Chapter 368 — A Clan Head Like a Schoolboy

All of this showed that Yang Ce was not the sort to haggle over every trifle or nurse petty grievances. The Douglas family affair proved as much: Yang Ce was the kind who let others off the hook whenever he could.

Otherwise he could never have lodged in a Douglas-owned hotel and gotten on so smoothly with the Douglas clan. Had Yang Ce been the sort to press an advantage to the bitter end, Yotans found it hard to imagine whether the Douglas family would still be basking in such glory.

Which was precisely why Yotans had every confidence in the negotiation and compromise that would follow his meeting with Yang Ce. Seeing the Douglas family's present state, he knew that everything under heaven could be talked through—so long as he lowered himself enough and offered terms generous enough, this whole business, he believed, could still be settled.

Yotans did not know Yang Ce, but the instant he saw Bartton rise to his feet, he understood that Yang Ce had returned. After all, who else in this city could make Bartton so obsequious?

Sure enough, he had not guessed wrong. Bartton announced the identity: "Mr. Yang, you're back! Yotans, head of the Nancheng clan, has arrived and is waiting here for your return!"

By then Yotans had already stepped forward, straining to make his expression as respectful as possible, and extended his hand warmly. "Mr. Yang, hello. I am Yotans, head of the Nancheng clan..."

"Mm..." Yang Lin'yue glanced at him indifferently and did not take the hand. "I'm going up to my room to shower. In half an hour, come find me there."

With that, Yang Ce turned on his heel and walked straight toward the elevator, not favoring Yotans with another glance. Zhang Bin looked at Yotans, then at Bartton, said nothing, and hurried after Yang Ce into the elevator.

Bartton's heart tightened a little. He could not tell whether Yang Juehuan's arrogance might have provoked Yotans. Say what you would, Yotans was the head of a great clan, a man of lofty standing over in Europe.

And now Yang Ce had snubbed him as though he were a nobody—anyone in that position would chafe at it. Of course, that was under the assumption that they did not know Yang Ce's true strength. Bartton asked himself: no matter how Yang Ce humiliated him, he would feel nothing amiss—he would simply assume he must have done something wrong to deserve it.

But Yotans... At that thought, Bartton looked toward him, only to find not the faintest trace of displeasure on Yotans's face. He was still as respectful as ever, head bowed in humility, saying cautiously, "Yes, Mr. Yang. Attend to your business—I will be there on time in half an hour!"

Bartton shook his head. He had been overthinking it, fretting over nothing. Yotans was no fool—how could he fail to grasp where the danger lay? If he would fly into a rage merely because Yang Juehuan slighted him, he would never have waited so long in this hotel lobby.

If the head of a great clan could bring himself to go this far, what was there he could not do?

"Boss, who was that old man just now? Did I hear you say he's the head of the Nancheng clan?" Only once they were inside the elevator did Zhang Bin give in to his curiosity.

"Mm. That casino you two visited earlier, the Nancheng one—that's their family's business. Only a tiny little piece of it, though." Yang Yuting nodded. "If you don't show an old thing like that a bit of color, he starts thinking he knows the whole world."

"Uh..." Zhang Bin was stunned speechless. He had no idea what kind of station the head of the Nancheng clan enjoyed, but anyone who could be called a clan head—and whose family owned the Nancheng casino as a mere minor holding—was surely no ordinary figure.

A man of that caliber, left standing there by Yang Ce like a clown, without a word of complaint—there were only two possibilities. One, the man's temper was simply that good—but that Zhang Bin could not bring himself to believe for a second. A person in a position of power with a temper that sweet? Who would buy that?

The second possibility was that Yotans dared not voice his anger. Yang Ce was simply too powerful; he could not muster even a flicker of resistance. That, of course, was the likelier explanation.

"Never mind him. Go back and get some rest—I'll deal with the fellow in a bit." Yang Ce clapped Zhang Bin on the shoulder. "Weren't you going to pick out a car? Go online and have a look when you're back."

Zhang Bin understood: Yang Ce did not want him involved in too much of this. None of it was any good, after all. Yang Ce could handle it, but it was all far beyond Zhang Bin's reach—he still had to live his life within his own circle.

Back in his room, Yang Ce took a hot shower, watched a little television, made himself a cup of coffee, and only then ambled slowly to the door. The time he had taken had long since exceeded half an hour.

When Yang Ce opened the door, he saw Yotans standing respectfully not far from it. Clearly he had been there a good while, yet he had not come knocking to disturb him.

"Come in." Yang Minlan was fairly satisfied with Yotans's conduct—the first hurdle, at least, was cleared. If Yotans had the good sense to give up some of his interests, he himself would not mind letting the Nancheng clan off. Naturally, it all depended on Yotans's attitude.

"Yes, Mr. Yang." Yotans nodded and followed carefully behind Yang Juehuan into the room, but at the threshold he stopped short. "Mr. Yang, shall I change into slippers?"

"No need." Yang Ce waved a hand. "This isn't my home. No point."

"Very well." Only then did Yotans step into Yang Juehuan's room—and even so he dared not sit on the sofa, merely standing respectfully to one side.

Yang Shuoxuan paid him no mind, turning into his own room. Quite a while passed before he emerged carrying a cup of coffee. Seeing that Yotans still stood there in the same posture as before, Yang Lin'yue smiled faintly. The old man had certainly put himself out.

"Sit." Yang Ce raised his coffee cup, signaling that Yotans might be seated.

Only then did Yotans carefully lower himself onto the sofa in the suite's living room—though he did not dare sit fully, perching on the edge with only half his backside on the cushion, spine ramrod straight, like a schoolboy in the middle of a lesson.

"Coffee?" Yang Lin'yue asked mildly.

"Thank you, no need to trouble yourself." Yotans would never dare ask Yang Ce to make him coffee. He understood that Yang Shuoxuan was merely being polite, not truly offering to brew him a cup.

"Good. In that case, I won't waste words." The hour was already late, and Yang Yongjin had no patience to dawdle with Yotans. "Let's get straight to the point."

"Mr. Yang, I apologize!" Yotans rose to his feet and bowed to Yang Ce. "Please forgive the offense of before. As for the business with the Duantou Gang afterward, that was not my doing either—Goweisike acted on his own authority. But as clan head, I am willing to bear responsibility for all of it. Please, Mr. Yang, punish me as you see fit!"