Clue

Inside the private room.

"Brother Zhao, I... I really can't anymore..." An Yuxi felt the world spinning. She looked toward Xia Ying for help, only to see Xia Ying looking calm, busy checking a text message on her phone.

She looked at Zhou Chengyan next. This guy had been showing interest in her just a moment ago, but now he was just using his chopsticks to pick at his food, not even glancing her way.

"Come on! Another glass!" Zhao Wei shoved a glass toward her. "Drink! Who are you putting on a long face for? If you don't drink, you're not giving me, Zhao Wei, any face. I'll say it right now: we're all out to have a good time. Don't go ruining the mood for everyone else."

He was doing this on purpose.

An Yuxi had thrown herself at them, and since his buddy Zhou Chengyan had taken a liking to her, wouldn't it be perfect to get her drunk and toss her into a hotel room for his friend?

She wanted to enter their circle, thinking a bit of beauty was enough to get free drinks and favors? There was no such thing as a free lunch.

The alcohol sat before An Yuxi.

As she stared at the shimmering, swirling liquid, everything suddenly became clear.

Whether it was Xia Ying, Zhao Wei, or Zhou Chengyan, these rich kids had seen plenty of girls like her trying to worm their way into their circle.

They were polite on the surface, but in reality, they didn't think much of her at all.

She had used her little schemes to squeeze into their private gathering, thinking she had successfully integrated herself.

She hadn't realized they didn't value her at all.

Because there were simply too many people like her.

Even if she was pretty, it wasn't as if they hadn't seen beautiful women before.

Realizing this, An Yuxi looked at Xia Ying's expression again.

From the way they looked at her, she could vaguely sense that they saw her as no different from a common hostess.

She didn't look at Wang Yiyang, because she knew that if Wang Yiyang really helped her out of this, she would never be able to integrate into Xia Ying's inner circle.

She had to earn the approval of Zhou Chengyan, Xia Ying, and Zhao Wei. It seemed difficult, but there was still a chance.

An Yuxi felt an indescribable bitterness in her heart. She thought that perhaps she shouldn't have been so calculating from the start.

After all, others weren't stupid; even if they didn't react at the time, they would see right through it once they looked back.

She felt a pang of regret.

But she had chosen this path. If she backed out now, all her previous efforts would be wasted, and she wasn't willing to accept that!

Thinking of this, An Yuxi gritted her teeth, picked up the glass, and downed the contents in one go.

There were so many people here; as long as she was careful and called a taxi before she got too drunk, she shouldn't be in any real danger.

"Come on, everyone drink! We're all happy today, don't be so sluggish with the booze." Seeing An Yuxi start drinking, Zhao Wei smiled again.

He continued to make his rounds.

Glass after glass.

Soon, including Xia Ying, the other three had each had at least five drinks with Zhao Wei.

The others seemed to know he was feeling agitated, so they were accommodating and didn't say anything.

Before long, he made his way around to Wang Yiyang.

"Come on! Bottoms up!" He held a glass out toward Wang Yiyang.

"I'll pass on the drinking, you guys go ahead." Wang Yiyang glanced at the time; Pela should be finishing the summary soon.

He could see that Zhao Wei was clearly agitated. But what did that have to do with him?

Or rather, did this guy see him as the same kind of person as An Yuxi? Someone attending this dinner just to shamelessly squeeze into their little circle?

Wang Yiyang glanced at Zhou Chengyan, and the way the man was looking at him suggested exactly that.

He couldn't be bothered to drink.

He had joined in the first place half out of boredom and half because An Yuxi had begged for his help.

Now that things had turned out like this, there was no point.

Zhao Wei had expected Wang Yiyang to drink readily, just like the previous two times. He held the glass, waiting for a response.

Instead, he heard a refusal.

He paused for a moment.

"Buddy, even Sister Ying has gone four or five rounds, and I've only toasted you twice. That's fair, right? You won't even give me this much face?"

"It's not about the face, I really have something to do today, so I can't drink much. My apologies." Wang Yiyang explained apologetically.

"If you don't drink, you're not giving me face." Zhao Wei held the glass, his eyes narrowing. "Buddy, everyone here is having a good time, and you come out with that? You're killing the vibe. You won't even have a drink? Are you a man? Come on, drink!!"

Bang.

He slammed the remaining bottle onto the table in front of Wang Yiyang, then grabbed another bottle for himself.

Two bottles of alcohol each remained half-full, the dark liquid sloshing gently inside and releasing an even stronger scent of spirits.

"Drink these, and we're still friends!?" He pointed at the bottles and shouted.

Xia Ying looked down on An Yuxi, but she had a favorable impression of Wang Yiyang, so she frowned and stood up.

"Zhao Wei, you..."

"Sister Ying, sit down. This has nothing to do with you!" Zhao Wei pointed at Xia Ying, his face flushed red.

Only now did it seem apparent that among the three, Zhao Wei clearly held the highest status.

Xia Ying's face turned beet red; she bit her lip in embarrassment, not knowing what to say.

Turning back, Zhao Wei looked at Wang Yiyang once more.

"Buddy, are you going to give me some face?" he asked again.

Wang Yiyang looked at the bottles on the table and said nothing.

Zhao Wei chuckled.

"Are you going to give me some face!?"

He asked again, enunciating every word, his voice louder than before.

The atmosphere seemed to freeze in an instant.

