Clue 1

The private room.

"Brother Zhao, I... I really can't take any more..." An Yuxi felt the room spinning. She looked helplessly toward Xia Ying, only to see her sitting calmly, reading a text on her phone.

She looked at Zhou Chengyan next. Just a moment ago, the guy had seemed interested in her, but now he was focused on picking food up with his chopsticks. He didn't even glance her way.

"Come on! Another drink!" Zhao Wei pushed his glass toward her. "Drink! We're out having fun. Why the long face?

"If you don't drink, you're disrespecting me, Zhao Wei. Let me make one thing clear: we're all here to have a good time. Don't be the one person who ruins it for everyone."

He was doing it on purpose.

An Yuxi had gone out of her way to join them, and his buddy Zhou Chengyan had taken a liking to her. So why not get her drunk and send her to a hotel to keep his friend company?

Did she think she could worm her way into their circle, then eat and drink for free just because she was pretty? As if it were that easy.

A drink was placed in front of An Yuxi.

She stared at the clear liquid sloshing in the glass, and suddenly everything became clear to her.

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

They were polite on the surface, but deep down, they didn't think much of her.

She had played little tricks to squeeze into their private gathering, and even thought she'd succeeded in fitting in.

But she hadn't realized that they didn't think much of her at all.

There were far too many people like her.

Even if she was beautiful, it wasn't as if they'd never seen a pretty woman before.

Now that she understood, An Yuxi looked at Xia Ying again.

From the look in Xia Ying's eyes, she could vaguely tell that they saw her no differently from any other paid drinking companion.

She didn't look at Wang Yiyang. She knew that if he really helped her out, she would have no way to fit into Xia Ying's little circle.

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

An Yuxi felt something she couldn't quite put into words. Maybe she shouldn't have schemed so carefully from the start.

After all, the others weren't fools. Even if they hadn't realized it at the time, they would understand everything once they thought back on it later.

She regretted it a little.

But she had chosen this path herself. If she turned back and gave up now, all her earlier efforts would have gone to waste. She couldn't accept that!

With that thought, An Yuxi gritted her teeth, picked up the glass, tilted her head back, and gulped it down.

There were so many people here. As long as she was careful and called a car before she got drunk, she should be safe.

"Come on, come on, everyone drink! We're all having a good time tonight. Why drag your feet over a drink?" Seeing An Yuxi start drinking, Zhao Wei smiled again.

He continued making the rounds.

One glass after another.

Before long, the other three, including Xia Ying, had each drunk at least five rounds with Zhao Wei.

The others seemed to know he'd been upset, so they humored him and kept him company without saying anything.

He soon made another round and stopped in front of Wang Yiyang.

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

"I'll pass. You guys carry on." Wang Yiyang glanced down at the time. Pela should have the compiled results ready around now.

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

Or had the guy decided he was just like An Yuxi, that he'd come to the gathering only to shamelessly force his way into their little circle?

Wang Yiyang glanced at Zhou Chengyan. The look in the other man's eyes did seem to suggest exactly that.

So Wang Yiyang simply couldn't be bothered to drink anymore.

At first, he'd joined them partly because he had nothing better to do and wanted to pass the time, and partly because An Yuxi had begged him for help.

But now things had turned out like this. There was no point in staying.

Zhao Wei had assumed Wang Yiyang would be just like the last couple of times and drink without hesitation. He held out his glass, waiting for a response.

Then he suddenly heard Wang Yiyang refuse.

He paused.

"Bro, everyone else has already drunk four or five rounds with Sister Ying. I've only toasted you twice. That's fair enough, right? You can't even give me that much respect?"

"It's not that I don't respect you. I really do have something to take care of today, so I can't drink much. I hope you understand." Wang Yiyang explained apologetically.

"If you don't drink, you're disrespecting me." Zhao Wei held up his glass, his eyes narrowing. "Bro, everyone here's having a good time, then you suddenly say something like that. You're killing the mood.

"You can't even drink this much? Are you a man or not? Come on, drink!"

Bang.

He slammed the remaining bottles down on the table in front of Wang Yiyang. Then he picked up one of the bottles himself.

Each bottle still had half its liquor left. The dark liquid swayed gently inside, releasing an even stronger smell of alcohol.

"Drink all of this, and we'll still be friends!" he shouted, pointing at the bottles.

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

"Zhao Wei, you..."

"Sister Ying, sit down. This has nothing to do with you!" Zhao Wei said, his face red as he pointed at her.

Only then did it become clear that Zhao Wei was obviously the most influential of the three.

Xia Ying's face flushed. She bit her lip, embarrassed and unsure what to say.

Turning back, Zhao Wei looked at Wang Yiyang again.

"Are you going to show me some respect?" he asked.

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

Zhao Wei chuckled.

"Are you going to show me some respect?!"

He asked again, enunciating each 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 he looked up at Zhao Wei.

