Chapter 80: Apology

Sighing in relief, Lin Feng smiled gently.

"As long as Uncle and Aunt can see my sincerity, I’m satisfied. I was just... too overwhelmed by my emotions back then and didn’t think things through properly. I’d also like to offer my sincerest apologies to the rest of the Lin family for the trouble I’ve caused."

As he spoke, the boy clasped his hands in a traditional gesture of apology and bowed his head solemnly.

His soft brown hair caught the warm light, its strands gleaming faintly as he lowered his head.

In the modern world, such an old-fashioned gesture might have looked comical coming from someone else. Yet, Lin Feng carried it off with such natural grace that no one inside the private room found it amusing.

The boy’s expression was solemn, and his sincerity plain to see.

Something inside the Lin family couple finally loosened, and they sighed. Their shoulders relaxed, and their eyes unconsciously showed a hint of softness.

"Good boy, Xiao Feng, raise your head. In this matter, you’re the one who was hurt the most. The elders did not take care of the matter well, causing the juniors to suffer unnecessarily."

The boy shook his head. "Please don’t say that. The Lin family is blameless, the Bai family is blameless. It was the junior who was reckless."

The beautiful boy finally looked very pleasing to Lin Wei’s and Rong Shuang’s eyes again, and even the usually stern Lin Chengye nodded in approval.

Although the investment was important, Lin Wei and Rong Shuang could not deny that, as the boy’s elders, they were moved by their nephew’s clear respect and sincerity.

Thinking back to the events that had happened back then, they wondered how much despair the usually calm and quiet boy must have felt for him to lose his mind.

In the end, it all came down to that bastard Lin Dong.

The burden on everyone’s shoulders was finally lifted, and the dinner went on smoothly and harmoniously. The elders from both families moved on to financial matters, discussing the investment and its terms. From time to time, Grandpa Bai would offer the younger generation a few words of guidance, drawing on his years of experience.

Before long, Lin Feng found himself struggling to keep up.

Eventually, he excused himself and headed to the washroom for a breather.

All that talk of investments, shareholding, and financial arrangements had left his head spinning. He couldn’t understand how Lin Chengye could listen so enthusiastically, looking as though every word was a treasure worth remembering.

Lin Feng washed his hands at the sink, thinking of this, but he did not realize that the corners of his lips were turned up and the gentleness of his brows betrayed his inner happiness.

To the person standing behind him, however, that smile was an eyesore.

"Why do you look so happy? How can you still smile after everything you’ve done?"

The sudden voice caught Lin Feng off guard, but remembering what his cousins had told him, he calmed down.

He straightened up, and while wiping his wet hands with a paper towel, he turned around with a calm face.

The warm light fell upon the boy dressed in white, adding a glowing halo around him.

He was dressed entirely in white, from his long Tang-style suit with its mandarin collar and loose sleeves that fell gracefully around his wrists to his equally loose trousers.

It was the sort of stark white usually associated with mourning and sorrow, yet on him, the color seemed to shed its solemnity, giving him an air of fragile innocence and otherworldly purity.

Lin Xiaoxiao was initially ready to rush forward and slap the person.

But after seeing the boy turn around, his limpid amber eyes clear, his skin fair and moist, and his lips a pale pink, Lin Xiaoxiao suddenly forgot the next words she was about to say.

Lin Feng recognized her the moment he saw her.

Lin Xiaoxiao, the thorny rose of the Lin family.

She was the very person his eldest brother had warned him about—the one who harbored the greatest hostility toward him.

"Xiaoxiao..." Lin Feng sighed.

According to the memories of the original owner of this body, Lin Xiaoxiao was not a bad person. She was simply a little reckless, the straightforward sort who dared to love and hate without reservation. Her friends adored her, while her enemies hated her to the core.

Lin Xiaoxiao’s lips moved, but for a moment, no words came out. At last, she found her voice. The hesitation in her expression vanished, her eyes sharpened, and she glared at him coldly.

"So you finally remember that you have a cousin in the Lin family?" Her voice was laced with anger. "When you did all those things, did you ever stop to think about what would happen to the rest of us?"

"Xiaoxiao—"

"You’re hurt, we know!" Her voice rose, her emotions surging as she clenched her fists. "But does everyone in the world have to suffer just because you’ve been hurt? If you want to hurt someone, then hurt the person who hurt you!"

Lin Feng closed his mouth and fell silent.

Lin Xiaoxiao no longer cared whether her voice attracted the attention of people outside the men’s restroom. The grievances she had kept bottled up for so long finally burst forth, spilling out in an uncontrollable torrent.

The moment she received the message, she had rushed here as fast as she could, and the moment she entered the restaurant, she saw the boy enter the male restroom and followed immediately.

Who would have thought she would see him looking so at peace and happy!

"You’re so selfish! You only ever think about yourself! What about the people who had absolutely nothing to do with what happened back then? Are we to blame, too?"

"You have no idea how difficult things have been for us! You did whatever you wanted, then just patted yourself on the butt and walked away, leaving us to clean up the mess! We couldn’t even find you!"

"If you wanted to teach your aunt and your father a lesson, you could have told us! The Lin family wouldn’t have just stood by and done nothing. Even the Bai family wouldn’t have sat idly by!"

"But what did you do? You just wanted to satisfy your own anger! You wanted to destroy the entire world just because you felt your own world had been destroyed! But what did we do to deserve all this? Why should we have to suffer for what happened to you?!"

Each word struck deeper than the last, raising inexplicable emotions inside Lin Feng.

Lin Feng lowered his gaze.

He wanted to explain himself, but what could he possibly say? That he was not the person who had committed those acts? That he carried memories and guilt that did not truly belong to him?