Chapter 15: Bringing in a Tiger to Save the Day

Li Zian’s gaze swept over the members of the Yu Family. He spoke calmly. “With the same brush, you can’t write two different ‘Yu’s. We’re family. Why not say what you mean peacefully? What’s the need for this mess?”

Yu Taishan snapped, “Who says we’re family with you? What right do you have to speak? I don’t want to see you. Get out!”

But Li Zian paid him no mind and continued. “For four years, Meilin gave this company everything she could. And this is how you repay her? Even strangers wouldn’t treat someone this way, let alone family.”

A flurry of whispers broke out in the meeting room.

“Is that man Yu Meilin’s husband?”

“Never seen him, but it looks like it.”

“Heard he’s a farmer. Didn’t even go to college.”

“What’s a farmer doing here making trouble? Does he know what kind of place this is?”

“Looks like a freeloader scared of losing his meal ticket, jumping out like a cornered dog to defend Yu Meilin.”

“If even Yu Meilin’s words don’t matter, who does he think he is?”

The whispers were filled with scorn, disdain, mockery, and hostility. Not one kind word.

Li Zian knew they wouldn’t take his words seriously, but he spoke them anyway. He stood firmly with Yu Meilin. Some words she couldn’t say, but he could. He didn’t care what they thought of him.

Yu Meilin felt a pang of pain. “Zian, please don’t say any more.”

Li Zian replied, “Why not stand by the truth? Anywhere under heaven, truth matters. What difference is there between beasts and people who don’t act by reason?”

The comment stirred the hornet’s nest.

Gao Shengmei pointed a shaking finger at him, furious. “You little rascal! What did you just say? This is a meeting for the Yu family Board of Directors. You have no right to speak!”

Li Zian smiled faintly. “Don’t you bear the surname Gao? Yet you get to speak. Why don’t I?”

“You—!” Gao Shengmei choked with rage.

Yu Taishan roared, red-faced. “Throw him out!”

Several younger members of the Yu family immediately closed in.

Yu Meilin shouted sharply, “He is my husband! Where are you tossing him? I’m right here!”

Yu Taishan jabbed a finger at his daughter. “Protect him again, and you’re out with him!”

The words shot like daggers into Yu Meilin’s heart, sharp and painful.

“Didn’t you hear? Throw this little rascal out!” Gao Shengmei screeched.

The youths surrounded Li Zian, tugging and pushing at him.

The Great Sluggish Cauldron glowed brightly inside Li Zian’s mind. His legs seemed rooted firmly to the floor. Though several people pulled and shoved him, he stood perfectly still.

Just then, the conference room door swung open. An elderly woman with white hair, leaning on a dragon-head cane, walked in.

The chaotic room instantly fell silent.

This was Lin Shengnan. The Yu Family’s revered Old Matriarch.

As soon as Lin Shengnan entered…

Thud!

Li Zian – whom moments ago they couldn’t shake – let out a sudden howl of pain and crashed dramatically to the floor.

Lin Shengnan’s fury ignited instantly. “Zian! Oh, dear! What happened?”

“Ai-yo… Ai-yo…” Li Zian gasped dramatically, seemingly winded.

BANG!

The Old Matriarch slammed her dragon-head cane onto the ground. She glared around furiously. “You little mongrels! Do you wish to drive me to an early grave?!”

The Yu youths stared, dumbfounded, at Li Zian sprawled on the floor moments after being unmovable as a boulder. To suddenly collapse when the Old Matriarch walked in? Even if he was pretending, could the acting BE any more overdone?

“Who touched him?!” Lin Shengnan thundered.

The youths scrambled backwards instantly.

“Get up! I didn’t even touch you!”

“Don’t you frame us! We have cameras in here!”

“Grandma, it wasn’t me, I swear!”

Their defiance vanished in a second, replaced by panicked excuses.

