Not Giving Him Any Face?

Wang Tengfei really felt like dying!

Damn it!

What the hell was going on?

Had he forgotten to check the almanac before leaving home today?

How had he been slapped in the face again and again by that stinking loser Ye Chen?

He would never have guessed that the painting was real, much less that it really was worth over two hundred thousand!

But he had already made his grand declaration. What was he supposed to do now? Actually eat the table?

That was impossible!

His car had burned, but he could always buy another one. How could he possibly eat a table?

If he really ate it, wouldn't he be dead?

The other classmates started teasing him too. "Come on, Wang Tengfei, you said you'd eat the table. You're not going back on your word now, are you?"

"That's right. We're all waiting for your performance!"

Someone slapped the table. "Brother Tengfei, please begin your performance!"

Wang Tengfei's expression turned ugly. "We're all classmates. Is there really any need to throw stones at someone who's fallen down a well?"

"Throw stones at someone who's fallen down a well?" Ye Chen said with a laugh. "You started this yourself. Everyone's just urging you to keep your promise. How is that throwing stones at you?"

Wang Tengfei knew he couldn't wriggle out of this today. He could only swallow his anger and say sullenly, "I was impulsive just now. I had eyes but failed to recognize Mount Tai. I apologize to Ye Chen, and to everyone else. I hope you can forgive me."

Everyone was astonished to see him suddenly back down. Was this really Wang Tengfei? When had he ever admitted defeat?

But Wang Tengfei had no other choice.

What else could he do?

If he didn't admit defeat, he'd have to eat the table, and there was no fucking way he could swallow it.

If he reneged, he'd surely incur everyone's wrath, and who knew how they'd mock him?

So the only way out was to admit defeat. Only then could he get past this hurdle.

Sure enough, as soon as he backed down, a classmate said, "Come on, it can't have been easy for Wang Tengfei to admit he was wrong and apologize. Besides, we can't really force him to eat the table, so let's just forget it!"

"Right, forget it! Eating a table is impossible, and none of us have eaten yet. Let's hurry up and start the meal!"

Ye Chen knew Wang Tengfei couldn't eat the table either, but now that he had backed down, Ye Chen had achieved his goal. That's what you get for showing off. If you show off, you'll get dealt with.

But you showed off so much that getting dealt with this lightly definitely isn't enough. This is only the beginning. Something even worse is waiting for you later.

So he said, "Since our classmate Wang Tengfei has admitted he was wrong and apologized, let's forget about him eating the table. Today is the joyous opening of Daokun Restaurant. Let's not steal their thunder!"

Wang Tengfei breathed a sigh of relief.

But in his heart, he wanted nothing more than to kill Ye Chen to vent his hatred.

Ye Chen had no intention of letting him off either. He sent Wang Dongxue a text: "Is there a vice president at the company surnamed Wang whose son is named Wang Tengfei? Check for me."

Wang Dongxue replied quickly: "There's a vice president named Wang Donghai. His son is Wang Tengfei. What is it, Chairman? What would you like me to do?"

Ye Chen replied: "Fire him. Have him leave right now."

"Okay!"

Wang Tengfei had no idea that his father had already been fired by Dihao Group and that his dismissal was being processed.

Having finally gotten past the ordeal of his wager, he breathed a small sigh of relief, but thought to himself that he had to find an opportunity to get Ye Chen back properly!

More importantly, he had to find a way to regain his dignity in front of his classmates. Otherwise, after Ye Chen had slapped him in the face twice in a row, how could he show off in front of them again?

Just as he was wondering how to save face, a commotion suddenly came from the restaurant entrance.

Everyone turned to look.

A gang of vicious-looking young hoodlums had barged in. They all had tattoos and carried weapons such as baseball bats and galvanized steel pipes. One look was enough to tell they were bad news.

At the sight of them storming in, everyone's expression changed. Wang Daokun and Liu Lili in particular had fear in their eyes.

Once their leader, a scar-faced man, entered, he swept his gaze around the hall. Then he pointed at Wang Daokun and said with a sinister grin, "Boss, this is a big opening. You didn't even give us a heads-up. Are you looking down on us brothers?"

Liu Lili went pale and forced a smile. "You... what are you here to do?"

Before the opening, Liu Lili had heard that hoodlums collected protection fees in this area. The previous owner of the restaurant had supposedly been driven into the ground by these thugs and forced to transfer the business.

But Liu Lili had thought that, in this day and age, surely those underworld types wouldn't dare rob people in broad daylight. So she had taken over the place at a low price, intending to run it properly.

She hadn't expected them to come knocking just after the opening!

The scar-faced man grinned. "If you're doing business here, you naturally have to pay your respects to Brother Biao. We're not asking for much. Give us a twenty percent stake in your restaurant without any investment on our part, and we'll cover you if anything happens here in the future."

Then the scar-faced man added coldly, "If you don't give it to us, don't blame me for getting rough. You'll be closing down today!"

Wang Daokun and Liu Lili both sucked in a breath at the demand.

They wanted a twenty percent stake without putting in a cent, just like that!

It was outright robbery!

"I'll give you one minute to think about it."

Wang Tengfei suddenly felt that his chance to step forward had arrived!

He immediately stepped out and asked, "Who do you work for?"

The scar-faced man asked with a sinister grin, "Who the hell are you? Why should I tell you who I work for?"

Wang Tengfei snorted. "Let me tell you, my father has plenty of connections on both sides of the law in Jinling! I'll call a leader in the development zone and ask him about this right now!"

The scar-faced man looked at him warily and asked, "You know a leader in the development zone?"

"Of course!" Wang Tengfei said coldly. "If you don't want to die, get lost!"

The scar-faced man frowned. "Fine. If you can find someone with enough pull, I won't come back to this restaurant again. But if you can't, don't blame me for getting rough with you!"

Liu Lili looked nervous. "Brother Fei, please help us get in touch with him. I'm begging you!"

Wang Tengfei smiled faintly. "Don't worry. I'll call a leader in the development zone right now!"

Dihao Group also had a project in the development zone, and Wang Tengfei's father was in charge of it. As a result, the leaders of the development zone had dealt with his father often and were acquainted with Wang Tengfei as well.

Wang Tengfei called the top official directly and deliberately raised his voice as soon as he spoke. "Uncle Li, why is there a gang of thugs collecting protection fees in the development zone? They've even come to my classmate's restaurant!"

The man on the other end paused. "Tengfei? What's going on?"

Wang Tengfei said, "A friend of mine just opened a restaurant, and some troublemakers came to collect protection fees. So I wanted to ask District Chief Li whether you're going to do anything about it."

The man on the other end pondered for a moment, then said with some awkwardness, "Sorry, Tengfei, the matter you're talking about isn't under my jurisdiction. I'm in a meeting right now, so I have to hang up."

Before Wang Tengfei could speak, the man hung up.

Wang Tengfei was dumbfounded.

What was going on? Hadn't District Chief Li always tried to curry favor with his father, hoping to bring in more investment from Dihao Group?

Why wasn't he giving him any face now?

How could Wang Tengfei have known that news of his father's dismissal from Dihao Group had already spread throughout Jinling's leadership?