Chapter 83 Lin Chengdong Abandoned by All

Chapter 83: Lin Chengdong, Forsaken by All

After another round of commotion at the Chen residence, Lin Chengdong stood alone at the door, performing a soliloquy about how pitiful he was and how he had once worked with the Chen family to make money. The more he spoke, the more he painted the Chens as ungrateful.

Just as Xiao Gao was growing tired and yawning, someone suddenly appeared at the iron gate and flung a basin of water straight onto Lin Chengdong’s face.

Xiao Gao snapped awake.

Lin Chengdong had been mid-shout, his mouth wide open, so the water splashed directly down his throat, leaving him coughing and spluttering.

Xiao Gao sat bolt upright, suddenly alert. Was this the legendary wash water?

The person who had thrown the water shouted, "The master and madam’s message is: besides laundering money, you ought to wash your scheming mind too!"

With that, they turned and left.

Xiao Gao patted his chest in relief—thank goodness he’d stayed in the car, or he’d have been drenched too.

The dousing finally shut Lin Chengdong up. Soaked like a drowned rat, he was in no state to harass anyone else. Xiao Gao quickly drove him back, mission accomplished.

Not one to let things lie, Chen Dan copied the surveillance footage from his family’s gate and sent it to Jiang Ruotang as proof of "loyalty."

Jiang Ruotang was in the middle of grinding through practice questions when he picked up his phone. The sight nearly made him choke with laughter, and he collapsed onto his desk, shaking with laughter.

In both this life and the last, Lin Chengdong had always acted all high and mighty around him.

This was the first time it felt so satisfying.

Lu Guifan, sitting nearby, took Jiang Ruotang’s phone and glanced at it. A smirk tugged at his lips.

Meanwhile, Lin Lu wasn’t sitting around either. He had anticipated that Lin Chengdong’s visit to the Jiang family wouldn’t end well—after all, for months now, he’d been losing control over Jiang Ruotang.

Jiang Ruotang had been quietly pulling away, slipping free of Lin Lu’s influence, and the friends around him now were worlds apart from the old crowd.

Especially Zhao Yunshu… Jiang Ruotang had a soft spot for her. With her around, she wouldn’t let Jiang Huaiyuan take the fall for Lin Chengdong.

Lin Lu opened his phone’s contacts and scrolled through name after name until he landed on "Qi Yanze."

This guy’s older brother was the younger sibling of Hongtian Borui’s chairman. He’d once had a crush on Lin Lu, showering him with luxury gifts and even waiting near his home, offering to take him for a ride on his Harley.

He seemed like a spoiled trust-fund type. Maybe through him, Lin Lu could connect with Hongtian Borui’s chairman, Qi Yanfeng. With their deep pockets, they could probably shoulder this project.

Lin Lu didn’t care how many times he’d rejected Qi Yanze before. Shamelessly, he sent a message: [Brother Qi, I’ve been feeling really down lately. Could you take me for a ride?]

At that moment, Qi Yanze was playing pool with friends. His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he absentmindedly checked it, not immediately recognizing the sender. Some little green tea, thinking a bit of fake sadness would make him ditch his game?

After taking his shot, Qi Yanze suddenly realized—wait, who was this?

He pulled out his phone for a closer look.

"It’s him?"

A few months ago, Qi Yanze’s heart would’ve raced, his blood boiling with the urge to rush out and conquer Lin Lu, that prim little rose.

But now, his mindset had completely changed.

The kind of person he admired was someone like Jiang Ruotang—smart, full of ideas. The more he thought about Lin Lu, the more it left a bad taste in his mouth.

News of Lin Chengdong’s troubles had spread through Qi Yanze’s circles. Rumor had it Lin Chengdong had pitched his project to nearly every big shot in the entertainment industry, but anyone with half a brain knew it was a sinking ship. And that wasn’t even mentioning how Lin Chengdong kept backstabbing Jiang Huaiyuan—Jiang Ruotang’s father!

Bullying his brother's father was no different from bullying Qi Yanze's own father.

If the Qi family hadn’t even kicked Lin Chengdong while he was down, that just shows their class!

Qi Yanze replied: *[Go ahead, give us your poor-little-me act.]*

Lin Lu stared at the mocking message, thinking Qi Yanze hadn’t recognized him, and immediately sent another: *[Brother Qi, don’t you remember me? It’s Xiao Lu! We met at last year’s annual party!]*

Qi Yanze lowered his head and chuckled, *[Oh? Where did this washed-up little vixen crawl out from? Trashy but thinks she's versatile—better cultivate yourself properly. Even Lady White had to perfect her human form before daring to approach Xu Xian.]*

Lin Lu was so furious he nearly hurled his phone at the wall. Now every two-bit nobody dared humiliate him!

