MACRM Chapter 77

Mr. and Mrs. Lin were sitting at the table.

Lin Zhu’s hands, hanging at his sides, tightened slightly. He steadied himself against the door and smiled. “Dad, Mom.”

His heartbeat was still a little unsteady. Not wanting his parents to worry, he didn’t continue walking forward. He lowered his head slightly, avoiding their gaze. “Thank you, Dad and Mom. That resource is very good, very suitable for Zhong-laoshi… I’ll make good use of it.”

Lin Zhu pressed his lips together, his eyes curving faintly. “Zhong-laoshi and I are doing very well, extremely well… You don’t need to worry about me. I can take good care of myself, and I can take good care of Zhong-laoshi too. I’ve already grown up now…”

“Xiao Zhu—”

Seeing the file in his hand, Mrs. Lin finally couldn’t hold back. She pushed herself up to stand. “Have you finally thought it through? Come, give the file to Mom. Your father and I will help you contact them. We definitely can—”

“I won’t have the surgery, Mom.”

Lin Zhu placed the file on the table and gently interrupted her. “This ability is very important to me… I can already control it very well.”

Mrs. Lin’s expression stiffened, and she sat back down in a daze.

Lin Zhu walked to the sofa and slowly sat down. He closed his eyes briefly, lowered his gaze, and continued. “I know you and Dad are worried that I won’t live well because I can read minds. But I’m doing very well now, very content. What I’m doing now, what I’ll do in the future— I already have plans for all of it.”

The corners of Lin Zhu’s lips tightened slightly, lifting into a thin curve, his tone rising a little. “I can help Dage negotiate business, I can scare those brainless reporters, I can know at a glance what tricks they’re trying to pull… A couple of days ago at a banquet I even scared off someone who came to cause trouble. They were so frightened they didn’t dare say a word!”

A little light gradually appeared in his eyes as he raised his head slightly. “I’m impressive, right? Mom—”

His voice suddenly stopped. Lin Zhu’s gaze fell into his mother’s eyes, and the hand hanging at his side trembled slightly.

The color of Lin Zhu’s lips slowly faded. He tugged the corner of his mouth faintly, lowered his head again, and swallowed back the words “praise me.”

Lin Zhu stood up, about to leave, but his mother’s worried voice came from behind him. “Xiao Zhu, your father and I know you can do all this… but how are you going to live? Zhong Yao doesn’t know anything yet. Mom knows you trust him, and trusting the one you love is a good thing. But what if he can’t accept it either? You won’t be able to hold on…”

“We won’t harm you, Xiao Zhu. We just want you to be well. Whatever you want to do, we can do it for you.”

Mr. Lin interrupted Mrs. Lin and spoke calmly. “It’s fine if you don’t have the surgery, but as things are now, what you can do to help Zhong Yao is still limited. You want Zhong Yao to develop well, right? We can buy an entertainment company for you. You can run it yourself; the result will be the same.”

Lin Zhu froze in place. Mr. Lin thought he had listened and continued gently, “Our side is already at this level; we can’t demand too much. When he finds out you can read minds, if he can accept you, that’s already a good thing…”

A hint of blood rose in Lin Zhu’s throat. He lowered his head and slowly adjusted his breathing, tightly gripping in his pocket the keychain with the little bamboo shoot.

Not unexpected…

He had known his parents’ stance from the very beginning. Lin Zhu had already prepared himself. Their attitude now… was not unexpected.

His chest hurt as if it were about to explode, his vision blurring. The ferocious obsession that had once lurked in his nightmares almost surged up again, only to be pressed down bit by bit by Zhong Yao’s gentle voice from last night.

Last night, Zhong Yao had told him bit by bit through the video… about the next seventy years, everything they wanted to do, should do, could do.

Everything that needed to be said had been made clear. He wouldn’t have the surgery, and he had already thanked his parents for their help. He could leave this room now, go catch a flight to find Zhong Yao…

It’s very simple, right? Lift his leg first, then after lifting his leg, he could take a step. Lift his hand and he could open the door…

Lin Zhu told himself slowly. The hand at his side moved, but he still couldn’t lift it smoothly.

