Lin Ji knew almost as much about the things between her parents as she did about her younger brother.

"I only overheard my second brother mention it just now. I don't know how the other party got Mom's contact information and contacted her directly."

Lin Ji sighed after speaking, "I didn't dare ask anything else, for fear of upsetting people again."

Seeing her mother's haggard and weak appearance, Lin Ji could only recall all the good things her mother had done for her when she was a child. Now, seeing her mother, who had given birth to her, lying in a hospital bed like this, she felt terrible.

Both siblings knew that the question should be asked of another party involved, their father.

When the two of them came out of the tea room, Jian Yuxiang was obviously asleep, so they tiptoed out of the ward and into the outer room.

When Lin Shen came out, he saw that Lin Zhan was sitting alone outside the ward. He frowned and asked, "Where is he?"

"Dad answered a phone call and then went out."

Seeing that his younger siblings looked unwell, Lin Zhan hesitated for a moment before asking, "We're not really going to have another younger sibling, are we?"

Lin Zhan lived a carefree life. He knew he wasn't smart or capable. His biggest wish was for the Lin family to thrive and continue making money. He just wanted his share dividends to allow him to live a carefree life without having to work.

He didn't ask for anything else.

She was quite happy when her younger brother joined the company, because he was capable and his future life would be secure.

But this time the situation is different. Even if Lin Zhan doesn't care about family matters, he really doesn't want to have another younger brother or sister when he's over forty years old.

Moreover, compared to his father, who showed disdain the moment he saw him, Lin Zhan was more on his mother's side, who occasionally showed concern for him. Lin Zhan couldn't help but resent his father for still doing these things at his advanced age.

Besides, with more siblings, wouldn't he get even less property in the future?

Lin Ji sat down on the sofa and asked, "Second Brother, you were home when the incident happened today. What exactly happened?"

Lin Zhan spoke almost without much thought. He had been wanting to talk about it ever since it happened, but he hadn't had a chance to hear it before, and he was really bottling it up.

"Today I went home to have dinner with my parents. Right after we finished eating, my mom glanced at her phone and immediately threw it in front of my dad, yelling at him for being shameless and saying that people had come to our door to complain. The two of them started arguing. You all know what happened next."

Of course, Lin Zhan wouldn't go home to have dinner with his parents for no reason. He was here today because his son had complained to him, saying he wanted to go home and asked him to plead with Lin Shen to bring him back.

Lin Zhan didn't dare to come directly to his younger brother, so he wanted to go home to his parents and ask them to talk to his brother.

But after what happened today, he still couldn't bring himself to say it. Now that something so serious has happened, Lin Zhan is even less able to say it.

Moreover, he had already subtly inquired during the meal about why his unfortunate son had been "exiled"—it turned out he had offended the fourth brother's girlfriend. Wasn't this like a mouse hitting a cat, courting death?

He no longer had the mind to care about his son; his son had enough to eat and drink, so how bad could his life be? The most important issue for the Lin family now was that they couldn't have another child!

I believe his son can understand his good intentions; he did all this for the sake of the family!

"Xiao Shen, what do you think we should do about this? You decide, I'll listen to you."

After a short while, Lin Shen said, "I will have someone investigate the whole story, but there is one more thing that needs to be done now."

"What is it?"

"Something that will prevent Dad from having any more children."

Lin Zhan felt a chill run down his spine when he heard his younger brother say those words with a blank expression.

He swallowed hard before confirming with his younger brother, "Xiao Shen, you have to take care of Dad—" He made a chop gesture towards his lower body.

Lin Ji was speechless. She had heard her mother say that her second brother had injured his head when he fell while ice skating as a child. Could it be that he was injured at that time?

She turned her head away from Lin Zhan and asked Lin Shen, "You mean you want Dad to get a tubal ligation?"

"Or you have other ideas."

Lin Ji fell silent. They really had no other choice. Lin Shuyu was a living, breathing person; they couldn't just lock him up and prevent him from going out and messing around.

"It's possible, but I'm afraid Dad wouldn't agree."

If he had wanted to, none of this would have happened. Lin Ji thought that her father was probably still pleased with himself for being as virile as ever.

Lin Shen looked at Lin Zhan.

"You want me to persuade them? How could I possibly do that?!" Lin Zhan hurriedly refused. "You all know that Dad dislikes me the most."

Of the four children, Lin Zhan was neither the eldest nor the youngest, nor the only daughter. In addition, she was not very bright and started failing her exams in elementary school.

He was the least valued child from a young age, and all he ever did was scold him. Fortunately, he was easygoing; a few scoldings wouldn't kill him, as long as he wasn't shortchanged on money.

"Second brother, go and tell eldest brother about this, and ask him to persuade him."

Upon hearing his younger brother's words, Lin Ji immediately understood that if asked which child Lin Shuyu still had any "fatherly love" for, it would definitely be his eldest brother.

After all, it was their first child, and that was also the time when their relationship was at its best, so naturally their feelings for the child were deeper.

As for why the second brother was sent to tell the eldest brother... after all, if Lin Shen had gone to tell him, Lin Yu might have started to overthink things and suspect that his motives were impure.

Although Lin Zhan couldn't figure out why, he didn't ask and simply agreed, saying that he would go and talk to his older brother after he got off the plane.

After saying this, Lin Shen glanced at the time and said to Lin Ji, "Sister, please take care of Mom. I'm going out for a bit."

Lin Ji knew he had gone to investigate this matter, so he nodded and said he would stay at the hospital today.

"If Mom can be discharged from the hospital, I will take her to stay with me for a while."

Lin Ji and her husband are both teachers at the school, which provides them with housing, and they usually live at the school. However, they also have a house off-campus, so if her mother doesn't want to go home, she can stay at her place.

Lin Zhan also spoke up, "You can stay at my place... Xiao Shen, if you find out anything, remember to tell us, and we can discuss it together."

Brothers and sisters who were not particularly close before suddenly felt like they were "in the same boat" after this incident, and became much more harmonious than before.

Lin Shen originally thought that this matter should not be difficult to investigate, as long as he could find out the women who had recently been associated with Lin Shuyu.

But when he saw the results of the investigation, he realized that things were not as simple as he had thought.

Or rather, he overestimated Lin Shuyu. How could someone like him possibly maintain a relationship with only one woman?

He now thinks that using the method his second brother had previously thought of is also quite good.