“What about you, then? What’s got you tangled up? Or trapped?”
Le Yiqiu had no stake in Lin Family affairs; she cared only for Lin Xianing herself.
She might not aid directly there, but she couldn’t bear seeing Lin Xianing unhappy. That was all.
Lin Xianing drained most of the wine from her glass. “Would you hate me?”
“How could I?” Le Yiqiu had no idea why Lin Xianing was asking such a thing. She said earnestly, “I like you—all of you.”
“If you wield the sword, I’ll be your blade, striking at anyone you choose.”
Her words made Lin Xianing’s nose tingle. She pinched Le Yiqiu’s cheeks. “You’ve been watching period dramas lately, haven’t you?”
Le Yiqiu fell silent for a moment.
“I’ve been reading an ancient novel.”
Lin Xianing burst out laughing. “No wonder you’re talking all flowery and archaic.”
“But it made you laugh, didn’t it?”
Le Yiqiu gently removed Lin Xianing’s hand from her mouth and pinched Lin Xianing’s cheeks in return. “I’m speaking from the heart, though.”
She had chosen her words deliberately to amuse Lin Xianing, but everything she said was sincere.
The smile on Lin Xianing’s face paused for a moment, then widened. “I believe you.”
Remembering the recent turmoil in the Lin Family, Lin Xianing’s expression sobered.
The situation in the Lin Family had indeed become clear, but she hadn’t done much—just fanned the flames a little. And that nudge had propelled them into the decisive phase.
What came next was her real task, and during that time, she would be away in another city, shooting a drama.
Fortunately, Le Yiqiu would be overseas for work; otherwise, Lin Xianing might have dragged her along to the set.
“People who play these games of intrigue have filthy hearts—they can no longer love anyone properly.”
Lin Xianing clutched her chest. “Le Yiqiu, thank goodness you’re the one I’ve loved since I was young.”
Otherwise, she wouldn’t even know how to love someone anymore.
Le Yiqiu rested her arm on the back of the sofa, propping up her chin as she gazed steadily at Lin Xianing’s face.
“I like you too, and I believe in you.”
There was no better moment for a confession. Her affection for Lin Xianing grew with every passing second.
Today’s version of her would always love Lin Xianing more than yesterday’s.
To grow up in such a family, enduring all that pressure from childhood—if Lin Xianing didn’t have a scheming mind, how could she have protected herself?
Le Yiqiu would never expect anyone to be like the saintly heroines in idol dramas, kind to a fault.
People should be kind, but only after safeguarding themselves first—no need to demand it of others.
Lin Xianing had achieved that, and Le Yiqiu saw no fault in it.
Lin Xianing’s lips curved up. “You know what I’m about to do, and you still believe in me?”
“No matter what you do, I’m on your side.”
She believed in Lin Xianing—unconditionally.
Lin Xianing felt her eyes growing hot. To be trusted like this, to be loved without expectation—it was something she had never even dared dream of.
“While you were asleep, I got a phone call.”
Lin Xianing swallowed a mouthful of wine. “My father is closing the net.”
“But he doesn’t realize that Eldest Uncle Lin already knows his plan—nine-tenths of it, anyway. This clash could very well shatter the Lin Family completely.”
By all rights, this was what she wanted. Yet now that the day had come, she didn’t know what to say.
After a long pause, she continued, “After Third Uncle died, Eldest Uncle Lin and everyone else in the family scrambled desperately to pull Third Uncle’s assets into their own pockets.”
“Third Uncle’s family has been driven away, fleeing to foreign lands on tomorrow’s flight. From what I hear, they might not even make it out.”
“This fight is far from over. As they carve up Third Uncle’s empire, bigger conflicts are bound to erupt.”
“The biggest clash will be between Eldest Uncle Lin and my father—and Eldest Uncle Lin still thinks my father supports him.”
“He never stops to think why his position as family head has been so precarious. He used to blame Third Uncle, but what now?”
“Lin Manhe’s twenty-plus years of scheming are finally coming to a head, but the fish in his net haven’t noticed they’re already caught.”
“As for me, I’m the water snake in the net—slipping in and out at will, stirring the waters to keep those fish alert.”
Lin Xianing seemed to be speaking to Le Yiqiu, yet also to herself.
The Lin Family was practically in Lin Manhe’s pocket now. The only one who could break the stalemate was Lin Xianing.
And he was her biological father, after all. Shattering this setup would inevitably bring a storm of blood and betrayal to the family.
“But if you do nothing, the Lin Family will still descend into bloodshed, and everyone will remain trapped in that cage forever.”
Some might be willing to stay bound to the family, but what about those who weren’t?
Like Luo Yaxi, forced into an engagement at twenty. Like Lin Xianing herself, bullied by peers since childhood, with relatives who only saw her as a source of profit.
They had no desire to stay in the Lin Family. But as long as it endured, they could never truly break free.
All Lin Xianing wanted was a clean split—divide the family like any ordinary one. Each household living its own life, handling ancestral rites separately, as long as the tangled interests were severed.
“Third Uncle’s death was my father’s doing. His heart was already weak, and he’d gambled through the night before.”
Le Yiqiu could guess the rest without further explanation.
It was like a drinking party gone wrong: one person plied another with drinks until they overdid it and something happened. Everyone at the table bore responsibility, but the one pushing the drinks paid the heaviest price.
Lin Manhe had covered his tracks well, though—insufficient evidence. Even if exposed, it would only lead to compensation.
Clearly, that wasn’t where Lin Xianing’s anguish lay.
Her next words were the crux. “On top of that, I’ve dug up what Eldest Uncle Lin did to cover for his son—and how my father was set up, getting dirt on him.”
