Those company presidents had already figured out which path to take the moment Lan Lin made his move.
Although the Lan family unilaterally terminating the contract would require paying a penalty fee as stipulated, no one considered this a good outcome.
Partnering with the Lan family was all about securing that specific project, and the profits the project could generate far exceeded any penalty fee.
Furthermore, if they truly burned bridges and refused to apologize, it would be no different from making an outright enemy of the Lan family.
With deep-rooted connections in Jinchuan spanning many years, making an enemy of the Lans would make their future path extremely difficult.
Businessmen knew better than to make enemies unnecessarily.
Moreover, those bosses were already somewhat aware of what their children had been up to behind their backs. Since Lanting used to let it slide, these shrewd individuals acted like they knew nothing and never brought it up.
The fault clearly lay with those young elites, leaving the bosses with no room to argue.
Weighing the pros and cons, the more ruthless ones immediately followed Lan Lin’s lead and slapped themselves hard across the face right on the spot.
Since they had already lost face anyway, failing to appease Lan Lin meant those slaps would have been for nothing.
With that thought, these men struck themselves hard. After two heavy blows, executives who usually maintained a polished appearance outdoors had faces swollen high on one side.
“This is my failure to educate properly. Rest assured, President Lan, once I get home I will definitely teach that bastard a lesson and show up at your doorstep to apologize punctually tomorrow.”
Sporting half a swollen face, the man smilingly fed the contract-termination document Lan Lin had tossed down right into the shredder.
“The partnership between our two companies is business and should be handled professionally. I will handle this personal matter properly as well, and I won’t disappoint President Lan.”
Lan Lin replied, “I think you’re mistaken about who the aggrieved party is. The person you should be apologizing to isn’t me, but my younger brother.”
With that, Lan Lin adjusted his suit, turned to walk away, and dropped one final sentence over his shoulder: “Once he is satisfied, naturally I am satisfied.”
Early the next morning, just as the housekeeper hired by the Lan family finished preparing breakfast, visitors began arriving right as the family headed down to the dining room.
With quite eager attitudes, the group had all timed their arrival precisely, causing them to bump into one another outside.
A bustling crowd of over a dozen people, old and young gathered together, completely blocked the entrance of the Lan residence.
The Lan family did not employ a butler, relying solely on a single cook. When the cook walked out, she was startled by the throng at the gate.
After she notified Father Lan, the people outside were finally allowed in.
“Sorry to disturb you, President Lan. I already disciplined him when I got home yesterday, and my son knows he was wrong. Look, he came all the way here at the crack of dawn to apologize to you all,” someone initiated the apologies.
“This kid really behaved wrongly, and I accept whatever punishment you see fit for him.”
The Lan family members were gathered around the table eating breakfast. From start to finish, Lanting didn’t even spare the incoming visitors a glance, simply holding a cup of warmed milk and quietly waiting for Mother Lan to peel a boiled egg for him.
The youth detested egg yolks. Once he received the egg, he cracked it open and picked out the yolk, whereupon his older brother naturally extended his chopsticks, picked it up, and popped it into his mouth.
“Such a picky eater,” Lan Lin chuckled and scolded him affectionately after finishing it.
Leaving the crowd hanging for a long while, Lan Lin finally put down his chopsticks and asked Lanting, “How do you want them to apologize?”
Lanting rested his chin on his hand in thought, then let out a light laugh: “Then let them curse each other out. Whatever they used to call me, have them yell those exact words at each other right now.”
Curving his eyes, the youth maintained a gaze completely devoid of any warmth: “No lying allowed. Every single thing you all said, I remember crystal clear.”
Hearing this, Lan Lin lowered his face and swept his gaze across the crowd, scanning each of their faces one by one before lifting his cup to take a sip.
“Didn’t you hear Xiaoting?”
The cold interrogation prompted one of the young men to take a heavy smack from his father, stumbling forward a step to stand out from the crowd.
