Chapter 15: Jin Bei

"You weren't taken away by force at all; you went with that group of Federation people of your own volition. Brother, how capable you are—or should I say, they still have to take orders from you."

Silence.

The silence before a storm.

The air pressure around Jin Shaoyu was extremely low, enough to make one feel as if ten thousand bolts of thunder could burst from the air beside him at any moment, instantly reducing the tranquil European-style castle to dust.

Finally, Jin Shaoyu smashed a heavy fist against the display cabinet.

His eyes were like those of a wolf that had tasted blood: "You goddamn even colluded with the enemy country!"

The glass shattered, and blood appeared instantly.

"Mother's laboratory was also blown up by you, wasn't it?!"

Ling Wu was silent.

Silence is consistently labeled as an admission of guilt.

"No wonder, no wonder you didn't dare to come back. Do you dare to go to Mother's grave? You'd be afraid too, wouldn't you? Scheming against your own kin, abandoning your younger brother, and destroying the research results Mother poured her heart and blood into for over a decade."

"Your saying you missed me must be a lie too. You are so cold-blooded and heartless, you probably wished you could have killed me when I was kidnapped back then. You are being duplicitous now—what is it you want to get from me?"

"Money, power?"

"It seems you haven't been doing so well in the Federation either, otherwise why would you have thought of coming back?"

Jin Shaoyu practically bared all his fangs and claws, aiming them at his own older brother.

"Then don't go currying favor with Yu Shixue; he has a marriage partner. You should come and curry favor with me, beg me, and if you manage to please me, perhaps when I succeed to the position in the future, I might spare your life."

Ling Wu's whole body went rigid, his blood feeling as if it were flowing backward.

He felt as if his flesh and blood were being stripped away alive; those filthy secrets and pasts that had been carefully and meticulously hidden for years were being bloodily exposed to the broad daylight, completely laid bare before the eyes of the relative he cherished most.

Ling Wu: "I..."

"Shut up!"

"Since you are so capable, when you called me from the office back then, you just wanted to see me make a fool of myself, didn't you?"

Jin Shaoyu gripped the glass in his hand, his gaze as cold as ice: "And here I was, pathetic enough to go over and help you like a clown."

"Playing me in the palm of your hand, that satisfies your twisted sense of humor, doesn't it?"

What could Ling Wu say? What else could he say?

Suffering cannot be eulogized; suffering cannot be shared.

He could only shatter the secrets of ten years ago and swallow them into his stomach; those sharp, pointed edges had long since sliced his throat, rendering him speechless, piercing his intestines, and finally leaving him heartbroken and unable to speak.

A silent standoff in the room, dead-still.

Ling Wu turned to leave, his tone sour as he spoke, tears streaming down his face uncontrollably: "If that is what you think, then keep on hating."

Some things you don't know are best left to rot underground for a lifetime.

"You're leaving again?" Jin Shaoyu didn't notice anything wrong with him: "Fine... once you leave, don't come back."

"Forever, don't you goddamn ever come back!"

Ling Wu left, so resolutely, without even looking back.

From now on, his relationship with Jin Shaoyu was like a pile of shattered glass—a broken mirror hard to mend—and the one who takes the initiative to repair it is destined to be pricked until their hands are covered in blood...

The argument on the second floor was isolated by a door; no one else knew.

Ling Wu followed the servant back to his own room.

"Knock!"

"Knock!"

"Big Brother, are you in the room?"

Ling Wu composed his emotions and pulled open the door: "What is it?"

Jin Bei lifted the food on the tray and said with a smile: "Mother said you came back late and must not have eaten dinner, so she asked me to bring it up to you."

Ling Wu glanced at him, then stepped aside to let Jin Bei in.

Jin Bei asked: "Where should I put it?"

Ling Wu closed the door casually: "Just put it on the table."

As the sound of the door closing rang out, Jin Bei deliberately placed the food at the edge of the table, then let go; the plate fell and shattered into pieces, and the food smeared all over the floor.

The smile on Jin Bei's face vanished completely.

He was a completely different person from the one who had affectionately called him "Big Brother" just a moment ago.

In the Jin Family, Jin Shaoyu was overbearing and rude, suppressing him at every turn—fine, he couldn't do anything about Jin Shaoyu, but surely he could make things difficult for this weak and easy-to-bully older brother?

Just as Ling Wu had expected.

Jin Bei... was a two-faced person.

Jin Bei wore a look of triumph, his tone surprised: "Oops, my hand slipped and I didn't set it down steadily. Now it's spilled everywhere; I'll have to trouble Big Brother to pick it up and clean it up yourself."

Ling Wu:?

However, the young man merely brushed a glance at him, walked across the carpet in the room, bypassed the mess of food on the floor, and reached out to close the window tightly.

Seeing him not speak, Jin Bei concluded that Ling Wu was weak and easy to bully.

He sat on the bed, looking around at the magnificent decor with a sense of superiority; the light from the crystal chandelier cast a luxurious filter over the room.

So what if Jin Shaoyu had the right of inheritance?

His own older brother was still drifting outside; who knows, perhaps Ling Wu had lived in a dilapidated Slum before returning to the Jin Family. Thinking of this, Jin Bei couldn't help but feel smug.

Saying his mother was a mistress who climbed the social ladder—they weren't any more noble themselves.

So what if Ling Wu was the Eldest Young Master of the Jin Family?

He carried a different surname, had no real power, his own younger brother didn't think much of him, and he only had that thin, shallow blood connection. In every aspect, it seemed that in this jungle of survival of the fittest that was the Jin Family, Ling Wu was at the very bottom of the food chain.

Jin Bei could bully him as he pleased.

That's true; estranged from his biological father and having never received a higher education since childhood, he probably doesn't even have a single talent worth showing off, so how could he compare to him?

"You must really envy the life here, right?"

"Every day surrounded by people, living in luxury, unlike you, drifting in the Slums, your body reeking of the stench of the poor." Jin Bei's eyes were filled with arrogance: "It's a pity, I've already lived this good life in your place for ten years."

Ling Wu looked at him with an expression like he was looking at a fool.

He breathed a sigh of relief; there was no need to worry about someone as stupid as Jin Bei, who could barely take care of himself, snatching the Jin Family's assets from Jin Shaoyu.

No need to even think about it.

Someone like Jin Bei, in the manga *Morbid Affection: The Noble Young Masters All Fall in Love with Me*, would at least be some kind of vicious Cannon Fodder male supporting character.

To highlight the protagonist's uniqueness and halo.

Acidic and mean-spirited.

Ling Wu: "So what?"

?

Jin Bei felt the powerlessness of punching into cotton, his expression instantly turning cold and twisted: "So, now my mother is the mistress of the Jin Family!"

"You are just a stray dog."

"Ling Wu, you know the Same-Sex Marriage Law has passed now, right? Why do you think Dad specifically waited until you were an adult to find you and bring you back?"

Of course, he knew he had been born with a good appearance in the eyes of outsiders.

Ling Wu's pitch-black eyes were incredibly clear and serene, showing no ripples: "Are you trying to say that finding me and bringing me back was to use me as a tool for a political marriage?"

He stepped closer, forcing him back.

Although Ling Wu was smiling, there was not the slightest hint of a smile in his eyes; that beautiful face was like a hypocritical mask...

That gaze was sharp enough to easily pierce through your skin and bones, seeing straight into the darkness of your heart.