Chapter 71

**Chapter 71**

**A mother and her son?**

Bai Yaxin was floored. She couldn’t help but recall the scene she had just witnessed—

A woman in a skimpy outfit threw herself into a man’s arms, then wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing herself tightly against him.

And they were supposed to be mother and son?

Bai Yaxin was stunned.

Unaware of her mother’s shock, Lin Tingyue continued scrolling through the comments section. She had just seen that the man’s wife had been tagged in the video by a friend who was planning to notify her.

Lin Tingyue wanted to know if the wife herself had seen it yet.

“Thank goodness, the wife has seen it and is planning to divorce her husband.”

Caught up in the gossip, Bai Yaxin breathed a sigh of relief.

Back home, before Lin Rusong could even take a sip of his tea, he received a call from Lin Ruqiao.

Lin Ruqiao rarely called Lin Rusong unless something serious had happened.

Even before answering the call, Lin Rusong felt a knot in his stomach.

Listening intently, Lin Rusong frowned and stood up. “This really happened? I’m on my way.”

After hanging up, Bai Yaxin asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Ruqiao said Qiyan wants to divorce her husband.”

“That doesn’t add up. If Qiyan simply wanted a divorce, Ruqiao wouldn’t have called you. It’s more likely that she’s getting bullied there.”

“Mom guessed right.”

Hearing Lin Tingyue’s words, both Lin Rusong and Bai Yaxin darkened in expression. Not only was Lin Rusong going, but Bai Yaxin insisted on joining him too.

Excited for the gossip, Lin Tingyue declared she was coming along as well.

Naturally, Lin Rusong and Bai Yaxin brought her.

In the car, Bai Yaxin playfully ruffled Lin Tingyue’s hair and asked, “Tingyue, are you tired?”

Lin Tingyue grinned. “Nope!”

“Just thinking about what’s going to happen later gets me pumped. I live for drama.”

“Tingyue.”

For some reason, hearing those words made Bai Yaxin’s heart swell with affection. Her precious Tingyue was just so adorable.

Bai Yaxin pulled Lin Tingyue into her arms. Lin Tingyue nuzzled into her and looked up with clear, bright eyes. “Mom, am I being a bother? Do you not want me tagging along?”

“I can be extra sometimes, but I’m usually pretty well-behaved.”

At this point, Lin Tingyue still didn’t know her inner thoughts could be heard. Had she known, she would’ve kept them locked tight—even in her mind!

Bai Yaxin chuckled softly. “Of course not, sweetheart. I just worry you might get tired running around with us.”

"How could that be? We're family. Mom and Dad have my back, and I can have yours too."

Bai Yaxin's eyes welled up at the words "family." She gave Lin Tingyue's cheek a playful pinch and said, "Thank you, Tingyue."

When the family of three arrived, there were already quite a few people in the villa.

Aunt Jiaxin, Lin Ruqiao, Third Uncle Lin Ruzhi, and Lin Ruqiao’s oldest son, Lin Gaoyi.

Lin Rusong asked, "Where's Qiyan?"

Lin Ruqiao replied, "In her room. Her mother is with her."

"What exactly happened?"

Lin Ruqiao massaged his temples. "I don't know either. This morning, Qiyan ran back alone, crying the moment she stepped through the door, demanding a divorce from Kang Yu. Her mother, her brother, and I took turns questioning her, but she wouldn’t talk."

"Have you called Kang Yu to ask?"

Lin Ruqiao glanced at Bai Yaxin, who nodded. "As soon as Qiyan came back, we called Kang Yu. He said they had an argument and didn’t expect her to run home. He said he’d come at noon to pick her up."

Lin Gaoyi added, "The moment my sister saw him, she freaked out—throwing things and yelling at him to leave. Then she locked herself in her room. Kang Yu left looking ashamed, saying he’d come back when she calmed down."

"A-Yun and I thought something wasn’t right, so we called you."

"This is seriously messed up. Did Kang Yu hit Qiyan?" Lin Jiaxin frowned. "Second Brother, have you had someone look into it?"

Lin Gaoyi answered, "Eldest Aunt, I’ve already had someone look into it, but there are no clues yet."

Just as the family was at a loss, Lin Tingyue let out a gasp.

"My god, that piece of trash!"

Everyone in the living room was startled but tried to keep their cool. Then their eyes lit up with hopeful expectation—how could they have forgotten? Lin Tingyue had a special gift.

In an instant, all eyes turned to her with hope.

The protagonist, Lin Tingyue, remained oblivious.

"Kang Yu’s business has been failing these past two months. Whenever he gets frustrated, he takes it out on Qiyan—hitting her and yelling at her.

Last night was even worse. He invited a business partner home for dinner, and they drank until midnight. Qiyan couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore, so she went to shower and get ready for bed. But while she was in the shower, that man kept pounding on the door, saying Kang Yu had already sold her to him.

Qiyan refused to open the door and threatened to call the police. Only then did the man leave, swearing under his breath. She hurriedly locked herself in her room.

