Chapter 88: She Told Me to Go Up, So I Went Up?
The banquet officially began, with Lin’s father taking the stage to give the opening speech.
“Thank you all for coming to celebrate my daughter’s birthday. Now, I hereby declare this birthday banquet officially open!”
Everyone quietly waited for the birthday girl to make her appearance.
Lin Rumeng, dressed in an evening gown, linked arms with Lin grandfather and slowly walked down. The banquet lights followed her as she moved, highlighting her figure.
She eventually stopped at the center of the stage.
Whispers began among the guests.
“The Lin family heiress is really quite pretty.”
“Mrs. Lin herself is beautiful. Her child couldn’t turn out bad, could she?”
Someone spoke in a low voice: “Honestly, I think the real heiress isn’t as pretty as the fake one.”
The person they were talking to nodded in agreement.
These comments weren’t heard by those on stage.
Listening to the praise from below, Lin Rumeng’s smile grew even brighter.
When it was her turn to showcase her talent, Lin Rumeng picked up the violin and began to play. When the performance ended, thunderous applause erupted.
“The piece was so beautiful!”
“Yes, she really has talent.”
“She’s beautiful and talented too.”
The flattery poured out one after another. In truth, everyone was silently comparing her to the previous “fake heiress.” By comparison, Lin Rumeng fell short: she wasn’t as pretty, her skills weren’t as strong, and she had only been practicing for eleven years while the other girl had already entered the music association and had better grades.
Without comparison, there would be no hurt.
Among the crowd, Lin Rumeng didn’t see Lin Yuejiu’s figure.
Lin grandfather asked, “Rumeng, who are you looking for?”
Lin Rumeng smiled.
Lin Yimo immediately sensed that trouble was about to arise.
Sure enough, she said: “I’m looking for my sister.”
Hearing this, Lin grandfather’s expression immediately darkened. “She’s here too? Who invited her? She hasn’t given up, has she?”
Whispers spread among the guests.
“Given up? What happened in between?”
“I feel like there’s some big scandal here.”
“Something must have happened before.”
“I told you, Lin grandfather is going to be angry.”
“Tsk tsk, it feels like a grand family drama is about to unfold.”
Lin Yimo watched Lin Rumeng, who had no intention of explaining, and his brows knitted tightly, as if they could squash a mosquito—she was doing it on purpose.
“Sorry, I have an invitation.”
A voice came from the crowd. People turned to look, and there stood Lin Yuejiu with Xu Nianshen at the back. She slowly stepped forward, and the crowd gradually cleared a path for her. Calmly, she took out the invitation and showed her name to Lin grandfather.
“See? She personally invited me.”
At this moment, Lin Rumeng tried to explain: “Yes, grandfather, I invited my sister. I didn’t tell you earlier, sorry about that. After all, my sister lived in the Lin family for eleven years. I thought it would be good for her to come back and see, and also to see her parents.”
Lin grandfather snorted coldly. “The Lin family has long severed ties with her. She personally signed the document cutting off our parent-child relationship.”
Lin Rumeng bit her lip: “But grandfather, she still has the surname Lin.”
“Pfft.” Lin Yuejiu laughed openly, giving no face.
“Why are you laughing, sister?” Lin Rumeng noticed that Lin grandfather’s expression had also changed, and others’ gazes toward her were strange.
Lin Yuejiu smiled lightly and looked at her. “What? Is the surname Lin monopolized by your family? I already had the surname Lin when you ‘adopted’ me from the orphanage. Lin Yuejiu has nothing to do with your Lin family. The world isn’t just your family with the surname Lin.”
Many students from Class 2A secretly snickered, seeming to mock her.
Lin Rumeng felt her face burning, but she maintained a smile. “Really? I thought your surname followed our family.”
She quickly tried to change the topic. “Sister, I just played the violin earlier. Did you hear it?”
“The whole room was silent, everyone heard it.”
“Then, sister, you should come up and play a piece too. My skill isn’t good, and I’ve studied for a short time, but you’re different. You studied violin in the Lin family for eleven years, so yours must be better than mine.”
Lin Yuejiu lazily lifted her eyes to look at her.
She really knew how to speak—using that to imply that she had stolen the position of the true heiress, learning talents under the guise of the Lin family’s heiress.
“Sister, aren’t you going to come up?”
Already knowing her ill intentions, Lin Yuejiu was unprepared for such a public jab meant to embarrass her in front of so many people. That irritated her. If it were a private conflict, it would have been acceptable, at least everyone would know the context. But this public humiliation… she had endured the past without arguing, but now she truly had had enough.
Was it because she didn’t react before that Lin Rumeng assumed she had no temper and was easy to bully? Even a cornered rabbit will bite.
“Go up? Go where? You want me to go up and play just because you said so? Who do you think you are? If I remember correctly, we shouldn’t have any relation, right? Today, calling me ‘sister, sister’… makes me wonder if you’re like me, brought from the orphanage by the Lin family.”
Lin Yuejiu spoke without pausing, her words slightly fast but audible to everyone present.
Everyone else was surprised. The Lin family on stage didn’t expect her to speak like that. In their memory, Lin Yuejiu had never been like this—her tone sharp, her face showing some impatience.
Xu Nianshen was also seeing this side of her for the first time.
The students of Class 2A were stunned. “The Lin goddess can be so fierce? But… it’s kind of impressive!”
Lin grandfather didn’t react immediately, but when he did, he was furious. “How dare you speak! Rumeng kindly invited you, giving you a chance to perform on stage, and this is your attitude?!”
“Hmph, ‘kindly’?” This time it was Lin Yuejiu who snorted coldly. “Your eyes are the only ones that think she’s being kind.”
“What do you mean? Is this how you speak to elders? Did you learn manners in the Lin family? Is this how I taught you?”
Lin Yuejiu found it even more amusing. “Teach me? Did you ever? From the first day I entered the Lin family, did you ever show me a good face? And now you’re claiming this is how you taught me?”
Lin grandfather was momentarily speechless.
She continued: “Did I say anything wrong? What relation does she have to me? Just because she told me to come up, I should? Should I call her ‘sister’ just because she insists? I corrected her long ago, but she refused and insisted. Now she wants to use the word ‘sister’ to bind me… how interesting.”
