Gangster heir? Please call me a legitimate entrepreneur.

In the early morning, the sizzling sound of fried dough sticks mixed with the steaming white vapor rising from the soy milk pot wafted through Old Li's breakfast stall.

The fried dough sticks were fresh out of the fryer and piping hot.

Old Li wiped his oil-splattered hands haphazardly on his apron and grabbed a copy of the "Longhai Morning Post" from the corner of the table.

"Hey! Old Wang! Stop eating that meat bun, cough cough... take a look at today's front page!"

Old Li slammed the newspaper onto the sticky folding table.

Old Wang came over with half a steamed bun in his hand, his greasy lips curling into a sneer.

"What the heck? 'Shocking! A criminal gang in Longhai was spotted at night...'"

Old Wang squinted his old eyes and read it aloud.

"Look behind you! Look at the picture below!" Old Li slapped his thigh anxiously.

The poor-quality newspapers emitted a pungent smell of ink.

The front page featured two glaringly large color images, one on the left and one on the right, creating a stark contrast.

In the picture on the left, several yellow excavators are belching black smoke from their exhaust pipes, their tracks pressing down on broken bricks.

Several shirtless, tattooed men, wielding pickaxe handles, were kicking down a security door.

The words "Hongyuan Group Section B" are clearly marked in the upper right corner of the photo.

The style of the picture on the right changes abruptly.

A burly, bald man with a shiny bald head carried a bamboo carrying pole on his shoulder, with bright red plastic buckets hanging from both ends.

The bald man was grinning widely as he squatted down, serving a white-haired old lady brown sugar ginger water.

The caption reads: "Sihai Construction Project, Section A".

"Holy crap!" Old Wang's hand trembled, and the meat filling from the bun fell onto the table.

"Isn't that Lei Hu from the Sanlian Gang who used to collect protection money? Why is he suddenly doing 'learning from Lei Feng' work?"

"You old fogey, what do you know?" Old Li tapped the table with his knuckles, making a loud thud.

"Sihai Construction is now a conscientious company! My second great-uncle's neighbor is in that shantytown."

Old Li gestured with five greasy fingers.

"The compensation that Boss Su gave was more than the market price! They wouldn't even let the old folks do anything themselves when they moved; they sent those thugs in suits to carry all the heavy bags."

Seven or eight diners who were having breakfast gathered around.

"Really? Those bastards from Guangdong Hongyuan next door cracked someone's head open last night!"

"I can testify! Last night, people from all over were helping Grandma Zhang repair her roof. This Boss Su is so capable; I think he's a living saint reincarnated!"

Spit flew everywhere at the breakfast stalls, spreading like wildfire.

……

10:00 AM.

At the main gate of Section A of Sihai Construction, several sparrows chirped in the tree branches.

Gao Qiang huddled behind the scaffolding, his rough hands gripping the cool cement pillars tightly.

His eyelids twitched wildly as he watched two black Audi A6s with government license plates park steadily at the gate.

The car door opened.

Mayor Chen, wearing a dark blue jacket and sporting a slightly protruding belly, strode into the construction site with his hands behind his back.

Su Ye went to greet him.

He was wearing a sharp black overcoat today, and the gold-rimmed glasses on his nose reflected a cold light.

He still held that chipped silver stainless steel thermos cup in his hand without fail.

"Mayor Chen, welcome to offer your guidance." Su Ye extended a hand.

Mayor Chen held his hand tightly, not letting go immediately, his eagle eyes scanning the entire construction site.

There was no choking cement dust flying everywhere, and no messy, rusty scrap steel bars.

The open space was flat and neat, with stacks of the highest-grade Red Star brand cement bags.

A large banner with red background and white lettering was stretched out below the tower crane.

"I'd rather not make money than make money dishonestly. Anyone who dares to carry out a forced demolition will be sent to jail by the boss."

Below the banner hung a row of bright red brocade banners.

