Chapter 147: Looking Up

"We should still head back to Qing City overnight. Young Master Lu was already in the wrong tonight. If his injuries aren't too severe and he can't find me, this matter might just blow over. Yes, Sis, let's go back right now, I'm begging you, Sis..."

Lin Yufei's face was full of panic and unease, her eyes pleading as she looked at Lin Yuxin. Lin Yuxin furrowed her brows, hesitating slightly. At that moment, Hong Chen's deep voice came through, carrying a trace of anger: "Lin Yufei, you just up and left after causing trouble. Have you ever considered the potential consequences?"

Hong Chen looked sharply at Lin Yufei in the rearview mirror. "I can only think of two possibilities. The first is doing it openly—the other party approaches the Shen family and demands they hand you over. Since you're not there, it cements the fact that you fled to escape punishment. The Shen family will definitely rush to Qing City to fetch you. The second possibility is doing it in the shadows. Like you said, if the other party's injuries aren't heavy and they know they're in the wrong, they might let it drop on the surface, but it plants a hidden danger. I've dealt with quite a few scions of wealthy families; which one of them doesn't value their pride above all else? That Young Master Lu comes from a top-tier family, yet he was stabbed by a nobody woman like you. If he doesn't exact double the payback, he won't have the face to walk in that circle anymore. All he needs to do is spend a few hundred thousand to have you kidnapped on the street after you leave school one day, and that wouldn't be rare at all. Once you fall into his hands, that's what you call a tragedy."

Hong Chen took a breath. "Of course, if your dad is willing to sever all ties in Qing City for you, your mom is willing to sever relations with the Shen family for you, and Yuxin is willing to give up her current job while you abandon your current studies so your whole family moves away from Qing City, then your method is entirely viable!"

With that, he pushed open the door and stepped out of the car, walking over to the roadside to light a cigarette. The wisps of smoke drifted away in the night wind.

It was actually just the time it took to smoke two cigarettes, yet it felt like a long time had passed. One of the rear doors opened, and Lin Yuxin got out, walking over to stand beside Hong Chen. She sighed softly, "Yufei is still a student who hasn't stepped out into society. Facing something like this, she panicked and wanted to escape. Must you still hold a grudge against her?"

Hong Chen asked directly, "What do you plan to do?"

Lin Yuxin replied, "Take it one step at a time and play it by ear."

Hong Chen took a deep puff of his cigarette, and his deep voice came through the rising smoke: "The disappointing thing about Yufei is that she shouldn't have been hanging out with Shen Mo and Shen Qing, let alone going to a cesspool like a KTV. But she hasn't done anything wrong. We should turn the tables on them."

Lin Yuxin's eyes flickered. "What do you mean?"

Hong Chen's reply seemed unrelated to the question: "My grandparents celebrate their birthdays separately every year, plus their wedding anniversary. To put it bluntly, isn't it just waiting for their married daughters to show filial piety so they can leave more family assets to their three sons?"

Lin Yuxin knitted her brows. Some things were understood tacitly; what did Hong Chen mean by stating them so bluntly?

Then she heard Hong Chen say, "Send a message to your parents, then turn off your phone. Don't go back tonight; just open a room at a hotel outside and make do for the night. Tomorrow morning, go buy a decent longevity gift starting at half a million in value. That's the only way to awe the Shen family and make your grandfather look upon your family with higher regard. If any trouble comes knocking, perhaps he'll even help shield you from it."

After saying that, as if remembering something else, he added, "Grandmother is seventy-eight years old this year. Aside from the longevity gift, give her another seven hundred and eighty thousand in cash!"

Lin Yuxin looked stunned. Hong Chen glanced at her and suddenly asked, "Is it possible to make your mom cut ties with the Shen family right now?"

Hong Chen's train of thought leaped so fast that even Lin Yuxin's intelligence struggled to keep up, but she still shook her head honestly. After all, blood relations were involved; water was thicker than blood, after all.

