Chapter 232

Chapter 232

Don’t You Hate Her?

Zhang Ling thought of the daughter she had doted on for years and shook her head, pleading, "You watched her grow up! You can’t do this to her!"

"Why can’t I?" Zhou Cuiwei asked fiercely, her voice laced with fury. "Every time I think of how kind I was to her, it makes me sick. Do you understand, Zhang Ling? Your sins—now your daughter pays for them. Are you satisfied?"

This outcome was something Zhang Ling could never accept.

"It’s my fault, all my fault! Please, I beg you, spare Lin Shuang! She’s innocent!" Zhang Ling sobbed.

But her words only enraged Zhou Cuiwei further. She slapped Zhang Ling again, hard, across the face and roared, "Was my daughter not innocent? She was just born—in the coldest depths of winter! How could you be so cruel, Zhang Ling? How could you hide this for so many years? How could you live with yourself?"

The Lin family winced at each bitter accusation. Lin Min opened her mouth several times but couldn’t find the words to speak.

Lin Kangnian and Lin Kangjian remained silent, their faces grim. Meeting Lin Nannan’s icy gaze, they felt Zhang Ling didn’t just deserve a beating—she deserved to die.

During the most turbulent years, their grandfather had fought tooth and nail to protect the family, ensuring not a single one of them was harmed. Yet, they couldn’t guard against a woman so twisted by jealousy that she swapped their baby sister. How dare someone like her beg for mercy?

Lin Nannan felt little sympathy for the Lin family’s turmoil. Looking at Zhang Ling’s disheveled state, she turned to Lu Hang and said, "Get her out of here."

Lu Hang nodded, pulling out his credentials to show Old Master Lin before signaling his men to haul away the struggling Zhang Ling.

With the matter settled, Lin Nannan turned to leave without hesitation—until Zhou Cuiwei called out, "Child!"

Lin Nannan paused but walked off without a backward glance. Her indifference left the Lin family with complicated emotions.

"Dad!" Lin Shuang cried anxiously as her mother was taken away. "Shouldn’t the police be the ones arresting Mom? Why is Lin Nannan’s people taking her? What if she uses her power to have Mom killed?"

"Shut your mouth!" Zhou Cuiwei snapped, her gaze cold as she glared at Lin Shuang. "If she wanted her dead, wouldn’t she deserve it?"

Lin Shuang gaped in disbelief at the woman who’d once spoiled her rotten, now looking at her with such hatred.

In a blink, everything had changed.

But what did any of this have to do with her?

She looked to Lin Min automatically, hoping her cousin would stand up for her as she always had. But Lin Min’s face was pale with anger, none of her usual warmth left.

"I want to know who I really am," Lin Min said bitterly, her voice trembling.

To think that after all these years of happiness, not a single person in this family was truly hers—how ridiculous and heartbreaking. Yet she had no choice but to accept it.

Lin Kangnian sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You’ll get your answers."

But he couldn’t bring himself to say she would always be their sister. That would dishonor Lin Nannan, who had suffered so much.

If Zhang Ling had at least ensured their real sister was raised well, there might have been room for forgiveness. But she hadn’t. She’d even tried to have her killed. That kind of hatred couldn’t be forgiven—otherwise, they might never have gotten their sister back.

"Lin Nannan?" Lin Kangsheng suddenly murmured, his eyes going wide as it hit him. "Lin Nannan?!"

His sharp exclamation drew everyone’s attention. Old Master Lin frowned. "You know her?"

"Wasn’t she raised in the countryside? How do you know her?" Granny Lin asked, not out of disdain but genuine confusion.

Their eldest granddaughter had grown up in the countryside, yet she carried herself like a force of nature—outshining both the girls they’d raised.

"There's a formidable figure who came to our side, very powerful... her name is Lin Nannan!" Lin Kangsheng said with great difficulty.

"Impossible!" Lin Kangnian retorted. "Didn't you hear that man say she was raised in the backwoods?"

"But what about her overbearing aura? That’s not something someone raised in the backwoods could have!" Grandpa Lin sighed deeply, hitting the key point.

The Lin household went quiet. Lin Nannan’s aura was truly not something an ordinary person could possess.

"Grandpa, Grandma, Dad, Mom, how do we resolve this?" Lin Kangjian, who had been silent all along, suddenly asked, yanking the discussion back. Everyone’s expressions darkened.

Lin Shuang really wanted to say, *That Lin Nannan doesn’t even want you, so why do you still want her...* But she knew if she spoke up now, her Eldest Aunt might slap her.

"We’ll handle it as it should be handled. Our Lin family distinguishes right from wrong and doesn’t hide anything!" Grandpa Lin’s words settled the matter.

But before resolving that issue, Zhou Cuiwei looked straight at Lin Zhengyou and said bluntly, "Second Brother, for the family’s good, send Lin Shuang away."

"No, I won’t go!" Lin Shuang screeched immediately upon hearing this.

She knew the difference between being sent away and remaining a daughter of the Lin family, so she protested, "Eldest Aunt, this has nothing to do with me! I never knew anything before!"

Zhou Cuiwei met her gaze calmly. "That changes nothing. You’re still her daughter. I want Nan Nan to come back. You must resent her, she’s the one who had your mother taken away!"

Too green to mask her feelings, Lin Shuang realized she couldn’t hide it at all.

"You hate Nan Nan, and Nan Nan hates you. If I have to choose between you and my daughter, I’ll only choose her. That’s what your mother owes her, and what our entire Lin family owes her. So, the one who has to leave is you." Zhou Cuiwei spelled out the brutal truth, one Lin Shuang couldn’t stomach.

"This has nothing to do with me! Dad—" She turned to her father, pleading, "I don’t want to go!"

Leaving meant losing everything.

Lin Zhengyou stared at her for a long moment before saying with difficulty, "Then I’ll leave with you."

Only this could dissolve the hatred. Otherwise, forcing them to live together would only deepen the grudges.

His older children were grown, and only his youngest daughter was still unmarried. He believed they would understand his decision.

Lin Kangsheng and his sister couldn’t care less. They had never been close to their father, so they didn’t care where he went. Besides, they had their own families now and couldn’t give a damn who he doted on...

"I won’t go! This is my home! I won’t be driven out!" Lin Shuang didn’t feel any father’s warmth, only resentment. Why were they all so cruel, trying to drive her away?

Whether she liked it or not, Zhou Cuiwei insisted, and no one could keep Lin Shuang there.

Grandpa and Grandma Lin were reluctant—after all, she was their youngest granddaughter, raised with love. But seeing their eldest daughter-in-law’s seething resentment, they couldn’t speak up and held their tongues.