Chapter 144

Her beloved couldn't come this time.

Lin Jin raised her eyebrows, looking exceptionally relaxed. Her fiery red lips moved slightly, seemingly unintentionally revealing the secret that Ruan Jinxian had suppressed deep in her heart. But anyone with eyes could see that this was a carefully crafted dialogue.

This casual utterance of "mother" completely shattered the seemingly calm atmosphere, even carrying a hint of fanning the flames and watching the drama unfold.

Lin Jin placed her hand on Sheng He's hand, giving him a kind of inexplicable courage, probably hoping that he could withstand what was about to happen.

Ruan Jinxian's suspicious gaze also fell on Sheng He. She heard his barbed words so clearly, and as each word revealed her unknown past, her originally indifferent pupils began to tremble slightly.

She was incredulous but pretended to be calm, subconsciously wrapping her mink shawl tighter and tighter. This action was not because she was cold, but because a secret that had been hidden for many years had suddenly been revealed, and she needed something to cover up her ugly side that she did not want to show. It was a conditioned reflex.

She certainly wouldn't easily believe Lin Jin's words, because they were on opposing sides, and apart from being enemies, there was no other identity that could make her believe the truth.

Ruan Jinxian glared at the servants standing guard to the side, and only continued the conversation when there were no more outsiders in the garden.

"Hmph, what's so special about this?" She picked up the DNA report and waved it around, not even glancing at it, before throwing the document on the ground. "You don't think that by bringing a paternity test and a complete stranger, you can prove something impossible, do you? Scams are constantly evolving these days, and with your status, you can easily make these baseless accusations seem real with a little money and connections. Why should I believe it?"

"Why should I?" Lin Jin sneered, her eyes looking at him like she was looking at a pitiful dog. She clicked her tongue and said, "Just because everyone flatters you as Mrs. Ruan or Mrs. Lin doesn't mean you've climbed to the upper class. You're Lin Zhen's mistress for a day, and you can never wash away the stain of destroying someone else's family. You can deny the dirty things you've done, but you need to understand one thing: what has happened in history can only be buried, not changed. It may be late, but it will eventually be brought up again because it really happened."

After saying that, Lin Jin took out a second document from his briefcase and slammed it on the table with a light touch. "The matter of your illegitimate child is just an appetizer. We can put that aside for now and talk about this document first."

You should remember the day Lin Zhen met with me alone on his deathbed, right? He left me nothing but a mess of a betting agreement.

Why do you think he did that? It all started with your good-for-nothing son, Lin Sheng.

The old man left everything of the Lin family to him, but he just had to play his good hand so badly. You are the one who deserves all the credit for that.

As the saying goes, children reflect their parents, and this is certainly true.

Actually, Lin Sheng isn't stupid. I don't deny his ambition and ability in business. It's just a pity that he inherited all the despicable traits from you two. His scheming and methods are low-class, and his conduct is unrefined. It's no surprise that he ended up in this situation.

If he were truly capable, the old man would not have handed me the betting agreement before his death. This agreement is a touchstone for ability and the last straw to save the Lin Group. So do you think you can still hold the position of chairman of the Lin Group?

The final quarter financial report will be released soon, and the results of the bet between Lin's and Senyao will be announced soon. I am not worried about the success or failure at all, because Lin's and Senyao are not even on the same level.

In order to control the overall situation, I merged Zhongyao Technology into Senyao. This means that capital is involved in the technology and military industries. This big news will be released soon, and Senyao's stock price will usher in a long-term boom. It can also be regarded as the final blow to the Lin Group.

When that time comes, you will see a financial report so impressive that it will put the entire Lin family board to shame, and at that time, the Lin family will once again be surnamed Lin.

You have always taught Lin Sheng to use any means necessary, even if it means crossing legal boundaries, to get what doesn't belong to him. Over the years, I have suffered a lot at your hands. The reason I have been lying low and not retaliating is so that I can meet with you today.

Lin Sheng was involved in arms trafficking, and you laundered his ill-gotten gains through overseas investment, then used insider information to heavily invest in Lin's shares after the company went public. I have a very clear understanding of your operational process.

"Where's the evidence? Just your words?!" Ruan Jinxian finally tore through her pretense of kindness, hysterically slamming her teacup onto the lawn. "I can sue you for defamation!"

