Chapter 6

Chapter 6

I am a nun.

I am not a nun.

The day I was forced to shave my head and become a nun, my hands trembled so much I couldn’t bow to the Buddha.

Later, at Yunli Nunnery, the Abbess, looking serene, took my hand.

She said, “Since you’re here, make peace with it. Jingyin, you have an affinity with the Buddha.”

Having an affinity with the Buddha doesn’t necessarily mean one must become a nun.

The Buddha saves all sentient beings, but sentient beings must also strive to save themselves first.

Two months later, when Qin Yue came to find me, I was brewing tea in the vegetarian hall.

The previous distinguished guest who had come to worship the Buddha had just left.

The teacups still held residual warmth.

Qin Yue leaned against the doorframe, looking at me with a half-smile.

Then he walked over and told me I needed to apply for a religious visa in advance, because in a month, he would take me abroad.

Qin Yue had arranged everything.

He said that from then on, neither your father nor the Lin Family would be able to make things difficult for you.

He also said that the southern hemisphere’s subtropical climate, with its transparent air, blue skies, white clouds, and vast horizons, was perfect for human habitation.

That was where he had lived for five years, and now he was going to take me and rush towards the freedom that belonged to the two of us.

Qin Yue leaned closer, our eyes meeting, and grinned roguishly. “I came back this time because I was forced to get married, but then I ran into a lunatic like you. So it’s simple: I’ll just take you and run away together.”

In my life, I’ve run away twice.

The first time was with Zhang Zhiyuan, and we ran to Xining.

I always knew that the reason Uncle Zhang found us so quickly was because Zhang Zhiyuan secretly sent him his location.

At that time, my becoming a nun was largely because my heart had died.

And this second time, it was also doomed to fail.

One month was enough.

As soon as Qin Yue left, I called Lin Cheng.

By my reckoning, some of my ‘absurd deeds’ should have already been spread around by Lin Zhi’s mouth.

I wasn’t negotiating with him; I was telling him in all seriousness-

“Dad, I want to return to secular life and come home.”

Predictably, Lin Cheng was furious and humiliated.

A disciple that even the Buddhist temple couldn’t hold.

The composed big boss who controlled all the family rules was so enraged he told me it was impossible. I, Lin Wei, as his daughter, had no choice.

Even if I died in the future, I would die in a nunnery, as a Buddhist.

I laughed and asked him through the phone: “Why must I become a nun? Dad, are you that afraid of my Seven Killings fate? Will I really bring death to you?”

“Dad, the Buddha offers a path to liberation and redemption for all beings. I have demons in my heart; do you?”

I could feel Lin Cheng’s heavy breathing. He didn’t speak; he probably couldn’t.

I said, “Dad, I gave you a chance. You didn’t take it.”

I gave you a chance.

When my mother died, I saw her for the last time.

She smiled as she put that pearl necklace around my neck.

She said it had been left to her by my grandmother, and now she was leaving it to me.

She also said, “Weiwei, in the future, you must inherit the Lin Family’s building materials factory and keep the company in your own hands.”

The Lin Corporation had so many business ventures, penetrating every industry.

It initially started up relying on the building materials business, and now it was also an industry giant.

But at Lin Corporation, the most profitable thing now was by no means just the building materials business.

But my mother said: only the building materials factory.

Her daughter had to have the Lin Family’s building materials factory.

Because it was bought with my youngest uncle’s life.

My youngest uncle, such an honest and sincere person, died at twenty-seven.

He wasn’t married yet.

He doted on me.

From childhood, he took me out to have fun, to ski, ride hot air balloons, buy oat yogurt at the supermarket.

In the end, he caused my grandfather’s decades-old building materials business to go bankrupt, destroyed overnight.

He couldn’t bear it, broke down, fell into depression, and jumped off a building.

Why did it go bankrupt?

With his bankruptcy, the Lin Family’s building materials business, which had been suppressed beneath, was able to rise up, take over all the industry resources, and quickly emerge.

Was there evidence?

No.

Did my mother have any?

I don’t know.

She only told me not to trust anyone, that people were too wicked, too venomous. Don’t trust anyone except yourself.

You could call it normal industry competition. The business world is like a battlefield; some laugh while others cry-perfectly normal.

My grandfather’s family just encountered unscrupulous people.

Our Lin Family was just too ambitious.

I, Lin Wei, am the child of both families.

And my mother, she accepted her fate.

Her only demand was that the Lin Family’s building materials factory must be mine.

That was the first chance we gave my father.

I wanted nothing else, just the building materials factory.

But how the Lin Family bullied us.

With my grandfather’s guidance, they took their first step in the business world.

Using my youngest uncle’s life to go public, expanding step by step, becoming the renowned Lin Corporation Group.

In the end, all of my grandfather’s family died, and the Lin Family stood on high, laughing.

After laughing, they even forced me to become a nun.

Such hideous faces.

Aunt Chen, a mistress, was openly legitimized after my mother’s death.

Lin Zhi, born of a mistress, smiled at me with gentle openness.

My three aunts, with their crimson lips, once said, “Weiwei, don’t be afraid. With your aunts here, we won’t let anyone bully you. You’re our child.”

They really seemed to dote on me, but when my father forcefully demanded I become a nun, my aunts wiped their tears and said, “Weiwei, just listen to him. Your father is doing this for your own good.”

