"Mother, I want to visit Aunt's place after lunch." Lin Tianlong spoke in a solemn voice.
"Mhm. You ought to do that. Things haven't been going well for Keqing's clinic these days. I fear she'll have to close it down if this goes on!" Lin Huiyin stated.
"It's that serious?" Lin Tianlong asked with astonishment.
"We heard that it's because of Healthy Flower's suppression! Hmph!" Cai Fangfang scoffed, "I heard the Meng family fancies the spot where Sister Keqing's clinic is located so they are doing all they can to make her run out of business. People drop in practically every day to cause trouble, and even the Bureau of Hygiene is giving face to the Meng family by spreading the news that they are going to revoke Sister Keqing's private practice license. If it weren't for Aunt stepping forward to speak for in favor of her, the clinic wouldn't have survived till now."
"Even though I stepped in to speak for her, it wouldn't prevent the inevitable from happening. Cao Baifeng's Healthy Flower Hospital isn't doing well. God knows which Fengshui master told them that the reason for that is Keqing's clinic. They've been eyeing that piece of land since then. You know that your Aunt has always served as a model citizen and provided help to the needed, never fighting over things with others."
"When your brother, Tianfeng was young, your Uncle died in a coal mine accident. Your Aunt suffered through bitter hardships and raised up Tianfeng. He took a pretty, elegant woman like Keqing as his wife who gave birth to a cute daughter like Little Yu."
"Your Aunt's sad days had ended and her good days were just beginning, but in the end, the coach driven by Tianfeng got into a traffic accident which led to his death. This past year, your Aunt and your Sister-in-law Keqing spent each day with grief and for good or bad were finally feeling less gloomier. Now they've again run into this oppressive Meng family!"
Lin Huiyin sighed, "Tianlong, as you've graduated, you must make time to visit your Aunt often and accompany them. If they have some difficulties, you must help them!"
"Understood, Mother!" Lin Tianlong nodded. Aunt and Sister-in-law are truly pitiful. He then pretended as if he was unaware of things and asked, "The Meng family? Which Meng family is so overbearing?"
Lin Huiyin didn't answer him and merely hinted towards Cai Fangfang with her eyes while smiling. Cai Fangfang didn't notice her aunt's covert movement and stated with a cold voice, "Tell me, which Meng family could it be except the one who dare to act so imperious and oppressive at Flame City?"
Lin Huiyin and Lin Tianlong both chuckled while looking at her.
"Oh! I got it." Lin Tianlong pretended as if he had finally realized it then smiled, "Since he failed in wooing you, Tiger's Meng family ought to have come to find Sister Fang to bother. Why are they taking such a roundabout route by bullying Sister-in-law Keqing? Did they think they cannot afford to offend your Cai family and decide to bully our Liang family believing we don't have anyone up high among us?"
"Stinky brat. What are you saying, huh?" Cai Fangfang pinched Lin Tianlong's arm while scolding him, "No matter whether it's the Cai family or the Liang family, we cannot let them bully us!"
Back then, Meng Biao had pestered her each and every day while he was trying to woo her. The flowers he sent to the hospital's pediatrics division were all thrown out of the window by Fangfang. Many times, he disturbed her by calling again and again, and she was forced to get a new number each time.
Towards the end, even when the hospital's chairperson had acted as the matchmaker, Fangfang had turned him down. Seeing that her father, the Neurosurgery Director, Cai Tonghai, had an influential position at Flame City's medical circle, the Meng family could only retreat after sounding it out. As for Meng Biao, he settled for the next best thing and took Min Roujia as his wife.
"Fortunately, this Tiger didn't become my brother-in-law. If not, when I beat that guy up tomorrow to help Sister-in-law Keqing, Sister Fangfang's heart would've suffered!" Lin Tianlong teased her.
"Hit him! Hit him until he dies!" Cai Fangfang wasn't angry at all. She even hugged Lin Tianlong's arm with a smile on her face, "Tianlong, if you really beat him up tomorrow, this sister will treat you to a meal at any top-class restaurant of your choosing!"
"Alright!"
"What are you saying? You siblings don't have any manners at all! Look at how old you are now yet you're talking of beating and killing!" Lin Huiyin scolded them with love. She knew her darling son got jealous pretty quickly and was quite intolerant. She was worried that something would happen to him, even if he were doing it for his sister-in-law, Keqing's sake.