Hong Chen nodded. "Expecting grandfather to remember family affection and strongly back Yufei at a critical moment is just deceiving ourselves. The only way is to make the Shen family look up to your family with awe, while also being willing to bestow favors, letting grandfather understand that if he wants his three sons to live well and wants to get more benefits from your family, he has to treat your family with reverence."

It didn't take long for Lin Yuxin to digest this, and she understood Hong Chen's meaning. Her expression grew somewhat complicated. Hong Chen flicked away his cigarette butt, reached out, and ruffled Lin Yuxin's hair. "Since there's no better way, it's settled."

Taken aback by Hong Chen's sudden display of intimacy, Lin Yuxin felt a bit dazed. Staring at Hong Chen's smiling face, her chaotic heart gradually settled, and in the end, she nodded submissively.

...

They booked a suite at a nearby four-star hotel, and the two sisters slept in the master bedroom. That night, Lin Yufei suffered from insomnia, and Lin Yuxin only managed to close her eyes for three or four hours, whereas Hong Chen slept soundly in the next room.

During breakfast early the next morning, seeing the dark circles under the two sisters' eyes, Hong Chen couldn't help but smile and tease them a little.

Leaving the hotel, Hong Chen first drove to a large jewelry store and spent nearly six hundred thousand to buy a small piece of emerald jade pendant inscribed with the words "May your fortune be as vast as the East Sea, and may you live a long and prosperous life." Finally, he went to seven or eight banks to withdraw a full seven hundred and eighty thousand in cash.

A few minutes past ten-thirty, the Mercedes-Benz parked by the roadside a hundred meters away from the Shen family estate.

Lin Yufei stared at the bag of bright red cash on the passenger seat, hesitated repeatedly, and finally couldn't help asking, "Hong Chen, where did you get so much money?"

A pendant worth nearly seven hundred thousand, close to eight hundred thousand in cash—nearly one and a half million spent in a single morning, yet there wasn't a trace of heartache on Hong Chen's face. Lin Yufei felt dazed. Could the man in the driver's seat in front of her really be that good-for-nothing parasite supported by her sister?

Hong Chen raised his eyes to look in the rearview mirror and said indifferently, "Public funds."

Lin Yufei's expression froze. Lin Yuxin was actually quite shocked inside as well, but now was not the time to pry. She glanced at her watch and said clearly, "Grandmother's birthday banquet is set for eleven o'clock, and Mom has already called urging us several times. Should we go in another fifteen minutes?"

Hong Chen, however, shook his pen. "I bet that if that Young Master Lu comes to offer birthday wishes and says he can't arrive until eleven-thirty, your grandmother will definitely postpone the banquet by half an hour."

Seeing the unnatural expressions on the two sisters' faces from the rearview mirror, he added, "When the banquet starts, some people in the crowd will rein themselves in a bit. If we arrive too early, we'll just become targets for sneers and ridicule."

Lin Yufei desperately wanted to say that the target of ridicule would be Hong Chen and not her, but seeing that bag full of cash, she suddenly lost the confidence to say those words.

"Alright, then we'll wait until the banquet starts before going in." A flash of resolve crossed Lin Yuxin's eyes as she dialed Shen Huifang's number to give her a heads-up.

*Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop...*

At ten-fifty, a series of dense firecracker explosions erupted from inside the Shen family courtyard, mixed with cheers and applause.

For a full six or seven minutes, the firecracker sounds gradually died down. After another wave of applause, it finally ceased completely.

Hong Chen drove the car forward a bit, parking in an open space thirty meters away from the main gate of the Shen family. The three of them were just about to get out of the car when suddenly, a man and a woman walked out from inside the Shen family gates, looking dejected, their expressions as ugly as could be.

They were none other than Lin Yuangui and Shen Huifang.

Hong Chen had sharp eyes and was the first to spot them. Quickly guessing what had happened, he narrowed his eyes. Lin Yuxin and Lin Yufei subsequently saw their parents as well. Their minds worked quickly too, and the sisters' faces turned ashen in unison!