"Stop — Ling Yun — tell them to stop!" Watching a car worth tens of millions get battered into craters, Yang Qing was going to pieces. Eyes red, he threw himself at the bodyguards to pull them off.
But he had dramatically overestimated himself. Against powerfully built security professionals, he couldn't budge a single one — which meant he couldn't stop a single thing.
"Who do you think you are, giving me orders? Please."
Watching Yang Qing's futile struggling, Ling Yun felt the anger he'd been sitting on finally start to ease. He laughed out loud and gave the order: "Uncle Luo — put your backs into it. Turn that car into scrap."
"Ling Yun!"
Yang Qing glared at him with a hatred that had moved well beyond resentment into something that wanted to tear him apart.
"Look at you. In the face of real power, you're nothing. Dreaming of playing games with me — keep dreaming." Ling Yun wasn't belittling Yang Qing — a person who only knew how to stir up trouble from behind others' backs didn't deserve his contempt. If not for sparing the feelings of people he'd once called family, he'd have dealt with Yang Qing long ago.
"Who is that person? That look on their face — no matter what angle you look at it, that's not someone who can afford a car worth tens of millions. No wonder their car got smashed — they probably stole it from someone."
"That person does look strange. Even dressed head-to-toe in designer brands, there's something off — nothing matches, and there's something inherently… frugal about them. How to put it — like someone wearing a dragon robe who still couldn't pass for a prince."
"The people doing the smashing clearly aren't lacking confidence, which says they have every right to. Tsk, the world really does have people bold enough to steal others' cars. If it were me, I'd haul the thief straight to a cell for a few years — otherwise they'll never learn."
"Tsk. What kind of person…"
Hearing the crowd's whispers and pointed remarks, Yang Qing's face went so red it burned. Overwhelmed with sudden fury, he flung himself onto the hood of the car to block the bodyguards' path, and screamed at Ling Yun, "Ling Yun — if you have the guts, smash me too!"
Wow. Someone who was literally begging to be smashed.
The impulse hit Ling Yun immediately.
Yang Qing's theatrics had actually stopped the bodyguards from swinging. "Young Lord Ling?" Steering wheel locks raised, Luo Hu waited for the order. Just say the word, and they didn't care — they'd take Yang Qing out of this equation too. How dare anyone make the little troublemaker angry? Wasn't that just asking for it?
"Smash him! Smash the car thief!"
"Yes! Smash him, smash him!"
The watching crowd, never ones to let a good spectacle die down, started egging Ling Yun on. Several people had already raised their phones, fingers hovering over the record button. This was prime content. Rich kids smashing expensive cars was already a headline. Add smashing the person — and this clip was worth serious money. A lot of people were thinking it, and a lot of phones were already pointed at Ling Yun and Yang Qing.
"Young Lord Ling — it's fine. With the Fourth Master here, nothing that happens on this street will leak in any form, ever. Do as you please." Luo Hu knew the extent of Jiang Xiuqing's reach.
"Ling Yun — you try and touch me. I dare you. You touch me, and my parents will never forgive you." Watching Ling Yun's expression grow more dangerous by the second, Yang Qing was genuinely shaking, legs weak. The only thing keeping him standing here against Ling Yun was the last thread of Jiang-family-heir dignity — and that thread was fraying fast.
Ling Yun had only meant to scare Yang Qing. But Yang Qing just had to push.
There was something fundamentally rebellious about human nature.
The moment Yang Qing invoked Ling Yun's former parents as a threat, Ling Yun started rolling up his sleeves. This had just become personal. Today, if he didn't give Yang Qing a proper lesson, he'd have no respect for himself.
"Young Lord Ling — let us handle it." Worried Ling Yun would hurt his own hands, Luo Hu stepped in quickly.
"Keep smashing the car." If Yang Qing had driven it, Ling Yun wasn't going to want it anyway. He'd said he was turning it to scrap — he was turning it to scrap.
"Yes, Young Lord Ling." Seeing Ling Yun drag Yang Qing off to one side, Luo Hu waved to the bodyguards and the hammering sounds resumed.
Alongside them: Yang Qing's yelps of pain.
"Family Head." At the Jiang Group headquarters, Special Assistant Fan came striding toward Jiang Xiuqing's office at a near run — so urgently that he didn't even knock. He simply pushed the door open, walking straight in on the CFO's mid-report.
"You can step out."
Fan Zhengqing had a comprehensive skill set and an uncanny ability to read rooms. For him to have forgotten protocol and burst in like this, only one thing could explain it — Ling Yun. Jiang Xiuqing waved the CFO out.
"Yes, Chairman."
Secretly mopping sweat from his brow, the CFO shot Fan Zhengqing a grateful look on his way out. The few minutes of reporting he'd just gotten through had his heart clenched with anxiety the entire time. Young as the Chairman was, the weight of authority that came off him was considerable. Even a company veteran like himself found it overwhelming.
"What happened to Ling Yun?" Jiang Xiuqing looked at Fan Zhengqing with dark, measured eyes.
"Fourth Master — see for yourself." Fan Zhengqing extended the tablet and gave a small, almost imperceptible shake of his head. His assessment of Ling Yun's destructive potential had just been recalibrated upward once again. This little troublemaker was apparently willing to smash a car worth tens of millions in the middle of a public street and beat up a person while he was at it. Truly, nothing was off the table.
Not that it was anyone's fault but the person who'd raised him.
He snuck a glance at the expressionless Jiang Xiuqing and decided his own approach had been absolutely correct. "Fourth Master — I've already had the footage pulled from circulation. Rest assured — public opinion will have zero impact on Young Lord Ling."
