Chapter 82: The Big Shot of District 1

Chen Jingyun said, "He deserved it! He absolutely deserved it!"

"May I ask your name, sir? And where do you work?"

"Mu Lin. I'm just a regular joe with a job, nothing special."

Chen Jingyun said, "They say you shouldn't judge a hero by his origins, but I'd better ask anyway. If I want to find you for a sparring session in the future, I'll need to know where to look."

Mu Lin thought for a moment. 'Giving him my home address would be a bad idea.' So he said:

"Deputy Head of the Special Division in the Li Group's Project Department."

That was more than detailed enough.

Chen Jingyun committed it to memory, then bowed to Mu Lin with satisfaction.

"Thank you for your cooperation!"

Mu Lin chuckled. "Farewell!"

Back in the car, Li Xue glared at Mu Lin. "Do you have any sense of self-preservation at all?"

Mu Lin tilted his head, a picture of innocence. "What do you mean? Of course I do."

"But what if something had gone wrong? Then you would have..."

"But I have confidence in myself!" Mu Lin's matter-of-fact attitude only infuriated Li Xue more.

Li Xue crossed one elegant leg over the other. "I can't control you, so I'm just going to stop trying, alright?"

The martial arts stage had been reduced to dust, so the day's performance was naturally over.

Chen Jingyun had his security guards start clearing the walkway, but he himself just stared into the distance, lost in thought.

Seeing his forlorn expression, the guards hurried over.

"Captain, are you okay? Are you feeling sick?"

Chen Jingyun slowly shook his head. "That Mu Lin... he's a true hero."

The guards understood immediately. It was a case of one hero recognizing another; there was nothing they could do about it.

Besides, they couldn't be bothered with it. "He's a hero, alright," one said with a chuckle. "Too bad he's already someone else's hero. We can't count on him."

Chen Jingyun understood what his men were implying, and his expression grew even more wistful.

'If only Mu Lin worked for me!'

When Mu Lin and Li Xue returned home, a cheerful Elder Li came out to greet them.

As soon as Li Xue saw Elder Li, she immediately started tattling on Mu Lin. "Grandpa, you have to do something about Mu Lin! He's just... He beat up Wu Long today."

Elder Li's eyes lit up. "Wu Long, you say? How'd you do it?"

"I slapped him around, then I used a little trick. If he doesn't hand over Yuelong Group to Li Xue in ten days, he'll die."

Well then...

Elder Li's mouth hung open. "Will that really work?"

Mu Lin smiled faintly. "What a thing to say. If it wouldn't work, how could I have done it?"

Elder Li's old face flushed, realizing his slip of the tongue.

"So on the tenth day... he'll really die?"

Mu Lin said, "He will."

This terrified Elder Li. "Goodness, Wu Long will hate you to the bone for this."

"Let him."

Then Elder Li remembered something. "Let's not talk about this for now. Hurry inside. Mu Lin, bring the plants from the garden in, and then go reinforce the roof awning."

"Xue'Er, call your father and tell him to hurry home. If he can't make it, tell him to just find a place to stay for the night."

Mu Lin blinked. "Grandpa, what's going on? Why are you telling Dad not to come home?"

Li Xue said, "Grandpa, is *that* happening again?"

The old man nodded, his face grim. "Sigh. It's unavoidable. It's not our place to comment on these things. We just need to take care of ourselves."

The conversation was so cryptic, Mu Lin was completely confused about what was going on.

"Grandpa, what in the world is going on?"

Elder Li waved a hand dismissively. "Time is short. Finish your work first, we'll talk later!"

'There must be a reason for this,' Mu Lin thought. He didn't press the issue and quickly got to work.

He had done plenty of manual labor back on the mountain, so he worked with exceptional efficiency, climbing up and down until his head was covered in sweat.

Li Xue watched from the side as she called Li Yinhe.

"Grandpa, Dad's not done with his work. It looks like he won't be coming home tonight!"

Elder Li nodded in understanding.

Mu Lin dismantled the awning in the yard and reinforced the fence with wire. Only when he had finished everything did he turn to go back inside.

Seeing Mu Lin drenched in sweat, Elder Li said, "Mu Lin, go take a shower. Thank you for your hard work."

Mu Lin asked, "So what in the world is going on?"

Li Xue urged, "I told you, it's a long story! Why are you so thick-headed?"

