Deal
After taking the next bus back to the city, Song Yuhang found a public telephone booth near the bus station, glanced around, picked up the receiver, and dialed a number.
One hour later.
In a fast-food restaurant, where customers were scattered about, Song Yuhang returned home first, hastily freshened up, and then came out to wait for her. Even so, exhaustion lingered on her face, not to mention the bruising and swelling on her nose and the wound on her forehead.
Fang Xin was slightly surprised at the sight of her. “Captain Song…”
“It’s okay, come and sit down.” Song Yuhang motioned for her to come over and instructed the waiter to bring the food.
The two of them chatted casually while eating, and as the customers in the restaurant began to leave and the servers retreated to the back to rest.
Song Yuhang finally took out two transparent PVC bags from her pocket and placed them on the table, pushing them over to Fang Xin as she spoke in a low voice.
“I don’t know who else to turn to. After giving it a lot of thought, I realized that only you can help me. Please verify if the DNA on this piece of cloth matches the DNA from this strand of hair.”
The strand of brown hair naturally belonged to Lin Yan.
Fang Xin was dumbfounded. “This is…”
Song Yuhang shook her head, looking extremely haggard, with dark circles under her eyes and cracked lips.
Fang Xin couldn’t bear to press further. “Alright, I’ll do it secretly after work today, but the results won’t be available for at least three days.”
A glint of gratitude filled Song Yuhang’s eyes. “Thank you, thank you…”
“What’s there to thank me for? Sister Lin is also my friend. Her death is a mystery, and we’re all feeling terrible. If there’s anything I can help with, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
Avoiding any more mention of the topic, as bringing it up inevitably made Song Yuhang’s eyes well up, the waiter came to clear the table, and Fang Xin discreetly tucked the samples into her own bag.
Song Yuhang wiped the corner of her eye. “Let’s leave it at that for today. Thank you for everything.”
Fang Xin checked the time and got up. “Alright, it’s almost my lunch break. I’ll head back now.”
She took a couple of steps, then turned back to look at Song Yuhang.
“Captain Song, I think you should still go to the hospital.”
Song Yuhang smiled and shook her head. “It’s nothing, just a minor injury. You should get going and not be late.”
After Fang Xin left, Song Yuhang took out her wallet from her pocket and settled the bill. Without waiting for the server to return the change, she put on her hat and left.
She drove straight to the Lin residence.
Upon hearing the news, Lin Youyuan, who was undergoing treatment, struggled to sit up, and the butler removed the ventilator for him.
“Not… not there…” Lin Youyuan gasped and trembled.
“Alright, alright, master, lie down, I’ll go and talk,” the butler reassured.
This was Song Yuhang’s first visit to the Lin family’s old mansion. The last time she came to pick up Lin Yan, she only glanced at it from a distance. The resplendence of the mansion had left a deep impression on her. However, after more than half a year, it didn’t resemble the bustling and lively scene she had imagined. The garden was overgrown with weeds due to lack of maintenance, and the whole place was desolately quiet.
Song Yuhang glanced around, and the butler appeared.
“Miss Song, please leave. The master doesn’t want to see you.”
“I have something important to consult with him. Please inform him again. If it’s not possible, then I’ll have to…”
She took a step forward, raised her chin slightly, and looked down at him.
“I’ll force my way in.”
Butler Lin sighed deeply, feeling helpless.
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“Why do you have to do this?”
A smirk played on Song Yuhang’s lips as she started to act stubborn and petulant.
“I was just about to call him ‘Dad’. Uncle Lin wouldn’t refuse to see me, would he? It’s just a brief meeting, consider it me fulfilling my filial duty to Lin Yan.”
As she spoke, she took out a prepared gift from the car and handed it to the butler.
Employing both soft and hard tactics, along with throwing tantrums and making jokes, she didn’t even know where she had learned these.
Butler Lin felt both exasperated and intimidated, and dare not accept anything from her, knowing that it would go against Lin Youyuan’s wishes.
Accepting her gifts would only affirm her status as a “daughter-in-law” of the Lin family. No, it’s not true!
Daughter-in-law? Why does it feel even more bizarre?
As the two continued their back-and-forth, the butler couldn’t bear it any longer and exclaimed, “Alright, alright, I’ll go and inform him again. Whether he sees you or not is up to him.”
When he returned to the room, Lin Youyuan had already risen from his bed, leaning against the headboard and observing everything that had just happened through the French windows.
“Master…” Butler Lin softly pushed the door open and entered.
Lin Youyuan closed his eyes for a moment, then lifted the corners of his lips slightly. He looked incredibly gaunt, with sunken cheeks, drooping skin, and relaxed muscles.
“I thought she wouldn’t come.”
“I observed that she genuinely cares for Miss.”
“Good? What’s so good about it?… ” Lin Youyuan said, then started coughing violently, covering his mouth with a handkerchief.
“Cough, let her in and ask her to wait for me in the reception room.”