Seeing Ruan Jinxian's out-of-control state, Lin Jin seemed to be enjoying herself.

She sipped her tea, finding it quite delicious, and took another sip, saying in a drawn-out tone, "Your son is far more skilled at framing people than I am."

Because Lin Jin was telling the truth, Ruan Jinxian's rebuttal seemed particularly weak.

She pointed towards the ancestral home's gate, shouting in a fit of rage, "Get out! I want you to get out of my house right now! You're not welcome here, not at all!"

"You're already in a hurry to get rid of me before we've even started the 'main meal,' looks like you're feeling guilty." Lin Jin smiled, her eyes crinkling as she rested her cheek on her hand. The curve of her eyeliner at the corner of her eye was just right, full of subtle sarcasm, and it was also breathtakingly beautiful. "In the end, we were all just trials in the old man's 'raising the Gu' education. You didn't raise your son to be truly outstanding, while I crawled out of the purgatory you set for me from childhood. Our rambling reminiscing is over, let's get down to business."

As she spoke, Lin Jin suppressed the smile that was playing on her lips, "Ruan Jinxian, I've only left you with one ending—live well in prison for the rest of your life, at least you'll be alive."

"Hahahaha...hahahaha..." Ruan Jingxian suddenly burst into laughter, her laughter was sarcastic and undignified.

She held her waist with one hand and swung the other in the air, revealing a hideous face that Lin Jin would never forget, because this same face had appeared decades ago on that stormy night.

Suddenly, the shrill, ear-piercing laughter came to an abrupt halt.

Ruan Jinxian hunched her neck, turned her head, and glared at Lin Jin, who was sitting languidly. She gritted her teeth and said, "I haven't had a single peaceful night's sleep in decades. Every night I dream of your mother's face, distorted by sulfuric acid, that ugly, twisted, bloody face..."

As she spoke, she stood up and stretched, still muttering, "My sleepless nights aren't because I feel guilty for killing her, but because I'm filled with remorse, utter remorse. Why...why..."

Her anger reached its peak, and she suddenly brought her face close to Lin Jin's ear, roaring furiously, "Why didn't I push you off the cliff with me?!"

At this moment, she wished she could reach out and strangle Lin Jin to death to ease the regret she felt for not dying back then. So she kept asking herself, "Why...why...why didn't you die that night!?"

Lin Jin did not show the slightest sign of backing down despite the increasingly loud roars coming from her ears.

She remained unmoved, her relaxed and carefree expression unchanged. This demeanor made it seem as if she were enjoying herself, genuinely enjoying the gradually crumbling atmosphere, and even more pleased that she had provoked the anger of her enemies.

She reached out her arm again and grasped Sheng He's hand once more, saying slowly, "Since we've already talked about that stormy night, we can't avoid mentioning your illegitimate child."

Ruan Jinxian straightened up, glanced at the silent Sheng He, and shook her head repeatedly: "I will not admit it, I cannot admit that I have an illegitimate child. I only have one son, Sheng, only him!"

"Oh, I almost forgot, I haven't introduced your son's name yet." Lin Jin looked at Sheng He gently and began to explain, "I don't really need to introduce his name, so you know perfectly well where the 'Sheng' in Lin Sheng comes from. I was young then and couldn't understand what kind of criminal was so bold as to commit crimes for you for money, without being addicted to drugs or gambling? It's thanks to this question that I found your deepest secret. You instructed Sheng He's father to commit the crime so that your son could live a life of comfort in the future. But you never expected that my mother would choose to die with me to protect me."

"Shut up!" Ruan Jinxian dared not continue the topic. In her anger, she grabbed the small fork on the plate and stabbed it at Lin Jin's neck, but a hand suddenly reached out and grabbed her firmly.

Out of anger, a few strands of Ruan Jinxian's neatly combed hair came loose, leaving her looking disheveled after her elegance was stripped away.

She looked up in a daze at the person who had suddenly appeared behind her, a flash of intense fear in her eyes, but her tone softened: "Asheng?! What are you doing out here? Why aren't you staying in the ancestral hall? You can't be here with outsiders..."

"Shut up." Lin Sheng uttered only two words, silencing his mother's anxious and fearful words.

He dared not show himself in public, so he wore a baseball cap and a black mask, with only a pair of eyes that gleamed with a sinister light peeking out from under the brim of the cap pulled low.

