World-Ending Demon Emperor

Chapter 2239 - 1113: Lanling, a Devilish Man!

The Anran Club is a private playground built specifically for An Lan by her father. It includes a horse stable, an archery range, a fencing room, a swimming pool, and a golf practice facility. (It’s not a golf course.)

The entire club spans over two hundred acres, and despite being in the suburbs and the land being purchased ten years ago, it cost an astronomical sum.

An Lan’s father, An Zhaozhong, is not like Lin Hao. He should be considered a true business elite. In his grandfather’s generation, they were industrialists during the late Qing and early Republic of China period. Although the family fell on hard times for a while, after the reform and opening up and with the help of overseas branch capital from the An Family, they quickly flourished again.

Therefore, An Zhaozhong is not only a prominent businessman in H City but throughout the whole Z Province. His business empire includes real estate, trade, clothing, special glass, and other cross-sector commercial groups.

Of course, because of the complex cross-shareholdings and other factors, his name is not visible on the Forbes Rich List. However, the entire family empire still has assets worth over a hundred billion.

Like all family conglomerates, there is always some degree of intrigue. An Lan felt deeply saddened and powerless to change it, so she kept her distance and didn’t get involved in the family business. But as her father’s beloved daughter, An Zhaozhong built her a private playground a few years ago, which was later converted into a publicly run club.

And this club is managed by An Lan and has become part of her assets. Her brothers and sisters, seeing that she only kept to the club and didn’t compete for family assets, all came to befriend her. Thus, this beautiful woman became the most popular member of the family.

Under An Lan’s management, the entire club is slightly profitable but not abundantly so.

Such a large club only has an annual net profit of ten million, mainly because An Lan found it too troublesome and intentionally abandoned many businesses and clients. In her heart, this was just her private playground, but she felt it was too extravagant, so she opened it up to avoid too much annual loss.

An Lan has her own career. She is both an equestrian and a fashion designer. She appears to be a female elite, but in reality, she is a dreamer at heart.

Her equestrian skills are quite high, though she hasn’t participated in the Olympic equestrian competitions, she’s taken part in numerous other competitions of various sizes.

"Miss An, there’s a gentleman looking for you, very handsome." Her assistant walked in.

Suddenly, An Lan was startled.

He’s here, already? So quickly?

An Lan took deep breaths, completely forgetting what she was practicing earlier.

"Come on, come on... You’re already twenty-six. If you can’t find a man you love, you’ll become a leftover woman." An Lan bit her lip, clenched her pink fist, and walked out.

...

Filled with anticipation, An Lan walked to the lobby with a racing heart, only to be immediately disappointed. Her flushed cheeks instantly cooled down.

It wasn’t the man from yesterday who made her swoon; it was Li Yizheng.

What was her assistant thinking? Did she really consider Li Yizheng handsome? Alright, he was indeed pretty good-looking, but compared to the man from last night who was like a drug, he really was like a weed.

However, An Lan knew she couldn’t afford to offend Li Yizheng, or it could cause huge trouble for the family business. Some people might not necessarily help you succeed, but they can easily ruin you.

This Li Yizheng can definitely be considered a big shot coming from the north.

"Mr. Li, welcome." An Lan greeted Li Yizheng with a polite smile.

Li Yizheng’s bold gaze surveyed An Lan’s face and figure.

At this moment, An Lan was wearing professional riding attire, accentuating her slender and athletic figure, absolutely stunning yet not at all frivolous. Especially her face, with its meticulously applied light makeup, was beautiful and clean.

Li Yizheng, having seen countless women, found this woman exceptionally rare.

Beauty in women is not valuable, but if beauty is combined with cleanliness, intelligence, a good family background, education, wisdom, and outstanding talents, then it becomes invaluable.

And this An Lan in front of him undoubtedly met all these criteria.

"With this attire and charisma, my grandfather will definitely like you," said Li Yizheng. "You don’t know, I’ve brought home three women. All were chased out. If you come home with me, I guarantee the old man will have nothing to say."

These words were exceedingly domineering, as if An Lan was already his wife.

An Lan’s expression turned cold. "Mr. Li, please feel free!"

Then, she was about to walk away.

Li Yizheng said, "An Lan, yesterday Lin Shi, that kid, told me that women have Stockholm syndrome and advised me to tie you up and keep you locked up to develop feelings. I refused. If the old man knew, he would skin me. How can such methods be used on a future wife?"

An Lan said, "Mr. Li, there are women prettier than me. You shouldn’t waste your time on me."

"There are indeed many beautiful women, but they are not of value," Li Yizheng grinned. "I don’t lack women, but I lack a wife, a wife who can be presentable."

