Inside the private club, lights and shadows swayed.
Xue Bao Tian tightened his arm around the woman in his embrace. “Sha Sha’s staying with me tonight. Second Brother, why don’t you pick someone else?”
A thumb pressed down on a lighter, summoning a burst of flame. The man in his thirties sitting across from him lit his cigarette before smiling. “Young Master Xue, giving you one woman is hardly a big deal, but why do I get the feeling you deliberately came looking for trouble just to slap me in the face?”
Xue Bao Tian glanced toward Zhang Chi standing in the shadows and immediately felt more confident. “Second Brother, if that face of yours never gets slapped, there’s not much point in keeping it attached. Why not let it fulfill its purpose tonight?”
The man opposite put the cigarette between his lips, freeing both hands to clap several times. “Young Master Xue certainly has a silver tongue. But even a vicious dog needs a reason before it bites someone. When exactly did Young Master Xue and I become enemies?”
“Huang Song, quit pretending to be stupid. If you hadn’t given the order at the hotpot restaurant last time, how would that coward Huang Zheng have dared fuck with me?!”
The man across from him rubbed his temples, a lazy smile spreading over his face. “Young Master Xue, you’ve wronged me.”
Xue Bao Tian’s voice was naturally cold, and now an extra layer of menace entered it. “Second Brother, you’re taking the blame for this whether you like it or not. If you’ve been wronged, then consider yourself wronged.”
“Fine. I’ll take the blame.” Huang Song abruptly dropped his smile, planted one foot against the liquor table, and shoved hard!
On the opposite side of the table, Xue Bao Tian was lounging with one leg crossed over the other and a woman still in his arms. His legs were less than half a meter from the glass slab extending from the tabletop.
The piercing screech of metal legs grinding across marble overwhelmed the decadent music in the private room, sliding into everyone’s ears with a bone-chilling vibration before the table stopped barely an inch from Xue Bao Tian’s legs.
His long legs were trapped between the liquor table and the sofa. Had Huang Song used a little more strength—or controlled it even slightly worse—the inch-thick glass would have pinned his leg bones into the gap. The consequences hardly needed imagining.
Even in that situation, Xue Bao Tian remained fairly calm. He merely shifted backward slightly and did not even bother looking at Huang Song first. Instead, his gaze immediately went to the patch of shadow where Zhang Chi stood.
The man in the shadows remained perfectly still, without the slightest hint of tension leaking from him.
Fuck. Xue Bao Tian cursed inwardly. He nudged the nervous woman beside him, who had curled her legs up in fright. “Move farther away. Master Xue is collecting a debt here. Don’t get yourself dragged into it.”
The woman moved away, and Zhang Chi took one step forward. Only then did Xue Bao Tian feel slightly more at ease. Reaching toward the liquor table now dangerously close to him, he picked up a glass. “Second Brother, acting this fucking arrogant—what, you’ve got the Animal Protection Association backing you?”
The man opposite ground his jaw. “If we’re talking about arrogance, nobody compares to Young Master Xue. However you want to settle this debt tonight, I’ll see it through with you.”
“How do I want to settle it?” Xue Bao Tian looked at Zhang Chi, deliberately drinking with an air of lazy relaxation. “Zhang’er, you were there that night at the hotpot restaurant too. You should know how to collect this debt. Go on. Don’t keep Second Brother waiting.”
Xue Bao Tian had seen Zhang Chi dislocate someone’s shoulder before—steady, precise, ruthless, painfully effective without causing lasting damage. So he rubbed his own shoulder now, making the hint obvious enough.
Sure enough, Zhang Chi stepped forward once more, revealing the features that had been hidden in shadow. His appearance immediately drew Huang Song’s attention. The man narrowed his eyes through the cigarette smoke as he sized Zhang Chi up, then lowered his gaze and stubbed out the cigarette. “Yeah, I’ve already waited long enough. Let’s not waste any more time.”
Two capable-looking bodyguards stood behind Huang Song as well. Both subtly leaned forward now, muscles tightening beneath their clothes as they clearly entered a state of readiness.
Under everyone’s gaze, Zhang Chi considered the situation for a moment before asking, “Mr. Huang, did the original dispute between my boss and you involve money or property?”
Huang Song raised an eyebrow. “No.”
“Did either side use violence?”
This time, Xue Bao Tian frowned and impatiently cut him off. “Why the fuck are you asking so many questions? What’s with all this useless crap?”
Despite the criticism, Zhang Chi continued looking at Huang Song. After thinking about it briefly, Huang Song answered anyway. “No violence.”
