Silent Era - Chapter 17
Chapter 17
After Liu Sheng left, Lin Heng pulled Bai Sihuan to his side. After examining his injuries, he felt heartbroken but remained unforgiving: “How could someone be so useless? How many injuries do you sustain in a year?”
Seeing that Bai Sihuan’s injuries were minor, Lin Siying poked Lin Heng in the forehead. “Don’t talk about him. You just used my peanuts to hit that scumbag. I don’t care, but you have to pay for it.”
Lin Heng glared at Lin Siying glanced at him and said coldly, “Haven’t you had enough of those two pounds of peanuts we just bought on Panyu Road?”
Lin Siying laughed a few times, then suddenly remembered something and asked Bai Sihuan, “By the way, did my eldest sister come here to ask for money? No one at home gave her any money, did they?”
Bai Sihuan was stunned, hesitant to speak. Recalling his eldest sister’s request before she left, he finally shook his head and said, “No, no one at home gave her any money.”
Lin Siying, quite confident in Bai Sihuan, nodded without further questioning.
The next day, Lin Huan and Cheng Sutang returned from Hong Kong and searched feverishly for the painting they had intended for Mr. Zhu. Before noon, the entire Lin family was called into the living room and made to stand in formation. They were told that the painting they had intended for Mr. Zhu was missing. The Edo-period ukiyo-e painting had vanished!
The servants cleaning the paintings in the hallway stamped their feet in frustration. “They were clearly wrapped and placed in the cellar. How could they be gone? I remember it exactly where it was!”
Bai Sihuan, standing in the last row, was secretly terrified, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. He knew he had really gotten into trouble this time.
Beside him, Lin Heng, unaware of the situation, patted his back and told him not to panic, saying that he certainly wasn’t implicated. This reassurance only made Bai Sihuan feel even more uneasy.
Cheng Sutang yelled for Lao Pei to check the surveillance cameras. Lao Pei said that the power went out for half an hour yesterday morning and the surveillance didn’t return to normal until the afternoon. He had just checked the footage and saw nothing.
Cheng Sutang, furious, demanded at the top of her voice, “Who cleaned the garden yesterday?”
Auntie Liu, who was in charge of the garden, shuddered and said in a trembling voice, “Yes…I was in charge.” Then, her instinct for survival flashed through her mind, flashing back to Lin Musheng’s return home. She quickly added, “But, but I saw the eldest lady come back yesterday!”
“Didn’t I say that woman wasn’t allowed in? You’re turning a deaf ear to my words!” Cheng Sutang smashed the jade ashtray on the coffee table. The crisp sound startled everyone.
Lin Huan, seeing the Burmese jade ashtray smashed, didn’t seem distressed. He picked up his teacup and continued to shake out the ashes.
Aunt Liu trembled as she looked at the shattered ashtray on the floor. Fearing Cheng Sutang’s wrath, she hurriedly shifted the blame: “We didn’t let her in. It was… it was Young Master Sihuan who let her in and even received her…”
The others hurriedly stepped aside, their gazes fixed on Bai Sihuan, who stood in the last row.
Bai Sihuan lowered his head, his fingers clenched, enduring Cheng Sutang’s resentful gaze.
Seeing Cheng Sutang about to point the finger at Bai Sihuan, Lin Heng immediately stepped forward, first glancing sideways at Aunt Liu, then said to Cheng Sutang, “Mom, don’t be so quick to scold Second Brother. Let’s not even talk about whether Second Brother actually opened the door for Eldest Sister. Even if he did, Second Brother doesn’t know Eldest Sister. Could he have refused to open the door if Eldest Sister begged him to? Besides, he only opened the door; he wasn’t the one who stole the painting.”
Lin Heng poked Bai Sihuan on the arm, signaling for him to speak for himself, but Bai Sihuan couldn’t bring himself to speak.
He had promised Lin Musheng not to betray her, and he kept that promise. That was one reason.
Second, he didn’t steal the painting, but he witnessed Lin Musheng stealing it, and he believed Lin Musheng’s lucky promise and protected her. He wasn’t completely innocent.
Who would have known that Lin Musheng would take none of the paintings but this ukiyo-e that was destined for Mr. Zhu? He thought, it seems God truly has eyes. He’d done something wrong the first time, and retribution had arrived.
Lin Siying saw something was wrong in Bai Sihuan’s expression.
Bai Sihuan refused to speak, and Lin Heng grew anxious, causing a momentary stagnation.
Bai Yuancheng was now broke and had nowhere to go. He was terrified that Bai Sihuan would send him back in a couple of days. He wanted to claim credit for himself in front of Cheng Sutang, so he quickly jumped in and said, “Actually… I saw it yesterday!”
Cheng Sutang glanced at him. She was actually quite disdainful of this wild child, and wouldn’t even believe a word he said. But she was desperate to find someone to vent her frustrations on, and Bai Sihuan, against whom she held such a strong prejudice, was the perfect person. She was even more eager to convict this shameless illegitimate child who had moved into her home, so she asked Bai Yuancheng, “What did you see?”
“I saw that young lady come, and my brother went to the garden with her,” Bai Yuancheng said calmly. “What the hell are you talking about!” Lin Heng yelled, glaring at him fiercely.
