The search results didn’t exactly go as he had hoped.
There were millions of related entries, but none of them led to what he was looking for.
Before he was reborn, Shi Yuan had already been a globally renowned designer, so no matter what search engine he used, there’d always be information about him. But now, Shi Yuan was only in his teens, without any of those achievements. There was no point in even thinking about it; nothing related to him would come up on the web.
It was only after Lin Wangye had frantically searched and finished that he realized the situation.
Staring at the search results in front of him, with the words [Shi Yuan] highlighted in red, Lin Wangye couldn’t help but look down, feeling lost for a moment.
After taking a few seconds to collect himself, he lifted his head, steeled himself, and quickly began typing again, his fingers nimbly dancing across the keyboard. He edited the keywords and hit enter to search once more.
Lin Hong Trading Co., Ltd. was founded by his grandfather, Lin Pengcheng.
At first, Lin Pengcheng had actually been just an ordinary worker. His first windfall came from the demolition compensation of nearly ten million yuan for converting the Lin family’s ancestral home into commercial land. This hefty sum propelled the Lin family into the ranks of the wealthy.
But Lin Pengcheng didn’t settle for being just another nouveau riche; he invested the money into starting his own company.
With a sharp business mind and the timing of the era, the Lin family’s wealth grew exponentially. Within a few years, they had over a hundred million in assets and had become one of the top wealthy families in Ningchang.
However, the Lin family’s business direction changed over time.
After the family’s power passed to Lin Shen, the company underwent a major restructuring of its stock holdings. Within a few years, it shifted its focus and transformed into Lin Group, with most of its projects revolving around e-commerce.
But right now, Lin Hong Trading Co. mainly focused on wholesale.
Lin Wangye did a bit of research and realized that this was exactly why Lin Pengcheng and Lu Chengxuan’s father had become business partners. The Lu family owned many chain department stores, which perfectly aligned with their business model.
But not long after, the two families would completely sever ties and become fierce rivals.
For Lin Wangye, the fallout between the Lin and Lu families felt like it happened a lifetime ago.
He didn’t have any interest in the past back then.
Even if he had, Lin Shen wouldn’t have had the time to tell him those old stories.
However, Shi Yuan had mentioned that the falling out between the Lin and Lu families didn’t start with their generation, but rather with the previous one. Lin Pengcheng had thought the profit potential in wholesale was too limited, so he decided Lin Hong could open its own mall and moved toward an integrated business model.
That’s when the two families ended up on the same track, clashing over the market, and eventually, their partnership ended for good.
Lin Wangye knew the rest of the story. His grandfather had been eager to expand, spending a lot of resources opening chain malls, but when the ‘industry winter’ hit during the later stages, he didn’t make the profits he expected and actually ended up losing money.
Meanwhile, the Lu family had a keener business sense and quickly shifted their focus to e-commerce, making a huge profit.
It wasn’t that Lin Pengcheng had never heard of e-commerce—he just didn’t see the potential.
His traditional mindset didn’t want to put money into something that seemed as unreliable as the internet, believing in the security of physical industries instead.
But that’s how life goes.
There are always choices to make, and not every decision is the right one.
Lin Wangye did some more digging and discovered that this year, Lin Pengcheng had already opened two malls in Ningchang. So, by this point, the older generations of the Lin and Lu families had already ended their cooperation and turned into competitors.
That explained a lot.
His dad, in the middle of a cold war with his family, would rather stay in the cramped staff dorm at Qingsen Internet cafe than visit the Lu family. Yet, here he was—someone who had no connection to the Lu family at all—getting here first.
Lin Wangye pushed the keyboard aside, leaning back in his chair as he thought about it.
Looking at it this way, even though the older generations had fallen out, Lin Shen and Lu Chengxuan’s relationship didn’t seem to have been affected much. They still got along quite well.
Otherwise, Lu Chengxuan wouldn’t have taken him in—he could’ve easily found a thousand reasons to refuse.
He wouldn’t have bothered to contact the family to get him out of the police station either.
It seemed that Lu Chengxuan wasn’t as cold as he appeared on the surface; he still had some human warmth in him after all.
As Lin Wangye pondered this, a trace of worry crept into his thoughts.
Although Lin Pengcheng and the Lu family had parted ways, from the outside, both sides still maintained a very dignified image, and there were almost no negative reports about them online.
But his dad’s later relationship with Lu Chengxuan had completely torn the mask off.
The deep grudges between them had escalated to the point where, during the Double Eleven sales event, they went out of their way to subtly insult each other. Not only did their promotional posters use completely contrasting color schemes, but the press releases also exposed each other’s discount strategies, all while claiming that their own company had no tricks up its sleeve.
This fierce rivalry in the industry got a lot of attention from netizens, who cheered them on and called for even more intense competition.
What’s an 80% discount?
Let’s go all the way down to 100%, now that’s exciting! Let’s make everyone go crazy for free stuff!
Lin Wangye could guess how the older generations of the Lin and Lu families had fallen out, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t understand why Lin Shen and Lu Chengxuan ended up in such a hostile relationship.
