Chapter 38: Quickly Sign the Document

Yang Jian's face was deathly pale from the pain, but he verbally refused to yield an inch.

"You punk, you dare hit me? Do you realize you're finished? Do you have any idea what's going to happen to you?"

Mu Lin said calmly, "I have no interest in any of that. I only care about one thing. Can you hurry up, sign the document, and transfer the money?"

Chen Xi took the documents and a pen from the table, placed them on the floor, and spread them out in front of Yang Jian.

Yang Jian snatched the pen and scribbled his name on the signature line. "There. Now get out!"

Mu Lin chuckled. "Thank you for your cooperation, President Yang. You truly are the perfect partner."

The way he said it...

If he hadn't just beaten Yang Jian, those words might have actually held some weight.

But as things stood...

He really had been quite cooperative.

Mu Lin and Chen Xi left, completely satisfied, leaving Yang Jian behind, twitching in pain on the floor.

His phone rang.

It was Lu Yi.

"Old Yang, I saw the Waste Team's car head out again. Did they go to your place?"

Yang Jian coughed, the taste of blood in his mouth. He spoke in a raspy voice, "You son of a bitch, you almost got me killed… Two guys came here and beat me so bad, I think my kidney's about to burst!"

Lu Yi paused to think. 'They can fight that well? Are they really from the Waste Team?'

"For real?"

"A little more and you'd be visiting my grave!" Yang Jian said, filled with rage. He was just doing a buddy a small favor; he never imagined he'd end up getting hurt this badly.

Lu Yi was shocked. He thought for a moment. "So you signed the contract for them?"

"No shit! They would've beaten me to death otherwise! Let me tell you, Lu Yi, I can't just swallow this. You're going to have to make this up to me!"

Lu Yi felt sick to his stomach. 'Now that the Waste Team has perfectly completed their task, how am I supposed to use them to control those old fogeys on the board?'

He thought it over and an idea suddenly struck him. "Old Yang, I might not be able to help you directly, but I can give you an idea. If we play this right, not only will you get your revenge, but my plan to control the Li Group can also succeed."

Yang Jian's eyes lit up, and he urged Lu Yi to explain.

The more he listened, the brighter Yang Jian's eyes grew.

'These educated types... how are their brains so damn sharp?'

'You two bastards just wait and see! I'll make you wish you were dead!'

Mu Lin and Chen Xi headed downstairs, chatting and laughing. With the task complete, they were both feeling pretty relaxed.

Mu Lin thought, 'I gave Yang Jian a savage beating. That should be enough to appease Li Xue, right?'

'The sound of her crying, carried away on the wind... it was truly heartbreaking, to be honest.'

As for Chen Xi, he had gotten a satisfying fight out of it and could now brag about it to the guys in the special team. All in all, a good haul.

When they reached the entrance, Chen Xi told Mu Lin to wait a moment while he went to get the car.

It was a company car, after all. To be discreet, they hadn't foolishly parked it right at the entrance, but in a spot diagonally across the road.

It was close by, and no one would ever connect the Li Group with a pig farm.

VROOOM—

The frantic roar of an engine echoed from the distance as a van screeched to a halt in front of the pig farm.

"Hurry, get out of the van! Someone actually dared to mess with Master Wu's people. They must have a death wish!"

"Once this is done, I'll take everyone to the sauna!"

WHOOOAH!

The thugs roared in fervent excitement.

Mu Lin watched coolly from the side, only to see that the leader was none other than Guo Lei.

Pang Dahai's godson.

'Nothing to do with me,' Mu Lin thought, watching with an unconcerned air.

Guo Lei waved for his men to charge in, then turned and started rummaging through the van for his phone.

After finding it, he stood up and was startled to see a familiar figure not far away.

Connecting the news of Yang Jian's beating with Mu Lin's sheer audacity, Guo Lei suddenly realized what must have happened.

An electric jolt shot from his Dantian straight to his core, and a sense of dread grew wildly within him.

Whether it was just to say hello or to confirm his suspicion, Guo Lei started walking toward Mu Lin.

"Mr. Mu, what a coincidence seeing you here!"

Guo Lei bowed his head and bent his knees, looking utterly deferential.

After a few miserable days at the beginning, he had gradually gotten the hang of things, and the feeling of being a boss was slowly starting to become more pronounced.

He was even starting to feel a little grateful to Mu Lin. If Mu Lin hadn't killed Pang Dahai, how long would he have had to struggle and claw his way up to reach his current position?