They’d guessed something was wrong, but never imagined it was this bad.

Lin Gaoyi suddenly remembered—his sister had called him once, but he missed it. When he called back, she said it was nothing.

If that bastard had gotten his way…

She should have come home last night!

Back in the room, Kang Yu claimed it was just a joke—that the man was drunk. But the next morning, he sneered, 'So what if I sold you? Your Lin family may be powerful, but they wouldn’t be able to save you in time anyway.'

Even though he said it was a joke, Qiyan was scared sick and completely disgusted. As soon as Kang Yu left, she came home."

Lin Ruqiao’s face twisted in anger. He stood up and marched out, with Lin Gaoyi right on his heels.

Luckily, Lin Rusong still had some common sense.

He stopped the father and son and asked, "What are you doing?"

Lin Ruqiao snapped, "If I don’t kill Kang Yu today, I’ll stop being a Lin!!!"

"Second Uncle, chill! It’s not worth the trouble. Since the business partner claims Kang Yu sold Erjie to him, just call the cops and report Kang Yu for illegally selling his wife."

In the end, Lin Rusong was the one who called the cops.

The Lins were already at the station when Kang Yu was brought in by police, followed shortly by the rest of the Kang family.

The Kangs had two sons: the eldest, Kang Yu, and the younger, Kang Shun.

Their father, Kang Liangyun, was widowed young and raised the two children alone. He remarried later but divorced soon after and remained single ever since.

The two families were at a standoff.

Soon after, Kang Shun’s girlfriend Shen Roushu showed up too. She walked straight to Kang Shun, who took her hand and said, "You didn’t have to come."

"Of course I’d come—your brother’s in trouble!" Shen Roushu comforted softly. "He’ll be okay."

"Yeah, they’ve got nothing on him anyway."

"Mhm, but... why’d they arrest him?"

Kang Shun fell silent.

"What, cat got your tongue? Afraid to tell your girlfriend your brother’s in for domestic violence and selling his wife to his business partner?"

Wait, WHAT?!

Shen Roushu jumped at the interruption, her eyes widening in shock as she instinctively pulled her hand away from Kang Shun’s grip.

Kang Shun blinked in confusion. "What’s wrong?"

If Kang Shun’s brother’s a monster, who knows what he is too? Shen Roushu made up her mind. "We’re done."

Kang Shun was completely stunned. "A-Rou, what are you saying?"

She exhaled sharply and met his gaze head-on. "We’re done, Kang Shun."

"What’s this about?! We were fine!"

"Don’t you know what your brother did?"

"My brother was framed."

"Exactly," Kang Liangyun cut in. "Relationships take work."

Shen Roushu had rushed to Kang Shun’s side earlier without getting a good look at his father. Now that she saw Kang Liangyun clearly, she went rigid with recognition.

Not only did Shen Roushu dump him—she hauled off and slapped him hard across the face.

"Why’d she hit—HOLY CRAP..."

Shen Roushu’s mother was Kang Liangyun’s second wife. The reason she divorced him? Kang Shun had hit on her.

Everyone within earshot gasped. What kind of messed-up family is this?! The older son’s a wife-beating trafficker, and the little creep came onto his stepmom.

Kang Shun was still in disbelief. "Shen Roushu, you said you loved me—how could you hit me now?"

Shen Roushu wanted to gag remembering all those lovey-dovey promises. "I’d kill you if I could! How dare you mess with my mom? Go to hell!"

Mess with her mom?

Kang Liangyun stood up. He had only met Shen Roushu once before. Staring at her carefully, he finally realized something and said, "Is there some misunderstanding?"

"Your son was inappropriate and even threatened my mom, saying if she dared to speak out, he would claim she seduced him. My mom told me this herself—what misunderstanding could there be?"

Kang Liangyun had genuinely loved Shen Roushu’s mother back in the day and still couldn’t forget her. Hands shaking, he slapped Kang Shun too.

So when Kang Yu, still detained, snapped, "Have my father and brother not arrived yet?" an amused officer told him, "They’re fighting outside."

Kang Yu: "What?"

Since being arrested, Kang Yu had denied everything—both the domestic violence and the selling of his wife.

He figured if he kept denying it, the police couldn't do anything to him.

But the domestic violence charges were airtight, and as for selling his wife, they just hadn’t found proof yet.

But they didn’t need to—the evidence walked right in.

Kang Yu’s phone rang—it was the business partner from that night calling.

Kang Yu didn’t want to answer, but the officer shot him an icy look. "Answer it."

Reluctantly, Kang Yu answered the call, just for the partner to start cursing, demanding when Kang Yu would bring his wife around again for another "visit."

The officer sneered. "Open and shut. Bring in the guy on the phone too."

Once things at the station were settled, Lin Ruqiao and Qiao Yun decided to take Lin Qiyan to the hospital.

They went their separate ways, heading home.

When their car rolled up to the villa, another vehicle pulled in behind them.

Lin Chengyan and Ying An stepped out of the second car. Lin Tingyue lit up. "Mr. Ying! You came!"