

Lin Yao's tantrums finally stopped the servant in his tracks. He turned around and looked at him as if he were a nuisance. "Why are you talking so much nonsense? Get out of here!"

"If you want to leave, go ahead. I'll wait here!" Lin Yao adjusted the angle of his leaning and waved his hand with his eyes closed.

"Wait for your family master to send someone to carry me. Anyway, I'm weak and the whole galaxy knows it. If I really faint, it will be your fault!"

His words hit the servant's soft spot of not daring to take responsibility.

Although this man looked down on Lin Yao, he also knew that the head of the family had summoned him today. If he really made the man tired and hurt himself, he would not be able to bear the consequences.

The servant stood there, his face turning pale and blue, and finally waved his hand impatiently: "Stand still!"

After saying that, he turned and walked quickly towards the house in front.

Lin Yao looked at his back and curled his lips: "Wouldn't it have been done earlier? You have to torture my old waist..."

Lin Yao leaned against a tree, looking at the faintly golden and magnificent buildings in the main courtyard in the distance. He touched his burning forehead and kicked the pebbles on the roadside:

"You live so far away, are you afraid that I'll steal your pickle jars?"

The wind blew through the weeds by the roadside, making a rustling sound, as if mocking his embarrassment.

Sure enough, not long after the servant left, a gray shadow rushed over. It was a very old hovercraft. Several pieces of paint had fallen off the body of the car, and the family crest on the front of the car was worn out and could not be seen clearly.

Lin Yao squinted his eyes and took a look, the corners of his mouth couldn't help twitching:

"Wow, this was dragged out from a junkyard, right? It looks more like an antique than my old bed. Will it fall apart when I drive it?"

The mobility scooter squeaked to a stop about forty or fifty meters away from him.

The servant sat in the driver's seat, without even rolling down the window, and simply raised his chin towards him, as if to say, 'Get over here quickly.'

"Okay, okay, fifty meters is fifty meters. It's better than walking the whole way." Lin Yao patted the non-existent dust on his body and walked slowly towards the scooter.

Walking to the car, Lin Yao opened the door and a smell mixed with sweat and rust hit him in the face, almost making him take a step back.

"Oh my god, is there an unwashed interstellar boar in this car?"

He pinched his nose and sat in the seat. As soon as his butt touched the seat, he felt a needle prick. It turned out that he was hit by a piece of raised iron sheet.

"Well, now I not only have to walk, but I also have to practice the Iron Butt Kung Fu."

Lin Yao adjusted his posture and tried to avoid the piece of iron sheet. The De Lin family was quite strict with "waste" and they would subject them to all aspects of morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics and labor.

The servant glanced at him in the rearview mirror, unable to deny his complaints, his eyes filled with disgust, and without a word, he stepped on the accelerator.

The mobility scooter suddenly jumped forward, almost throwing Lin Yao, who was not wearing a seat belt, out. The body of the car also made a "clang clang" sound, as if all the parts were protesting collectively.

"Slow down! Slow down!" Lin Yao quickly grabbed the handrail above his head. The handrail was made of plastic and the edges were rounded.

"I'm not in a rush to see the King of Hell! If this junky car flips over, we'll both be on the headlines: 'De Lin Family Servant Suffers Master's Slowness, Drives a Scrapped Car, Causing Tragedy'. I've even thought of the headline!"

The servant was probably afraid that his willfulness would lead him to follow Lin Yao to see the King of Hell, so the car was indeed driving a little slower.

But he still had a bad face and drove the car like a disco all the way, shaking Lin Yao so much that his internal organs almost shifted.

Lin Yao was too lazy to argue with him. His goal was achieved anyway. At least he didn't have to walk to the main hall.

He leaned against the scratched car window, looking at the rapidly receding scenery outside and the main courtyard building getting closer and closer in the distance, thinking in his mind.

The mobility scooter braked suddenly to a stop at the main courtyard gate, and Lin Yao almost bumped into the back of the chair in front.

He rubbed his forehead and got out of the car, watching the servant drive the broken car very fast and run away in a hurry, not even bothering to say "we're here".

