The next day arrived, and Luo Yao went off to work again. When Lin Ran woke up, he felt as though an eternity had passed.
With his wife not at home, he was once again "alone" in the manor, missing her—this kind of life felt both familiar and strange. Familiar because of his rebirth, strange because of the life before it.
But one thing Lin Ran was certain of was that not only was Luo Yao indulging in pleasures to the point of neglecting her ambitions, but he too was starting to fall into the same trap.
Yet, wasn’t this the very meaning of his life?
At this thought, Lin Ran suddenly smiled. Last night had been quite exhausting, so today he needed to recuperate.
Walking downstairs, he spotted Uncle Fu and couldn’t help but feel a sense of superiority.
Look at this—both were men, yet he could afford to indulge in leisure while Uncle Fu, despite his age, still had to work diligently. Such was the difference between them.
"Young Master Lin, you're awake?"
"Yes, Uncle Fu. Any advice for me?"
"Advice? I wouldn’t dare. But I do have something to ask you."Lin Ran was surprised. He hadn’t expected this seemingly omnipotent old butler to ever seek his counsel.
"Go ahead."
Uncle Fu glanced at Jiang Feihua in the distance, ensuring she was too far to overhear, then lowered his voice anyway.
"Young Master Lin, as you know, I’ve been thinking of proposing to Dahua. Could you give me some ideas?"
Lin Ran shook his head. "No. Matters of love should be handled by oneself."
"But last time, I helped you plan that snowy mountain birthday proposal."
Lin Ran looked at him matter-of-factly. "That was part of your job. And I gave you a bonus for it. What, don’t want it anymore?"
At the mention of the bonus, the old man quickly shook his head. "No, no, that’s not what I meant… I’ll figure it out myself. Young Master Lin, please don’t mention this to Dahua."
Lin Ran nodded. "Don’t worry. If I were to tell Granny Wang, my son Lin Tianba would be a cuckold every day. Speaking of Lin Tianba, could you check what they’re up to now?"
"Right away."
Watching Lin Jian’s antics had become one of Uncle Fu’s pastimes, so he had no objections.
After Uncle Fu left, Lin Ran took out his phone and sent a message.
[Lin Ran (voice message): Granny Wang, I’ve got news for you. Old Zhang wants to propose to you. Be prepared.]
[Granny Wang (voice message): Young Master Lin, how have you and Miss Luo Yao been these past couple of days? I’m planning to return to work soon. As for that old man, I really don’t know what to do. Could you talk him out of it? At his age, isn’t it embarrassing?]
[Lin Ran (voice message): Alright, I’ll try to persuade him. No need to rush back to work—spending time with family is more important.]
The word "family" struck a chord in Lin Ran again. Right now, his only family seemed to be Luo Yao.
The Chen family could count as 0.1 of one.
"Young Master Lin, care to guess what Lin Jian is up to now?"
Lin Ran gave him a deadpan look. "What, is he causing trouble again?"
Uncle Fu nodded and filled him in.
To call Lin Jian a genius wouldn’t be an exaggeration—he’d come up with a way to make money.
With his livestream running, Lin Jian had entered a frenzy of PK battles, setting punishments for himself every time he lost.
Handstands while drinking water, slapping himself a hundred times, repeating "I’m a dog" a hundred times, standing at attention for ten minutes—his creativity knew no bounds.
Livestream PK battles were a normal part of the process, but logically, no one would gift Lin Jian or let him win.
And that’s exactly what happened. Lin Jian lost every single PK, enduring increasingly harsh self-inflicted punishments.
Viewers, eager to see him lose, would flood the opposing streamer’s channel with gifts to ensure Lin Jian’s defeat.
The harsher Lin Jian’s punishments, the more gifts the other side received.
[WhoDrinksPlainMilk?]: Hahaha, why torture yourself like this? I almost feel bad for Lin Jian. Thought about gifting him, but then I checked my wallet… Well, free hearts will have to do. I bet Lin Ran enjoys this too—like tossing a "powered by love" to a novelist.
[InLoveWithAWanderingMistress]: Poor kid. Why treat him like this? What’s wrong with gifting him?
[MyKeyboardIsLinJian]: What are you babbling about? I’m having a blast watching this. If you feel bad, go gift him instead of just running your mouth.
[InLoveWithAWanderingMistress]: Why don’t you gift him then?
Losing every PK—but what did that have to do with Lin Jian? Everything.
Because the opposing streamers were all in on it with him. The gifts they received were split with Lin Jian.
This was Lin Jian’s master plan.
An ordinary person wouldn’t even think of something like this.
At first, even Uncle Fu hadn’t caught on. But the more he watched, the stranger it seemed, so he had someone investigate—and sure enough, they uncovered the scheme.
Too bad the viewers were still in the dark.
Uncle Fu asked worriedly, "Should I have someone shut down his livestream?"
Lin Ran immediately objected.
"Why shut it down? That’d just take away half the fun. This is how he makes a living now. Cutting off someone’s livelihood is like killing their parents—you don’t want to be a murderer, do you?"
Uncle Fu was baffled: ???
Lin Ran: "Leak a photo of them."
Damn. And here I thought I was the ruthless one—you’re sending people to camp their spawn point.
Why didn’t Lin Ran go himself? Because he couldn’t be bothered.
Last time at the hotel, he’d barged in under the pretense of being the owner.
But showing up at someone’s private residence would count as trespassing.
Given his status, even if he did break in, he wouldn’t face consequences—but he had no interest in breaking the law.
No need for that.
Uncle Fu voiced his concern. "Young Master Lin, will a photo really be enough for netizens to track them down? Shouldn’t we just reveal the address directly?"
Lin Ran shook his head.
"Have faith in netizens. This generation can find anything—except a significant other."
Uncle Fu thought about it and had to admit it made sense, so he followed Lin Ran’s plan.
Soon, an anonymous exposé surfaced.
Meanwhile, Lin Jian remained blissfully unaware. That morning, he and Lv Jian had tested each other’s limits.
Lv Jian hated sharing a room with another man—even if that man was his own brother.
But the moment Lin Jian arrived, he’d claimed half the bedroom, much to Lv Jian’s discomfort.
At breakfast, Lv Jian brought up moving out.
"Dad, I want to rent a place of my own."
Lv Renqi looked at him in confusion. "Why?"
"I don’t want Lin Jian to feel pressured living here. This is all my fault, not his."
Lv Renqi paused, immediately picking up on the subtext. His expression darkened as he turned to Lin Jian.