Fine, a shower it is.

When Mu Lin came out of the shower, Mrs. Li had already set the table for dinner.

Elder Li said, "Let's talk while we eat!"

"Mu Lin, you remember when we were playing chess last time, I mentioned that this villa complex is divided into three districts."

"District One is for people with real power, District Two is for those in the world of finance, and District Three is for business entrepreneurs."

"We don't mix, it's like well water and river water. Even the meter readers and street sweepers are different for each district."

"We live in District Three, near the edge. Our house is considered one of the lower-tier ones here."

Huh? That contradicted everything Mu Lin knew. He asked hurriedly, "Grandpa, that can't be right. The Li Group is clearly the second-largest construction company in the city. How can you be living in a place like this?"

It was as if a sore spot had been touched. Elder Li put down his chopsticks and said seriously:

"The Li Group got a late start. By the time we knew what was happening, Yuelong Group was already one of the top construction companies. The fact that we can even snatch scraps from their plate is a feat in itself."

"Besides, construction is hard labor. The real estate developers are the ones who make the big money, aren't they? They get the land and the money comes rolling in before they've even built a single house." Elder Li sighed. "We work ourselves to the bone, and in their eyes, we're just the suckers doing the grunt work."

"Most of the profits end up in their pockets, so it's perfectly normal that we're not rolling in cash."

Mu Lin nodded. "I see. For you to have achieved this much is already incredible, Elder Li! After all, you were up against Wu Long!"

With that, he raised his glass to the old man. "To you!"

The old man also picked up his glass, poured a small amount, clinked it against Mu Lin's, and drained it in one go.

"Dad, not too much!" Mrs. Li reminded him.

"It's only my first glass, isn't it? How is that a lot? Can you not be so unreasonable?"

Mrs. Li had no comeback for that.

After dinner, Mu Lin followed his usual routine of watching TV with the old man and helping him upstairs.

Li Xue stared out the window, not the least bit sleepy.

Mu Lin asked, "Are you really that scared?"

Li Xue shot Mu Lin a look. "Who's scared!"

"Stop talking nonsense, or I'll tear your mouth off!" Li Xue said.

Mu Lin raised his hands in surrender, only to find Li Xue's left hand pressing down on his right, their fingers almost intertwined.

"Whoa, whoa, don't get the wrong idea! I didn't feel a thing!"

Mu Lin chuckled. "I never said I got the wrong idea. What wrong idea are you talking about?"

Li Xue shot up from her seat and went to take a shower.

Mu Lin looked out the window. A restless energy was brewing in the darkness, promising to stir up waves in the coming night.

「Nine o'clock.」

"The target's safety is our life! If anything happens to Elder Zhou, we might as well just kill ourselves to atone for our failure!"

Chen Jingyun's voice cut through the darkness, berating his men. Rows of security guards stood with grim expressions.

"Yes, sir!"

"Get to your positions according to the plan! No time to waste! The danger could arrive at any moment, so don't let your guard down!"

The guards dispersed.

Despite all the preparations, with multiple backups for every contingency plan, Chen Jingyun still couldn't calm his nerves.

'It's still not foolproof.' He remembered the crisis last time, and a persistent anxiety gnawed at him.

He thought of Mu Lin, whom he had met on the martial arts stage that evening.

'With Mu Lin's skill, he could probably offer some help, couldn't he?'

That was one way to look at it...

But... *sigh*.

Things rarely go as planned. The affairs of District One were a secret; outsiders could not be involved.

He turned and entered the lavishly decorated villa.

Two people were sitting on the living room sofa, a man and a woman. From the matching rings on their hands, they were a married couple.

"Mr. Zhou, all security measures are in place. We won't let so much as a fly get in. I can absolutely guarantee Elder Zhou's safety!"

The man, Zhou Qianfan, glanced at him.

"That's what you said last time. If my father hadn't been lucky and that dagger had found its mark, would you still be standing here talking to me now?"

Cold sweat beaded on Chen Jingyun's forehead. "A lapse like last time will never happen again! Please, Mr. Zhou, trust our professionalism!"

"Hmph. I'll choose to believe you this once." Zhou Qianfan took his wife's hand, and they turned to leave.

At that moment, in the magnificent villa, only a single old man, flickering like a candle in the wind, remained.