Chapter 1 My Trusted Subordinates, Are All Traitors!
"Hong Kong, Huifeng Bank, Jardine Matheson, the Governor..."
"I actually transmigrated to Hong Kong in 1978."
"My name is Lin Haoran, the direct descendant of the Lin family!"
After his memories fully merged together, Lin Haoran opened his eyes.
It was an ordinary bedroom. On the desk opposite the bed sat a square-shaped color TV, and a poster of Way of the Dragon was pasted on the wall, giving the entire room a somewhat vintage atmosphere.
Lin Haoran weakly crawled out of bed, walked to the desk, and picked up a mirror.
At this moment, the reflection in the mirror showed a handsome face, with well-defined and deep features, and a natural heroic spirit between his eyebrows.
However, the pallor on his face inadvertently revealed his current weakness and exhaustion.
Putting down the mirror, Lin Haoran turned to the window and looked down around him.
This was Huafeng Cement Factory, located in Yuen Long, Hong Kong—and now, Lin Haoran was the sole owner of this entire cement factory.
The factory was built by the sea and had its own dock to facilitate transportation.
Yet, there weren't many people working at the factory at this moment.
Who could have thought that this large cement factory, covering tens of thousands of square meters, would be entangled in the inheritance dispute of a powerful family?
Lin Haoran's identity was that of the youngest son of Lin Wanan, chairman of Wanan Group, a publicly listed company in Hong Kong.
In recent years, 63-year-old Lin Wanan had felt his health deteriorating and thus began considering the matter of choosing an heir for the group.
Wanan Group was a Hong Kong-listed company with a market value exceeding billions, possessing strong strength, operating across real estate, hotels, construction materials, manufacturing, and other fields—a comprehensive enterprise.
The heir to such a large company was naturally of great importance.
Lin Wanan had two daughters and two sons.
Both daughters were married, and due to the traditional mindset of most Hong Kong tycoons favoring sons over daughters, the successor could only be chosen from his two sons.
The eldest son, Lin Haoning, was 35 years old and already had rich experience in business management.
The younger son, Lin Haoran, was 24 years old and had just graduated from London Business School a year ago.
Logically, it would make the most sense to choose Lin Haoning as the successor since he possessed rich management experience.
Although the younger son was a graduate from a prestigious university, he lacked business experience, and handing over Wanan Group to Lin Haoran would clearly be risky.
But Lin Wanan felt torn—both his sons were equally precious to him. If he directly handed over the group to Lin Haoning, it would be unfair to Lin Haoran.
To appease his conscience, he came up with an idea: each son would be given a subsidiary company, and full ownership would be transferred to them, allowing them to run it however they wished.
After one year, the son who made the most money would become the successor of Wanan Group.
Thus, Lin Haoning received a fan manufacturing factory.
Lin Haoran received the Huafeng Cement Factory.
Both companies had similar value and monthly revenue.
In truth, Lin Wanan already knew the result in his heart: Lin Haoran had little chance of winning. He just wanted to feel less guilty.
Sure enough, two months into the competition, the fan factory under Lin Haoning was thriving; orders were reportedly increasing significantly.
On the other hand, although Huafeng Cement Factory had stable orders and good performance before, ever since Lin Haoran took over, the business not only failed to grow, but within two months, many old customers had left.
Determined to manage the factory well, Lin Haoran abandoned his luxurious villa life and chose to live on-site at the harsh environment of the cement plant.
Unexpectedly, business did not improve and orders dwindled further.
Just yesterday, feeling frustrated, Lin Haoran went fishing at sea with a few people. Unexpectedly, a strong wind rose, and the rough waves threw Lin Haoran overboard.
Fortunately, some of his men had good swimming skills and managed to rescue him after much effort. Due to the cold and fright, he developed a fever and fell into a coma.
What nobody knew was that upon waking up, Lin Haoran's body was already occupied by a new soul.
Knock knock knock.
There was a knock at the door.
"Come in," Lin Haoran called out, coming back to his senses.
"Young Master, I brought you your medicine," said a young man in his twenties entering the room.
This young man was Lin Si, one of the trusted subordinates appointed by his father to assist Lin Haoran with the cement plant's management, handling trivial matters, and ensuring his safety.
"Young Master, I'll leave the medicine on the table. Remember to take it later. If anything happens to you, the Old Master will never forgive us," Lin Si said flatteringly.
But Lin Haoran wasn't paying attention to Lin Si's words.
