The brick floor of the old Suzhou mansion was damp with night dew, and as the tip of Lin Ao Tian's leather shoes crushed through the moss, he heard the crunching sound of broken porcelain from the main hall. Pushing the door open, Second Uncle's celadon teacup was lying at the old master's feet, the tea seeping into the brick cracks like the bloodstains left by the butler's fall ten years ago.
"Kneel down!" The old master's walking stick knocked heavily on the incense table, the genealogy of the East Sea Lin Clan that was offered to him was blown by the night wind and turned the pages. Lin Ao Tian noticed that Second Uncle was hiding in the shadows of the corridor pillars, the ruby buttons on his cuffs were brightly visible under the candle flame, like a viper hiding in the dark.
"What is grandpa's intention?" Lin Aotian knelt on one knee, his palm pressed against the cold green brick, but did not look down -- the dragon pattern jade pendant on his chest echoed the bronze token arrow on the incense table, glowing faintly in the lingering sandalwood incense.
"News came from the clan association this morning." The old master's voice was ten years older than last night on the phone, "The side branches have jointly impeached you, saying that you have misused the resources of the mother clan to suppress your fellow clansmen." He suddenly coughed, a hint of pain flashing under his cloudy eyes, "Zhen Guo said that you froze his Swiss bank account and replaced the entire board of directors of Starlight Capital with outsiders?"
The second uncle behind the porch pillar moved half a step forward, the corner of his mouth hooked into an imperceptible cold smile. Lin Ao Tian stared at the old master's trembling fingers and suddenly understood the key to this play -- Second Uncle used the clan rules as a knife and borrowed the old master's hand to cut his feathers.
"Grandfather still remembers," Lin Aotian pulled out a yellowed contract from his inner pocket, 'the 'Authorization of the Main Vein of the Eastern Sea' that you personally stamped twenty years ago?" The moment the contract was unfolded, the sandalwood scent was suddenly strong, and the gilt dragons on the paper pages actually seemed to swim like they were alive under the candle flame, "The right to operate the three ports in Malacca was originally mother's dowry as the heir to the main vein."
The old master's pupils suddenly contracted, and memories came flooding back like a tidal wave -- when Xue Li got married, he had indeed sewn the power of attorney, a symbol of the shipping lifeline, into the dowry. The second uncle's ruby button "snapped" to the ground as he finally remembered that the young man in front of him never fought unprepared battles, and he was afraid that even the clan association's impeachment letter was in his calculations.
"And this." Lin Ao Tian pulled out another USB flash drive and handed it to the attendant beside the old master, "The financial flow of Starlight Capital in the past five years, every 'filial piety fee' transferred to the clan's side branch is clearly labeled." He looked at Second Uncle's suddenly white face, "Doesn't Uncle Zhen Guo like to talk about rules? Why don't you ask the clan council to check how this money should be calculated according to the East Sea Laws?"
The atmosphere in the main hall felt like all the air had been sucked out, and Uncle Two's back was pressed tightly against the porch pillar, cold sweat soaking through his customized shirt. The old master stared at the USB flash drive and suddenly sighed heavily, "That's just it... The clan will come tomorrow, so go argue yourself."
When he left the old mansion, Chen Mo's car was parked at the end of the bamboo forest path. Lin Ao Tian touched the jade pendant on his chest, when he suddenly heard footsteps coming from behind him -- it was the old housekeeper of the old mansion, holding a lacquered box in his hand.
"Young master, this is what madam asked me to hide before she died." The old man's voice was tinged with a tremor, "She said that she would give it to you when you wear the dragon jade pendant."
The moment the lacquer box was opened, the moonlight happened to diffuse over Lin Ao Tian's fingertips. Inside was a yellowed letter and a jade pendant engraved with the words "Dragon Imperial". Unfolding the letter paper, his mother's handwriting penetrated the paper, "Ao Tian, when you read this letter, you should have already gotten back what belongs to you. Remember, the main lineage of the East Sea Lin Clan has never been sustained by bloodlines, but rather by this place--" A heart location was drawn on the letter paper, and next to it was adorned with a line of small letters, "and here." Another temple was drawn.
