"Young Master Chu, welcome to the Dragon Assembly." Liu Yutong crossed her arms, watching him with a faint, knowing smile.
Chu Junlin felt at that moment as if his legs no longer belonged to him.
Now he understood exactly why Liu Yutong had insisted he come to Bright Pearl City to apologize in person—this was her way of showing off her power to him on purpose.
Half a minute passed before he finally lifted his foot and walked toward the stage.
That suffocating sensation of thousands of eyes fixed on his back at once was truly crushing.
What should have been just a dozen or so steps felt to him like walking for an entire century, until he finally stood before Liu Yutong.
She simply looked at him, still smiling.
"Young Master Chu, since you're here, say what you've come to say."
Deep down, Chu Junlin still felt resistance—shame, even.
Before arriving, he had already braced himself for the worst.
Apologize.
Admit defeat.
Pay damages.
He had thought of all of that.
The one thing he hadn't anticipated was that Liu Yutong would be so merciless as to make him apologize in front of thousands of people.
It was no different from a public execution.
In the end, he lowered his proud head.
"Miss Liu... I lost."
"I admit my defeat wholeheartedly."
"I apologize to you—sincerely, from the bottom of my heart."
With that, he bowed deeply, a perfect ninety degrees.
The moment he bent over, he closed his eyes.
Growing up, when had Chu Junlin ever shown such deference to anyone?
In the imperial capital, he was the young master of the Chu family, the object of countless people's flattery, standing at the very top of the pyramid.
But today, before a twenty-year-old girl, he had not only lowered his head but bent his back.
Liu Yutong watched the bowing Chu Junlin and fell silent for a moment.
To be honest, she hadn't expected him to be so straightforward.
She had assumed that with the pride of this Young Master Chu, he might have struggled, or even lashed out and stormed off on the spot.
But he didn't.
It seemed that that battle had truly hurt him—and knocked some sense into him.
"Young Master Chu, you may raise your head."
Chu Junlin straightened up to face the woman in the black dress.
Gone from his eyes was the arrogance and resentment he'd brought with him; in their place was an indescribable complexity of emotions.
There was reverence, wariness—and a trace of... resignation.
Yes, resignation.
When you've lost everything down to your last shred of dignity, what's the point of clinging to face?
"Young Master Chu, the fact that you came all the way to Bright Pearl City and stood here to apologize tells me you're not beyond redemption like some spoiled rich kid."
"Your apology, I accept."
"And with it, that hundred-billion wager is hereby voided," Liu Yutong said.
Chu Junlin's tense shoulders finally relaxed.
He'd actually been afraid she wouldn't accept.
Given this woman's personality, if she'd refused his apology, he might not have walked out of this building alive today.
One look at those men in black told him that much.
More importantly, he really couldn't afford that hundred-billion wager, and he still owed money to the members of the Junlin Society. He could only slowly fill that enormous hole once his company got back on its feet, supplemented by his family's support.
Now that the hundred-billion debt was wiped away, he could finally breathe a little easier.
"I'm willing to forgo the wager money, but the compensation of one-point-eight billion still needs to be paid. You don't have a problem with that, do you?" Liu Yutong shifted the topic.
Chu Junlin's heart tightened.
One-point-eight billion!
Sure, it was far less than a hundred billion, but his cash flow was completely severed right now—he truly couldn't come up with that kind of money.
Liu Yutong, naturally aware of his situation, added, "As for the one-point-eight billion, I can give you some extra time."
Chu Junlin let out a wry laugh. "Miss Liu, I really can't produce that much cash at the moment. Would it be possible to pay in installments?"
Liu Yutong nodded. "Fine. Within two years, paid in two batches of nine hundred million each. I won't charge you interest."
Two years.
Nine hundred million a year.
Chu Junlin did the mental math quickly—as long as his company survived, this proposal was barely within his means.
At least he still had a chance at a comeback.
"Fine, I agree."
"Then let's sign an agreement, put it all down in black and white so there's no room for disputes later," Liu Yutong said.
"Alright."
Zhao Tianyi stepped forward from the side, holding a prepared agreement, and handed it to Chu Junlin.
"Just sign at the bottom."
Chu Junlin shot him a dark look—this bastard was the one who'd piled the extra one-point-eight billion in damages on him.
An absolute scumbag.
He took the agreement, carefully read through it, and after confirming there was nothing problematic, picked up the pen and signed his name.
The moment the pen touched the paper, his mind flashed with images of figures from history books. Did they feel the same humiliation when they signed their names?
As the ink dried, he exhaled a long breath, feeling some weight lift off his shoulders.
"Young Master Chu, go take your seat." Liu Yutong gestured to the front row.
Chu Junlin nodded and walked back to sit down.
Only then did he notice the figures in the front row looking at him with rather intriguing expressions.
Shangguan Ling'er, Shen Cheng, Wei Xiao, Xu Ke.
These four—the reserve members who had chosen to stay with Cloud Mountain Society rather than follow him—were now sitting in the front row, gazing at him with a mixture of relief and pity.
So glad we didn't go with you.
So glad we stayed at Cloud Mountain.
Otherwise, today it might be us up on that stage, apologizing before thousands.
Chu Junlin's mouth twitched at the corners. A jumble of emotions churned in his chest.
Back then, he'd boasted he would start his own faction and crush Cloud Mountain Society. And now?
Less than two months later, here he stood, a cautionary tale.
Meanwhile, those who had chosen to follow him were now his creditors. They hadn't openly turned on him, but there was definitely resentment simmering beneath the surface.
At least Liu Yutong hadn't gone for the kill. She'd left him a way out.
After admitting defeat and apologizing, Chu Junlin was now genuinely reconciled with Liu Yutong. He no longer felt as uneasy as before.
During the rest of the assembly, he came to realize that Liu Yutong hadn't gathered all her people just to intimidate him.
Or rather, intimidating him was just a side bonus—the real purpose was some kind of induction ceremony.
He'd thought it would be the usual kind of promotion ceremony, but when he saw over eight hundred men in black go up one by one to receive their honors and pledge their oaths, he realized how wrong he was.
"I swear to follow the Young Mistress to the death!"
"Born for Dragon Assembly, soul bound to Dragon Assembly!"
"Unity of knowledge and action!"
"..."
That fervor overwhelmed Chu Junlin yet again, leaving him staring in disbelief.
This was already Dragon Assembly's third induction of the year—a higher frequency than last year. With another likely coming at the end of the year, that would make four, or one per quarter.
Core membership had also grown from less than three thousand at last year's annual meeting to over five thousand, completing half of that goal of ten thousand that Ma Da and the others had bragged about when they first started.
As for the total number of ordinary employees in the group, because the count includes full-time riders and delivery couriers, the latest figure has already exceeded 150,000.
The number is extremely large.
Similarly, they are no longer able to promote core members using the previous 10-to-1 ratio, since the requirements for core members are quite demanding. Some people with little formal education—especially older grassroots employees, such as some riders—may not even have an elementary school diploma and cannot even meet the threshold for reading legal texts. Without outstanding contributions, they can hardly become core members, which has caused this ratio to keep widening.
That’s simply unavoidable.
Moreover, in addition to legal knowledge, there are physical fitness and combat-skills assessments.
Taken together, the average age of the core members of the Wanlong Society remains between 18 and 28—very youthful—with only a very few exceptional cases over the age of 30.
After the meeting ended, apart from those assigned to provide security for the tour groups, everyone else dispersed normally and went about their own business.
