Just as Hé Xiǎobō and Dǒng Hào were tugging at each other, someone walked into the room and looked around. Catching sight of Xiào Yáng, a smile broke out on the man's face.
"Xiào Yáng! I never expected to run into you here!"
Xiào Yáng looked back and saw it was Wáng Xīngmíng. He stood up with a smile, walked over, and shook his hand.
"Boss Wáng, what brings you all the way here from Guancheng?"
"Heh. Zhou Wenbin, that old timer, said there was business over here and dragged me along. Turns out he wanted me to be a triple-threat companion—taking clients out to eat, drink, and..."
Noticing the gossipy look on Xiào Yáng's face, Wáng Xīngmíng chuckled. "...and drive him around! Does that count as the third thing... heh heh!"
At that moment, Zhou Wenbin walked in as well. Seeing the two of them, he beamed. "Xiào Yáng, I never thought I'd run into you here. Talk about how small the world is."
Xiào Yáng joked, "Forget it. Better to never have met at all."
The three of them burst out into laughter.
Zhou Wenbin looked around the room and sneered, "Is this a class reunion? You aren't even having a couple of drinks? What, are Arabs allergic to alcohol?"
Xiào Yáng chuckled helplessly.
Wáng Xīngmíng walked out of the room to fetch the manager, directly ordering three sets of drink packages—red wine, liquor, and beer.
"Boss Wáng, you really didn't have to go to all this trouble."
Wáng Xīngmíng waved dismissively. "Nah! What's this? I tried to treat you to dinner the last few times and you were busy; consider this making it up to you."
The classmates watched as Xiào Yáng chatted and laughed effortlessly with the two middle-aged men.
One of the middle-aged men had even bought three rounds of drinks, seemingly purely to save face for Xiào Yáng, making everyone look at Xiào Yáng with fresh curiosity.
Dǒng Hào was the happiest of all. He had just been cornered by Hé Xiǎobō to buy drinks, and now a sugar daddy had stepped up to foot the bill!
Heh heh heh...
Presuming on his status as class monitor, Dǒng Hào walked right up to Wáng Xīngmíng.
"Mister, thank you for treating my classmates to drinks."
That was a remarkably tactless thing to say.
Xiào Yáng couldn't help smiling, watching with amused interest as Wáng Xīngmíng was addressed as "mister."
Zhou Wenbin burst out laughing. "Mister, thank you so much~"
Wáng Xīngmíng retorted in annoyance, "Kid, I'm not treating the class to drinks. I just wanted to share a couple of glasses with my classmate Xiào Yáng, and I'm borrowing your venue."
Dǒng Hào didn't think anything of being called a kid, completely missing the irritation in the man's tone, and continued cheerfully.
"It's fine, mister, go right ahead and drink! I'm the class monitor, nobody will say a word!"
Zhou Wenbin couldn't take it anymore. "Class Monitor, we're just going to chat with Xiào Yáng and leave. We won't disturb you, so why don't you go back to whatever you were doing."
This time Dǒng Hào understood. His face flushed red, and he slinked back to sit next to Zhōu Yǐng.
Zhou Wenbin and Wáng Xīngmíng exchanged helpless glances.
Xiào Yáng threw up his hands. "See? Age is an insurmountable gap."
The other two smiled wryly.
Once the drinks arrived, they squeezed into the seats furthest from where Xiào Yáng wanted to be.
Wáng Xīngmíng raised his glass to Xiào Yáng and said, "The goods were dispatched four days ago. Xiào Yáng, do you think you can get them to pay the balance over there?"
Xiào Yáng frowned slightly. "Boss Wáng, it takes 16 days from Shenzhen Port to Qatar, 18 to Iran, 20 to the UAE and Oman, and 24 to Bahrain."
"Damn it, it only takes 14 days from Shenzhen Port to Saudi Arabia. They've already passed the Strait of Malacca, and you can't even wait a few days?"
Zhou Wenbin nudged Wáng Xīngmíng's arm with a grin. "Let's just drink today and leave business alone. I've got other guests waiting on my side anyway. Come on, let's have a toast."
Wáng Xīngmíng remembered himself. The standard rule was cash on delivery.
He had just seen that Xiào Yáng was young and well-connected over there, and wanted to see if he could collect the money early to secure the bag.
Zhou Wenbin clinked glasses with Xiào Yáng and downed his drink in one go. "Xiào Yáng, that driver's license matter of yours—I've taken care of it. I'll have someone send it over to you soon."
Xiào Yáng raised his glass in surprise. "So fast? I thought it would take a while yet. Boss Zhou's connections truly run deep!"
Zhou Wenbin poured himself another glass. "You brat! Stop teasing me. No matter how many connections I have, I'm still just your driver!"
Xiào Yáng laughed heartily. "That's all in the past. We're just trying to make money, nothing shameful about that!"
Zhou Wenbin raised his glass. "Alright, I've got guests waiting on the other side. Last cup, once we finish this we're heading over."
After finishing the drink, Zhou Wenbin and Wáng Xīngmíng said their goodbyes to Xiào Yáng, and Zhou Wenbin even paid the bill for the private room.
This made Dǒng Hào ecstatic—another expense spared!
