Chapter 12: Supporting a Useless Brother? Not Happening!
What caught Lin Zhifeng’s attention wasn’t anyone else—it was precisely the second male lead whom she had snatched the chance to play the hero from. Zhao Xiao: mysterious, skilled in combat, wealthy, and with a powerful background.
He had appeared three times in the earlier parts of the story. Besides the scene where he was supposed to save Bai Ruyue, he had shown up in two other side scenes.
The first time was when his black luxury car drove past the county high school entrance. Bai Ruyue’s group of girlfriends happened to see his face and erupted in excited chatter. One of them recognized him and said he was the behind-the-scenes owner of Times Mall.
The second time was when Xie Zhaodi was being publicly berated and beaten by Li Amei. Just as Bai Ruyue ran over to intervene, Zhao Xiao’s car happened to pass by. The plot even specifically noted, “A black sedan approached from the direction of the Xie family’s neighborhood.”
At both of these points in the story, Bai Ruyue and Zhao Xiao had no interaction at all. If the intention was to develop a romance plot between the female lead and the second male lead, the “hero saves the beauty” scenario would’ve been enough. These other appearances seemed entirely unnecessary.
“Times Mall seems to have been developed by Hengrui Group. If Zhao Xiao is really the secret owner of Times Mall, could it be… he’s the mysterious second shareholder of Hengrui?”
Zhao Xiao’s second appearance even specifically mentioned the direction of the Xie family’s neighborhood. Could that be a hint that he’s the one connected to Wang Tingmei?
The difference between the two of them was so vast that Lin Zhifeng found it hard to imagine any connection between them.
Since Wang Tingmei hadn’t appeared in the early storyline at all, she simply tossed the plot aside and searched the original owner’s memories for everything related to Wang Tingmei.
Wang Tingmei was an abandoned baby, left in the grass at the village entrance. Wang Laosan, who happened to be riding by on his bike, heard her crying, softened with sympathy, and brought her home.
The Wang family already had a daughter, and Wang Laosan’s wife was pregnant at the time. Seeing him bring home another baby girl, she wasn’t too pleased.
Back then, the Wang family was still getting by well enough. Raising another girl wasn’t much of an issue. They figured that by age five or six, she could already help around the house, so they named her Tingmei and kept her.
Not being their biological child—and a girl, no less—one could imagine how Wang Tingmei was treated in the Wang family.
She never had enough to eat or wear, didn’t get to go to school, and had to do heavy farm labor. Meanwhile, the Wang family’s biological eldest daughter made it all the way to high school, and their youngest son even went off to attend university.
Wang Tingmei was raised with the belief that she should sacrifice herself and willingly give everything for her brother and the family. Even now, she firmly believed that this was what a good girl ought to do.
When she met Xie Yaozu during a matchmaking event and later married him, Wang Tingmei felt like she’d struck gold. But after giving birth to two daughters in a row, it felt like her world was falling apart.
For years, she was wracked with guilt and could only become even more obedient to her in-laws. Later, when she finally gave birth to the “golden egg,” Xie Guibao, Li Amei blamed her again—saying that Grandpa Xie had died without even glancing at his grandson, and it was all Wang Tingmei’s fault.
The worst part was, she believed it herself. Her resentment toward the daughters who had come from her womb only grew stronger.
“All in all, just a pitiful and foolishly broken woman,” Lin Zhifeng thought.
She hadn’t found any useful information—just got herself worked up from the memories. Just then, she felt a poke on her arm from Laidi, who was sitting beside her.
She looked up and followed Laidi’s gaze—sure enough, the “golden egg” had returned.
“Let’s go,” Lin Zhifeng said, brushing the dust off her pants. Without waiting for him to approach, she and Xie Laidi headed back inside. As soon as they stepped through the door, they heard Wang Tingmei’s anxious voice.
“Where’s Guibao? You didn’t find him?” Wang Tingmei, unusually for her, had turned on the small lamp. The dim yellow light filled the living room and illuminated the premature aging etched deeply on her face.
Lin Zhifeng couldn’t be bothered to reply. Xie Laidi simply pointed behind her, indicating that Xie Guibao was right there. The worry and anxiety on Wang Tingmei’s face vanished instantly.
