Chapter 27: A Breath of Vindicated Pride

9:30 AM, lobby of the Tianhao Hotel.

A burly man with a buzz cut sat rigidly, sipping coffee while keeping his eyes fixed on the guests entering and exiting the elevator bank.

A dozen meters away, the daytime front office manager watched him with curiosity. The manager was well-acquainted with Tang Qiang of Qifeng Hat Industry, as they dealt with each other frequently. As a massive corporation in Linjiang City, Qifeng had numerous out-of-town partners, providing a significant volume of bookings for the Tianhao Hotel every year. Tang Qiang, the general manager of the business department, was someone he had always made a point to cultivate, though Tang rarely visited the hotel in person. It struck the manager as odd that Tang had not only shown up today but had arrived as early as eight o'clock.

"Still not connecting." Tang Qiang set his phone down, his brows tightly furrowed. After a series of fruitless phone calls last night, he had chosen to come to the Tianhao early this morning to negotiate with Anderson in person. He had received word that Anderson and his companion had left the last company they visited at nearly 7:00 PM. It was unlikely that the contracts for Fenglin and Xinlin had been signed after seven. Since Anderson’s flight was scheduled for the afternoon, if those contracts were to be signed, it had to happen this morning. His only chance to meet with Anderson was before the duo headed to Xinlin.

Tang Qiang’s position at Qifeng was built on his refusal to let any opportunity slip by, which was why he had shown up at the crack of dawn despite drinking with clients until 2:00 AM the previous night.

"Wei Lin..." The mere thought of that name made Tang Qiang’s mood plummet. He had never truly considered the owners of the other three small competitors in Linjiang to be a threat; those men were old, their fighting spirits crushed by his dominance. Only the young and hot-headed Wei Lin dared to clash with him repeatedly over foreign trade deals, engaging in a constant, clandestine struggle. Of course, Tang won the vast majority of these encounters; only the most meager, low-value orders ever slipped through to Wei Lin.

Yet, he was not arrogant about it. He knew clearly that his ability to suppress Wei Lin stemmed not only from his own professional competence but from the massive platform that was Qifeng. Without the backing of a behemoth like Qifeng, he had no guarantee of victory if he were to compete with Wei Lin on equal footing.

"Like father, like son. My master’s boy hasn’t disgraced him," Tang Qiang murmured to himself.

Time passed. Suddenly, his eyes, which had been locked on the elevators, caught sight of Wei Lin emerging with a small satchel. Wei Lin looked exhausted, with an unsightly smear of vomit on his chest, yet his eyes shone with an extraordinary, vibrant luster.

Tang Qiang stood up abruptly. With the stature of a dragon and the bearing of a tiger—the kind of man who would have been a great general charging into battle in ancient times—his sudden, upright stance immediately drew the attention of many onlookers.

Wei Lin noticed him instantly. Tang Qiang’s shadow had loomed over him like a mountain for years; how could he not be deeply impressed?

Throughout their many overt and covert clashes, Wei Lin had always ended up defeated. Nearly all the major domestic and international hat orders in Linjiang City were swept up by Tang Qiang. The only scraps that fell to him and Xinlin were small orders that barely kept the company on life support. Several times, he had painstakingly secured large international orders, inviting the clients to Linjiang for site visits, only to have Tang Qiang swoop in and steal the deal halfway through.

Tang Qiang relied on the sheer scale of Qifeng and the predatory pricing he employed specifically to crush Xinlin. With Qifeng being so much larger than Xinlin, Tang could easily snatch away their clients by offering the same price; if that didn't work, he would simply lower the price further. Over the years, Xinlin had been pushed to the brink, and Wei Lin had been squeezed until he could barely breathe, his spirit beginning to wither.

But today, he had snatched this Fenglin order right out of the hands of Qifeng and Tang Qiang. Since he had started working in the business, this was the only major order he had ever successfully wrested from Tang!

