At this moment, a burly man in black quickly came forward carrying a silver suitcase. He gently handed the case to "Northeast Tiger," who then threw it onto the table and said: "Lin Chuan, let's not beat around the bush. Here's two million, all for you."

As he spoke, Northeast Tiger opened the silver case to reveal stacks of bright red bills neatly arranged inside.

Sss...

Lu Dapao and the others all took a deep breath, having never seen so much money piled together in their lives. Their eyes turned red with greed, almost unable to speak for want of claiming the money for themselves.

"That's a lot of money," Li Qiang said excitedly.

"A lot? Don't talk nonsense," Lu Dapao glared at Li Qiang and said, "Would you give up your life for two million? Will you do it or not?"

"Uh..." Li Qiang was taken aback and replied, "No amount of money is useful if I'm dead, is it?"

"That's right," Lu Dapao snorted coldly, "Let's see what his terms are!"

Lin Chuan seemed to have little interest in the money before him, but smirked and gently sipped his tea before saying, "Mr. Hu, just speak plainly. Did you throw two million in front of me just to show off your wealth, or do you think I'm broke?"

"I must demolish the plot of land owned by Changlin Factory next month," said Northeast Tiger. "This two million is for your compensation. Of course, when the houses are built, I'll allocate one to each of you and your mother. I just hope you stop leading your people to interfere. I hope to demolish this building smoothly."

Having said that, Northeast Tiger pushed the money toward Lin Chuan.

Lin Chuan was startled, his lips curling with a scornful look.

Thump thump thump...

Lin Chuan tapped his fingertips lightly on the table and pushed the two million back before smiling and saying, "Mr. Hu, you think too highly of me."

"What do you mean by that?" Northeast Tiger frowned.

"I dare not accept this money!" Lin Chuan shook his head, "It would bring disdain upon my backbone."

"Don't worry, no one else knows about this except us," Northeast Tiger said with a smile. "As long as you don't interfere with our demolition, everything is negotiable. What do you say?"

"Sorry," Lin Chuan flatly refused, "I can't do something that goes against my conscience. Besides, Changlin Factory cannot be demolished. If you really want to demolish it, then it must be at the market price. The average price of a house in the Eastern City District is six thousand. And around Changlin Factory, the house prices have broken ten thousand. My request is not high; demolish it at eight thousand per square meter and that will be enough."

"You're insane!" Northeast Tiger was stunned.

"Consider yourself lucky I'm not asking for eleven thousand per square meter," Lin Chuan sneered. "Eight thousand is already a friendship price. If you demolish, you pay the difference, and if you don't, then don't make trouble. Although we are vastly outmatched by your Tiger Gang in terms of strength, if it really comes to a fight, it's not certain that you would be our match."

Demolishing at eight thousand per square meter was naturally not what he wanted. Three thousand per square meter was the limit Northeast Tiger could bear. Just to demolish at that rate would cost him tens of millions, even up to a hundred million, in demolition costs. If the price doubled, the pressure he would have to bear would be immense. He had already invested too much in the Changlin Factory property. Just getting the land itself had cost him more than ten million, and spending over a hundred million on it. Now, with demolition compensation to pay and subsequent construction to start, the series of financial inputs was simply too much.

Therefore, Northeast Tiger did not want to budge on the issue of compensation.

"Lin Chuan, don't make me force you to drink a toast only to have to drink a penalty instead!" Northeast Tiger narrowed his eyes.

"Show the guest out!" Lin Chuan said with a cold laugh.

A murderous look flashed in Northeast Tiger's eyes as he stood up, turned, and walked out. When he reached the door, Northeast Tiger stopped and said coldly, "Lin Chuan, a man should have a bottom line, otherwise he won't even know how he died!"

With that, Northeast Tiger strode away, his followers quickly grabbing the suitcase of money and following him.

Lin Chuan watched Northeast Tiger's back, his mouth showing a disdainful smirk.

Li Qiang said awkwardly, "Chuanzi, with so much money, why wouldn't you take it?"

"That money can't be taken," said Lu Dapao irritably. "It's conscience-money, wouldn't be able to sleep well at night. If this gets out, everyone in the factory would curse us to death."

"Exactly!" chimed in the group, nodding together.

Since Lin Chuan did not agree to Northeast Tiger's terms, Northeast Tiger naturally left in a fury.

Upon leaving Haiqing Pool, Northeast Tiger, clenching a cigar between his teeth and grinding his jaw, muttered as he walked, "Lin Chuan, you remember this, I'll make you wish you hadn't later. Damn, relying on your current clout, you started to act tough in front of me, huh?"

"Big brother, don't get worked up over this kid and hurt your own health!" A follower hurriedly said: "It's not worth it."

"Hmph!" The Northeastern Tiger snorted irritably, then said, "This kid refuses to agree, clearly planning to go against me."