If she released that evidence, both Eldest Uncle Lin and Lin Manhe would be mired in lawsuits. Even if they avoided prison, the process would tie them up long enough for her to act.
It wouldn’t take long—just a year. In that time, Lin Xianing could sever ties completely and force a total division of the family assets.
Grandma Lin had been laying the groundwork too; the foundations of their empire were already hollowed out. All it needed was her final push.
Lin Xianing would topple the Lin Family edifice without hesitation, but breaking with her own blood would bring unavoidable sorrow.
That’s why she sat here drinking.
Clink.
Le Yiqiu raised her glass and touched it to Lin Xianing’s. “Did they commit those evil deeds themselves?”
“Not entirely, but they’re not blameless.”
Eldest Uncle Lin doted on his sons too much, always cleaning up their messes—covering for crimes was a crime in itself.
With so many sons, not all of them were trash, but more than one was rotten to the core. Eldest Uncle Lin’s cleanups were thorough, but his sons sometimes turned to underlings without telling him. Deeds done inevitably left traces, true or false—and that tainted him too.
Lin Manhe kept himself spotless, and his children were accomplished, so Lin Xianing had fed intel through a cousin’s mouth, painting him as the shadowy puppet master to Eldest Uncle Lin.
She had wanted them to tear into each other, but Eldest Uncle Lin’s methods were filthy. He feigned trust in Lin Manhe, playing the naive fool to lure him into the trap.
Lin Manhe hadn’t been as pure as he pretended; that’s why the mud stuck.
Following those threads, Lin Xianing uncovered Lin Manhe’s many hidden sins—all the virtuous image just a facade.
She had viewed him as her father, unwilling to assume the worst. But Eldest Uncle Lin’s investigation was exhaustive, leaving no stone unturned, and so he sprang the trap.
Le Yiqiu was somewhat speechless. She had imagined elite family feuds involving spies or hackers, like in TV dramas. Instead, it was all low-down tricks—and Lin Manhe had fallen for them. She didn’t know what to say.
Lin Xianing read her thoughts. “Wondering why my father fell for it so easily? Why their tactics are so dirty?”
“Yeah.”
“Real-world tactics are not just dirty—you might not even believe them. For these people, if it works, it’s fine.”
Lin Xianing paused, then added, “I expected their fight to be brutal, but I never imagined how deeply my father had hidden himself. I thought he was just a hypocrite, but he’s a psychological deviant.”
“He cloaked himself so well as the devoted husband and father—though that didn’t include me.”
“Whether the mask warped him over time or he was always like that, he’s utterly repulsive.”
Breaking family ties, scheming against her own father—how could Lin Xianing not be in pain? Learning her father was such a man tore at her heart.
But even without prison, lawsuits would serve her plan.
Especially for Eldest Uncle Lin’s family: once he was sidelined, his sons—far from idle—would viciously divide his holdings.
Blood ties meant nothing to them.
In the end, the Lin Family would teeter on collapse. Lin Xianing needed only a gentle nudge.
Le Yiqiu set down her glass and said seriously, “You’re really just acting as a whistleblower, right?”
“Yes.”
They had been so secretive that, without this brutal clash giving her leverage, who knows when they might have been exposed.
Le Yiqiu took Lin Xianing’s hand, as if lending her strength. “No one forced them into those acts. They should pay for their choices.”
Lin Xianing’s “fanning the flames” had merely shown Eldest Uncle Lin that Lin Manhe wasn’t his ally, sparking their feud.
Now they were negotiating a truce to avoid mutual destruction.
So her final step was to derail that peace, expose everything, and end the Lin Family saga once and for all.
That exposure would sever her from all her relatives, including her parents.
“Everyone should answer for their mistakes,” Lin Xianing said. “My mind is made up—no more hesitation.”
“As for cutting ties with my parents… it’s not that big a deal. I’ve proven my love for them time and again, only for them to prove they don’t love me.”
Lin Xianing understood the logic and had resolved herself, yet that emotional hurdle lingered.
Le Yiqiu stopped her from drinking more, trying to cheer her up. “Will we have kids?”
“Huh?” Lin Xianing blinked, caught off guard by the sudden shift, but answered honestly. “Probably not. I don’t like children.”
“Me neither, so we won’t.”
Le Yiqiu believed children would only disrupt their world of two. She couldn’t endure pregnancy or shoulder the duty of raising them, so she wouldn’t bear any—and certainly not make Lin Xianing do so, unless she wanted to.
Fortunately, they were aligned, so she added, “No need to worry about tainting future generations, then.”
Wasn’t there a saying about family scandals affecting kids’ job prospects for three generations? Well, no kids for them.
“What?” Lin Xianing laughed, amused.
“Lin Xianing, don’t overthink it. If they got the chance to use this against you, they’d never let it go—even if you didn’t expose them, they’d fabricate something.”
“You’re just revealing what they already did.”
Per the original plan, Lin Xianing only needed to stoke the feud between Lin Manhe and Eldest Uncle Lin, letting them wear each other down until they split or collapsed in ruin.
Then she could step in to force the division.
It would have been slow—ten or twenty years, perhaps.
But once those two clashed, the Lin Family was already a hollow shell.
Lin Xianing risked getting caught in the crossfire, but she was confident she could stay clear.
Things had accelerated beyond her expectations, letting her finish early.
Decision made, then…
“Thank goodness you’re here.” Lin Xianing lay down, resting her head on Le Yiqiu’s lap and nuzzling into her belly.
Soon, Le Yiqiu felt a damp warmth through her clothes. Lin Xianing was crying.
She knew how hard this choice was; Lin Xianing’s heart ached terribly.
“I’ll be with you.”
Always…
