Chapter 32: The IOUs

Niece, Feiyuan admitted himself that he took the items from the storehouse.

Second Uncle Lin Xuanyi spoke first, his manner earnest and his words mild.

Lin Yaoyao thought of the dream she had had. In it, the eldest branch lost power, and her Second Uncle was the one who benefited in the end.

If Second Uncle had truly been as kind as he showed, then even if Lin Xuanzhong had not remained family head, her branch would not have ended up destroyed, with people dead and scattered.

You can know a person’s face, but never their heart.

Second Uncle was always smiling at people. Even the servants praised the Second Master as a man of good nature.

Her father, Lin Xuanzhong, had never doubted that Second Uncle could be vicious, had he?

“Second Uncle, you said it yourself. Third Brother merely took them, not stole them.”

Lin Xuanyi hadn’t expected Lin Yaoyao to seize on that word. His smile turned a little stiff. Beside him, Lin Rufeng gave a cold laugh.

“Cousin Yaoyao, don’t defend your brother. The fact is, Lin Feiyuan got rid of the storehouse goods. This is family property.”

Lin Rufeng was Lin Xuanyi’s younger son, the same age as Lin Feiyuan. The two of them usually kept close, but at a moment like this, he was kicking a man while he was down.

Lin Xuanzhong waved a hand at Lin Yaoyao, signaling her to stop making useless arguments for Lin Feiyuan.

“Yaoyao, come here.”

Lin Xuanzhong had personally investigated the storehouse loss. It really was Lin Feiyuan’s doing.

Lin Feiyuan had made a key to the storehouse on his own and went there every few days to take treasures. As time passed, he emptied the place.

Lin Xuanzhong’s temples had gone a little whiter. His eyes were dull, and even the hand he raised to Lin Yaoyao was weak.

These days, for Lin Feiyuan’s sake, the old man had aged ten years overnight.

Lin Yaoyao felt a pain she couldn’t put into words. She forced a faint smile, hurried to her father, took his arm, and said in a soft voice, “Father, the things in the storehouse aren’t lost. Third Brother only lent them to friends for a while. We can think of a way to get them back.”

When they heard that the storehouse goods could be recovered, the clansmen’s expressions softened. A moment ago, their eyes had looked ready to tear Lin Feiyuan apart.

The treasures the Lin family had accumulated over generations had been wasted by one prodigal son.

Even beating Lin Feiyuan to death would do no good. It was a shame before the ancestors.

“Can they really be recovered?”

The Great Elder among the clan raised the question. Lin Yaoyao insisted over and over that the items had been lent to others and would all be returned in a few days.

“Cousin Yaoyao, you’re clearly fooling the clan. As far as I know, most of those treasures were gambled away by Lin Feiyuan, mortgaged to other people.”

The clansmen all pointed at Lin Feiyuan, cursing him as an unfilial descendant. Exiling him from the Lin family was too good for him. He should be beaten to death on the spot.

Lin Yaoyao turned her gaze once more to her cousin Lin Rufeng.

Lin Rufeng lived up to his name. It was said his will was as tough as strong grass, and he trained relentlessly day and night.

Apart from Lin Qingshan, he was the most gifted of the younger generation in the Lin family. Young as he was, he had already reached the peak of Foundation Establishment.

Would someone like that willingly befriend a good-for-nothing like Lin Feiyuan?

“Cousin Rufeng, you usually get along well with Third Brother. If Third Brother really did what you said, why didn’t you stop him then, or report it to the elders earlier?”

Lin Rufeng was caught off guard, at a loss for words.

“This…”

Aside from clan gatherings, Lin Rufeng and Lin Yaoyao had never had any contact in private.

In his eyes, Lin Yaoyao was a delicate, foolish girl who spent all day chasing after the Bai family’s second young master. She had no spiritual root and was a woman. Lin Rufeng had never taken her seriously.

In the eldest branch, the person Lin Rufeng feared most was Lin Qingshan. For all these years, as long as Lin Qingshan was around, Lin Rufeng would always be the supporting act.

Of the eldest branch, the second son was a fool, the third son was sickly, and Lin Qingshan was shrewd and cold. It was hard to find an opening in him.

Lin Feiyuan was different. He had a simple mind and was easy to deceive, a perfect weapon for dealing with the eldest branch.

Lin Yaoyao guessed that was the real reason Lin Rufeng had taken the initiative to befriend Lin Feiyuan.

“Enough with your stalling, Cousin Rufeng. Without evidence, don’t talk nonsense!”

Lin Yaoyao’s sharp words left Lin Rufeng speechless.

The meeting had been meant to interrogate Lin Feiyuan, but now Lin Yaoyao had turned the flood of blame onto him. Lin Rufeng was so angry he stamped his feet.

“Niece, Rufeng is only concerned about Feiyuan. Don’t misunderstand. In the end, Feiyuan is young and made mistakes. It’s a pity he can’t produce evidence to clear his name.”

Lin Xuanyi looked at Lin Yaoyao with a smile, playing the mediator, but with a few words he had aimed the blame back at Lin Feiyuan.

He was a real old fox, more composed than his son Lin Rufeng.

Evidence? Lin Yaoyao actually had some.

She calmly drew a stack of paper from her clothes. Baozi, Lin Feiyuan’s servant, had given them to her.

“These are the evidence.”

Lin Xuanzhong took them and looked at them. His heart leapt with joy. These were indeed IOUs, stamped with the seals of great families or individual seals. They couldn’t be forgeries.

“The Tang family, the Zeng family, the Jiang family, the Li family…”

So many great families had signed IOUs. They really had treated Lin Feiyuan as a fool to be swindled.

The clan elders went over the IOUs in Lin Yaoyao’s hand one by one and confirmed they were genuine.

Lin Feiyuan looked at them in disbelief. Back then, at Lin Rufeng’s urging, he had told Baozi to burn these IOUs.

He never expected that Baozi hadn’t burned them. Today, these IOUs had become his lifeline.

Three years ago, the first time Lin Feiyuan took treasures from the storehouse was because of a treasure viewing banquet hosted by the Third Young Master of the Tang family.

At that banquet, Lin Feiyuan had originally been only a guest, following a bunch of aristocratic young men to join the fun.

The Lin family was one of the four great families in the west of the Tiandu Kingdom, with deep roots. Lin Feiyuan had grown up in comfort and had seen no end of rare treasures.

In his eyes, the treasures at that banquet were nothing remarkable. So a few young masters urged him to bring out some treasures from the Lin storehouse so everyone could widen their horizons.

After downing a few cups of wine and basking in their flattery, Lin Feiyuan promised to put treasures on display for everyone in three days.

Taking advantage of a moment when Lin Xuanzhong wasn’t paying attention, Lin Feiyuan had a key to the Lin storehouse made in secret. The next day, he brought out a few rare objects for everyone to handle.

Human greed knows no bounds. Seeing those treasures, many people began to scheme.

Lin Feiyuan was simple and easy to fool, and since they usually drank and boasted together, calling each other brothers, those people used every excuse to borrow the treasures.

Lin Feiyuan wasn’t an idiot. If the storehouse goods weren’t returned and things came to light, he would get a beating.

Naturally, at first he refused. The Tang family’s Third Young Master then said he would write an IOU and pay a handsome interest.

Lin Feiyuan figured the treasures would only gather dust in the storehouse anyway. Lending them out could earn him money.

With an IOU as proof, the other party would have to return the goods. It was a business with a hundredfold profit.

After that, those young men from the great families would come to Lin Feiyuan to borrow treasures for appearances, whether it was for a treasure banquet, a birthday feast, or a flower appreciation party at home.

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