Lin Yingbin's Unfortunate Childhood 2

The middle-aged man whom young Lin Yingbin called Father staggered back several steps from that sudden punch, reacted quickly by kicking off the ground hard with his right foot, and halted his backward momentum. Once stopped, he looked at little Lin Yingbin with a hint of disbelief.

"Good, well done!"

The middle-aged man rubbed the corner of his mouth, the stinging sensation still exceptionally clear, and actually praised him in the face of that punch.

"How is it? How is it, Father, I did it too!"

At this moment, covered entirely in accumulated bruises and injuries, little Lin Yingbin stood there panting with a victorious smile hanging on the corners of his mouth, even though his whole body was already covered in wounds.

"Not bad!"

This was probably the first time little Lin Yingbin heard words of praise from Father's mouth, yet that day happened to be his fifth birthday. In Lin Yingbin's view, the weight of those few words of praise carried not only a few syllables, but also Father's recognition of him. Afterward, returning home together with Father, he ate the most delicious meal of his life.

However, what happened next was not nearly as wonderful as he imagined. Just that night, he was thrown out by Father and the family.

The middle-aged man called Father, together with another servant, took advantage of little Lin Yingbin's deep sleep to dump him far, far away in the cover of night.

Early the next morning, just as the sky was beginning to brighten, the chirping of birds by little Lin Yingbin's ear woke him up.

He wriggled his body and slowly opened his eyes.

Huh?! How could there be... clouds? Little Lin Yingbin furrowed his brow, his vision gradually shifting from blurry to clear, taking in the blue sky, the drifting white clouds, and the birds on the tree branches before him.

Suddenly, little Lin Yingbin sat up and instinctively looked around, only to discover that he had been thrown onto a mountain of garbage.

"How could you guys do this!" Little Lin Yingbin pouted and shouted loudly toward the sky.

Again!

That's right, for the still-young Lin Yingbin, this kind of thing was no longer his first experience; or rather, happening once every two months had long since made him used to it. This was a trial for him, tossing him far, far away, and each time throwing him farther than the last.

According to Lin Yingbin's father, this was to cultivate his survival skills and resolute character, because people all have two or multiple personalities, and his father believed Lin Yingbin had been overly kind since childhood, a kindness that was the manifestation of his cowardice. To inherit the Lin Shadow Clan, this personality had to be discarded. To make him strong enough to shoulder the family business of the Lin Shadow Clan, Father subjected him to high-intensity physical training and studies every day. Young Lin Yingbin also had to endure painful trials every day that far exceeded anything children his age could imagine.

Little Lin Yingbin stood silently on the garbage mountain, patted the dirt off his body, and looked at everything before him with a hint of disappointment. Just a few minutes ago, he was still immersed in his sleep within Father's praise. Ever since he was born, he had rarely been praised by Father, and hearing Father's personal commendation was a first since birth. He had thought that since Father had praised him and it was his birthday, he wouldn't be thrown out today, but he never expected this to be completely no different from before. Father's work style was crisp and neat, without a shred of hesitation. Even though his sleep wasn't heavy, he still failed to detect the trial of being cast out.

"Oh, whatever!" Little Lin Yingbin raised his arm, seemingly resigned to his fate, knowing that thinking and complaining any more would only be in vain. Even if he wasn't willing, as long as his status in the household and his strength were inferior to Father's, he had no choice but to accept Father's manipulation.

It was just that I was thinking things too beautifully!

Drawing on previous experience, little Lin Yingbin looked around to survey his surroundings, then quickly determined his general bearings. Afterward, he started walking in the direction of home that he had already confirmed.

Despite his young age now, his ability to identify directions in the wild had already surpassed the level of a professional explorer. He could tell the direction at a glance simply by looking at the surrounding natural environment. This was also why he was able to walk back by himself every time he was thrown out. Yet possessing this skill was hardly worthy of praise; it only made one feel that this training method was truly hard to accept and even rather tragic.

And don't think this was merely an ordinary route home; this journey home was actually fraught with danger, and even contained many fatal hazards. These perils were both natural and man-made, and things like quagmires and swamps were basically equivalent to normal roads along this way, while cliffs, hidden arrows, and the like could be considered small fry.

To fully train Lin Yingbin's survival skills, Father had exhausted all his ingenuity. No wonder Lin Yingbin possessed such outstanding footwork now—it was all trained during times like this.

To say nothing of the dangers along the path, just the journey home alone, measuring about one hundred kilometers, was enough to make a strong adult flinch. One day's time—to be precise, only a single daytime's worth of time. This was the deadline set for little Lin Yingbin: home before sunset.

In the end, little Lin Yingbin ran all the way from morning until dusk, arriving at the front gate covered in wounds. Little Lin Yingbin clearly felt that today's journey home had been exceptionally long.

Speaking of which, the Lin Family estate was truly unimaginably huge. The place where little Lin Yingbin stood was right at the front gate of the Lin Family, looking at a main entrance that existed almost like a city gate. Overlooking the entire Lin Family, it was practically a small-scale city. It seemed the Lin Shadow Clan must have been some prominent noble family in the past; possessing such a massive family estate, no wonder Lin Yingbin's father trained him so harshly.

"Hah... hah... hah..."

The sound of little Lin Yingbin's panting grew weaker and weaker, yet he didn't dare to take another step forward. Ahead, that familiar middle-aged man was holding a spear, clearly blocking little Lin Yingbin's path and glaring at him while standing at the entrance. What was going on?

"Today, your performance was not good!"

Father stood majestically before the gate, glaring coldly at little Lin Yingbin with an indifferent expression. The huge brown door set off Father's imposing aura, a domineering presence that left little Lin Yingbin with almost no courage to face him, and he avoided that aggressive gaze.

It was because he had returned too late. Lin Yingbin's father had set a rule for him: he had to reach home before the sun touched the mountain peak, but now half of the sun had already sunk below the mountain ridge. You might say he was only a few minutes late, that the journey was so long and dangerous, and that he was still just a child, and similar things. Yet this sort of reasoning completely failed to work in front of Lin Yingbin's father. Not getting it done meant not getting it done; he only recognized results and never cared about your process. Arguing more was futile, so little Lin Yingbin didn't dare to talk back either.

"Today, there is no food for you!" Father casually tossed the spear that was blocking little Lin Yingbin's path into the air, and immediately that spear shot toward the huge mansion like an arrow leaving a bow. Then it accurately pierced into an empty slot on the weapon rack in the Martial Arena a hundred meters away.

Following that, he coldly pulled a knife from behind his back, threw that knife right in front of little Lin Yingbin, and turned to walk inside the gates.

"You! Solve it yourself!" Father turned a blind eye and no longer spared Lin Yingbin a single cold glance.