What "cyber godfather", "industry conscience", "demolition bodhisattva"?

When the wind blows, the banners flutter loudly.

Mayor Chen's lips twitched as he pointed to the banner that read "Cyber's Beloved Father."

"President Su, your company culture... is quite unique."

Su Ye unscrewed the lid of the thermos and slowly blew on the goji berries on the surface of the water.

The steam fogged up his glasses.

"Mayor, you flatter me. My subordinates may not be educated, but they are honest."

Su Ye took a sip of water to moisten his throat.

"I usually just tutor elementary school students in math olympiad and help old ladies carry water. These are all trivial things that don't really make a name for themselves."

Lei Hu stood behind Su Ye.

He was wearing a tight-fitting suit today, his muscles bulging the buttons tightly, and a fine layer of sweat covered his forehead.

As soon as he saw the mayor looking over, Lei Hu quickly took half a step forward.

His legs were pressed together, and his leather shoes clattered loudly.

He yelled something in his hoarse voice.

"Reporting to the leadership! Our Sihai Group firmly supports the Criminal Law!"

"We will resolutely refuse to take even a needle or thread from the people!"

The noise was so loud that it sent a flock of sparrows fluttering up from the nearby trees.

In his nervousness, Lei Hu bit his tongue.

"Ouch!" He winced in pain, quickly covering his cheek with his hand, his face turning bright red.

Su Ye turned her head and gave him a cool glare.

"Speak clearly before you speak. It's embarrassing."

Mayor Chen was amused, pointed at Lei Hu, and waved his hand.

"President Su, it's hard to find companies like yours that are law-abiding and responsible these days."

The mayor turned around, his smile fading, and pointed to Section B, which was separated by a wall.

There was still a cordon over there, and two dark red bloodstains that hadn't been washed off could be vaguely seen on the ground.

"The whole city knows what happened last night. Hongyuan Group is absolutely lawless!"

Mayor Chen slapped his thigh, his brows furrowed into a deep frown, and even his breathing became heavier.

"The renovation of this shantytown in the eastern part of the city is a landmark project for Longhai City this year. The city can only feel at ease entrusting it to a responsible company like yours."

Mayor Chen pondered for a while, then turned to look at his secretary, Xiao Wang, behind him.

"Xiao Wang, as mentioned in yesterday's meeting, the C1 core commercial land plot that was originally planned to go through the process for Hongyuan Group."

"No need to go through the bidding process anymore."

Mayor Chen turned his head, stared into Su Ye's eyes, and said in an unquestionable tone.

"Put it directly into the specially approved terms and transfer it to Sihai Group for development. We should give preferential treatment to such high-quality benchmark enterprises!"

Gao Qiang, who was hiding behind a cement pillar, suddenly felt his legs go weak.

He plopped down on the dusty ground, kicking up a cloud of choking ash.

We're doomed.

That's prime real estate! You could make hundreds of millions just by reselling that plot!

If Su Ye, this underworld boss, takes over this land, the market value of Sihai Group will double again!

As the soon-to-be-appointed deputy general manager of the engineering department, he only has 5% of the stock dividends...

That's enough to buy an entire building in the city center!

Gao Qiang clutched his hair tightly, feeling like he wanted to die.

"Zhou Ming, you bastard, if you don't bail me out, I'm really going to become a billionaire!" he wailed inwardly.

……

Two o'clock in the afternoon.

The top-floor office of the chairman of Hongyuan Group.

"Bang!"

A blue-and-white porcelain teacup was slammed onto a large rosewood desk.

Broken porcelain shards mixed with scalding hot tea splashed everywhere.

Zhao Hongyuan's obese body slumped in the boss's chair, his chest heaving violently like a leaky bellows.

His tie was askew, and his eyes were bloodshot, making him look like he wanted to devour someone.

"The mayor approved it himself? The C1 plot went to that little bastard Su Ye?"