"What's there to be afraid of!" The follower disdainfully said, "No matter how tough this kid is, could he possibly be tougher than us?"

"I'm not afraid of him, but if he allies with Feng Taibao's people, wouldn't that be very unlucky for me?" The Northeastern Tiger took a deep drag of his cigarette, standing outside the door of his Mercedes, squinting as he glanced at Haiqing Pool, saying, "Sooner or later, Haiqing Pool is going to be mine."

"Big brother, if you like it, I can take the brothers and seize this damned place right now," the follower immediately said.

"No!" The Northeastern Tiger shook his head, saying, "I want Lin Chuan to personally hand Haiqing Pool over to me."

The follower was stunned, somewhat puzzled, since Haiqing Pool was Lin Chuan's cash cow. If he gave away Haiqing Pool, how would he make money in the future? There were a bunch of followers waiting to be taken care of. The follower asked in confusion, "This... this..."

"Heh heh, just wait and see," the Northeastern Tiger said with narrowed eyes, then got into his Mercedes.

The car quickly left the scene. Lin Chuan stood in the corridor on the third floor, looking through the glass of the corridor, he could clearly see the Northeastern Tiger's Mercedes leaving the parking lot of Haiqing Pool. Outside, the night was alive with bright lights and bustling traffic. The seemingly calm night was actually filled with undercurrents.

Jiangbei City was like a swamp, one step in and the hidden mires beneath might swallow you whole at any moment.

Drip...

Lin Chuan took a drag from his cigarette, deeply inhaling. Jiangbei City indeed seemed somewhat turbulent.

......…

The next day was sunny and beautiful, a very pleasant clear day. The sun was dazzlingly beautiful. Spring was in the air everywhere, with green shoots poking through the soil, and the tender green of spring sprouting sharp little heads from branches and twigs, extremely beautiful and touching.

Lin Chuan left home, at eight o'clock in the morning, on time, trying to get to the City Committee to clock in before half-past eight. The City Committee had a daily attendance system, but for someone like Lin Chuan, this kind of attendance was basically useless.

Minister Chen never asked Lin Chuan to clock in daily, he only occasionally reminded Lin Chuan that he didn't have enough clock-ins for the month and told him to make them up. If it were anyone else who dared to be late or leave early, they would have been scolded by Minister Chen a long time ago.

"Old Liu, don't cry, it's better to think about what to do next!"

"Yeah, it's not like this is the first time something like this has happened."

As Lin Chuan approached the factory gate, a group of people had gathered around Uncle Liu's bike repair shop. It seemed there was some incident.

Lin Chuan was an active member of the community, especially at Changlin Factory. If anyone had trouble or difficulties, Lin Chuan was always proactive and enthusiastic to help. Now, with so many people gathered together, there must be some incident, so Lin Chuan immediately went over.

Lin Chuan pushed through the crowd, earnestly squeezing his way inside.

Among the crowd, Uncle Liu sat downcast in dirty clothes, with a few worn-out army coats beside him, sitting on the stone slab where he usually played Chess. His face showed despair and desolation as if he had encountered a difficult problem.

"Uncle Liu, what... what happened to you?" Lin Chuan hurriedly asked: "Did something happen to you?"

"What else could it be?" An older sister nearby spoke up: "He was kicked out by his daughter-in-law."

"Why?" Lin Chuan was immediately shocked: "Why did she kick him out?"

"He's old, and of no use." The sister chuckled, saying without pity, "There are quite a few old people in our factory who ended up like this. Old Mrs. Zhou is living alone in that shabby house in Western City District, cooking by herself every day, while her son and daughter-in-law never visit. The old Mr. Chen, after being kicked out by his son and daughter-in-law, was homeless on the streets, relying on collecting rubbish to survive. Later, he died in the shack he built for himself, and dogs... dogs gnawed on his corpse..."

Sigh...

Everyone listened and could not help but sigh. It seemed that they were accustomed to, and had become desensitized to, such things.

Upon hearing this, Lin Chuan exploded in anger: "Damn it, who acts like that to their in-laws? Uncle Liu, come with me, I'll help you get justice!"

"Lin Chuan, every family has its own difficult scripture to chant." The older sister clearly knew Lin Chuan, who was a celebrity at Changlin Factory; if not the factory director, then it was certain to recognize Lin Chuan. The sister earnestly said: "Even if you take people to her door today, and she superficially accepts Uncle Liu back, probably Uncle Liu will be mistreated by his daughter-in-law there. That would be even worse."

Hearing this, Lin Chuan immediately felt dejected, the opposing view seemed rational after all.

If he resorted to simple and crude methods to solve the issue, the outcome might just be counterproductive. Thus, this problem required careful consideration. After pondering for a while, Lin Chuan decided to temporarily take Uncle Liu back to his place, arrange accommodation for him and then figure out the next steps.

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