Jiang Tian’s hand trembled, and the tea splashed onto the floor. He quickly tried to change the subject, stood up, and grabbed a mop to clean up the mess, saying apologetically, “Look at me, so clumsy…”
After Jiang Tian left, Huang Zhihui hesitated for a long time before finally sighing and saying, “Ling’er, that female classmate you mentioned earlier—that was actually you, wasn’t it?”
Huang Ling’er stood by the window. She hadn’t expected her father to see right through her feelings, and she felt both flustered and on the verge of tears. Silently, she watched Jiang Tian and Zhen Shuai drive away.
Although Huang Zhihui was deeply absorbed in his academic research, he wasn’t a bookworm. From the way Huang Ling’er had thrown foot-washing water at Jiang Tian the last time she saw him, and then cried in the corner after he left, and how she had been pulled aside by Jiang Tian when they came to apologize that day—if he still couldn’t figure something out by now, then he really would have wasted his decades of living.
“Did he bully you?” Huang Zhihui’s veins bulged on his forehead.
“No…”
Huang Ling’er shook her head, and her sorrow seemed to burst through a broken dam, pouring out uncontrollably. Tears streamed down her face no matter how hard she tried to hold them back.
“Then end the lab cooperation.”
Huang Zhihui gritted his teeth and said, “I don’t want you to suffer. Don’t worry about me. Even without his help, I can still make it through!”
“Don’t, Dad!”
Huang Ling’er sobbed, her pretty face covered in tears. Wiping her eyes, she spoke in a trembling but firm voice:
“Before, I just couldn’t understand why he broke up with me. Now I’ve figured it out. Maybe I was too willful, not sweet enough, not mature enough—that’s why he wanted to end things. It’s not that I wasn’t good enough for him… And he didn’t come to you because of me, but because he truly values your talent!”
“…” Huang Zhihui began to think that his daughter’s situation was just an ordinary emotional entanglement, which made him feel a bit better.
Who hasn’t suffered from heartbreak when they were young?
Although Huang Zhihui naturally sided more with his daughter emotionally, as a grown man, he understood that when two people hurt each other in a relationship, it’s usually hard to say who’s right and who’s wrong.
He didn’t press further, and instead comforted his daughter, “What’s in the past is in the past. Don’t overthink it.”
“Dad, do you think Jiang Tian is a bad person?”
Huang Ling’er wiped away her tears, her face full of confusion.
Back in the day, after she and Jiang Tian broke up, she had heard many stories about his bad behavior—fighting, brawling, a chaotic private life, bullying others, and throwing his weight around.
But that’s how it is with two people who once truly loved each other. Even after confirming a thousand times that the other person is cold and heartless, you still can’t help but make excuses for them: Maybe there was some other reason he hurt me like this…
“Maybe he had some reasons he couldn’t explain back then.”
Huang Zhihui furrowed his brow and said, “He was truly an ignorant, spoiled rich kid in those days, but you’ve seen him these past few days. His extraordinary abilities, his knowledge, his grand ambitions—maybe he had something important he had to do at that time, and that’s why he had to break up with you…”
“Oh…” Huang Ling’er replied softly.
Huang Zhihui saw a glimmer of light return to her eyes, and his heart immediately sank.
As a man, he understood that being a bit of a flirt wasn’t the worst flaw. He truly admired Jiang Tian’s profound insights into pharmacology and academia—they were like looking up at a mountain.
But he also wanted his daughter to find a man who would be devoted and loving.
He immediately said sternly, “But the past is the past. I heard he’s married now. Don’t dwell on him anymore…”
——-
Nie Changhai had been feeling extremely frustrated lately. He had his eyes on the Fulong Mountain plot of land for a long time, wanting to develop it into a large villa complex—a business venture that would yield huge profits.