Dǒng Hào threw an arm around Xiào Yáng and said cheerfully, "Not bad, Xiào Yáng! You've got wide connections. Just now I heard you talking about some kind of business—do you run a business?"
Zhōng Mànyù and Zhōu Yǐng also pricked up their ears in curiosity, wanting to hear what Xiào Yáng would say.
Xiào Yáng shook his head and gave a vague reply. "It's nothing, just helped them out with a small favor."
"I heard you guys talking about the Middle East market..."
Before Dǒng Hào could finish, the door to the private room was pushed open, and three young men appeared at the entrance.
Hé Xiǎobō rushed over to Xiào Yáng's ear and whispered, "That handsome prick is Liú Kǎi! Heh heh heh..."
Xiào Yáng took a glance. Handsome my ass, he's not even half as good-looking as me!
Seeing Liú Kǎi walk in, Zhōng Mànyù instinctively glanced at Xiào Yáng...
Xiào Yáng's expression didn't change in the slightest.
Truth be told, Liú Kǎi was the captain of the school basketball team and could be considered tall and handsome.
The first thing Liú Kǎi did upon pushing open the door was search for Zhōng Mànyù. He swept his gaze across the room and immediately spotted her location.
Liú Kǎi walked over to Xiào Yáng with two other guys, his tone arrogant.
"Move aside, buddy."
Xiào Yáng didn't want to sit close to Zhōng Mànyù anyway, and he couldn't be bothered to bicker with Liú Kǎi, so he shifted a bit closer to Zhōu Yǐng.
Thinking Xiào Yáng was intimidated, Liú Kǎi plopped down right into the seat Xiào Yáng had vacated and turned his head to speak to Zhōng Mànyù.
The two guys Liú Kǎi brought with him lit up when they saw Zhōu Yǐng. One of them casually sat down on the other side of Zhōu Yǐng, while the other said coldly to Xiào Yáng,
"Get up."
So kindness was being mistaken for weakness?
Xiào Yáng was about to fire back with a sarcastic retort.
Zhōu Yǐng nervously shifted closer to Xiào Yáng.
She didn't want any contact with these two strangers.
Xiào Yáng stopped mid-sentence and pulled Zhōu Yǐng up, not wanting her caught in the middle of those two guys.
To his surprise, the guy sitting next to Zhōu Yǐng directly grabbed her other wrist.
He barked at Xiào Yáng, "Hey! What's your game?"
Xiào Yáng's eyes filled with contempt as he sneered, "You'd better let go of her!"
Hearing Xiào Yáng's voice, Zhōu Yǐng's startled heart calmed down, a glimmer of hope rising in her eyes.
"Are you fucking looking to die?"
The guy standing in front of Xiào Yáng didn't say another word before lashing out with a kick straight at Xiào Yáng!
Holding Zhōu Yǐng's hand and worried the kick would hit her, Xiào Yáng took the blow square in the stomach, his insides churning violently!
Xiào Yáng lost his temper!
He grabbed a wine bottle off the table and smashed it right over the head of the guy who had kicked him.
At the same time, the other guy holding Zhōu Yǐng let go of her and threw a punch at Xiào Yáng from across her!
Xiào Yáng dodged the punch, grabbed the guy by the hair, and slapped him across the face so hard it swelled up instantly.
"Oh, looks like you'll be dying before I do!"
Damn it, trying to pull stunts with me when I've spent all that time learning free-combat?
You want to brawl with me?
"Fucking harassing a female classmate, and now you want to throw hands with me too?"
With that, Xiào Yáng stood up, grabbed both of them by the hair, and dragged them out into the open space in the middle of the private room.
The two guys covered their heads with their hands, wailing nonstop.
Things happened so fast that Liú Kǎi hadn't even fully processed it.
Seeing Hé Xiǎobō and Xú Yáng rush forward to clobber the guys one by one, Liú Kǎi finally snapped back to reality and shouted at the top of his lungs,
"Stop! Don't hit them!"
Liú Kǎi lunged forward and grabbed Xú Yáng in a bear hug.
Ignoring Liú Kǎi, Xiào Yáng stared dead at the two men on the floor, his voice chillingly cold.
"You two, go apologize to my classmate!"
"Apologize my ass!"
"You're fucking dead!"
Seeing these two punks still acting tough, Xiào Yáng didn't hold back. He swung left and right, dealing each of them a heavy slap to the face.
"Are you going or not?"
Xiào Yáng's eyes blazed like he was ready to kill.
Shocked by the look in his eyes, the two men didn't dare to act tough anymore and kept their mouths shut.
Liú Kǎi released Xú Yáng, walked up to Xiào Yáng, and said,
"Alright, buddy, that's enough! Don't push it. Do you even know who I am? My family..."
"Who the hell do you think you are? Shut up! I'm not going to say it twice—you two, go apologize to my classmate!"
The two men on the floor finally staggered to their feet and muttered toward Zhōu Yǐng,
"Sorry...!"
"Sorry!"
Xiào Yáng waved a hand. "Get lost!"
As if granted a reprieve, the two scrambled out of the private room.
Liú Kǎi turned back to give Xiào Yáng one last deep look—his eyes filled with pure hatred.
"Just you wait! Don't leave!"