"Virtue." Lin Yao patted the dust off his body, straightened his wrinkled clothes, and walked towards the magnificent main hall.

The sunlight shone on his face, half of which was the handsomeness of a young man, and half of which was the sharpness hidden in his eyes.

The show is about to begin.

-

Lin Yao stood in front of the carved and gilded archway of the main courtyard. The stone pavement at his feet, which had just been swept by an automatic cleaning robot, was so shiny that even the grass debris on the soles of his shoes seemed out of place.

He subconsciously shrank back, preparing to face a new round of difficulties, such as being stopped at the door and interrogated for a long time, or being tortured by the servants' eyes a hundred or eighty times.

After all, the treatment he had received along the way had already made him lose all expectations of the Lin family's servants' professionalism.

However, the expected difficulties did not occur.

The servants standing guard on both sides of the archway wore neatly ironed black uniforms with the silver vine emblem of the Delin family embroidered on their cuffs. The stitching was so fine that not a single thread could be found.

When they saw Lin Yao, they did not raise their eyelids. The contempt in their eyes was obvious, and the corners of their mouths were straighter than a razor blade.

But they stood straight, with their hands pressed against the seams of their pants, and even their breathing was very light, as well-behaved as two exquisite robots.

Lin Yao was stunned and stopped in his tracks. Isn’t the contrast too big?

He deliberately took half a step closer to the servant on his left, his heels making a clicking sound as they scraped against the cobblestones.

The servant's eyelashes trembled and his Adam's apple rolled, as if he was holding back some unpleasant words.

But in the end, he didn't say anything, and didn't even move his shoulders. He just glanced diagonally upwards, pretending to look at the glass lamp above his head.

"Oh, has he changed his personality?" Lin Yao muttered to himself and deliberately cleared his throat, neither too loud nor too soft, just loud enough for the two of them to hear.

"How do I get to the main hall? I'm directionally challenged and worried I'd get lost and delay the patriarch's important business."

The servant on the left finally moved, but he simply raised his hand and pointed at the red-carpeted corridor ahead. His voice was as flat as if he was reading interstellar news:

"Go straight to the end and turn left at the third fork."

After saying that, he immediately shut up, as if saying one more word would dirty his tongue.

The servant on the right didn't say a word from beginning to end. He just quietly moved half a step to the side when Lin Yao walked by, maintaining a safe distance that was "neither rude nor too close."

Lin Yao walked along the red carpet and couldn't help but look back.

The two servants still stood straight, like two emotionless guard statues.

"Strange..." He stroked his chin, not stopping his pace. "The driver just now wanted to torture me to death with his eyes, but these two are so different. They can't help but look down on me. Have they changed their ways?"

When I reached the end of the corridor, a maid came towards me carrying a tea tray. She was wearing a light pink dress with silver vines embroidered on the hem.

When she saw Lin Yao, she was obviously stunned for a moment, and her hand holding the tea tray shook, and the tea almost spilled out.

Lin Yao quickly moved aside to avoid getting burned: "Be careful, who's responsible if you get burned?"

The maid blushed, whispered "sorry", and hurried forward. When she passed by him, her steps were as fast as if she was running for her life, but she held the tea tray in her hand steadily without spilling a drop.

Lin Yao looked at her back, and the original owner's memory revived again, and he suddenly understood.

This main courtyard is the face of the Lin family. Those who come and go are either family elders or outsiders. Even if the servants look down on him, they still have to behave properly.

After all, being rude here would bring shame to the entire De Lin family. If the head of the family found out, I'm afraid I'd be sent to a place even more remote than the northwest corner to sweep toilets.

"I see." He suddenly understood, and a mocking smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. "Do you really choose the right dish based on the location?"

He straightened his wrinkled collar and fiddled with the round collar pin on his white shirt. It was still a little messy after riding the disco car!

Since people care so much about "face", he might as well be more "decent" when he meets the head of the family later.

He would decently get back what the original owner deserved, and decently let those people know that even though he, Lin Yao, lived in a remote place and was a loser, he was not a clay figure that could be manipulated by anyone.

