"Tsk tsk, I didn’t expect you to be so narcissistic." Lu Xun sized her up and teased, "You think you’re worth more than 60 million?"
"I..."
Li Xiaoning was imdiately at a loss for words.
Her pretty face was tense, yet she couldn’t help but blush.
Forget 60 million, even if she were sold by the pound, she wouldn’t be worth a million.
But she really couldn’t figure out what else this person could want from her family?
The only thing worth coveting was her pretty face...
Over the past two years, many lecherous older n had tried to tempt her with benefits, wanting to take her as a "goddaughter."
Of course... in the end, those bad n would be on their knees, crying and begging for rcy, calling her "Mom."
"Don’t overthink it, this money is for you. More precisely, it’s for your dad."
Lu Xun waved his hand and said to her:
"Soone owed your dad 60 million, and he’s paid it back. Yeah, you can think of it that way. You don’t need to know anything else."
He didn’t want to elaborate on the source of this money.
After all, the case was too big and it was hard to move past it.
He had distanced himself from the vortex and never wanted to ntion it again!
"Alright, the money has been delivered. There’s nothing more for to do here, just pretend you never t . Farewell."
After saying this, Lu Xun stood up, ready to leave.
Li Xiaoning hesitated to speak, wanting to ask more, but seeing his determination to leave, she didn’t stop him.
Suddenly, the communication device on her wrist buzzed, seemingly receiving a ssage.
She looked down at it, froze for a mont, then quickly got up and stopped Lu Xun:
"Wait, may I ask, the person who commissioned you to deliver the money... is his surna Lin?"
Crack~
Lu Xun’s steps halted, and he slamd the half-opened door shut.
He turned to look at her, squinting his eyes, with a hint of danger in his gaze:
"Tell , how do you know? Don’t lie."
Old Octopus had never interacted with Li Zhongxian’s family in his life.
He always sent money anonymously, transferring funds to the savings card of his old friend using soone else’s account.
Li Xiaoning couldn’t possibly know Old Octopus.
Yet she almost called out Old Octopus’s na - Lin Sheng.
She knew the 60 million ca from Old Octopus.
But did she know how Old Octopus got the money?
Did she know about the deal? How much did she know? Who told her?
Without figuring these things out, Lu Xun couldn’t leave with peace of mind.
Because it involved his own safety!
His identity could very well be exposed because of this!
"I..."
Being stared at by Lu Xun, Li Xiaoning instinctively felt fear, a shiver and dread coming from the depths of her soul!
This feeling was indescribable, like a little rabbit suddenly encountering a ten-thousand-ter-long Giant Dragon, being stared at by the terrifying Dragon Pupil. The Dragon Might was majestic, not to be profaned.
The re exposure of a hint of hostility from the other party made her feel oppressed on a Life Level.
The feeling of having her life potentially stripped away at any mont was quite unpleasant.
"It was... it was my dad, he told to ask you."
Li Xiaoning explained tremblingly, her voice soft, "Are you angry? If he said sothing wrong, please... please don’t bla him."
Your dad?
Lu Xun was first surprised, then he withdrew his aggressive sharpness.
Her dad, like his uncle, was a pitiful person, without any threat.
"Alright, take to him, I’ll talk to him." He thought for a while and said to Li Xiaoning.
"Okay." The feeling of being targeted by a strong presence disappeared, and she suddenly breathed much easier.
She took Lu Xun to her father’s hospital room.
Pushed open the door.
A very familiar foul odor hit them head-on.
Inside was a layout similar to Lu Xun’s ho.
Surrounding them were nurous dical instrunts, and on the chanical bed lay a "Mummy."
His body was filled with tubes, so for drainage, so for oxygen supply, so for supporting heartbeat...>
Truly pitiful!
Lu Xun looked at the cara on the nearby monitor, raised his hand to greet it.
"Mr. Li, was it your adoptive father who told you?" he asked.
Lines of text slowly appeared on the screen—
[My adoptive father never ntioned him, but I vaguely guessed a few years ago.
For thirty years, there has been a mysterious person continuously sending money to my adoptive father, supporting our family’s livelihood.
