Chapter Twenty-Three: Satisfaction

The compensation of half a million satisfied Ling Tian quite well. It wasn't about the amount of money, but rather that Sun Yibin could produce such a sum, which showed the young man was at least sincere. Ling Tian gestured for Wang Yong to put it away, then turned to Sun Yibin and said, "Whatever happens in the future, I want to make one thing clear: everything that happened today represents me personally, and has nothing to do with Qingcheng Group." The reason Ling Tian made this statement was to avoid causing trouble for Qingcheng Group because of his own actions.

Sun Yibin was no fool and immediately understood the implication behind Ling Tian’s words. He thumped his chest and said, “Nothing happened here today, isn’t that right?”

Ling Tian nodded at Sun Yibin approvingly. This boy could be taught—he was clever.

“Well then, let’s call it a day. It’s time to head back.” Ling Tian stood, clasped his hands behind his back, and walked toward the door.

Wang Yong, carrying the leather bag of money, followed behind with two of his men, stumbling along in high spirits.

After seeing Ling Tian off, Sun Yibin let out a long sigh of relief and downed three shots of strong vodka in a row. The tension on his face eased considerably. Standing face to face with Ling Tian, the pressure had been overwhelming. Ling Tian was like an insurmountable mountain, suffocating Sun Yibin with his presence.

Black Bear, who had been knocked out, staggered to his feet and found that Ling Tian and his group were gone. Ignoring the blood still flowing from his head, he shouted furiously, “Where are they? Where did they go?”

“Stop shouting,” Sun Yibin said in a low voice. If it weren’t for the fact that Black Bear had been with him for years, Sun Yibin would have disposed of this troublemaker long ago. Such reckless behavior had offended a true menace. Had Ling Tian intended to kill, Le Nest Bar would already be littered with corpses.

Sun Yibin believed Ling Tian was entirely capable of such a thing.

Ling Tian, shrouded in murderous intent and reeking of blood, truly saw human life as worthless.

Black Bear slumped over the table, glaring at Sun Yibin as he shouted, “Boss, why did you let them go? Why didn’t you finish them off?”

Sun Yibin shot Black Bear a dissatisfied look and said coldly, “You’re brave, Black Bear, but you’re brainless. And about the one hundred thousand you embezzled from Qingcheng Group—shouldn’t you give me a reasonable explanation?”

Black Bear was instantly dumbstruck, unable to utter a word for a long while. He hadn’t expected Sun Yibin to bring this up.

“That’s just one thing. You’ve been stirring up trouble everywhere under my name, even claiming to be from the Li family.” Sun Yibin’s face darkened as he spoke. “How many times have I told you—be high-profile in your work, but keep a low profile as a person.”

Black Bear had never seen Sun Yibin so furious before and lowered his head in fear, not daring to speak.

“If things had really gotten out of hand today, do you think the Li family would turn against the Mu family for your sake? You ignorant fool!” Sun Yibin slammed the table in anger, shattering it. “For now, stay out of sight. Reflect on your mistakes before you show your face again.”

Black Bear collapsed to the floor in despair. This meant that Sun Yibin had given up on him.

Qingcheng Group.

At eight in the evening, the lights were still on in the General Affairs Department’s office.

Zhang Ming, the department manager, and Xue Kun, the head of public relations, sat in the office with furrowed brows and anxious faces. Zhang Ming in particular was restless, alternately standing to pace around the office and then sitting back down.

Both were deeply worried about Ling Tian and Wang Yong. According to their plan, the two would go to Le Nest Bar to collect the debt—ideally recover the money, but if not, it wasn’t a big deal. But they had left at noon, and now it was already nightfall, and there was still no sign of them.

Over an hour ago, Zhang Ming’s informant had brought news that Le Nest Bar had been cleared out.

As seasoned veterans of society, both men knew exactly what a “cleared out” bar meant.

Xue Kun couldn’t sit still any longer. Looking at Zhang Ming’s worried face, he said, “Manager, should we call the police?”

Zhang Ming shook his head and replied, “The owner of Le Nest Bar, Sun Yibin, is no ordinary man. The police won’t be of any use.”

Xue Kun sighed. “Then what do we do? We never should’ve sent them over for a mere hundred thousand. Now we don’t know if they’re alive or dead—even if they survived, they’re probably badly injured. We’ll have no way to explain this.”

His words struck a painful chord for Zhang Ming. Both of them were employees of Qingcheng Group, and if anything happened, the company would be held responsible. Especially since Wang Yong had a powerful cousin. As for the mysterious Ling Tian, Zhang Ming didn’t know his background, but he could guess it was far from simple.

“We can’t just sit here and wait. I think I’ll take some people over to check it out,” Xue Kun said, standing up, intent on heading to Le Nest Bar.

Zhang Ming stopped him. “Don’t be reckless.”

“So what should we do then? We can’t just wait here forever. By the time we act, it’ll be too late,” Xue Kun said, spreading his hands in frustration. Faced with the intimidating Le Nest Bar, the department head was at a loss for a solution.

Zhang Ming looked at Xue Kun solemnly and said, “We have no choice but to ask the president to step in.”

“Yes, the president represents the Mu family. If she steps in, Sun Yibin won’t dare refuse her,” Xue Kun replied quickly.

But after making eight consecutive calls, Mu Qingcheng’s phone was still switched off.

“Probably out of battery,” Zhang Ming said helplessly, putting down his phone with a heavy sigh. It was too late to go looking for Mu Qingcheng now. They could only leave it to fate.

At that moment, Ling Tian and his group pushed open the door.

Ling Tian entered first with his hands clasped behind his back, Wang Yong followed behind, carrying a bag and wearing a cheerful smile. Despite his bruised and swollen face, he seemed to be in good spirits.

Zhang Ming and Xue Kun stared in shock as the group entered, taking a long time to recover from their surprise. They had prepared for the worst, yet here Ling Tian and the others were, safe and sound, and in good spirits, even reeking of alcohol and perfume.

Could it be that Le Nest Bar had been cleared out just to host Ling Tian and his group?

“So... nothing went wrong, did it?” Zhang Ming asked, his gaze falling on Wang Yong’s battered face. He was thoroughly confused.

Wang Yong dared not speak, instead looking to Ling Tian. He was now completely convinced by Ling Tian, relying on him as his anchor.

Ling Tian found a chair and sat down, smiling. “We brought the money back. They even gave us an extra four hundred thousand as compensation for the delay.”

“What?” Zhang Ming and Xue Kun thought they had misheard. Not only had they gotten the money back, but an additional four hundred thousand?

Ling Tian continued, “I had a talk with Sun Yibin, appealed to his better nature, and made him feel guilty. Not only did he treat us to a meal, he also gave us an extra four hundred thousand as compensation.”

A reasoned conversation could settle things with Sun Yibin?

That was nonsense! Zhang Ming knew exactly what kind of person Sun Yibin was—a major figure with the Li family backing him, not someone to be reasoned with by a mere company employee.

“So... how did Wang Yong get his injuries?” Zhang Ming didn’t press Ling Tian for further details.

Wang Yong hurried to reply, “I tripped and fell on the way back.”