He had also sworn to himself that he would treat Mu Lin with the utmost respect from now on, revering him as if he were his own sworn brother.

"Oh! It's you!" Mu Lin feigned surprise, even taking a step back. "That van is yours, right? Quite a big crew. Are you in the renovation business?"

Guo Lei touched his cheek, feeling it flush. "Yes, that's right! Some parts of the pig farm still have some issues, so they need to be renovated one way or another."

Mu Lin said, "Well, you'd better watch out for the payment terms. That old fox Yang Jian loves to delay payments. He's a professional deadbeat. It took me a lot of effort to squeeze the money out of him."

"Thank you for the warning, Mr. Mu. I'll remember that. I definitely won't make such a rookie mistake!"

With that, Guo Lei scrambled into the building.

Chen Xi pulled up in the car.

"Brother Lin, what's going on? Why is there a big van parked in front of the pig farm?"

Mu Lin said, "Oh, it's nothing. A renovation crew."

Chen Xi frowned. 'Really?' he thought. But Mu Lin had been standing here the whole time, so he certainly had a better idea of the situation. Trusting Brother Lin was never the wrong move.

Guo Lei entered the office building and headed straight upstairs.

When he reached the office, he found Yang Jian sitting at his desk, covered in blood.

Yang Jian was overjoyed to see him. "Master Guo, you're here! Those two punks just ran out. Quick, go after them!"

Guo Lei said, "Don't worry. They won't get away."

Hearing Guo Lei's promise, Yang Jian assumed he must have already set up an inescapable net outside. There was no way Mu Lin and Chen Xi could possibly escape.

But Guo Lei was thinking, 'I have Mu Lin's contact information. I can find him in an instant if I want to.'

'And I would never dream of capturing him anyway, so whether he gets away now or later makes no difference.'

"Master Guo, sit! Let me get you some tea!"

Yang Jian stood up, limping, and hobbled over to the water cooler. He was about to make tea when Guo Lei stopped him.

"I'll get it myself. You sit down!"

Guo Lei had no choice but to sit. Yang Jian let out a long breath and said, "Those two bastards… they're real pieces of work! They come to me to collect a debt—am I supposed to just hand it over? I'd be a fucking idiot if I did! But then they beat me into this state!"

Guo Lei asked, "So, did you give them the money?"

Yang Jian threw his head back and declared with bravado, "Of course not! I'd be a real sucker if I did!"

"Not only am I not giving them a dime, but I'm also going to ruin the Li Group's business!"

"I bet you don't know this, but I have a sworn brother who's the king of building materials in Anhua City. Doesn't matter how big your real estate business is, you have to buy your materials from him."

"I've already spoken to him. Starting today, he's cutting off all supplies to the Li Group. Let's see how the Li Group does business now! Unless Li Xue strips naked and begs me for forgiveness, I will absolutely not accept any form of reconciliation."

Guo Lei rubbed his hands together. In his head, he was calling Yang Jian a fucking moron, but he said smoothly, "I really envy you. A man of your good fortune."

Yang Jian burst out laughing, but the movement aggravated his injuries, triggering a fit of coughing that brought up more bloody spittle.

"This 'good fortune' was bought with my life, I'll tell you that. That bastard is truly ruthless… I don't know his name… The one leading the charge seemed to be the grandson of a Li Group director, a guy named Chen Xi? The other one… I heard Lu Yi mention him, but the name was hard to remember. I really can't recall."

Guo Lei said, "The other one was probably named Mu Lin, right?"

Yang Jian's eyes lit up. He pointed at Guo Lei and said, "Yes, yes, that's him! He's the one who beat me into this state! You have to help me get my revenge! Name your price, whatever it is. I can absolutely meet it."

Guo Lei smiled. "Of course! But… are you sure you want to go up against him? Have you really thought about the price you might have to pay?"

"I told you, name your price! I won't even blink."

"I mean, your life might be the first thing to go," Guo Lei said, settling into a more comfortable position. "Let me ask you, how did I get into this position I'm in now?"

Anyone involved in the gray areas of the city knew the story, so Yang Jian answered without a second thought:

"There was a huge gang fight at the Huangshanghuang Hotel. During the fight, Pang Dahai and his four top enforcers were all killed. Since these are turbulent times, his old followers, in order to ensure their influence wasn't diminished, chose you as their new leader to manage Anhua City's underworld on behalf of Master Wu."

Guo Lei nodded. "You've summed it up very well. For an outsider, knowing that much is quite commendable. But what you know… is only part of the truth."