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

The car door opened.

President Liu stepped into the mud. He was wearing an expensive leather shoe on his left foot and a pair of soft-soled slippers on his right.

Ignoring the smell of alcohol and mud on his clothes, and without even taking out the car keys, he stumbled and ran towards the village.

The sky was just beginning to lighten.

The gate of the ancestral hall in Tazhai Village is wide open, with two stone lions standing in front of it.

Lin Ting sat in a grand chair, holding a cup of hot tea in his hand.

Lin Fu stood to the side holding several documents.

President Liu ran down the steps of the ancestral hall, panting heavily.

His legs went weak, and he knelt down on the bluestone slab with a thud.

The knee made a dull thud.

"Grandpa Lin! I'm here!" Bank Manager Liu's voice was completely hoarse.

He braced himself on the ground with both hands and slammed his head heavily against the bluestone slab.

He kowtowed three times.

Lin Ting lowered his eyelids, brushed aside the floating leaves in the teacup, and took a sip of water.

He didn't speak.

The ancestral hall was eerily quiet.

Lin Fu walked down the steps and stopped in front of President Liu.

"President Liu, you've come to the wrong door." Lin Fu looked down at him.

"Our Lin family doesn't even have a Level 2 qualification. How did you, the head of the city branch, end up in the territory of a peasant?"

Bank Manager Liu looked up and saw that his forehead was scraped and blood was seeping out.

"President Lin, I was blinded by greed and I was blind to your true nature." President Liu raised his hand and slapped himself hard across the face.

The sound was crisp and clear.

"I misspoke at the bank yesterday. The Lin family is very powerful and has its own building materials production line."

"No one in the entire Jiangnan Province, apart from the Lin family, can handle this municipal square project." President Liu spoke very quickly.

Lin Fu sneered.

"President Liu, you made it clear yesterday that all banks in the city would be connected and that anyone who dared to lend money to the Lin family would be fired."

"Aren't you afraid of losing your job by coming to Tazhai now?" Lin Fu asked.

President Liu hurriedly reached for the zipper on his briefcase, his hands trembling so badly that he had to pull it open three times before he finally succeeded.

He took a stack of printed documents out of his bag and held them above his head with both hands.

"President Lin, this is the approval document for the 20 million yuan unsecured loan. I had someone print it out from the bank's system overnight." President Liu's voice trembled.

Lin Fu did not answer.

"President Liu, those two briefcases that President Leng brought into your office yesterday must have been quite heavy, right?" Lin Fu stared at him.

Bank Manager Liu's face turned deathly pale, and he collapsed to the ground.

"Mr. Lin, the 20 million in cash is in the trunk of the Mercedes at the village entrance. I haven't touched a single penny; I gave it all to the Lin family as a down payment for the project."

Bank Manager Liu spoke up urgently, "No interest will be charged; consider it a personal loan to the Lin family."

Lin Ting put down his teacup, the bottom of which made a crisp sound as it hit the table.

Bank Manager Liu shuddered.

"What else did Leng Qiu promise you?" Lin Ting asked, looking at the person kneeling on the ground.

President Liu dared not raise his head.

"Leng Qiu said that as long as the Municipal Construction Committee takes away your bid documents at nine o'clock this morning, she will transfer the mining rights of the cement plant behind the Lin family to my name, and the three major financial groups will only take a share." President Liu revealed all of Leng Qiu's secrets.

Lin Fu clenched his fists.

"What a huge appetite! They even dare to covet our Lin family's ancestral property," Lin Fu cursed.

Lin Ting leaned back in his chair.

"Sign and stamp," Lin Ting uttered four words.

President Liu breathed a sigh of relief and quickly rummaged through his briefcase for a pen and the personal seal of the head of the city branch.

He laid the documents flat on the bluestone slab, lay down on the ground, and turned the pages one by one.

Each time he turned a page, he would sign his name at the end and press down the bright red seal firmly.

There were a total of twelve approval documents, plus a personal guarantee from the bank president.

After signing the last document, President Liu's palms were covered in cold sweat. He held the document up to Lin Fu with both hands.

