Urban Martial Saint

Old Lady Lin was truly generous with her offer, leaving Ye Qing momentarily stunned. If she had simply donated ten million once, or even thirty or fifty million in one go, Ye Qing wouldn’t have felt much. After all, thirty to fifty million isn’t a lot for the Lin family.

But her promise to donate ten million every year is a significant sum. Currently, there are just over eighty orphans on Ye Qing’s side. Once the venue and equipment are set up, the annual cost of supporting these children would be around three to five million.

With Old Lady Lin contributing ten million every year, that essentially means the orphanage’s expenses would be fully covered by the Lin family, and there would still be plenty of money left over every year.

The key point is her annual donation of ten million. Over time, that sum becomes quite alarming, even for Lin Corporation, it’s not a small amount. This shows that she genuinely wanted to do something to make up for the wrongs committed by the Lin family and minimize some of the karmic retribution.

”Auntie Grandma, are you really willing to give so much money?” Zhao Chengshuang was also excited as he hurriedly said, ”Right now, Ye Zi is short on funds, and if you could contribute money to help start the orphanage, it would be a truly virtuous deed!”

”Oh?” Old Lady Lin looked at Ye Qing and said, ”Mr. Ye, if you are short of money, you can tell us anytime, and our Lin family will definitely support you wholeheartedly.”

”Thank you in advance, Old Lady,” Ye Qing said respectfully, ”I am confident that I can manage the orphanage well. With this ten million from the Lin family, there would absolutely be no issue in starting the orphanage.”

”That’s good to hear,” Old Lady Lin nodded and stated, ”Tomorrow I’ll have Zhen Nan transfer this money to Mr. Ye’s account. If you need anything during the process of setting up the orphanage, you can contact Zhen Nan. After all, these children have suffered because of people from our Lin family, and doing something for them would also serve to reduce some of our family’s sins.”

After lunch, Ye Qing and Zhao Chengshuang stayed for a meal at the Lin family estate, where most of the family members’ attitudes towards Ye Qing had significantly changed. Old Lady Lin especially treated Ye Qing as an honored guest, mentioning multiple times how grateful she was for his rescuing Lin Yashi.

After lunch, Ye Qing and Zhao Chengshuang hurried back to Tian Sheng. The children had just had their meal and were playing in Tian Sheng’s grounds, seemingly having forgotten their nightmare-like past. Only a few older kids sat quietly in the area, their eyes still reflecting residual panic. These children were older and had deeper memories of past events, which couldn’t be easily forgotten.

Fang Tingyun and two other ladies were there, playing with the children. Surprisingly, Mu Qingrong was also present, braiding the hair of a three or four-year-old girl. Huo Pingping was there as well, hugging and lovingly pulling the cheek of an adorable child.

”Yo, if you like kids so much, why don’t you have one of your own?” Zhao Chengshuang joked as he wheeled over, chuckling.

Huo Pingping shot him a glare and retorted, ”I would like to have one, yes, but the man worthy of having a child with me hasn’t appeared yet!”

”So picky?” Zhao Chengshuang feigned surprise and moved closer, grinning cheekily, ”What do you think about me, then?”

Huo Pingping glanced at him and said, ”A disabled person is not within my consideration!”

Zhao Chengshuang immediately argued, ”This disability is only temporary. The doctor said that in a month, I’ll be able to walk again. Let me tell you, I’m a man with potential, and you shouldn’t misjudge that. When I recover, if you think of chasing after me then, you’ll have to queue up!”

Huo Pingping replied indignantly, ”What a joke, when have I ever had to queue up for anything in my life?”

Zhao Chengshuang earnestly said, ”Miss, you’re not doing it right. Cutting in line is something only uncivilized people do!”

”Pah, you’re the one who’s uncivilized!” Huo Pingping retorted, ”What I meant is that there’s nothing worth queuing for that has appeared yet!”

Zhao Chengshuang grinned and responded, ”Take a good look then, maybe I’m the White Horse Prince you’d be willing to queue up for. I have many virtues.”

Huo Pingping rolled her eyes at him, ”Indeed, I see your skin is certainly thick enough.”

Ye Qing watched the two banter with a light smile. Huo Pingping was sharp-tongued yet kind-hearted. She was straightforward and didn’t spare anyone’s feelings, but she was genuinely kind at heart. She and Zhao Chengshuang had grown closer after sharing a hospital room for a while, and it looked like Zhao Chengshuang had developed some feelings for her.

Ye Qing approached and sat down, asking quietly, ”Director Mu, don’t you have work today?”

”What do you mean, no work?” Huo Pingping quickly picked up the conversation and said, ”The big boss is insanely busy now. Her company has been merged with Lin Corporation, and she’s currently in charge of several monitoring equipment projects under the corporation, which are much busier than her previous job.

Director Mu is now a key talent being groomed by Lin Corporation and might very well become a high-level executive there in the future!”

