Chapter Sixty: All Under Heaven Are but Ants

“Mom?”
Li Yating gradually recovered from her shock and reached out to grasp Wang Lisha’s trembling hands.
At that moment, a surge of blood-born affection struck her like thunder, coursing through her entire being.
Li Yating knew, without a doubt, that the tear-streaked woman before her truly was her birth mother.
At last, she stopped agonizing and, with a cry, threw herself into Wang Lisha’s embrace. The motherly love she had missed for years now filled her heart to overflowing.
Though there was still a trace of unfamiliarity and distance between mother and daughter, both cherished this rare bond of kinship above all else.
Lin Feng and the others, including the middle-aged woman, sensibly withdrew from the private room, leaving Li Yating and Wang Lisha alone to pour out their hearts and bask in their reunion.
...
Outside the private room, Lin Feng and the others did not leave; instead, they waited at the door.
“My goodness, Lin Feng, you’ve really hit the jackpot! If one day you become the son-in-law of the president of the Heavenly Light Society, don’t forget your old friend here!”
Wang Lun threw an arm around Lin Feng’s shoulders, grinning broadly as he teased.
“Wang Lun, what are you thinking?”
Lin Feng brushed Wang Lun aside and raised his hand to display the ring on his left finger.
At this moment, he was in no position to bring happiness to Li Yating. Besides, compared to women, he was far more unwilling to let go of his hatred.
“What am I thinking? Even a fool can see Li Yating likes you. Besides, being a son-in-law in the Yao family means getting bullied every day. You’d be better off divorcing and marrying Li Yating instead. Imagine being the prince consort of the Heavenly Light Society—just thinking about it is exciting!”
Wang Lun smiled, dropping hints to Lin Feng, but the middle-aged woman beside them crossed her arms and spoke with disdain:
“Ha, Yating is the president’s daughter; she’s destined to be a lady of rare talent. If the Lin family of Jinling hadn’t fallen, they might barely be considered a match. But now? The Lin family is nothing. As the saying goes, how could a tiger’s daughter marry a dog of a husband? Especially one who is already a married man and a live-in son-in-law!”
“I advise you to give up on these unrealistic dreams, lest you bring trouble upon yourselves.”
“Hey, what do you mean by that? Are you looking down on my friend? Do you believe my brother couldn’t knock you out with one punch…”
The woman had insulted Lin Feng to his face, and Wang Lun couldn’t tolerate it, immediately flustered and ready to argue.
Yet, the woman looked down at him from her lofty perch, not even bothering to acknowledge his existence.
“You…”
Wang Lun’s face flushed with indignation, but he could do nothing. The woman’s power was overwhelming, and he was just an ordinary man—he’d only be sending himself to be humiliated.
“All right, all right, Wang Lun, I have no such intentions. You’re just stirring up trouble.”
“But…”
Lin Feng’s open-minded attitude deflated Wang Lun’s energy.
Could it be, truly, “the maiden dreams, but the king is indifferent?”
Soon, the private room door opened. Li Yating and Wang Lisha had evidently overcome some of their estrangement. One radiated respect and affection, the other maternal tenderness.
They seemed to be getting along quite well.
Seeing Li Yating’s face alight with happiness, Lin Feng felt reassured.
“Yating, you and your mother must have much to talk about after reuniting. We won’t disturb you any further—we’ll take our leave now.”