Nie Changhai and Sun Lingyun, the head of the Sun family, were brothers-in-law. The Nie family also held a significant share in the Qingyun Society, which was controlled by the Sun family. With the two families joining forces and the Qingyun Society—a semi-criminal organization—acting as a deterrent, no other real estate tycoons dared to come and snatch this prime piece of land. As a result, the land auctions for Fulong Mountain failed again and again.
As a major power player in the city, known as “Nie of Half the City,” Nie Changhai had big ambitions. His goal was to force the Nanjing municipal government to keep lowering the auction price, so he could eventually take the land at an extremely low price.
In fact, he had already succeeded halfway.
The Nanjing government had no choice but to continuously lower the price of the land, eventually reaching the 10,000 yuan per square meter that he wanted.
But the frustrating part was that the Pharmaceutical King Group suddenly appeared out of nowhere and snatched the land away.
It completely caught Nie Changhai off guard!
He couldn’t figure out how the Jiang family, which had been on its last legs, had suddenly bounced back like this.
Had they been injected with chicken blood?
Where did they get the money!
In his study, the dim yellow light cast a soft glow.
Nie Changhai leaned back on his leather sofa, puffing on a big cigar, his face gloomy and his eyes filled with resentment.
He felt like he had become the biggest joke in Nanjing. He had spent five years planning and pouring countless energy into this, only to end up paving the way for someone else.
Suddenly, the study door opened, and his eldest son, Nie Mingyuan, walked over and said softly, “Father, we’ve found out where the money came from!”
“Who is it?”
“Ye Gufeng from north of the river, as well as Tang Shaoze, Bai Choufei, and Tie Minghuang from Yangcheng—all three families are supporting the Jiang family together!”
“What?”
Nie Changhai couldn’t believe it.
The Jiang family was basically a broken, fallen family. Under the combined pressure from his own family, the Chen family, and the Sun family, they were barely holding on to half a life. How had they managed to connect with such powerful forces?
But he trusted his son’s abilities.
Although Nie Mingyuan was only in his early thirties, he was already a seasoned player with extensive connections and a meticulous mind. He had built networks within the government and among many major families and businesses.
His intelligence wouldn’t be wrong.
“That really doesn’t seem possible…”
Nie Changhai furrowed his brow and said, “Could it be that the Jiang family has become their agent? These days, the forces from south of the Five Ridges have been making big moves in Nanjing—sweeping through like dragons!”
“Dad, you’ve got it wrong!”
Nie Mingyuan had clean hair, a well-maintained physique, and a calm, handsome face that gave off an air of wisdom and sharpness:
“I found out that Jiang Tian is very famous in Linzhou and even throughout Lingnan. It can be said that he alone dominates the entire region!”
“That’s impossible! Jiang Tian… I know him. He’s a good-for-nothing, just like your brother Nie Feng!”
Nie Changhai shook his head confidently and said, “He’s not even as good as Feng’er. All he knows is dogfighting and cockfighting, causing trouble, and he even beat up that Yanjing young master who broke off the engagement. Old Man Jiang kicked him out of Nanjing!”
“Dad, watch this video. It cost me 30 million yuan to buy it from a wealthy man in Linzhou!”
Nie Mingyuan set up the projector.
Soon, a video appeared on the screen. It was the footage of Jiang Tian killing Xing Shanhu on the Micro Whale Princess cruise ship.
Although the video wasn’t very clear and even shook violently, you could still see a glimpse of Jiang Tian’s abilities.
After watching it,
Nie Changhai broke out in a cold sweat. He was silent for a long time before finally speaking in a hoarse voice, “He should be what they call a martial artist.”
“That’s right!”
Nie Mingyuan’s face also grew serious, and he said, “He killed two masters, Mo Haoxiong and Wei Shuofeng, in Lingnan, and now he controls the entire region. And that kid is cunning and deceitful—he kept saying the Pharmaceutical King Group was having cash flow problems, and I fell for it!”
“That kid is terrifyingly powerful!”
Nie Changhai sucked in a cold breath, his eyes flickering with a fierce light, and said coldly, “If he seeks revenge, it will be disastrous!”
