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Hou Lin calmly replied. "Where Yahui lives."

Their eyes widened in shock. Hou Fa gritted his teeth and grabbed his collar. "Don\'t tell me that it was that brat who brainwashed you into making this foolish decision! Right…I understand now. It must be Yahui! That\'s why I kept telling you to cit off all your contact with her! I knew a manipulative girl like her won\'t be so easy. Even for seven years, she was nothing but a pain for us! And now look how she manipulated you now!"

Hou Luli sniffled, her gaze seething with anger. "You are right, Fa. She must have done something to make him go against us. Otherwise Lin would have never done this…"

Hou Cai spoke, his voice filled with bitternes, "For your kind information, it was the same Yahui who sent that recording clip to your company, Dad."

He jerked his head to face him. "What?"

"Yes! You were lucky that Da Pei turned out to be a sensible man who admitted his guilt. Da Shang was gonna talk to him and make him confess anyway. But we didn\'t know that he will have this change of heart. So Yahui told me her plan. She had recorded Bro and Da Shang\'s conversation at school and that was a sureshot way to expose Da Pei if he refused to budge. Did you think the clip just appeared out of thin air!?" His nostrils flared. "It was Yahui\'s plan that would have saved your ass and of all people, you are blaming her?"

He clenched his fists, his eyes watering. "You two don\'t have any right to suddenly act like good parents now! For all this time, you only bothered to fight and argue the whole time, dragging Bro and me into your fights, blaming us and lashing out your anger at us whenever it was convenient to you! You never cared about us but only about proving each other wrong and winning your idiotic arguments! Then things got stable with Dad\'s job, so now you two began to act all civil. But your messy fights ate up our entire childhood! Can you give us that back?"

Hou Luli stared at her son, aghast and feeling breathless. It was the first time that this had happened but somehow, she couldn\'t speak a word or protest.

"You talk about hating Yahui…but it was her presence that made us feel bearable to live with you two! She is strong. She is smart. She is cool. You say that she was a pain for you? Only because you two acted shit towards us! That\'s why she always meddled with your peace whenever you unjustly took your frustrations out on Bro and me. Not because she is some psycho sadist but because she cared about us!"

He angrily laughed as tears slid down his cheeks. "Which is ironic, don\'t you think? A girl who threatened Bro at a knife point at one time cared about us siblings more than their actual parents."

Hou Lin trembled, his eyes brimming with tears. These were all the words he wanted to express to them for so long. But he didn\'t know how. 

His brother held his hand, his face reddening with agony as he fought his tears back. "B-Bro…can I not come with you…? I want to live with you and Yahui too!"

Hou Lin gazed at his parents, who looked defeated and in a stupor. He looked back at him with a gentle gaze. "They will be left all alone if you leave them."

"So what! They ignored us too. Wh-why should I care about them when they didn\'t?" He bit his lip hard.

He placed his palm on the top of his brother\'s head. "It\'s not always necessary to give a tit for a tat. They need you, Cai. They need a son who didn\'t disappoint them and whose birth they didn\'t regret."

Hou Fa froze hard. He felt his voice choking and those harsh words he threw at Hou Lin like poison just a few hours ago all came back to him, stabbing his heart like lethal arrows.

"...I…I…" he felt like a strangling sensation around his neck, "I di-didn\'t mean it Lin…I was…angry. It just got…"

"I know," Hou Lin quietly said. "But it made me realise that…" his eyes held sorrow and lips a wistful smile, "words once escaped from your lips are impossible to take back."

His face paled and his body trembled.

"You can apologize for those words spoken, but it cannot undo the pain from one\'s heart who listened to them."

Hou Lin bowed. "Your words caused me sorrow, but I won\'t hold any grudge over that. I won\'t hold any grudges against you for anything. Thank you for providing for me all this time. Home, food, clothes, education - I promise I will repay you for everything you have done for me."

"Bro…" Hou Cai cried hard, hugging his brother hard. He didn\'t want to let him go, but he knew in his heart that it was only Yahui who could keep him happy.

Hou Lin smiled and bumped his forehead against his. "Be a good son, Cai and always do the right thing."

Hou Luli stumbled her way and ran to his side. "Lin, please! Stay back, Lin! Pl-please don\'t leave us…I-I beg you please…" she broke down, profusely apologizing for all her wrong actions, "I will become a good mother from now on…I-I will-"

But his pure smile made her stop. His compassionate gaze made her heart clench with immense pain.

"Yes, Mom. Be a good mother to Cai. Give him all the love that you couldn\'t give him before, including my part of your love."

It was the first time that Hou Lin wore a genuine smile on his lips as he said his last words. "Goodbye."

—

*Ding Dong*

"Ughhhh! Who is it at this time?" Zhan Yahui made a face as she munched on her chips and laid lazily on her couch.

*Ding Dong* *Ding Dong*

"Oh fine I am coming!"

Zhan Yahui muttered curses under her breath and opened the door with a bang. "Who the hell- oh~" she cocked her brow, looking at Hou Lin from head to toe, standing outside her apartment\'s door and holding bags in his hand. "You seemed to have listened to me."

He tilted his head. "Yes. But it was my decision too."

She snorted. "Whatever. Good for you to leave that toxic house. So why did you come here?"

"I don\'t have any place to stay. So I came to live with you."

"I cannot pay rent for an extra soul here."

"I have saved up some pocket money."

"So use it to rent another apartment."

"It\'s not that big amount of money."

Stalemate.

Hou Lin then looked away for a second and unzipped his bag to take out a shiny object. He pointed that knife at her with a plain expression.

Zhan Yahui choked in her throat but felt amused at the same time. "Haah…So it\'s your turn to threaten me now, is it?"

"Yes."

"This is not your idea, is it now?"

"Cai told me that it will serve as a good refresh for your memory as you are my only source of survival now," he didn\'t even twitch before exposing his own brother.

She sneered. "I knew it. Only that snarky brat could come up with this."

He nodded.

She lazily waved her hand. "Keep it down. It\'s not necessary. Hop inside. I can manage with an extra person here but only if you do all the housework."

"If we divide the rent equally, then we should divide the housework equally too."

Her brow twitched. "You don\'t have to be right all the time!"

"I see."

"Better settle fast because we have tons of planning to do."

"Planning?" He blinked at her.

She sneered, her gaze burning with animosity. "Yes planning. My revenge against Liu Jun. That\'s what you will help me with. So we better get started soon."

*Flashback ends*