The group was startled.
Lin Jin was equally as confused, but since someone was calling out to him, he had to go out and take a look.
And so, he pushed open the front door.
Chen Yuanyuan was outside with tears running down her cheeks. Lin Jin frowned immediately upon recognizing that face of hers. Standing behind him, Lu Xiaoyun’s expression darkened and she began briefing the oblivious Zhao Ying and Han Dong on what happened.
“What did you come here for?” Lin Jin sounded extremely annoyed by Chen Yuanyuan. This woman only had good looks and her personality was extremely unlikeable.
“Lin Jin, my father is asking me to apologize to you. You have to forgive me or he won’t let me back into the house again.” Chen Yuanyuan genuinely felt aggrieved. She saw nothing wrong in her actions but she dared not disobey her father’s instructions.
If he never lets her back into the house, where would she stay? What would she eat?
A flower that’s raised in a greenhouse could never withstand the rain and hardships in the outside world.
And the flower knew this well.
Lin Jin’s brows furrowed.
“Back when I wanted to call off the engagement, my father disagreed to it. But because I insisted on doing so, he finally gave his approval and had me apologize to you and send you some money as compensation. But instead of apologizing, I mocked you instead. I even kept the money for my own. Just now, my father found out about this and he… he…”
At the thought of how aggrieved she was, Chen Yuanyuan started crying again.
Admittedly, with tears streaming down her face, Chen Yuanyuan did look somewhat pitiful.
Lu Xiaoyun was infuriated as soon as she heard what Chen Yuanyuan said. She wanted to say something but Lu Yunhe held her back.
“Xiaoyun, Brother Lin knows what to do,” Lu Yunhe whispered.
Needless to say, this was a scheme of Chen Yuanyuan’s to gain sympathy. It didn’t take a genius to figure out her reason for doing so. If she truly wanted to apologize, why didn’t she come over before but chose to do it when Lin Jin was basking in his glory for advancing to a Rank 2 beast appraiser?
Her motive was too obvious.
“My father says he’s too ashamed to see you so he sent me here. Lin Jin, I was wrong, forgive me. If you forgive me, my father won’t chase me out of the house,” Chen Yuanyuan said through tears.
She was crying her eyes out. Since Chen Yuanyuan was apologizing on her own accord and her father had lectured her, frankly speaking, even if Lin Jin wanted nothing to do with her ever again, it wasn’t too difficult for him to nod and forgive her.
However, Lin Jin smiled and went back inside his house. He returned with a letter and handed it to Chen Yuanyuan.
“Go home. Pass this to your father and he won’t ever chase you out again.” Having said that, Lin Jin waved her away before heading back inside without giving Chen Yuanyuan so much as a glance.
The latter stared at this letter, confused.
To be honest, Chen Yuanyuan was extremely reluctant to apologize because she didn’t think she was wrong. It was only because Chen Wenlin reprimanded her, forced her, and even slapped her that Chen Yuanyuan came here out of fright.
As long as Lin Jin said he would forgive her, she could go home with her mission accomplished.
At the same time, her resentment for Lin Jin grew even more on the inside, as she pinned all the blame for causing her suffering on him.
Now, Lin Jin had given her a letter instead. Although he didn’t say he had forgiven her, he probably acquiesced it. So, Chen Yuanyuan left holding onto this thought.
While Lin Jin had indeed become more impressive after passing the Rank 2 beast appraiser advancement exam, so what? To Chen Yuanyuan, Lin Jin wasn’t worth mentioning when compared to Yang Jie’s achievements.
After Chen Yuanyuan left, the atmosphere inside the house became slightly awkward.
Lu Xiaoyun was sulking and Zhao Ying kept quiet. Han Dong dared not ask about it while Lu Yunhe gave Lin Jin a look of understanding.
Lin Jin smiled. They had no idea at all.
Chen Yuanyuan was a simpleton. She was capricious, selfish, and her mind was constantly filled with fantasies. It wasn’t an exaggeration to call her childish. Even though she found out that Lin Jin had become a Rank 2 beast appraiser, she felt shocked, jealous, and angry, but not regretful.
