"Can your mother be discharged from the hospital today?"
Lin Wan was stunned by Lin Haoran's question and took a few seconds to answer:
"How could that be? She just had surgery a few hours ago. The doctor said she would be discharged in at least a week."
"There's no other way then, let's go find Lin An ourselves."
Lin Haoran thought to himself that his wife was really useless. He had originally wanted to gain sympathy by pretending to be sick, but she was still stuck in the hospital and couldn't get out.
Lin Wan countered, "Shall we go find Lin An?"
“Yes, since he has money and connections, we should find a way to get him to contribute money and effort to help the Lin family overcome the crisis.”
“He will absolutely not help the Lin family,” Lin Wan replied decisively. “Besides, Mom went to see him before, but it was no use. Let’s not bother him anymore.”
The thought of going to find Lin An made Lin Wan feel a bit of a shock.
"That's because your mother is stupid. She can't get anything done. You need to have the right attitude when asking for favors. Today I'll show you how to ask for favors properly."
Lin Haoran regained his former confidence. A true man can bend and stretch. For a man, it's not shameful for a father to ask his son for help for the sake of his career. He can't just throw away money for the sake of face.
Lin Haoran had been well-versed in military strategy since childhood, and his favorite tactics were the beauty trap and the self-inflicted injury trap. Today, he was going to use the self-inflicted injury trap.
"You, you better watch your attitude. You don't need to say a word, just cry," Lin Haoran said, pointing at Lin Rou and categorizing her as part of the atmosphere-building team.
"You, think about what you've done, and apologize to the point of death." Lin Haoran pointed at Lin Zhe and said. He knew that Lin An's knot in his heart was mostly due to Lin Zhe. As the saying goes, the person who wronged you knows better than you how wronged you are.
At this moment, in a Northeastern Chinese restaurant, Lin An is celebrating Tong Jiaojiao's birthday with the Leng family father and daughter.
The ramen shop closes on its day off just to celebrate his wife's birthday—this is Leng Feng's romantic gesture.
The restaurant is not far from home, and the owners are all old acquaintances.
A dish of braised pork ribs with green beans was served. Seeing Leng Lin and Lin An, this perfect couple, sitting side-by-side, the proprietress couldn't help but praise them:
"Linlin has become so beautiful lately. This girl is so lovely, and this young man is so energetic too. Who is she?"
“It’s Linlin,” Leng Feng replied with a smile.
"Oh dear, Linlin is all grown up now, it's time for her to make friends."
"We have to wait until after the college entrance exam."
Leng Feng and Tong Jiaojiao laughed along with the proprietress, while Leng Lin blushed instantly. Sometimes, not denying something is a form of agreement.
Lin An did not respond, a faint smile on his face.
After the dishes were served, Leng Feng took out a cake.
He clumsily lit the lotus candles on the cake with his strong hands: "Wife, make a wish."
"At this age, why bother with all this?"
Although Tong Jiaojiao said this, her face lit up with a smile. She naturally put her hands together and closed her eyes.
She blew out the candles as the birthday song played. Her wish was simple: that Leng Lin could get into university.
"Thank you, Lin An. Linlin's mock exam results have improved."
Tong Jiaojiao smiled and clinked glasses with Lin An.
"I could never thank you enough for your kindness," Lin An said with emotion.
Leng Feng waved his hand and said, "Then we won't use the word 'thank you' between us anymore."
"Lin An, Linlin said your house is going to be demolished. Have you found a place to live yet?"
"Not yet, the developer is eager to start construction, I'm going to check into a hotel first."
"Alright, have you packed everything? Do you need any help?" Leng Feng was a man of action; if Lin An asked, he would definitely help with the move.
"No need, I don't have much stuff. I've already left the books at the hotel, I just need to go home and get some clothes."
Seeing that everyone had almost finished eating, Lin An took out the birthday gift he had prepared.
"Aunt Tong, this is a birthday present I prepared for you."
"What are you buying, you little kid?"
In Tong Jiaojiao's eyes, Lin An is just a child. No matter how rich you are, it's not a child's place to spend money. Adults should be the ones to spend money.
"Aunt Tong, this is just a small token of my appreciation, please accept it quickly," Lin An urged.
"It's a kind gesture from the child, so please accept it quickly." Through the transparent box, Leng Feng saw that it was a set of slightly exaggerated glass jewelry, which he guessed was a craft product from a small commodity market and thought was worthless.
After saying that, Leng Feng opened the box, picked up the bracelet, and put it directly on Tong Jiaojiao's wrist:
"You know what, Lin An has good taste. This bracelet looks better on than on."
Tong Jiaojiao was instantly stunned. Born into a prestigious family in Beijing, she had seen many fine things since childhood. This thing didn't look like glass but rather like jade. She asked doubtfully:
"Lin An, this must be expensive. How much did you pay for it?"
Lin An was afraid that if he told Tong Jiaojiao the price, she wouldn't dare to accept it: "It's worthless, just a handicraft."
After saying that, he gave Leng Lin a look, and Leng Lin blinked at him, indicating that she understood and would keep quiet.
Tong Jiaojiao shook her head and laughed self-deprecatingly, guessing that she hadn't paid attention to jewelry for too many years and now couldn't even distinguish between glass and jade.
Amidst laughter and cheerful conversation, the four raised their glasses in celebration.
After dinner, Leng Feng said he wanted to accompany his wife to the mall for a shopping spree, but Leng Lin, lacking any sense of propriety, insisted on going along.
Lin An took a ride-hailing service home to get his things.
As soon as the car came to a stop, Lin An saw Lin Haoran waiting for him at the door with his children through the car window.
Lin An naturally knew why he had come to him at this time. It seemed that the Lin family was desperate and had no other choice but to ask him for help. His father, a biologist, was selfish, hypocritical, and would do anything for profit.
"Hello, we've arrived at our destination," the driver politely reminded Lin An to get out of the car.
"No rush, let me sit a little longer and I'll give you extra money."
"Okay!" The driver quickly canceled the order on his phone.
Lin An made a phone call to Lu Jing's project manager.
"Let your demolition team come in now, you can start demolishing."
"Okay, Mr. Lin, we'll get started right away. Thank you for your cooperation."
The project manager was almost frantic. His superiors kept urging him to start construction. He knew that Lin An and Lu Jing were on good terms, but he didn't dare to urge Lin An. Finally, Lin An took the initiative to say that the demolition could proceed.
Having arranged everything, Lin An revealed a wicked smile. He was quite interested in watching Lin Haoran's hypocritical performance after shedding his patriarchal facade, to see just how far he could go and how shameless he could be.
Lin An didn't plan to keep those clothes to avoid being bothered by the Lin family. He intended to just sit in the car and watch the show.
Lin An leaned back in his seat, rolled down the window, casually rested one hand on the window, and said jokingly:
"What's up? Did you guys need something from me?"
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