108 The Favour 11 (1/2)

”Why is that, father?” Xiu Ling said to show Elder Lin that she was still following his words.

Elder Lin nodded as he leaned forward to pick up his cup of tea. Then he continued, ”Do you know Japan has one of the highest suicide rate among all the countries in the world?”

This was another sudden shift in topic, but this time, Xiu Ling had a better idea what her father-in-law was getting at. She nodded quietly and allowed Elder Lin to continue.

”It is because their sense of community is so strong that often the individual is silenced. This gives an impression that the individual is not that important because they are easily replaceable.

”After all, a spirit of collectivism encourages self-sacrifice for the benefit of the collective. In other words, the Japanese culture encourages oneself to put others first. It is not a bad philosophy in and of itself but everything taken too far into its extreme would often implode upon itself.”

Here, Elder Lin paused to take a sip of the tea. He also hoped that her daughter-in-law could use this small break in their conversation to digest what he had said.

”After all, if you keep on giving, what would be left of yourself in the end?” This sounded like a conclusion as well as a question that was directed at Xiu Ling.

Xiu Ling mulled on it but just as she was about to answer Elder Lin, her father-in-law sat up straighter, a sign that they were finally getting to the business part of this interaction.

”Xiu Ling, you want me to intervene to stop Lin Kang from consuming Xu Corps?” Elder Lin asked.

Xiu Ling nodded. ”Yes, father.”

”And you're doing it as a favour for a friend… How very kind of you.” Elder Lin said that comment with a smile but for some reason, it did not sound like a compliment to Xiu Ling's ears.

Elder Lin was indeed a character that was as enigmatic as she thought, Xiu Ling got that part right. However, she realized she got another impression of Elder Lin wrong. Her father-in-law was more in tuned with the family business than she realized.

”Speaking of favours, you have done Lin family a great one by bringing us Lin Xi so technically we did owe you one.” Elder Lin said before adding, ”Yes, I'll be able to stop Lin Kang but are you really going to use this debt that Lin family owes you on a friend? Don't you want to save it for yourself? Who knows you might need it in the future… After all, we Lin's are incredibly powerful and influential, and we can help you with many things, things that you might not be able to solve on your own.”

Suddenly, Xiu Ling felt transported into a boardroom because Elder Lin was making a deal with her. He had laid down the terms very clearly. Lin family had owed her one because of Lin Xi and that was her leverage.

She could trade that bargaining chip for anything that she wanted from Lin family and with Lin family's power, that anything was a literal anything.