"Can't I come see you if there's nothing wrong?"
Leng Lian chuckled, displaying her feminine charm to the fullest. Even though Lin Yao didn't have a good impression of her, he couldn't help but secretly praise her.
"Lin Yao, you still look as young as ever. My Ah Long has grown old, and so have I. We really can't compare to you martial arts practitioners."
"oh."
Lin Yao replied with a single word, leaving Leng Lian, who was expecting him to say a few humble words before exaggerating his charm and elegance, wide-eyed and unsure how to respond.
Lin Yao is so clueless about social etiquette! So lacking in romance! How could he bear to let such an outstanding woman like him suffer?
Leng Lian felt resentful and her chest felt tight. She raised her lotus-root-like arm and patted her chest, as if she was deliberately seducing Lin Yao. Yi Zuojun, who was standing to the side, frowned.
After a long while, Leng Lian finally came to her senses. Her spirited and charming demeanor vanished, replaced by a look of utter misery. Lin Yao almost thought she was currently learning to play Dou E in a stage play.
"Lin Yao, you have to stand up for me!"
Before she could even speak, Leng Lian started crying. She wiped her eyes with a silk handkerchief that was clearly very expensive. Lin Yao didn't see any tears welling up in her eyes at all, and his impatience only intensified.
Everyone's so busy right now, who has time to put on an act for you? There's so much to do!
Suppressing his irritation, Lin Yao cleared his throat, his voice low and deep, "What is it?"
"It's Ah Long!" Leng Lian gritted her teeth. "That heartless man actually cheated on me with another woman! You're his best brother, so you have to keep an eye on him and prevent him from going astray."
Lin Yao felt a headache coming on and thought to himself, "Please! This isn't a marriage counseling center. Besides, Ah Long is the one who went astray by coming to you. Although I don't know his current situation, I suppose he's trying to get back on his feet and turn over a new leaf. What good would it do him to come to me!"
"oh."
Lin Yao responded with a single syllable again, making Leng Lian grit her teeth in hatred, but she couldn't show it.
Leng Lian wasn't intimidated by Lin Yao. Although Minhong's strength was currently at its peak, and her husband, Long Yihun, had told her that Lin Yao was incredibly powerful—that he had created all of Minhong's medicines and even secured the enormous funds and loans to build Minhong's vast business empire—Leng Lian still felt no respect for him.
When Leng Lian first met Lin Yao, he was just a skinny, unattractive young man with a simple yet self-conscious look and clumsy performance, all of which revealed his low-class background. Although he possessed incredible medical skills, in Leng Lian's mind, Lin Yao was simply a naive and laughable young man who was not presentable. Even many of Min Hong's behaviors were naive and laughable, even though her husband, Long Yihun, had to accompany Min Hong in doing naive and laughable things.
Leng Lian was confident she could see right through Lin Yao. Just like his current dazed expression, he was simply someone who had gotten lucky and learned miraculous medical skills, then acquired some martial arts family manuals and mastered kung fu. Boring, uninteresting—Leng Lian wouldn't want a man like that even if he were given to her!
"However, given Minhong's current financial strength and social influence, marrying someone like him isn't bad. At least he's easier to manage than A Long. Ruonan really missed this opportunity. We'll have to have a good talk with her later. She's not married yet, and I haven't heard A Long mention Lin Yao's marriage, so maybe there's still a chance. It's just that Ruonan will have to suffer..."
With a face full of injustice, Leng Lian's mind wandered, and she suddenly thought of something unrelated, just like a woman's inexplicable thought process. Then she suddenly realized the purpose of her trip, immediately put away her little thoughts, and raised her voice to tell her grievances.
"Ah Long said he would only love me for all eternity, but now he has another woman. As his brother, shouldn't you do something about this? We can't let him make a mistake that will ruin our family forever!"
Lin Yao was both amused and exasperated, thinking, "Do you really think I'm some kind of neighborhood committee auntie? You even bother me with this kind of trivial matter. Do you think I'm not busy enough? Or are you just too idle?"
