Gu Beichi had long known that the two men were in league, but witnessing Zhao Junchuan's conduct firsthand still filled him with a burning rage, making him tremble all over!
If he were still in Shangjing, who would dare treat him this way?
Now, a tiger stranded on the plains was being bullied by dogs. He, Gu Beichi, had actually been set up by a small-time boss with assets worth only a few tens of millions! And the other party seemed to know his finances inside out, insisting that he pay twenty-five million!
"You're working together to scam me. Aren't you afraid I'll call the police?!" Gu Beichi shouted angrily.
"The police?" Xu Zhongwen froze for a moment, then burst out laughing. "You broke it, you pay for it. That's only natural. Don't you understand that, Boss Gu? You want to call the police? Then I'll give you time!"
Gu Beichi's heart turned to dead ashes. Seeing how confident Xu Zhongwen was, he immediately understood that the man had already arranged everything!
So everything today had been a setup!
"Boss Gu, I'll give you another ten seconds to think," Xu Zhongwen said sinisterly. "If you don't pay, neither you nor your son will leave here today!"
Gu Beichi's heart shuddered.
That was right. His son was still here; he couldn't let Gu Chen come to the slightest harm!
"Dad, why waste words on someone like him?" Gu Chen's voice suddenly rang out.
Gu Chen darted out from behind Gu Beichi like a nimble fox and kicked the burly man in front of them in the face. Caught off guard, the man toppled to the ground and couldn't get up for quite a while.
"Kill him!" Xu Zhongwen hadn't expected Gu Chen to fight back and flew into a rage.
The thugs' faces turned vicious as they rushed at Gu Chen, but how could they be a match for him? Two minutes later, they were all down and unable to get up.
A chorus of groans rose from the floor.
Gu Chen stepped forward, seized Xu Zhongwen by the collar, and stared straight at him with cold eyes.
"Y-you..."
Xu Zhongwen had risen from an inconspicuous little hoodlum to his present position and had seen his share of the world, but he had never seen skills like Gu Chen's. Before he could even see how Gu Chen had struck, all his men had been crippled. His voice trembled. "Y-you're crazy!"
"What about me? I've wanted to beat you up for a long time!" Gu Chen said coldly.
Xu Zhongwen saw seriousness and hatred in Gu Chen's eyes. He couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he tried; this was clearly their first meeting. Terrified, he said, "I'm warning you, I'm a member of Black Wind Hall... Your dad can't afford to offen-"
Before he could finish the word, Xu Zhongwen's threat was cut short. Gu Chen pinned him to the ground, then sat on him and beat him, making a point of hitting him in the face. Before long, Xu Zhongwen had been beaten into a pig's head.
"Enough!" Zhao Junchuan finally came to his senses and let out a roar.
As the owner of the Treasure Gathering Studio, Zhao Junchuan usually kept a very low profile. If Xu Zhongwen hadn't asked him in the name of Black Wind Hall, he might not have agreed this time. But now that he was aboard the same boat, he could only stand or fall with Xu Zhongwen.
Now that the matter had been exposed, the reputation and name they had worked so hard to build were ruined.
"Gu Chen, Gu Beichi! You broke something and won't pay for it, and now you're beating people up. Do you think the Treasure Gathering Studio is easy to bully?" Zhao Junchuan berated them angrily.
Gu Chen sneered, kicked Xu Zhongwen aside, and walked toward the raised platform.
"Don't come any closer!" Zhao Junchuan's bravado weakened as he looked at Gu Chen, and his voice trembled.
"I was going to give you a beating too," Gu Chen said, looking down at him. "But I'm not the only one here to settle accounts with you today. We'll meet again!"
Zhao Junchuan asked, somewhat bewildered, "What do you mean?"
Gu Chen kicked Zhao Junchuan hard in the knee, then turned and pulled the bewildered Gu Beichi away.
"Stop him!" Zhao Junchuan sucked in a sharp breath from the pain and hurriedly took out his walkie-talkie.
"Boss Zhao!" A voice interrupted him.
The ones calling out to him were the old man and his two companions whom Gu Chen had met on the way. Many people had fled during the chaos, but a small number had stayed behind. The three were among them. The old man walked up to Zhao Junchuan, tossed him the scroll, and said in a measured tone, "It's time to settle our business!"
"E-Elder Hua!" Zhao Junchuan's face went deathly pale. "Why did you come back?"
"If I hadn't come back, how could I have seen such a wonderful scene?" the old man sneered. "Now, it's time for you to tell me what exactly is going on with this painting."
Zhao Junchuan's expression grew tense, convincing the old man that the painting really was a fake. His aura erupted in an instant, sweeping out like a raging wind!
At that moment, Zhao Junchuan felt as if he had plunged into an ice cellar. He finally understood what Gu Chen had meant just now!
Gu Chen pulled Gu Beichi out of the Treasure Gathering Studio, found his father's BMW, and got in and drove away.
"Y-you know how to drive? You don't have a license!" Gu Beichi said in shock.
Gu Chen smiled. "Dad, shouldn't you ask how I came to be there first?"
Gu Beichi swallowed. "Chen'er, how did you end up at the Treasure Gathering Studio? Who sent you?"
"I came on my own." Gu Chen took a deep breath. "If I hadn't shown up today, that bastard Xu Zhongwen would have scammed you!"
"Damn it!" Gu Beichi slammed a fist against the center console. "I was so eager to get the business back on its feet that I fell for Xu Zhongwen's scheme! If we'd lost those twenty-odd million, our business would have been finished!"
Gu Chen couldn't help sighing softly. "If I hadn't shown up in time, the loss would have been far more than twenty-odd million. It would have been a full thirty million, and it would even have cost him his life!"