Chapter 1 Beginning

Nine o'clock in the morning.

The prison gate slowly opened. This winter was bitterly cold.

The sky was gloomy, without a trace of sunlight, as if matching my bleak mood.

With the sound of the iron gate, I finally stepped out of this place that had imprisoned me for three years. However, I didn't feel a trace of liberation. My mind was filled with hatred because the one who sent me in was that unfeeling father.

I hadn't gone far from the iron gate when there was another loud bang. The prison gate closed again. I looked back at it. A door separated restraint and freedom.

Three years ago, it was also winter. The scene of that day remained in my mind. Looking at the environment outside the iron gate instantly evoked my memories…

That day, I was enjoying myself with a few good brothers at a nightclub when a phone call came. I answered it without thinking. If I had known it was from the ruthless Lin Hai, I definitely wouldn't have answered.

I remembered that I had severed contact with all of them when I was sixteen, and came to this unfamiliar metropolis alone to make a living. I remembered the scene after answering that call. It was precisely because it was an unfamiliar number that I answered the phone by mistake. Just as I was silent, a voice that had become unfamiliar came from the other end of the phone: "Is that A-Che?"

I was stunned for a moment, and after a while, I recognized the voice. The originally pleasant mood immediately turned gloomy as I asked, "How did you get my number?"

"I inquired everywhere before I found out. Your younger brother is getting engaged the day after tomorrow. For the sake of the Gu family's reputation, you should come and attend."

"Does this family have anything to do with me? When did I become a member of the family?" I asked him in a stiff tone.

Perhaps because he was asking a favor of me, the always cold-blooded Lin Hai was acting like a father this time, saying, "No matter what happened in the past, you as a son shouldn't interfere in the grievances between us adults. Your mother cheated first in my marriage with her. Family ties are always unbreakable."

His words made me quickly guess what he was up to. Lin Yang's engagement required even me, the abandoned son, to attend. Then the other family must be extraordinary!

After a long time, I blurted out a sentence: "Are you trying to climb into a rich family?"

"That's none of your business. Just cooperate this time."

"Do you think there's a need for that?" I asked coldly.

"As long as you're willing to attend, I'll agree to any request you make."

"Deal! Then prepare a few million, or don't even think about it." After saying that, I hung up the phone directly.

A few million! It sounded like a huge demand, but I knew that with his hard work over the years, it was probably just a drop in the bucket.

Not long after I was born, he and my equally unfeeling mother went out to do business and made a lot of money. Once they had some money, their mentality changed. When I grew up, I heard from the villagers that they were each having affairs outside.

I was only three years old when they divorced, a so-called left-behind child, living with my grandparents in the countryside. In the same year, they divorced, and Lin Hai soon brought back a very powerful woman, said to be unmarried and someone he hooked up with while doing business.

Lin Yang and I were only three years apart. When she came back that year, she was already heavily pregnant and soon gave birth to Lin Yang.

At first, I always felt that my grandparents loved me the most, but after Lin Yang was born, they often took me back to that new home in the city. That woman, including Lin Hai, treated me as a burden. Compared to Lin Yang, the attitude was completely different.

I remember that I didn't know how to read faces back then. Once, I was happily playing alone with Lin Yang's toys when suddenly that woman snatched them from my hand with a dark face. From then on, I began to fear and stay away from her.

At this moment, the phone rang again. It was still Lin Hai calling, probably about the millions I had just asked for. I was a little curious about what attitude he would use to deal with me, so I answered quickly this time and asked, "Have you thought about it?"

"Do you think we run a bank? You're asking for millions right off the bat."

"I don't care about the money, but if you want me to attend, that's the price. Call me again when you've thought it through, or just transfer the money directly into my account. If you think the price is worth it, I'll send you the account later. If you don't think it's worth it, don't contact me again, and don't bother me in the future."

Perhaps the noise at the nightclub was too loud, Lin Hai said impatiently, "If you want to talk, find a quiet place. Don't talk to me in a gangster-like place."

"I'm just a gangster, and a person like that is of course suitable for this kind of environment!" I belittled myself, following his words.

"Lin Che, I can give you this money, but remember, once you take this money, our father-son relationship will end there…"

I interrupted him dismissively: "Our relationship ended a long time ago. You're the one asking me. If you hadn't called, I would have forgotten about you long ago."

Perhaps I had hit a common point, which was also what he had hoped for, so he said very readily, "Okay, I'll give you the money. You send me the account number in a message later. I'll transfer it to you tomorrow. Remember, the day after tomorrow night, at the most luxurious hotel in the provincial capital, be there at five o'clock sharp."

Also in the provincial capital, we had never met in the past ten years or so. And that Lin Yang, the last time I saw him was when he was just a teenager. The next time I heard his name, it was news of his engagement. I am twenty-seven years old this year, and he is only twenty-four. He should have just graduated from college.

My mood was suddenly disturbed by this phone call. We were both his sons, but we had different destinies. Perhaps in Lin Hai's heart, my existence made him feel rejected. Letting me attend was probably so the other family would know his bottom line, that he still had a son wandering outside. So he had to put on a responsible act, otherwise it wouldn't be his personality.

Looking at a group of brothers with their arms around the nightclub women, I felt a bit complicated. The woman next to me waved a glass of wine in front of me and said, "Brother Lin, when you come out to play, you have to be happy. Let's drink."

Listening to the flirtatious voice, I felt a trace of annoyance. The entertainment I usually liked the most suddenly felt like a form of depravity.

I instinctively pushed away the glass and said in a low voice, "You guys play."

The woman looked at me with a stunned expression, as if I were a monster. This kind of place was originally for getting drunk. Getting drunk and living a life of dissipation was the reasonable way to be.

Perhaps the news of Lin Yang's engagement disturbed my mood. After wandering in society for so many years, I had lived almost aimlessly and had never thought about how to walk the road ahead.