Listening to her son speak of his mother in such a way, Lin Liping felt no anger, but a hint of secret delight.
"Seeing those fellows, they finally came to their senses, knowing who to follow."
"Wife, now that the old lady is gone, the Lin family is finally ours. Then we'll see how arrogant Fang Wenhua can be!" Jiang Kun's gaze was cold.
"Hmph! He thinks because he has a child, he can contend with us? My sister too, actually believing she has a chance, how ridiculous!" Lin Liping chuckled.
"Dad, Mom, once I take the position of Lin family patriarch, their Fang Group will eventually fall into my hands. Then I'll drive Fang Wenhua out and make him pay for his arrogance back then!"
"Hmph! This Fang Wenhua, with his good luck in building Fang Group, thinks he's so great. I asked him for a loan back then, and he flat-out refused, even making me report to the old lady. Now I can finally get some revenge." Jiang Kun gritted his teeth.
Both Jiang Group and Fang Group rose to prominence with the support of the Lin family.
However, the destinies of the two enterprises were vastly different.
Fang Wenhua was very shrewd. With the Lin family's backing, in just a few years, he had built Fang Group into an international top-tier conglomerate.
In contrast, Jiang Group was a prime example of failure.
From its inception, Jiang Group suffered frequent operational difficulties. Despite having the Lin family's backing, it never managed to develop, and Jiang Kun was overly ambitious. Initially, he gambled with money in the stock market, losing everything. He only stopped after being severely reprimanded by the old lady.
As for the current jewelry business, it was only barely profitable through a series of connections.
If Lin Liping hadn't had several children and Lin Liwen remained childless, Jiang Kun would have stood no chance against Fang Wenhua within the Lin family.
Jiang Kun had always been intensely jealous of Fang Wenhua. He envied Fang Wenhua's ability, which was also a form of resentment towards himself: why couldn't he be as capable as Fang Wenhua and had to rely on having children to ascend?
Because of this, Jiang Kun had frequently clashed with Fang Wenhua.
But Fang Wenhua was not a pushover. After all, he was the Lin family's son-in-law and had contributed so much to the Lin family. Although the old lady didn't like him, she would still offer some protection to Fang Wenhua. This resulted in several instances where Jiang Kun tried to make things difficult for Fang Wenhua, only to lose and be labeled a useless son-in-law.
In Jiang Kun's eyes, only by stepping on Fang Wenhua could he prove himself.
Lin Liping was largely a devoted wife, willing to do anything for Jiang Kun. She even agreed when Jiang Kun later proposed harming her own mother.
"However, Lin Xiao Tian is a problem. What if he manages to undo the Primal Gu?" Jiang Li suddenly said.
He had always been dissatisfied with Lin Xiao Tian. Ever since returning from Jinsha Village last time, Jiang Li harbored a deep-seated grievance.
"The Primal Gu isn't that easy to undo, is it?" Jiang Kun said calmly. "But Lin Xiao Tian is indeed very capable, so we should make some preparations."
"But he's in the Lin family now, not as easy to deal with as he was in Jinsha Village," Jiang Li said.
"Who said we have to deal with him?" Jiang Kun smiled sinisterly.
...
The Lin family acted quickly. Lin Xiao Tian's alchemy furnace was ready the next day.
Lin Xiao Tian inspected the cauldron and found no signs of shoddy workmanship.
After moving the alchemy furnace into his room, Lin Xiao Tian resumed his research on Gu poisons. Meanwhile, Qin Yuxiang had to go to the Qin family and bid farewell to Lin Xiao Tian.
"Be careful on your way," Lin Xiao Tian cautioned.
These were special times, and Lin Xiao Tian feared that those who targeted the Lin family's old lady might resort to desperate measures and harm those around Lin Xiao Tian to prevent him from succeeding.
Although Qin Yuxiang had the protection of the Qin family and seemed safe, there was still the unstable factor of Qin Yuan, which made Lin Xiao Tian uneasy.
"I'll be careful!" Qin Yuxiang nodded earnestly.
As usual, Lin Xiao Tian escorted Qin Yuxiang to the Lin family's residence before returning to his own room.
The research process was tedious, but Lin Xiao Tian had grown accustomed to it.
The first day yielded no progress.
Then, the second day, the third day...
Four consecutive days passed, and Lin Xiao Tian made no headway.
The Primal Gu poison was the most intractable of all Gu poisons. Even the extraordinary medical tome, the Shennong Medical Canon, only recorded hundreds of methods for its detoxification.
In reality, the Primal Gu poison had far more than these recorded detoxification methods. Those not recorded were beyond even the Shennong Medical Canon's capabilities.
Lin Xiao Tian could only try his luck. If he exhausted all these hundreds of methods without success, he would have to consider the worst-case scenario.
Lin Xiao Tian even contemplated assassination. After all, if the problem couldn't be solved, then the person causing the problem would be eliminated.
If Jiang Li wanted to inherit the Lin family, he had to be alive to do so!
With Lin Xiao Tian's current strength, it would be no problem to slip into Jiang Group unnoticed. As for poisoning skills, Lin Xiao Tian was certainly not inferior to any poison master.
Moreover, given Jiang Li's high-profile nature, Lin Xiao Tian might not be able to risk sneaking into Jiang Group.
Of course, this was a last resort!
If Lin Xiao Tian were to do this, it would be tantamount to sealing off his own escape routes entirely.
The benefit, however, would be that the Lin family's sole heir would then be Lin Liwen's child. Lin Xiao Tian believed Lin Liwen would not harm those around him, but it would also mean Lin Xiao Tian could never appear in public again, not even seeing Qin Yuxiang.
On the evening of the fifth day, while attempting a few of the remaining methods, Lin Xiao Tian finally made some progress.
One of the detoxification methods seemed to align perfectly with the nature of the Gu poison. If nothing unexpected occurred, this method should be able to cure the Gu poison.
However, out of caution, Lin Xiao Tian repeated the tests a few more times.
The detoxification process for the Primal Gu was extremely complex. If the wrong method was used, it could even cause the Gu poison to mutate, forcing Lin Xiao Tian to start his research all over again.
But Lin Xiao Tian did not have that much time. In two more days, if he couldn't save the old lady, she would be beyond saving.
He stayed awake all night.
The next morning, Lin Xiao Tian looked at the experimental results with excitement.
"Success! It's finally successful!"
Qin Yuxiang, still groggy from sleep, heard Lin Xiao Tian murmuring to himself and hurried over. "Did you find a way?"
"I found it," Lin Xiao Tian raised his eyebrows.
"That's wonderful!" Qin Yuxiang kissed Lin Xiao Tian.
However, it wasn't over yet. Lin Xiao Tian had only confirmed the method; detoxification still required medicine.
Lin Xiao Tian called for Xiao Ming and asked him for the medicinal ingredients he needed.
Yet, even the Lin family couldn't gather all the required ingredients.
Lin Xiao Tian frowned. It seemed he would have to make another trip to Black Mountain...