Li Zian groaned theatrically. “Ai-yo… it hurts…”

“Meilin!” The Old Matriarch rounded on her granddaughter. “Are you a statue? Help your husband up!”

Yu Meilin snapped out of her daze and rushed forward to support Li Zian, worry creasing her brow. “Are you alright?”

Li Zian gave her a quick, subtle wink.

Yu Meilin froze. Understanding dawned.

Yu Taishan couldn’t bear it any longer, his anger barely contained. “Mother, why have you come to the company?”

Lin Shengnan fixed a fierce glare on him. “Are you forbidding me from stepping into my own business?”

Yu Taishan lowered his head. “You misunderstand, I didn’t mean that.”

“Hmph! It’s exactly what you meant!” Lin Shengnan retorted mercilessly.

Yu Taishan’s face tightened with suppressed rage, but he dared not unleash it on his mother. Instead, he whirled on Li Zian. “Is this a stage play? Who do you think you’re acting for?! This is your final warning! Get out! Before I have security drag you out!”

“DRAG WHO OUT?!” Lin Shengnan yelled, fixing her son with a glare that could pin him to the wall.

Yu Taishan steeled himself. “Mother. I refuse to acknowledge him as my son-in-law. Stay out of this. Please, go home and rest…”

THUD!

Her cane slammed hard into the floor again, cutting him off. “Zian is the husband I chose for Meilin! So you refuse your mother too?!”

“I…” Yu Taishan swallowed the rest of his words, defeated.

“Ahem.” Gao Shengmei cleared her throat loudly, shooting Yu Taishan a warning glare out of the corner of her eye.

Lin Shengnan immediately whipped her sharp gaze towards Gao Shengmei. “Getting sick? Catching a cold?”

Gao Shengmei blinked, startled. “M-mother, I’m fine. Just a slight tickle.”

Lin Shengnan sniffed dismissively. “If you’re fine, why the coughing? Shut it!”

Gao Shengmei’s lips quivered, but she didn’t dare retort.

The Old Matriarch let her fierce gaze roam over the gathered Yu family members, radiating silent, powerful authority. “Family should stand united! Support each other! Live in harmony! But you? All you care about is fighting over dirty money! Back-biting and underhanded tricks! That’s why I got sick of you all years ago and went back to the old village to recover! All four years I was away in Crescent Moon Village, which of you visited me even once? Zian cared for me all that time! And now? Not a shred of gratitude? You just want to throw him out?!”

Li Zian piped up quickly, voice humble. “Grandma, I was simply doing my duty. I hold no grudge. I’m their junior. It’s their right to teach me lessons.”

Lin Shengnan’s old eyes shimmered with tears. “Do you see? Such a fine, good man!”

The Yu family exchanged incredulous, uneasy glances. They all saw through the country boy’s fakery. Only the Old Matriarch was blind. What sorcery had he used to bewitch her? Why was she shielding him so fiercely?

Yu Meilin, however, finally understood it all. Li Zian had sent for the Old Matriarch. That’s why he delayed her back in the office – waiting for his backup. She was facing a pack of wolves. He’d brought her a tiger. An old tiger, perhaps, but its roar still commanded fear.

Even his “fall”… had been an act. A deliberate performance, putting aside his pride… all for her sake. Such deep careful thought.

She turned her gaze to Li Zian. Her heart swelled with overwhelming gratitude.

A tear escaped Lin Shengnan’s eye. “You undutiful lot! Four years ago, you three brothers clawed at this inheritance. And now, you start again? Let me say this clearly: As long as I draw breath, you get NOTHING!”

The faces of the three brothers – Yu Taishan, Yu Taian, and Yu Taihong – darkened like storm clouds.

Yu Meilin looked to her father, Yu Taishan. He only glared back at her with eyes devoid of warmth – full of nothing but the hatred of a stranger.

In that split second, a decision solidified within Yu Meilin. She remained silent for a moment, then spoke calmly. “Father. Second Uncle. Third Uncle. You want my resignation? Fine. But on one condition: New Star Company, the business my mother built… it will be spun off from the group holdings. Entirely. Under my sole control.”

