Grandma Lin's maternal family was once a renowned clan, though it had since fallen into decline.
Back then, when Grandma Lin chose to marry Grandpa Lin, a penniless junior police officer, her entire family was against it. They hoped she would marry a relatively wealthy coal mine owner instead.
The usually gentle Grandma Lin, however, resolutely eloped with Grandpa Lin to Nancheng for the sake of their love. From then on, she cut off all contact with her family.
Later, as Grandpa Lin gradually rose to the position of deputy director of the local police bureau, Grandma Lin often missed her family. Summoning up her courage, she re - established contact with her maternal family.
But their attitude remained cold. Her mother even hurled insults at her.
It was then that Grandma Lin realized that her family had sent her to school, taught her piano and dance, all in the hopes of marrying her off well at the age of eighteen to save their failing family.
They looked down on Grandpa Lin. Even when he reached the position of deputy director, in their eyes, he was still just a powerless junior police officer.
From that moment on, Grandma Lin completely lost faith in her family and never reached out to them again.
Later, Grandpa Lin was transferred to the provincial police bureau. By chance, he met a noble who admired his integrity, intelligence, and high - efficiency in solving cases. The noble personally promoted him to the position of deputy director of the provincial bureau.
The provincial bureau and the municipal bureau were worlds apart.
Just then, Grandma Lin's younger brother got into a fight with someone over a woman, leaving the other person seriously injured. He was then imprisoned.
The other party was wealthy and refused to reach a settlement, insisting that Grandma Lin's brother should go to jail.
Only then did the maternal family remember that they had a daughter and son - in - law, and the son - in - law was a proper deputy director of the provincial bureau.
Grandma Lin's maternal family came to them with smiles. Grandpa Lin had a meal with the injured party and owed them a favor. The other party, out of respect for Grandpa Lin, released Grandma Lin's brother.
After that, Grandma Lin's relationship with her maternal family gradually improved. After all, blood was thicker than water. The two families became ordinary relatives, visiting each other during festivals.
However, what happened later completely turned the two families against each other.
It was the incident when Lin Yao was kidnapped as a child.
Originally, Grandpa Lin had protected his family well. He even took detours when going home to avoid being followed. He knew that his profession had offended countless bad people and was afraid that his wife and children would be retaliated against.
But no matter how much he guarded against outside threats, he couldn't prevent the greedy and unreasonable relatives within the family.
Grandma Lin's elder brother was bribed by a man. The man said he wanted to ask Grandpa Lin for help but didn't know how to get in touch or where he lived. He just wanted a chance to visit in person.
The man was generous, offering a reward of 100,000 yuan just for Grandpa Lin's home address. He didn't need them to act as intermediaries, just a chance to visit.
In the 1970s, 100,000 yuan was an astronomical figure. An ordinary worker only earned a few dozen yuan a month. The money was enough to make Grandma Lin's elder brother's eyes light up.
Without much thought, he directly told the man Grandpa Lin's home address.
He never expected that this man was not someone seeking help but a subordinate of a vengeful enemy.
The enemy's younger brother was personally arrested by Grandpa Lin and executed. They had been waiting for a chance to take revenge, but Grandpa Lin was so cautious that they never found an opportunity.
Finally, they managed to find Grandma Lin's relative and easily got the address.
The enemy's subordinate staked out in front of Grandpa Lin's house for half a month. After getting to know the family members, they waited for the right moment to strike.
The other three children in the Lin family were already teenagers and difficult to control. Only Lin Yao was a little baby. They targeted Lin Yao and kidnapped him, along with two of his childhood friends.
The enemy wanted to force Grandpa Lin to commit suicide by threatening Lin Yao's life to avenge his younger brother.
During this period, the enemy's subordinates tortured Lin Yao's two friends in front of him.
Lin Yao watched helplessly as his two innocent friends were brutally killed because of his father.
In just three days of being kidnapped, the two friends endured inhumane torture and were finally thrown into the wilderness.
After that, Lin Yao went crazy.
He was in a state of madness for a long time.
From fear to collapse to numbness, the Lin family watched helplessly as Lin Yao hovered on the edge of the abyss and finally fell into it.
If not for the Lin family's three - generation tradition of being upright and just, Lin Yao might have grown into an anti - social demon.
In fact, he was almost there. Just after he came of age, Lin Yao founded the current company group. He used strategies to gradually annex other companies and became the largest.
Secretly, he destroyed the lair of the man who kidnapped him. With his last bit of sanity, he didn't kill the enemy but sent him to prison instead.
Because of Lin Yao's incident, Grandma Lin's maternal family disappeared for a long time. They knew that Lin Yao had psychological problems. Whether they were afraid of Grandma Lin's revenge or felt guilty, they didn't show up in front of the Lin family for a long time.
The second year after Lin Yao became successful, Grandma Lin's elder brother brought her mother and the whole family to visit. They knelt and apologized.
Grandma Lin couldn't bear to see her own parents kneeling in front of her. Lin Yao also knew his mother's difficulties, so he waved it off.
However, the Lin family just didn't say anything; they didn't really forgive them.
Unexpectedly, this family was so pushy. Knowing that Grandma Lin liked girls, when Grandma Lin's nephew's first daughter was born, they rushed to ask Lin Yao to adopt the child.
At that time, Lin Yao was only twenty - seven years old. It was far from the time when he needed to adopt a child.
Grandma Lin politely refused, but they didn't give up. They came to visit again and again, saying all kinds of nice things. Finally, Grandma Lin's mother personally threatened them, saying that Grandma Lin was an ungrateful person and that Lin Yao would never find a wife to marry in his life and that he should think about his maternal family for his huge fortune.
As soon as these words were spoken, the Lin family was completely enraged. Lin Yao counted all of their family's crimes: greed, selfishness, self - serving, harming relatives...
Finally, Lin Yao threatened that if they continued to pester Grandma Lin, the little wealth they had left would be taken back. Only then did this family finally stop.
Three years later, no one expected them to have the nerve to come again, even eyeing Lin Yao's property.
"What's wrong with your family this time?" Grandma Lin finally pulled herself out of her memories and turned to coldly look at her niece - in - law in front of her.