"Then you can go to a matchmaking event," An Lan said. "There are countless such events each year for people like you, with many beautiful, talented, and well-bred girls waiting for you to choose from."

Li Yizheng said, "Let’s go. I heard you have a few good horses. Let’s take them for a ride."

"Sorry, it’s not very convenient today," An Lan said.

"Why is it inconvenient? Is it that time of the month?" Li Yizheng glanced at An Lan’s fitted riding pants and said, "Doesn’t look like it, can’t tell at all?"

An Lan finally couldn’t help but say, "Saying such things is really revolting. One day I’d like to ask your father, is this the family education you received?"

"Such a sharp mouth, I like it. I’m just straightforward, you’ll understand after living with me for a while," Li Yizheng said. "Let’s go, show me your horses. You must go, you know if you don’t, I’ll be unhappy, and the consequences of that will be very serious."

At this moment, An Lan suddenly felt her heart race, and her whole body heat up, as she seemed to detect a scent.

She looked up and, sure enough, saw a man walk in.

It was the same man from yesterday, the impossibly handsome man full of magic power.

Immediately, An Lan forgot all about Li Yizheng next to her and quickly ran towards Lanling.

After running a short distance, she realized that running like this was not elegant at all and lacked any semblance of charm. So, she switched to a quick brisk walk.

"What should I say? What should I say?" An Lan found her mind in a mess.

Lanling handed over a stack of cash and said, "This is twenty thousand yuan, the money for the clothes bought yesterday."

An Lan quietly took a deep breath, reached out to take the money, and warned herself not to let her hands tremble, not to tremble.

"Don’t let my face show any expression, don’t act like a fangirl," An Lan warned herself in her heart.

Then she gave Lanling a mischievous smile and said, "You’ve paid for the clothes, but what about my service fee? I’m quite expensive!"

Okay, that line was really cheesy, but... she was at a loss for words.

"Uh..." Lanling didn’t expect the beautiful woman in front of him to say something like that.

"I spent over half an hour buying clothes for you yesterday, right?" An Lan got into character, tilting her face to look at Lanling, desperately holding back her emotions to avoid letting her eyes sparkle like stars.

He was truly too handsome, indescribably so. Seeing him at night, he was already gorgeous, but in daylight, he was blindingly stunning.

"Mm," Lanling responded.

"I’m off to take care of the horses now; help me and give me that half hour back. You look so handsome; surely you wouldn’t shirk your debts," An Lan said coyly.

Then, inside her mind, she scolded herself a thousand times over. Superficial, superficial, superficial. How could you say ’you look so handsome’? Are you out of your mind, you idiot? That’s why you’re still single. It’s over, it’s over, you’re going to be looked down on.

Li Yizheng, standing by, was on the brink of exploding as he witnessed this scene.

Damn it! Could she be any more obvious?

An Lan’s gaze directed at this man? It was just short of blatantly saying, "Let’s get a room."

What a family background did Li Yizheng have? What kind of authority? Yet here he was, treated coldly by An Lan. What did that pretty boy have aside from a face? Yet An Lan seemed eager to throw herself at him.

Are women’s brains made of nothing rational? What the hell is a handsome face good for?

However, what he didn’t know was that what attracted An Lan to Lanling wasn’t just his looks; it was just the foundation. The real killer was his aura.

Of course, Li Yizheng wouldn’t directly step forward and ask Lanling who he was and what his family did.

That would be too shallow. He didn’t think just anyone had the right to be questioned by him.

"I’m discussing something with Miss An, so irrelevant people should leave," Li Yizheng said calmly. "Old Five, throw this person out for me."

"Yes!" A tremendously muscular man walked in.

Standing at a solid 1.9 meters tall, his muscles were rock-hard, and his punch could flatten an iron door.

This Old Five was Li Yizheng’s bodyguard.

Old Five walked in, stood in front of Lanling, and said, "Will you get out yourself, or do I need to throw you out?"

An Lan’s expression changed, and she immediately tried to pull Lanling to leave.

She was smart enough to know not to suffer losses or have a direct conflict with Li Yizheng.

"Who is this?" Lanling asked. "Your man?"

"No," An Lan said, pulling Lanling to run outside.

Seeing this, Li Yizheng was even more furious and yelled, "Old Five, go break his arm."

The hulking Old Five stepped forward, grabbed Lanling’s arm, and said, "Sorry, my master wants me to break your arm because you touched something you shouldn’t have."

Lanling laughed and said, "You took my line."

Then, Lanling gently twisted his arm.

"Ah..." A sharp, agonizing scream filled the air.

This tiger-like Old Five had his sturdy arm twisted into a pretzel, with all the bones in his arm completely shattered!

...

Note: Here’s the second update. I sincerely ask for your support and monthly votes, please.