He really did know

Li Yi raised an eyebrow, walked over to the only empty armchair in the hall, and plopped down.

He lounged sideways, his right leg bent across his left knee, the corners of his lips lifted as he looked ahead with a provocative gaze.

"You unfilial brat! Get on your knees this instant!" Lu Hongshen thundered.

"Keep it down, old Lu. You're hurting my ears."

Li Yi rubbed his ears nonchalantly and said to Lu Hongshen, whose eyes were wide with anger, "You act like you're so busy all day, either away on business or nowhere to be found. Even when you're home, you never bother with family matters.

Did you know the Lu Group's young master was being abused by the servants in his own home?"

He grinned. "If word gets out, you'll have disgraced generations of the Lu family.

Your business rivals will probably wake up laughing in the middle of the night."

His words stunned everyone. Lu Hongshen instinctively looked at Lu Junjia. Seeing no injuries on his face, he had just breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Li Yi pointing at himself.

"Are you blind? I'm the Lu Group's young master I'm talking about!"

"You..." He was about to retort, but the smile on Li Yi's face made him realize something was wrong.

"What young master of the Lu Group? Junjia is the Lu Corporation's only young master!" Qiao Xinyue said loudly.

"Really? But I heard Grandpa left a coming-of-age gift for his biological grandson, meaning me.

If I'm not the Lu Corporation's young master, I might as well sell that gift to someone else.

I think the Li Corporation looks pretty good."

"How do you know your grandfather left you a gift? Did Lawyer Song come to see you?" Qiao Xinyue was startled. Could this unfilial brat really know about the shares?

"Make Lu Junjia and this old woman apologize to me, or there's nothing to discuss." Li Yi looked at Lu Hongshen with a smile.

Lu Hongshen quickly weighed the pros and cons, then looked at Lu Junjia and said gravely, "Apologize."

"Dad, he's the one who slapped me. Why should I apologize?" Lu Junjia put on a pitiful, aggrieved act.

Li Yi didn't have the shares yet. They could keep him firmly under their control. He was all alone, with neither money nor power. When the time came, he would have to obediently hand over the shares anyway. Why should Lu Junjia bow his head and apologize?

"Shut up! You're an adopted son. Who gave you the right to speak here?" Li Yi's expression changed. He pointed at Aunt Liu and snapped, "And you, you old woman! You throw your weight around with your masters backing you. Never mind feeding me leftovers and leaving me hungry.

Everyone else in the Lu family lives in a suite, but you put me in a guest room. You clearly never treated me as one of the masters of this household!

Anyone who didn't know better would think the Lu family was going bankrupt.

You finally brought your biological son home, only to put him in a guest room and give him just 1,000 yuan a month for living expenses.

And you were blind enough to let a servant lord it over her master and abuse her power.

Tsk, tsk. Luckily, I'm good-tempered and didn't make a fuss. I only gave you a kick to teach you a lesson."

Although these were all facts tacitly accepted by the household, having Li Yi say them so loudly still made Lu Hongshen lose face.

He disliked Li Yi and had never bothered with him since bringing him home.

He left everything at home to Qiao Xinyue. Occasionally, when he heard her complain that Li Yi was disobedient, he would order him to kneel in the garden as punishment.

He had assumed that, whatever else happened, Li Yi was his and Qiao Xinyue's biological son, so his life should have been much like that of the other children in the family.

The Lu family wasn't short of money. Raising another child was nothing.

He had never imagined that Li Yi had spent the past three years living in a guest room, with only 1,000 yuan a month in pocket money. That wasn't even enough to cover one of his lunches.

Since when had their family become so poor that they had to mistreat their biological son like this?

The butler had approached him several times, but whenever he heard it was about Li Yi, he didn't want to listen.

So he had been mistreated all along. That was why he was acting so out of character today.

"Did you know his living allowance was only 1,000 yuan?" Lu Hongshen asked Qiao Xinyue, reproach in his voice. "Junjia gets 200,000 a month, and you're always buying him all sorts of things.

His older brother and sister give him pocket money at every opportunity, too. Altogether, that must come to several hundred thousand a month."

"How would I know he only gets 1,000 a month? I'm not the one who pays his allowance. Aren't you the one who tells finance to send the Lu children their allowances every month?"

Qiao Xinyue looked irritated. "If his allowance wasn't enough, couldn't he speak up? Who is he putting on this aggrieved act for?"

"Well said, Ms. Qiao. I didn't speak up. My fault, my fault. Then I'm asking for 300,000 a month in pocket money now."

"Junjia only gets 200,000 a month. You certainly have some nerve, demanding 300,000 right off the bat! Are you that desperate for money?" Qiao Xinyue was furious.

"I'm your biological son, and in a few months, I'll also have the coming-of-age gift Grandpa specifically left me. Lu Junjia is only an adopted son. Of course I should get more money than him. Surely you understand that much, Mr. Lu?"

Li Yi was all smiles, nothing like the way he used to look so afraid of him.

He really did know what that coming-of-age gift was.

Shares-possibly even more than he had imagined.

The old man's will leaving that gift to his biological grandson was confidential. No one knew its contents.

Only recently had Lu Hongshen gotten an inkling that it might be shares in the company!

If shares in the Lu Corporation passed into outside hands, it would directly threaten his position.

He absolutely could not anger Li Yi now. He had to coax him into handing over the shares or selling them to him cheaply.

That was their real reason for bringing him home!

"Fine! From now on, your allowance will be 300,000 a month."

"Lu Hongshen, how could you agree to his demand so quickly? At this rate, won't he turn the whole house upside down?" Qiao Xinyue was furious. Seeing Li Yi's smug expression left her deeply displeased, with a sense that things were slipping out of her control.

"And the apology." Ignoring her completely, Li Yi lifted his chin toward Lu Junjia.

"Junjia, apologize," Lu Hongshen said with a sigh.

"I'm sorry." Lu Junjia lowered his head and apologized. He would remember today's humiliation!

Sooner or later, he would make Li Yi pay twice over.

"And your dog," Li Yi added, pointing at Aunt Liu, who had gone rigid with fright.

What was wrong with Li Yi? How had he become a completely different person?

Even the master and mistress didn't dare reprimand him, and they had made the young master apologize to him.

Then what about me...?

Terrified of being fired, Aunt Liu hurriedly lowered her head and apologized. "Young Master Li, I'm sorry. I was negligent before. I'll change right away. Please forgive me."

"Very good. I'll think about the coming-of-age gift. It's late today. First thing tomorrow morning, move me into Lu Junjia's room.

Honestly, I should have reminded you all sooner. You can't even tell who the real young master is and who's the fake."

"You want my room?" Lu Junjia looked utterly stunned. Had Li Yi gone mad?

Who did he think he was, daring to take his room?

"As the Lu family's young master, surely it isn't appropriate for me to live in a guest room. There are so many rooms in this villa. You're an adopted son. Just make do with one of them."

Li Yi stood up, no longer interested in arguing with them. "Good night, my dear family."