The other staff looked on, as he stumbled each day through the door, bleary eyed and with the strong scent of alcohol accompanying him. They always knew the exact time he was around, as though his movements was programmed to go out at a certain time and return exactly as the previous day.

Pity marked the faces of each of them, as they watched in helplessness as Yang Lin wasted his life away.

They knew what the news said about him and the Zhang heiress, having being with the Zhang family for years, many of them found it difficult to jump s.h.i.+p at this point.

To prevent Yang Lin from falling down, some of the butlers would hold him on both sides, while taking him to his room a few steps from the living room.

Only a select few stayed within the main house, the rest of them lived in a simple two story building of blue, some distance away from the main house.

The lawyer that Yang Lin hired to represent the Zhang heiress, had tried on numerous occa.s.sions to contact him, but to no avail. The phone would ring for some time and go straight to voicemail.

The staff of Zhang villa continued to carry out their regular duties as though the Zhang heiress was still around, everywhere remained spotless clean, even the grounds and gardens with the vivid green forestry had on a well tended look.

A few reporters still lurked around the Zhang villa with hopes of catching anyone that could spill something newsworthy about the Zhang family, each time their disappointment would worsen, because Yang Lin was the only one who came and left out of the Zhang villa. The rest remained within closed doors, only on occasions did delivery vans come through the gate, bringing in what was needed to run the place.

With the disappointment came growing impatience, they would stop Yang Lin at times, despite knowing he would be of no use to them.

On one of the days when he would come back drunk and pa.s.sed out, while the butlers placed him on the bed, the phone rang. Usually whenever the phone rings he would be either in the bar or in the cab or in his room in the morning not wanting to be disturbed.

Curious to know who would be calling Yang Lin that late at night, one of them picked up the phone after tracing the sound to be coming from the side pocket of Yang Lin's coat. The number had no caller ID, but something made the other man pick up, the voice on the other end sounded very male.

"Sorry for calling so late, this is Lu Yi, am I by any chance speaking to Yang Lin?!"

The butler replied by letting the other man know that Yang Lin wasn't available to pickup his call, but will pa.s.s the message to him, before the call was about to end, the butler said Lu Yi's name to confirm that he got the name right.

On hearing the name Lu Yi, the mind of Yang Lin seemed to clear a bit, as the name struck a chord in his memory.

Wanting to know what it meant, Yang Lin called out to the butler not to end the call, but pa.s.s the phone to him so that he could speak to the person on the other end.

"This is Yang Lin, how did you get my number and who are you?!"

Lu Yi answered by letting Yang Lin know that he had to hire a PD to get some information on him, because he wanted to speak to him regarding ZiZi.

On hearing the way he referred to the Zhang heiress as ZiZi, having been in close contact with the Zhang family due to the influence of Zhang Tianyu, he knew that apart from her parents, the only one that called her by that name was an old family friend that left the country with his family many years ago.

What struck Yang Lin, as odd was how right and familiar it sounded coming from the other man's mouth, with that thought came a sense of discomfort, as a painful sensation coursed through the region of his heart.

He briefly saw the man at court, but didn't get a good look at his face, now a part of him regretted not seeing how he looked, that way he would have known whether or not the other man was a worthy rival or not.

As the thought went through Yang Lin's mind, Lu Yi was unaware of the inner turmoil his sudden presence was causing the former trusted aide to his childhood friend.

They spoke for a while, discussing where they would likely meet to have a serious conversation about the future of the Zhang heiress.

----------------------

In an ostentatious brightly lit living room, stroking a white Persian cat of the finest breed with the tips of pale elegant fingers that had on them clear glittering polish. Dressed in all white with a mink coat draped across her slim figure, the arrogant arch of her brows lifted up as she stared at the evening news with icy dark eyes which reflected a beauty in them, despite the pa.s.sage of time, only for a brief moment did her pale pink lips curve in a smile of disdain as she watched the latest scandal that currently rocked the country. This was Madam Cui, a woman who welded so much power and had strong ties to the Zhang family.