Urban Martial Saint

(The electrical supply equipment in the small county town is outdated; half of the county is experiencing a blackout. I ran to a friend’s house with the host computer to update this, so the update is a bit late, and I apologize to all my friends.)

Zhao Chengshuang’s icy gaze swept across everyone in the room before finally settling on Lin Fuyuan. He asked in a deep voice, ”Lin Fuyuan, you just said it. You bet your head that you didn’t wrong Ye Zi, didn’t you?”

Having made eye contact with Zhao Chengshuang, Lin Fuyuan felt somewhat flustered inside. But in front of so many younger family members, he still had to stand tall and asserted, ”That’s right, I did say that. What about it, Zhao Chengshuang, do you still want to argue on behalf of your so-called friend? I’m telling you, this is a matter for the Lin family and it has nothing to do with you.

If you want to help someone with the Ye surname, then get lost; we in the Lin family do not welcome you!”

”Hmph!” Zhao Chengshuang snorted coldly and pointed at Lin Fuyuan, saying, ”Lin Fuyuan, I’m afraid you won’t be able to keep that head of yours!”

”What did you say!” Lin Fuyuan shouted in anger, and his son, Lin Tianyun, let out an even louder bellow, pointing at Zhao Chengshuang and cursing out loud, ”Zhao bastard, don’t get too cocky. If you dare curse my dad, I’ll beat you to death!”

”Shut your mouth!” Zhao Chengshuang glowered at Lin Tianyun and then looked around, saying, ”Who else wants to bet? Who else wants to claim Ye Zi is a bad person? Come out and make your bet!”

The crowd exchanged glances. Faced with Zhao Chengshuang’s aggressive demeanor, no one dared to step forward for the moment.

Old Lady Lin said angrily, ”Zhao Chengshuang, this is the Lin family’s place, and we do not welcome you. Get out of here immediately!”

Zhao Chengshuang replied coldly, ”Hmph, when your brother-in-law asked me to call Ye Zi to save your sister-in-law, you certainly didn’t talk to me like this!”

Old Lady Lin was at a loss for words and, grinding her teeth, she said, ”Zhao Chengshuang, get out of here now; don’t make us throw you out!”

”Rest assured, I will leave. But before I go, there are some things I need to say, and some things I need to do!” Zhao Chengshuang turned to look at Lin Fuyuan and said, ”Lin Fuyuan, all things considered, you are an elder. I don’t want your head, but if I prove that you have wronged Ye Zi, I want you to slap your own face thirty times in front of everyone!”

”Zhao Chengshuang, don’t be too arrogant, don’t think that having a few soldiers as your elders means you can order us around here in the Lin family!” Lin Fuyuan raged, ”I warn you, if you can’t prove that the Ye surname is innocent, I won’t let you off either!”

”Then let’s give it a try!” Zhao Chengshuang handed the disc to Lin Zhen Nan, saying, ”Uncle, this disc can prove Ye Zi’s innocence. You could play it here and see for yourself!”

Lin Zhen Nan, half in doubt, took the disc, and the eyes of all the Lin family members were suddenly focused on it.

”What’s on the disc?” Old Lady Lin asked in a heavy voice.

”Some very exciting footage!” Zhao Chengshuang, looking at Lin Tianhao, sneered and said, ”I guarantee, the scenes on that disc are beyond your wildest dreams, the content, unimaginable.”

Lin Tianhao had a bad premonition, but at the moment, being badly injured, he couldn’t even sit up, let alone do anything.

Lin Zhen Nan fetched a TV and a player, put the disc in, and the Lin family members immediately gathered around the TV, watching the screen intently.

The TV first showed static, and after about half a minute, an image finally appeared. The first thing seen was a huge head, and it was clear that the person was He Ziqiang.

”He Ziqiang!” exclaimed the Lin family members who had seen his photo, while the others also looked shocked. The disc was actually about He Ziqiang, what exactly was the content?

It appeared as though He Ziqiang was setting up the camera; after quite a bit of time, the angle shifted, revealing an open space surrounded by large rocks.

Seeing this open space, Lin Tianhao’s face suddenly turned extremely pale. He recognized the place as the spot where Lin Yashi had been first kidnapped and hidden. It was also there that Lin Yashi had almost been assaulted, had she not bitten off her own tongue, those men would have likely violated her long before.

”What is this place? What is this?” someone asked in surprise, as He Ziqiang walked back and forth in the frame, seemingly testing the camera.

Zhao Chengshuang said, ”Just keep watching; the exciting part will come soon.”

The Lin family members all stared at the screen intently, while Lin Tianhao was sweating profusely, knowing all too well what was going to show up next.

After He Ziqiang adjusted the camera properly, the screen went blank for a while. About two minutes later, the image returned, showing a group of men throwing Lin Yashi into the open space.

”It’s the younger aunt!” a member of the Lin family cried out in shock.

”It really is the younger aunt!” More people recognized her.

”This is He Ziqiang kidnapping the younger aunt, taken when he first kidnapped her!”