What Lin Yao didn't know was that Leng Lian was indeed very idle, extremely idle. If she had balls, she would definitely be bored to death. Unfortunately, she didn't have any, so she wanted to make men like Lin Yao and Long Yihun suffer.
If Lin Yao knew how Leng Lian viewed and evaluated him, he wouldn't find it strange at all. He would only think that this woman had lost her mind. She couldn't even protect her own man, and she actually asked others to interfere in this mess. It can only be said that this woman is both incompetent and brainless.
As for Long Yihun's matter, although Lin Yao hadn't had a proper heart-to-heart talk with his brother for a long time, based on his understanding of Long Yihun's character, he would never do such a thing when there was hope. The reason for this outcome could only be Leng Lian, and there was no other possibility.
"this……"
Lin Yao collected his thoughts, considered his words for a moment, and then said, "I haven't contacted Ah Long for a long time. I'll ask him about the situation later and deal with it accordingly."
"I'm very busy right now and really don't have time to meet with you. This matter can only be postponed until I have time. Please don't mind."
After saying that, Lin Yao turned to Yi Zuojun beside him and instructed, "You greet the guests, I'll go in first."
Only when Lin Yao's figure quickly disappeared at the entrance of the hall did Leng Lian react. She gritted her teeth and glared fiercely at the empty corridor before turning around to examine Yi Zuojun.
"Ms. Leng, this way please!"
※※※※
"Dad, this is the lid I found for the cauldron. It's been delivered now. Aren't I amazing?"
As soon as Lin Yao entered the hall, two petite figures rushed towards him, and Xiao Guli and Nannan landed in his arms like swallows returning to the forest.
"Me too! Lili, you can't steal all the credit!"
Nannan righteously rebuked Xiao Guli for his mistake. Although the prize money had already been received, the glory should not be given to Xiao Guli alone.
Cough cough cough!
Gu Zhuofei, who had always maintained a shrewd and capable image, was so embarrassed that she coughed repeatedly. The fact that Xiao Guli called Lin Yao "Dad" in front of the Gu family made her feel awkward. Although the Gu family basically knew about this, it still made her blush.
"Lin Yao, this is Gu Tiannong from Suzhou, one of the most senior members of the Gu family. This time, Uncle Tian personally escorted Tie... um, Ding Gai to Beijing."
Lin Yao put down the two little ones, nodded and greeted the elderly man in his sixties with gray hair. Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at an iron lump placed on the pear wood tea table in the hall and thought to himself, "No wonder these people call the lid of the cauldron 'iron disc'. So that's what it is."
On the pearwood coffee table, there was a rusty iron block.
The uneven surface is a genuine dark red and yellowish-brown rust color. It is about 1.4 to 1.5 meters in diameter, with obvious bulges above and below the center, making it appear very thick. The thickness is estimated to be more than 30 centimeters, while the edges are much thinner, with the outermost layer being about 2 centimeters thick. It resembles a manhole cover.
The curved edges were not smooth, but rather unsightly, as if they had been bitten by a dog. Combined with the unevenness, roughness, and rust on the other parts of the lid disc, it was essentially an extra-large, long-abandoned, pure iron disc.
Heaven knows how the two little guys recognized the enormous iron disc as a cauldron lid the moment they entered the storage room, and how they immediately cooperated to strike both sides of the disc to listen to the sound. Do these two little guys have special abilities?
If anyone ever says that a child's sixth sense is completely unfounded and just a figment of their imagination again, Lin Yao will definitely not let that person off the hook! Just look at how much benefit the two little ones' sixth sense has brought him now, and you'll know that children's judgments should be taken seriously, even their premonitions.
"Yaoyao, this giant iron disc is really amazing!"
The little grass's voice was joyful and excited, as if it had found money on the street. "My tentacles can't pierce this iron disc, so it must be the lid of the cauldron. Apart from the cauldron, I really haven't found anything in this world that can resist my tentacles!"
"Mr. Gu, please open your mouth."
Lin Yao was very happy, but then he suddenly said something unrelated, which surprised Gu Zhuofei. Even Gu Tiannong's eyes widened and his mouth opened slightly, showing a natural blank expression.