Lin Feng tugged at Wang Lun and Liu Susu, both eager for gossip, and prepared to depart.
“Mom, let’s see them off together!”
“All right.”
Wang Lisha, feeling she owed her daughter, was utterly accommodating and did not refuse.
“Heh, Liu Susu and I have our own car—we’ll go on ahead and leave you to see Lin Feng off.”
Wang Lun winked at Lin Feng and dragged Liu Susu away, creating an opportunity for him.
Meeting the mother-in-law before even dating—that’s a rare chance indeed!
And so, Lin Feng had no choice but to shamelessly climb into Wang Lisha’s car, awkwardly heading home with them.
Along the way, Li Yating and Wang Lisha chatted eagerly. Clearly, Wang Lisha wished to make up for the years separated from her daughter, asking questions and listening to Li Yating recount the details of the past twelve years.
Lin Feng, a grown man, felt out of place in the car.
Soon, the vehicle stopped at the Hualong Villa District. Lin Feng got out.
Wang Lisha left her daughter in the car and followed him.
“Lin Feng, do you have some time? There’s something I’d like to say to you.”
Lin Feng glanced at the nervous Li Yating in the car, smiled gently, and said,
“Of course. Please, go ahead.”
Wang Lisha led the way, taking Lin Feng to the edge of Hualong Lake, out of Li Yating’s sight.
She casually raised her hand, pointing at the frosty, bright full moon above, and said with a faint smile,
“Lin Feng, do you know the origin of ‘When the moon is bright, the stars are few’?”
“I don’t. Please enlighten me.” Lin Feng replied calmly.
“The ancients often gazed at the moon and observed that whenever the moon shone bright in the sky, the stars would be unusually sparse, dimming to barely a tenth of their usual brilliance. It turns out, beneath the moon’s radiance, the flickering flames of the stars are insignificant. That is why they say, ‘when the moon is bright, the stars are few.’”
“If you have something to say, please speak plainly.”
Lin Feng smiled lightly. He understood the deeper meaning of Wang Lisha’s words: a grain of rice cannot compete with the sun and moon.
It was, in essence, a veiled insult.
Wang Lisha glanced at Lin Feng, raising her brows as she spoke,
“Hmph, then I’ll be direct, as I always am. Don’t take offense. Yating has acknowledged me as her mother. She will become a lady of rare fortune, as bright as the moon in the sky. You, on the other hand, are but a star. The two of you are far too mismatched; forcing yourselves together can only end badly.”
“So?” Lin Feng shrugged, his demeanor light and untroubled.
“So, I want you to leave Yating and stop entangling with her. As compensation, I can make you the sole decision-maker in the Yao family. What do you say?”
Wang Lisha believed she had offered enough, and that if Lin Feng were wise, he would gladly accept.
After all, poverty weakens ambition.
Lin Feng might have ties to Wang Jisheng, but relying on others was never the same as possessing true power.
Such a weak man could never be worthy of her daughter.
Thus, the moonlit conversation.

Yet, Wang Lisha’s self-assured threat meant nothing to Lin Feng.
He stepped forward, letting the moonlight trace silver along his form, standing as if alone at the edge of an abyss, at the summit of the world, unmoved by anything.
His expression was calm, but beneath it surged a fierce, world-defying spirit.
With a faint smile, he waved his hand, and the surface of Hualong Lake suddenly surged with ripples, shimmering in the moonlight.
“Aunt Wang, you’re mistaken. I am neither a star nor do I care about the Yao family. Because I defy fate and carve my own path—in this world, all but myself are mere ants!”
“It’s not that I’m unworthy of Yating, but that I cannot yet accept another love. If I desired, nothing in this world could stand in my way!”
“If gods block me, I slay gods; if Buddhas oppose me, I destroy Buddhas. Do you understand now?”
As he spoke, the rippling Hualong Lake abruptly stilled, becoming as smooth as a mirror.
The energy around Lin Feng was such that he could command the vast waters of Hualong Lake, reigning over this patch of earth like an emperor.
Yet, the subtle shift in the world’s energy was lost on Wang Lisha, whose mortal eyes could not perceive it, and she clapped her hands in mocking laughter:
“Hahaha! All but yourself are ants? Slaying gods and destroying Buddhas? Young man, you’ve read too many fantasy novels. Since you’re so stubborn, don’t blame me for being merciless when the time comes.”
“Sister Hu, let’s go.”
“Yes.”
Wang Lisha turned and left without a backward glance.
The middle-aged woman behind her cast a look at Lin Feng and said quietly,
“Young man, ambition and vitality are good things. But those who act on impulse and rely too much on their own talents often fall early.”
“Do you realize what you just rejected? That was a chance to dominate Binhai City.”
“If someone had offered me such an opportunity in my youth, I would never have let it slip by, nor would I have spent my middle years nursing regrets and living in decline. Take care, and do your best.”
Her words seemed to advise Lin Feng, but in truth, she lamented her own youthful folly.
Lin Feng glanced at her, smiled serenely, and replied firmly,
“The weak look back in regret; the strong press ever forward!”
“Hah, boy, you’ll regret this someday.”
The woman scoffed, not bothering with Lin Feng’s youthful bravado, and hurried after Wang Lisha.
“Sister Hu, what do you think of him?”
“President, this one is stubborn and blindly arrogant—he is not fit to be cultivated.”
“Hmph. All the more reason Yating must not be involved with him!”
Hearing the middle-aged woman’s judgment, Wang Lisha flicked her sleeve and, in her heart, consigned Lin Feng to the blacklist.
“That arrogant, useless son-in-law—how could he ever be worthy of being my son-in-law?”