“Wanwan, how can you speak about your brother like that!” Xiang Keqing finally couldn’t hold back and stepped forward.
Heartbroken, she said, “I was already pregnant when I was dating your father. Two months later we broke up, and he married your mother. Seeing that he had a family, I quietly raised your brother on my own and never once disturbed your mother.”
“Even if your brother was brought into the Lin family by your father at the age of ten, he’s not some illegitimate child of the Lin family. We have a clear conscience toward you and your mother! You keep calling him an illegitimate son tell me, all these years, haven’t I cared for you? How have I wronged you?”
After saying that, she covered her eyes with a handkerchief and began to cry.
“Lin Xiangwan, I’ve tolerated you for a long time!” Lin Xijun, heart aching for his mother and both furious and anxious, rushed forward as if to hit Lin Xiangwan.
Others hurried to stop him. Lin Mu wrapped his arms around Xiang Keqing protectively. The room instantly erupted into chaos.
Throughout it all, Lin Xiangwan’s expression remained indifferent. She picked up a teacup and weighed it in her hand.
Lin Mu’s longtime personal purple clay cup quite heavy.
Then she raised it and smashed it onto the floor.
“Everyone shut up!”
Her sharp shout silenced the conference room.
Lin Xiangwan swept her gaze around, finding it all laughable.
This was the family she was born into.
After her mother’s death, everyone had their own hidden motives.
Her father didn’t love her. Her stepmother was a master at putting on a show. Her half-brother treated her like an enemy.
Where in Rongcheng did she still have a home?
Lin Xiangwan took an archive envelope from her bag, opened it, and placed the contents in front of the shareholders.
“All of you uncles fought alongside my grandfather. You recognize his seal and handwriting. The will was written by him personally. Please take a look.”
The three members of the Lin family froze at the same time.
There was another will? How did they not know?
Xiang Keqing hastily wiped away her tears and squeezed into the circle of shareholders.
Black words on white paper it was unmistakably the handwriting of the old master of the Lin family, Lin Songqiao.
Only a few sentences were written:
The person in power at Fanxing can only be my granddaughter, Lin Xiangwan. Should any unforeseen circumstances arise, I ask my old friends to lend her support. The position of president must not fall into other hands.
At the bottom was Lin Songqiao’s familiar, forceful signature, along with the seal that had long since been buried with him.
Someone lifted the will, eyes reddening. “This… this really is the old gentleman’s handwriting! It’s his own letter!”
“That’s impossible! If Grandpa made a will, why would he give it to Lin Xiangwan and not hand it to you immediately? Uncles, don’t believe her this is forged by Lin Xiangwan!”
Lin Xijun shouted in rebuttal, completely flustered.
They had gone to great lengths to push Lin Xiangwan out of Fanxing. They absolutely could not let all their efforts go to waste!
“Handwriting can be forged but can the seal?” Lin Xiangwan didn’t look at him. She looked at the shareholders.
These people had built the company alongside her grandfather. When Fanxing was founded, her grandfather personally took them to have the seal made and stored it in a safe, precisely to guard against emergencies. Anything bearing that seal could prove authenticity.
Among them, Zhong Jie held the highest status. After being saved by the old master, he had sworn to follow him for fifty years. Even Lin Mu addressed him respectfully as “Big Brother Zhong.”
Lin Xiangwan turned to him. “Uncle Zhong, what do you think?”
Zhong Jie pondered for a moment. Under countless gazes, he spoke.
“Yes, this is indeed the old master’s handwriting. Then we shall follow the will and let Xiangwan become the heir.”
“Brother Zhong!” Lin Mu broke out in a cold sweat. “This concerns Fanxing’s future!”
Lin Xijun lowered his head, clenching his fists tightly, unwillingness radiating from him.
Zhong Jie looked at the father and son, his gaze complicated.
Lin Xijun was young and capable, even better at managing the company than his father. In truth, he would gladly hand Fanxing over to this young man.
But more than that, he valued the dying wish of his benefactor.
No matter how willful or incompetent Lin Xiangwan might be, no matter how bleak Fanxing’s prospects might seem in the hands of a runaway bride and spoiled heiress, he still had to honor the will.
“Xiangwan, we can let you be president. But your brother must be vice president and assist you in managing the company. This is our greatest concession and it’s for Fanxing’s sake. You have no objections, right?”
Lin Xijun took a deep breath.
Xiang Keqing and Lin Mu stared intently at Lin Xiangwan, no longer as anxious as before.
Vice president would do. With enough power, one day he could kick this useless Lin Xiangwan aside and become the true person in charge of Fanxing!
Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Lin Xiangwan smiled brightly, a faint curve lifting at the corner of her lips.
“I don’t want such trash. Either demote him to head of the Public Relations Department, or let him find another job.”
Zhong Jie slowly frowned, remaining silent.
Lin Xijun trembled with rage, glaring sharply at Lin Xiangwan.
“I’m trash? Then what are you? All you’ve ever done since childhood is eat, drink, and play or chase after Jiang Shijing. Later you ran from your wedding and caused the Jiang and Lin families to stop interacting to this day. If Grandpa were still alive, he would never let you be the heir!”
“Is that so?”
Lin Xiangwan sat down and rested her chin in her hand thoughtfully.
“My dear Aunt Xiang encouraged me to indulge in eating, drinking, and having fun since I was young. Later, when she found out I had a crush on Jiang Shijing, she told me I would get married sooner or later and didn’t need to learn business management. Tell me who exactly didn’t want me to become the heir?”
Zhong Jie frowned slightly and turned to Xiang Keqing with a questioning look.
Xiang Keqing was flustered for a few seconds, stammering, “Th-that was because I felt sorry for you. You’re a girl I didn’t want you to work so hard. How can you misunderstand my good intentions?”
“Then let’s talk about your ‘good intentions’ and your so-called dignified explanation.”
Lin Xiangwan took out another stack of papers from her bag and spread them on the table.
They were filled with detailed bank transaction records and various expenses.
“You said you raised your son alone and never disturbed my mother. But from the time Lin Mu got engaged to my mother, you were already spending his money for your pregnancy.”
“After you gave birth, the two of you met countless times over the next ten years celebrating birthdays together, going on dates, eating couple’s meals, even taking the child to amusement parks.”
“Aunt Xiang, knowingly being the other woman what do you call that? If your son isn’t illegitimate, what is he? Hmm?”
Tilting her head, Lin Xiangwan tapped her fingertip on one of the chat records between Xiang Keqing and Lin Mu.
Zhong Jie leaned over to look.
In the messages, Xiang Keqing complained that Lin Mu was incapable of giving their son a legitimate status, that a perfectly good child had become an illegitimate one.
Yet just moments ago, she had cried and claimed righteously that she wasn’t a mistress and had never wronged Lin Xiangwan.
Xiang Keqing’s face flushed red, then pale. At that moment, she wished she could disappear into the floor.
Feeling humiliated, Lin Xijun finally forced out through gritted teeth, “All the uncles here are old now. Besides me, who else can hold up the entire Fanxing?”
“With me here, is it your turn to hold it up?”
Lin Xiangwan let out a light scoff and took out another document a performance bet agreement.
Her bag had been stuffed full, all tools to settle accounts with this family.
With this agreement laid out, she had finally emptied it.
“Within six months, I will increase Fanxing’s rate of return by ten percentage points. If I fail, the president’s position is yours and I’ll even give up my shares.”