“New Star is a part of the Group!” Gao Shengmei objected immediately, shrill. “What right do you have to claim it?”

Yu Taishan’s voice was icy. “Am I dead yet? That you’d start carving up the family fortune?”

Yu Meilin’s lips trembled, but no sound came out.

Li Zian quietly stepped in again. “It was Meilin’s mother who built New Star into what it is. You enjoyed the fruits of her labor. Now, not only do you refuse to give her daughter even one measly leaf? Doesn’t your conscience ache even slightly?”

“YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH!” Yu Taishan roared.

Li Zian turned instantly to the Old Matriarch. “Grandma, Meilin needs your justice now.”

BAM!

Lin Shengnan stabbed her dragon-head cane into the floor again. “I still hold twenty percent equity! Continue behaving like greedy jackals? I will disinherit every last one of you! I’ll donate every cent!”

Yu Taian (Second Uncle) spoke up quickly, nervously. “M-mother, please! Don’t upset yourself! I… I agree. Let New Star be spun off to Meilin.”

Yu Taihong (Third Uncle) quickly chimed in. “I agree too.”

Yu Taishan remained silent, his face thunderous and dark.

Lin Shengnan fixed her fiercest glare on her eldest son. “Taishan! Meilin is your flesh and blood! Your daughter! Have you lost every shred of fatherly feeling?!”

Yu Taishan locked eyes with Yu Meilin. Hatred simmered. He let the silence hang heavily for several seconds. Finally, his jaw clenched. “…Fine. If your uncles agree… then I have nothing to say.”

Yu Meilin fought back the tears pricking her eyes. “Father… thank you.”

Yu Taishan sneered icily. “Don’t thank me. I don’t deserve your gratitude.”

A single tear escaped Yu Meilin’s eye. She bit her lip hard.

Lin Shengnan walked towards the door, beckoning. “Meilin. Zian. Come. Let’s leave. Seeing them… sickens me.”

Li Zian gently supported the Old Matriarch’s arm. As they neared the door, he paused and glanced back into the room. Dozens of furious eyes stabbed at him like drawn knives.

He smiled warmly at them all.

He absolutely loved it. Seeing them seething… utterly helpless to touch a hair on his head.

Yu Meilin stopped in the doorway. “Zian, please take Grandma home first. I need to stay and handle… the aftermath.”

“I could wait with Grandma in your office?” Li Zian offered softly. “In case… you need support.”

Yu Meilin sighed, shaking her head. “My resignation from the Board. The legal split of New Star… There’s nothing you can help with here. Go home. Take care of Grandma and Xiaomei.”

Li Zian nodded slowly. She was right. He couldn’t navigate this corporate battlefield for her.

Lin Shengnan squeezed Yu Meilin’s hand. “Child, if those beasts dare push you further… you come tell me.”

“I will, Grandma,” Yu Meilin murmured.

“Oh, Zian,” the Old Matriarch turned mid-step, her thoughts suddenly shifting wildly. “That soup you cooked for me back in Crescent Moon Village? What did you call it?”

Li Zian smiled. “That would be Great Benefit Phoenix Claw Soup, Grandma.”

Lin Shengnan patted his hand excitedly. “Yes! That! I was brushing my hair this morning? Saw black strands mixed in my white! You told me that soup could turn white hair black… and it’s true! I want you to make me some again. Today!”

“No problem, Grandma!” Li Zian grinned. “Anything you wish for. That soup and many others. I know plenty. I’ll brew them all for you!”

Lin Shengnan beamed, patting his cheek fondly. “Good boy. Such a good, considerate boy.”

Yu Meilin’s eyes widened slightly as she stared at the young man beside her grandmother. Shock warred with utter bewilderment.

So… this mountain village live-in son-in-law…

Not only practiced divination…he could cook medicinal soups too?