Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

After she had finished speaking, Li Hongmei was surprised to see Ling Yun beaming radiantly. She wondered why Ling Yun was asking those questions and how he could even smile in such circ.u.mstances. Could his mind have been muddled by fury?

“Ling Yun, you… are you okay? Let Auntie advise you, don't even think of giving Hades Tian any trouble. Listen to Auntie, wait for your mother to return before doing anything!

“Ever since Hades Tian took a beating from the two of you previously, he has been thinking of avenging himself. If you were to seek him out now, that's tantamount to walking into a trap!”

Ling Yun chuckled with interest. He replied, “Auntie Li, do you want to see a good show in a short while?”

Li Hongmei asked perplexedly, “What sort of good show is there to see so early in the morning? I say, child, are you really thinking of giving Hades Tian trouble?”

Ling Yun laughed and winked at Li Hongmei. “Wait until my mother returns, and I'll get her to treat you to a meal! Auntie Li, I'll make a move first!”

After he finished speaking, Ling Yun beckoned Tang Meng and Dugu Mo. The trio exited Li Hongmei's shop and entered the Hummer.

“This child, why has he been returning with bizarre characters recently? That fox looks so seductive and actually resembles a human in some aspects!”

After Li Hongmei had seen him off, she gazed at the Hummer, which was slowly driving eastwards and muttered to herself.

“What? Eastwards? Could that child really be venturing to Linjiang Garden?”

At that thought, Li Hongmei's heart sank.

The temporary office of the demolition company was located at the eastern end of Linjiang Road.

Although it was Sunday, the department remained open for business. To them, it was the best time to go about their work, given that many people were at home on Sundays.

At 9:30am, the demolition office was already crowded with people. Amongst them was a person who was estimated to be around thirty-six years old and huge in stature. His hair was slicked back and neatly combed, and he was expressionless and had peaked eyebrows. Behind his golden spectacle frames were a pair of triangular eyes that exuded a hypocritical air of refinement as he gave a sinister smile.

This person bore a resemblance to Gou Junfa and was his uncle, Gou Lianshan!

Tian Botao was correct in what he said to Qin Qiuyue at the public clinic, Linjiang Road was indeed undergoing demolition work. However, it had been originally scheduled for May, and Gou Liancheng was the one who had brought it forward by half a month.

In order to place a bet with Ling Yun, Gou Junfa had made Gou Liancheng fork out one hundred million. Despite his affluence, even Gou Liancheng had insufficient funds and was forced to sell a prospering hotel business to meet the demand.

Currently, Gou Liancheng was facing cash-flow issues, and he urgently needed to take out a bank loan. Since a project was required to justify the loan, he had kickstarted the Linjiang Road project in advance to expedite the completion of the demolition work. Once the land had been cleared, advertis.e.m.e.nts could be posted, and he would be able to take a bank loan.

Moreover, even since Gou Liancheng had been severely beaten by Ling Yun, he had been living in fear and overwhelmed by a sense of foreboding. The slightest inkling of something untoward would set him off in a panic.

Right now, Gou Liancheng was still recuperating in a high dependency ward at a provincial hospital. However, he was now able to stand up, as that particular thing had already been removed. After the st.i.tches had been taken out, there shouldn't have been any issues with his recovery.

Nevertheless, Ling Yun hadn't spared him at the height of his fury. Although Gou Liancheng was able to stand up, he required the a.s.sistance of a walking aid as his spine couldn't be straightened and was still very weak.

Gou Liancheng had handed the Linjiang Road's demolition project over to his brother Gou Lianshan. Since Gou Lianshan was already aware that Ling Yun had beaten up his nephew and kicked his elder brother mercilessly, wouldn't he seize the opportunity to flatten Ling Yun's home now that he wielded so much power?

Without even mentioning compensation matters, even one's consent wasn't required for the demolition to proceed. Given that Gou Liancheng could rely on the deputy mayor, as well as the Public Security Bureau, to s.h.i.+eld him, he wasn't afraid of offending influential figures!

As both Qin Qiuyue and Ling Yun had been missing at that point in time, only his younger sister Ning Lingyu was at home. However, Ning Lingyu hadn't been able to venture anywhere else as Xie Zhenting's son, Xie Junyan, was infatuated with her!

Gou Junfa had already informed Gou Lianshan of these matters, and the latter was permitted to demolish properties as he pleased. After completing the project, he was supposed to brief Gou Junfa on the demolition procedure!

Gou Lianshan had initially a.s.sumed that it would be difficult to execute the project in this manner. After all, they needed to obtain the Street Administration's prior consent before proceeding with it. However, he had never expected that the Street Administration's Deputy Director, Tian Botao, would be eager to approve the demolition of Ling Yun's house as soon as he had heard about it.

Having inquired about the matter, he learned that Tian Botao and his nephew had been bullied by Ling Yun previously and were plotting their revenge!

It was such a perfect collaboration. After a joint wine session on a Thursday afternoon, Gou Lianshan was emboldened under the effects of alcohol and brought a gang of people to demolish Ling Yun's house that very afternoon!

By demolis.h.i.+ng Ling Yun's house, Gou Lianshan was considered to have avenged his elder brother and nephew. He called up Gou Liancheng and Gou Junfa respectively to inform them about the news, and also celebrated the victory with Tian Botao and his nephew. Needless to say, he was extremely c.o.c.ky about the achievement!

