After having lunch with his father at St. David's Square, Lynn drove to the club and continued his work.
Three days later.
In northwest England, on the banks of the River Ribble, there was a city called Preston.
It was the county town of Lancashire and the third-largest city in northwest England after Liverpool and Manchester.
Like Blackpool, it was also in Lancashire, less than an hour's drive from the town to the west.
Inside an inconspicuous little bar, a group of people were celebrating without restraint.
They raised their glasses and kept shouting two words.
"Swanshit! Blackfool! Swanshit! Blackfool!"
"My God, I nearly laughed myself to death. That match was too funny. The two sets of fans cursed each other like idiots, and those Swansea fans were complete cowards. They ran with their heads in their hands before the fight even started!"
They spoke recklessly about the match in Blackpool a few days earlier.
Did they have an organization?
They did.
It was called Wildfire — aning sothing that could burn everything down.
How many mbers did it have?
No one knew.
Because soone might join today and leave tomorrow.
The organization was neither tight nor stable.
It was rely a group of frustrated idlers wandering through society.
They liked searching for matches in nearby areas, waiting for chances to sneak into stadiums, stir up supporters' emotions, create clashes between fans, and then charge into the chaos, venting all their dissatisfaction with life, society, and the world.
With fists.
With sticks.
With hearts that had long since been filled with anger and helplessness, hearts that had willingly fallen into ruin and were no longer fresh, hot, and burning red.
Just as they were celebrating, soone suddenly barged into the bar.
It was a young man in his early twenties.
He stood at the entrance holding a water gun.
After taking a quick look around, he stepped directly onto the table nearest the door, raised the water gun, and sprayed wildly at everyone!
The liquid splashed over everyone present.
Many people reached up to wipe their faces, while others imdiately spat out the liquid that had entered their mouths.
The bar instantly descended into chaos.
"Kid! Who the fuck are you?"
"You tired of living?"
"Shit! What is that sll?"
"Fucking disgusting! It's like…"
Standing on the table with the water gun, the young man shouted arrogantly, "Hahaha! You bunch of dumbasses! That's right, what's in your mouths is my piss! If drinking piss isn't enough for you, how about eating my shit too?"
After saying that, the young man jumped down from the table and bolted out through the door.
How could the mbers of Wildfire endure such humiliation?
One after another, they chased him out, yelling that they were going to grind that kid's bones into dust.
The mont they rushed outside, they saw him dart into an alley not far away.
Without thinking, the group charged straight in after him.
The instant the last man entered the alley, a van stopped at the entrance.
The door opened, and ten strong n carrying baseball bats climbed out.
And inside the alley itself, twenty more hired fighters holding baseball bats had already been waiting for quite so ti!
The Wildfire mbers realized they had fallen into a trap.
They had been blocked from both ends of the alley!
Under the dim light, baseball bats reflected faint flashes as they swung wildly through the alley. Screams and howls rose one after another.
Thirty ters from the alley entrance, a rcedes was parked by the roadside.
A man and a woman sat in the back seat.
Erin, dressed in leather, rested one hand against the car window.
Beside her sat a young man looking toward the alley through the glass.
With his blond hair, he looked bright and sunny, but when he turned to speak to Erin, his words were crude.
"Erin, I really don't know what charm Lynn has that makes you so willing to work for him. I heard Asian n are tiny down there. Can he even satisfy you?"
Erin stared out the window on the other side and sneered. "But I happen to be willing to lick his dick, Will. How many girls can you conquer? Apart from having a pretty face and using your family's money, what else do you have? Charm? Hahaha. If you had even half of Lynn's ability, you wouldn't act as humble as a dog every ti you saw him."
Will Taylor did not get angry.
He rely chuckled. "No matter what, we did the dirty work for him. He should give us so kind of return, shouldn't he? You don't want to haggle with him, Erin, but I can go to him, right?"
Erin said coldly, "Do whatever you want. But I'll give you one piece of advice. Don't provoke him."
"How could I? Lynn is a partner the Taylor family values greatly. Our family and the Lin family have an extraordinary friendship. He might even beco my brother-in-law one day. Why would I provoke him? I don't even have enough ti to love him!"
"Hmph. Idiot."
Erin could not even be bothered to look at Will.
