"The contract is signed, and the money is in place. Everyone, go ho and wait for my good news!"
After a mont, Stubborn Su swiftly signed the paper agreents one after another. He threw down the pen with an air of triumph and nodded at the eagerly anticipating crowd.
"Our guiding light—no, no, I an, Mr. Su, it’s all up to you now."
"Your Highness, thank you for visiting Haicheng. Do co over to my house when you have ti, haha."
"ngqing, it was our mistake to misunderstand your family in the past. Please don’t take it to heart."
"ili, you should set up the family group chat again. Without you as the group owner, we all feel sothing’s missing!"
As they were leaving, the group was lively and in high spirits, chatting away as if it were the New Year. But when they brushed past Lin Fan, they still glared at him disdainfully, as if scorning a plague god.
"ngqing, Su Gang, you two go ho first. I’ll be with the Prince for the next couple of days—we’ve already booked the presidential suite."
Under the escort of Su ngqing and three others, Stubborn Su strode down the stairs with his hands behind his back, carrying the air of a successful man.
"Dad, co back ho for a visit when you have ti. We’ve always kept your room for you," Su ngqing said with a radiant smile.
Together with Zhang ili and the other two, she waved goodbye to Stubborn Su.
"Hahaha, I’m rich, I’m rich!"
Once inside a taxi, Stubborn Su, sitting in the front passenger seat, could no longer hold it in and burst into peals of ecstatic laughter.
"You’re just going to watch him swindle people like this?" in the back seat, Lin Fan’s lip twitched with frustration as he turned to ask Xiao Jie.
"Old Su isn’t exactly deceiving people, and besides, this bit of money is nothing to ," Xiao Jie said with a carefree shrug. "At worst, I’ll just pay them back in the future."
"...Fine. Money really can let you do whatever you want."
Lin Fan’s expression darkened, and he didn’t say anything else. After all, this guy had grown up in the lap of luxury and had never treated money as anything more than a plaything. A re few hundred million in Xia Country currency, to soone like him, was probably just pocket money.
"Lin Fan, you’re not getting a cut of this money, you know," Stubborn Su said, turning his head from the front seat with a hint of wariness in his eyes. "If you want to join, you’ll have to wait until Second Master Yuan’s venture succeeds. Then we can discuss it!"
"I’m not getting involved. I’m just here to ensure Xiao Jie’s personal safety," Lin Fan replied, frowning slightly as he shook his head.
"Humph, even if you wanted to get involved, you’d still need Second Master Yuan’s approval!" Stubborn Su snorted and turned back around, gazing joyfully at his phone’s account balance.
"To Suxin Clinic in Southern City."
Seeing the cab driver frequently glancing at them in the rearview mirror as if they were a bunch of lunatics, Lin Fan didn’t bother arguing with Stubborn Su and simply stated the destination.
"What? Why are we going back to that shabby clinic of yours? I have money now! I should be staying in a fancy hotel, in the presidential suite!" Stubborn Su snapped, taken aback and imdiately displeased.
"Why don’t you ask Xiao Jie who he wants to go with?" Lin Fan asked coldly.
"I’m going with Lin Fan. If you don’t want to, Old Su, you can go stay in the hotel by yourself," Xiao Jie’s posture straightened as he firmly declared.
"You win," Stubborn Su relented, his expression shifting. "I’ve weathered greater storms than this. Enduring a little hardship is nothing!" He gritted his teeth and reluctantly agreed.
A short while later, the three of them got out of the taxi at the mouth of an alley and walked to the clinic within.
Pulling out his keys, Lin Fan raised the rolling shutter and then pushed open the two transparent glass doors. As he scanned the clinic’s interior, a warmth swelled in his heart.
Everything was neatly arranged, clearly tidied up by soone with care. It must have been Yuan Youwei who asked soone to do it.
"Turn left outside and go two hundred ters; there’s a small supermarket. Go buy two sets of bedding," Lin Fan said without turning around after wiping his mother’s portrait and lighting a stick of incense. "There’s only one bed here. You and Xiao Jie will sleep on the floor."