Lin Fu took the document and quickly flipped through it.

"Grandpa, all the paperwork is complete. As long as we get the accounting records back, the money can be used at any time," Lin Fu reported to Lin Ting.

Lin Ting nodded.

Just then, the bank manager's cell phone rang, the urgent ringtone particularly jarring in front of the ancestral hall in the early morning.

President Liu was startled and hurriedly pulled out his phone, where Leng Qiu's name was flashing on the screen.

President Liu stared at the screen as if he were holding a hot potato.

He looked up at Lin Ting.

"Connect it, put it on speakerphone," Lin Ting ordered.

President Liu swallowed hard, pressed the answer button, and turned on the speakerphone.

"President Liu, have you left yet?" Leng Qiu's arrogant voice came from the speaker.

Bank Manager Liu knelt on the ground, not daring to utter a sound.

"Deputy Commander Chen from the Municipal Construction Commission has already set off for the Municipal Square. I've arranged for three media outlets in the city to follow him," Leng Qiu continued.

"At nine o'clock sharp, if the Lin family cannot come up with the cash, the two hundred machines cannot enter the site. Deputy Commander Chen will announce on the spot that the Lin family's funds have dried up and the project will be forcibly withdrawn."

The sound of a coffee cup hitting a saucer came from the other end of the phone.

"Is your funding channel blocked? Send a few loan officers to check the Lin family's public accounts and freeze them directly," Leng Qiu ordered.

Bank Manager Liu glanced at Lin Ting, who was sitting in a grand chair. Lin Ting tapped the brown paper bag on the table with his fingertips.

The paper bag contained all the secrets of President Liu's money laundering and keeping illegitimate children.

President Liu gritted his teeth and yelled into his phone.

"Leng Qiu! Go to hell!" Bank Manager Liu cursed.

There was a pause on the other end of the phone.

"Liu Jianming, have you had too much to drink?" Leng Qiu's voice turned cold.

"I'm perfectly sober!" President Liu shouted at the screen.

"You shameless woman, trying to drag me down with you! Let me tell you, I've just approved the Lin family's 20 million loan in full! Through special approval channels!"

"What did you say!" Leng Qiu's voice changed.

"I said the Lin family's money is already in place! If you want to go to the city square to watch the show, go by yourself! Don't fucking drag me along!" After shouting this, Director Liu hung up the phone.

He pressed and held the power button until the screen went completely black. Bank Manager Liu, panting heavily, placed the phone on the ground.

He kowtowed to Lin Ting again.

"Grandpa, I've rejected all offers from Leng Qiu. From now on, as long as the Lin family asks for funding from the city, I, Liu Jianming, will not obstruct any procedures," Director Liu stated.

Lin Ting stood up. He walked to the edge of the steps, raised his foot, and kicked the brown paper bag full of black material down the steps.

The paper bag rolled down the steps and stopped in front of Director Liu.

"Take your things and get out," Lin Ting said.

Bank Manager Liu clutched the paper bag tightly in his arms, tears and snot streaming down his face.

"Thank you, Grandfather! Thank you, Grandfather!" Bank Manager Liu scrambled to his feet.

Lin Ting looked at him.

"Remember, this is just a copy; the original is in a safe in Tazhai."

"The day your hand slips, the original will end up on the provincial inspection team's desk," Lin Ting added.

President Liu stumbled and nearly fell.

"Don't worry, Grandfather! My life belongs to the Lin family from now on!" Bank Manager Liu bowed repeatedly.

Clutching the paper bag, he turned and ran wildly toward the Mercedes at the village entrance.

Lin Fu snorted coldly as he watched Liu's disheveled figure disappear into the distance.

"Grandpa, are we just going to let him go like this?" Lin Fu asked.

"He's a puppet with something to hide. Keeping him at the city branch is more useful to the Lin family than replacing him with a new person." Lin Ting turned and walked back to his desk.

He picked up two reddish walnuts and twirled them in his hands.

Just then, Lin Fu's phone rang.

Lin Fu pressed the answer button.

The finance officer's excited voice came through the receiver: "Grandpa! The full amount of twenty million has arrived!"