Chapter 44: The Fourth Uncle of the Tang Family

In fact, the friend felt that Tang Rui could hardly be blamed for thinking this way.

In the eyes of the public, Lin Feng had become famous as a victim.

His father had cheated on his mother with her own biological sister, his mother had died because of it, and he himself had been pushed down the stairs. The masses sympathized with him.

However, within high society, Lin Feng’s reputation was far more complicated.

He was infamous.

Every wealthy family valued its reputation. No one would willingly expose their family’s dirty laundry to the entire world, especially not in a way that dragged countless innocent people into the scandal. Yet that was exactly what Lin Feng had done.

At first, people had said that perhaps the boy had simply been too distraught to think clearly, causing him to resort to such destructive methods despite having other ways to deal with the situation.

After all, his actions had not only ruined the adulterous couple and their illegitimate son but had also caused President Lin’s company to go bankrupt, leaving thousands of employees without jobs.

The scandal had even sent the stock prices of the Bai, Lin, and Tang families plummeting, throwing all three families into financial turmoil and completely severing their ties with one another.

The Lin family had suffered the most, despite being completely in the dark about President Lin’s affair. Even now, they had yet to recover. The company’s reputation had been completely ruined, while many of its projects had fallen through after investors pulled out.

Even the Tang family had not escaped unscathed, despite being the most innocent party in the entire scandal.

Executive Director Tang Xulei, the fourth son of the Tang patriarch and Tang Rui’s Fourth Uncle, had initially intended to pull himself together and continue working at the company.

However, people’s mouths were simply too loose.

Everywhere Executive Director Tang went, someone would inevitably bring up the scandal, tearing open wounds that had barely begun to heal.

After all, how humiliating was it for the entire world to know that you had been betrayed by your own wife? That the son you had raised and believed to be your own flesh and blood had actually been fathered by your brother-in-law?

The endless whispers, pointing fingers, and meaningful looks eventually drove the innocent and gentle Fourth Uncle of the Tang family into depression. He had been forced to consult multiple psychiatrists just to cope with the psychological pressure.

In the eyes of the public, Lin Feng was a pitiful victim.

But in the eyes of high society, he had also become someone who did as he pleased without a care for others’ feelings.

Now, several months had passed. The innocent people caught up in the scandal were doing their best to pick themselves up and move forward.

Yet Lin Feng had appeared again, triggering another wave of attention!

At this point, some people in high society had begun to view Lin Feng as someone who was deliberately using the public’s sympathy to gain fame.

Otherwise, why would he not simply stay quietly in one corner and allow the storm to pass? The people who had betrayed him had already been punished. In their eyes, there was no reason for him to keep stirring up the past.

Tang Rui had watched Lin Feng’s videos and pictures taken at the nursing home.

In the video, the boy looked at ease, living a peaceful life surrounded by the adoration of the people around him.

Whenever he remembered his Fourth Uncle’s emaciated appearance and gloom, clearly afraid of stepping out of the house, Tang Rui found himself unable to accept it!

As an erhu practitioner, he could tell that the boy indeed had musical talent.

Now, was he using public sympathy to support his debut or gain fame?

If Lin Feng intended to use the scandal as a stepping stone to gain fame, then Tang Rui would stake his own reputation as a musician to stop the boy’s utilitarian actions!

’If you want to be famous this way, I will make sure you embarrass yourself instead!’

....

Both Tang Rui and his friend had assumed that Lin Feng would take this opportunity to go on stage, perform, and gain even more attention while the online community and the surrounding fans were still focused on him.

However, even after the elders finished their traditional music performance, Lin Feng remained in front of the stage, watching the following performances from below while surrounded by his bodyguards. He did not move an inch.

Tang Rui’s eyes remained fixed on the boy’s soft brown hair, watching closely for any sign of movement.

Yet as one performance after another passed, Lin Feng still made no attempt to go backstage and prepare himself.

Tang Rui began to hesitate.

Was he actually overthinking things?

Perhaps Lin Feng had never intended to use this opportunity to attract attention or make some kind of musical or idol debut.

Had he been wrong about Lin Feng all along?

Just as doubt began to creep into his mind, Tang Rui and his friend saw a member of the planning team approach Lin Feng and whisper something into his ear.

The boy nodded before following the staff member toward the back of the stage.

No.

He hadn’t been wrong.

Tang Rui’s confidence returned immediately.

His hand tightened around the strap of the instrument bag hanging from his shoulder.

If that scrawny boy dared to step onto the stage, he would make sure to embarrass him in front of everyone.

With a cold, serious expression, Tang Rui remained among the audience and waited.

....

Twenty minutes ago.

In the backstage area, a group of people looked at the erhu with its strings snapped and at the specially invited erhu musician, who had some fame in the traditional music industry.

The musician’s fingers were bleeding from where the broken string had recoiled against his hand. The cuts were not deep, but they were enough to leave several fingers stinging and stained with blood.

With his injured fingers, the invited musician could no longer play properly.

"What explanation do you have? Which scoundrel dared to damage my erhu strings?" The musician’s expression was cold and furious as he glared suspiciously at the staff. "If I hadn’t evaded in time, the recoil could have lashed at my face!" ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

He had checked his erhu carefully before leaving it backstage. The instrument had been in perfect condition when he went to visit a few stalls at the festival. Yet now, just before his final performance, one of its strings had somehow snapped.

It also appeared to have been done by someone!

The staff were helpless and regretful. "We are very sorry. There’s no surveillance in the backstage area, so we didn’t discover who did it. We did not expect someone to be so daring."

The musician was angry. "I left my precious instrument in your care, but you just left it unattended. Now that this has happened, this is completely the result of your negligence."

"We are very sorry. We will compensate you for the damages and medical fees! Your fingers are bleeding. Please let us escort you to the clinic so we can stop the bleeding and avoid infection."

The musician, although angry at the unwarranted disaster, had no choice but to swallow his grievances.

He refused to attempt the performance with an injured hand and damaged instrument. After having his fingers treated, he simply decided to withdraw from the finale, angrily leaving with his manager after receiving his compensation.

The rest of the ensemble were still here. However, the specially invited erhu musician could no longer perform the finale.

The other musicians who were part of the hired ensemble, including those playing the pipa, drums, guzheng, and other traditional instruments, looked at each other at a loss.

They could certainly continue playing. However, during the rehearsals, they had designed the erhu to take center stage instead of the other instruments for this musical adaptation.

This musical adaptation was chosen because it was a household name to everyone, especially after it was used in a famous animated film.

If they played without the erhu, something crucial would be missing, causing the performance to fail.

They would rather not play at all.

The ten-minute performance had been an important part of the festival’s closing program, and the planning team was suddenly left with a gap to fill.

They considered asking the previous performers to take the stage again, but that wasn’t practical. Each performer had only rehearsed a single piece, and none of them could easily prepare another performance on such short notice.

The planning team was at a loss.

Then someone suddenly remembered.

"Wait. Isn’t that famous Lin Feng still here in the square?"

Everyone immediately looked at one another.

Lin Feng!

The planning team naturally knew about the viral post that had exploded across the capital overnight. Because of it, Bohai Town’s Spring Festival had also attracted considerable attention online. They had seen the videos and photographs of Lin Feng and knew that the boy had decent musical skills.

If they asked Lin Feng to perform, wouldn’t that both satisfy everyone’s curiosity about him and fill the missing ten-minute slot in the finale?