People like her thought too highly of themselves.
The word ‘wrong’ didn’t exist in her dictionary.
And the person who truly regretted it all was Chen Wenlin.
In regards to Chen Wenlin of Chen Medicine Hall, Lin Jin knew only very little of the man through his predecessor’s memories. It was not an easy task to describe him. Despite how loyal and righteous he may seem on the surface, it wasn’t actually the truth.
Just as the saying went ‘one may know a person for a long time without understanding his true nature’, humans should never be judged by what they say but instead, what actions they take.
When Lin Jin was at his lowest, Chen Wenlin had never once paid him a visit. When Chen Yuanyuan asked to call off the engagement, why didn’t Chen Wenlin, as the family patriarch, stop her from doing so?
He probably never even considered stopping his daughter from committing such a shameful act.
The fact that Chen Wenlin didn’t support her decision only served to confirm one trait of his.
Hypocrisy.
Back when Lin Jin was being oppressed by the Beast Appraisal Association without being able to redeem himself, Chen Wenlin knew about it and might have regretted his ‘impulse’ for matching him up with his daughter. After that, when Chen Yuanyuan capriciously decided to call off the engagement, although he voiced out his disagreement, it was merely for the sake of keeping up appearances. He quietly acquiesced to Chen Yuanyuan canceling engagement in the end.
Had he truly disagreed, Chen Yuanyuan couldn’t defy him even if she wanted to?
Now that he found out how Lin Jin had become a Rank 2 beast appraiser and how Wang Ji had fallen from grace, Lin Jin’s future was limitless. He might have even found out about Lin Jin’s friendship with Gu Mengzhong so he was probably ‘regretting’ it now.
However, this regret didn’t arise from guilt, but instead, it was from losing the chance to have such a precious connection.
Chen Yuanyuan showing up here was just the first step. Lin Jin could bet that Chen Wenlin wasn’t counting on Chen Yuanyuan’s tears and her pitiful act to negate their past conflict.
This was only an appetizer.
Chen Wenlin would definitely try to butter him up and reconcile their friendship. He might even try proposing an engagement with his daughter again.
Most people would never be able to see through this brilliant scheme of his. Had it been Lin Jin’s predecessor, the man might just witlessly fall for this trap and let himself be controlled by the cunning old man.
However, this new Lin Jin had experience living in two worlds. When in the modern world, he had watched countless palace feud dramas and spy movies so how could he be fooled that easily?
Hence, Lin Jin planned to sever their ties at once, putting an end to Chen Wenlin’s sly intentions.
There was no hatred, no fury. He just didn’t want to deal with them anymore.
Lin Jin didn’t talk about this but continued the subject he and Lu Yunhe had been discussing earlier. Because Lu Yunhe was saying something that triggered Lin Jin’s interest.
“Brother Yunhe, is what you said earlier true?” Lin Jin asked.
Still in a daze, Lu Yunhe asked back, “What’s true?”
“About the dragon blood pill. You said that the champion of your Friar Association’s tournament will be receiving a dragon blood pill as the winning prize. Is it true?” Lin Jin repeated his question with sparkling eyes.
“Oh, that!” Lu Yunhe recalled and nodded. “Of course it’s true. But it’s only a lesser dragon blood pill. It’s a little inferior compared to the legendary dragon blood pill.”
Lin Jin nodded and he began contemplating.
A lesser dragon blood pill was still dragon blood pill regardless. Prior to this, Lin Jin had been racking his brains trying to find a way to help Xiao Huo achieve a perfect evolution but to think he would hear such important news from Lu Yunhe.
This was an opportunity and god knows when the next chance would come if he missed it. Lin Jin decided that he must get his hands on that pill.
Subsequently, he asked Lu Yunhe a chain of questions, for example, if non-official Friar Association members could enter the tournament, or if there were age restrictions and when was the tournament.
Feeling curious, Lu Yunhe couldn’t resist asking, “Brother Lin, why are you asking for so many details?”
“It’s nothing!” Lin Jin waved with a smile. “I just want Brother Yunhe to help me get into the Friar Association.”