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

The Maybach car drove away from the old site of the city square.

Leng Qiu sat in the back leather seat. She took out a handkerchief to wipe her fingers, then casually tossed the white handkerchief out the window.

"Call General Manager Liu of Longhai Building Materials, and also the city's largest sand and gravel plants and cement plants," Leng Qiu ordered the assistant in the passenger seat.

"Tell them that anyone who dares to supply the Lin family with even a truckload of materials is going against the city's three major financial magnates. Let them think it over."

The assistant nodded, took out his phone, and started dialing.

"Pass the word down, it's not just about sand, gravel, and cement." Leng Qiu looked out the window at the street.

"Stop everything related to the Lin family – steel bars, scaffolding, even the boxed lunches on the construction site. I want to make it impossible for the Lin family to move an inch in the county."

The assistant turned around: "Mr. Leng, isn't this a bit too much of a move? What about the county..."

"The county?" Leng Qiu laughed. "Even the county has to consider the city's feelings."

For the three major conglomerates, crushing a small town clan is no different than crushing an ant.

In the best luxury hotel suite in the county town.

Leng Qiu took off her white haute couture suit and poured herself half a glass of red wine.

The phone on the table rang. The screen displayed the name of General Manager Liu from Longhai Building Materials.

Leng Qiu pressed the speakerphone button.

"Mr. Leng, everything is done perfectly," Mr. Liu said, taking credit over the phone.

"I've spoken to all five surrounding counties and twelve major factories in the city."

The Lin family stole our sand and gravel business before, and this time we'll settle both the old and new scores.

I assure you, not a single grain of sand from Jiangnan Province will be allowed to enter the Lin family's construction site.

Leng Qiu picked up her wine glass and took a sip.

"Those bumpkins in Tazhai, they build houses so fast by piling up materials. If we cut off their supplies, let's see what they have to offer in the bidding process and how embarrassing they'll be." Leng Qiu put his wine glass on the table.

"Tomorrow morning, I'll make sure they don't even have the right to enter."

It's dark. The construction site of Jiangjing Haoting in the East District.

The searchlights illuminated the site brightly. The fifth floor slab of Building No. 3 was being poured.

Lin Dayou stood by the foundation pit with a walkie-talkie in his hand.

"Second group, why did the ash stop?! Serve!" Lin Dayou shouted into the walkie-talkie.

A worker's voice came through the walkie-talkie: "Foreman, we're out of cement. We've run out of sand too."

Lin Dayou ran to the entrance of the construction site.

Normally, Lao Zhao's truck fleet comes every half hour. But now the gate is empty; there isn't a single heavy truck in sight.

A dilapidated pickup truck rushed into the construction site and slammed on the brakes, stopping right in front of Lin Dayou.

Old Zhao pushed open the car door and jumped out, covered in sweat.

"Brother Dayou, something's happened!" Old Zhao slapped his thigh.

"My convoy went to the south of the city to haul sand, but the gates were locked. We went to the county cement factory, but the factory manager wouldn't even see us. They stopped everything!"

Lin Dayou took out his phone and called Boss Qian, the biggest building materials dealer in the county.

The phone rang for a long time before it was answered.

"Boss Qian, we signed the contract. Where's the material?" Lin Dayou shouted into the phone.

A hoarse voice came from the other end of the phone: "Engineer Lin, I'm sorry. The city has spoken; the three major conglomerates have jointly issued a blacklist."

Whoever supplies the Lin family with materials will go bankrupt. I'll pay you the penalty for breach of contract, but I really can't afford to supply them with these materials.

The phone hangs up.

Lin Dayou tried calling again, but the phone was already switched off.

He dialed several more supplier numbers. Some refused to answer, while others apologized profusely. The calls were all disconnected.

Lin Dayou smashed the yellow safety helmet in his hand on the ground.

The concrete mixer on the construction site made a few noises of idling before coming to a complete stop.

Wang Jianguo and Zhao Tiezhu ran over.

"Lin, we're out of ash. Are we just going to sit here waiting?" Zhao Tiezhu asked.

Old Zhao sat on the hood of the pickup truck, smoking, his hands trembling.

"Brother Dayou, I've been in the transportation business for half my life, and I've never seen such a ruthless ban. They're trying to drive the Lin family to their doom."