“Yes.” Butler Lin bowed slightly, went out to escort the visitor, and when he returned to assist Lin Youyuan to get up, he was stopped by a wave of his hand.
Lin Youyuan looked towards the wardrobe. “Pick a well-fitting suit for me.”
/// WARNING – DISGUSTING LIN GE BEHAVIOUR
In a dim basement, a few girls knelt in a small room.
Lin Ge raised each of their chins to carefully inspect them, while the person by his side nodded and bowed.
“Master Lin, according to your instructions, what do you think of the selection?”
He raised the chin of the last girl with his slender fingers, and her unremarkable face met his gaze.
He withdrew his hand disinterestedly.
“Don’t call me that, not yet.”
“But it won’t be long, it won’t be long. After… after death, it will all be yours.”
He ambiguously brushed off that name.
Lin Ge smiled lightly, took off his gloves and tossed them onto the table, then casually signaled for one of the girls to come over.
“Alright, it’s you. You can handle the others as you wish.”
“Okay, okay.” The man’s face revealed a grin like that of a sly fox, and he roughly shoved the girls out of the room.
Before coming, they had been taught how to behave when meeting him.
The girl, knowing her place, crawled over and used her teeth to unzip his pants.
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Lin Ge tilted his head slightly, his hands tightly clenched into fists on the table.
The girl put in great effort, but she became increasingly terrified, as she realized…
When he felt tears falling on himself, Lin Ge grabbed the girl by the hair and forced her to lift her head.
“Useless.”
He said coldly, tears welled up in his eyes, somewhat similar to Lin Yan’s, as she cried and begged him.
“Young master, please, no, please…”
Before she finished speaking, she was choked, lifted off the ground by her neck.
The girl struggled in vain in mid-air, her face gradually turning pale.
After a while, she lowered her arms and her head leaned to the side limply.
Lin Ge pulled her by the hair towards the depths of the basement. After verifying his fingerprints, he entered a door leading to a place like a hidden paradise, filled with all sorts of medical equipment and dissection tools.
It was a small but well-equipped biological laboratory.
Before long, there was a new specimen added to the display case.
Song Yuhang sat and waited for a while, then Lin Youyuan was brought in by the butler to take the main seat and went straight to the point.
“What’s the matter?”
During Lin Yan’s funeral, Song Yuhang’s wounds had not healed, so she was bedridden and did not have the chance to say goodbye to her for the last time, nor did she see Lin Youyuan. This was their first meeting after her death.
Lin Youyuan had aged significantly, perhaps to avoid the wind, he wore a simple duckbill cap, his eyebrows were frosted white, and his beard was a little scruffy. He was dressed in a large suit, and even though his appearance was well-kept, there was still a hint of a child wearing adult clothes.
At that time, Song Yuhang did not yet know that this incongruity stemmed from Lin Youyuan’s serious illness and emaciated figure.
She cleared her throat, stood up to show respect and presented the gift.
“This is a health supplement I brought for you.”
Lin Youyuan glanced at it and sneered, “Take her and the stuff she brought and throw them out.”
Before the words had even finished, several burly men burst into the room ready to drag her away.
Song Yuhang dodged and pushed the nearest bodyguard behind her, causing the man to stagger back three or four steps.
“Regarding Lin Yan’s death, I have some insight. Would you like to hear it?”
Lin Youyuan coughed a few times, covering his mouth with a handkerchief. He looked up at her, squinting slightly, as if assessing her intentions.
After a while, he suddenly furrowed his brow and moved his finger.
The nearest bodyguard suddenly launched forward, his elbow striking her in the back, causing her to bend over.
The others rushed in and pinned her down in front of Lin Youyuan.
The old man poked her forehead with the tip of his cane, emitting a phlegmy sound from his throat, panting heavily with gritted teeth.
“What right do you have to mention her in front of me? If it weren’t for you, she wouldn’t have died!”
Song Yuhang lifted her head, neither evading nor avoiding, allowing the cane to redden her forehead.
“Yes, I owe her a life, so I must find the real culprit for her and not let her die in vain.”
“Even if it costs your life?”
Song Yuhang curled the corner of her lips and smiled briefly.
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“Then consider it as returning my life to her.”
Lin Youyuan started coughing violently, fiercely swinging his cane towards her head. “Returning her won’t bring Lin Yan back!”
As the strong wind hit, Song Yuhang closed her eyes, slightly tilting her head, allowing herself to be at the mercy of others.
This was what she should endure.
She was fully prepared but before the cane could fall, she raised her head only to find the bodyguards had disappeared, leaving only Butler Lin gently patting his back to ease his discomfort.
It seemed like he hadn’t stopped coughing since he entered the room.
Song Yuhang was puzzled, “You…”
Lin Youyuan waved his hand and gestured for Butler Lin to leave as well.
“Master…”
Lin Youyuan covered his mouth with the handkerchief and coughed hard a couple of times before catching his breath.
“It’s okay, you may go.”
LP: The males of the Lin family are really… <(ㅍ _ㅍ)>