The main hall door at the end of the red carpet was getting closer and closer. The gold-painted door knocker was shining in the sun, and there were two servants standing on both sides.

Lin Yao took a deep breath. It was time for this "decent" contest to begin.

He walked over, and the two men saw him and opened the door of the main hall in an orderly manner.

The hall is paved with moonstone and has a roof made of sunstone, with vine family crests carved on it, and every detail speaks of prosperity.

The head of the De Lin family, De Linfeng, closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep, sitting in the main seat with his second wife. Seated around them were naturally Lin Yao's second uncle and his family.

My cousin De Linwei and my second aunt Gu Yun sat on the right, my second uncle De Lincheng and my cousin De Linxing sat on the left. The four of them were chatting happily and peacefully with the old lady.

The servant on the left who had opened the door for Lin Yao to come over announced it twice, but the ears of the happy group of people must have been blocked by sticky insects! There was no reaction at all.

The servant, who was wearing a bow tie and a tuxedo, found an excuse and said to Lin Yao:

"I'm so sorry, Master. I caught a cold last night and my voice is hoarse! I'll try again!"

Lin Yao interrupted the servant, "Since you're sick, stop using your voice! I'll do it!"

Under the servant's horrified eyes, Lin Yao kicked over a large star porcelain bottle that was nearly two meters long and placed at the door.

This thing contains rare nebula soil, which makes it look colorful and beautiful; its texture is like porcelain and it cannot withstand any bumps or scratches.

It is because of the addition of this rare soil that no two nebula bottles are exactly the same. Even those with similar colors are one in a million.

But these families on the Central Star like to put them in pairs and display them in the hall to show off their family's strength.

The De Lin family also put in a lot of effort and spent four or five years to create such a pair.

In the original body's memory, it seemed that his cousin had asked the old man for this pair of bottles as a dowry not long ago.

Lin Yao: If you keep pretending to be deaf and dumb, I will make sure you lose everything!

Now the storefront was gone, and the dowry was ruined! As expected, the joyful atmosphere over there ended with the clanging and shattering of the large bottle and my cousin's scream that was comparable to that of an E6.

"It's really a waste of your talent if my cousin doesn't sing the high notes!" Lin Yao gracefully put down his hands that were covering his ears, an innocent smile on his pretty face.

"Lin Yao!" De Linwei roared.

"What a powerful voice! My cousin is also good at singing alto!" Lin Yao looked excited, as if he was genuinely excited that a talented musician had emerged in the family.

De Linwei was so angry at Lin Yao that she was shaking all over. She couldn't say anything except "you" over and over.

Seeing her daughter was at a disadvantage, Second Aunt Gu Yun could no longer sit still:

"What are you doing? You came in without announcing your departure and even broke some of the treasures in the house. How unruly! Someone, please explain the rules of the De Lin family to the young master first!"

As soon as Gu Yun finished speaking, two martial artists came in from outside and reached out to grab Lin Yao.

Lin Yao dodged without a trace of panic on his face: "Hey, you two should know who I am! How dare you attack me?"

As expected, after hearing what he said, the two martial artists stopped immediately. Even a three-year-old child knew how precious a plant guide was.

After stopping the two people here, Lin Yao said to Gu Yun over there: "Second Aunt, this pair of plant guides used lynching. If this gets out, they will probably go to the planetary prison, right?"

Looking at Lin Yao's face full of joking, Gu Yun's well-maintained face turned ferocious for a moment:

"I'm talking about family rules, not lynching. No matter how valuable a plant guide is, he still has to be affiliated with the family and abide by the rules, right? My Weiwei is very polite!"

Gu Yun winked at the two of them while speaking, as if to say, 'I must teach you a lesson today.'

This time, Lin Yao did not dodge and was caught obediently.

Like a starling, he lowered his shoulders obediently, but his eyes were still rolling around, looking at the two people who were holding him.

Before being taken away for 'teaching', he suddenly laughed, his voice as clear as glass beads colliding together:

"Tsk tsk, why do you look so familiar?"

