Cheng Simian narrowed her eyes and looked up at him.
Fan Shizong’s gaze gleamed like a predator spotting prey. “How about this—spend the night playing with me, and I’ll let bygones be bygones and release your brother.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the men behind him burst into lewd laughter. The onlookers nearby looked at Cheng Simian with pity. The girl was pretty, sure—but she was obviously underage. If she fell into Young Master Fan’s hands, who knew what would happen? Tsk. Poor thing…
Fan Shizong raised his brows. “So? What do you say, little sister? Big brother will take good care of you, hmm?”
The girl didn’t speak. She stared straight at him. Just as Fan Shizong smugly thought she was about to agree, she suddenly pressed her lips into a smile. What had been innocent eyes flashed with a sharp, eerie light.
He froze for a split second.
Before he could react, the fingers holding her chin were viciously bent backward.
“AAAAH—!!!”
The heart-rending scream instantly drowned out the blasting rock music. The crowd watched in disbelief as the nearly six-foot Fan Shizong was slammed to the ground by a small girl, clutching his fingers and rolling around in agony.
The lackeys: “……”
The crowd: “???”
Cheng Simian let out a mocking laugh. “Even if you paid me, I wouldn’t bother spending a night with you. One night? You really think that highly of yourself?”
Fan Shizong was drenched in cold sweat from the pain. “Y-you—you want to die?!”
Cheng Simian looked down at him calmly and said with exaggerated innocence, “Young Master Fan, in broad daylight—well, public view—you’re trying to force an underage girl to spend the night with you. So tell me… who exactly wants to die?”
“Ha! Do you know who I am?!” Fan Shizong glared at her viciously. “Offend me and you’re finished!”
Cheng Simian rolled her eyes. She’d grown up being threatened—who was she afraid of?
She couldn’t even be bothered to respond. Turning around, she grabbed Cha Yiguan by the tie. “Come with me.”
Cha Yiguan was completely out of it. “Hey, hey… my beauty…”
“Beauty my ass!”
Fan Shizong stood there stunned for a few seconds before exploding in rage. “What are you all standing around for?! Grab her!”
The men behind him had been intimidated by this small girl, but now they snapped out of it and rushed forward. One man grabbed Cheng Simian by the shoulder and snarled, “Don’t be so stupid, little brat!”
“Touch me again and see what happens,” Cheng Simian said coolly, her tone reckless and fearless. “I’ve already called the police. Uncle, what you’re doing right now is a crime.”
The man froze under her gaze.
Fan Shizong shoved his lackey aside and roared, “Police? Crime? What a joke! Do you think I, Fan Shizong, am afraid of that?”
Cheng Simian lowered her eyes slightly. Why did she have to run into such a troublesome rich brat?
Sigh… truth be told, she hadn’t actually called the police yet. She was just trying to scare them. Why hadn’t Su Xianyan arrived yet…?
“What nonsense are you spouting now?!” While Cheng Simian was still thinking about how to stall for time, Mr. Cha behind her suddenly threw another punch at Fan Shizong without warning. “Get lost! All of you, get lost!”
Cheng Simian: “……”
You’re not helping—this is sabotage!
That single punch completely threw the “battlefield” into chaos. Fan Shizong’s men surged forward and started swinging. Cha Yiguan, drunk as he was, seemed impervious to pain—one man still managing to take on four!
“Cha Yiguan!” Cheng Simian shouted anxiously. “Stop fighting! Damn it, I said stop! Cha Yiguan!!”
The bystanders scattered far away, no one daring to step in. Even the bar staff showed no intention of intervening. Fan Shizong really did have some clout.
But Cheng Simian knew that if this continued, someone would get seriously hurt. She’d been in enough fights before to recognize where this was headed.
Suddenly, she saw someone nearby grab a chair and raise it to smash Cha Yiguan!
Her heart hardened. Su Xianyan! It’s not that I’m disobeying you and picking fights—this is unavoidable!
In the blink of an eye, Cheng Simian grabbed a glass and smashed it over the man’s head. The glass was sturdy; it struck his forehead with a dull thud, instantly raising a huge bump. The man cried out in pain and staggered backward several steps.
She rushed forward and kicked one of the lackeys squarely in a vital spot, then grabbed Cha Yiguan and pulled him back. “Are you leaving or not?! Are you drunk stupid?!”
“Dare hit me? I’ll beat you to death!” Cha Yiguan slurred, foolishly trying to charge forward again.
At that moment, a man wielding what looked like a metal rod swung it toward Cha Yiguan. Cheng Simian’s heart jumped. Without thinking, she shoved Cha Yiguan aside.
Bang!
Cheng Simian slammed into the edge of a table. A sharp, searing pain shot through her arm. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
“Cheng Simian!”
Her ears rang violently. All other sounds faded into nothingness, yet through the haze she faintly heard someone calling her name—familiar, comforting.
The moment Su Xianyan stepped into the bar, he sensed something was wrong. By the time he clearly saw what was happening, it was already too late. He watched helplessly as Cheng Simian pushed Cha Yiguan away and was struck to the ground by a blow.
In that instant, a fury unlike anything he had ever felt surged through him.
Panic. Heartache.
When he looked at Fan Shizong and his men, he felt an almost uncontrollable urge to tear them apart.