Every month there would be money arriving, sotis a few thousand, occasionally over ten thousand, never stopping.
Until three years ago, after my accident, the amount surged, and it beca a consistent monthly remittance of 200,000 , co rain or shine.]
"Then how can you be sure it’s him?" Lu Xun was puzzled.
Li Xiaoning, standing by, was also confused and asked:
"Dad, wasn’t that money the dividend from a technology investnt from a patent invention Grandpa created in his youth?"
[Nonsense about dividends... After my foster father passed away, I specifically investigated, and he had no investnt history at all. After carefully calculating the tiline, I deduced the truth.]—The text continued to appear.
"This..." Li Xiaoning was dumbfounded, and it took a while for her to react. She quickly asked, "Who is this Mr. Lin? Why would he go to such lengths to help our family?"
Thirty years!
Silently giving for half a lifeti, yet unwilling to co forward for a eting.
What kind of person, would make it worth his while to do this?
What is his relationship with our family?
Li Xiaoning was filled with questions.
[The matter has to be traced back to when I was very young. That year, my brother was in heart failure, his life hanging by a thread...]— One line of text after another appeared on the screen.
Li Zhongxian revealed the story, long buried, to his daughter.
After listening, Li Xiaoning was so shocked she couldn’t speak.
She had never heard the elders ntion these affairs.
"So... Grandpa took in Dad at Mr. Lin’s request?" She showed a look of disbelief.
It wasn’t until she saw Lu Xun nod that she accepted this reality.
[Young man, can I ask you a favor?]— Li Zhongxian suddenly said.
"You can speak first."
[Return the money to him. I have accepted too much from him, I can’t keep this money... Sixty million, it’s too much, I can’t return this favor.]
"What?"
Lu Xun widened his eyes, almost unable to react: "You forgave him?"
Father, mother, brother, all died due to a surgery, does he not hate Old Octopus?
What’s wrong with taking so compensation?
[Forgive? Ha~ You overestimate , I don’t have the right to forgive him.
You know what success rate the hospital gave for that child heart transplant back then?
92% success rate, it was in black and white.
My biological parents knew there was an 8% risk of failure, yet they signed the papers.
Can Lin Sheng be blad for that?
He was innocent, where do I get the right to forgive him?
You underestimate Lin Sheng.
Do you think he really needs my forgiveness?
He’s too proud, unable to tolerate his failure, unwilling to attribute three lives to that 8% chance.
From beginning to end, it is himself he cannot forgive.
I have no right to accept his atonent.
Not only do I not hate him, but I am extrely grateful for his help over the past thirty years.
Honestly, I should hate my real parents.
My brother’s misfortune, and they resorted to depression and suicide, never thought of .
If it weren’t for Lin Sheng finding a ho, tsk-tsk...
So... I cannot accept this sixty million, truly it’s too much, I can’t accept this grace.]
A very long piece of text.
It left Lu Xun and Li Xiaoning in silence.
Indeed, when a person becos obsessed, it is truly frightening.
Not afraid to battle the heavens, the earth, or others... just fearful of struggling with oneself, unable to let go, unable to be open-hearted.
The result of internal struggle is being trapped in a prison for life.
That failed surgery, to outsiders it looked like an accident, but to Old Octopus, it was a sin!
After the child’s death, the couple beca depressed and committed suicide.
To outsiders it seed like misfortune, but for Old Octopus, it was guilt upon guilt!
Lu Xun also found it hard to judge.
After all, he wasn’t the one involved, and no one has ever died on his operating table.
...
"Hmm, I understand what you an."
Lu Xun nodded and then startled them with his words towards the cara:
"But he’s already dead, this sixty million was earned with his life."
"At the last monts of his life, he forgave himself... I saw it with my own eyes."
"He never married and had no offspring. But he counts as half of your foster father, so keep the money, even if you don’t want to live, think of your daughter."
"That’s all I have to say, I hope you’ll keep this story close to your heart and take it with you to the grave."
With that, he turned and left the hospital room.
The matter is concluded, the departed have already gone.
Whether Old Octopus or Li Zhongxian, he will make a clean break with the past.
To bury the old story in ti and embark on a new Chapter in life.
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