Chapter 685: Aggressively Overbearing

Chapter 685: Chapter 685: Aggressively Overbearing

(Chapter Twenty-One, another update at ten o’clock)

As Ling Mingrui walked into the living room with a stern face, Xie Enhua, Ling Ruonan, and Luo Ziling, who were talking, immediately stood up from the sofa to greet him.

Ling Mingrui’s face was expressionless as he simply nodded at the three without saying a word.

After sitting down on the sofa, Xie Enhua brewed tea for him, then smiled and said, “Nannan and Ziling came early, and we had dinner together. Ziling has been waiting to treat your condition!”

She wisely did not mention what the three had been discussing, waiting for the old man to ask himself.

Ling Mingrui took the tea Xie Enhua had prepared and, in front of his wife, asked Ling Ruonan, “Go ahead and tell me about what happened today.”

...

“Great Grandfather, let me explain,” Luo Ziling interrupted before Ling Ruonan could speak, addressing Ling Mingrui, “The matter today is because of me, so it’s more appropriate for me to explain.”

Ling Mingrui glanced at Luo Ziling but did not object.

Seeing that they were going to discuss these confidential matters in the living room, Xie Enhua promptly left, sending everyone else far away.

Luo Ziling, speaking rapidly, briefed them on the sequence of events and what had unfolded today, then presented the so-called “evidence,” “Great Grandfather, this is the evidence my friend has gathered, including the statements from Lin Jiaming and Ling Haining.”

“Were they coerced by you into confessing, or can you deny that?” Ling Mingrui coldly retorted, and without awaiting a response, continued to drink his tea.

“Of course, I can deny it. Just now, Ling Haining and I went to confront the issue with Great Grandfather, and Ling Haining said nothing. If I had coerced him, he would have definitely complained in front of Great Grandfather.” Luo Ziling was irritated by Ling Mingrui’s apparent bias and responded without mincing words. After speaking, he added, “I thought that after hearing about this, Great Grandfather would be furious that his daughter was slandered. I didn’t expect such a reaction; it’s truly surprising.”

With that, he put the “evidence” he’d taken out back into his pocket, no longer planning to show it to Ling Mingrui.

Ling Ruonan and Ling Mingrui were both taken aback by Luo Ziling’s response, and both were momentarily stunned. Having gone through the previous ordeal at Ling Jinhua’s place, Ling Ruonan prudently kept silent, not saying anything, letting the two men, Luo Ziling and Ling Mingrui, talk.

“A pampered petulance,” Ling Ruonan thought to herself, feeling that Luo Ziling was displaying such an attitude, but she also knew that this was just Luo Ziling’s stubborn nature, and she couldn’t change it. All she could do was to keep quiet and let Luo Ziling speak his mind.

Her beloved son dared to beat up Lin Jiaming today and even threatened to throw him down the stairs; was there anything he wouldn’t dare to do?

Ling Mingrui was clearly at a loss for words, taking a while to recover, and ultimately he ignored Luo Ziling, instead turning to Ling Ruonan, “Then, how do you plan to handle this matter?”

“Since they’ve admitted their wrongdoings and are willing to make amends, Ziling and I will forgive them,” Ling Ruonan said calmly, “Who hasn’t made mistakes when they were young? I don’t intend to hold it against them any longer and want them to continue working at Northern Group. Their abilities are fairly decent, and having their support makes my work much more convenient and saves me some worries.”

Ling Ruonan’s response once again surprised Ling Mingrui. After an odd glance at his daughter, he somewhat understood her intended meaning. The Ling Family intended to wrest back control of Northern Group, and Ling Ruonan was clearly aware of this fact. The involvement of Lin Jiaming and Ling Haining indicated the intentions of the Ling Family Head. Everyone was fully aware of what was going on; it was just that no one had explicitly mentioned it.

Now, with the situation as it was, Lin Jiaming and Ling Haining were at the mercy of Ling Ruonan—meaning, these two didn’t dare to act against her, at least not at the moment. Being in Ling Ruonan’s grip meant that they had lost their leverage.

Ling Ruonan was willing to let them stay at the Northern Group precisely because of this point.

If she allowed these two to leave and brought other Ling Family members in, it would inevitably lead to another round of intellectual and strategic battles, which was not something Ling Ruonan wanted to witness. Therefore, she took the initiative to downplay the seriousness of the matter, claiming she would not pursue the actions of Lin Jiaming and Ling Haining, attributing their mistakes to their youth and, as an elder of the Ling Family, she should forgive them.

Ling Mingrui had never underestimated Ling Ruonan. He was well aware of how exceptional his daughter’s abilities were, having placed great expectations on her from a young age. Even when her involvement with Luo Xusheng caused tremendous trouble for the family, he never lost hope in her.

Of course, at that time, he had not yet become the Family Head, so he viewed matters from a different perspective than he does now.

Feeling guilty, he wanted to compensate his daughter.

Back then, Northern Group was called Northern Industrial Company, and it wasn’t very large, with a market value of less than a billion; hence, it was handed over to Ling Ruonan to manage, even considering it compensation or perhaps a dowry. No one expected that Ling Ruonan would, through her efforts, transform that small enterprise into a colossal corporation with a market value in the hundreds of billions.

The most significant net assets under the Ling Family’s control were those of Northern Group. Consequently, many aspired to the position of head of Northern Group. As the Family Head, Ling Mingrui naturally had to make long-term plans for the development of the Ling Family. Previously, he had planned to give Northern Group as a dowry to Ling Ruonan, but now, he was contemplating taking it back from her.

Of course, Ling Mingrui was not intensely driven to wrest Northern Group from his daughter’s hands, as he had played a key role in convincing the Great Grandfather to hand it over to her, and because the company had flourished under her management—without her, Northern Group could not possibly have achieved its current scale. Moreover, whether he owned this asset was not very important to him and would not impact his career path.

However, the Ling Family as a whole did not wish to leave Northern Group in Ling Ruonan’s hands. They believed that eventually, she would wrest control of Northern Group from the Ling Family and turn it into an asset belonging to others. Yet, as the Family Head and someone who had to consider the full picture and the bigger context for the Ling Family, he was also looking for ways to free Northern Group from Ling Ruonan’s absolute control and allow other Ling Family members to have a stake.

But he never anticipated that things would turn out this way, with him, as both the Family Head and a father, becoming quite passive.

After hearing what Ling Ruonan had said, he did not immediately respond, but instead asked, “Have you discussed this with the Great Grandfather?”

Ling Ruonan replied promptly, “Just this afternoon, I took Ling’er to treat Grandfather. His physical condition is recovering very well, and he’s in a good mood. However, he didn’t express any opinion on this matter, just told us to come talk to you about it.”

“Alright, then we’ll do as you just said,” Ling Mingrui said, standing up, walking into the house, and signaling Luo Ziling to follow, “Help me with my treatment.”