"Aren't these the two elder brothers from the Lutang? A few years ago, my second uncle punished me to copy the Lin Family Ancestral Instructions, and weren't you the two guarding the door?"

The man on the left had his Adam's apple rolling, and the muscles on the side of his face were as tense as a piece of iron, but he didn't respond.

The person on the right didn't even raise his eyelids, but just grabbed Lin Yao's arm with a little more force, pinching his knuckles until they turned white.

Lin Yao hissed in pain, but laughed even more happily. He deliberately moved closer to the servant on the right, his warm breath almost spraying on the back of the other's hand:

"I remember that day when the ink spilled all over the paper and I asked you to hand me a new pen. What did you say then? Oh—'People in the Law Hall only obey the orders of the Patriarch.' I still remember that."

He spoke in a long tone, his eyes swept across the old man who was resting with his eyes closed in the main seat, and then slowly fell back to Gu Yun's ashen face. Suddenly, the topic changed quickly and sharply:

"You two are well-trained. You were quicker than anyone else when you captured me, but you didn't ask the head of the family for their opinion. So, the Delin family is now..."

The unfinished words were like a red-hot needle, accurately piercing everyone's most sensitive spot.

The old man in the main seat's eyelids twitched suddenly, and his fingers, which were originally on the armrest, unconsciously clenched the cane.

The servant on the right suddenly changed his expression, and loosened his grip as if scalded. He took a half step back, almost bumping into the pillar behind him.

The person on the left was also stunned. His unchanging face showed some emotions. He loosened his grip on Lin Yao and a hint of panic flashed in his eyes.

When they took action just now, it was indeed Gu Yun who gave the signal, and they did not ask the old man for permission at all.

“That’s enough!”

An angry roar finally erupted from the main seat. The old man suddenly opened his eyes, and a terrifying light flashed in his turbid eyeballs. He slammed his crutch heavily to the ground with a dull "bang" sound, which made the entire main hall quiet for a moment.

"The master is the master, and the servant is the servant! You can't even tell the difference between superiors and inferiors, let go of the young master! Apologize to the young master!"

His voice was hoarse, a trait of old age, but every word cut like a knife. "Are you going to let outsiders laugh at you, saying that my Delin family can't even tell the difference between masters and servants?"

The two servants were so frightened that they fell to their knees with a thud, their heads lowered, and their backs of clothes were instantly soaked with cold sweat.

Gu Yun watched Lin Yao rubbing his red arm from being grabbed, trying to escape from the inevitable situation. Anxiety and unwillingness gnawed at her heart like a poisonous snake.

She rushed forward two steps, pointed at Lin Yao and screamed at the old man:

"Dad! Are you just going to let this disrespectful loser go? What did he mean by that? He clearly said that our Second Branch..."

"Shut up!" The old man slammed his cane to the ground again, this time with even greater force, leaving a small chip on the jadeite on the cane tip.

"I'm still sitting here! I'm not dead yet!" His eyes were like ice, staring at Gu Yun intently: "Do you really think I'm old and confused?"

Gu Yun was choked so much that her face turned pale and her lips trembled, but she couldn't say a word.

How could she forget that no matter how indifferent the old man was, he was still the rightful head of the Lin family. No matter how powerful the second branch was, they didn't dare to really pull him down from the main position.

Lin Yao's words just now seemed to be talking about the servants, but in fact he was pointing fingers and scolding the second branch for interfering in other people's affairs. This just hit the point that the old man was most afraid of: who is the real master of the De Lin family.

Lin Yao stood there, rubbing his arm, with a somewhat innocent look on his face, as if what he had just said was just a casual chat.

He looked at Gu Yun's deflated look, a hint of coldness flashing in his eyes. To deal with such self-righteous idiots, there was no need to exert any effort. Just a gentle push would make them hit the old man's iron plate.

Lin Yao leisurely straightened the wrinkles on his sleeves and the round collar pin, and smiled at De Linfeng: "Thank you, Grandpa!"

De Linfeng folded his hands and leaned them on his crutch. He retracted his gaze and looked at Lin Yao, just staring at him steadily.

After a while, De Linfeng forced a smile: "Do you know your mistake?"