"You, what are you talking nonsense!" He looked like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, his voice suddenly turning sharp.
"What could I possibly know! Stop smearing people here and trying to change the subject! Scum like you should be kicked out of here immediately!"
"A country bumpkin from the sticks, and you dare to spout nonsense here?"
Seeing Cao Quan losing the upper hand, Qin Kun immediately jumped out to smooth things over, once again sizing up Lin Feng with a look of disdain. "Lin Feng, go take a piss and look at what kind of thing you are!"
"This is a top-tier banquet in Haicheng, gathering the true upper crust of Haicheng society! It's not the cesspool at the entrance of your village! Do you think you have any right to stand here?"
Lin Feng couldn't even be bothered to look at him again, simply spitting out a few words indifferently: "It seems you really have forgotten what it feels like to have your legs broken."
"You!" Qin Kun's face flushed red with being choked up. Knowing he couldn't win in a fight and couldn't win in an argument, a crazed thought welled up in his mind out of shame, anger, and malice.
He wanted to make Lin Feng and Qin Ruyan lose so utterly and completely under everyone's witness that they would never be able to make a comeback! "Fine! Lin Feng! Since you've got such guts! Do you dare to make a bet with me?!"
Qin Kun pointed right at Lin Feng's nose and roared hysterically.
The entire hall instantly went quiet, everyone's gazes focusing on them.
Madness flashed in Qin Kun's eyes as he laid down the wager, word by word: "If tonight, that bitch Qin Ruyan fails to secure any cooperation from the Qiao Family!"
"She must publicly announce that she voluntarily severs ties with the Qin Family, leaves with nothing, and from this moment on has nothing more to do with my Qin Family!"
He paused, turning his venomous gaze toward Lin Feng, and laughed savagely: "And you, Lin Feng! You will break your own legs with your own hands, right in front of everyone in Haicheng's upper society!!"
"Do you dare?!"
This crazed wager struck like a thunderclap, instantly halting the clamor in the banquet hall.
Everyone's gazes focused on Qin Kun's face, twisted by madness, before snapping in unison toward Lin Feng.
Break his own legs! This meant completely crippling a person!
Qin Ruyan's face turned ashen white, and she instinctively tugged at Lin Feng's sleeve, her eyes filled with panic and an urge to stop him.
She would rather be driven out of the family than see Lin Feng come to such a miserable end because of her.
A trace of malicious glee flashed in Qin Kuang's eyes. Instead of stopping his grandson, he stared at Lin Feng with a scrutinizing, spectator's gaze, as if looking at a cornered beast driven to desperation.
Amidst the dead silence of the entire hall, Lin Feng smiled.
He gently patted Qin Ruyan's hand to signal her to be at ease, then turned his gaze toward the raving mad Qin Kun, the corners of his mouth curving into an amused arc.
"Betting with you isn't out of the question." As soon as Lin Feng said this, the entire hall erupted in an uproar.
"Is he out of his mind? He actually dares to accept?"
"What's even the point of betting on this? There's no way he can win!"
Qin Kun was ecstatic, terrified that Lin Feng might back out, and roared eagerly: "Fine! You said it yourself! Everyone present is a witness! If you lose, don't even think about going back on your word!"
"Don't rush." Lin Feng raised his hand and pressed down lightly; an invisible aura instantly choked off Qin Kun's clamor right in his throat.
Lin Feng's gaze passed over Qin Kun and landed directly on the old master of the Qin Family, Qin Kuang. His tone was flat, yet carried an unquestionable, overbearing arrogance.
"Since it's a bet, it naturally has to be fair. If I lose, name your terms."
His tone shifted, and his gaze suddenly turned sharp: "But what if I win?"
He extended a single finger, pointing far off at Qin Kun, his voice as cold as a blade: "I've accepted your wager, so you breaking your own legs is only right and proper."
"As for the Qin Family" Lin Feng's gaze swept over Qin Kuang and the gloating members of the Qin Family behind him, the corners of his mouth curving into a subversive smile.
"If I win, the helm of the Qin Family should change hands. From now on, everything in the Qin Family will be decided by my wife, Qin Ruyan!"
Boom!
If Qin Kun's wager was madness, then Lin Feng's ante was subversion! It was arrogance to the extreme! He wasn't just going to cripple Qin Kun; he was going to seize control of the Qin Family outright!
The banquet hall completely exploded!
"Good heavens! Has he actually lost his mind? He wants Qin Ruyan to take charge of the Qin Family?!"
"Who does he think he is? He thinks he can decide the future ownership of the Qin Family in a single sentence? That's pure fantasy!"
The members of the Qin Family were stunned at first, and then burst into angry ridicule:
"Daydreaming! What kind of thing are you?"
"Does an outsider like you get a say in the affairs of my Qin Family?"
Qin Kuang was shaken with rage, slamming his dragon-headed cane heavily against the floor with a dull "thud."
Laughed in his extreme fury, he said: "Good! Good! Good! What incredible arrogance! For decades at the helm of the Qin Family, I have never seen such an arrogant and ignorant pup!"
A terrifying, chilling light erupted from his cloudy eyes as he swept his gaze across the room, his voice booming like a giant bell: "Today, I accept your wager! Everyone present is a witness!"
"If Qin Ruyan can secure the Qiao Family's cooperation tonight, I, Qin Kuang, will willingly abdicate and let her take charge of the Qin Family!"
"But if she fails to secure it!"
Qin Kuang's voice suddenly turned bone-chilling: "The two of you had better prepare yourselves to face an end far more painful than death!"
With the head of the Qin Family giving his personal promise, this gamble was instantly nailed down with absolute certainty, leaving no room for reversal.
A cruel and smug smile appeared on Qin Kun's face. He could already envision the miserable scene of Lin Feng with his legs broken and Qin Ruyan swept out the door.
Just then, a discordant voice rang out again.
"Wait! How can you leave me out of something this fun?"
Clutching his swollen, pig-like face, Cao Quan limped out. His venomous gaze locked onto Lin Feng, his eyes filled with a crazed hatred: "Lin Feng, aren't you good at fighting? Don't you like using your hands to hit people?"
He abruptly thrust out his hands, shaking them in front of everyone, and laughed savagely: "I'm betting with you! I bet you lose! If I lose, I'll cripple these hands myself! Conversely, you do the same—leave your hands behind!"
This was yet another wager malicious to the extreme! Crippling hands, crippling legs! This was meant to turn Lin Feng into a complete cripple!
Lin Feng looked at him as if watching a clown putting on a show, and nodded unconcernedly: "Very well, I'll take your hands."
"And me!" Another sharp voice rang out as Song Zizhou squeezed her way out from the crowd.
By now she had completely torn off her mask of civility; the venom and jealousy plastered across her face made even her exquisite makeup look somewhat distorted.
Her gaze passed over Lin Feng and nailed itself onto Qin Ruyan like a venomous snake.