Chapter 211: Chapter 211

Lian Yingya trembled and said, "I don’t know what I can do; everything I’ve done from childhood until now has not been good enough."

"You have to walk your own path. I cannot guide you, but I believe you have the capability," Lian Yingting said, though he was not confident himself.

"If you think we’re bothering you, I’ll take our parents to my place first so you can think it over alone."

After finishing, Lian Yingting went upstairs to find Lian Xiao and Tian Yun.

The doctor had already treated their burns.

When Lian Xiao saw that Lian Yingting was soaking wet, he angrily said, "What’s happened with that beast again?"

"I’ve finished talking with him. I’ll take you two to stay elsewhere for now; let him think things through on his own at home."

"He wishes! If anyone should leave, it’s him!" Lian Xiao was uncontrollably furious.

Lian Yingting said, "Just treat it like a few months’ vacation with Mom. There’s no need to dwell on this. This is a critical time in his life. Our presence isn’t meant to negate or suppress him; it would be good if he can get back on his feet. Don’t predict his failure before he’s even tried, only to later resent him for not being as successful as his peers."

Lian Yingting’s words clearly reached Lian Yingya’s ears.

He silently closed his room door and took off all his clothes.

He stood in front of the mirror, examining himself and his body.

Lian Yingya could never understand why, with the same family, the same parents, and the same environment, the gap between him and his elder brother was so big.

He was well aware that if it weren’t for his elder brother, he would have left this home long ago.

Yet, he still hadn’t made his elder brother proud.

Lian Yingya looked at the haggard, discouraged, and disheveled man in the mirror, and a wave of impotent anger surged within him.

How much longer must I endure being so pathetic?

Why should I care about what others think?

What does it matter to me how others view me?

All that matters is for my elder brother to look at me, to love me!

As Lian Yingting left with Lian Xiao and Tian Yun, the villa suddenly became silent.

The housekeeper had also gone home for the New Year.

In the vast villa, only Lian Yingya remained.

Lian Yingya bathed for two hours, as if trying to scrub away all the filth on his body and in his heart, rubbing himself over and over again.

Only when his skin was sore did he come out of the bathroom.

He put on the simplest style of clothes and went downstairs.

The previous mess had been cleaned up.

There was still food in the kitchen.

The food was still warm.

Lian Yingya brought the food to the table and started eating silently.

Tears began to fall before he knew it. When Lian Yingya reached to wipe them, they only flowed more. Eventually, he simply stopped trying.

The movements of chewing didn’t stop.

Yet the path ahead of him became increasingly clear.

I have to take it step by step.

If I still have a chance, that is.

However, he had no more chances.

In the hazy, tear-blurred light, he saw several dark figures approaching him.

Lian Yingya looked steadily at those figures.

For the first time, he regretted wasting so much time.

I will no longer have the chance to make my elder brother look at me in a new light.

The Qin Family will not let me go.

Looking at them, Lian Yingya said indifferently, "I need to leave a letter for my elder brother. And never let him see my body."

The men in black stopped at a distance.

Under their watchful eyes, Lian Yingya wrote a letter.

"Big brother, you were right. I’ve thought about it a lot. I need to start over, and I want to begin, bit by bit, in a place your hands can’t reach."

"I am an adult now; don’t worry about me anymore."

"When I feel I have enough confidence to face you, I will come back to find you."

Lian Yingya then went upstairs to pack a few sets of clothes into a suitcase.

Everything looked as if he were preparing for a long journey.

He stood in the yard, looking at the home he had hated for many years, and realized it wasn’t as hateful as he had imagined.

My elder brother is here, after all.

Lian Yingya said coldly, "Let’s go."

Several men in black followed him at a distance as he walked away.

「On the same New Year’s Eve.」

Qin Sheng looked at the person who came in to deliver his meal. That person had upward-slanting outer corners of their eyes. The crimson-tinted corners of their eyes held a seductiveness unfitting for the uniform.

He knew his time had come.

Without a change in expression, Qin Sheng ate the meal, which was richer than usual.

"For our child’s sake, you’ve been wronged," the woman said, staring intently at Qin Sheng, two tears falling.

Qin Sheng’s lips were pale. He asked softly, "Qin Mu, do you still remember how I used to look?"

"That’s good." Qin Sheng spat out a mouthful of blood and passed away without much pain.

But his eyes, for some reason, wouldn’t close.

Qin Mu placed her hand over his eyes and gently closed them for him.

She burst into heart-wrenching sobs. Daring not to stay longer, she packed up the lunchbox and left.

Better for her to send him off on his final journey herself than to let him die at the hands of others.

The snow fell heavier and heavier, so cold it sent a chill through one’s heart.

A change was coming to Jiangcheng.

Fu Bing didn’t see Su Junling’s message until the next day.

His message was mixed in with a heap of congratulatory texts.

She replied with a New Year’s wish and then went to sleep.

In the room next to hers.

Qin Jinhai removed the fake scars from his body, revealing his true appearance.

Wearing black pajamas, he looked at the photograph sent by Mu Lin, maintaining the same posture for a long time.

The insurmountable mountain I had faced was now gone just like that, dying in prison, even before my judgment.

He left in such an evasive manner.

Taking his life wouldn’t have been difficult.

But with him gone, how can the real Qin Sheng ever return?

Qin Jinhai was so angry he wanted to kill someone.

If wrongful death was a giant scythe in the dark, unexpectedly reaping lives, then the Qin Family was a venomous snake lurking in the shadows.

No one knew when the snake would appear or what posture it would adopt to hunt its enemies.

Qin Sheng’s death is a warning from the Qin Family Clan to Qin Jinmo.

Can Jinmo withstand it?

Qin Jinhai wasn’t sure.

He was immensely grateful that Ren Ye had brought Fu Bing back to Jiangnan, preventing her from remaining in that maelstrom.

Qin Jinhai gave an order to Jian Lingyuan, "Keep a close watch on the Qin Family Mansion. If there’s any movement these days, don’t miss a single clue."

"Understood. Tonight, a car went in, but its lights were off, so it wasn’t clear. We’ll know once Xiaogui finishes the analysis."

Jian Lingyuan kept a death grip watch on every move at the Qin Family Mansion.

He was a mercenary retired from the battlefield.

Having had countless brushes with death, he’d miraculously survived each time.

He had no other aspirations; he just wanted to live alongside his sister.

Yet, the power burning in his blood made an ordinary life unacceptable to him.

He still loved adventure, loved the thrill.

Following Qin Jinhai was the best decision he had ever made.

The Qin Family was like a hermetically sealed house, tightly confining everyone inside.

He didn’t believe the Qin Family was impenetrable; they just hadn’t found a chink in their armor yet.

With Qin Sheng dead, a crack should appear.

Suddenly, Jian Lingyuan’s pupils contracted.

He sent the photo captured by the high-definition camera to Qin Jinhai.

"Have you seen him before?"

Qin Jinhai looked at the face of the boy by the window.

"He is Qin Zhiheng, Qin Sheng’s biological son," Qin Jinhai stated calmly.

Are the Qin Family planning to push Qin Zhiheng forward?

Qin Zhiheng’s status itself is quite awkward; how are they planning to establish his public image?

As an illegitimate child?