For so reason, ever since Will had truly stepped into the center of the family's power, because the family was fully cultivating him as the next-generation successor, he had beco sowhat arrogant and filled with hostility toward Erin.
His occasional sarcasm and mockery had already made Erin numb.
She knew why.
Jealousy!
Although Will carried the title of successor, he held no real authority.
The resources he could mobilize within the family were not even equal to Erin's.
Erin was the little princess of the Taylor family, respected and feared in all the major entertainnt venues of Swansea.
As for him?
He could only throw his weight around.
He had no support in people's hearts at all.
On top of that, Erin was younger than him.
As her older cousin, the sense of disparity he felt was easy to imagine.
But Erin did not care about any of that. Having entered society earlier and learned to stand on her own, she understood the rules of survival even better.
...
The group from Preston, the county town of Lancashire, were beaten black and blue in the alley outside the bar.
No one could stand.
One man was even on the verge of death.
The incident shook Preston.
But to the outside world, it was rely treated as a fight between local thugs. Even if it escalated, at most it would be seen as a street gang brawl.
However, in every gray area, there were always people who knew a little of the truth.
For example, many people on that street knew exactly what Wildfire spent its days doing.
Were they a gang?
Get lost.
They did not even count as proper street thugs.
They were just a group of hooligans who liked causing trouble inside football stadiums.
Thinking back to Wildfire's "glorious achievent" after the Swansea and Blackpool match a few days earlier, the direction of speculation beca very clear.
Either one of the Swansea supporters who had been hurt had an impressive background, dug out Wildfire, and carried out brutal revenge.
Or Blackpool's boss could not tolerate them recklessly coming onto his club's territory to cause trouble.
Either way, Wildfire had provoked soone they should not have provoked, and the result was that every one of them ended up injured or crippled.
This also sounded a warning to other football hooligan groups.
As for who exactly should not be provoked, no one knew.
On Friday night, deep along Fabian Way by the River Tawe, the gates of a factory building stood wide open. Inside, more than a hundred people were gathered.
Standing at the center was Mo Yuan. He addressed the crowd.
"From this day forward, you are employees of Lin Shipbuilding Company. Soone will specifically train and guide you regarding the work itself. You already know the wages.
"Next, I'll tell you about another part of the job.
"Starting today, whenever Swansea have an away match, you must organize together and travel to watch the ga. You may have an organization na. As for what that na is, decide it yourselves.
"The company's requirents are very simple. If everything is peaceful, then you watch the match and return with the other supporters.
"But if soone deliberately provokes trouble and ignites conflict, or if violence falls on our supporters one-sidedly, then raise your fists like n and beat anyone who dares hurt Swansea supporters until they're crawling on the ground looking for their teeth!
"Depending on how many matches you attend and how you perform, you can receive around fifty pounds extra each month. This is a reward. Your travel costs for attending matches can also be reimbursed.
"Rember one principle: we do not start trouble, but we are absolutely not afraid of trouble!
"And rember this too: your jobs did not co easily."
After Mo Yuan finished speaking, he appointed several small leaders to make organization and managent easier.
When he walked out of Fabian Way, he got into Lynn's car.
Erin drove toward St. Helen's Road. Mo Yuan sat in the front passenger seat, while Lynn and Will Taylor sat together in the back.
Lynn closed his eyes to rest, feeling sowhat more at ease.
These days, he acted decisively and without hesitation.
He was not a saint.
If he was unhappy, then he was unhappy.
If he wanted revenge, then he would take revenge.
If, after living life again, he still had to live in frustration and swallow his anger, then he felt he would not deserve this second chance at all.
After dealing with Wildfire and arranging a group of so-called supporters who were actually "bodyguards" for Swansea's away trips, he could finally calm the restlessness in his heart a little.
Although Swansea supporters had protested when he first took over the club, in the past two months, the fans had already been conquered by him.
They now sincerely supported the club under his control.
It was no exaggeration to say that if Swansea Football Club wanted to grow and develop, it had to rely on its supporters.
Otherwise, it would be very difficult for a club to develop over the long term.
So protecting the interests of the supporters was extrely important.
In Lynn's eyes, supporters who traveled away to support the team were not rely supporters.
They were his own people!
