I'm Hurrying Home to Discipline My Son

Lin Gongcheng slowly set down his chopsticks.

His sister-in-law stopped moving as well.

The elder sister-in-law was sitting beside them. Unable to keep the smile on her face, she reached out to tug at Lin Jiahao.

“Jiahao, stop talking nonsense.”

“What nonsense am I talking about?”

Lin Jiahao shook off her hand.

“Weren’t you there at dinner last night too? Dad even said that Lin Mo had no parents to back him up, so he’d be easy to handle. Why are you pretending to be a good person now?”

Lin Yucheng’s face turned ashen.

He had never expected his son to spill everything the family had said.

What he understood even less was that although Lin Jiahao was usually stupid, he had never been stupid enough to say something like this.

Lin Mo remained seated, his fingers tapping idly against the tabletop.

An absurd thought surfaced in Lin Yucheng’s mind.

Could this kid actually be some kind of jinx?

The last time they were at the police station, his younger sister had seemed to suffer because of Lin Mo and suddenly blurted out everything herself.

And today, his own son had exposed them without any prompting.

It was as if they had been possessed—confessing everything without being questioned.

Both incidents had happened because of Lin Mo.

Lin Yucheng did not believe in such things, but sitting through this dinner, he could feel a chill creeping up his back.

Lin Mo spoke.

“What else?”

Lin Jiahao opened his mouth.

Lin Yucheng hurriedly slapped him again. “Enough! Shut up!”

Lin Mo did not even look at him.

“Let him finish. He’s already said half of it.”

Lin Gongcheng spoke as well, his tone solemn. “Brother, things have already reached this point. Let him explain everything. Whether it’s a misunderstanding or the truth, we need an answer.”

Lin Yucheng wanted to curse.

But Lin Gongcheng’s words had cornered him perfectly.

If he refused to let Lin Jiahao speak, it would be tantamount to admitting everything.

Lin Jiahao covered his face, growing angrier the more he thought about it.

“Fine, I’ll say it.”

He looked at Lin Mo, still sounding defiant.

“When Second Uncle and Second Aunt died, their relatives and friends gave quite a lot of condolence money. My dad said he would handle the funeral expenses and took more than half of it. I don’t know how much the funeral actually cost, but not long afterward, our family bought that BMW.”

Lin Gongcheng looked up at Lin Yucheng.

Of course, he knew about that car.

At the time, Lin Yucheng had said it was a used car that a friend had sold him cheaply. He claimed he needed it to maintain appearances for his business.

Lin Gongcheng had never thought much of it back then.

But now that he heard this, all the pieces fell into place.

His sister-in-law’s expression also darkened.

She was not a member of the Lin family by blood, but after being married into it for so many years, she knew exactly what kind of people everyone was.

Using money meant for the dead to buy a car—if word of this got out, Lin Yucheng would never be able to hold his head up in front of the relatives again.

Lin Mo, of course, had not only just learned about the condolence money.

But at this point in his previous life, he truly had known nothing about most of it.

He only found out later, after meeting one of his father’s friends.

That friend had given thirty thousand yuan in condolence money. In a later conversation about his elder uncle handling the funeral, he realized something was wrong.

Lin Mo had been young then and understood nothing. All he remembered was that his elder uncle had bustled around tirelessly, while everyone praised him for all his hard work.

As it turned out, the hard work had been real.

He had worked hard stuffing the money into his own pockets.

Lin Mo looked at Lin Yucheng.

“Did you have anything to do with my parents’ deaths?”

Lin Yucheng reacted quickly this time.

“No! Xiao Mo, you can’t say things like that. No matter what else I’ve done, I could never hurt my own brother.”

His answer came too quickly.

So quickly that he knocked over the elder sister-in-law’s teacup.

Lin Mo turned to Lin Jiahao. This time, Lin Jiahao shook his head.

“That really wasn’t it. Dad says all kinds of things at home, but he often said that Second Uncle died too young. He said that if Second Uncle were still alive, the two brothers could have made even more money together. He also said Second Uncle was smarter than him, and knew how to conduct himself. If he had followed Second Uncle, he definitely would have done well.”

Lin Yucheng gritted his teeth.

“You really will say anything.”

