I chose one of four options at the start, and I chose the number one clan in Lingnan.

The lobby on the second floor of Jubinlou was brightly lit.

The clock on the wall points to 9:30 p.m.

The ten large round tables were packed full, and the aisle was crammed with plastic stools that had been pulled over.

One hundred men from Zhongtang, dressed in black vests, clinked glasses and exchanged toasts.

The beer bottles collided, making a crisp sound.

The seafood and meat on the table were steaming hot, and the roast suckling pig glistened with oil.

Lin Ting sat at the head of the table, holding a cup of tea in his hand.

Lin Fei and Lin Fu sat on either side, drinking with several key members of the gang.

"Grandpa, I'll drink this cup! Today's battle was exhilarating!" Lin Fei tilted his head back and downed the sorghum liquor in his cup in one gulp.

After drinking the strong liquor, Lin Fei's face turned bright red.

"A hundred dump trucks surrounded Dafeng Group, and that bastard Wang Dafa was kneeling in the sand and kowtowing. I can brag about this for the rest of my life!" A man from Zhongtang stood up, raised his wine glass and shouted.

The men around him joined in the commotion, their laughter nearly lifting the roof off.

Lin Ting took a sip of tea and placed the teacup on the table.

Lin Fu leaned closer and whispered, "Grandpa, the accounts for the five supermarkets have been settled. They'll open early tomorrow. Our Lin family will take the lion's share of the fresh produce market in the county."

Lin Ting nodded, picked up two walnuts from the table, and the cracking sound was rhythmic in the noisy hall.

Hurried footsteps came from the stairwell, and a kitchen helper wearing a baseball cap carried a mahogany tray, walking up with his head down.

On the tray was a blue and white porcelain casserole, with steam rising from the edge of the lid.

Premium sea cucumber soup.

This was specially prepared for Lin Ting by the owner of Jubinlou Restaurant.

The kitchen helper walked slowly up the stairs, his mind filled with the image of his wife with a knife to her neck.

Guang Ge's men instructed that if they didn't administer the drugs, the whole family would die.

The kitchen helper gritted his teeth, swallowed hard, and carried the tray to the main table.

"Grandpa, your sea cucumber soup." The kitchen helper's voice trembled as he reached for the casserole.

A calloused hand reached out from the side and pressed down on the lid of the clay pot.

The kitchen helper jumped in fright, tilting the tray in his hands and almost spilling the soup.

The person who stopped him was a young man.

Wearing the white staff uniform of Jubinlou, with oil stains on the chest and sleeves rolled up to the elbows.

Lin Tao.

The peripheral members of the Lin family in Tazhai usually wash vegetables and do odd jobs in the kitchen of Jubinlou Restaurant.

Today, Grandpa brought people over for dinner, and Lin Tao specially requested permission from the head chef to stay in the kitchen and oversee the dishes.

The Lin family was very protective of their own, so Lin Tao dared not be careless about his great-grandfather's food.

"What are you doing?" The kitchen helper's voice was weak, and he didn't dare to look Lin Tao in the eye.

Lin Tao stared at the kitchen helper's face.

"What were you doing, hiding in a corner in the kitchen just now, lifting the lid of a clay pot?" Lin Tao asked.

The men around the main table stopped eating and turned to look.

The kitchen helper's face was pale, and sweat streamed down his face.

"I...I'll just try it to see if it's salty or bland," the kitchen helper stammered in response.

Lin Tao took the casserole from the tray and placed it heavily on the table.

"Want to taste the saltiness? It's my grandfather's soup, what right do you have to taste it?" Lin Tao lifted the lid of the casserole.

A rich aroma of seafood wafted out.

The soup was clear, with sea cucumbers and goji berries tumbling inside, showing no signs of anything unusual.

Lin Tao then looked at the kitchen helper's trembling hands and his evasive eyes.

He had spent several years in the county town and had seen a lot of underhanded tricks in the underworld.

Lin Ting sat in a chair, twirling walnuts in his hand, quietly watching Lin Tao.

Lin Tao picked up an empty bowl from the table and ladled a large ladle full of sea cucumber soup.

He picked up the bowl and looked at the kitchen helper.

"You've already tried it, haven't you? Then I'll try it for Grandpa."

After Lin Tao finished speaking, he tilted his head back and gulped down a bowl of piping hot soup.

After swallowing that mouthful of soup, the kitchen helper's legs went weak, and he collapsed to his knees.

Lin Tao turned the empty bowl upside down on the table and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"The taste is perfect, Grandpa, please have some..."

Before Lin Tao could finish speaking, his body swayed violently.

He clutched his stomach tightly with both hands, and his face quickly turned pale.

The veins on his neck were bulging.

Lin Tao opened his mouth wide, making strange gurgling sounds in his throat, unable to utter a single word.

A large mouthful of thick white foam spurted from his mouth and splashed onto the tablecloth.

His eyes rolled back, and he fell straight backward.

The back of his head slammed heavily against the leg of the chair next to him, making a loud thud.

The noise in the entire second-floor lobby suddenly stopped.

The audience was silent.

The men who had just been drinking heavily were all stunned.

Lin Fei kicked the chair away and rushed to Lin Tao's side.

"Taozi! Taozi!" Lin Fei shouted, reaching out to pat Lin Tao's face.

Lin Tao lay on the ground, his body convulsing violently.

The foam in his mouth grew thicker and thicker, and blood began to seep from his nostrils.

His limbs were stiff, and even his breathing became intermittent.

It took less than ten seconds in total.

A once lively and energetic man from the Lin family has been reduced to this state.

Lin Ting stopped fiddling with the walnuts, holding them tightly in his hand, making a harsh rubbing sound.

He stood up, walked over to Lin Tao and glanced at him; the white foam on the ground was tinged with blood.

This poison is extremely potent; it's clearly meant to kill instantly.

Lin Ting turned his head and looked at the kitchen helper kneeling on the ground.

"Seale the building," Lin Ting uttered.

Whoosh!

One hundred loyal men simultaneously overturned the round table in front of them.

Hot soup, leftover food, wine bottles, and dishes were scattered all over the floor, with soup spilled everywhere.

They pulled out solid rubber batons from their waists and charged directly at the stairwell and windows.

All the exits on the second floor were blocked.

A dozen or so men rushed downstairs, pulled down the roller shutter of Jubinlou's main gate, and locked it from the inside with iron chains.

The entire restaurant was completely sealed off.

Several waitresses serving dishes were so frightened that they huddled in a corner, covering their ears and crying.

Seeing this scene, the individual customers on the first floor didn't even pay their bills and hid under the tables, too afraid to make a sound.

The kitchen helper knelt beside the main table, his crotch soaked, the smell of urine mingling with the smell of food.

He held his head in his hands, pressed his face to the ground, and trembled uncontrollably.

Lin Fei stood up, his eyes bloodshot, and the veins on his neck throbbing.

He took a step forward, raised his right foot, and stomped hard on the kitchen helper's chest.

The sound of bones breaking echoed in the hall, and the kitchen helper screamed in agony as blood flowed from his mouth.

Lin Fei pulled a seamless steel pipe from his lower back and pressed it directly against the cook's throat.

The dirt on the steel pipe rubbed onto the cook's chin, leaving a red mark.

"They even dared to touch Grandpa's food."

Lin Fei exerted force with his wrist, pressing the steel pipe down half an inch.

The kitchen helper struggled to breathe and desperately clung to the steel pipe, but he couldn't budge Lin Fei's strength at all.

"Who told you to drug me! Tell me!" Lin Fei roared.