”That bastard He Ziqiang, he’s really got some nerve, huh? To actually have the time to record this stuff at a time like this!”

The Lin family members were seething with anger, and Old Lady Lin’s face was also iron blue as she watched with gritted teeth the scene on the screen where her daughter was thrown to the ground. They had not seen these images before and could only guess in their hearts what kind of treatment Lin Yashi had endured.

Now, seeing it for real, everyone was furious, itching to kill He Ziqiang with their own hands to get even!

The video did not last long before it paused for about a minute, and then the scene abruptly changed. Someone came walking in from outside of the pile of rocks, and upon seeing this person, the expression on everyone in the room froze. After a good while, people slowly turned their heads, staring incredulously at the pale-faced Lin Tianhao on the bed.

The person who stepped out in the footage was none other than Boss Lin. That meant the hidden camera set by He Ziqiang was meant to capture Boss Lin!

Boss Lin, breaking out in a cold sweat, knew at this moment that he was completely finished. Not only was he about to lose the protection of the Lin family, but whether he could even leave alive remained an unknown!

Of course, some others’ expressions changed dramatically as well. Lin Fuyuan’s face turned incredibly awkward. He had been adamant that it was Ye Qing in cahoots with He Ziqiang, leading the whole Lin family to be at odds with Ye Qing in order to defend Lin Tianhao.

But who could have imagined that it wasn’t Ye Qing who was in league with He Ziqiang, but rather Lin Tianhao, whom he had always defended? This footage was like someone continuously slapping his face with a heavy hand!

”Tianhao, what the hell is going on here!” Finally, Old Lady Lin snapped back to reality and asked with gritted teeth.

All eyes in the room turned to Lin Tianhao; the footage had said everything—Lin Tianhao was the one who had betrayed the Lin family.

Faced with the stares of the Lin family members, Lin Tianhao just sweated profusely, his mouth agape, unable to utter a single word.

”Is there a need to ask?” Zhao Chengshuang said coldly, ”Do you know why the older cousin was easily kidnapped twice? You were convinced someone was in cahoots with He Ziqiang, weren’t you? Now you see who was in cahoots with him!”

Zhao Chengshuang coldly glanced at Lin Fuyuan and said, ”It’s true what they say—you can know someone’s face but not their heart. Now you get what it means to know someone’s face but not their heart, right? The very person you’ve been protecting, treating as one of your own, the person you’ve desperately tried to protect, is the one who colluded with outsiders and hurt your own family.

And the one you’ve always considered your enemy, the one you’ve forced into a corner, the one you’ve repeatedly sought to kill, the one you’ve had private detectives hunt down... turns out to be the person who saved Hua Yu once and older cousin twice. The Lin family, hahaha, the Lin family, is this how you handle matters? Is this the style of the great clans, of the wealthy? Pah!”

The Lin family members were red-faced with shame, and no one could refute Zhao Chengshuang at this point. The affair with Lin Tianhao was like a huge bomb that had devastated the Lin family, shattering their pride into pieces.

These people, who constantly spoke of family honor and unity, were being betrayed by their own family, a laughable situation indeed.

On the television screen, Lin Yashi was pinned to the ground by those men, her clothes nearly torn apart. She screamed for help, desperately struggling to escape, but her cries and struggles were powerlessly futile against the several grown men.

Watching Lin Yashi suffer, most people’s eyes turned red. Lin Yashi was arguably the kindest person in the entire Lin family, having good relationships with everyone. Seeing her suffer like this, a flame of unstoppable rage kindled in each person’s heart.

What infuriated the people most was the fact that Lin Tianhao, who they had considered family, who had virtually grown up in the Lin family and always been protected by them, was just standing to the side, watching everything unfold without lifting a finger to help Lin Yashi or even showing the slightest inclination to stop it—just watching, as if merely a bystander, without a trace of emotion!

”Lin Tianhao, fuck your ancestors!” Finally, a young man cursed out loud, furiously charging to the bedside and punching Lin Tianhao in the face.

A few others immediately joined in, dragging Lin Tianhao off the bed and kicking and beating him. At that moment, no one stopped them, because everyone wanted him dead.

”Well cursed!” Zhao Chengshuang sneered from the side, ”You all share the same ancestor, don’t you? This cursing is quite interesting indeed!”

At that moment, no one bothered to counter Zhao Chengshuang’s mockery. Only Old Lady Lin sat dejectedly on the nearby sofa, looking as if she had aged decades in just moments. Zhao Chengshuang’s words trembled her heart. Yes, these people shared the same blood, and now they were here killing each other, such an absurd situation.

She wanted to stop all this, but watching the scene of her daughter biting off her tongue, seeing Lin Tianhao’s indifferent observation, her heart was continuously bleeding. She was so heartbroken she felt like beating Lin Tianhao herself!

”Enough, don’t beat him to death!” Finally, Lin Zhen Nan intervened to stop the crowd, by which time Lin Tianhao had already been beaten bloody and his appearance was pitiful.

”Uncle, this kind of person should just be killed outright!” a young man said indignantly.