The shouting downstairs rose in waves. Jiang Xun stood in the second-floor hallway and glanced down.
Five or six guys around Jiang Yu's age stood in the living room, all dressed to look respectable, with enough designer labels between them to buy several large villas inside the Second Ring Road.
The Blue Hair guy in front had a foot planted on the coffee table as he yelled upstairs, his voice loud enough to practically shake the chandelier down:
"Jiang Xun, get your fucking ass down here! You dared to hit my buddy? If I don't beat you so badly today that your own mother can't recognize you, I'll take your last name!"
Jiang Xun sauntered downstairs.
The servants saw him coming and all retreated three steps in unison, clearing a broad avenue straight to the living room.
Hearing footsteps, Blue Hair looked up. His gaze lingered on Jiang Xun's face for a moment, and a flicker of surprise crossed his eyes.
He probably hadn't expected the "crude, savage bastard" Jiang Yu had described to have such an extraordinarily pretty face.
But surprise was one thing; the business of picking a fight couldn't wait.
Blue Hair promptly jumped off the coffee table and closed in menacingly with the five guys behind him.
"So you're Jiang Xun?" Blue Hair looked him up and down. "You're pretty damn hot. Too bad you're a rabid dog. Unless you answer for my buddy's teeth today, this isn't over!"
Jiang Xun leaned against the pillar beside the stairs and gave him a lazy glance. "What kind of answer do you want?"
"Simple." Blue Hair held up three fingers. "First, get on your knees and apologize to my buddy. Second, knock out two of your own teeth. Third-"
He paused, his smile instantly turning malicious. "You're not bad-looking. How about coming out with us for a couple of days? Then we'll call it even."
The guys behind him joined in the jeering, their laughter sleazy and revolting.
Jiang Xun smiled too.
Two shallow dimples appeared when he smiled. Paired with his slightly upturned eyes, they made him look harmless, even a little well-behaved.
Blue Hair was clearly lulled by that smile. Assuming Jiang Xun was about to give in, he smugly advanced another step.
Jiang Xun raised his leg and kicked.
The kick landed squarely in Blue Hair's lower abdomen, with at least as much force as the one he had given Jiang Yu yesterday.
Before Blue Hair could even grunt, he went flying, knocking over the coffee table behind him. Its glass top shattered across the floor with a crash.
Before the remaining five could react, Jiang Xun had already snatched the ceramic vase off the shoe cabinet and smashed it down on the head of the one nearest him.
The vase shattered on impact. The guy clutched his head, staggered two steps, and landed on his backside. Blood seeped between his fingers, mixing with the water from the vase and dripping down.
"Fuck!"
The other four finally snapped out of it and lunged at him together.
Jiang Xun twisted aside to dodge the first guy's fist, then drove an elbow back into his chin.
He immediately swept out a leg to trip the second, stepped on the guy's back to jump up, and slammed his knee straight into the third guy's chest.
Crashes and bangs filled the living room. Antique ornaments lay shattered across the floor, the sofas had been knocked askew, and even the oil painting on the wall, supposedly an original by some master, had a large patch of paint scraped off.
Liu Wanying rushed downstairs at the noise, just in time to see Jiang Xun grinding a guy's face against the coffee table.
"Stop! All of you, stop!" Liu Wanying shrieked.
But she only dared shout from halfway down the stairs, afraid a stray punch or kick might catch her.
Jiang Xun had no time to bother with her. He ground the guy's face against the table twice more before letting go, then stood up and dusted off his clothes.
The guys lay sprawled all over the floor, groaning in a chorus of pain.
The Blue Hair guy who had been kicked away clutched his stomach and crawled out of the broken glass. His face flushed red as he pointed at Jiang Xun and snarled through gritted teeth, "You've got some fucking nerve! Just you wait. I won't forget this!"
"Then don't."
Jiang Xun shrugged, casually picked up a bottle of red wine from the entryway cabinet, and poured a little less than half a glass. He lifted it and gave it a swirl.
"It's not like I depend on you to put food on my table. You could remember me for the rest of your life, and it wouldn't affect me one bit."
He sniffed the wine, his lips curling into a smile that begged to be punched, then strolled toward the stairs with the glass in hand.
Blue Hair stared hard at Jiang Xun's retreating back, then shifted his gaze to the glass of wine-
Romanée-Conti. His father had tried and failed to buy it at an auction last month, then spent a week talking about it afterward.
And this bastard Jiang Xun, fresh out of an orphanage, had just opened it so casually and was swirling it around like a glass of soda?
Celebrating with wine after beating them up? The fucker really thought nothing of him!
Blue Hair felt a surge of fury shoot from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head. Every ache in his body reminded him how hard that kick had been.
And the sight of Jiang Xun leisurely swirling his wineglass was practically rubbing salt in his wounds.
"Drink my ass! This glass is your apology to me!"
He rushed forward, snatched the glass from Jiang Xun's hand, tipped his head back, and drained it in one gulp.
Then he hurled the empty glass to the floor, scattering shards everywhere. Only then did the anger pent up in his chest ease a little.
Seeing this, his lackeys swarmed forward, grabbing at the wine bottle and pouring it into their mouths.
They had worked up a sweat fighting and been beaten senseless. Their mouths were already parched, their throats burning dry.
They had been desperate for somewhere to vent their bottled-up humiliation. Drinking could quench their thirst and let them blow off steam, so they gulped it down as though competing, then smashed the bottle amid a string of curses and supported one another as they slammed the door on their way out.
Jiang Xun pulled the now-empty paper packet from his pocket and casually tossed it into the kitchen trash.
The laxative originally inside the packet had already been dissolved in the wine bottle while they weren't paying attention. The powder had been ground finer than flour; dissolved in the dark red wine, it left no trace even when stirred.
From the moment he had come downstairs to meet them, everything had followed the script he had rehearsed in his head, waiting for the fish to take the bait on their own.
The fish had not only taken the bait, but fought to stuff it into their mouths. There would have been no stopping them.
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