"He stole the ancestral pendant!"
Lin Yu's voice echoed through the hall as several elders rushed in. A servant carried a torn box—inside空无一物.
The family patriarch's eyes narrowed. "Lin Tian, what do you have to say for yourself?"
Lin Tian didn't flinch. He stood slowly, eyes calm, almost amused.
"Before you pass judgment," he said, reaching into his robe, "shouldn't we confirm the facts?"
He pulled out the jade pendant—glimmering with a subtle golden hue—and placed it on the table.
Gasps rippled through the room.
Lin Yu's face turned pale. "Impossible… I… I hid it myself…"
"You mean you stole it?" Lin Tian's voice cut through the silence.
Lin Yu panicked. "No! He must've taken it back using tricks—he's lying!"
"Enough."
The patriarch raised his hand.
"Lin Tian, how did you retrieve the pendant?"
Lin Tian's gaze grew sharper. "That's my secret. All I'll say is… this won't be the last time I expose a lie in this house."
The air was tense. The room silent. And for the first time, Lin Tian—once treated as weak—was no longer someone they could ignore.