Chapter 52

On the way to the hospital.

Zhang Chen briefly summarized what had happened.

Xia Yanshuang was completely dumbfounded after hearing it.

Zhang Chen wasn’t surprised at all. He had forcibly pulled Xia Yanshuang into his car.

After all, some things were better discussed in private.

And coincidentally, the backseat of his car was spacious enough.

A sealed and private space could be created.

“You, you just said… said who?”

Xia Yanshuang looked a bit agitated, even slightly pale.

That expression was something one wouldn’t expect from a woman as strong and composed in business as she was.

“Lin Hongyang,” Zhang Chen smiled faintly, then repeated the name once more.

Upon hearing that name, Xia Yanshuang immediately exclaimed, “That’s impossible! He’s already…”

“Dead?”

Zhang Chen interrupted, “Seems like he managed to deceive everyone back then, hiding his identity and surviving until now.”

As for certain events from ten years ago involving the Lin family, very few people actually knew the truth.

Even Xia Yanshuang herself wasn’t clear on the details of how her older sister Xia Yanbing and brother-in-law Lin Hongyang had died.

All she ever knew—was that it was “an accident”

“Is it true? Lin Hongyang… is still alive?”

Xia Yanshuang wasn’t sure if her feelings at this moment were shock or fear.

No, more than that—it was confusion.

“Believe it or not. Also, based on my investigation, there’s a seventy to eighty percent chance that the person backing Ye Fan… is Lin Hongyang.”

Scapegoating?

Zhang Chen was a natural at it.

Who asked Lin Hongyang to skulk in the shadows, afraid to reveal his identity?

Combined with a few other factors.

Even if Lin Hongyang didn’t want to take the blame, he had no choice.

Sure enough— Xia Yanshuang was stunned.

She clearly couldn’t wrap her head around it.

“I don’t understand! If he’s still alive, why would he do all this?”

She truly didn’t understand and, to be fair, didn’t really believe Zhang Chen either.

Her reason was simple.

“Xiao Xi is his daughter. No matter what he thinks of the Lin family, there’s no way he’d hurt her!”

Xia Yanshuang was quite sharp.

Even though she wasn’t like Zhang Chen, the original author who knew all the secrets.

Over the past ten years, she had still picked up on a few clues.

She simply didn’t dare dig deeper, nor did she want to believe them.

Now, Zhang Chen’s goal was to tear off that last fig leaf.

In response to Xia Yanshuang’s rebuttal,

Zhang Chen simply smiled. “What if Lin Xi isn’t his biological daughter?”

Just that one simple line landed like a bomb!

Xia Yanshuang was completely stunned, unable to recover for quite a while.

But Zhang Chen wasn’t finished.

Unlike Lin Xi, he was very interested in Xia Yanshuang.

After all, she was the woman he’d once duo-queued with on Canyon of Valor.

That made her… special.

So, Zhang Chen smiled and said, “There were things I had people investigate long ago.”

“You…”

“Otherwise, how do you think I knew you weren’t Lin Xi’s biological mother?”

Xia Yanshuang was speechless.

She had long been curious and suspicious. How had Zhang Chen uncovered this secret?

Even within the Lin family, only the old master knew this truth.

For ten years, she had impersonated her sister Xia Yanbing almost flawlessly.

Yet Zhang Chen, no matter what she thought, simply continued on his own pace:

“As the saying goes: ‘If you don’t want others to know, then don’t do it in the first place.”

“Secrets… don’t hold up under scrutiny.”

“The Zhang family’s connections and influence—if I want to look into something, even if it’s troublesome, I can find the truth.”

Xia Yanshuang didn’t argue.

The Zhang family did surpass the Lin family in power and influence.

That was a fact.

Zhang Chen continued to smile: “At first, it was just a casual discovery. After all, joining the Zhang family as a daughter-in-law isn’t so easy.”

Listen to that!

How narcissistic could one get?

But it was also true.

“So I had someone dig a little deeper. Your little niece is no pushover, after all.”

Zhang Chen’s tone implied more than it said.

Clearly referring to Lin Xi’s rebellious behavior and her resistance to the marriage.

Xia Yanshuang had nothing to say to that.

Zhang Chen didn’t care and went on, “And I never expected to find such a huge surprise.”

Of course, it was all nonsense.

Zhang Chen never had to investigate anything.

All the story settings were already in his head.

Still, he had to provide a plausible excuse, didn’t he?

“What did you find?”

Xia Yanshuang bit her lip, unsure of how to feel.

Zhang Chen could basically guess her thoughts.

So he smiled, “Exactly what you just heard.”

“Lin Hongyang didn’t die. Ten years ago, he survived by a hair’s breadth.”

“And over these ten years, he’s been lurking in the shadows, waiting for a chance to take revenge.”

Xia Yanshuang couldn’t help but ask, “Why? I don’t get it. Why would Lin Hongyang want revenge?”

In everyone’s eyes, Lin Hongyang was the eldest son of the Lin family’s second generation.

At the time, he had also been the executive CEO of Lin Corporation—young and full of promise!

He was practically a household name in Jiangdong City.

A publicly acknowledged heir to the Lin family.

Even Lin Youwei and Lin Shoucheng, his brothers, were never on the same level as him back then.

The gap between them wasn’t just a little one.

“What do you think?”

Zhang Chen smiled and turned the question back to her.

But before Xia Yanshuang could respond, he revealed the truth from back then:

“A man—especially one who is successful, confident, proud, and in his prime suddenly discovers that the daughter he has loved and cherished… isn’t even his biological child.”

Zhang Chen’s smile turned eerie.

He looked straight at Xia Yanshuang.

“How do you think Lin Hongyang felt when he found out?”

“No! I don’t believe it!”

Xia Yanshuang cried out angrily, “My sister would never do something like that!”

Lin Xi isn’t Lin Hongyang’s daughter?

Then wouldn’t that mean his wife—her sister—cheated on him back then?

That was no small matter!

It would be a bombshell scandal!

“Your sister Xia Yanbing indeed wouldn’t do that.”

Zhang Chen nodded.

After all, when it came to the truth, who would know better than him?

“Then what did you mean just now…?”

Zhang Chen cut her off, “What if even your sister didn’t know?”

“What… What do you mean?”

Even Xia Yanbing didn’t know?

Wasn’t that the biggest joke of all?

Suddenly, a thought flashed across Xia Yanshuang’s mind. Her face turned pale with shock:

“Xiao Xi… isn’t of the Lin family bloodline?”

Ah, women and their wild imagination!