Watching the unrestrained, brilliant young man in the clip, Jiang Xiuqing felt a smile form in his eyes before he could stop it. His voice softened considerably. "Send more people to follow Ling Yun. Don't let him get hurt."
"Understood. I'll see to it."
Fan Zhengqing almost rolled his eyes. With the way Ling Yun threw himself at trouble, it was more the other way around — other people had to worry about him. Who in their right mind would go after Ling Yun? Not someone who wanted to keep living.
"One more thing — isn't the Sun Group coming today to sign the Xicheng property development contract?" Jiang Xiuqing flipped through his notes and asked casually.
"Yes — Sun Hongrui, the Sun Group's patriarch, will be here. Probably about an hour away." Fan Zhengqing switched gears to business and recited the relevant information with practiced speed.
"Have them drop their percentage another ten points."
Long fingers tapped the desk. Jiang Xiuqing said it with complete ease.
"Fourth Master!" Fan Zhengqing stared at him in disbelief. He couldn't fathom why Jiang Xiuqing was suddenly adding terms. The other side had already made major concessions to get to this point.
Another ten points and today's signing was almost certainly off the table. He said as much out loud.
Jiang Xiuqing gave Fan Zhengqing a measured look, then said simply, "I never intended to sign with them."
"Why not?"
The Xicheng project negotiations had been running for months. If the end goal was never to sign — why spend the enormous time and resources? Racking his brain, Fan Zhengqing's eyes suddenly went wide.
No. Surely it wasn't what he was thinking.
"Go."
Seeing Fan Zhengqing arrive at the answer, Jiang Xiuqing gestured dismissal without ceremony.
"Yes, Fourth Master." Fan Zhengqing swallowed, backed out of the Chairman's office, and shut the door.
The moment it clicked shut, he let out the breath he'd been holding.
He genuinely had not expected the brilliant, decisive Fourth Master of the Jiang family to one day be this recklessly devoted. This was calculated revenge — naked, unmistakable revenge. Revenge for Sun Wenhao mocking Ling Yun, provoking Ling Yun, and fighting Ling Yun.
Because Sun Hongrui was Sun Wenhao's grandfather. The grandson made the debt; the grandfather paid it.
Ruthless. Nobody was more ruthless — or carried a longer grudge — than Jiang Xiuqing.
While Fan Zhengqing was silently criticizing him, Jiang Xiuqing watched the clip and dialed Ling Yun.
"Hey, Little Uncle — what's going on, you're calling me?" Ling Yun had just finished administering Yang Qing's lesson and was wiping his hands when the call came in. He gave Yang Qing's body a light kick and climbed into the new car.
"Sweetheart — come home and have lunch with me."
Glancing at his watch, Jiang Xiuqing calculated that a helicopter could get him home in time for a warm midday meal with Ling Yun.
"Lunch?!"
Ling Yun's lively eyes shifted to the brand-new Lamborghini, reluctant. He'd barely gotten to drive it yet.
Without seeing Ling Yun's expression, Jiang Xiuqing could still read him perfectly. The car wasn't even warm yet. He let his tone soften further, coaxing. "Today I'm having a full sashimi spread. I'd like someone to eat it with me."
"Okay, Little Uncle! I'll be back right away."
The memory of exquisite sashimi's flavors bloomed in Ling Yun's mind, and suddenly the car didn't matter. He agreed to lunch without a second thought.
The car would always be there. Eating with Little Uncle — who knew how many more times that would happen.
"Good. Your little uncle will wait at home."
Jiang Xiuqing ended the call and immediately ordered the rooftop helicopter. He was going home to eat lunch with his little sweetheart.
Fan Zhengqing, who had just put in barely two hours at the office, trailed after Jiang Xiuqing on the way back to the Jiang estate, staring out the helicopter window at the skyscrapers below and internally rolling his eyes at full force.
First, righteous fury for the sake of the beloved. And now this — spring days are short, the king rises late; from that day forward, he never held court early again. This was truly a new low.
But he didn't dare say so. Or advise against it.
At noon, the main Jiang house was warm and harmonious. The dazzling spread of sashimi had Ling Yun eating with pure, unfiltered joy — and the whole time, he kept picking pieces he thought were especially good and passing them over to Jiang Xiuqing's plate. "Little Uncle — this one's amazing, try it."
"Alright." Jiang Xiuqing obediently picked up the sashimi Ling Yun had placed on his plate and ate it with evident satisfaction.
Fan Zhengqing, sitting beside them, nearly dislocated his eyeballs.
Wait. Didn't the Fourth Master have an obsession with hygiene?
Watching the chopsticks that had just been in Ling Yun's mouth reach over to pick more food for Jiang Xiuqing, Fan Zhengqing went blank.
Right. Apparently the hygiene obsession was reserved for other people.
"Ling Yun, you little rascal, get out here right now!" Just as the three of them had finished lunch and put down their chopsticks, a shrill, furious voice carried across the lawn from a distance, shifting everyone's expression.
"Little Uncle — I think I may have stirred up some trouble." Hearing Wu Meiyun's voice, Ling Yun immediately understood: the Yang Qing situation had exploded.
"It's alright. Little Uncle is here." Jiang Xiuqing calmly folded his napkin, stood, and walked toward the living room.
After exactly one second of hesitation, Ling Yun followed.
After today, he and the Jiang family would have no more ties. Little Uncle might not be his little uncle anymore.
That thought made Ling Yun's eyes sting.