Wang Yiyang sat on the sofa, looking at the bottles in front of him, then raised his head to glance at Zhao Wei.

The people around them all seemed to be watching how he would respond.

For a moment, even the music in the private room quieted down; everyone was waiting for his reply.

Wang Yiyang felt a spark of anger in his heart, but his expression remained unchanged; instead, he grinned.

"Call me 'Dad,' and I'll give you some face."

In that instant, whether it was Xia Ying, Zhou Chengyan, or even the half-drunk An Yuxi, their hearts skipped a beat upon hearing those words, knowing things had gone south.

Zhao Wei's face went from flushed to deep red, and within a few short seconds, it began to turn a purplish hue.

His entire body trembled, and the glass he held in his hand shook, spilling quite a bit of alcohol onto the floor.

"I'll f*** your mother!!!" Zhao Wei raised the glass and smashed it fiercely toward Wang Yiyang's head.

BANG!!

At that very moment, the door to the private room was violently kicked open.

A figure moved with lightning speed, rushing forward to deliver a kick squarely into Zhao Wei's stomach.

Before the glass in Zhao Wei's hand could even be thrown, he was sent flying sideways, crashing into the wall and shattering into pieces.

He tumbled across the barbecue table, sending a pile of plates, bowls, and chopsticks scattering to the floor.

In just a few short seconds, the entire private room was in complete disarray.

Both Xia Ying and Zhou Chengyan stood there blankly, completely caught off guard as they stared at the scene before them.

Alcohol and barbecue were strewn everywhere, and shards of glass and bottles were scattered across the floor.

Wang Yiyang offered a smile and stood up, while someone behind him gently draped a coat over his shoulders.

"Give him some compensation," he said casually before walking out of the private room and leaving without a backward glance.

Two burly men in black shirts and suit trousers remained behind, each casually tossing a stack of cash onto Zhao Wei.

Then, under the stunned gazes of Xia Ying and the others, the two men turned and left as well.

The waiters outside the barbecue restaurant didn't even dare to intervene; they could only tremble in the corner, clutching their phones and repeatedly trying to dial the police.

Unfortunately, as top-tier heads of the Mister security department, the bodyguards around Wang Yiyang possessed impeccable professional standards in this regard.

Once they took action, various jamming devices were immediately activated, creating a small-scale, completely isolated scene.

Surveillance, mobile signals, and all other electronic equipment were rendered useless at that moment.

Furthermore, even if the emergency call had gone through, it would have been futile.

With the influence of Mister, there was no need to even make a call to suppress such a minor incident; their own people would handle it quietly.

The private room was a mess.

Zhao Wei's face was covered in blood, and the shards of the broken bottle had left numerous cuts on his face and hands.

But the most troublesome issue wasn't these injuries, but the kick he had taken to his abdomen.

The person who kicked him clearly hadn't held back at all; despite his regular exercise, he felt his insides churning and twisting with unbearable pain.

Wretch!

Zhao Wei finally couldn't hold it back; he curled up on the floor like a shrimp and began to vomit repeatedly.

Hearing the sound of his retching, Zhou Chengyan finally snapped out of his daze and rushed over to help Zhao Wei up.

Seeing his childhood friend covered in blood, he also began to panic.

"Call Uncle Zhao! And get him to the hospital immediately!" He didn't dare to pull the glass shards out of Zhao Wei's body; the only option now was to get him medical attention first.

That kick just now was truly vicious; he was worried that something might be wrong with Zhao Wei's body.

Xia Ying also snapped to her senses and immediately pulled out her phone to search for a name in her contacts.

The three of them were childhood friends, so naturally, they all had each other's family contact information.

As Xia Ying dialed, her mind was in complete turmoil.

Back when Wang Yiyang had treated them to dinner, she had already vaguely sensed that he was somewhat extraordinary.

This time, it only served to confirm that suspicion.

The men from just a moment ago looked like professional bodyguards at first glance. Every one of them was sturdy and strong.

And Wang Yiyang's demeanor was nothing like that of an ordinary person.

One second he was smiling and welcoming, and the next, he had turned cold and ruthless.

The phone signal had been non-existent for quite a while after she started dialing, and it only slowly returned to normal once there was no more movement outside the barbecue restaurant.

Only then did Xia Ying finally get through.

"Hello, Uncle Zhao? Zhao Wei has been beaten, and his injuries are quite serious. We're preparing to rush him to the Lidunhua Hospital emergency room right now!"

While she was on the phone, Zhou Chengyan was also speculating about Wang Yiyang's true background.

The power displayed in that brief moment was simply not something an ordinary person could possess.

The general public might think that wealthy people like to hire bodyguards to protect themselves.

But Zhou Chengyan knew better.

For ninety-nine percent of ordinary wealthy people, they hadn't even reached the point of needing to hire bodyguards.

Take his own father, for instance; he was worth over a hundred million, but he didn't go around hiring bodyguards for his daily comings and goings. Let alone that many of them.

In modern society, surveillance cameras are everywhere; if something were to happen, one wouldn't even make it a kilometer before being caught.

Therefore, for the average wealthy person with a strong sense of security, hiring a veteran as a driver who doubles as a bodyguard is already considered quite good.

Only those tycoons worth tens or hundreds of billions, or those in high positions within special fields, would carry so many bodyguards with them at all times.

Zhou Chengyan's heart slowly calmed down, but as he followed that line of reasoning, he felt that Zhao Wei had likely kicked an iron plate this time.