Something had definitely happened between them.
But he didn’t know what, so he couldn’t prepare for what was to come.
At this point, all he could do was take things one step at a time.
Lin Wangye glanced up at the off-white ceiling, his chaotic thoughts racing through his mind. He felt a mix of nostalgia and an overwhelming sense of uncertainty about the future.
Luckily, Lin Shen’s presence felt like a safety net beneath him, giving him a fair amount of courage.
Without realizing it, Lin Wangye started to miss his dad.
The staff dorms couldn’t be that great, nowhere near as luxurious as the single rooms at Lu Chengxuan’s place. He wondered if his dad was adjusting well. His father, a pampered second-generation rich kid just like him, probably wasn’t used to roughing it.
He also wondered if his dad had been sneaking cigarettes behind his back.
Suddenly, Lin Wangye sat up straight, realizing that this wasn’t going to work.
His father didn’t just have lung problems—his irregular eating habits had caused frequent stomach bleeding, and there were signs of mid-stage stomach cancer spreading. On top of that, years of overwork had led to high blood pressure, and eventually, he passed away from a sudden stroke.
Right now, Lin Shen was still young and healthy, full of energy, with no major health issues.
He absolutely can’t let his father’s health deteriorate to that state.
The first step is to find a way to get his dad to quit smoking.
He had to keep an eye on him personally.
The image of Lin Shen possibly sitting in the Qingsen internet cafe, smoking and staying up late playing games, made Lin Wangye restless. He instinctively reached into his pockets, only to remember that there was no way to contact Lin Shen at all.
The priority now was to get a communication device first; without it, doing anything would be impossible.
But he didn’t have a single cent to his name. How was he supposed to get a phone?
Lin Wangye gritted his teeth in frustration, nearly cursing the crazy cousin who had smashed his phone at the funeral. He hadn’t been carrying anything except his phone, and that crazy woman destroyed it. Now, he had nothing.
No wonder some people liked to wear gold and silver, with gold chains hanging around their necks.
In a critical moment, it really could come in handy!
So frustrating…
Wait… necklace?
Lin Wangye’s eyes flickered, and he raised his hand to feel around his neck. As expected, he found a thin chain. He gently pulled it up and out from under his collar, revealing a pendant that shimmered faintly in the light.
No wonder he hadn’t thought of it sooner.
He had gotten so used to wearing it all the time that he hadn’t even noticed it was there.
This was the birthday gift Shi Yuan had given him for his sixteenth birthday.
The necklace was simple— a bell-shaped pendant about the size of a coin, made of silver-gray platinum, encrusted with tiny diamonds. Though the diamonds were very small, their sheer number made the pendant sparkle with a dazzling glow whenever it caught any light, with the countless facets reflecting a mesmerizing shine.
Shi Yuan had given him many gifts, but this one was Lin Wangye’s favorite.
Because it was personally designed and made by Shi Yuan.
The hundreds of tiny diamonds had been painstakingly embedded one by one, with Shi Yuan spending sleepless nights doing it himself.
He still remembered that day—he’d stayed up all night gaming and didn’t wake up until early the next morning, not even realizing his birthday had come. Groggily, he opened his eyes and checked his phone, only to see several missed calls from Shi Yuan.
When he looked up, Shi Yuan was sitting by the bed, a small smile playing on his lips. He raised his hand, holding the necklace in front of him and said softly, “Happy Birthday.”
The room was dark, no lights on.
But the night view outside the window reflected through the glass, and he could clearly see the bell-shaped pendant glinting with a star-like glow, especially bright.
At that time, his feelings for Shi Yuan were still a blurry, unspoken crush.
Because of his own sense of guilt, he didn’t dare get too close to Shi Yuan anymore, no longer casually asking him for hugs like he had when he was younger.
But that day, he couldn’t hold back. Without thinking, he threw himself into the arms of the person he liked.
Shi Yuan readily accepted the hug, ruffling his hair as he repeated the birthday wish.
The steady heartbeat from the chest pressed against his and the light, shallow breath near his ear intertwined, each breath more enchanting than the last, drawing him in.
When he pulled away, he couldn’t resist brushing his lips against Shi Yuan’s cheek, a delicate touch, like a dragonfly skimming the water.
The moonlight illuminated his eyes, filled with the stirrings of young affection. His hidden feelings couldn’t stay hidden any longer, suddenly bursting out in the most obvious way. Shi Yuan’s usual calm expression cracked for a brief moment, and he stood up in a hurry.
In the end, his Uncle Shi couldn’t bear to distance himself from him because of that.
But that became their last embrace.
Lin Wangye held the necklace in his hand for a long time, his head lowered, silent. After a while, he tucked it back into his collar, pressing it against his chest with his palm.
No matter how much money he needed, he couldn’t sell this.
He needed to think of another way.
Hello, everyone ヾ(＾∇＾). I hope you enjoyed the story! If you’re feeling generous, please buy me a coffee, share/comment on my translated works! Check out the link below for early chapters. (๑>ᴗ<๑)
