The Path Of A Cannon Fodder 5 Chapter 4- 1.4

{Lin Li was the only son of Lin MeiXiu and Lin Feng. His parents met when Shun MeiXiu was being robbed in the street one night, and Lin Feng, that practiced Krav Maga in his childhood, defended her and stopped the robber from running. After the fact Shun MeiXiu thanked her savior and asked him if there is anything she can do to repay him, and all Lin Feng asked for was her number.

This was the start of their young love. After dating for two years, Lin Feng finally asked Shun MeiXiu to marry him and she agreed on the condition of getting her father's approval, since it was very important to her. Persuading Shun RongTian, Shun MeiXiu's father, into approving their marriage however, was much more difficult a task to complete then they thought it would.

Shun RongTian was very protective of Shun MeiXiu as she was his only daughter and her mother, his wife, died after giving birth to her. Not only that, the Shun family was also a very successful family known for their big art galleries and their connections with successful artists of all kinds, making Shun RongTian suspicious of Lin Feng's motives to get married with his daughter.

After many efforts and a prenup signed by Lin Feng saying that the money of the Shun family will never reach his hands, the couple finally succeeded in getting Shun RongTian's approval for the marriage. After finally marrying, the couple moved to a small villa they bought near the beach and a year later had their first child, named Lin Li.

Everything seemed perfect until Lin Li reached the age of 6 years old.

Lin MeiXiu and Lin Feng, who hadn't been able to do anything on their own since Lin Li was born, finally had the opportunity to have a vacation without him. Now that Lin Li was old enough they could leave him with Shun RongTian, his grandfather, to watch over him until they come back.

Shun RongTian wasn't opposed to this idea either. Even though his opinion towards the Lin's couple marriage was disapproving, Shun RongTian still loved his grandson very much and wanted to spend some time with him.

Shun RongTian and Lin Li happily sent the couple on their vacation. Lin Li hugged his parents and asked them for some presents while Shun RongTian just smiled at his daughter warmly, telling her to be careful and have fun. None one of them realizing that this was last time they will be seeing each other.

On their way to their vacation, the Lin couple's plane was caught in an unexpected storm. The plane crashed, killing everyone on it, including Lin Feng and Lin MeiXiu.

After their deaths the mourning Shun RongTian took Lin Li's parents place, raising him as his own. Their time together was very precious to Lin Li as he grew up, since he was too young when his parents died and he couldn't remember them.

To him, Shun RongTian was like his real parent in every aspect, but unfortunately their time together wasn't long either. Shun RongTian died of a heart attack at the age of 73 when Lin Li was only 14 years old.

In his will, Shun RongTian left Lin Li all of the family's properties and business but until Lin Li turns 18, he will be taken care of by Shui Chen, his grandfather's estranged niece and his only living relative. The will also stated that after he turns 19, Lin Li can choose if he wants to continue living with Shui Chen and his family, or use the money he inherited to live comfortably on his own.

Shui Chen is married to Shui AngTan and have a son named Shui Hong, who is the same age as Lin Li.

After the adoption, Lin Li's life only deteriorated. Unknown to him at the time, Lin Li was only taken in by the Shui family thanks to of the fortune of the family he inherited. At the first few years, while using his money secretly to live more comfortably, the Shui's pretended to care for Lin Li, making him feel as if he was part of the family. However, after some time had pa.s.sed, things started to change for Lin Li. All the Shui family did was to use Lin Li's money, paying the boy himself less and less attention, until they were ignoring his existence altogether.

Shui Chen had a son who was the same age as Lin Li, Shui Hong. Shui Hong had a pa.s.sion for art aspiring to become an artist himself, and so, the Shui parents did everything they could to let him fulfill his dreams. They always got him the best teachers and sent him to the best art schools, funding everything using Lin Li's money like they were already used to do by then.

Unlike the support Shui Hong got from them, Lin Li who learned art from his late grandfather and wanted to be an artist as well, wasn't even able to but decent colors and brushes. He tried showing his artworks to the family, asking them to help him study art as well, but Lin Li only got laughed upon by the Shui parents.

They told him that he had no talent for arts and should quit while he's ahead, while telling him that he is going out of line asking for help to fund his art pa.s.sion. Hearing their insults left a huge scar on Lin Li's heart causing over the years the drift between him and the family to grew wider and wider, as Lin Li was filled with bitterness.

When Lin Li was about to reach the age of 18 years old, the Shui family grew scared. They have abused and used Lin Li's money for all those years, and now, in a year's time, it was about to be taken away from them. The idea of parting with the money and returning back to their old lives was unbelievable for them, they will do anything to keep this life style.

That's when Shui Hong came up with an idea. Just as Lin Li turns 18, able to live on his own legally, Shui Chen and Shui AngTan, Shui Chen's wife, will trick him to sign a contract while telling him that it's a contract giving him permission to leave their family early and live on his own. Since it was clear that Lin Li wanted to leave their family Shui Hong was sure he'll agree to sign the contract without even looking at it, and he was right.

Glad to finally be free Lin Li really signed the contract without thinking twice, only to find out that the couple had tricked him. The contract was actually a waiver, saying Lin Li is willingly giving all of his inheritance to the Shui family and also allowing them to kick him out of their house.

Thrown to the street, with nothing but the clothes to his body and a few of his artworks, Lin Li was struggling to get by. He worked multiple jobs and even tried selling his art, to no success. A year later on his 19th birthday, Lin Li died from overwork and starvation.

During the last year of Lin Li's life, the only thing that gave them some light was creating his art. Although he didn't manage to sell almost any of it during his life and his budget was limited at best so he couldn't create a lot of works, after Lin Li's death his artworks suddenly became recognized.

His art was discovered by a famous art critic called Xu Yuan. Xu Yuan called his artworks beautiful, and said that the artist was a genius. With Xu Yuan's reputation as a critic who can recognize true art from a mile apart and his usually harsh judgment of others art, once he praised Lin Li's artworks they became sought after, the cheapest one sold for a couple million of dollars.

Since the artist of the works was unknown, the Shui couple who recognized the art style and understood the works belonged to the deceased Lin Li, jumped on the opportunity and said that the artist was actually Shui Hong, their son.

Thanks to Lin Li's artworks, Shui Hong became a famous and successful artist, his name even going down the history books and 'his' art being studied in art schools for generations.}