Everyone around them seemed to be waiting to see how he would respond.

Even the music in the private room had quieted, and everyone was waiting for his answer.

Wang Yiyang was getting angry too, but his expression didn't change. Instead, he grinned.

"Call me Dad, and I'll show you some respect."

In that instant, Xia Ying, Zhou Chengyan, and even the half-drunk An Yuxi all felt their hearts skip a beat. They knew this was bad.

Zhao Wei's face flushed red, then grew redder and redder. Within seconds, it had turned purplish.

His whole body trembled. The liquor in his glass sloshed around, spilling onto the floor.

"FUCK YOUR MOM!!!" Zhao Wei raised the glass and hurled it at Wang Yiyang's head.

Bam!!

At that exact moment, the door to the private room was violently flung open.

A figure rushed in at lightning speed and kicked Zhao Wei in the stomach.

Before Zhao Wei could throw the glass, he was sent flying sideways. He crashed into the wall, and the glass shattered across the floor.

He tumbled across the barbecue table, knocking all the plates, bowls, and chopsticks to the ground.

Within seconds, the entire private room was in chaos.

Xia Ying and Zhou Chengyan were both frozen, unable to react as they stared at what had just happened.

Liquor and barbecue were scattered across the floor, along with shards of broken glasses and bottles.

Wang Yiyang smiled and stood up. Someone behind him gently draped a coat over his shoulders.

"Give him a little compensation," he said casually, then walked out of the private room and left without looking back.

Two brawny men in black shirts and slacks stayed behind. Each casually tossed a wad of cash onto Zhao Wei.

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

Even the barbecue restaurant's staff outside the door didn't dare stop them. They could only cower in a corner with their phones, repeatedly trying to dial the police.

But unfortunately, Wang Yiyang was a top brass of Mister Security Department, and his bodyguards were exceptionally professional at this sort of thing.

The moment they took action, they immediately activated all kinds of interference devices, completely isolating the scene within a small area.

Surveillance cameras, mobile phone signals, and other electronic devices were all rendered useless.

Besides, even if someone managed to call the police, it wouldn't matter.

With Mister's influence, suppressing such a minor incident didn't even require a word. Their own people would take care of it.

The private room was a complete mess.

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

But that wasn't even the worst of it. The real problem was the kick to his chest and abdomen.

Whoever had kicked him had clearly held nothing back. Despite exercising regularly, the blow left his stomach churning, the pain unbearable.

"Ugh!"

Zhao Wei finally couldn't hold it in. Curled up on the floor like a shrimp, he began vomiting repeatedly.

Hearing him throw up, Zhou Chengyan finally snapped out of it. He hurried over to help Zhao Wei up.

Seeing his childhood friend covered in blood, he panicked too.

"Call Uncle Zhao! Then get him to the hospital immediately!" He didn't dare pull the shards of glass out of Zhao Wei. The only thing they could do now was get his injuries treated.

That kick had been vicious. He was worried Zhao Wei might have suffered a serious injury.

Xia Ying came to her senses too and immediately took out her phone to find the number in her contacts.

The three of them had grown up together, so they had each kept one another's family contact details.

Xia Ying dialed, her mind in a turmoil.

She'd already sensed that Wang Yiyang was unusual when he'd treated them to dinner before.

This time, he'd confirmed her suspicions.

Those people had looked like professional bodyguards, every one of them strong and fit.

And Wang Yiyang's bearing had been nothing like an ordinary person's.

One second, he'd been all smiles. The next, he'd turned cold without mercy.

She kept dialing, but for a long while, there was no signal. It wasn't until the area outside the barbecue restaurant had completely quieted down that the signal slowly returned.

Only then did Xia Ying finally get through.

"Hello, Uncle Zhao? Zhao Wei's been attacked. He's pretty badly hurt. We're taking him to the emergency room at Lidunhua Hospital right away!"

As she made the call, Zhou Chengyan tried to figure out Wang Yiyang's background.

The power he'd shown in that brief moment was beyond what an ordinary person could command.

Ordinary people might think rich people all liked to hire bodyguards to protect them.

But Zhou Chengyan knew better.

More than ninety-nine percent of wealthy people weren't rich enough to hire bodyguards.

His own father, for example, was worth over a hundred million, but he didn't hire a bodyguard just to go about his daily business. And he certainly didn't have that many bodyguards.

In modern society, surveillance cameras were everywhere. If anything happened, you couldn't go more than a kilometer before getting caught.

So even wealthy people with a strong sense of security usually just hired an ex-soldier as a driver who could double as a bodyguard. That was already considered pretty good.

Only the ultrawealthy, with fortunes in the tens or hundreds of billions—or people in high positions in special fields—would have that many bodyguards with them at all times.

Zhou Chengyan gradually calmed down. But after following the logic a little further, he realized Zhao Wei had probably just picked a fight with someone way out of his league.