Chapter 92: It’s Our Turn to Protect Him
Lin Jiangye went over in the morning and was back by afternoon.
He didn’t bother with the follow-up. As long as the police surrounded the whole apartment building and searched every unit one by one, they would naturally find Fang Mian and Fang Dongling.
Not to mention—he’d already caught the three men who attacked Fang Mian. If Gao City’s police still couldn’t find the people after that… well, that had nothing to do with him, haha. It would only mean they were just that incompetent.
But even though the operation was short, Lin Jiangye’s heart felt utterly exhausted.
He went home, tossed the little cow-pattern kitten into Jiang Xin’s arms, then said nothing and headed straight for his room. With a thump, he collapsed onto the soft bed.
And lay there face-down, unmoving.
Downstairs, Jiang Xin and the others were confused. Then they all looked at Bai Zhengwen, who had gone out with Lin Jiangye—only to find his face didn’t look good either.
“Was this case really difficult?” Jiang Xin asked, then immediately felt something off.
If it were truly difficult, Lin Jiangye wouldn’t have returned this quickly. So… was the case especially brutal?
But Bai Zhengwen shook his head. He glanced toward the second floor, then beckoned Jiang Xin over.
In this house, he didn’t necessarily trust everyone, but Jiang Xin was fine.
“Come with me. I need to tell you something. Oh—and Deputy Captain Shang Fuyan too…” Bai Zhengwen scratched his head. He wasn’t sure whether to tell Shang Fuyan. After all, this was Lin Jiangye’s private matter.
Maybe he shouldn’t say it yet. If Lin Jiangye wanted Shang Fuyan to know, he would tell him himself.
He told Jiang Xin first because he was worried the Fang family might shamelessly show up later—and Jiang Xin, not understanding anything, might open the door for them.
Jiang Xin, still completely baffled, was led to the back courtyard by Bai Zhengwen.
At the same time, the German Shepherd returned. For once it didn’t go looking for its dear wife first—instead it walked up to Tiger Mom.
[Mountain God, there’s something I need to tell you.]
Tiger Mom had been lying quietly in the sun. But as the content got more and more outrageous, she slowly opened a pair of pale golden eyes.
[The cub’s… human parents?]
In the next second, her tiger eyes widened. The majesty of the Mountain God snapped back into place.
[What do they want?]
The German Shepherd instinctively backed away several steps, ears pressing down. Watching the Amur tiger rise with anger, it couldn’t help shivering.
This was the power of the forest’s king. Even after living together for so long, once the Mountain God became serious, none of the animals in the house dared disobey her.
The German Shepherd steadied itself and reported everything that had happened.
Tiger Mom let out a low growl, impatience and suppressed fury rising.
She glanced at Tianheng, who was already flattened on the ground, whimpering that the German Shepherd hadn’t said a word wrong.
That long tiger tail lashed the ground with a violent crack, carving a deep mark.
The German Shepherd stared at the mark and thought: if that tail struck a human calf, it would probably break the leg bone.
If a Labrador’s tail was a stick, then a tiger’s tail was a barbed iron whip—one strike would split skin and flesh.
Tiger Mom paced two circles. Her rage didn’t cool—it only burned hotter.
She quickly went back inside and headed upstairs toward the master bedroom, wanting to check on her human cub.
Just as Bai Zhengwen finished telling Jiang Xin and saw Tiger Mom heading up, he and Jiang Xin immediately realized: the German Shepherd and Yuheng must have told the Mountain God.
“Telling the Mountain God is right. Something this big—how could you hide it from the mom?”
Jiang Xin and Bai Zhengwen exchanged a look and suddenly laughed, the heaviness in their chests easing by more than half.
They’d been too trapped in appearances. So what if biological parents came? Lin Jiangye’s mom now was a wild Amur tiger!
Jiang Xin let out a mocking laugh. “I’m suddenly curious—if they come, what happens when they face the Mountain God?”
Will they be afraid? Terrified? Shaking so hard they curl into a ball?
He even maliciously wondered whether they’d be scared into peeing their pants.
Without knowing the house situation, this place was terrifying—forget the Mountain God; just Tianshu, Tianxuan, Tianji, Tianquan—four fierce beasts—were enough to scare most people away. Add Yuheng and Kaiyang’s wolf howls, and then the crows circling the sky in a dark cloud…
Woohoo. Just imagining it made Jiang Xin feel satisfied to the point of bliss.
But still—if possible, he’d rather those people never show up.
Whether or not they were driven away, their appearance would hurt Lin Jiangye. Even if he didn’t “hurt,” he’d definitely feel uncomfortable.
Thinking that way, Jiang Xin hoped they would never appear at all.