"Damn, that feels good!" Wei Lin roared in his heart, though his face broke into a radiant smile. He raised the small satchel in his hand toward Tang Qiang, who stood firm like a broadsword driven into the ground. At that moment, Wei Lin vented years of pent-up resentment, wishing he could roar into the sky.

...

Xinlin Hat Industry.

Inside the spacious conference room, the five people present were burning with anxiety, the room thick with haze.

"It’s almost ten o'clock. Where is Wei Lin?" Du Juan, the older woman in charge of warehousing, coughed from the smoke and urged, "Old An, why don't you call him and ask?"

"Did Wei Lin oversleep?" Workshop director Hong Bin stubbed out his cigarette and immediately lit another. "What if the foreigners arrive and can't find him?"

"The company seal is with him!" shouted Duan Yunpeng from the procurement department.

An Yuntian, who was also smoking, was more anxious than any of them, but he said, "Is this your first day knowing Wei Lin?"

The others fell silent.

Sun Xiaomiao, from the finance department, sighed. "We’re just worried, aren't we?"

"You think you're the only ones worried? You think I'm not? Do you think Wei Lin isn't worried?" An Yuntian huffed. He scanned the four of them, forced himself to appear calm, and took a sip of tea. "When things are normal, Wei Lin might play around, sometimes even skipping the factory. But when the company is in a real pinch, has Wei Lin ever let us down?"

"Why haven't I called him? Because I know Wei Lin never neglects what's truly important!"

"Think back. Since he started at the factory, when has he ever dropped the ball?"

An Yuntian’s words silenced them all. They weren't blind. Everyone had seen what Wei Lin had done since joining the factory. Had it not been for Wei Lin running around tirelessly to find orders over the past few years, Xinlin might not have survived until today.

"We do our part, and Wei Lin will do everything in his power to do his."

An Yuntian stood up and walked to the window once more, staring intently at the factory gate, hoping to see the white Land Cruiser. "Success or failure, whether we secure this order or not, I believe Wei Lin gave it his all."

"I believe in Wei Lin!"

With his back to the others, An Yuntian clenched his hands in front of him, then slowly relaxed them. Over and over again. He was more nervous than anyone behind him.

Ten o'clock.

Wei Lin’s vehicle still hadn't appeared at the gate of Xinlin. Instead, an unfamiliar gray sedan drove straight up to the building. An Yuntian stood on his tiptoes, leaning his head out the window, staring fixedly at the car.

A tall, thin figure opened the back door and stepped out, coming into An Yuntian’s view.

"Wei Lin!" An Yuntian’s shout from upstairs startled the security guard.

"Wei Lin!" The four people in the conference room jumped up and rushed to the window alongside An Yuntian, craning their necks further than ever.

Downstairs, Wei Lin clutched his satchel and looked up at the five elders who had fought alongside his father for years. A smile, brighter than the sunlight itself, broke across his face.

Standing in his own factory, Wei Lin hoisted the satchel high and shook it vigorously, finally unable to hold back his shout: "I got the contract!"

At this moment, even though his clothes were stained with grime and his appearance after a night of drinking was far from polished, he looked incredibly spirited.

"Wei Lin! Well done!"

"I knew you could do it, kid!"

"You brat, you scared the hell out of us!"

"Hurry up and get up here! Let us see the contract!"

Hong Bin, Duan Yunpeng, Du Juan, and Sun Xiaomiao shouted down at him, their voices loud enough for many of the factory workers to hear.

An Yuntian took a gentle breath and was the first to return to his seat. He picked up his phone and opened an album that An Xin had specifically created for him. It was filled with photos of himself and Wei Zhenbang during their working days and their personal lives. Many were photos he had taken with his phone from old, physical prints. There were pictures of them working, pictures of their two families traveling together, and even embarrassing shots of them drunk, arms around each other's shoulders, vomiting.

As he flipped through the photos, a smile gradually spread across An Yuntian’s face. He thought silently, "Old brother, my son might be a lost cause, but fortunately, yours is a winner."