Old Zhao exhaled a smoke ring. "My brothers in the team are all asking if there's any work to do tomorrow."

Lin Dayou kicked the safety helmet off the ground.

"Yes! As long as the Lin family doesn't fall, the work will never be finished!" Lin Dayou pointed to the three buildings. "Have the brothers fill up the tanks with gas and be ready to answer Grandpa's orders!"

Top floor of Lin's Supermarket No. 1.

Lin Fu received a call from Lin Dayou.

He slammed the ledger on the table, picked up the landline, and started dialing.

Lin Fu was in charge of the Lin family's public relations, and he knew several big bosses in other cities.

"Director Wang, last time your factory was short of funds, the Lin family lent you 500,000 yuan. Now you won't even send out a single truckload of materials?" Lin Fu shouted into the phone.

Factory Director Wang complained on the phone, "General Manager Lin, you are my benefactor, but I can't joke around with the livelihoods of hundreds of people in the factory."

"General Manager Liu has spoken: anyone who dares to help the Lin family will have their accounts audited by the Industry and Commerce Bureau tomorrow. I really can't do anything about it."

Lin Fu hung up the phone and dialed another number for a boss in another city.

"Mr. Zhang, could you do me a favor and send ten truckloads of high-grade cement from your place?" Lin Fu said into the microphone.

The person on the other end of the phone lowered their voice: "Brother Lin, it's not that I'm being ungrateful."

I loaded ten trucks with high-grade cement, and as soon as I got onto the national highway, I was stopped by several road administration vehicles who said I was overloaded and they needed to check.

It's obvious someone higher up is targeting you; my car can't even get into the county town.

Lin Fu made phone calls for half an hour straight. The back of his shirt was completely soaked with sweat.

Leng Qiu cast a wide net, and the power of the city's financial magnates directly uprooted the Lin family's supply chain.

Lin Fu glanced at the clock on the wall.

8 PM.

There are less than twelve hours until tomorrow's municipal square bidding meeting.

If the Lin family can even halt construction at the site, what will they use to bid tomorrow?

Lin Fu grabbed the car keys from the table and rushed out of the office.

He drove his Santana, flooring the accelerator the whole way. The car sped out of the county town and headed straight for Tazhai Town.

The backyard of the Lin Family Ancestral Hall in Tazhai Town.

The lights were on in the room reserved for the great-grandfather.

Lin Ting sat in a grand armchair. A set of purple clay teaware was placed on the table.

He took a sip of tea. Lin Fei stood beside him, holding a seamless steel pipe and wiping it with a rag.

The Santana braked suddenly outside the ancestral hall.

Lin Fu pushed open the car door, not even taking his briefcase, and ran into the yard.

"Grandpa!" Lin Fu pushed open the door, panting heavily.

Lin Ting put down his teacup. "Has the sky fallen?"

Lin Fu swallowed hard.

"Leng Qiu has made her move. She's used her connections with the city's financial tycoons to block all the building material suppliers in our area," Lin Fu quickly reported.

"Old Zhao's truckload of sand couldn't even get a single load. The county's cement factory would rather pay a penalty for breach of contract than break their agreement. All the channels to other cities were blocked on the highway."

Lin Ting leaned back in his armchair without saying a word.

Lin Fu paced back and forth inside the house.

"Grandpa, all the concrete mixers at Jiangjing Mansion have stopped. Uncle Dayou is stamping his feet at the construction site. Unexpectedly, our building can't be built even for a day."

"At tomorrow's bidding meeting, Leng Qiu is just taking advantage of our lack of materials and wants to see us make a fool of ourselves!" Lin Fu revealed the whole situation.

Lin Fei slammed the steel pipe in his hand onto the ground.

"Grandpa, I'll take the brothers from Zhongtang to the county town, smash up the doors of those building material bosses, and force them to deliver the goods!" Lin Fei said.

"Can you break through the cement by smashing the door?" Lin Ting glanced at Lin Fei.

Lin Fei shut his mouth and stepped aside.

Lin Ting opened the drawer beside him and took out a yellowed piece of paper.

Lin Ting threw the paper on the table.

"If they won't sell, we won't buy," Lin Ting said.