Chapter 33: Rumors
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Hotel
Reception Room
Lin Ting was stunned when she heard Lin Jinchuan asking her for money.
She had never imagined that anyone could be so shameless.
“Why should I give you money?” Lin Ting asked.
“Pay me. I won’t sign unless you give me every last penny,” Lin Jinchuan replied. “I want to bind you to the Lin family forever. If the Lin family goes bankrupt, you can figure out a way to deal with it.”
“Have you gone mad from poverty?” Lin Ting said. “Believe it or not, I’ll report you for extortion.”
“Go ahead and report me,” Lin Jinchuan said. “In any case, if you don’t give me money, I won’t let you off.”
“Fine. Then we’ll see who can outlast whom.” Lin Ting took out a recording and played it for him. “The Lin family’s company is already in this state. If I add fuel to the fire, I wonder whether it’ll be able to hold on.”
Lin Jinchuan listened to the recording on her phone.
It was Zhao Chen discussing with Lin Ting how he had sold his daughter.
Lin Jinchuan immediately reached for her phone. “Do you think anyone will believe you? What can one recording prove?”
“It can prove quite a lot,” Lin Ting said. “And given your reputation now, everyone will believe it. More importantly, you’ve broken the law. Lin Shan has been imprisoned. It seems you want to join her.”
“You’re talking nonsense!” Lin Jinchuan shouted.
“Whether I am or not, we can call the police and let everything become clear.” Lin Ting began to dial.
Lin Jinchuan tried to stop her. “What are you doing? I’m your father! Is this how you treat your own father?”
“I’m simply too civilized and too well-bred. I was taking into consideration the fact that you still carry the title of my father,” Lin Ting said. “Otherwise, when you asked me for money just now, I would already have beaten you until you were calling me ‘Dad.’”
“You!” Lin Jinchuan glared at her.
Lin Ting pulled a pen from the holder beside her and tossed it onto the table. “Sign it! Otherwise, I’ll expose the recording and call the police right now. I’ll not only make the Lin family’s company disappear—I’ll make sure you never get out again! If you don’t believe me, try me!”
Lin Jinchuan stared at Lin Ting, so frightened that he could not utter a word.
He could sense that she was not bluffing. She truly had the power to make sure he never got out.
Who exactly was the man beside her?
Did he really have that much influence?
Was he even more powerful than the Shen family?
Impossible. No one could be more powerful than the Shen family.
Shen Haochen had said that once Lin Shan was released, he would persuade his parents and then hold an engagement banquet with her.
As long as the Lin family made it through this difficult period, things would eventually get better.
“Sign it,” Lin Ting said.
Lin Jinchuan looked again at the agreement on the table. “Lin Ting, do we really have to go this far?”
“What do you think?” Lin Ting said. “If you sign, we can each live in peace. If you refuse, I’ll be unhappy—and the Lin family will disappear even faster.”
Lin Jinchuan looked at her.
Lin Ting continued, “From the very beginning, you never intended to acknowledge me as your daughter. If the police and public opinion hadn’t pressured you, you wouldn’t have recognized me. I don’t know what happened back then that made you hate me so much.”
The words “back then” seemed to remind Lin Jinchuan of something. He suddenly shouted, “Then why did you come back? You could have told the police you were an orphan!”
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“Who would have wanted to come back? If it weren’t for...” Lin Ting stopped halfway and said nothing more. “Sign it. It’s better for both of us.”
Lin Jinchuan remained motionless.
Lin Ting dialed a number and said, “Is this Yaoyue Media? I’d like to expose the matter of Lin Jinchuan of Jiangcheng selling his daughter.”
“I’ll sign! I’ll sign! I’ll sign!” Lin Jinchuan hurriedly reached for the pen on the table.
Only after watching him sign the agreement did Lin Ting hang up.
She took one of the copies and said, “From now on, we have no relationship whatsoever.”
With that, she left the reception room.
Lin Jinchuan remained standing there. After a while, he picked up the agreement and looked at it again.