Zhao Hongyuan made a hissing sound like a wild beast coming from his throat.

The secretary, standing in front of the desk, was so frightened that she shrank back and could barely speak.

"Yes, yes, Mr. Zhao... The municipal government office just issued an official document."

The secretary swallowed hard, her voice trembling.

"Furthermore, our forced demolition last night was reported in the morning news, which had a very negative impact. Several banks called us simultaneously this morning, tightening their loan limits..."

"Get out! All of you, get out!"

Zhao Hongyuan grabbed the crystal ashtray on the table and smashed it at the secretary's feet.

The secretary let out a strange cry, scrambled out of the office, and slammed the door shut behind her.

In the large office, only Zhao Hongyuan's heavy breathing could be heard.

With trembling, short, stubby fingers, he pulled a cigar from the inside pocket of his coat and put it in his mouth.

He pressed the button several times with the gold-rimmed lighter.

Flames shot out, but his hands were shaking so badly that he couldn't light the cigarette and almost burned his eyebrows in the process.

"Su Ye...you fucking ungrateful bastard. Trying to play dirty tricks on me, huh?"

Zhao Hongyuan clenched his yellowed teeth and spat the cigar hard onto the carpet.

He was panting heavily as he pulled open the bottom drawer of his desk.

Inside lay an old Nokia phone without a SIM card inserted.

He would never dare to make that call unless he was absolutely desperate.

The people over there have huge appetites, like bloodsucking leeches; if you get on them, you'll either die or be skinned alive.

But now, the C1 plot is gone, and the banks have stopped lending to it.

Zhao Hongyuan was almost driven to jump off a building.

He pressed the power button, and the screen lit up with a faint green light.

His fingers trembled as he dialed a long string of Beijing numbers that he knew by heart.

"Beep—beep—"

The long, silent tone felt like it was peeling away Zhao Hongyuan's skin every second.

The phone is on.

The first thing that came through the receiver was deafeningly loud, bass-heavy electronic music.

Mixed in with the sharp, seductive laughter of several women.

"Who is it? Disrupting my fun in the middle of the day?"

A lazy, sinister young male voice came through.

Zhao Hongyuan immediately jumped up from his chair.

He bent over at a ninety-degree angle, his fleshy face contorted into a fawning smile.

"Young Master Zhao! It's me, Little Zhao. Hongyuan from Longhai City, the one who does construction..."

"Oh, I remember now. That fat guy who sends my godfather a pure gold Guan Gong statue every month." The music on the other end went down a little. "Spit it out."

Zhao Hongyuan swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

"Young master, that most lucrative C1 plot of land in Longhai City that you had your eye on... has fallen through."

"Huh?" The voice on the other end instantly turned icy.

"It was a local thug named Su Ye who did this!"

Zhao Hongyuan embellished the story, almost describing Su Ye as a monster with three heads and six arms.

"He has a group called Sihai Group under his control. I don't know what kind of shady methods they used, but they managed to fool the mayor and snatch the prize from our grasp!"

Zhao Hongyuan raised his hand and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

"Young Master Zhao, this lad is so clueless! I mentioned your name, but he completely ignores it! He even said..."

"Alright, stop playing the victim with me. Do you think I'm stupid?"

Young Master Zhao gave a cold laugh, accompanied by the crisp sound of a lighter lighting a cigarette.

"A country bumpkin with a background in organized crime, does he really think he's some kind of superhero?"

I heard the sound of water being poured over the other end of the receiver, and ice cubes clinking against a glass.

"Fatty, don't worry about it."

"These days, seizing territory isn't about who has the most old ladies to help or who has the most banners hanging up."

"Pick me up at the airport tomorrow afternoon."

Young Master Zhao's tone carried an undisguised arrogance and a bloodthirsty air.

"I'm going to meet this Boss Su myself. Let's see if his bones are as hard as the baton in my bodyguard's hand!"