Courtyard Houses: From Bronze Compasses to Global Reach

Chapter 304 Goodbye Mike

Lin Yan put down his teacup and casually instructed, "Charles, prepare the car, and bring some new clothes before you go out."

The old butler bowed slightly: "Young Master, you don't need to go out. For the past five years, I have taken your measurements every year. Although Young Master Liu Qian cannot contact you, he has commissioned a tailor in Paris to make clothes for you for all four seasons and send them to you every year."

He gestured for him to enter: "Everything is prepared for you in the dressing room. However..." Charles looked at Lin Yan with gentle eyes, "You seem to have grown taller than before, now you're exactly 1.9 meters tall."

Lin Yan raised an eyebrow upon hearing this and strolled towards the dressing room. Dozens of suits were neatly hung in the walnut wardrobe, carefully arranged by color scheme, with several retaining the crisp lines characteristic of Savile Row.

He casually picked up a gray double-breasted suit, and Charles added softly from behind, "The first few trousers that arrived might need a slight alteration in length; the batch that arrived last month has already been adjusted to the new sizes."

Lin Yan compared his clothes to the length in the full-length mirror. The boy in the mirror had a tall and straight figure, with perfectly fitted shoulders, but the trouser legs were indeed a finger's width too short. He smiled slightly: "It seems that these years of training have made me grow a bit taller."

As Lin Yan straightened his cuffs, he suddenly remembered something and turned to ask, "Charles, how have Mike, Tom, and the others been doing these past few years?"

The old butler, who was ironing a shirt, stopped when he heard this, a look of relief on his face: "Young master, rest assured, everything has been arranged. When you suddenly dropped out of school, they were extremely worried, coming to the house almost every day for the first few months to inquire about you."

He carefully placed the iron away and continued, "Later, as you instructed, I only told them you had returned to China to handle urgent family matters, and they gradually calmed down. The year he took the college entrance exams, Daniel went to California with the letter you left for Professor Williams; he should be doing research with the professor now. Mike went to the Philadelphia College of the Arts, saying he wanted to study arts management. Tom was the most promising; he got into Columbia University."

Charles took out a notebook with a gold-embossed cover from his storage ring and skillfully turned to a page: "As you instructed, when they enrolled, I sent each of them a check for $50,000 in your name. This money is enough to support them in completing their studies."

Lin Yan nodded in satisfaction, picked out a camel coat from the closet, and went straight to the garage to drive a Lincoln Continental out.

He drove aimlessly through the streets of New York, eventually heading towards Queens as if by some strange twist of fate. When the familiar Maple Street came into view, he slowed down and, following his memory, stopped in front of Mike's house.

He didn't use his divine sense to investigate; he simply knocked gently on the door like an ordinary person. Footsteps echoed from inside, and a little girl's face peeked out from the crack in the door—it was Mike's sister, Amy. Her features had matured a bit, but her bright, expressive eyes remained unchanged.

Lin Yan crouched down, bringing his gaze to hers: "Amy, I'm Lin, Mike's friend. Do you remember me?"

The girl stared at him for three seconds with wide eyes, then suddenly let out a short scream, turned and ran upstairs, leaving Lin Yan standing there, stunned. Having received no invitation from the host, he could only stand patiently on the porch and wait.

Two minutes later, the sound of hurried footsteps came from the wooden stairs. Mike, with his hair in a mess like a bird's nest and his pajamas buttoned up wrong, rushed downstairs barefoot and gave him a firm bear hug without saying a word.

"Lin! Where the hell have you been?!" Mike's voice was muffled on his shoulder, hoarse from just waking up and barely suppressed excitement. "We almost had to put up a missing person ad in China!"

Lin Yan, unusually, didn't push away the overly enthusiastic hug, but simply patted his old friend's back gently. Once Mike had calmed down, he smiled and said, "I had some urgent family matters to take care of. Judging from your appearance, you didn't sleep well last night?"

Mike released Lin Yan, scratched his messy hair sheepishly, and stepped aside to invite him inside. "Come in and sit down! I was working on a design until 3 a.m. last night..."

As he spoke, he subconsciously rubbed his eyes. But when his gaze refocused on Lin Yan's face, he suddenly stopped. He leaned closer, examining Lin Yan's face as if he had discovered something new and interesting.

"Wait... Lin," Mike's voice was filled with confusion and disbelief, "It's been five years, how... how come you haven't changed at all? Not even a single wrinkle has appeared?" He gestured exaggeratedly, "Do the Chinese really have some mysterious Eastern secret art that can keep people young forever?"

Lin Yan was amused by his exaggerated reaction. He crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame, deliberately putting on a narcissistic expression, and gently rubbed his chin with his fingertips.

"Hey, is it possible," he drawled, a sly glint in his eyes, "that it's not some mysterious power at all, but simply that I'm better looking than you and look younger than you?"

"Tch!" Mike scoffed, unconvinced. "It's because you eat Chinese food every day; your nutrition is more balanced than mine. When I go to work in China, I'll eat Kung Pao Chicken and Mapo Tofu every day, and I'll definitely stay young forever!"

Lin Yan chuckled at his self-righteous, twisted logic, shook his head, and walked into the living room. The furnishings were almost unchanged—the familiar old sofa, the family photos on the wall—only the television had been replaced with a larger model. He sat down on the slightly worn velvet sofa and waved to Amy, who was still peeking out from behind the stair railing.

The little girl, like a nimble squirrel, darted over and pounced on his lap. Lin Yan smiled and pinched her rosy cheeks, then magically pulled a beautifully packaged chocolate from the inside pocket of his coat.

"For you."

Amy's eyes lit up instantly. She happily took the chocolate, stood on tiptoe, cupped Lin Yan's face in her two little hands, and gave him a big kiss on the cheek.

Mike came out of the kitchen carrying two cups of black tea and saw this scene. He strode forward, deftly snatched the chocolate from Amy's hand, tore open the packaging in a few quick movements, and stuffed the whole piece into his mouth.

Amy's face immediately fell, her eyes reddened, and tears were about to fall. Lin Yan was also stunned for a moment by his smooth and effortless "robbery" behavior.

Mike gulped down the chocolate filling his mouth with his black tea before pointing at Amy and saying to Lin Yan, "Lin! You can't let her eat sweets!" He bent down close to the little girl, deliberately baring his teeth in a fierce expression, "If you eat any more candy, your teeth will be eaten away by cavities! Just like that little one who cried at the dentist last time!"

Amy stomped her foot angrily, buried her face in Lin Yan's coat, and protested in a muffled voice, "Mike is the worst!"