What?! I’m a big shot with hundreds of millions now! And he has the nerve to tell to sleep on the floor?!
Stubborn Su practically exploded with rage. "Xiao Jie! Co with ! I’ll take you out to enjoy the good life, and then we’ll head to the third floor of the foot-washing parlor for so real fun!"
Unable to bear it any longer, he imdiately tried to pull Xiao Jie away.
"Old Su, we should listen to Lin Fan. Only he can protect us!" Xiao Jie broke free and urged earnestly. "Sleeping on the floor is nothing. It’s better than when we used to hide under bridges."
"Bullshit! Haicheng is my territory! If anyone dares to cause trouble, I’ll destroy them on sight!" Stubborn Su shouted, his lips quivering with anger as spittle flew.
"Have you forgotten four years ago, when you were being chased for gambling debts?" Lin Fan asked, walking over and giving Stubborn Su a cold glance. "It doesn’t matter if you get caught, just don’t drag Xiao Jie into it."
"...Fine, fine, fine! Sleeping on the floor it is! Before heaven bestows a great responsibility, it first makes one suffer!" Stubborn Su’s bravado faltered, a clear hint of fear in his eyes. Muttering and grumbling, he reluctantly went out the door.
"You need to be ntally prepared. The next few days might not be very peaceful."
Watching the figure disappear at the alley’s entrance, Lin Fan withdrew his gaze and looked at Xiao Jie. There was a rare seriousness in his voice.
There was no helping it; he had offended far too many people recently. The most dangerous among them was Chen Heihu of Black Tiger Hall. The grudge from his son’s murder and the destruction of his base... If he were in Chen Heihu’s shoes, he wouldn’t be able to swallow that either. The fact that his enemy hadn’t made a move yet could only an one thing... they were waiting for the perfect opportunity to deliver a fatal blow!
"I trust your skills... and besides, where else could I go if not by your side?" Xiao Jie said with a bitter smile, shaking his head.
"Alright then. Rest assured, I will do my best to ensure your safety," Lin Fan nodded and said no more.
He pulled out a stove and a dicine pot from the corner, preparing to refine the White Dragon Grass to further suppress the toxicity of the Seven-Core Deadly Lotus.
After a while, Stubborn Su returned carrying two sets of bedding, his face dark as he began to make a pallet on the floor. Lin Fan ignored him, letting the prepared decoction cool before lifting the bowl and downing it in one gulp.
BOOM!
The amber-colored decoction rushed down his throat. An initially cool, bittersweet sensation instantly morphed into searing heat, as if he had swallowed molten magma!
"Hiss... What potent dicine," Lin Fan gasped, his face turning pale as beads of sweat poured down his forehead. He clutched the edge of the counter for support.
One second, two seconds, three seconds... Qi flowed tumultuously within his Dantian. It transford into thousands of fine threads that reached every limb and bone. Then, they all converged within the lotus-shaped mark over his heart, dimming its dazzling, iridescent glow ever so slightly.
Not bad. I just need the Green Phoenix Vine and the Fire Fungus to completely suppress the Seven-Core Deadly Lotus.
Letting out a deep breath, Lin Fan wiped the sweat from his forehead, silently assessing the changes in his body. A satisfied smile touched his lips as he cleaned everything up.
After making his pallet on the floor, Stubborn Su sprawled out on it and rolled his eyes at Lin Fan. "Humph, so young and yet so frail. No wonder ngqing wants to divorce you. You’re a disgrace to all n."
"Keep blabbering, and I swear I’ll go straight to Su ngqing and expose your true intentions with Yuan Ruohai," Lin Fan shot back coldly, his face turning green.
"Tsk, tsk. Can’t even ntion it, huh?" Stubborn Su sported a triumphant smirk. He turned away and started scrolling through videos of beautiful won on his phone.
Xiao Jie, sitting beside him, craned his neck eagerly to watch, giggling foolishly.
"..."
Lin Fan looked away and pulled a chair over to the doorway. He looked up at the sky. It was a starless, moonless expanse, oppressively dark, as if a torrential downpour was imminent.
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