Ma Lan was so frightened that she was screaming at the top of her lungs. She had already shut her eyes and braced herself for the slap, but suddenly realized the vicious blow had never landed.
She opened her eyes and was shocked!
Her good-for-nothing son-in-law, Ye Chen, had actually stepped forward and stopped the slap!
This...
Her mind short-circuited for a moment, unable to process it. How had that good-for-nothing Ye Chen become so bold?
Master Hong Wu had not expected anyone to dare stand up for this damned old woman. He demanded coldly, "Who are you? Do you want to die too?"
Ye Chen smiled faintly. "You're Master Hong Wu, right? Do me a favor. You can beat that dead dog over there however you like, but my mother-in-law is off-limits!"
Master Hong Wu's face darkened. "This old woman is your mother-in-law? And what the hell are you? What makes you worthy of asking me for a favor?"
As he spoke, fury was already rising in his heart.
He had always been revered by countless people in Jinling, yet today he had suffered one affront after another.
First, there was Wang Yunkai shouting at him, and an utterly revolting old woman yapping away at his side.
Now some young punk had jumped out to tell him what to do. Did they really think any stray cat or dog could talk back to him, Master Hong Wu?
At the thought, he flew into a rage and shouted to his men, "Beat this reckless fool to death!"
Hearing that, Ye Chen smiled faintly and said, "Don't rush. I'll make a call and let the person on the phone speak to you."
With that, he took out his phone and called Chen Zekai, the man in charge of the Buckingham Palace Grand Hotel.
As soon as the call connected, Chen Zekai said respectfully, "Young Master, what are your orders?"
Ye Chen asked casually, "There's a man in Jinling called Master Hong Wu. Do you know him?"
Chen Zekai hurriedly said with a laugh, "Young Master, I know the Hong Wu you're talking about. People call him Jinling's underground emperor, but he's really just a nobody!"
He went on, "That bastard knows I'm with the Ye Family and has been desperate to curry favor with me. He's begged me several times to do him the honor of dining with him, but I've never paid him any attention. Why? Do you know him, Young Master?"
Ye Chen said lightly, "Oh, this asshole wants to kill me right now."
Chen Zekai exploded on the other end of the line. "Damn it, has that nobody Hong Wu got a death wish? How dare he mess with you, Young Master! Where are you now? I'll bring some men over immediately and cripple that nobody!"
Ye Chen said, "I'll give him the phone. You can talk to him."
He handed the phone to Master Hong Wu. "Here, take the call."
Master Hong Wu's face was full of suspicion and uncertainty.
What was going on? The guy didn't look like he was putting on an act.
Could he really have some extraordinary backing?
He didn't look like it. His clothes were completely ordinary, and everything he had on might not even add up to five hundred yuan. Even his phone was one of those that cost just a few hundred. What could he possibly be capable of? What powerful figure could he find to back him up?
Though he felt nothing but contempt, Master Hong Wu still took the phone without thinking and asked tentatively, "Hello, I'm Master Hong Wu. Who are you? Are you looking to back this kid up?"
Chen Zekai immediately tore into him over the phone. "Hong Wu! Are you fucking tired of living? How dare you mess with our Young Master? Believe it or not, I'll have all twenty-five members of your family dead without a place to be buried tonight!"
Master Hong Wu recognized the voice. Wasn't this Chen Zekai, the very man he had been racking his brains to curry favor with?
He said he had offended his family's young master?
Could it... could it be the kid standing in front of him?
And he had mentioned all twenty-five members of his family the moment he opened his mouth. Had he already investigated every detail of his background?
He was the Ye Family's representative in Jinling! The Ye Family possessed extraordinary power. Killing him would be no different from crushing an ant!
At those words, he was so frightened that his soul nearly left his body.
He blurted out a plea for mercy. "President Chen, President Chen, please don't be angry. This is all a little misunderstanding. The Young Master and I..."
"Shut up!" Chen Zekai cursed. "Our Young Master's identity is highly confidential. If you let it slip, I'll kill your whole family!"
Master Hong Wu trembled all over, shaking worse than someone with Parkinson's. He hurriedly said, "President Chen, I deserve to die, I deserve to die! I'll make sure this is handled properly..."
President Chen alone was enough to make him kneel and lick his boots, and above President Chen stood the Ye Family of Yanjing, the ultimate existence beyond his reach, one he would have to look up to for the rest of his life...
Yet now he had recklessly offended the Ye Family's young master himself?!
At the thought, Master Hong Wu fixed his eyes on Ye Chen. His legs gave way beneath him, and he knelt before Ye Chen, saying in fear and trepidation, "Mr. Ye, I'm sorry. I didn't know she was your mother-in-law. I was a fool, and I apologize! Please forgive me!"
With that, his legs gave way, and he fell to his knees before Ye Chen.
Everyone present stared dumbfounded. Master Hong Wu was actually kneeling and apologizing to the good-for-nothing Ye Chen???
Even Eldest Young Master Wang had been a dead dog in front of Master Hong Wu, yet this young man could make Master Hong Wu kneel on the ground. Just who on earth was he?!
Master Hong Wu's underlings were also stunned with fright!
Master Wu was Jinling's underground emperor! What kind of young man could make him kneel?!
Ye Chen did not want Master Hong Wu's life either. After all, his men had hit his mother-in-law, not him.
Besides, to be honest, Ye Chen thought watching his mother-in-law get hit was pretty damn satisfying!
So he said to Master Hong Wu, "I can forgive you this once, but you must pay back the money you swindled from my mother-in-law, principal and interest!"
Master Hong Wu felt as though he had been granted a pardon. He had never expected Young Master Ye to forgive him. Having escaped disaster, he hurriedly knocked his head on the ground and blurted out, "Rest assured, I'll take care of it right away!"
With that, he immediately shouted at Zhou Huaxin beside him, "Hurry up and take care of it! If you dawdle any longer, I'll break your legs!"
Ma Lan was completely dumbfounded. Was this still her good-for-nothing son-in-law? Even the famous Master Hong Wu had to kneel and kowtow to him?
In an instant, Ye Chen's image grew larger in Ma Lan's eyes, and he even began to seem unfathomable.
Wang Yunkai, who had taken several slaps to the face, was dumbfounded too. Wasn't Ye Chen a well-known good-for-nothing? Why was even Master Wu so afraid of him?
At that moment, a pale-faced Zhou Huaxin came over carrying a black leather case. He stopped in front of Ma Lan and said in terror, "Auntie, your principal was 1.3 million, and the dividends we promised you were 200,000, making 1.5 million in total. There are two million here. The remaining 500,000 is a token of our apology. Please accept it..."
Ma Lan was completely stunned!
Since when had her good-for-nothing son-in-law become so capable?
Her principal had been returned, the promised 200,000 in dividends had been returned, and they had even given her an extra 500,000?