“Yeah, Sun Hao and Chen Bo died under mysterious circumstances. I suspect he was the one who did it!”
Nie Mingyuan said gravely, “If he finds out that the Sun and Chen families were targeting the Jiang family on our orders, he’ll probably come after us!”
“That’s unlikely!”
Nie Changhai said, “This operation against the Jiang family was extremely tight. Apart from the mastermind behind the scenes, only you, me, the heads of the Chen and Sun families, and the four of us knew about it. Sun Hao and Chen Bo were just following orders—they didn’t even know each other’s moves. Jiang Tian couldn’t find out even if he tried!”
“Either way, I think we need to speed up our actions against the Jiang family!”
Nie Mingyuan’s eyes flashed with sharp, cold glints, and he said in a low voice, “If we let him grow stronger, we’ll be raising a tiger that will eventually devour us!”
“Yeah, that makes sense!” Nie Changhai nodded. “But what method should we use to deal with the Jiang family?”
Nie Mingyuan smiled slightly and said, “To catch the bandits, first catch the king. Right now, the one who’s really giving us trouble in the Jiang family is Jiang Tian!”
Nie Changhai nodded. “Right target, but which master should we ask to make a move?”
“Father, I’ve heard that martial artists have different levels of cultivation. Iron Body—they’re not afraid of cold weapons. Internal Energy—they can even dodge bullets, though maybe not sustained fire. And the Transformation Stage—they can take on modern weapons head-on.”
Nie Mingyuan said, “We don’t know Jiang Tian’s level yet. The priority should be to have the Qingyun Society and the Sun family test him first.”
“Yeah, let the Sun family lead the charge, and we’ll watch the battle from the sidelines.”
Nie Changhai nodded in satisfaction and said,
“If Jiang Tian is only at the Iron Body or Internal Energy level, the Qingyun Society can take care of him without us lifting a finger. They have guns!”
“But judging by the video, Jiang Tian is probably at the Transformation Stage. People like that are called grandmasters in the martial arts world, and they’re very hard to deal with. What if he really is at the Transformation Stage?” Nie Mingyuan’s face showed a hint of seriousness as he asked.
“If he really is a Transformation Stage grandmaster…”
Nie Changhai’s face showed a trace of fear. After a long silence, he sighed and said, “Then we might have to ask that big shot to step in.”
“You mean—the Martial Arts Elder, Li Chunfeng?” Nie Mingyuan’s eyes widened in shock as he blurted out.
“That’s right. I spent a lot of effort back then to send your aunt to study under Li Chunfeng at Wudang Mountain.”
Nie Changhai nodded, a hint of pride appearing on his face. He sighed and said, “Ever since nuclear weapons appeared in the 1960s, martial arts masters have gone into hiding. Wudang has become a semi-secluded sect, unknown to the world. But Wudang’s strength is immense—one sect alone can suppress the entire Dragon Team of China. And Li Chunfeng is one of Wudang’s four great elders. From what I know, his strength rivals Ye Zhantian’s.”
“Father, that move of yours was absolutely brilliant. Aunt must be very powerful by now too, right?”
Nie Mingyuan couldn’t help but recall that sweet, charming smile and that graceful, alluring figure, and his heart stirred.
“She’s always in seclusion, cultivating. The last time I contacted her was three years ago, and by then she had already reached the peak of the Transformation Stage!”
Nie Changhai’s face showed a hint of pride, and his eyes flickered with cold light.
Many people only saw the Nie family as an ordinary family, but how could a family that had dominated Nanjing for so many years have no hidden strengths or backup?
Although the Nie family was a secular family, they had the massive power of the Wudang sect as their backing. Otherwise, they would have crumbled and scattered long ago through all the storms and struggles.
It’s just that Wudang remains aloof from worldly affairs, and he generally doesn’t use this connection. But now, if he asked Wudang to deal with Jiang Tian, wouldn’t Jiang Tian die a violent death in no time?