His father’s voice was still sounding behind him. “Your mom and I have no other demands of him, as long as he treats you well…”

Lin Zhu bit down on his lower lip and forced himself to raise his hand to the doorknob. The door was suddenly yanked open with a bang.

Lin Song’s face was almost deathly pale, his chest heaving violently as he stood firmly planted in the doorway.

Lin Zhu’s gaze shrank slightly. “Dage…”

None of the three had noticed any movement outside. But judging by Lin Song’s appearance, he had clearly been standing there for a long time. What they had just said about mind reading… had most likely already been heard.

Mr. Lin and Mrs. Lin’s expressions changed drastically. Mr. Lin snatched up the file on the table, his face turning stern. “Who told you to come here! Get out, we’re talking to your brother—”

“Because of this… you lost my brother?”

Lin Song’s voice was almost hoarse with rage as he stepped inside, staring at his parents. “And—‘already at this level,’ ‘accepting him is good enough’… Xiao Zhu is so good. Does he need anyone to accept him?”

Lin Song had already seen the file on the table earlier. Ignoring his father, he grabbed it and flipped through a few pages, his eyes instantly reddening.

Lin Song closed his eyes, then crushed the file fiercely in his hands and tore it to pieces in a few quick motions.

Mrs. Lin’s face went white. “What are you doing—”

“Corneal transplant… why don’t you transplant him a brain while you’re at it?”

Lin Song was shaking with anger. “I’ve been guessing for more than ten years what it was all about… So what if he can read minds?! I’m standing right here, let Xiao Zhu read me all he wants! What am I afraid he’ll know?!”

“You’re his parents!” Lin Song’s eyes were bloodshot, disbelief written all over his face. “You both look down on him, think that because he can read minds he’s some kind of freak, that if someone treats him well he’s just hit the jackpot…”

Lin Zhu shuddered slightly and reached out to pull him. “Ge…”

“Why shouldn’t others treat him well?! Did my Didi break the law or harm anyone? So what if he can read minds, has he ever used it to do bad things?!”

Lin Song grabbed his brother’s wrist and dragged him in front of their parents. “He lived outside for twelve years. You checked his records too… Did he ever steal anything? Pick locks and take money? He can tell at a glance what other people’s passwords are and where valuables are kept, but did he ever touch even once something he shouldn’t have touched?!”

Lin Song was furious. “Why is it enough as long as someone treats my Didi well, nothing else matters? The little young master I dote on and spoil runs around in wind and rain getting resources for him. If he doesn’t become an 80 billion box office Film Emperor, is he worthy of coming back to pursue my Didi?!”

Lin Zhu’s chest felt tight and burning hot. Looking at his enraged brother, he spoke hoarsely, “Ge, don’t be angry…”

“Just now… just now, didn’t you ask me to take photos? The ones from that cabinet— were they for him to see?”

Lin Song suppressed his anger and turned to his brother, pulling out Lin Zhu’s phone. “I already took them for you! One by one! I even posed them clearly! I’ll send them to him right now so he can see—let him know you’re not someone who can’t live without him!”

Lin Zhu: “……”

Lin Zhu: “?!”

Watching helplessly as Lin Song, trembling with anger, sent the photos in one burst, the burning heat in Lin Zhu’s chest was instantly doused, hissing and smoking. He lunged forward in a panic. “No, no, no, no… I have to explain it properly! Dage, what poses did you use? Hurry and give it to me—”

Lin Song held the phone up and wouldn’t give it to him. Lin Zhu was so anxious he was beside himself. His earlier worries were completely thrown to the back of his mind as he hopped around trying to snatch his phone back.

The two brothers grappled back and forth. Before the phone could return to Lin Zhu’s hands, it suddenly began to buzz.

Hearing the familiar sound, Lin Zhu’s face turned a little pale. He stared blankly at Zhong Yao’s video call request, his heart instantly racing to the extreme.