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While Cai Wenchuan stayed overnight at Lin Tingyue's house, Lin Tingfeng was completely oblivious, as he and Attorney Zhang were discussing important matters.
My heart felt heavy, as if it were filled with lead.
Lin Tingfeng looked extremely haggard. Ever since his father passed away, a heavy weight had been pressing on his heart. With huge dark circles under his eyes, he asked Lawyer Zhang wearily, "Is there really no other way?"
The surroundings were quiet, but Lin Tingfeng knew that this was the calm before the storm.
Attorney Zhang nodded and said softly to him, "This is the only way. Therefore, let's prioritize harmony."
Lin Tingfeng lowered his head and stopped speaking. An indescribable weariness permeated his entire body, as if someone had pulled several bones out of his spine.
Attorney Zhang looked at Lin Tingfeng with some sympathy and suggested to him, "You should first go to Cai Wenchuan and Madam Zi and see if you can spend money to buy their shares. Maybe all the conspiracies are just our imaginations. As for Xiao Cai, I know him. He is an honest kid with no scheming and no business ambitions. If you spend money to buy his shares, it should be easy to succeed."
Lin Tingfeng's heart skipped a beat, but—
After a few minutes of silence, he put his hands behind his back, looked out at the endless darkness, and said in a hoarse voice to Attorney Zhang, "Xiao Cai and I have always had a very bad relationship. We look down on each other. It's also my fault for not having a long-term vision. No matter how much I calculated, I couldn't have predicted that things would turn out this way. So, Attorney Zhang, I don't think it's possible for me to go to Cai Wenchuan."
Lin Tingfeng knew perfectly well that he needed a middleman. Even if he was willing to swallow his pride and go directly to Cai Wenchuan, Cai Wenchuan would never agree. Over the years, he had been waiting to see him make a fool of himself, and now that he finally had the chance, how could he let it go so easily?
Seeing Lin Tingfeng's pleading expression, Attorney Zhang anxiously reminded him, saying, "Tingfeng, I've watched you grow up, and we've known each other for over thirty years. I don't want to see you suffer a crushing defeat, so you must act quickly! If Madam Zi makes the first move, then you may really have no room to struggle or maneuver!"
Lin Tingfeng nodded, and the air in the room seemed to freeze. He said to Attorney Zhang, "Uncle Zhang, you're right. Tomorrow, I'll go see Cai Wenchuan. If he really agrees to sell the shares to me, then I won't have to worry anymore."
Seeing how he was pressuring him, Attorney Zhang felt sorry for him. He nodded and said, "How about this, I'll go with you tomorrow. I've been friends with Butler Cai for many years. Let's go see Old Cai first. I think Xiao Cai should listen to his father. If Old Cai is willing to help us, we'll be halfway there."
Lin Tingfeng's eyes lit up, a thought struck him, and a hint of joy finally appeared on his face.
The night outside was pitch black, and a chill swept over him. Lin Tingfeng thought about his future, which, like the darkness, was gradually losing all light and hope.
He felt himself being squeezed by this heavy darkness, with no way out, nowhere to retreat. The cruel reality was like a series of heavy punches, forcing him to retreat again and again. Now it was his last desperate struggle!
The next day, Lin Tingfeng did not go to work at the Lin Group. Instead, he got up at the Lin family's old house and had a meal with his mother in the restaurant while waiting for Lawyer Zhang to arrive.
The weather was nice today; the sun rose early and the sunlight was bright. Outside the clear glass window, the trees in the Lin family garden were lush and green, a sight that was refreshing and delightful.
The house was quiet, like a secluded valley. Since his father's passing, Lin Tingxuan had gone abroad, and Lin Tingyue and her mother had moved away. Following this, several of the Lin family's old servants, despite his attempts to persuade them to stay, resigned, citing a desire to retire after working for the Lin family for most of their lives. Furthermore, the Cai family—Cai Wenchuan never liked coming to the old house—had already resigned before his father's death. Therefore, after attending his father's funeral, they hadn't returned.
The Lin family mansion had never been so deserted. It was so quiet that even the sounds of the servants moving around could be heard.
Lin Tingfeng's mother had no appetite at all. She stared blankly out the window, her hair disheveled, wearing pajamas, and her face pale.
Lin Tingfeng drank half a bowl of porridge, then looked at his mother. He noticed she seemed like a completely different person. Her face was as pale as paper, her eyes empty and lifeless. The mental illness she had in her youth seemed ready to flare up at any moment; that abnormal mental state was about to reappear. He became worried, so he composed himself, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and said, "Mom—"
The past is like ice; are the nightmares of my childhood and adolescence about to awaken again?
When he called out to her first without a response, Lin Tingfeng's heart sank even further. He knew that his father's love for his concubine on his deathbed had probably been a huge blow to his mother. After the old man passed away, he divided his property into three parts, giving one to his concubine but not to her, which made her resentful. The imbalance had been too great, and she was now facing a mental breakdown.
Thinking of this, Lin Tingfeng felt a wave of dizziness and a sharp pain in his heart. No matter what, he did not want his mother's mental illness to relapse. If his mother had a relapse, given her age, it would be difficult to cure her!
The Lin Group was on the verge of collapse, and his mother's old illness was about to relapse. Lin Tingfeng felt the already heavy burden on his shoulders grow even heavier.
The suffering he endured in his youth was etched into his heart like a brand, and he would never forget it for the rest of his life. Therefore, he was determined to do everything in his power to stop it!
After an unknown amount of time, Lin Tingfeng finally regained his composure. He steadied himself, forced a smile, and then raised his voice, gently calling to the dazed old woman, "Mom—"
The old lady finally came to her senses, pulling her thoughts back from their flight like a kite. Lin Tingfeng felt a pang of heartache seeing his mother like this.
This was the first time he had seriously looked at his mother since his father passed away; in less than half a month, she seemed to have aged a lot.
Before his mistress returned to China, she had undergone all sorts of cosmetic surgery, beauty treatments, makeup, and radiofrequency skin tightening, and looked like she was in her thirties. But now, her hair is messy, her face is pale, she has dense crow's feet at the corners of her eyes, and dark bags under her eyes, making her look like a woman in her fifties.
She was without makeup, dressed in casual clothes, looking tired, listless, and disoriented. Was her previous dressing up just for her father? Now that her father has passed away, she has lost the motivation to dress up.
Lin Tingfeng discovered this and was horrified. He realized for the first time that although his father had stopped loving his mother many years ago, she had always loved him deeply. That was why she had forgiven his grave mistake, why she had devoted her life to meticulously dressing him up, and why, for the rest of her life after returning to the Lin family, she had waited for him to change his mind, apologize, and love her again. Now that his father was gone, her hope was gone, and she had lost the motivation to dress up; her life seemed to have lost its winding mechanism.
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