With a cringing, unsightly expression on his face, he found Lanting turning toward them with a smiling, propped-up chin as if deeply entertained.
Seconds later, under his father’s urging, the man resolutely turned around and pointed straight at the nose of the person standing closest to him.
“Following people around like a lapdog every day, acting like you’re starving for men, disgusting, cheap goods!”
The target of the insult instantly flared up and fired back without yielding an inch.
“Who the hell do you think you’re calling a moron?”
“Aren’t you the same? Nothing better to do all day except lick boots, aren’t you afraid people will laugh their heads off!”
“Pretty face, but brains stuffed with nothing but men. Aren’t you a slut?”
“So cheap, really that starved for men? Can’t you tell nobody wants you?”
“Just relying on a bit of family money, what’s the use? Nobody likes you anyway, hahaha!”
More and more people joined in the shouting, their vocabulary growing increasingly crude and repulsive.
The expressions on the faces of these young elites grew more and more manic, as if completely unaware of what they were saying, utterly immersed in their own worlds while spewing filthy language.
Even the elders who brought them along stood dumbfounded, let alone the members of the Lan family.
Father Lan’s expression grew increasingly dark as he asked Lanting, “Is this what they all said to you?”
The fingers hanging by the edge of Lanting’s table were tracing a bizarre pattern in the air. Points of golden light fluttered outward, slipping invisibly into the bodies of the crowd.
The filthy noise grew denser by the ear.
Absorbed in his own task, the youth missed Father Lan’s question, but his silent expression led the Lan family to mistakenly believe he was grieving.
Consequently, Mother Lan broke character for the first time, smashing the cup in her hand against the floor as shards scattered everywhere.
With tears welling in her eyes, the elegant middle-aged woman rushed forward to pull Lanting into a tight embrace.
Lanting’s shoulders stiffened, turning him completely rigid like a log inside her arms.
“You suffered so much outside, why didn’t you say a single word, how could you bear not telling Mom?”
Infuriated and heartbroken, Mother Lan cried for a long time, finally unable to stomach the foul language ringing in her ears any longer.
With a look bordering on disgust, the woman snapped, “Get out! Get out of the Lan family right now!”
Lan Lin commanded, “Aunt Wang, throw them out!”
Aunt Wang had watched Lanting grow up and felt a fresh wave of heartache realizing how much this well-behaved child had endured.
Wielding a broom as she drove them away, she beat vigorously against the expensive designer suits of these elite socialites until they were filthy and foul-smelling.
Then she slammed the heavy iron gate shut, her tone intensely hostile: “The Madam said for you all to scram and never show your faces at the Lan family gates again.”
The next day, the desks of all those company presidents held a contract termination notice.
Almost simultaneously, Lan Lin’s work phone began ringing incessantly.
The person on the other end wanted to yell in anger, but out of fear for the Lan family’s power, they could only swallow their rage.
“Mr. Lan, we already apologized. Isn’t it a bit unfair for you to still breach the contract like this?”
Lan Lin lowered his gaze. “Did you apologize?”
He continued, “You barged into my house yesterday making a chaotic disturbance without uttering a single word of apology. Isn’t that you breaking the contract first?”
The voice on the other end turned livid: “We were driven out by your—” The second half was too humiliating to voice aloud, leaving them choked on their words.
Lan Lin sneered coldly: “Don’t ever dream of partnering with the Lan family again in this lifetime. Just wait for the court summons.”
These were merely small and medium-sized enterprises that usually struggled to climb up to the Lan family, trailing along behind the Gu family instead.
Even the Gu corporation struggled to withstand the Lan family’s retaliation, let alone them.
Within a mere half a month, quite a few companies in Jinchuan went bankrupt.
When the underlying politics leaked out, the Gu family grew even more panicked.
When Bai Heng finally caught wind of developments, his face turned remarkably grim.
Waiting at home for Lanting to take the bait for half a month straight, Bai Heng was beginning to lose his patience.