Meanwhile, Qi Yanze was in high spirits: *Yesterday you blew me off, today you can't touch me!*

A long while later, Lin Lu was still wallowing in defeat. He realized there was no one left to help him—not even one friend who'd listen.

How did it come to this? Before, he’d always been well-liked.

Only now did Lin Lu understand—he'd never really had a true friend.

If Jiang Ruotang were in the same situation, Lin Lu could easily imagine Zhao Zhangfeng, Jian Sha, Cai Ji, and Lu Guifan would have his back. Anyone who mocked or gossiped about him would have to deal with his friends standing up for him, maintaining him, and comforting him.

But he had nothing.

What should he do? What *could* he do?

Maybe… he should go to Jiang Ruotang and plead with him to put in a word for his father in front of Jiang Huaiyuan and Zhao Yunshu?

After all, they’d been friends for over a decade. Jiang Ruotang wouldn't completely turn his back on him, would he?

Lin Lu turned and took off running like a madman to the neighborhood gate, waiting until he finally hailed a cab to Jiang Ruotang’s home.

When he rang the doorbell, Sister Juan answered.

The warmth of the place hit him—so unlike the cold, chaotic atmosphere of the Lin household—making his eyes sting instantly.

“Is Ruo Tang here? I… I’d like to talk to him…” For the first time, Lin Lu couldn’t meet Sister Juan’s eyes.

“He is. He’s in his room working on test prep.”

Sister Juan opened the shoe cabinet and handed him slippers.

That's when Lin Lu noticed a pair of white canvas shoes inside—Lu Guifan’s.

So… Lu Guifan was the one constantly by Jiang Ruotang’s side now?

Lin Lu took a deep breath and made his way upstairs, hesitating before lightly knocking on Jiang Ruotang’s door.

“Ruo Tang, it’s Lin Lu… Can I come in?”

At the same time, in the neighboring room, Zhao Zhangfeng—miserably slogging through practice problems—heard Lin Lu’s voice and nearly jumped up. “What's *he* doing here now?”

But a hand pressed firmly on his shoulder, holding him down with iron grip. Zhao Zhangfeng felt like he’d been pinned under the Five-Finger Mountain.

“Keep working.”

“But Lin Lu—what if he—”

"He can't affect Ruotang. But you, can't even handle such basic questions—do you still want to get into USTB?"

Zhao Zhangfeng turned his head to see Lu Guifan sitting beside him.

He had expected Lu Guifan to share his concern about Jiang Ruotang being taken advantage of, but he remained unshaken.

Indeed, Jiang Ruotang wasn't the same person anymore.

Zhao Zhangfeng steadied himself and kept working through practice questions with Lu Guifan.

Lin Lu stepped into Jiang Ruotang’s room and saw him sitting at his desk, a stack of test papers in front of him, with no one else around.

His gaze was calm as he looked at Lin Lu—a version of Jiang Ruotang he didn't recognize.

Self-possessed, unflappable, as if existing in another world.

"Ruotang… Ruotang…"

Jiang Ruotang silently gestured to a chair. "Sit. This is about your dad."

Lin Lu lowered his head and sat down. "You already know…"

"What I've heard is that the board will fire your father from all his roles tomorrow."

"Yeah…" Lin Lu finally lost it, this time crying completely genuinely. "Help me… Ruotang… I don’t know what to do… Please help me…"

Jiang Ruotang sighed. "How do you want me to help? Convince my father to take on that failing project, so that when it blows up, he gets investigated and removed, while your father gets off clean? Then your family can 'kindly' snap up Dad's shares for pennies on the dollar, leaving me with just enough to hire lawyers for his court fight?"

Lin Lu froze. He wasn't ready for Jiang Ruotang to spell it out so clearly.

"Lin Lu, I’ve thought about this for a long time. We basically grew up side by side—what do I even mean to you?" Jiang Ruotang countered.

Back when he had overheard Lin Lu and his father’s conversation in the restroom, he had wanted to rush out and ask this very question.

But now, Jiang Ruotang wasn't as hung up on it. The real question was whether Lin Lu had ever reflected on it himself.

Lin Lu opened his mouth. "We… we’re friends…"

Jiang Ruotang put his pen down and said quietly, "To me, a friend is someone who warns you when you’re about to make a mistake, reins you in when you're about to do something stupid, and has your back when you need support—not a tool to calculate advantages."

For some reason, Lin Lu’s chest tightened. He didn’t know what he was afraid of—or perhaps he had realized his own shitty behavior, all the hidden guilt now surfacing and dragging him under.

"Ruotang… why are you telling me this?"

"Because this is what friendship means to me. And from now on, this is how I’ll treat you."

Lin Lu looked into Jiang Ruotang’s eyes—they held a maturity way too old for his age, as if he had been through hell and back and emerged on the other side.

"I’m warning you to pull back before you crash and burn."

"What?"

