Serve as Contrast Team in a ‘Dad with Baby’ Show

Chapter 18,Part 2: — The Lin Family

“What’s the matter, grandpa?” Lin Cheng asked straight to the point when he came to the study.

Lin Cheng thought that the old master called him here to talk about work, but he never expected that the first sentence the old master would say to him was: “Who is the mother of the child?”

“How old is she? What is her name? What does she do? What is the real situation between you?” the barrage of questions continued.

Lin Cheng was stunned. What the hell was this line of questioning?

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.” Lin Cheng said truthfully.

But the old master slapped the table with a ‘BANG’, snorted coldly and said, “You still dare to act innocent with me? Do you think this old man is too old to use the Internet?”

Old Master Lin squinted his eyes at his grandson. “You think you’ve hidden it very deeply, secretly fathering a child behind the family’s back.” The most annoying thing was that even with all the Lin family’s connections and strength, he didn’t find out about it at all.

If it wasn’t for some young people who worked for the family who saw Lin Cheng bring Lin Momo on the reality show livestream, he would never have known that he had a great-granddaughter!

Suppressing the little excitement in his heart, Mr. Lin sighed secretly. He knew that Lin Cheng’s actions over the years were all done to go against himself and the entire Lin family. To get back at him, he hung out in the entertainment industry.

Sometimes, Lin Yuanchang felt that he could never understand this grandson.

It’s one thing if Lin Cheng was bad and useless. But he has done a good job in dealing with the Lin family and its business interests. Old Master Lin had deliberately thrown several enterprises to Lin Cheng for him to take care of. Although Lin Cheng was not happy about it, he did not refuse, and he handled the affairs of those enterprises very well.

It could be said that he was not bad at all, but he insisted on dawdling in the entertainment industry and refusing to enter the family business.

Thinking of something, Mr. Lin’s complexion suddenly darkened, and he looked at Lin Cheng seriously, “Could that child be from a young woman you fooled into giving birth?”

The corners of Lin Cheng’s mouth twitched slightly.

After hearing so many questions from the old man, Lin Cheng finally understood who the ‘child’ his grandfather was talking about.

At this time, the old man said with a cold face, “I won’t pursue what happened in your past, but you have to be responsible for what should be done.”

“That’s not my child,” Lin Cheng said.

The old man seemed to not have heard him and continued to speak earnestly, “There are still issues to be resolved about the child, like what is the identity the child will bear and whether she should be taken into the Lin family. Of course, I have no objection to taking the child in—”

The old man’s words ended abruptly as Lin Cheng’s words seemed to have finally percolated in. He looked at Lin Cheng, “You said that child is not yours?! Whose is it if not yours?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? You don’t know whose child it is?! And you bring her to the show??” The old man questioned.

“The entertainment company’s agent was the one who found her.” After a pause, Lin Cheng added, “It’s just a cooperation, until the completion of the program recording.”

“Are you fooling me?” Lin Yuanchang said.

“Why do I have to lie to you, and if I really had a child outside, do you think I could hide them all these years?”

This was true.

“Really not yours?”

“No.”

Old Master Lin lowered his eyes and stopped talking.

Old Master Lin—who had quietly experienced a lot of ups and downs in the depths of his heart—now had a gloomy face. He was silent for a long time before he came to his senses.

When old Master Lin looked at Lin Cheng again, there seemed to be a faint resentment in his eyes?

Sighing, old Master Lin said, “Let’s not talk about the child, but Lin Cheng, you are not young anymore, and it’s time to start a family and enter the family business.”

“Come back, you should share more of the Lin family’s affairs.”

After saying this, Mr. Lin’s expression became serious. This sentence was said lightly but had a profound meaning.

This was not the first time that old Master Lin mentioned this matter to Lin Cheng, and Lin Cheng naturally understood what the old man was saying.

Narrowing his eyes, Lin Cheng said, “It’s enough for the Lin family to have you.”

Master Lin gave Lin Cheng a cold look and scolded, “I am almost 80 years old, how many years can I last?”

“There are many talented people in the Lin family—aren’t there others aside from me?” Lin Cheng returned, mockery in his eyes.

Old Master Lin’s face darkened.

The grandfather and grandson looked at each other for a moment, and finally, Old Master Lin was defeated and let out a long sigh.

“Are you still blaming me for what happened between Lin Zhenhong and your mother back then?”

… … translated by Maela at www.foxaholic.com/novel/be-the-contrast-team-in-a-dad-with-baby-show/

Lin Zhenhong was the eldest son of Lin Yuanchang.

And Lin Cheng’s mother, Chen Shu, was the daughter of Old Master Lin’s best friend.

The Chen family was not a wealthy nor a prestigious family, they were just ordinary teachers.

At the time, Old Master Lin could see that when Lin Zhenhong dumped his ex-girlfriend and instead pursued and married Chen Shu, there was an element of making himself a better candidate in Old Master Lin’s eyes to better fight for the Lin family’s inheritance.

But the two seemed to truly get along well together, and Lin Zhenhong also seemed to have restrained himself after marriage and stopped fooling around outside. Seeing this, Old Master Lin didn’t say anything more.

However, things changed when the two were already married for 10 years.

Lin Cheng was 9 years old at that time.

Old Master Lin had a heart attack. It came suddenly and his life hung by a thread.

As a last resort, Old Master Lin hastily handed over the affairs of the Lin family to his two sons, and then went to Country Y for medical treatment.

This treatment lasted not just for a year.

Both Lin Zhenhong and Lin Zhenming probably thought that the old man was going to die, and the competition in the Lin family intensified.

In order to get assistance, Lin Zhenhong once again found his former girlfriend. Ye Yun was a young lady from the Ye family.

Lin Zhenhong wanted to divorce Chen Shu but was rejected by Chen Shu, and the two quarreled constantly. In the end, Lin Zhenhong took Ye Yun and his son who was only 3 months younger than Lin Cheng directly to the doors of the Lin family.

Chen Shu was overwhelmed and died of depression not long after.

Although Old Master Lin eventually returned to China, the matters that happened at that time could no longer be changed.

Even after his return, the old master had mostly secluded himself in a mountain villa to recuperate from his illness, and he overlooked something important.

In the few years that followed, Lin Cheng’s life in the Lin family had not been easy. His father was indifferent to him and partial to the second son, and his stepmother treated him harshly through various schemes. The old master has more than enough heart but not enough strength to fight his own sons.

At the age of 16, Lin Cheng was forced to leave the country.

His life abroad was not good, until later, by chance, he was able to return home and entered the entertainment circle.

Now with the financial means to support himself, Lin Cheng completely left the Lin family.

It wasn’t until a few years ago that Old Master Lin recovered from his illness, and with his recovery, he regained control of the Lin family’s affairs.

He directly kicked his son, Lin Zhenhong, out of the Lin family because he misappropriated assets of the Lin family to expand his own company and instigated an accident to harm his brother, Lin Zhenming.

Unfortunately, at that time, Lin Cheng’s estrangement from the Lin family was already too hard and too deep, and it was too late to mend the situation.

Footnotes

The text says Lin Zhenhong used Lin family’s money for his own company, but why does this matter—he’s also a Lin, right? Later chapters would explain that this company is actually something Lin Zhenhong runs with his second wife’s family—so it’s money that poured from the Lin family coffers to the Ye family.