Meanwhile, Tiger Mom had already entered Lin Jiangye’s bedroom. The human cub was lying limp on the bed, face-down, not moving.
If Tiger Mom couldn’t still sense his living vitality, he would’ve looked dead.
A tiger’s footsteps made no sound. Only when Tiger Mom climbed onto the bed—making the mattress sink heavily—did Lin Jiangye’s mind finally surface from the fog.
But he thought it was Zang’ao or the other cubs, so he didn’t move.
Not until something heavy pressed against him did Lin Jiangye realize something was off. He jerked his head up—
and met Tiger Mom’s eyes, calm and understanding.
In that instant, waves of sourness and dull pain surged up in Lin Jiangye’s chest.
“Mom…” Right now he was just a child who’d been wronged outside—coming home to cry to his mother.
Lin Jiangye felt it was impossible not to care about this.
Impossible.
Before coming back, he’d casually probed Hong Xingwang and learned the Fang family hadn’t become rich overnight—fifty or sixty years ago they were already wealthy locally.
Meaning: they didn’t abandon him because they were poor.
And after he arrived at the welfare institute, the director and caretakers never said he’d had a severe illness.
So it wasn’t because of a genetic disease or terminal condition either.
Family not poor. He not sick.
Then what kind of reason could make them abandon a healthy baby boy?
Why?
Lin Jiangye didn’t want to be “taken back,” but he desperately wanted to know why—why they threw him away.
That question had been buried inside him for more than twenty years, unresolved.
Seeing her human cub so deeply wronged, Tiger Mom’s rage burned even hotter.
She had never seen Lin Jiangye like this. Not when facing poachers. Not when facing that subadult idiot tiger. Even when injured, he’d never looked like this.
Parents or not—this human was her cub. Anyone who tried to hurt her cub should be bitten to death.
Tiger Mom leaned in and rubbed against him, rumbling deep in her throat—hrrr, hrrr, hrrr.
Lin Jiangye understood what that sound meant. He opened his arms and hugged her tightly.
Breathing in the grassy scent on her fur, he felt his emotions settle unexpectedly.
“Tiger Mom, I’m fine.”
After a while, Tiger Mom’s anger eased a little. Her rumble turned into a softer purr—grrrr-grrrr.
[They aren’t worth it.]
Not worth what? She didn’t say the rest, but Lin Jiangye understood: not worth your trouble, not worth putting your attention on trash.
“Wuuu…” Lin Jiangye hugged Tiger Mom and rolled around on the bed. Being comforted by Mom felt so, so good.
Only much later did Lin Jiangye finally, in a small and aggrieved voice, tell Tiger Mom what was truly stuck in his heart.
But Tiger Mom asked back:
[Does the reason matter?]
Did it matter?
Maybe it did. But the outcome couldn’t be changed. No matter what he uncovered, it wouldn’t truly soothe his heart.
Lin Jiangye fell silent. He didn’t know whether he should investigate.
Investigate, and he might have to contact that family.
Don’t investigate… and he still felt unwilling.
His two brains felt like they were fighting. One side said: the result will be the same, why waste energy, you might only get hurt more. The other side whispered like a devil: aren’t you curious?
He closed his eyes, exhaled slowly.
“I… don’t know what to choose.”
His heart felt chaotic—and tired.
Tiger Mom rubbed against him again, coaxing patiently.
[Then don’t rush. When you’re calm, we’ll choose.]
[We’ll always be with you. Don’t be afraid.]
Lin Jiangye felt his tears almost burst out again. He shoved his face into Tiger Mom’s thick chest fur.
Tiger Mom copied humans, gently patting his head with a paw—gently, because even slightly too hard and her cub’s skull would be gone.
—
But this time, Lin Jiangye didn’t even need to act. Someone was already investigating the Fang family for him.
After two days, Gao City’s Major Crimes Unit finally found the seriously injured Fang Mian and the heavily traumatized Fang Dongling.
Seeing their youngest child with dull, empty eyes, the Fang family members were heartbroken to the extreme.
While they were wailing and crying, Hong Xingwang hid behind his subordinates and quietly sent Shang Fuyan a message.
He told Shang Fuyan that the Fang family strongly resembled Lin Jiangye, and also that the Fang family’s eldest son and second daughter had been pestering Lin Jiangye.
“I’m not sure whether they’ll come looking for Consultant Lin later. I’m worried they’ll cause trouble.”
In Gao City, the Fang family might not fully cover the sky with one hand, but “immense power” definitely applied.
And from Hong Xingwang’s understanding, their rise hadn’t been clean.
Back when Shang Fuyan worked in Gao City for a while, that was the period the Fang family behaved the best.