"I know you, Lin Lu. Ever since you found out about your father’s situation, you’ve been running around, hoping someone would catch this falling knife. But if someone did go down for you, how would you help them when the whole thing blows up?"

Jiang Ruotang’s gaze wasn’t sharp, yet it seemed to see right through Lin Lu, laying bare everything.

Lin Lu had no answer.

Jiang Ruotang gave a humorless smile. "You’d stay far away, just glad the music stopped before it was your turn."

There was no hiding his selfishness.

Born believing everyone else in the world existed to serve him.

"Lin Lu, I’ll only say this once. If you take it to heart… convince your father. At least your future won’t be totally screwed."

Lin Lu’s eyes lit up. "Tell me!"

"Your father is so afraid of those investors because he’s been involved in dirty business with them before. This project will inevitably get audited for sure—the more they look, the worse it’ll get. What do you think those powerful people will do then?"

"What… will they do?"

"Throw your dad under the bus. He’ll be the one accused of embezzlement, tax evasion, and illegal kickbacks. He won't be able to talk his way out. But if he goes to the authorities now and confesses everything, he can strike first. Whether it’s bankruptcy, selling assets to pay fines—at least he can cut a deal. There’s a difference between three to five years and twenty, right?"

"My dad… his pride's too proud for that…"

Lin Lu shook his head.

"Even a lizard knows to bite off its own leg to get free. Soon, investigators will be combing through every project and account your father ever touched. There’s a world of difference between them uncovering it and your father turning whistleblower."

Lin Lu took a deep breath. He knew Jiang Ruotang was right, and that he had been grasping at anything.

"Clock's ticking." Jiang Ruotang lifted his phone slightly.

In that moment, Jiang Ruotang’s gaze was like a bullet, hitting Lin Lu like a punch to the gut, forcing him to accept that wishing won't make it so.

No fool in this world would be Lin Lu's patsy.

Maybe the old Jiang Ruotang would have. But Lin Lu had already lost him.

Lin Lu stood up, swaying on his feet, nearly collapsing again. But Jiang Ruotang remained seated, not even lifting a finger to help.

"I understand. I’ll go now."

Jiang Ruotang nodded. "I’ll have Xiao Gao walk you out."

At the top of the stairs, Lin Lu glanced back. Whether it was an illusion or not, the figure he saw seemed older, as if from many years in the future.

Returning home, Lin Lu faced the dark, silent house again, the full weight crushing him.

He went upstairs and knocked on his father’s study door.

Cornered, Lin Chengdong roared, cursed, and hurled everything within reach at Lin Lu, who could only curl up, arms shielding his head—until a Best Producer trophy struck his forehead, blood streaming down his face.

Lin Lu shouted, "Go on! Keep throwing! By tomorrow morning, those waiting to pin everything on you will have their statements ready, their evidence lined up! See if you can throw anything at them!"

Lin Chengdong froze, staring blankly at his son before suddenly collapsing to his knees, sobbing.

Lin Lu wiped blood from his eyes, trembling. How had things come to this?

Abandoned by all… everything as fragile as a reflection, shattering at the slightest touch.

And it had all started when Lin Chengdong told him to take care of Bai Yingchuan.

Hot tears rolled down Lin Lu’s cheeks.

The next morning, Lin Lu didn’t come to school.

By afternoon, explosive news broke—Lin Chengdong had exposed his collusion with multiple film executives, detailing under-the-table dealings involving three major studios and platforms, setting the industry on fire.

"Did you see the headlines? Lin Lu's dad is a total badass! So many projects were just his money-making tools!"

"Turns out it wasn't just Bai Yue, but so many other actors and directors too..."

"This is terrifying! It's like an industry-shaking scandal!"

There were plenty of stars who had collaborated with Lin Chengdong. When fans found out their faves had also been used as pawns by Lin Chengdong, they raged collectively, tearing him apart online with astonishing ferocity—able to insult every one of Lin Chengdong's ancestors for five centuries without repeating a word.

The big shots who had invested in Lin Chengdong's projects were seeing red, sending waves of people to the Lin family's doorstep to demand their money back. Luckily, Lin Chengdong had turned himself in and was already in detention—otherwise, every bone in his body might have been broken.

Rumors spread that the Lin family home had been trashed, prompting the property management to call the police. Even the property values in this high-end neighborhood plummeted as a result.

Jiang Ruotang was sprawled over his desk, his left arm pressed against Lu Guifan's as Lu explained chemistry to him.

It was as if all the discussions had nothing to do with Jiang Ruotang.

His life was his own to walk firmly forward.

"Gui Fan," Jiang Ruotang murmured the name softly.

The next second, Lu Guifan lightly tapped Jiang Ruotang's head with a pink highlighter. "What do you want?"

"Just calling to see if you'd respond."

Truthfully, Jiang Ruotang was feeling a little melancholy.