Zhang Chi nodded and continued his analysis at the same unhurried pace. “Since no money or property was involved, and neither side resorted to any major physical conflict, Mr. Huang, instructing your younger brother to physically attack my boss means you were the first one to cross the line.”
Xue Bao Tian rested an arm along the back of the sofa and listened with a frown. Huang Song gave a cold smile. “So?”
Zhang Chi walked around the sofa and into the center of the private room. As he passed Xue Bao Tian, his fingers secretly gave the man’s shoulder a slow squeeze. “So logically speaking, my boss wanting to get his face back is perfectly understandable.” Standing between the two men, the gentle smile on his face carried a faint pressure. “And as for those… somewhat heated things my boss said just now, I assume Mr. Huang can understand those too?”
Bang! Xue Bao Tian slammed his glass heavily onto the liquor table. He raised his eyes and stared at Zhang Chi with a cold expression, saying nothing.
Huang Song, meanwhile, burst out laughing. He pulled out another cigarette and pointed it through the air at Xue Bao Tian. “Young Master Xue, after hearing your bodyguard lay it all out like that, I’m actually starting to understand why you were so aggressive earlier.”
Zhang Chi bent over the liquor table, picked up a bottle, and poured two glasses, pushing one toward Huang Song.
The liquor table had been knocked far out of position and now sat well away from Huang Song. Zhang Chi casually hooked his fingertips around the edge of the glass tabletop and, without seeming to exert much strength, gave it a single tug, neatly returning the displaced furniture to its original position.
Amid the brief flicker of surprise on Huang Song’s face, Zhang Chi handed him the drink. “My boss once told me that Second Master is the one keeping Wangchuan’s business going. You’re no ordinary man. The only reason the two of you never became close was because there happened to be a misunderstanding between you.”
The implication could not have been clearer: Xue Bao Tian both admired and respected Huang Song; unfortunately, a misunderstanding had gotten in the way.
“Really?” Huang Song looked toward the man opposite him. “Young Master Xue really said that about me?”
Xue Bao Tian’s attention had remained fixed on Zhang Chi from beginning to end, and Zhang Chi was looking at him now too. Their gazes locked tightly, the silent contest between them carrying an unmistakable chill.
After a long moment, Xue Bao Tian shifted his icy gaze toward Huang Song and gave him a fake smile. “Isn’t that right? I haven’t eaten at Wangchuan in forever. I’ve been craving it like hell. If Second Brother and I didn’t have this little problem between us, I would’ve gone there to satisfy the craving ages ago.”
He picked up the drink Zhang Chi had poured and leaned forward slightly. “Second Brother, shall we?”
Huang Song clinked glasses with him, his tone cool. “Young Master Xue is truly magnanimous.”
The moment the private-room door closed behind them, Xue Bao Tian exploded.
He seized Zhang Chi by the collar and glared furiously at him. “You got scared? If you’re this fucking cowardly, what the hell are you doing as a bodyguard?! So all those skills of yours are only ever used on me, is that it? Every day you know how to act fucking badass, but the second the real thing happens, you turn into a pathetic grandson!”
Xue Bao Tian shoved him away. “Zhang Chi, I must’ve been fucking blind to treat you like some treasure. You backed down, and I still had to worry about saving your face and play the fucking loser along with you. I, Xue Bao Tian, have never given a damn whether anyone else lives or dies, and today I actually had to swallow this much shit because of you!”
He brushed past Zhang Chi, angrily yanked open the private-room door, and summoned a waiter. “Get me a girl. A proper one. Big tits.”
“Two Hundred!” Zhang Chi, who had remained silent until now, pulled him back inside, shut the door, and gathered him close as he patiently explained, “That Huang guy isn’t someone you can afford to provoke.”
Xue Bao Tian sneered. “I’ve noticed you normally don’t have much to say, but the second you need an excuse, they just fucking pour out.”
“Right now, what happened between you and him is still only a small conflict. Let’s not make it any bigger, okay?”
“Who the fuck is this ‘we’? We’re not close. Get lost!”
While the two remained locked in their standoff, a knock sounded outside. The waiter was remarkably efficient; in the span of only a few sentences, he had already brought someone over. Xue Bao Tian opened the door, let the woman in, wrapped an arm around her, and sat down on the sofa.
He looked at Zhang Chi standing by the doorway, his features once more swallowed by shadow. Xue Bao Tian reached into the woman’s half-exposed cleavage and gave it a vulgar squeeze before drawling, “Still not getting lost? Planning to stand there and watch me get busy?”