Chapter 70

Chapter 70

Lin Rusong almost tripped as he was about to head out the door.

Bai Yaxin had a look that screamed, "I knew it."

Hou Yinghao was supposedly Lin Rusong's sworn brother, but he was the kind who treated people based on their usefulness—right there for you when he needed something, and gone when he didn’t. During holidays, he never sent Lin Rusong even a simple greeting; only when he wanted something did he come crawling back with "remember the good old days."

Bai Yaxin had long disliked the guy.

But Lin Rusong clung stubbornly to gratitude for Hou Yinghao’s past kindness. Although their contact had faded over the years, he’d never completely cut ties.

What's more, Hou Yinghao was a notorious playboy. Before marriage, he sowed his wild oats everywhere, only settling down after tying the knot—but Bai Yaxin had heard it was mostly because Hou Yinghao's wife Jiao Caishan kept him in line.

If Hou Yinghao dared to stray, she'd come at him with a cleaver without a second thought. After a few near-death experiences, he finally got scared and stayed obediently at home.

Jiao Caishan had her hands full, no doubt. But knowing her personality, if that child really was Hou Yinghao's illegitimate son, she would never agree to it. Hou Yinghao would already be pushing up daisies by now.

"No way… Talk about father-of-the-year material," Bai Yaxin scoffed. "Hou Yinghao actually claimed the kid was his *son’s* bastard, conning Jiao Caishan into accepting the child into the family first."

"So Hou Yuezhang, blissfully busy planning his wedding, has no idea he already has a son."

Bai Yaxin suddenly understood—no wonder!

Meanwhile, inside the Hou family villa…

Hou Yuezhang felt like the world was ending.

Try as he might to stay calm, his voice still trembled. “Dad… what did you just say?”

Hou Yinghao replied, “Your mom and I were thinking about adopting another kid.”

“Not happening,” Hou Yuezhang tightened his grip on his knees. “I’m not okay with it.”

Jiao Caishan was baffled—why would her son object?

Hou Yinghao gestured toward the person beside their son. Zou Yuetao sat there, squirming uncomfortably.

Who would’ve thought that a meeting about wedding plans would suddenly involve an unexpected child?

Jiao Caishan suddenly got it—of course Hou Yuezhang wouldn’t admit anything with his girlfriend right there.

She gave a pointed cough. Hou Yuezhang turned to her, and she said, “Son, your dad and I have already decided.”

Hou Yuezhang couldn’t hold back anymore. He stood up and shouted, “You’ve decided? I still don’t agree! What the hell do you want another kid for?”

Both Hou Yinghao and Jiao Caishan were taken aback by his outburst. Hou Yinghao hadn’t expected such a strong reaction—he should’ve talked to his son first.

But whatever—no matter what, Jiao Caishan mustn’t find out. If she did, she’d chop him into pieces for sure!

Hou Yinghao quickly said, “Yuezhang, don’t get angry. Your mom and I will think it over again.”

Hou Yinghao caved? Jiao Caishan nodded. “Fine.”

Watching their faces carefully, Hou Yuezhang had a sinking feeling this wasn’t that simple. He remembered all those stories he’d seen online.

He hesitated before asking, “Mom, Dad… you didn’t go and have another kid behind my back, did you?”

Hou Yinghao said, “No way. Yuezhang, don’t jump to conclusions yet—go upstairs with Yuetao and rest first. We’ll think about the adoption thing later.”

Hou Yuezhang let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good to hear.”

He took Zou Yuetao’s hand and whispered an apology: “I’m sorry for neglecting you for so long.”

Zou Yuetao replied, “It’s fine, really.”

But inside, she had a lingering doubt—if it wasn’t the younger brother they’d had together, could it be one of their secret children?

Something felt off. The more Jiao Caishan thought about it, the more uneasy she became. Even if her son was just putting on a show for his girlfriend, he was laying it on way too thick.

As Hou Yuezhang and Zou Yuetao went upstairs, Hou Yinghao—who had just felt like he'd dodged a bullet—turned around only to find Jiao Caishan staring straight at him.

Jiao Caishan demanded, “Hou Yinghao, tell me the truth—what’s your relationship with that child?”

Hou Yinghao’s mind went blank.

After being married to this man for over twenty years, Jiao Caishan knew from his expression alone that her fears were justified.

“How… how dare you?” Jiao Caishan pointed at Hou Yinghao’s nose and shouted, “Hou Yinghao, you shameless bastard! Have you forgotten what you promised me back then? I’ll cut you down!”

With that, Jiao Caishan marched into the kitchen and grabbed a cleaver. The staff who witnessed this panicked.

Several rushed to restrain Mrs. Hou while one ran upstairs to alert Hou Yuezhang.

Meanwhile, Hou Yuezhang had already heard the commotion from his room. Standing by the railing, he looked down and saw the shocking scene below.

He hurried downstairs and grabbed Jiao Caishan’s arm. “Mom, what are you doing?”

Jiao Caishan screamed, “Your father betrayed me—he had a secret child behind my back! I’m going to kill him!”

“Mom, you can’t kill him!”

The shout stunned Jiao Caishan. While she was stunned, Hou Yuezhang yanked the cleaver away from her. Just as he tried to calm his mother, a loud crash sounded behind him. He turned to see Hou Yinghao had collapsed.