Zhang Zhiyuan and I ran away.

I don’t want the Lin Family’s building materials factory anymore.

This was my second chance for my father.

Don’t push me. Can’t I just leave?

I want nothing.

Why push me?

Why the hell is everyone pushing me!

Fine, I’ll become a nun.

I’ll chant Buddha’s name, sit in meditation, and strike the wooden fish.

Buddha, save me.

The Buddha says, my child, you need to save yourself.

Fine, I’ll save myself.

I stayed in the temple for a year, then started going out, going to graduate school.

The Lin Family member I had the most contact with was my Second Aunt-in-law.

In a family business, profits are never distributed fairly.

Second Aunt-in-law is an open book; she might still have some sincerity toward me, because every time she saw me, she’d secretly curse my father for being heartless, really willing to send his daughter off to become a nun.

I’d finger my prayer beads, smile at her, pour her tea, and give her a Buddha amulet.

My Second Aunt-in-law was once beaten up on the street by my three aunts because of an affair.

In our Lin Family, no one is easy to deal with.

If they don’t get along, that makes things easier for me.

After all, I worked at the company for two years after graduation.

I told my Second Aunt-in-law that my father is devoted to Buddhism and doesn’t concern himself much with the company. He has no son, and now that I’ve become a nun, Lin Zhi can’t step up.

In the future, Lin Corporation will have to go to the nephews.

Second Aunt-in-law has no daughter, only two sons.

I also told her that my aunts were overreaching, and maybe they’d want Lin Corporation to take on a different surname in the future.

Second Uncle and Third Uncle need to unite, and first they must seize financial control from Eldest Aunt.

Accountant Zhao in finance, the group’s second-in-command, is my aunt’s person.

Can’t touch my aunt? Then go after her. Start with her.

That source chemical plant under Lin Corporation actually has plenty of profit to skim, and my Little Uncle-in-law knows the tricks best. The reports claim thirty tons of raw materials are needed, but actually less than half is used.

How do I know? Because I started from the bottom at the company, eating boxed lunches on construction sites with the old master workers for half a year.

Don’t ask me anything else. I’m a nun.

Amitabha, the four elements are all void.

Such a big game of chess, how could I play it all by myself?

No one knows: in recent years, as Lin Corporation wanted to move into real estate, after college graduation, I introduced several classmates to work at the company through the back door.

There’s Sun Fan in the bidding department, Dong Dawei in administration, and Qian Ni, my Eldest Aunt’s special assistant-all people I know.

Of course, there were more.

When I was determined to take over Lin Corporation’s building materials business after graduation, I was already paving the way for myself.

Those classmates of mine, to avoid rumors of backdoor dealings, never showed any connection to me at the company.

I didn’t need them to do much.

A government department launched a big project before the new year, and I knew that Lin Corporation and Huanya Group both caught wind of it, bidding high for a piece of land.

Huanya’s President Qin, that is, Qin Yue’s father, a leader in real estate, has been really wary of our Lin Corporation in recent years.

A perfectly good chemical and building materials industry, yet they had to meddle in real estate. Not only did they win a few bids, but they also built decent-looking buildings and gained momentum.

Normal industry competition, nothing wrong with that. It’s just that Huanya has always been the biggest partner of Lin Corporation’s building materials.

If this goes on, their position as the leading big brother will soon be hard to keep.

My target was never Qin Yue.

It was Qin Yue’s father, Qin Huaiguang, President Qin.

That refined and cultured middle-aged man, a master schemer, is my honored guest.

Before Qin Yue came to find me, I had just finished a conversation with him and gave him a copy of Lin Corporation’s internal bidding documents.

Dad, don’t blame me. You pushed me.

I gave you a third chance.

I said I wanted to return to secular life and go home. You didn’t agree.

Then, the game officially begins.

……

A month later, Lin Family won the bid for that land.

With Huanya backing it underneath, the bid price was several times higher.

I heard that Lin Corporation even roped in a few high-ranking officials to escort them.

That’s the Lin Family for you, playing the game with ease.

But they never expected that things would start to turn.

The land bought for billions was deemed unsuitable for construction by government decree due to environmental issues. They lost their entire investment and then some.

Immediately after, Accountant Zhao from Lin Corporation’s finance claimed she was threatened by the Lin Family, resigned in disgrace, and handed over a series of evidence of internal fake accounts, tax evasion, and tax avoidance.

At the same time, Lin Corporation’s chemical plant was exposed for illegal construction and cutting corners.

The most problematic was the project in cooperation with Huanya: the newly delivered building had peeling surfaces and water seepage in the walls…

Lin Corporation was finished.

On the day the headquarters building was sealed off, I received a call saying my father had a stroke and was being resuscitated at the hospital.

It had already been another two months since Qin Yue had promised to take me away.

I knew where he was.

The news that he was going to take me away was leaked by me to his father, Qin Huaiguang.

The Qin Family also has it tough. After all, there are always people you can’t afford to offend.

At the end of the food chain is Wu Yufei’s family.

Since ancient times, the people can’t beat the officials.

I took off my nun’s robe.

I started putting on makeup in front of the mirror.

I put on a short wig, my eyebrows sharp, and donned a trench coat.

As I walked out of Yunli Nunnery, the Abbess was watching me.

I said to her, “Master, in the future, I will build a nunnery as big as Daoqing Temple, as a gift to our Buddha.”