It wasn't simply a matter of vengeance but a show of dominance. By demolis.h.i.+ng Ling Yun's house without any need for explanation, they were obviously showing off their capabilities to the surrounding households. The latter wasn't aware of their complicated history — all they could see was that Ling Yun's house had been forcibly razed to the ground!

This move was highly beneficial to the task that Gou Lianshan was about to embark upon!

The series of events that had occurred over the past two days were indicative of their smooth progress. Although they had drastically reduced the demolition fees, the residents in the affected area had been forced to comply with them, regardless of whether they were agreeable to the arrangement.

To Gou Lianshan, the fact that it was a Sunday was significant, that was the reason he had decided to attend an office meeting early in the morning despite being utterly exhausted from his romp with five mistresses the previous night.

The purpose of the meeting was to finalize the work arrangements for that day. Gou Lianshan had been so thoroughly engrossed in delivering an animated speech at the office meeting that he had failed to notice a Hummer parked outside his office.

“Is this the legendary demolition office?” Ling Yun looked out of the car window and caught sight of the conspicuous signage. He reckoned that there was a considerable fleet of staff in the office, which seemed to lend credence to the organization.

With his superior hearing ability, Ling Yun was definitely able to hear Gou Lianshan's words clearly. He could hear him exclaiming in excitement, “We should ensure that the tenants don't band together and should inflict a severe blow on them by reducing their asking price to the lowest. Those people won't dare to make unreasonable demands once they witness how we deal with them one by one and warn them with antecedent cases…”

Ling Yun frowned slightly as he heard those words. He mulled over the phrase, “warn them with antecedent cases” and was indignant that they had considered his family's case as an antecedent warning for other people. He felt that they had erred to such an absurd extent!

“Let's go in to meet them!” Ling Yun laughed bitterly and got out of the vehicle. Without waiting for Tang Meng and Dugu Mo, he walked towards the office directly.

Gou Lianshan's back was facing the door, and in his fervor, he had failed to notice Ling Yun's arrival. He was still giving his impa.s.sioned speech, but Gou Lianshan was taken aback when everyone started looking at the door entrance.

Gou Lianshan turned his head and saw Ling Yun sauntering in. He was stunned for a moment and wondered about the ident.i.ty of this fool who had the gall to intrude into his meeting!

China's demolition office was a mysterious ent.i.ty to the public, and an ordinary member of the public would usually make a detour around the office. Who would dare to pay them a visit upfront?

As Gou Lianshan swept his gaze around the surrounding area, he soon caught sight of a Hummer parked outside the office and knew that Ling Yun was certainly not an ordinary visitor. Hence, he suppressed his anger and put on an artificial smile. “How do you do? I'm Gou Lianshan, the head of this office. May I know the purpose of your visit?”

Gou Lianshan? Ling Yun thought that it was a coincidence that this man bore a striking resemblance to Gou Liancheng and shared the same uncommon surname as him. He concluded that they were most likely biological brothers!

He laughed. “Oh, I sensed that this was a fun place and decided to look around. At the same time, I'd like to inquire about a certain matter!”

“Came in to look around?” Gou Lianshan and his subordinates were momentarily dumbfounded. What sort of place did he treat it to be — was it somewhere that a student like him could casually look around?

Gou Lianshan's face darkened and hinted at his displeasure. “Go, go, go. This isn't the correct place for you to make inquiries. Can't you see that we're in the middle of a meeting?”

Ling Yun laughed. “Why would a meeting mention reducing prices, inflicting severe blows, and warning people about antecedent cases? Let me ask you, Gou Lianshan, were you the one who brought a gang to demolish the public clinic in the western region?”

Ling Yun couldn't be bothered to exchange pleasantries with Gou Lianshan and got straight to the point!

“Yes, so what if I did? Eh, something seems amiss — you — who are you? Why do you care about this?”

Gou Lianshan had a sense of foreboding and found him vaguely familiar…

He soon recalled seeing Ling Yun's picture on the mobile phone of his nephew, Gou Junfa! This was Ling Yun! Ling Yun had returned!

Goodness, didn't Gou Junfa say that Ling Yun had gone missing a week ago? How could he have returned and found this place so quickly?

When Gou Lianshan recalled Gou Liancheng's frightening description of Ling Yun, he was instantly terrified and broke out in a cold sweat.

Ling Yun perceived the changes in Gou Lianshan's expression and laughed disdainfully. “You've managed to remember?”

Gou Lianshan shouted wildly, “It's you, Ling Yun! You still have the audacity to show up here, don't you know that the Public Security Bureau has already made the necessary preparations to list you as a wanted person?”

“Oh? This is breaking news, thank you for informing me!” Ling Yun chuckled and walked towards Gou Lianshan.

“You! what do you want to do?” Gou Lianshan exclaimed in terror as he saw Ling Yun advancing towards him.

“You tore down my house without permission, so what do you think I'm going to do?”

Ling Yun's eyebrows shot up, and he held onto Gou Lianshan gently with his left hand as though he were a chick.

“I want to tear you apart alive. However, I'll spare your life for the time being on account of the three-year relations.h.i.+p that your nephew has with me!”

After he had finished speaking, Ling Yun blocked several acupoints on Gou Lianshan with lightning-quick hands and immobilized him.

There wasn't anything particularly special about being physically immobilized, except that it would result in excruciating pain due to a backflow in several meridians every three to five minutes.

Following which, Ling Yun carried Gou Lianshan towards the door and discarded him on the streets as he would have done to a piece of trash.

“Why are you guys staring at me? Get out of my sight!”