“Call 911 now!”

The house descended into chaos.

By the time Lin Rusong arrived, they had already gone to the hospital, so he rushed there too.

At the hospital entrance, he spotted Jiao Caishan and Lin Tingyue.

Earlier, Lin Rusong had called Jiao Caishan, who, worried her husband might not handle things properly, had hurried over with Lin Tingyue in tow.

She brought Lin Tingyue along for two reasons: first, because she didn’t want her to be bored at home alone; second, because she suspected there might be more hidden drama in the Hou family.

The three went upstairs together. Hou Yinghao was in a regular room now. The doctor explained he had fainted due to extreme stress.

Jiao Caishan snapped, “No wonder he was stressed! If he hadn’t passed out, I would’ve killed him by now.”

Hou Yuezhang sighed. “Mom…”

That finally shut Jiao Caishan up.

Hou Yuezhang asked, “Doctor, is there anything else wrong with my dad?”

Unexpectedly, the doctor looked uneasy and invited Hou Yuezhang to his office.

Hou Yuezhang felt a sinking feeling and didn’t want Jiao Caishan staying here. Luckily, the Lin family of three arrived just then, so Hou Yuezhang asked them to keep an eye on things instead.

Lin Rusong agreed.

Bai Yaxin nudged Lin Rusong’s elbow and said, “Shouldn’t the family be at the hospital? What if Hou Yinghao—”

“Let’s wait for the results. It’s tiring to stand—let’s go sit over there.”

Bai Yaxin nodded.

The three sat down. Having nothing better to do, Lin Tingyue continued scrolling through her phone.

“Oh! So the doctor called them in because Hou Yinghao has a rare condition—one with a fifty-fifty chance of being passed on to his children. Hou Yuezhang must’ve gone for testing too, but he’s clear.”

Fifty-fifty—a high chance, but not certain. Lin Tingyue kept scrolling and came across a bombshell.

“What? Hou Yuezhang isn’t even Hou Yinghao’s real son… No wonder he’s clear.”

Bai Yaxin and Lin Rusong shared a look. Right then, Hou Yinghao woke up.

Lin Rusong stepped forward and asked, “Old Hou, how are you feeling?”

Hou Yinghao blinked in surprise. “You came?”

“Yeah.”

Hou Yinghao sat up by himself. “This is embarrassing.”

“The important thing is you’re okay.”

Lin Rusong hit the call button, and the doctor quickly arrived. Hou Yuezhang had gone for tests, and since Jiao Caishan didn’t want to see Hou Yinghao anyway, she just waited outside. No one thought to hide the truth from Hou Yinghao.

After hearing the news, Hou Yinghao refused to accept it. “No way! How could I have this disease? Doctor, you’ve got to fix this!”

The doctor replied regretfully, “Mr. Hou, there’s no cure for this.”

“I won’t accept this! My youngest son was born last week—I need to see him grow up!”

Hearing that, the doctor looked uneasy. Hou Yinghao noticed and pressed, “Doctor, are you hiding something else from me?”

“Mr. Hou, you suffer from oligospermia. In theory, it’s very difficult for your partner to conceive, but exceptions do happen,” the doctor tried to explain.

Hou Yinghao froze.

Cheated on—twice over.

Shock gave way to blind rage. He’d been under Jiao Caishan’s thumb all this time, only to find out she’d been cheating on him all along.

Blind rage took over. The moment he saw Jiao Caishan return, Hou Yinghao lunged at her, choking her hard.

“Hou Yinghao, are you out of your mind? Do you want me to cut you down?”

“Fine, go ahead and kill me! You cheated on me—I’ll kill you first!”

“Dad, what’s wrong with you? Let go of Mom!”

Still weak from waking up, Hou Yinghao was shoved aside easily by Hou Yuezhang, who stepped between them. “Dad, Mom—both of you, stop this!”

"Don't you dare call me Dad—you're a bastard!"

"What the hell are you saying, Hou Yinghao?"

"You..."

"You’re calling Yuezhang a bastard, but that illegitimate kid you bent over backwards to claim is the real bastard!"

Zou Yuetao was supposed to stay at the villa per Hou Yuezhang’s suggestion, but after talking to her parents, who both urged her to come to the hospital, she arrived just in time to hear her future in-laws screaming “bastard” at each other.

Zou Yuetao: ???

So which one of you is the bastard?!

As the three Lins left the hospital, the shouting match upstairs still hadn’t died down.

Lin Rusong asked, "You guys hungry? Wanna get food?"

Bai Yaxin and Lin Tingyue both shook their heads. Lin Rusong said, "Alright, let’s head home."

On the way home, Lin Tingyue scrolled through videos.

Her feed was usually full of food, cats, or dogs—sometimes pretty girls or cute boys—but today, her algorithm threw her… a couples’ channel?

Bai Yaxin peeked over her shoulder and thought while stroking Lin Tingyue’s hair—Tingyue really has grown up.

But not long after, Lin Tingyue opened the comments section—and started screaming.

"OMG WHO NAMED THIS ACCOUNT?! THEY’RE MOTHER AND SON!!!"