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

Lin Ting sat in the chair, not responding to him. He raised his right hand, pressing his fingers down in mid-air.

Lin Fei understood the gesture. He took a step forward, gripped the iron rod tightly with both hands, and used his waist to smash the iron rod down on the knee of the tattooed thug next to him.

The iron rod struck the bone, producing a piercing cracking sound. The tattooed thug's legs buckled, and he knelt on the bluestone slab, clutching his knees and screaming in agony.

The remaining dozens of Zhongtang men rushed forward, and the scene was a complete one-sided rogue, with more than a dozen men surrounding a thug.

Steel pipes and wooden sticks rained down, and the other three thugs were kicked to the ground before they could even raise their beer bottles.

Some people grabbed the thugs by the hair and pressed them down, while others kicked them hard in the stomach.

The conference room was filled with the dull thuds of fists hitting flesh and the thugs' pleas for mercy.

Lin Fei stepped on the bald man's face, pointing the iron rod at his nose. "Whose livelihood were you talking about earlier?"

The bald man's face was covered in blood, and two of his front teeth were broken. He shook his head repeatedly, begging for mercy.

Lin Fei waved his hand, and eight Zhongtang men stepped forward, two by two, and grabbed the collars of the four thugs.

They dragged the four thugs out, down the stairs, leaving streaks of blood on the way.

The four thugs were thrown directly out of the large iron gate of the village committee compound and onto the dirt road outside.

The room fell silent, and Lin Daqiang's hands, which were supporting him on the table, trembled.

He swallowed hard, his foot slipped, and he took a step back, his back hitting the whitewashed wall.

Lin Ting stood up from his chair, turned and walked towards the door, taking a black plastic bag from a member of the Zhongtang family.

Lin Ting returned to the conference table with the plastic bag and threw it on the table.

The plastic bag wasn't tied tightly and came undone.

Inside was a blue coarse cloth work uniform, the right cuff of which was stained with dark red blood.

"These are Xiaowei's clothes." Lin Ting looked at Lin Daqiang.

"Last month, three of his fingers broke off on your conveyor belt. His mother kept this shirt as a mark."

Lin Daqiang stared at the clothes, cold sweat beading on his forehead. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

Lin Ting walked around the large conference table and stood in front of Lin Daqiang.

"The Lin family gave you the land, the Lin family gave you the people. You traded the lives of your own family for money, and all the money went into your pocket."

Lin Ting extended his right hand, palm up. "The company seal, the account books, bring them out."

Lin Daqiang gritted his teeth and looked up at Lin Ting.

"Grandpa, don't force me. You can't run the sand quarry without me."

The relationships in the town, the waterway transportation—I built all of that up from scratch. You'll just be making a mess if you take over!

Lin Ting raised his right leg and kicked Lin Daqiang in the stomach.

Lin Daqiang, weighing over 200 pounds, lost his balance, fell backward, and crashed to the ground along with his chair.

Lin Ting walked over and placed his right foot on Lin Daqiang's chest, the sole of his leather shoe pressing down on his ribs.

"I'm asking you to hand over the official seal." Lin Ting stomped his foot.

Lin Daqiang was gasping for breath, his face flushed red, and he grabbed Lin Ting's trouser leg with both hands, slapping it. "I'll hand it over! I'll hand it over!"

Lin Ting moved his foot away, and Lin Fei walked over, grabbed Lin Daqiang by the collar, and pulled him up from the ground.

Lin Daqiang's hands trembled as he pulled a bunch of keys from his pocket. He walked to the metal safe in the corner, inserted the keys, and turned it open.

He took out the business licenses of the three sand quarries, two official seals, and several ledgers recording the actual cash flow, and piled them on the table.

Lin Ting picked up the company seal, glanced at it, and tossed it to Lin Fei. "Take this and go to the factory."

Lin Ting turned to look at Lin Daqiang. "From today onwards, you are no longer the village chief, and these three factories will belong to the ancestral hall."

