Upon seeing Lin An appear in his line of sight, Lin Haoran immediately adopted an anxious expression, his eyes slightly red, as if he had just been crying.
Lin Haoran approached the car and leaned against the window, but Lin An quickly withdrew his hand in disgust.
"Son! You're finally back! You don't know, do you? Your mom had surgery today. After she came out of the operating room, she didn't want to see anyone but you. She kept asking where you were. Son, come back with Dad to see Mom."
Lin Haoran's eyes were sincere and his tone was earnest, completely devoid of his previous arrogant attitude. Lin An couldn't help but admire him. What great acting skills! He also chose a good angle to start the conversation. His mother was critically ill; who wouldn't be moved in that situation?
Lin An smiled calmly: "I know she had surgery. Is she dead?"
Lin Haoran was clearly stunned, and stammered:
"No, he didn't die. The surgery was a success."
"That's a real shame."
"How dare you speak like that..." Lin Rou was furious. Wasn't this cursing her mother to die? She wanted to step forward and teach Lin An a lesson.
"Shut up! Get out of here."
Lin Rou was glared at by Lin Haoran and yelled back.
Lin Haoran turned to look at Lin An and said with self-reproach:
"It's all my fault, Xiao An. I was too busy before and didn't have time to care for you. I haven't seen you at home these past few days, and Dad is heartbroken. I regret being so impulsive and letting you leave home. It's all Dad's fault..."
As he spoke, Lin Haoran took out a tissue to wipe his eyes, his voice choked with emotion:
"Xiao An, after you came home, Dad was too anxious. Dad always wanted to train you more, be stricter with you, and help you grow up quickly so that I could hand over the Lin family to you. Dad had good intentions, so please don't blame me..."
Lin Haoran kept calling Lin An "Xiao An," which gave Lin An goosebumps.
Lin An frowned. If it were his past self, who longed for family affection, he would almost certainly have softened in the face of his tearful father and easily coaxed back by Lin Haoran's few kind words.
Having lived a second life, he knew the true nature of the Lin family better than anyone. Lin An had long since lost that so-called kinship ties, so he could appreciate Lin Haoran's self-inflicted injury with an attitude of detachment.
The Lin family is now in dire straits. If they can't find any help, they will soon declare bankruptcy. Lin Haoran is a man who puts profit first and would rather die than accept becoming poor and destitute. He will stop at nothing to turn things around.
A mischievous glint suddenly rose in Lin An's heart. A wicked smile curled at the corners of his lips. He followed up on Lin Haoran's words and asked in return:
"You regret it? You know you were wrong?"
Lin Haoran said with deep remorse, "I was wrong."
"So where did you go wrong?"
Lin Haoran seemed to choke on something. The last person to ask him such a question was his first love, whom he had broken up with thirty years ago.
He instinctively straightened up, paused, and replied:
"My mistake was ignoring you and making you feel wronged."
"So what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to apologize to you. I'm sorry, I was wrong."
"Anything else?"
"I promise I'll never do it again."
Lin Haoran felt very strange. These words were as if he had been trained, like muscle memory, and came out naturally and effortlessly.
Lin An raised his voice: "Anything else?"
Lin Haoran was taken aback. What else? He looked around and pointed at Lin Rou and Lin Zhexun, saying:
"You two, come over here right now and apologize to Xiao An. You're brothers and sisters, born of the same mother. How do you treat Xiao An? How could you be so mean to him?"
As he spoke, Lin Haoran looked at Lin Rou and scolded, "Lin Rou! You dared to challenge Xiao An just now, who gave you the guts? Apologize to Xiao An right now!"
Lin Rou immediately straightened her posture, bowed deeply, and said respectfully:
“Little brother, I was wrong before. Please forgive me. I promise I will never do anything to upset you again.”
"And you, Lin Zhe, you've done so many things to Xiao An before, why don't you apologize right now?" Lin Haoran urged.
Lin Zhe bent over almost to his feet, and said with utmost sincerity:
"Brother, I did many wrong things to you before. I'm sorry, I was wrong. Please forgive me and come home with Dad."
Lin An couldn't help but sneer. People should live longer. If one life isn't enough, they can have another. They can see all kinds of things. He had never seen Lin Rou and Lin Zhe so willing to admit defeat and apologize before.
Seeing that Lin An did not respond, Lin Haoran quickly leaned against the car window again to persuade him:
“Xiao An, it breaks my heart to see you living in such a dilapidated house. Come home with me. Once your mother is discharged from the hospital, we can live together as a family and work together to help the Lin family prosper.”
Lin An spoke calmly: "Shall we work together?"
"Yes! Those with money should contribute money, and those with strength should contribute their strength, so that the Lin family can reach new heights."
Lin Haoran's scheme was obvious; he simply wanted Lin An to contribute money and effort to help the Lin family overcome their difficulties.
Lin An looked at Lin Haoran with a mocking smile in his eyes.
Lin Haoran hurriedly squeezed out a few tears, wiping them away as he asked:
"Aren't you willing to forgive us yet? Don't you believe in our sincerity?"
Lin An watched the construction vehicle drive into the intersection, feigned melancholy, looked up and sighed, lamenting:
"Trust is easy to lose, but hard to rebuild!"
As if receiving some kind of signal, Lin Haoran began to cry violently. To intensify the atmosphere, he pulled Lin Rou and Lin Zhe to cry with him, muttering, "I was wrong, we were all wrong, we know we were wrong!"
To show his sincerity, Lin Haoran collapsed to the ground in tears.
Seeing the three of them crying on the ground, with passersby pointing and whispering, Lin Wan couldn't bear it any longer:
"Enough! Lin An, stop teasing them. I know you're not coming home."
"Alright, I'm getting a little tired of this too, it's all the same old thing." Lin An waved his hand: "Master, let's go."
As the car started, Lin Haoran and his two companions remained engrossed in their acting, unable to extricate themselves from the role.
"Dad, don't cry, Lin An is gone." Lin Wan's voice was drowned out by sobs.
Lin Haoran only stopped crying when he heard the rumbling of car horns overhead.
He opened his eyes and saw a burly young man in overalls leaning over and staring at them.
"What are you doing? Holding out?"
"Who are you? Where's Lin An?" Lin Haoran asked, his face full of questions.
"What Lin An? I'm the demolition team leader. Let me tell you, what kind of holdouts haven't I seen? This is a key development project of the Lu Group in Beijing. You can't afford to compensate for the delays. Get out of here now, or I'll bulldoze you with a bulldozer."
"No, no, no, I'll go right now."
Lin Haoran was most afraid of this kind of hothead, so he quickly got up and stepped aside.
The demolition team leader waved his hand and said, "Start work! Tear this house down!"
Several construction vehicles roared into action, tearing the old house apart. A few minutes later, the old house collapsed with a crash.
Lin Haoran stared at the ruins before him, his face ashen, and murmured:
"The house is gone, Lin An has run away, how am I supposed to find him? What will happen to the Lin family?"
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