It was the same as the one Lin Ting had given him last time.
Lin Ting had asked for nothing.
She simply wanted to sever ties with him, cut off all connection with the Lin family, and have nothing more to do with them.
Only then did Lin Jinchuan slowly grasp the truth.
Lin Ting seemed extremely unwilling to remain part of the Lin family. To her, the family was like a restraint.
It was that man.
He had helped her break free from the Lin family first.
She believed that the man could give her far more than the Lin family ever had.
At that thought, Lin Jinchuan let out a derisive laugh.
If that man truly had such power and wealth, how could he possibly keep treating her well forever? He was merely playing around. Sooner or later, he would abandon her.
When that day came, Lin Ting, I’d like to see where you’ll go to cry.
I want to see what kind of life you can lead without the Lin family.
Severing ties was fine, too.
At least her reputation would no longer drag the Lin family down.
Lin Jinchuan remained in the reception room, lost in these thoughts.
Before long, a security guard entered and threw him out.
Meanwhile, Lin Ting hired a courier and called one of the maids at the Lin residence.
She instructed the courier to go to the Lin family home and collect her belongings.
Then she went to Wangyue.
She stayed there for two days.
Over the course of two nights, she bid on five items.
Vases, calligraphy and paintings, jewelry...
After the auctions ended, she went to the warehouse and gathered some jewelry and coins as well.
“What are you doing? Why do I feel as if you’re trying to move out the entire house?” Qi Youfan asked.
“Giving gifts,” Lin Ting replied.
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“Giving them to whom?” Qi Youfan asked. “Every item here is worth a fortune. One piece would be more than enough for a gift. But you point at one and take another. Are you picking cabbages?”
Lin Ting had no idea what he was rambling about. She continued carefully selecting items, then asked after a while, “Has anything happened recently?”
“There actually is one thing,” Qi Youfan said. “Someone came to buy information. Information about you.”
“About me?” Lin Ting looked at him.
“Guess who?” Qi Youfan asked.
Lin Ting stared at him.
“The Qi family of the capital,” Qi Youfan said.
“The Qi family?” Lin Ting thought for a moment. “I haven’t offended anyone from their family, nor do I have any grudge against them. Why are they investigating me? And they’re doing it through Wangyue?”
“I looked into it,” Qi Youfan said. “The Qi family’s daughter, Qi Qingyuan, is in love with Shang Moting. They grew up together and have been childhood sweethearts. They’re perfectly matched in family background. I heard that the old master of the Shang family has always wanted Shang Moting to marry Qi Qingyuan.”
Lin Ting paused. “What does Shang Moting think?”
“I don’t know,” Qi Youfan said. “He probably doesn’t want to. Otherwise, they would have married long ago. There wouldn’t have been so many rumors over the years saying that Shang Moting has no interest in women, or that he’s impotent.”
“What?” Lin Ting picked up a vase and examined it. She thought it would look beautiful with flowers in it. “Impotent in what way?”
Qi Youfan looked at her, paused, and said, “That way.”
Lin Ting looked back at him, utterly bewildered. “What way is ‘that way’?”
Qi Youfan fell silent and stared at her speechlessly.
Lin Ting met his gaze. After a moment, realization dawned on her, and she exclaimed in shock, “That way? He can’t?”
Qi Youfan nodded. “I thought you’d heard about it. Why are you so surprised?”
“How would I have heard about something like that?” Lin Ting was deeply shocked. “Is it true?”
“How would I know? I only heard it from someone else,” Qi Youfan said. “You’ve known him for so long. You really didn’t know?”
Lin Ting blinked.
How could she have known?
She...
Shang Moting did not seem to have done anything with her.
Could it be... that the rumor was true?
Tsk, tsk, tsk.
What a waste of such a handsome face.
“I can’t believe this. I’m a man in the prime of my youth, and here I am discussing this kind of thing with you,” Qi Youfan said.
“Prime of your youth?” Lin Ting looked at him. “At most, you’re a withered old flower.”
...
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