"Get out of this compound! If you dare touch the Lin family's property again, I'll make sure you spend the rest of your life in a wheelchair."

Lin Daqiang clutched his stomach and walked out with his head down.

He stumbled out of the meeting room, ran down the stairs, and drove the Mercedes-Benz in the yard away from the village committee compound.

At 3 p.m., the sand quarry by the Tazhai River changed owners.

Lin Fei led over a hundred men from Zhongtang into the factory area.

The foremen and thugs that Lin Daqiang had left at the factory didn't dare utter a word when they saw this scene, and they packed their bags and left.

In the open space of the factory, hundreds of young men from the Lin family who worked there had gathered. They were wearing dirty work clothes and were looking at Lin Fei and Zhongtang's men.

Lin Fei had someone place the 800,000 yuan in cash that had been found in the safe on the table.

"Grandpa has spoken. Lin Daqiang owes you six months' wages, and you'll all get paid today."

"The ancestral hall will cover Xiaowei's medical expenses, and will also provide an additional 100,000 yuan for nutritional expenses," Lin Fei announced loudly.

The crowd below was quiet at first, then erupted in cheers, and several older workers stepped forward to receive their money, wiping away tears.

The machines were powered back on, and the huge sand dredgers roared in the river. The excavator's bucket scooped up the wet river sand and loaded it onto the sand-carrying iron boats moored on the bank.

After loading 100 tons of river sand, the two sand-carrying ships sounded their horns and headed downstream along the Tazhai River.

At dusk, the riverbank outside Tazhai Town was covered with reeds as tall as a person.

Lin Daqiang parked the Mercedes in a hidden ditch, leaned against the car door, his face covered in bruises.

He looked out the car window at the Lin family's sand-carrying boats billowing black smoke on the river in the distance.

He was unwilling to accept that the wealth he had accumulated over three years had been crushed by Lin Ting.

Lin Daqiang took out his phone, scrolled through his contacts, and dialed a number.

The phone rang twice before being answered. "Village Chief Wang, are you busy?" Lin Daqiang asked in a low voice.

A rough male voice came from the other end of the phone, with the sounds of mahjong tiles being struck in the background.

"Hey, isn't this Lin Daqiang? What brings you here? I heard your village got a new old man in his early twenties, and kicked you out?"

Lin Daqiang gritted his teeth and spat a mouthful of bloody saliva onto the ground.

"Wang Hai, don't laugh at me. I'm here to give you money."

Wang Hai chuckled twice: "Give money? How do you mean?"

Lin Daqiang pointed to the two sand-carrying ships on the river.

"The Lin family's three sand quarries have changed hands. That Lin Ting doesn't know the rules. Their sand transport ships all have to use the waterway through your Wangjia Village."

Lin Daqiang paused for a moment. "Take your men and block the waterway, cut them off."

This brat has cut off my source of income; I'll make sure he can't even smuggle a single grain of sand out of my possession.

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone, then the sound of mahjong tiles stopped.

"Block the waterways? The Lin family has tens of thousands of people now, and they even brought down the county magistrate's son last night. Why would I provoke them?" Wang Hai's tone was probing.

Lin Daqiang sneered: "What's the use of having so many people? The Lin family members are all landlubbers; once they go into the water, they're like dead dogs."

The people from your Wangjia Village are good swimmers; a few iron boats could easily block them in the middle of the river. They won't be able to cross and will have no choice but to pay up.

"How much do you charge?" Wang Hai asked.

"One boat, we'll charge him 50,000 in tolls. We'll split the profits 50/50," Lin Daqiang proposed.

A sound of someone slamming their hand on the table came from the other end of the phone.

"Deal!" Wang Hai laughed on the phone. "You just watch from the shore. I'll take the men into the water right now."

Today, no boat belonging to the Lin family will be able to drift past my Wangjia Village section of the river, not even a single plank will be allowed.