{Chapter: 234 Unify Jiangbei!!}
Things were progressing exactly as planned.
From the very beginning, Lin Yuan had already estimated the overall value of the Qingshan Gang's assets.
Now that everything had been properly tallied and accounted for, the final amount was almost identical to his initial prediction.
The total included a wide range of holdings—entire business groups, affiliated companies, the usage rights to key ports, industrial factories, and several processing plants. Altogether, the value exceeded 20 billion yuan.
It was no small fortune.
However, due to the limited operational scale and capacity of the Qingshan Gang, they were never truly able to leverage the full potential of these assets. Their organization was simply too small to manage such expansive and lucrative holdings efficiently with their underworld minds.
Once placed under the control of a powerful and resourceful family, these assets would undoubtedly yield far more than their current valuation.
Many of these properties and ventures, in truth, were originally linked to the Chen family. However, due to legal complications and the risk of exposure, the Chen family had used the Qingshan Gang as their proxy. On paper, the Qingshan Gang owned everything. Every contract, every document, every recorded transaction was under their name.
With Lin Yuan working alongside the influential Mei and Tang families, all possible avenues for the Chen family to reclaim these assets had been thoroughly sealed off. Their hands were tied.
Whether the assets were officially registered under the Qingshan Gang or merely held in trust for the Chen family no longer mattered. At this point, the Chen family had no desire to involve themselves further. They knew full well that to do so would only invite unnecessary danger.
Thus, all those properties, businesses, and revenue streams were now up for division—between Lin Yuan and the two great families who had supported him.
According to their previously agreed-upon terms, the division would be 70% to Lin Yuan, and 30% to the Mei and Tang families.
That meant Lin Yuan would immediately receive a cash flow injection of around 500 million yuan. The remaining liquid assets would be divided between the Mei and Tang factions.
Beyond the immediate cash, there were still numerous enterprises in the real estate sector and various other industries. Lin Yuan had already instructed Long Wu to take control of many of these companies.
Some holdings, such as Fengyu Port and several specialized factories, had already been allocated to the Mei and Tang families based on prior arrangements. However, there were still a great number of businesses and operations remaining under Lin Yuan's control—ready to be reorganized, revitalized, and eventually turned into further profit.
He also set aside a generous reward for Uncle Zeng, who had contributed significantly during the operation.
All things considered, Lin Yuan stood to gain well over 10 billion yuan through this endeavor.
That alone would push his total wealth into the tens of billions.
Curious, he opened his system interface to check the latest figures. As expected, his wealth value had surged, reaching 17 billion yuan.
Most of that increase had come from dismantling the power structure of the Chen family.
And that was just a small portion of their overall worth.
In terms of market value, the Chen family was worth hundreds of billions. Their reach was deep, and their influence long-established. Beneath the surface, they still possessed countless resources yet to be unearthed.
Yet Lin Yuan was not fooled—he knew the Chen family wouldn't be as easy to deal with as the Qingshan Gang.
The two were worlds apart.
The Qingshan Gang had been a small-time syndicate. In less than a week, Lin Yuan had already taken them down. In fact, the decisive blow had been delivered in a matter of hours—from the moment Lin Yuan gave the signal to the complete annihilation of the gang's operations.
They simply had no way to resist the combined strength of three major families: the Lin family, the Mei family, and the Tang family.
But the Chen family… they were different.
Though they had been expelled from Yanjing, they had quietly reestablished themselves in Jiangbei. And despite the fall from grace, even a withered camel is still larger than a horse.
Not only had the Chen family survived, but they had grown stronger in the shadows.
In terms of overall power and resources, they had surpassed the Lin family.
Moreover, they still had ties in Yanjing—valuable connections and political leverage that could be activated at any time.
On top of that, Ye Feng, driven by the loss of the Qingshan Gang and the death of Gu Qingshan, would undoubtedly align himself with the Chen family.
Ye Feng still had plenty of fate value left, and there were powerful factions behind him that had yet to reveal themselves.
In the original novel, wherever Ye Feng traveled, prominent figures and hidden powers would emerge to support him, as though fate itself conspired in his favor.
If the Chen family and these other forces joined hands, the resulting storm would be devastating.
Despite all of this, Lin Yuan remained calm.
He wasn't shaken.
Why? Because he possessed knowledge of the original plot. He understood the weaknesses of the Chen family. He knew how the story unfolded, where the traps were laid, where the bodies were buried and how to flip them to his advantage.
One such opportunity was tied to Cui Yunrong.
And at present, the Mei and Tang families were firmly on his side.
The Lin and Mei families had always been neutral toward one another, with no underlying conflict of interest. And the Tang family, impressed by their recent cooperation, now held a favorable view of Lin Yuan and his future ambitions.
With their support, Lin Yuan had nothing to fear.
He had already devised a plan to crush the Chen family. He estimated it would take about a month to set things in motion and complete the job.
Chen Meng's ambitions were similar to his own—he wanted to unify Jiangbei under the Chen banner.
But Lin Yuan had different plans.
He wanted Jiangbei to have only one voice: the voice of the Lin family.
More accurately, his voice.
And since Ye Feng was still protected by his protagonist's fate, directly killing him would be too difficult for now.
The solution was simple: suppress him repeatedly, bleed him of his fate value, and when the time was right, eliminate him completely.
And that process would begin with dismantling the Chen family from within.
Lin Yuan was well aware of the Chen family's preparations. They had long been scheming in secret, aiming to dismantle the major families in Jiangbei.
And of course, the Lin family was first on their list.
But Lin Yuan wasn't in a rush.
He had studied the Chen family's history, their expansion methods, their weaknesses, and their most recent moves.
He understood that rushing would only cause unnecessary complications. Instead, he would proceed step by step, using the support of the Mei and Tang families—and perhaps even leveraging Chi Qian and Cui Yunrong when the time was right.
After spending the night deep in thought, reviewing strategies and planning his next moves, Lin Yuan finally drifted off to sleep.
---
The next morning, as the first light of dawn crept over the city skyline, Lin Yuan arrived early at the entrance of the Hope Cake Shop.
To his surprise, he found Chen Yu already standing there.
She was dressed immaculately, her cold and elegant demeanor as composed as ever, despite the early hour.
It was clear she had been waiting.
A faint smile curved at the corner of Lin Yuan's lips.
Today would be the start of something new.
Not just for Qiu Wanxi's treatment—but for everything that would follow.
*****
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