They didn’t dare move too boldly even now—because Shang Fuyan was next door. Gao City and Yue City were different cities, but Yue City’s administrative level was higher. If something big happened, the one who might take over the investigation could easily be Shang Fuyan.
Hong Xingwang didn’t know Lin Jiangye’s childhood details, but Lin Jiangye’s earlier words clearly implied: he was accusing the Fang family of abandoning him.
And now Lin Jiangye had grown up, built a career, and had close ties to Yue City’s bureau. If they “took him back,” the benefits would be enormous.
With a deal that good, Hong Xingwang didn’t believe the Fang family could resist temptation.
Even if Fang Song and Xing Shanyue felt guilty and didn’t want to disturb him, the Fang family wasn’t run by just those two. If they didn’t want it, others would pressure them.
Even if Lin Jiangye refused, that didn’t mean they wouldn’t try other methods.
With capital people around, they couldn’t go hard. But they could go soft:
Moral blackmail. Family-emotion blackmail. Public opinion blackmail.
Lin Jiangye wanted to open a wildlife zoo. If his online reputation got ruined, the zoo would be hard to run.
And Lin Jiangye was capable, sure—but he was still young. He probably hadn’t seen as many shameless people as career cops had.
Hong Xingwang couldn’t help much from next door, so Shang Fuyan needed to keep a close eye on it.
When Shang Fuyan read the message, his gaze darkened instantly.
“The Fang family…”
He knew Gao City’s Fang family, but he never imagined Lin Jiangye was connected to them.
Maybe when he left Gao City, the Fang family’s second daughter was still studying away. He’d never met her, so he’d never linked them.
In response to Hong Xingwang’s reminder, Shang Fuyan sincerely thanked him.
“Ah, it’s nothing,” Hong Xingwang said. “As long as Consultant Lin is okay, that’s what matters.”
Hearing that, Shang Fuyan’s expression softened.
Perhaps after taking a hard fall, Hong Xingwang finally shed his arrogance and stopped constantly competing and comparing.
That was good.
Hong Xingwang had plenty of personality flaws, but at his core, he really was a decent cop.
Over the next few days, Shang Fuyan kept digging into the Fang family’s history from over twenty years ago.
When he first met Lin Jiangye, he had already run a thorough background check. The past eighteen years of data still sat in his computer.
He investigated the former welfare institute director. When he learned the elderly woman was still alive and living well, he asked a friend to go talk to her.
Surprisingly, the seventy-something-year-old director still remembered Lin Jiangye.
“You mean Xiao Lin… of course I remember.” Even though the institute had been shut down for five years, she still had a clear impression of that child.
“He was very determined. Before he was even an adult, he was already secretly earning money to go to school. He… lived very tired.”
But in a welfare institute, who didn’t?
Everyone was an orphan. No parents to support them. All just children.
Not only were the children tired—the adults were tired too.
The salary was tiny, and government subsidies shrank year by year. To keep the institute running, the caretakers had to care for children while also working outside.
Over time, everyone inside carried resentment.
“How is he now?” The director’s eyes grew wet as she remembered that obedient yet stubborn child.
Shang Fuyan’s friend thought of Consultant Lin and smiled lightly.
“Pretty good. He’s raising a big bunch of cats and dogs, and he’s building a wildlife zoo now.”
A zoo… that child did say he liked animals, didn’t he?
The director narrowed her eyes, trying to recall more.
Then the friend asked, “May I ask—where did you find him back then?”
That question… was interesting.
The director didn’t answer. She asked back instead.
“Did his biological parents come looking for him?”
Her sharpness hadn’t dulled with age. Her gentle look instantly turned guarded.
The friend froze. He didn’t understand why mentioning biological parents changed her attitude so dramatically.
Shouldn’t it be a good thing if biological parents appeared?
He tried to ask indirectly, but the old woman closed her eyes and leaned back in her rocking chair—unmoved by anything.
With no choice, the friend contacted Shang Fuyan and reported what happened. When Shang Fuyan heard about her guarded attitude toward the biological parents, he immediately sensed something wrong.
“Put her on the phone. I’ll explain personally.”
What Shang Fuyan said to her afterward, the friend didn’t know. But he clearly saw her expression shift from guarded, to shocked, to disgusted—then finally to relief and comfort.
When the phone was handed back, the director even apologized.
“Sorry, sorry—I thought you were friends with those parents.”
Some children in the institute hadn’t been abandoned deliberately. Some were dumped because they were sick and parents didn’t want to pay treatment. Some were thrown away due to preference for sons over daughters.
But a healthy baby boy?
That was a first. So she remembered him especially clearly.