“Heng, you have none of your business here!” Cheng Sutang ordered Bai Yuancheng, “Go on!”
Bai Yuancheng swallowed, not meeting Lin Heng’s eyes. “I thought it was strange. I rarely see my brother hanging out in places like that, so I thought I’d follow him. And then I saw him taking her under the grape arbor, bending over to open her mouth…”
Bai Sihuan’s heart grew colder. Even being kicked out by Cheng Sutang, or watching his own father sit there indifferent, hadn’t felt this bitter. Only seeing the brother he’d raised and doted on so eagerly betray him did he feel a pang of pain.
Lin Heng rushed forward, grabbed Bai Yuancheng by the collar, and snarled, “Try to say that again!”
“Heng! Put him down!” For the first time, Cheng Sutang lost all her tenderness towards Lin Heng. She also thought to herself that Bai Sihuan was truly a disaster. From the very first day he arrived at the Lin family, he had been causing trouble for them and their relationships.
With this thought, she had already mentally condemned Bai Sihuan to the gravest sin. Even if he hadn’t opened the door for Lin Musheng or helped her steal the painting, he was still a grave sinner.
“Tell me, did you see Bai Sihuan take Musheng to the cellar and open the door for her?” Cheng Sutang pressed Bai Yuancheng to reveal the truth.
Lin Heng hesitated to let go of Bai Yuancheng. His eyes gleamed with a fierce glint, and he gritted his teeth as he whispered a threat, “If you dare keep talking, I won’t let you go.”
Bai Yuancheng, nearly stumbled after Lin Heng’s sudden jerk of his collar. Scrambling to catch his footing, he frightened himself and suddenly changed his story: “I saw them heading to the garden. I had a stomachache and needed to go to the bathroom, so I didn’t see anything!”
Cheng Sutang felt like she’d been tricked. She glared at Bai Yuancheng, then glared at Bai Sihuan. Furious, she sneered, “Okay, okay, you all think I’m a paper tiger, don’t you? Old Pei, call the police.”
Lin Huan, who had been silent until then, froze. Lin Siying and Lin Heng’s eyes widened in shock. Even Old Pei, who had been ordered to do so, gasped in disbelief.
Bai Sihuan remained silent, seemingly calm.
His heart seemed truly at peace now.
He had helped Lin Musheng open the door, and his fingerprints were on it. He hadn’t thought twice at the time and hadn’t destroyed it. If the police arrived, they would surely have been able to collect his fingerprints. Cheng Sutang was determined to convict him, and nothing he said would have helped.
Now it seemed that Lin Musheng had anticipated this and deliberately let him open the door. Even if the truth were revealed, she could still say that Bai Sihuan had opened the door for her to take the painting, and that she hadn’t stolen or robbed it.
Thinking of this, Bai Sihuan laughed at himself. Seeing his eldest sister always look pitiful, he’d assumed she was innocent. Who could have known she harbored such thoughts?
Used by his eldest sister, betrayed by his younger brother, and watched coldly by his own father. It turns out he was the one who felt the most pity, and it had always been him.
Lin Siying shouted, “Mom!”
“Get out of the way! Old Pei, why don’t you call the police!” Cheng Sutang urged.
After hearing the instructions again, Old Pei still moved slowly. No matter how serious the Lin family’s affairs, they primarily settled privately. If a private settlement proved impossible, they wouldn’t call the police.
Having a painting stolen as a gift wasn’t a big deal. The Lin family had no shortage of such paintings, and any gift would be a generous gift.
Cheng Sutang wanted to crack down on the painting thief because she valued rules and family traditions and detested those who stole, so she wanted to make an example of him.
To think that Cheng Sutang would call the police over such a trivial matter! It seemed she truly hated Bai Sihuan to the core.
“I was the one who let my eldest sister into the cellar.”
Just as Old Pei was about to press the dial button, a whispered word struck everyone’s ears like a thousand pounds.
They looked at Lin Heng in surprise. Bai Sihuan instinctively tugged at his sleeve, but he immediately shook it off.
Lin Heng feigned a casual smile. “Second brother has only been here for a short time. How could he possibly know about a cellar?”
“Heng!” Cheng Sutang was filled with resentment and anger. She hated seeing anyone in her family speaking for this illegitimate child.
Lin Heng ignored her warning glances. “I just felt sorry for my eldest sister. She was tossing and turning on the floor because she couldn’t get the money. I couldn’t bear it. The other day, I was drinking tea in the sunroom when she sneaked in. After I caught her, she started crying and wailing. I helped her open the cellar door and told her to go in and get something and then get out.” He finished his calm recounting. He looked Cheng Sutang in the eyes calmly, his tone cold. “Call the police. I’ll only say these words to them, and they’ll only arrest me.”
Cheng Sutang gasped, her lips pressed into a line, her eyes threatening to pop out of their sockets.
Cheng Sutang couldn’t believe it. This child, the one she’d poured all her heart and soul into, the one she loved most, was speaking to her in such a tone and with such eyes today, all for a shameless illegitimate child! He was actually blackmailing her!
“Alright!” Lin Huan, who had been silent until then, suddenly spoke. He crushed his cigarette butt in his teacup, his expression calm, as if he’d already made up his mind.