There were things he truly couldn’t forgive Lin Lu for, but after so many years growing up together, he knew Lin Lu would now bow out of his life.

Lin Lu couldn’t handle the judgmental stares around him.

Transferring schools now was too late, but at this stage, it was all about grinding practice tests and patching gaps. He could move somewhere else with his mom and just sit for the college entrance exam when the time came.

But with his thin-skinned nature, could he really pull himself together emotionally?

Lu Guifan asked, "Lin Chengdong must be desperate for money now—aren’t you going to buy his shares? If they fall into someone else’s hands, Universe Pictures will have a new shareholder, and it’s unclear if they’d be friend or foe. If another shareholder buys them and their stake surpasses your dad’s, the chairman’s seat could change hands."

Jiang Ruotang suddenly perked up, curious to see if Lu Guifan’s thoughts aligned with his.

"Take a guess. If you get it right, I’ll give you a shoulder massage—my technique is amazing." Jiang Ruotang wiggled his fingers in front of Lu Guifan’s face, his long but not overly slender digits looking particularly appealing in Lu’s eyes.

Then Jiang Ruotang grabbed a scrap of paper, wrote something while hiding it from Lu Guifan, flipped it over, and covered it with both hands, looking at Lu expectantly.

Lu Guifan lowered his gaze and answered almost without hesitation, "You won’t take his shares."

"Huh? Why not?"

"Because Lin Chengdong has nothing left to lose now. He needs to return the embezzled funds to get a reduced sentence, so he’ll sell his shares at an exorbitant price. Buying now wouldn’t be cost-effective."

Jiang Ruotang pressed his lips together, smiling but offering no comment. "Anything else?"

"Also, neither you, Uncle Jiang, nor Auntie Zhao care much about the chairman position. Besides, you’re already the chairman behind Sweet Fruit. Based on your vision, Sweet Fruit will become a comprehensive platform—movies, TV shows, anime, live streaming, all in one. If it succeeds, you’ll be the boss. No matter who becomes Universe Pictures’ chairman later, they’ll have to curry favor with you. If your own dad were chairman, you’d feel bad trying to drive a hard bargain over broadcast rights."

Jiang Ruotang lowered his head, shoulders shaking with laughter like a little fox who got the cream, making Lu Guifan want to ruffle his hair.

"Exactly. Might as well see which hands Lin Chengdong’s shares land in. Our whole family can get a clear picture of who wants the chairman seat the most."

Then Lu Guifan hooked a finger around Jiang Ruotang’s hand still covering the paper. Jiang Ruotang’s face remained expressionless, but his shoulders gave the tiniest twitch.

He moved his hand away, and Lu Guifan flipped the paper over—it had a big "X," meaning he wouldn’t buy Lin Chengdong’s shares.

Lu Guifan nodded in satisfaction and pointed behind himself. "Shoulder massage. Let’s go."

"Coming, coming!" Jiang Ruotang stretched his arms and fingers before standing behind Lu Guifan.

Finally, he could touch Lu Guifan without restraint—Jiang Ruotang was downright gleeful.

He pressed firmly, working along Lu Guifan’s muscles, discovering how the hollow of his neck felt under his fingers.

To Jiang Ruotang, this was like exploring uncharted territory. And with Lu Guifan’s eyes closed, his face relaxed, Jiang Ruotang really wanted to sink his teeth into him just to see him jolt awake.

Too bad… Jiang Ruotang was a chicken. The more he liked Lu Guifan, the more timid he became.

But from this angle, he could see Lu Guifan’s Adam’s apple, the dip and rise of its contour making Jiang Ruotang swallow reflexively. He couldn’t resist—his fingertip brushed against it.

"I feel like I’m still at a disadvantage even after winning this bet," Lu Guifan drawled, his voice no longer serious but lazily teasing, making Jiang Ruotang’s skin tingle.

The vibrations of his vocal cords sent an invisible current through Jiang Ruotang, making him jerk his hand back as if touching a live wire.

Jiang Ruotang scrambled for an excuse. "What disadvantage? I was just… curious if your Adam’s apple was hard."

"Whose Adam’s apple is soft? I think you just wanted to touch me on purpose."

Jiang Ruotang’s mind erupted like a stone tossed into still water. He immediately withdrew his hands. "Fine, I'm done."

But then Lu Guifan added, "You were doing a good job. Keep going."

Jiang Ruotang nearly choked.

You’re supposed to be a straight-laced person—can’t you phrase things less suggestively?!

Don’t make me get the wrong idea—I still want to focus on my studies!

The next morning, as Xiao Gao drove Jiang Ruotang, Lu Guifan, and Zhao Zhangfeng to school, Zhao Zhangfeng suddenly exclaimed from the front passenger seat, "Holy shit—Lin Chengdong’s wife rammed her car into Bai Yue’s! Bai Yingchuan was hospitalized from the crash!"