You're running a rip-off joint!

"One against five, and he beat screams out of four of them. Your little gardener is seriously fierce!" Peng Yuyan finished what he had been saying.

"..." Shi Yan, who had been about to rush inside, stopped in his tracks. His narrow, deep-set eyes fixed on that figure's crisp movements, and the corner of his mouth lifted slightly.

"He's pretty smart, too. Didn't hit any vital spots, just disfigured them." Qi Feiyu leaned by the door, watching the show with appreciation in his eyes.

Only when Li Yi had nearly finished beating them did he take out his phone and snap an ugly photo of Li Xu.

"A little keepsake. If you ever dare yell at me for no reason again..." Li Yi's fierce gaze shifted to his crotch. "I'll make you even smaller!"

"I won't..." Li Xu shook his bruised, swollen face, tears and snot streaming down it.

He had always cared about his looks. Today was probably the ugliest he had ever looked in his life, and that bastard Li Yi had even taken a picture of him at his ugliest.

"Don't even think about revenge, or else..." Li Yi leaned close to Li Xu's ear and threatened softly, "I know you like Zhou Xuanze. You've still got some things you stole from Lu Junjia at home, don't you?

"If Zhou Xuanze found out that you were like a rat underground, secretly hugging his clothes to sleep every night, dreaming about having sex with him...

"Do you think he'd still have anything to do with you?

"He'd only look at you with loathing, disdain, and disgust, and think you were a pile of shit, a heap of garbage."

Li Xu's pupils dilated, his face filled with terror. He couldn't believe Li Yi actually knew the secret he had kept hidden for so long. Even Lu Junjia hadn't noticed, yet Li Yi knew everything!

He even knew details like how he slept hugging Zhou Xuanze's clothes. It was terrifying!

"Lu Junjia has actually known you like Zhou Xuanze for ages. Why else would he always bring you along and let you spend time with the person you like? And you've given Lu Junjia plenty of benefits so you could spend more time with Zhou Xuanze, haven't you?

"What a sucker. Being used without even knowing it.

"Don't forget, I'm the Lu family's real young master. Lu Junjia is just an adopted son. If he got kicked out of the Lu family and lost his wealthy-family status, do you think Zhou Xuanze would still like him?"

Having rapidly finished speaking, Li Yi rose with an easy flourish under Li Xu's shocked gaze and prepared to leave.

Uh.

Turning around, he met three pairs of eyes at the door.

"Hi~" Peng Yuyan waved casually. "Great beating."

"..."

Li Yi ignored him and looked instead at Shi Yan, who was holding a bottle of liquor. That bottle looked rather familiar, like the Rémy Martin Louis XIII Black Pearl he had shoved into some random passerby's hands earlier.

"That bottle..." Li Yi pointed at it. "Thanks for holding on to it for me, Mr. Shi. You can give it back now."

Shi Yan lowered his eyelids to glance at him, his lips curving lazily. "Confiscated."

With that, he turned with the bottle tucked against him, and a few easy strides of his long legs took him far away.

"Robbery!" Only then did Li Yi snap out of it. He cursed and ran after him.

The people in the room were even more dumbfounded. What was going on? Why had Shi Yan come, and why had he spent so long watching from the doorway?

Clang.

Peng Yuyan shut the door and caught up with the pair alongside Qi Feiyu.

"Give it back!" Li Yi stamped his feet in anger, craning his neck and reaching desperately for the bottle in Shi Yan's hand.

"You used my membership card details to sign up. This bottle is my referral fee." Wearing a teasing smile, Shi Yan held the bottle high.

"This bottle costs over a million! My membership only cost a million. You're running a rip-off joint!" Li Yi cursed angrily.

"Little guy, don't go throwing accusations around. Our place isn't a rip-off joint," Peng Yuyan said. "You had your fun beating them up in there, but we were the ones who sent away the security guards who came. And we kept your bottle safe for you.

"Whichever way you look at it, you ought to treat us to a drink, right?"

"Who are you?" Keeping one hand clamped on Shi Yan's sleeve to stop him from running away, Li Yi turned to look at the newcomer.

"I'm one of the owners here." Peng Yuyan held out his hand. "Hello, I'm Peng Yuyan."

"What, the Beicheng branch of Eddie Peng?"

"..."

"Hahaha..." Qi Feiyu pressed his fingers to his forehead and lowered his head, laughing nonstop.

"My Yu means 'remaining,' as in 'nothing remaining hidden,' and my Yan means 'a man of talent.'"

"Oh, Yu as in 'superfluous.'"

"..."

Peng Yuyan's smile nearly shattered. Why was this kid so hard to talk to?

"Why don't we go to a private room on the third floor to discuss the bottle?" Qi Feiyu suggested.

"This bottle is mine," Li Yi emphasized.

"Did you pay for it?" Shi Yan looked down at him.

"...It's mine anyway," Li Yi said, a little guiltily.

"Come on, let's head upstairs." Qi Feiyu glanced at the blood on Li Yi's hands and urged them along.

The upstairs private room was clearly more upscale than those downstairs, with simple yet stylish decor, expensive, imposing furniture, and an entire wall of liquor cabinets displaying a dazzling array of fine drinks.

"Here, sit down first. Let me take a look at your hands." Qi Feiyu came over carrying a small first-aid kit and set it on the coffee table.

"Why does a bar have a first-aid kit?" Li Yi stared in some bewilderment at the refined man before him, dressed in a white shirt and silver-framed glasses.

"I'm also one of this bar's owners. My name is Qi Feiyu." Qi Feiyu opened a fresh packet of medical cotton swabs and dipped one in povidone-iodine. "My main job is as a surgeon."

"Hiss!" Li Yi looked down at the wounds on his hands and drew them back a little, afraid of the pain.

"Weren't you fighting pretty fiercely just now? Why are you afraid of pain all of a sudden?" Shi Yan lounged to one side, infuriating him the moment he spoke.

"He's still young." Peng Yuyan picked up the bottle, ready to enjoy a nice drink.

"That's mine!" Li Yi snatched the bottle away and glared at him.

"Hey! Kid, I've already asked about this bottle. You didn't pay for it. You charged it to room 261, under the Zhou family's second young master's name.

"Strictly speaking, this bottle doesn't belong to you either." Peng Yuyan lifted his glass. "How about this? Pour me a glass to try, and I'll take care of the remaining problems for you."

"I don't have any problems that need taking care of."

"First, you beat people up. If they call the police and have the surveillance footage checked, you'll have to go to the police station.

"Second, you damaged our bar's furniture and walls. You'll have to pay compensation.

"Third, once Second Young Master Zhou realizes what's happened with this bottle, he'll definitely come after you.

"Fourth..."

Watching his glass fill a little under halfway, Peng Yuyan closed his mouth in satisfaction.

"It certainly deserves its reputation as the king of cognac, blended from 1,200 varieties of aqua vitae and aged for fifty years. It really does taste different from ordinary liquor."

As he tended to Li Yi's wounds, Qi Feiyu's nostrils twitched, and his hands slowed. "That smells wonderful~"

"Would you like a glass?" Li Yi asked, quite generous toward Qi Feiyu.

Beside him, Shi Yan lazily held out his own glass and raised his brows in a silent hint.

"..."