Back then she even wondered if he’d been kidnapped by traffickers, then dumped due to some accident.
But later, while caring for the children, she would occasionally see a couple appear nearby.
They never approached. They just sat in the café across from the institute watching. Each time they stayed less than half an hour before leaving.
Once, curiosity got the better of her. She circled around to get closer—and overheard them talking about Xiao Lin.
From their conversation, she learned the truth: Lin Jiangye was their child.
They knew their biological child was inside the institute.
Yet for all those years—until the institute closed—they never took him home.
That was why, in the end, she never told Lin Jiangye about it.
She felt that if they didn’t want to acknowledge him, then even if he was forced back, the outcome wouldn’t be good.
And now, when Lin Jiangye had grown up and become successful, they suddenly wanted to appear—there was no way it wasn’t intentional.
At present, she hadn’t told anyone else these facts—only Shang Fuyan. If not for Shang Fuyan being Lin Jiangye’s direct superior and the Yue City bureau chief vouching for him, she would’ve taken this secret to her grave.
After Shang Fuyan obtained the firm information, he hired other friends to keep digging.
Two or three days later, Shang Fuyan finally found out why the Fang family abandoned Lin Jiangye.
When he saw that line, he felt nothing but absurdity.
He sat there, stunned. After a long time, he pressed a hand to his forehead and let out a bitter laugh.
The Fang family itself wasn’t scary.
But he… didn’t know how to tell Lin Jiangye.
Because someone said the child’s existence would destroy the entire family—
so for a “prophecy” they couldn’t even verify, the Fang family threw away a newborn infant.
Such a ridiculous reason.
The last time he’d heard something this ridiculous was when he went to a superstitious mountain village a couple years ago to rescue a woman treated like livestock—because the village believed women were born to suffer like oxen and horses, and only in the next life could they be reborn as men to enjoy fortune.
Shang Fuyan took a deep breath, rubbed his brow, and considered what tone, what attitude, what entry point he should use to bring this up.
Difficult. Headache.
But soon his head didn’t hurt anymore.
Because it was about to explode. Haha.
Shang Fuyan got new information from Hong Xingwang: the entire Fang family had set out together.
“I had someone watching near the Fang residence. Their whole family got into a car and quickly entered the highway. Based on the direction, they’re probably going to find Lin Jiangye!”
Hong Xingwang was extremely relieved he’d arranged surveillance early.
Hearing that, Shang Fuyan’s brain stalled for one second—then he laughed in anger.
They actually had the nerve to go to his door?
If Lin Jiangye asked why he’d been abandoned, what were they planning to say?
Shang Fuyan closed his eyes, thinking rapidly. But this happened over twenty years ago—there was no way to prosecute abandonment now.
“Thanks, Old Hong!”
“Pfft! We’re not even that far apart in age—who are you calling Old Hong?!”
After hanging up, Shang Fuyan immediately stood up and headed straight for Director Zhou’s office.
“Director Zhou—someone’s going to bully Consultant Lin.”
Director Zhou, who had been working, abruptly stopped typing. She took off her glasses, rubbed her ear, and asked again, “What did you just say?”
“Old Hong just told me—the Fang family is heading toward the Lin residence.”
Director Zhou put her glasses back on, grabbed the coat draped over her chair, and strode out with sharp decisiveness.
“Let’s go. We’ll see what the Fang family thinks they’re doing!”
If the Fang family tries to go hard, then they shouldn’t blame them for striking first.
At the same time, Shang Fuyan didn’t care whether it would expose the fact that he’d been quietly investigating Lin Jiangye. He immediately messaged Jiang Xin, telling him not to open the door for the Fang family.
Then he called the village security as well, telling them not to let those people through.
“As for what happens next—don’t worry. I’m coming over right now!”
As they headed out, Shang Fuyan’s steps paused. He waved Yan Zhou and Yan Keke over.
“Come. We’re going to protect Consultant Lin.”
That single sentence instantly sparked everyone in the General Team’s curiosity.
Yan Zhou and Yan Keke froze for half a second—then their fury shot through the roof.
“Who the hell is trying to bully Consultant Lin?!”
Do they not know Consultant Lin is basically half city bureau staff? Who’s that suicidal?
“You’ll see when we get there…” Shang Fuyan hadn’t even finished speaking when others started raising their hands, saying they wanted to go too.
He thought about the number of cars Hong Xingwang mentioned on the phone… and decided bringing more people wouldn’t hurt.
As for whether showing up with a whole crowd would look like flexing power and bullying by numbers—sorry.
This time he was here to flex power. ^_^
Hard tactics? Don’t even think about it. Soft tactics? Even less likely. ^_^