"Mother! Don't worry about it!" Lin Tianlong patted his mother's lily-white hands as he comforted her while smiling, "Before, I was at an age where getting into fights was common. Only, though I had a wild temper in my younger years, I'm much calmer now!"
"Yes! You were really fearless back then and a total little overlord who was always prepared to duke it out with others!" Lin Huiyin pouted playfully after glancing at Cai Fangfang, "Fangfang, Tianlong fought for you no small number of times back then, right?"
Cai Fangfang's pretty, watery eyes looked at her cousin, Tianlong, after which she nodded both shyly and happily. Her hand hugged Tianlong's robust, powerful arm more tightly. When she was in her third year of junior high, she was already a young beauty in the making. On the way to school, punks who had nothing to do and roamed the streets harassed her continuously. Tianlong was just 13 years old back then and was forced to fight against a group of people alone. He had beat the shit out of them until they were severely bruised.
Her Aunt had spent no less an amount of money to compensate them for their medical fees. Tianlong had also got injured. Cai Fangfang still remembered how she kept crying while hugging her injured cousin. From that moment onwards, this girl's heart had already become Tianlong's. It was also because of this fight that he had become famous and gained a little street rep. Cai Fangfang was also a little pitiful. Everyone knew she had a cousin who would bet his life to protect her. Therefore, no schoolboy dared to try wooing her till she finished her senior high. Even the admirers showed respect from a distance towards this unattainable flower.
"Tianlong, got meet your father after this, okay?" Lin Huiyin stated indifferently.
"Tianlong, I heard your father wants you to become the VP of Chinese Media!" Cai Fangfang didn't dare to address his father as an uncle in front of her aunt.
Lin Tianlong looked into his mother's beautiful eyes then patted her hand while smiling, "Mother understands me the most. I won't agree to join your hospital, and I won't join my father's firm either."
"Savoring the flavor of royal wine, enjoying the sensation of pink-slender hands - I shall walk my own path! Ignorant of life and death for a decade, I'll strive on my path! Of the 480 temples built by the Southern Dynasties, many towers and terraces still remain erect in the misty rain - One must make use of the valued opportunity life gives only once! The dao is hard to comprehend yet simple, the whole wide world is waiting for me to traverse it! When it's time to act, I'll act - Both business and pretty women I will possess!"
"What's with all of that!" Cai Fangfang giggled.
After finishing lunch, Fangfang followed Tianlong with her eyes as he called for a taxi and left for Chinese Media.
"Little Lass, your eyes are going to fall out!" Lin Huiyin teased her.
"Aunt!" Cai Fangfang called out in a spoiled manner while hugging her aunt's arm. She knew that her aunt had most likely figured out that she was aiming for Tianlong. Moreover, she hadn't made it clear-cut whether she was against it either. At this very moment, she felt even much happier as she hugged her aunt's arm than when she was hugging Tianlong's arm. She felt elated.
Lin Huiyin had indeed made out that Fangfang had intentions towards Tianlong. She believed that these siblings had only cultivated deep emotions from their childhood, that's all. They were both grown adults now and were an ideal couple appearing just like intimate lovers. Although it would be close to committing the taboo of incest due to their close blood relation, she had brought up her son while giving him the freedom to develop in an open-minded manner and always respected her son's choice and decision. Her son had already graduated now, so it was up to him to decide what kind of job he desires. There was no need for her to interfere in matters of his love and matrimony. Fangfang was a good child, and she believed her son would make the right choice and decision.
Chinese Media Firm.
"Zhiqing, look over there! Isn't that Young Master Long?! Ohohoho, he's coming over here." Qin Minxiao got up and patted the seat of Liu Zhiqing who was deeply immersed in cataloging the financial affairs reports while speaking in a tiny voice.
"Aaahh! You scared me!" Liu Zhiqing expressed her anger lightly then shifted her line of sight from the computer to look down from the window towards the crossing. Over there, the CEO, Liang Rukang's darling son, Lin Tianlong had just alighted the taxi and was walking over towards the lobby on the first floor of Chinese Media Firm.
Actually, after his parents had divorced, Lin Tianlong had come to his father's place during every vacation period. He had even interned here during his summer vacation last year. His father also understood his son's desire for independence and approved of that spirit, so he paid his son the standard salary according to the hours he worked there during the internship. Everyone in the company revered the two of them and were fond of Lin Tianlong all the more.