”Oh, is that so?” Ye Qing was taken aback, as so much had changed in just a few days, and he had been unaware of it. Moreover, what surprised him even more was that, following the merger of Huo Pingping’s company, she had been given such a significant role—more important than when she was her own boss.

Mu Qingrong smiled faintly and said, ”Thanks to your blessings, Uncle Lin values me highly!”

”That’s wonderful!” Ye Qing exclaimed joyfully, ”Congratulations, Director Mu!”

”Thank you,” Mu Qingrong replied, looking at Ye Qing with an indescribable sense of loss in her eyes. Although she was doing well and it was very likely that she would advance to the executive level at Lin Corporation and truly fulfill her dream of becoming a powerful businesswoman, she couldn’t explain why she felt such a profound sense of loss.

Ever since Ye Qing had resigned, that feeling of loss had nagged at her, only easing slightly when she saw him.

At that moment, Black Bear, followed by a gasping Mad Dog and their eight men, rushed in from outside. The men were wrapped in bandages, still bearing injuries, drenched in sweat, and grimacing as they came in, though it was unclear what they had been up to outside.

”Captain, you’re back!” Black Bear, acting as if nothing was wrong, made a beeline for Ye Qing.

”What happened?” Ye Qing asked in surprise.

Mad Dog leaned against the wall, panting, and said, ”Brother Bear... Brother Bear said we were too weak, and he had us get some exercise by... by making us go out for a run...”

Ye Qing glanced at Black Bear and said, ”Running in the midday heat, aren’t you afraid of heatstroke?”

Black Bear replied, ”Back when we were in the army, sometimes we’d even do training in the middle of the day. These kids are too weak, they can’t take a hit. They have to get some exercise.”

Mad Dog and the others wore embarrassed expressions. That morning, Black Bear had taken down all eight of them with one hand, earning their thorough respect.

Ye Qing said, ”Wait until they’ve healed before you train them.”

”Bro, we’re fine,” Mad Dog hastily interjected. ”Brother Bear said that when you all were in the army, even with serious injuries, you’d still participate in training. Our wounds are just minor surface scrapes, no big deal.”

Ye Qing nodded at Mad Dog, impressed by the young man’s resilience.

Ye Qing said, ”Go freshen up. You’re coming out with me this afternoon to handle some business.”

”What business?” Black Bear curiously asked.

”We’re going to take back our venues...” Ye Qing looked around and said, ”Out of eleven venues, we’ve only gotten one back in our hands. How is that enough?”

Mad Dog’s spirits immediately lifted, and he said excitedly, ”Big brother, then we’ll go prepare our gear, and in the afternoon take back all those eleven venues!”

”Prepare what gear? You can go empty-handed,” Ye Qing shook his head and said, ”I’m not telling you to go fight, just to check out the locations of our venues.”

”What?” Mad Dog was suddenly stunned. The venues had been taken from them. If Ye Qing wanted to retrieve them without using force, did that mean he intended to talk the people away?

Black Bear said, ”What are you ’what’-ing for, hurry up and get ready. If the captain says there’s no need to fight, then there’s definitely no need to fight!”

Immediately, Mad Dog and the others went inside to shower and change. Meanwhile, Mu Qingrong watched the changes in Ye Qing, and her emotions were indescribable. Regardless, she was happy for Ye Qing; after all, he was no longer the demobilized soldier who had to swallow his pride and work in an office building just for a meal. He was now adapting to society and starting his own business.

At five thirty in the afternoon, the clubs were mostly open, cleaned up, and waiting for nightfall to start business.

It was at this time that Ye Qing chose to take Black Bear, Mad Dog, and the others to reclaim what was theirs.

Ye Qing had specifically borrowed two vehicles from Li Lianshan, who graciously lent his Land Rover to Ye Qing and also arranged for a seven-seater business car. With Ye Qing’s current team, they had more than enough space.

As Ye Qing’s driver, Mad Dog rode in the same car with Ye Qing and Black Bear. Having previously driven vehicles on the verge of being scrapped, he had never driven anything as luxurious and imposing as this. He was overwhelmed with emotion as he sat in the driver’s seat, and once the car started, he couldn’t stop exclaiming.

”A good car really is different, even the feel when starting up!” Mad Dog exclaimed.

Ye Qing wasn’t particularly impressed by this, as when he had learned to drive, he’d driven Lin Huayu’s car, which was much more luxurious than Li Lianshan’s. Naturally, the comfort level was also far superior to this vehicle.

”It’s way more comfortable than a tank!” Black Bear was fiddling with the car’s equipment.

Mad Dog immediately turned around, his eyes wide with astonishment: ”Brother Bear, you’ve been in a tank?”

”Of course,” Black Bear waved his hand hastily and said, ”Watch the road, watch the road, there’s a car ahead! Can you not turn your head when talking? You’re like a road assassin!”