Because at that moment, above Lin Si's head, a black bracket had inexplicably appeared, with a progress bar inside.
[Loyalty: 11/100]
Lin Haoran thought he was seeing things. He rubbed his eyes and looked again—the bar was still there.
This bizarre sight stunned Lin Haoran, but he quickly realized: this must be the golden finger granted by his transmigration.
Out of a total 100 points, Lin Si only had 11 loyalty—an incredibly low number for someone supposed to be a trusted subordinate!
Lin Haoran stared silently at Lin Si, struggling to believe it.
Who would have thought that the man who appeared respectful and loyal to him was actually harboring betrayal?
If not for this loyalty bar, Lin Haoran would never have suspected anything.
Judging by appearances alone, Lin Si should have had full loyalty!
"Young Master? Young Master?"
Seeing Lin Haoran staring at him without speaking, Lin Si grew uneasy and had to call out twice more.
"Leave the medicine here and go summon Lin Yi, Lin Er, and Lin San to come here," Lin Haoran finally withdrew his gaze and said lightly.
"Yes, Young Master. I'll get them right away," Lin Si replied and hurriedly left, visibly relieved.
The way Young Master had just stared at him truly frightened him.
After Lin Si left, Lin Haoran pondered how this newly gained golden finger could help him in the future.
He understood that this simple-looking progress bar would provide tremendous assistance in his rise in Hong Kong.
A person like Lin Si, with only 11 loyalty, was no better than a new hire with no sense of belonging to the company.
But Lin Si wasn't a new hire!
He was someone carefully nurtured by the Lin family from a young age, specifically appointed by his father to be a trusted aide.
Considering how much his father doted on him, there was no way he would deliberately plant a traitor around him.
Thus, only one possibility remained.
Still, he needed to verify this further by checking the loyalty of the other three subordinates.
About five minutes later, Lin Yi and the others arrived at Lin Haoran's room.
"Young Master, you called for us?"
They all acted very respectfully.
Yet, in front of Lin Haoran, their loyalty bars also appeared one by one.
Lin Yi: [Loyalty: 15/100]
Lin Er: [Loyalty: 9/100]
Lin San: [Loyalty: 12/100]
Previously, Lin Haoran had held onto a sliver of hope—maybe only Lin Si was a traitor.
But now it was clear: all four of his supposed trusted subordinates were traitors!
Among them, Lin Yi had the highest loyalty, yet even he only had 15.
With such loyalty, how could they even be called "trusted subordinates"?
"Lin Yi, did you all work for Eldest Young Master before?" Lin Haoran suddenly asked.
"Young Master, four years ago, the Old Master assigned us to work under Eldest Young Master," Lin Yi replied honestly.
He didn't know why Young Master was asking, but lying would be pointless. A single phone call could verify it.
No wonder, despite all efforts, the previous Lin Haoran could not maintain the cement factory's performance.
Now everything was clear.
Four years ago, Lin Haoran had still been studying abroad in Britain.
Clearly, these four had already pledged allegiance to Lin Haoning back then.
Moreover, given the near certainty of Lin Haoning's victory in the inheritance race, it was natural for them to side with him.
These four had been sabotaging Lin Haoran's operations while leaking information to Lin Haoning, who could then use external influence to further undermine the cement factory.
How could the business not collapse under such circumstances?
Oh, my dear elder brother, what brilliant tactics you have!
If Lin Haoning had competed fairly, Lin Haoran wouldn't mind handing over Wanan Group.
With his decades-ahead knowledge and golden finger, carving out a career elsewhere would be effortless.
But since Lin Haoning resorted to such despicable tricks, Lin Haoran would not show mercy.
"The successor of Wanan Group... will be me, Lin Haoran!"
Lin Haoran made a firm decision in his heart.
"Young Master? Young Master?"
Seeing that Lin Haoran had summoned them but said nothing, Lin Yi asked again.
"Nothing serious. I just want you to accompany me on a tour of the factory," Lin Haoran said casually as he walked out the door. "Lin Yi, you're in charge of orders, right? Have the orders been falling again these days?"
"Yes, Young Master," Lin Yi quickly replied. "Last month was fine, but starting this month, production has been cut, old clients have left, and few new clients have come in. Just yesterday, a long-time real estate client in Kwai Chung suddenly stopped ordering from us and switched to a cement factory in Tuen Mun."
Of course, Lin Yi knew exactly why this was happening.
But he would never tell Lin Haoran the truth.
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 20 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Albino1