If his own people were bullied, how could he turn a blind eye?
Or issue a statent saying, "I deeply regret this," then throw it to the back of his mind?
That was not his style.
"Lynn, this ti we did you a big favor. We dealt with those bastards in Preston and helped you recruit these unemployed n…"
Will Taylor spoke beside Lynn, his tone carrying a hint of asking for credit.
Lynn interrupted him without opening his eyes. "Will, what exactly do you want to say?"
Will imdiately continued, "Lynn, I've always treated you like a brother. Our two families have such a good relationship too. I know you have many ways to develop businesses. Why don't we cooperate and make sothing bigger and stronger together? What do you think?"
Lynn opened his eyes and turned to look at Will.
His calm gaze carried such rational composure that Will did not dare look directly at him.
Will could not help shifting his eyes away.
Whenever Lynn was very calm, Will actually did not dare speak carelessly.
There was even a faint sense of being chilled into silence.
Because he knew too little about Lynn.
This man, praised endlessly by many elders in the family, what kind of contribution had he actually made to the Taylor family?
Will did not know!
Precisely because he did not know, while so many elders praised Lynn without end, Will had even less confidence to truly speak to Lynn as an equal.
What exactly was he afraid of?
Making a wrong move and angering Lynn?
Perhaps Erin was right.
Do not provoke Lynn!
So now, he could only adopt the humble posture Erin had described.
Lynn said softly, "Will, you are very smart, highly educated, and you have a promising future. I think highly of you. You have ambition. A man should have ambition.
"You want to cooperate with . Good. I have a very good relationship with the Taylor family. Since you will be the next person in power in your family, we should indeed stay in closer contact for the sake of long-term friendship.
"Now I ask you: how much capital can you put forward to cooperate with ?"
Will Taylor had originally been very excited.
But after hearing Lynn's question, an awkward expression appeared on his face.
It even made him feel sowhat ashad.
He did not actually have much capital. He did not yet have the authority to mobilize the family's money.
The money he usually spent outside for fun was only pocket money.
Although it looked like a lot to ordinary people, when it ca to doing big business, it was negligible.
"F-Five hundred thousand pounds?"
Will asked in a tone that sounded strange to Lynn.
It was as if he were asking whether five hundred thousand pounds was enough.
But he was not certain either.
From his tone alone, it was clear he definitely did not even have five hundred thousand!
Lynn shook his head solemnly. "To be honest, four years ago, if soone had taken five hundred thousand pounds and cooperated with , I would have imdiately established a partnership with him and built an empire together.
"But Will, five hundred thousand pounds? Now? I invested in a club — a football club that all of you think of as a toy — and in one sumr alone, I put in more than fifty million pounds!
"What do you think five hundred thousand pounds can do with now? Do you know how much I pay in wages to every employee at the club in a month? Almost five hundred thousand pounds."
Lynn was not trying to humiliate Will.
He only wanted Will to understand reality.
But Will refused to give up.
Gritting his teeth, he said, "Lynn, then give a number."
Lynn stared at him for three seconds. Seeing that Will dared to truly et his gaze for the first ti, he said, "Thirty million pounds. You need to put up at least thirty million pounds before we can discuss cooperation."
"Fine! When I can bring out thirty million pounds, we'll do it together!" Will said firmly.
Lynn nodded.
Will got out of the car on Orchard Street.
The mont he stepped out, Erin said, "You should know he only sees you as a money tree, right?"
Lynn chuckled. "And I have always seen him as an idiot."
Mo Yuan smiled and shook his head, sighing. "The heir of the Taylor family really is hard to understand. If I had thirty million pounds, I'd do it myself. Why would I insist on cooperating with soone else?"
Erin sneered. "Ten years of returns from doing it yourself won't compare to one year of working with Lynn. At least Will isn't stupid. He knows Lynn is his shortcut to success and fa."
Mo Yuan's eyes turned, and he said, "That's true. Lynn, why don't you lend thirty million pounds? I'll pay you interest. The condition is that you take the money and invest it."
Lynn smiled and said casually, "If you want money, why make it so troubleso? I guarantee that within ten years, you'll beco a billionaire."
Mo Yuan laughed and asked back, "Are we talking billions in pounds or yen?"
"Dollars."
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