Su Xianyan rushed forward and scooped Cheng Simian up in his arms. There was no blood on her arm, but the swelling was obvious. Whatever the damage looked like on the outside, he knew it had to be serious underneath.
“Stop!” His voice was low, yet heavy with authority. Everyone froze when they saw the man who had suddenly stormed in.
“And who the hell are you?” Fan Shizong barked, storming over. “Mind your own business if you don’t want to die!”
Su Xianyan lifted his eyes. The gentle warmth usually in them was gone, replaced by icy indifference and sharp menace. “Fan Shizong.”
Fan Shizong froze. “You—”
“Long time no see.” Su Xianyan looked at him expressionlessly.
Fan Shizong finally recognized him. His eyes widened, and he unconsciously took a step back. “Su… Su Xianyan.”
Su Xianyan let out a cold smile, one that sent chills down the spine. “You laid hands on my person. You’ve got quite the nerve.”
Cold sweat instantly broke out on Fan Shizong’s back. “Y-your person? I—I didn’t know! I didn’t know they were—”
His lackeys, confused by their boss’s sudden change in attitude, spoke up. “Young Master Fan, don’t waste time with him! Say the word and we’ll beat him until even his parents won’t recognize him!”
“Shut the hell up!” Fan Shizong spun around and slapped him hard, grinding his teeth. “Do you have any idea who he is?!”
No one dared speak after that.
Could it be that Young Master Fan actually feared someone?
They all secretly studied the man before them. He was handsome and refined, but the oppressive aura surrounding him made it hard to even breathe.
“Mm…” Cheng Simian whimpered softly and opened her eyes, looking at the person holding her. “Su Xianyan?”
Su Xianyan’s heart clenched. He immediately lowered his head. “How are you feeling?”
Her entire arm felt like it no longer belonged to her. “I-I’m… okay.”
He frowned. “Don’t force it.”
Sweat beaded on her forehead as she curled into his chest. “Mm… it hurts.”
Su Xianyan was fiercely protective. Seeing the girl he had been caring for suffer like this was unbearable. The look he gave Fan Shizong turned even colder. “Young Master Fan, you’d better know when to stop.”
Fan Shizong lowered his head. “No, no—I’m sorry. I really didn’t know…”
But Su Xianyan had no interest in listening anymore. He carried Cheng Simian and headed straight for the exit.
Passing by Cha Yiguan, who was sprawled on the floor—no one knew whether he’d been knocked out or simply drunk—Su Xianyan gave him a brief glance, then said to the stunned waiter nearby, “Please have him sent outside.”
“Y-Yes.”
Everyone watched Su Xianyan leave, then turned to look at Fan Shizong, who had suddenly lost all his swagger.
Fan Shizong was infamous in nightlife circles. Everyone knew his family was wealthy and powerful—money and influence alike. He was the kind of spoiled heir who feared nothing. So how could he be terrified of a man who had appeared out of nowhere?
There was only one explanation: that man’s background was even more formidable than Fan Shizong’s.
Once Su Xianyan disappeared from sight, Fan Shizong seemed to lose all strength and collapsed onto the floor. His men hurried to help him up. “Young Master Fan, who was that guy? Why… why were you scared of him?”
“What do you know?!” Fan Shizong narrowed his eyes. “Su Xianyan… Su Xianyan… only a lunatic would provoke him!”
The Su family kept a low profile. Others might not know who Su Xianyan was—but Fan Shizong did.
His grandfather had once been a subordinate of the old Master Su. Ever since he was a child, his family had warned him never to act out of line in front of the Su family. Back then, he hadn’t taken it seriously. He’d been spoiled rotten—who had he ever been afraid of?
But when he was sixteen, at a banquet, he had deliberately splashed a glass of red wine all over Su Xianyan—the eldest grandson of the Su family.
What followed was not only a brutal beating from his grandfather, but also being sent abroad and cut off financially. That period of time had been nothing short of a nightmare for him.
At the beginning, it had only been a prank born of dislike for Su Xianyan. He had never imagined it would escalate like that. Later, he even heard that everything—openly and secretly—had been demanded by Su Xianyan himself.
So after returning to the country, Fan Shizong always avoided Su Xianyan whenever he saw him.
Later on, he heard that Old Master Su had allowed Su Xianyan to venture out on his own, and gradually, Fan Shizong stopped paying attention to him. He never expected to run into him here today.
Even more unexpected was the fact that the person he had provoked was Su Xianyan’s person—and that he had even laid hands on her.
Fan Shizong could practically see the darkness looming over his future days.
Su Xianyan put Cheng Simian into the car and sped toward the hospital.
When they arrived, he picked her up again and carried her inside. Leaning against his chest, Cheng Simian felt the urgency in his footsteps. She didn’t know why she could still smile at a time like this. The corners of her lips curved slightly as she whispered,
“Su Xianyan, I’m not afraid of pain…”
Su Xianyan halted, lowering his gaze to her.
Under the bright hospital lights, Cheng Simian’s face was frighteningly pale. She was just a frail young girl—yet despite the pain, she neither cried nor made a fuss.
His emotions tangled. He said in a low voice, “Don’t talk.”
“Oh… but what about Cha Yiguan?”
“Don’t worry about him.”
At that moment, the doctors arrived. Su Xianyan handed Cheng Simian over to them, his brow tightly furrowed. “Be careful.”