5: Chapter 5: Didn't go to school?

At noon, the family gathered around the dining table.

The Lin Couple was kind and warm. Knowing that Lin Xiao had lived a difficult life all these years, they kept piling food onto his plate.

Lin Xiao didn't refuse and ate with gusto.

It had to be said, the Lin family's auntie was truly an excellent cook.

In stark contrast to the atmosphere were Lin Yu and Lin Chuge.

Lin Yu tightly clenched his left hand under the table.

Seeing how good The Lin Couple was to Lin Xiao, he felt extremely displeased but dared not show it.

Lin Chuge, however, wore her dissatisfaction on her face. She remained silent, occasionally casting looks of disdain and curiosity.

She both hated Lin Xiao and wanted to know what that inner voice from earlier was all about.

Everyone at the table had their own hidden agendas.

Finally, seeing that Lin Xiao had eaten almost enough, Lin Qingshan and Su Xiumei exchanged glances.

"By the way, A-Xiao, your mother and I discussed it just now. Since you've returned, you'll eventually have to take over the family company. We were wondering if you'd be interested in coming to the company to take a look?"

This was the result of the discussion between Lin Qingshan and Su Xiumei just a moment ago.

They were still worried and wanted to find out as soon as possible why the Lin family would go bankrupt in the future.

However, they couldn't ask Lin Xiao directly, unwilling to let him discover that they could hear his thoughts.

After much deliberation, they concluded the best method was to have Lin Xiao enter the company.

Spending long periods at the company, Lin Xiao's inner voice would surely reveal something.

Lin Xiao paused as he ate, looked up, and said in surprise, "Dad, Mom, but I don't know how to do anything."

"It's fine, it's fine. You can start from the bottom. Besides, the company will be yours in the future, so there's no harm in getting to know it a bit first."

Lin Qingshan thought Lin Xiao was truly being humble.

Unexpectedly, the next second, he heard Lin Xiao's inner voice.

[I'm already a Rich Second Generation, why would I still need to work? Isn't it better to just slack off?]

[Besides, I still have to go to university. There's someone waiting for me to teach them a lesson there!]

Lin Xiao's inner voice sounded somewhat irritable and impatient, yet his face remained very calm.

Lin Qingshan's eyes twitched slightly, thinking to himself that his biological son's acting skills weren't bad either.

Su Xiumei heard her son's desire to attend school and realized that perhaps due to poor conditions over the years, her son had missed out on educational opportunities.

She immediately tugged gently on Lin Qingshan's sleeve and changed her mind. "Honey, we might indeed be a bit too anxious. A-Xiao is still young and should go to school first. It won't be too late for him to come to the company after he graduates."

"Dad, Mom, I also think younger brother Lin Xiao should go to school."

At this moment, Lin Yu spoke up, uncharacteristically.

Lin Xiao curled his lips.

Lin Yu really had a thick skin. Just a moment ago, when he was causing a scene and wanting to leave, he was acting pitiful and calling them 'Mr. Lin' and 'Mrs. Lin' at every turn. Why was he calling them Dad and Mom again now?

Lin Yu recalled the information he had previously investigated; he wouldn't miss this opportunity to humiliate Lin Xiao.

"Dad, there's still half a year until next year's college entrance exam. Our university is currently collaborating with an external institution for admissions; you can get in just by spending some money."

Lin Yu said, feigning sincerity.

Lin Qingshan frowned slightly.

If he remembered correctly, the institutions recruiting at this time were likely just diploma mills affiliated with the school.

Graduating by paying money—that degree would be more of a stain than a qualification.

A stain on one's intelligence.

According to investigations, Lin Xiao had not taken the college entrance exam before.

For someone without even grades, a legitimate school truly couldn't be entered.

If he didn't want to repeat a year and wait for the exam next year, the only path was to send him abroad.

Lin Qingshan hesitated, rubbing his chin.

But at this very moment, Lin Xiao suddenly smiled. "Dad, Mom, I forgot to tell you, I do have a school. It's exactly the A University where Lin Yu is."

"Dad, Mom, it seems younger brother Lin Xiao really wants to go to school; he's already enrolled himself."

A flash of mockery crossed Lin Yu's eyes.

Lin Xiao pretended not to hear Lin Yu's sarcasm, took out his phone, and opened a student backend interface. "Finance major."

"Huh? Going to such a diploma mill to study finance? Aren't you afraid of being..."

Before the word 'laughed at' could be uttered, Lin Yu stared fixedly at Lin Xiao's phone screen.

A University's student backend interface was quite different from other schools; it was carefully designed and very distinctive.

Only current students of the school could use it; even those affiliated institutions couldn't access it.

And what was on Lin Xiao's phone right now was exactly that authentic student backend.

A University's Finance major cutoff score could almost rank in the top three nationwide!

How could Lin Xiao possibly have gotten in?

After a moment of shock, Lin Yu's expression quickly relaxed.

He absolutely did not believe that Lin Xiao could truly be admitted to A University; this so-called admission interface was 100% fake.

He chuckled and said, "I say, younger brother Lin Xiao, wanting to go to school is a good thing, but you shouldn't fake things to deceive yourself like this. Taking a screenshot and Photoshopping it just to trick Mom and Dad—I've really seen too much of this kind of thing..."

As he spoke, he tapped on Lin Xiao's phone screen a few times, wanting to expose Lin Xiao's lie.

But unexpectedly, the interface scrolled up and down normally.

It wasn't an image!

"This, this is outrageous! Someone actually faked A University's specially designed student website? Report, must report!"

Lin Yu was somewhat angry.

What annoyed him, even more, was that this forgery technology was getting better and better, causing him to lose face in front of his parents.

In his heart, he would rather believe that Lin Xiao had spent a large amount of money to create a fake to show off than believe for one second that Lin Xiao could actually get into A University.

Lin Xiao saw Lin Yu's thoughts and couldn't be bothered to continue arguing.

Whether it was real or fake, he knew it in his heart.

Besides, as the saying goes, the burden of proof lies with the claimant.

If Lin Yu questioned his student status, he needed to prove it was fake first, rather than Lin Xiao having to prove it was real.

Seeing Lin Xiao not speaking, Lin Yu thought he was feeling guilty.

He continued relentlessly, "Dad, Mom, you must investigate this matter thoroughly; don't be deceived by him!"

Lin Yu's tone was very impatient. Su Xiumei frowned with some displeasure.

"Xiao Yu, haven't I taught you not to speculate about others with malice for no reason? We originally wanted A-Xiao to go directly to the company. What reason would he have to lie to us?"

"Mom, I didn't mean it like that..."

Lin Yu also suddenly realized that he had acted a bit too impatiently and quickly changed his tune. "I was also worried that younger brother Lin Xiao had been deceived by people outside. Just a few days ago, the news said that someone pretended to be a student to scam people out of money."

Hearing these words, Su Xiumei's expression finally eased a little.

Lin Qingshan, of course, also knew about Lin Yu's little schemes.

However, it was a fact that Lin Xiao hadn't taken the college entrance exam, and he really hadn't been in school for the past half year.

"A-Xiao, actually, what Xiao Yu said makes sense. Why don't you tell Mom and Dad specifically, so you don't really get scammed..."

"Sigh."

Lin Xiao gave a light sigh and silently put down his chopsticks.

He took out his phone on the spot and dialed a number.