Lin Jiahao fired back, “You were the one who hit me first!”

If Lin Jiahao had claimed he didn’t know, Lin Mo might have directly searched Lin Yucheng’s soul.

But judging from this, Lin Yucheng had not been involved in his parents’ deaths.

It really had been an accident.

Lin Yucheng could no longer remain seated.

He picked up the teacup on the table, only to find it empty, so he simply put it back down.

“Forget it. No one can eat under these circumstances.”

He stood up and took the coat from the back of his chair.

“We’re leaving.”

The elder sister-in-law stood as well and tugged at Lin Jiahao.

Lin Jiahao was still holding his neck stiffly.

Lin Yucheng did not wait for them. He headed straight for the door.

Lin Gongcheng still raised a hand and called after him.

“Brother, why not finish the meal before you go? The dishes are already prepared.”

Lin Yucheng did not turn his head.

“We’re not eating.”

When he reached the door, he added, “I need to get home and beat my son.”

Lin Yucheng opened the door, and a gust of cold air blew inside.

The door did not close all the way. His footsteps echoed through the hallway, moving quickly. He did not even stop to wait for the elevator on that floor.

The elder sister-in-law dragged Lin Jiahao after him. Before leaving, she turned around and offered an apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry things turned out like this tonight. We’ll invite you to our place for dinner next time.”

Lin Mo did not respond.

Looking at his timid sister-in-law, Lin Gongcheng still shook his head.

“Sister-in-law, you’d better go see how Big Brother is doing first.”

Lin Jiahao still wanted to say something, but she pulled him out by force.

Once the door closed, only Lin Mo and the others remained in the apartment.

Lin Gongcheng sat back down but did not touch his chopsticks for a long while.

His wife wiped up the spilled tea from the table, uncertain whether she should clear away the dishes on the other side as well.

Only then did Lin Mo smile and say, “Let’s eat. There’s so much good food. It’d be a shame to waste it.”

Lin Gongcheng sighed as well.

“Mo-zai, forgive your Third Uncle. It was Big Brother who asked me to invite you tonight. If you had agreed, I would have become a sinner. When I go down there someday, I wouldn’t have the face to meet your Second Uncle and Second Aunt.”

“Third Uncle, stop saying such unlucky things. The New Year is almost here. At least this has let you see what kind of person Lin Yucheng really is.”

Lin Mo had begun calling him by his name outright.

His third aunt, on the other hand, spoke bluntly.

“That family? The elder sister-in-law is the only one worth dealing with. Those two father and son are both rotten to the core. You two uncles and nephew really should stay away from them.”

Lin Gongcheng sighed again.

Perhaps this was for the best.

At least the house left behind by his second brother and sister-in-law would not be taken over by anyone.

Downstairs, Lin Yucheng sat in the car without starting it.

Both hands rested on the steering wheel as he stared straight ahead, his chest rising and falling.

The elder sister-in-law and Lin Jiahao got into the car, but he still said nothing.

The car remained silent for half a minute.

Lin Jiahao rubbed his face and could not help speaking.

“Dad, I didn’t mean to do that just now.”

Lin Yucheng turned to look at him.

“You didn’t mean to?”

Lin Jiahao shrank back.

Lin Yucheng started the car, his voice low and restrained.

“We’ll talk when we get home.”

His wife tried to smooth things over. “Forget it. He just lost his temper for a moment.”

Lin Yucheng ignored her.

His mind was filled with the way Lin Mo had sat at the dinner table.

The boy had not shouted or made a scene, yet he had still forced Lin Yucheng down onto the table and humiliated him.

What was even more troublesome was that he might no longer be able to maintain the same relationship with Lin Gongcheng.

After tonight, there would be little brotherly affection left between them.

The more Lin Yucheng thought about it, the angrier he became.

The car drove out of the residential compound.

He glanced at the rearview mirror. Lin Jiahao was still rubbing his cheek.

“Stop rubbing it.”

Lin Jiahao said miserably, “It hurts.”

Lin Yucheng let out a cold laugh. “It’ll hurt even more when we get home.”

Lin Jiahao closed his mouth.

The car instantly fell silent.

Lin Yucheng pressed harder on the accelerator.

He truly could not wait to beat his son.