When Lin Jin saw Lin Sheng appear, she knew she was in danger, but her expression became more and more excited. She even clapped her hands and cheered when the mother and son looked at each other: "I knew it! It would be so boring if it was just me talking to you. This kind of scene is much more exciting."

Lin Sheng turned his head to look at her, and took off his mask, but did not speak immediately. Instead, he focused his gaze on Sheng He.

He crouched down, tilted his head to examine the person he had almost killed, and sneered, "No wonder I always felt so familiar with you every time we met. It turns out I have a brother in this world who is so shameful."

Lin Sheng's words were meant for Sheng He, but they also seemed to be a mockery of Ruan Jinxian's immoral life.

Ruan Jinxian frantically grabbed Lin Sheng, wanting to get him away quickly, "Sheng, you shouldn't have run out! Now that she's seen you, how are you going to escape?!"

"Don't touch me!" Lin Sheng fiercely shook off her arm, then looked at Lin Jin, who had a look of amusement on her face. "It's all because of you, you crazy woman, who kept biting me like a dog, making me suffer so much and ruining my future! You didn't expect that the person the whole city's police were after was hiding not far from the crime scene, did you? Now that we've run into each other, what's there to say? It's a fight to the death, isn't it? I said that night that I'd drag you down with me even if I died!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Sheng got up and pounced on Lin Jin, grabbing her neck with his strong hands and trying his best to kill her.

Strangely, Lin Jin did not struggle at all, just slumped in the chair and let Lin Sheng take her life.

She kept squinting and mocking Lin Sheng's desperate situation. Even though she was having trouble breathing and her face was flushed, with prominent veins on her forehead, the sarcastic smile on her lips never disappeared.

The deeper her smile, the tighter her grip on her neck tightened.

Lin Sheng, his eyes bloodshot with rage, was so provoked by just one smile that he broke down, roaring hoarsely, "What are you laughing at?! What are you laughing at?! I won't allow you to laugh at me, I won't!"

Lin Jin was choked speechless, so she desperately mouthed the words: I won, I won, I won...

It wasn't until the last breath of oxygen was completely cut off that its head gradually tilted to the side.

As Lin Jin faced death, her consciousness began to become hazy and blurred. The physical pain was accompanied by a sense of relief and ease, and her soul began to float away.

Her eyes were brimming with tears, whether she was crying for her deceased mother or for the revenge she had spent half her life seeking, or perhaps her sorrow also concealed the figure she might never see again.

A series of images flashed through my mind.

As a child, she would do the splits in her dance practice clothes while her mother stood by her side, her strictness concealing a hidden tenderness and love. When she threw a tantrum, her mother would helplessly pick her up and hum an unknown dance tune.

And on that stormy night when we were separated forever, what burned even more was the mother's unwavering embrace and protection as the entire bottle of sulfuric acid was poured down.

Until she made her last eye contact with her mother who had flown off the cliff, a flash of white lightning cleaved a scar across the cliff face, a scar that echoed the mark on her shoulder blade, a wound that tormented her year after year.

After a fleeting moment, Lin Jin saw a scene that had been sealed away for a long time.

She was trapped in a pool of mud that devoured people without spitting out bones. Just as she was about to be submerged, the color that rekindled her life was camouflage. The young female soldier who reached out her arm was covered in filth, but she could not hide her honest smile and her firm eyes that were determined to save people.

Lin Jin then realized that she was wrong, terribly wrong.

She always felt that no one in the world loved her, so she was always anxious and insecure, and thus wavered between the desire to possess and control.

At that moment, she suddenly realized that she had always been enveloped in love, but too much suffering had kept that love out of her reach.

In an instant, Lin Jin missed Cheng Sangluo more than ever before. She thought of how, every time Lin Sheng put her in danger, the person who had promised to save her countless times would always appear at the crucial moment, just like a chosen one who came riding on colorful clouds.

Tears streamed down her cheeks in a beautiful yet regretful arc as she slowly closed her eyes. Suddenly, she awoke from her dream and realized that the right love had come too late, and time never waits for anyone.

What a pity, her beloved couldn't come this time.

It's okay. This life is my fault, not yours.

[Author's Note]

1. My pre-order novel, "The Sinful Lover," is available for collection.