“You two, really. It’s so late and the roads are rough. Why couldn’t you have just waited and come back with your little brother?”
Xie Laidi knew there was no way she’d get a kind word, so she turned around and went straight back to her room.
Lin Zhifeng seized the moment before Xie Guibao made it home and suddenly asked, “What’s your relationship with Zhao Xiao?”
Wang Tingmei’s expression froze. She stared at Lin Zhifeng in silence for quite a while before finally raising her voice in a nervous scold.
“Zhao Xiao? What nonsense are you spouting at this hour!” She snapped, then rushed outside to meet her son, her steps hurried, like she was running away.
Definitely suspicious. Lin Zhifeng frowned, her mind turning over two likely possibilities.
First, Zhao Xiao clearly had a complicated background. It was possible that he had once been in danger or seriously injured, and Wang Tingmei had saved his life.
Second, since Wang Tingmei was an abandoned child, her origins were a blank slate. It was entirely possible that she and Zhao Xiao were actually related.
Either way, she had enough leverage to secure a proper future for Xie Guibao.
“Good thing I kicked him out. Otherwise, all that preparation would’ve gone to waste.”
…
Back in her bedroom, lying in bed, the more Lin Zhifeng thought about it, the more she felt Wang Tingmei was hopelessly brainless. To have a connection to someone so powerful, and yet all she wanted was to help her useless son show off?
“Is this what people call selfless motherly love?” Lin Zhifeng thought with biting sarcasm. This woman was truly one of the rarest idiots under heaven.
If it weren’t for the fact that Zhaodi and Laidi looked so much like her, Lin Zhifeng would’ve doubted whether they were even her biological daughters.
“Compared to this, Xie Yaozu and Li Amei with their lack of background are nothing. It’s Wang Tingmei I need to watch out for going forward.”
Hearing Xie Guibao’s whiny voice tattling outside, Lin Zhifeng got out of bed, locked the door, then lay back down and soon fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning at 8:30, Lin Zhifeng woke up feeling completely restored, with no aftereffects from the overuse of her spiritual energy the day before.
While brushing her teeth, Lin Zhifeng heard Xie Laidi already bustling around in the kitchen. After finishing her wash-up, she walked over and saw that the freshly made porridge and dishes hadn’t even had time to release their aroma before Wang Tingmei had dumped all of it into a thermal container and taken it out the door.
“Sister, what do you want to eat? I’ll make it for you.”
“I told you not to make breakfast anymore. Come on—today I’m treating you to fried chicken.”
At those words, Xie Laidi’s big eyes sparkled with excitement.
She had only eaten fried chicken once before—back when Xie Zhaodi had just started working. There had been two unsold pieces left in the kitchen. A coworker noticed she hadn’t eaten much dinner and let her take them home.
Though the crispy coating was long gone and the cold chicken meat dry and tough, the two sisters still found it incredibly delicious.
A portion of fried chicken cost twelve yuan. No matter how much Xie Laidi liked it, she would never ask her sister to buy it for her. Only recently, feeling confident that both she and her sister would earn the competition bonus, did she stop refusing things the way she used to.
Lin Zhifeng didn’t want to eat plain porridge and vegetarian dishes every day, and she definitely didn’t want Xie Laidi waking up early just to busy herself in the kitchen. Lately, she’d been indulging her a lot—potato chips, grilled skewers, fried potatoes—switching things up every day like a queen living large.
They arrived at the fried chicken shop just before 9:20. Manager Zhang had already heated up the oil and was tidying up the place.
“Manager, how did things go yesterday?”
“Not bad! There were quite a few teachers and editors, and even some people who looked like they were from the big city—probably internal staff from Hengrui.”
Hearing that the sisters wanted to buy fried chicken, Manager Zhang waved generously and said it was on the house—he was in a great mood. He had Lin Zhifeng ring it up while he busied himself in the back kitchen, occasionally poking his head out to chat about the competition.
“I was in the zone writing when suddenly a whole group of people came in, surrounding this young guy about my age. Everyone was calling him ‘General Manager Zhao.’ Man, we’re all in our twenties, but what a difference fate makes!”
