Lynn Chen felt like her brain had completely short-circuited.
Watching Haiyang Sheng’s concerned face, but seeing that his gaze was fixed behind her, Lynn Chen initially thought he was looking for trouble with Evan Lin—but then it didn’t seem that way at all.
“Evan, why are you standing outside the door? Hurry up and come in!” Lucy Lu called to Evan Lin outside, and only then did Evan walk in.
As soon as Haiyang Sheng saw Evan Lin, a sharp light flashed in his eyes. He strode down the steps, walked past Lynn Chen, and stopped right in front of Evan, placing both of his broad palms on Evan’s shoulders.
“It’s you, right? Little brother Evan Lin, it’s all thanks to you this time.”
“It was my fault the other day. I wrongly blamed you and your Uncle Chen. I hope you won’t take it to heart.” As he spoke, a trace of guilt flashed across Haiyang Sheng’s face. “I was just confused for a moment—really, just for a moment.”
“Manager Sheng, are you sure you’re not mistaken? Evan—he’s just a student!” Lynn Chen stared blankly at Haiyang Sheng’s actions. Her already overloaded mind grew even more sluggish.
This was just too ridiculous.
As general manager of Wansheng Real Estate’s Brightsea City branch, Haiyang Sheng was a big name in the city. Anyone who got treated like this by him was either a top official or a business tycoon on his level.
But Evan Lin? He was just a poor-performing, plain-looking eleventh-grader with no family background. What right did he have to be treated like this?
“Lynn, that’s not the way to talk. Evan may just be a student, but as the saying goes—heroes come from the young.” Haiyang Sheng gave Lynn Chen a mildly reproachful look, and Lucy Lu hurriedly pulled Lynn aside.
Heroes come from the young?
Heroes?
Evan Lin?
At this point, Lynn Chen’s feelings couldn’t even be described as ‘shocked’ anymore. She glanced at Evan again and found that even faced with Haiyang Sheng’s heartfelt praise, the guy was still completely calm—he didn’t even bother to crack a smile.
“You don’t need to thank me. Honestly, it was all Uncle Chen’s doing. If he hadn’t kept worrying about your condition, I probably wouldn’t have known anything.” Evan didn’t bother with false modesty, just looked at Haiyang Sheng with his usual calm.
Hearing Evan’s words, Charles Chen’s face lit up, silently praising him in his heart.
Looks like Evan really has grown up—he’s even covering for me now. Thinking back to how I used to neglect him, I guess I’ll have to pay more attention from now on.
Charles Chen looked satisfied and gave Evan Lin an approving glance.
“Of course. I wrongly blamed your Uncle Chen before, and I nearly got tricked by Neil Ping and that street shaman he brought along.” At this, Haiyang Sheng’s face turned a little grim, then his eyes shifted as he continued, “But now I’ve got the whole story straight. Your Uncle Chen was truly thinking of the company and of me, so I’ve officially appointed him deputy general manager of the branch.”
“Dad, you got promoted?” Lynn Chen’s face lit up a little when she heard that.
“Of course. You think Manager Sheng would lie to you?” Charles Chen said happily. “Tonight, Tianzi No. 1—we’re all going out to eat, and Old Sheng has to show up for sure.”
“Absolutely, absolutely. Evan, little brother, you’ll be coming too, right?” Haiyang Sheng looked at Evan Lin.
Evan Lin was about to refuse, but when he saw Lucy Lu’s hopeful face, he eventually nodded.
“Great! I’ll head home first, and we’ll meet up at No. 1 later.” Haiyang Sheng smiled, and as he left, he patted Evan on the shoulder and said earnestly, “I think highly of you, Evan. If you ever don’t want to study anymore, you can always come find me.”
After saying that, Haiyang Sheng took his leave and headed home first.
Once Haiyang Sheng had left, the whole house fell into a brief silence.
“Xiaoyi, you must be tired. Go upstairs and rest for a bit.” Lucy Lu looked at Evan Lin with concern; after all, he’d been through a lot these past few days.
Especially that night in the car—Charles Chen’s harsh words probably hurt Evan’s self-esteem. The thought made Lucy Lu feel even more guilty.
“I’m fine, Aunt Lucy.” Evan Lin gave her a gentle smile.
Repaying kindness is Evan Lin’s guiding principle.
Whether it was Evan in his past life or Evan “Nine Mysteries” Lin in this one, he had never once broken that rule.
So even though Charles Chen had said some offensive things before, for Lucy Lu’s sake, Evan didn’t bother holding a grudge.
“That’s right, Evan, later tonight I’ll have Aunt Lucy take you shopping for some clothes and shoes.” Charles Chen walked over, his eyes full of delight as he looked at Evan.
Then, as if remembering something, Charles Chen coughed awkwardly and grew a bit embarrassed. “About what I said yesterday, don’t take it to heart.”
“Uncle’s been under a lot of stress lately and hasn’t been in the best mood, so sometimes I say things without thinking. That really wasn’t what I meant.” Charles Chen’s tone was sincere, but a little awkward.
It was probably because he’d been the head of the household for so long that he’d never really apologized for his actions before. So when Charles Chen said those words, he felt pretty uncomfortable, and his expression grew a little strange too.
Meanwhile, Lynn Chen was already at a complete loss for words.
Dad is apologizing to Evan?
And judging by Dad’s face, he looked genuinely, almost ridiculously sincere.
What on earth just happened?!
Lynn Chen stared in confusion, her mouth slightly open in shock.
After all, even in this house, Charles Chen always had issues with Evan Lin.
If it hadn’t been for Lucy Lu, Charles Chen would’ve found a way to kick Evan out ages ago.
“Here, these are your keys.”
As he spoke, Charles Chen pulled out a set of keys and handed them to Evan Lin.
Evan didn’t reach out to take them, so Charles Chen looked a bit embarrassed. Seeing this, Lucy Lu quickly stuffed the keys into Evan’s hand. “Go rest upstairs for a bit. In an hour, I’ll take you and Lynn shopping for some clothes.”
Sigh.
Evan Lin couldn’t help but sigh inwardly, but in the end he nodded, took the keys, and went upstairs.
As soon as Evan went upstairs and before Lynn could ask anything, she heard her mom frowning and scolding her dad: “See, it’s all your fault. What you said the other night definitely hurt the kid’s self-esteem. Why can’t you ever learn your lesson?”
“Alright, alright, I was wrong, I get it.” Charles Chen gave a wry smile. “I’m already trying to make it up to him, aren’t I?”
“I really was wrong. Later, make sure you buy Evan plenty of things—seriously.”
Listening to her parents, Lynn Chen finally couldn’t hold back anymore.
“Dad! Mom!”
“What is wrong with you two? What did Evan even do?”
“And Manager Sheng—what’s wrong with this world?!”
“Evan—he’s just, just some troublemaking bad student!”