The phone vibrates in his pants pocket, Chen Mo sends an urgent message: the Southeast Asian consortium suddenly announced the termination of cooperation, and the Indonesian partners of the nickel mining project have lost contact en masse. Lin Aotian looked at the jade plate in the lacquer box, suddenly laughed lightly -- second uncle in the clan will hit a wall, turn around to take the commercial battlefield, but also counted a fish out of the net.
"Go to the airport, book the latest flight to Jakarta." Lin Ao Tian sat in the car, suddenly remembered the words in his mother's letter, "Right, notify the East China Sea Shipbuilding Group, transfer all the cargo ships moored in Malacca to Indonesian waters, just say... The dragon needs water."
At the Jakarta International Airport in the early morning, the tropical monsoon winds rolled the rain and slapped the glass. Lin Aotian had just stepped out of the VIP channel when he was surrounded by a dozen cameras. The Indonesian reporter at the head held up a microphone and shouted in raw Chinese, "Mr. Lin, the internet rumor that the Huading Group owes money for the nickel mining project, is it true?"
"Sorry, no comment." Chen Mo was about to block the reporter away when Lin Aotian suddenly raised his hand. He looked at the camera and remembered the scene he saw last night at Zhou Group -- when Zhou Jianbang took off his CEO badge, there was a three-centimeter-long scar on the back of his hand, which was left from blocking the knife for him back then.
"Everyone," Lin Aotian's voice was extraordinarily clear in the noisy airport, 'Huading has never been a company that reneges on its debts, but the premise is that --' He suddenly pulled out a document, "the partners didn't go behind our backs and mortgaged the mineral rights to Starlight Capital."
The reporters' cameras instantly focused on the document, and the flashbulbs lit up. On the mortgage contract at the end page of the document, Uncle Er's signature was clearly visible, along with a red annotation from Indonesia's Ministry of Mining, "Duplicate mortgage, suspected of violating the law."
"In addition," Lin Ao Tian touched the jade tablet left by his mother from his inner pocket, "East China Sea Lin Clan will start the Malacca Shipping Sanctions with immediate effect, all the cargo ships that are attached to Starry Yew Capital will be prohibited from entering any ports in Southeast Asia." He looked towards the consortium representatives in the distance who were grimacing, "If you all want to taste what it's like to be adrift in the open sea for three months, you can continue to follow certain people playing with fire."
The airport radio suddenly blared out a flight delay notice as a tropical rainstorm wove a curtain of water outside the window. Lin Ao Tian looked at his reflection on the glass, the word "Dragon Royal" on the jade tablet was facing his brow, like the first Chinese character his mother taught him to write back then. His cell phone vibrates, the clan association sends a message: the impeachment against him is withdrawn, and the full authority of the main vein heir is restored with immediate effect.
As the plane on the return trip traveled through the thunderstorm clouds, Lin Ao Tian flipped through his mother's letter, and the last line caused his eyes to heat up slightly, "My child, don't be afraid to show your claws, a dragon's scales are meant to protect itself and those it cares about." He touched the concave and convex engravings on the jade plaque, and suddenly realized that he was still too soft-hearted before -- leaving room for Zhou Jianbang, and being lenient with his second uncle, but instead letting them feel that the dragon's authority could be violated.
When the plane broke through the clouds, the moonlight poured into the porthole, reflecting the dragon jade pendant with flowing colors. Lin Ao Tian closed his eyes, the plaque in the main hall of the old mansion, "Dragon Royal Hall", and his mother's dying words, "Live like a dragon", came to mind. This time when he came back from Indonesia, he wanted to let everyone know that the stoicism of the dragon when it was in the shallows was never for the sake of compromise, but for the sake of storing up the strength to take off.
And those who think they can pull teeth in the dragon's mouth will soon realize that the real Oriental dragon, once it opens its eyes, sets off a storm that is enough to make the entire business community tremble. After all, in this ocean of capital, only those who stand at the top of the food chain are qualified to set the rules -- and he, Lin Aotian, has long since stopped being a pawn for others to pin down, but is about to reign as a business emperor.