Chapter 18: The Lin Family Is Finished

The recognition banquet was interrupted once again.

Whispers were already circulating through the crowd that Lin Jinchuan and Lin Shan had failed to choose an auspicious date, one that clashed with their birth charts. Otherwise, how could one disaster follow another so relentlessly?

But this time, it was different.

A man came barreling toward the stage, shouting at the top of his lungs. He shoved past several members of the press, sending guests scrambling for safety. Hotel security moved in quickly, but they merely stood before the guests to shield them, making no attempt to stop the man from approaching the stage.

Lin Shan stood on the platform, paralyzed with terror. The others might not have recognized him, but she did. It was Li Yu. He was the very person she had tried to reach all night without success, and now, he had appeared here.

Li Yu stood beneath the stage, his eyes bloodshot as he glared up at Lin Shan.

"Who are you?" Lin Jinchuan demanded.

"Lin Shan! Lin Shan! You made me do all of it! Now that you don’t want to pay up, you’re calling the police to report me for kidnapping!" Li Yu roared. "How can you be so vicious?"

Lin Ting, holding her skirt with one hand, walked down the spiral staircase. Hearing the commotion below, she paused on the steps to look down. Li Yu was visibly agitated; he was clearly terrified.

Lin Shan was stunned. "What are you talking about? Who are you? I don't know you at all!"

"You don't know me? You don't know me?" Li Yu screamed.

"Who is this! Get him out of here! Where did this lunatic come from?" Lin Jinchuan shouted.

The hotel security staff remained motionless. The Shen couple exchanged a look. The guests in attendance had quickly realized the truth: this was no longer a Lin family recognition banquet. The event had clearly been hijacked by someone else. Anyone capable of controlling the Star Hotel and disregarding the Shen family was far beyond the Lin family’s ability to provoke.

The Lin family... they were finished today.

"What is wrong with your hotel staff! I paid for this!" Lin Jinchuan yelled.

Xia Wenxi let out a cynical laugh. "Does the Star Hotel care about your pocket change? They probably only let you in because of the Shen family’s reputation."

Realizing his blunder, Lin Jinchuan froze, his face turning deathly pale as beads of sweat broke out on his forehead. Xia Wenxi gave a cold, mocking scoff.

"Fine, you don't know me," Li Yu said, pulling a stack of papers from his back pocket. He unfolded them, showing them to Lin Shan one by one.

"You don't know me?" Li Yu repeated. "These are all our chat logs. These are the suggestive messages from before! This one... you asked me to track Lin Ting’s packages! This one! You ordered me to kidnap Lin Ting’s friend to threaten her into staying away from this banquet! And this! You had me stage that 'chance encounter' with Shen Haochen!"

Li Yu was trembling with a mix of fury and fear as he continued to thrust the printed screenshots at her. The entire room turned their attention to Lin Shan. This was an unexpected spectacle.

"And these! These photos!" Li Yu bellowed. "I did so much for you, and when you couldn't pay, you paid your debts in bed! It was only after you got with Shen Haochen that you started giving me money! What’s the matter? Are you about to become the young mistress of the Shen family and worried that I’m a ticking time bomb? So you decided to kill two birds with one stone—using the threat against Lin Ting as an excuse to get rid of me too?! Don't even think about it!"

With that, he scattered the printed messages and photos toward the media.

Lin Ting watched from the stairs, raising an eyebrow as she heard the man’s words. She hadn't heard about those specific details. Qin Lü had captured the man, terrified him a little, and sent him over. She hadn't known there was so much history between Li Yu and Lin Shan. She had heard that Li Yu had insisted on printing the evidence himself. Lin Ting didn't know how Qin Lü had intimidated him, but judging by his mental state, he had been thoroughly shaken.

Some reporters scrambled to pick up the papers, while others pointed their cameras directly at the sheets, capturing clear images. The impact of the revelation was so great that Shen Haochen stood frozen in place.

Lin Shan had been trying to figure out how to deal with Li Yu, never expecting he would have printed all of this. Seeing the media scrambling to collect the evidence, she lunged forward to stop them, forgetting the stairs and leaping off the stage. Wearing high heels, she twisted her ankle and crashed to the floor, her diamond hair accessory tumbling away. "Ah!"

The cameras immediately swiveled to her. Lin Shan, past the point of caring, struggled to her feet, desperate to destroy the papers. "Don't look! Don't look! It's fake! It’s all fake! The photos are photoshopped!"

Li Yu rushed forward as if to strike her. Shen Haochen snapped out of his trance, pushed Li Yu aside, and helped Lin Shan up.

"Haochen, it’s fake! It’s all fake! I didn't do it, I really love you," Lin Shan gripped Shen Haochen’s clothes tightly.

"Everything is on my phone. Whether it’s fake or not, you can have it verified by an agency," Li Yu spat. The man who had escorted him stepped forward to restrain him.

"No, I didn't," Lin Shan sobbed, looking at Shen Haochen. "Haochen, don't believe him."

The Shen couple watched the chaotic scene, witnessing Lin Shan’s hysterical crying and screaming, and their expressions grew grim.

Just then, a hotel staff member hurried over from the backstage area. "Miss Lin, we’ve prepared the projector. The video you asked us to play earlier is ready to continue."

That single sentence silenced Lin Shan, who had been in the middle of her explanations. Shen Haochen looked from the staff member to Lin Shan.

Lin Shan blinked, stunned for two seconds before reacting. "What are you talking about?! What nonsense are you spouting! There is no video! When did I ask you to play a video!"

"The video you asked your friend to play regarding Miss Lin Ting," the hotel staff said. "Oh, and by the way, you went to check the surveillance footage for a bracelet last night. The cleaning lady did find a bracelet; you need to go verify it."

Once those words were spoken, the crowd was once again dumbfounded.

"So it was all true. How could someone be so disgusting, spreading rumors about their own sister?"

"If I were Lin Ting, I would have hit her by now."

"Vicious to the core. That young master of the Shen family certainly has unique taste."

"I’m so angry I want to go up there and slap her myself!" Lin Jinchuan stood there, stunned, as if frozen in place.

"I didn't, I didn't," Lin Shan cried to Shen Haochen. "They’re trying to frame me! It’s Lin Ting trying to frame me!"

Shen Haochen looked at her without saying a word. The person behind Lin Ting was Shang Moting; who could possibly win against him?

Disgusted by the loss of face, the Shen couple left the banquet hall. Seeing them go, Lin Shan chased after them. "Uncle, Auntie, it wasn't me! It wasn't me!"

The Shen couple ignored her completely and walked away. Lin Shan took a few steps after them before collapsing to the floor once more, sobbing. "It's not true, it's not true, it’s not like that!"

Shen Haochen helped her up again. As she looked up, she caught sight of Lin Ting standing on the staircase.

Lin Ting met her gaze, offered a small smile, and mouthed a single word: *Gift.*

Lin Shan understood. A chill ran through her entire body, and her neck veins pulsed with fury. Shen Haochen followed her gaze. Lin Ting glanced at him, turned, and holding her skirt with one hand, walked step by step up the stairs.