Jiang Ruobai felt flattered, but he rarely drank, and the person in front of him was a complete stranger. He waved his hand and politely declined, “I am sorry, I do not drink.”
The man did not seem offended. Instead, he took out a business card from his suit pocket with a refined bow and handed it over, “I am Zhou Junsen, manager of Zhisheng Company. It is a pleasure to meet you.”
Jiang Ruobai took the business card out of courtesy.
The cold, gold-embossed black card felt chilly in his hand. He glanced at it briefly before sliding it into his pocket. Seeing the expectant look in the man’s eyes, he awkwardly said, “I am very sorry, but I do not have a business card to give you.”
Zhou Junsen keenly captured this hesitation. His smile remained professional, but his eyes sharpened slightly, “May I ask if you are a guest specifically invited by the Su family, or is there another reason?”
“No,” Jiang Ruobai answered honestly. “I came with a friend.”
These words seemed to flip a switch. The humility on Zhou Junsen’s face instantly froze. He stepped forward, his voice dropping to a low, angry growl, “What is the name of the person who brought you? The Su family’s banquet is not a place where any stray cat or dog can just wander in.”
Faced with this sudden hostility, Jiang Ruobai’s fingertips trembled, but he straightened his back, “That seems to have nothing to do with you. Please excuse me.”
Zhou Junsen blocked his path abruptly. He sized up the man’s pale face, his initial reservations vanishing. If he could not even produce a business card, what kind of background could he possibly have?
“Wait,” he sneered. “Do you think you can just walk away?”
Jiang Ruobai took a half-step back, his neck tense as he lifted his chin, “What do you want?”
“What do I want?” Seeing the other man’s forced composure, the last of Zhou Junsen’s doubts dissipated.
He curled his lips into a mocking smile, “You wasted so much of my time. Kneel down and apologize, and I will pretend this never happened.”
The surrounding crowd began to gather, and whispers started to spread like a rising tide. Jiang Ruobai’s face turned pale. He did not want to cause trouble for Pei Sichen, and he certainly did not want to cause a scene on Su Jiachen’s territory.
He took a deep breath and forced a stiff smile.
“Mr. Zhou, you did not come here to engage in this kind of pointless dispute with me. Why not take a step back and end this here?”
Seeing Jiang Ruobai show weakness, the man became even more arrogant, “Who do you think you are? Today, I will let you see the consequences of angering me!”
He raised his hand and actually threw a punch.
Jiang Ruobai’s pupils shrank, and he instinctively raised his hands to block, but a bronzed, vein-popping arm suddenly shot out in front of him, locking onto the man’s wrist like an iron clamp.
The force was so great that Zhou Junsen cried out in pain on the spot.
Jiang Ruobai looked up in astonishment. What entered his vision was a crisp black suit and a cold, sharp jawline. It was Pei Sichen’s personal bodyguard. If he was here, then…
A cold, crisp voice rang out from behind him, sounding like ice shattering in the silence, “I am quite curious. What would be the consequences of angering you?”
Jiang Ruobai shuddered and turned around, crashing straight into a pair of bottomless eyes.
“Mr. Pei…”
Pei Sichen stood just a few steps away, watching his bewildered, shocked expression with a faint, indiscernible smile, “You look so pathetic, baby. But it does not matter…”
He turned his head to look at the man who did not know his place, his eyes filled with terrifying frost, “…I will take revenge for you.”
“Bang!”
“Ah!”
Following a piercing scream, Zhou Junsen’s face twisted in agony. He stumbled and fell to his knees, trembling uncontrollably.
Pei Sichen sighed nonchalantly. He elegantly lowered the black-and-gold pistol that had been gleaming with a chilling luster. He tilted his head, his eyes—violent and obsessed—carrying a hint of tender pampering.
“Baby,” he looked at him, his voice gentle to the point of cruelty, asking the pale Jiang Ruobai, “Tell me, how do you want to play with him next?”
In that instant, the air seemed to congeal.
The crowd of onlookers seemed frozen in place. The moment they recognized Pei Sichen, no one dared to make a sound, fearing that any slight movement might cause that black-and-gold muzzle to pivot in their direction.
Pei Sichen remained as calm as ever.
He looked down at the man curled up and twitching on the floor, slowly lifting his foot to press the gleaming leather sole onto the man’s blood-spattered cheek.
The man was so paralyzed by pain and terror that he could not even utter a complete sentence. Jiang Ruobai stood frozen, his body shaking uncontrollably; several times he wanted to reach out and pull Pei Sichen away, but he retreated out of fear.
“Mr. Pei… I… I did not know who you were. Please… please let me go. I beg you.” Recognizing Pei Sichen’s identity, the man wept and wailed, pleading incessantly.
Seeing that Pei Sichen had no intention of letting him go, the man groveled toward Jiang Ruobai, “Sir, I deserve to die for offending you. I was blind. I am trash. I know I was wrong. I will never do it again. Please, help me, sir!”
Pei Sichen applied more pressure with his foot, as if crushing an ant that dared to overestimate itself.
“Sir, please help me! Sir!” The man’s eyes bulged, bloodshot with terror, as he screamed.
Jiang Ruobai hesitated for a few seconds before stepping forward to grab Pei Sichen’s arm.
“Forget it. I am fine, Mr. Pei. Please, let him go.”
Pei Sichen lowered his head, his cruel eyes full of contempt for life and excitement for blood, “He dared to offend you, so he should have expected the consequences.”
“He did not know who I was, nor our relationship.” Jiang Ruobai averted his eyes, instinctively avoiding the man’s tragic gaze, “I have already decided not to hold it against him.”
“But baby, my temper is not as good as yours.”
Jiang Ruobai continued to hear the man’s wailing. The gut-wrenching sounds made him feel as though he were a sinner who had refused to save a life.
“Mr. Pei, I do not want to see him anymore. Please, let him leave. I beg you.” Jiang Ruobai’s voice was thin and weak, like a piece of deadwood floating on water. Even though he was not the one on trial, he saw his own future end in the man’s plight.
Pei Sichen paused, a look of regret appearing on his face before he laughed softly, “Very well. Since you have asked, I will naturally grant your request.”
He lifted his foot and callously kicked the man aside.
The bodyguards standing by understood and immediately dragged the man out of the venue.
Only after the farce was resolved did Su Jiachen appear, looking as though he had arrived late, bringing Su Zhonghai along to apologize to Pei Sichen.
Su Zhonghai said, “I apologize for the scare caused to you and your partner, Sichen. I promise this will never happen again.”
“Hmm,” Pei Sichen responded coldly, showing no intention of giving Su Zhonghai face, regardless of his age or seniority.
Su Jiachen smiled brightly, acting as the mediator, “The charity auction is about to begin. I have specifically reserved the best seats for Mr. Pei and Mr. Jiang. The items this time were all handpicked by my father. If we delay any longer, we might miss it.”
Pei Sichen glanced at Su Jiachen and, under the other man’s beaming gaze, nodded. He then went to the auction with Jiang Ruobai.
Only after Pei Sichen was seated did the auction officially begin.
Su Jiachen’s brother-in-name stood on the stage, introducing the items with a beaming face.
Because Jiang Ruobai had not yet recovered from the incident, he remained distracted throughout the event. He did not remember what Pei Sichen had bid on; he only remembered that every item had countless terrifying zeros behind the price.
“The final auction item is a painting my father obtained from the master Qi Hongzheng, ‘Ten Thousand Violets and Thousands of Reds.’ The starting bid is ten million. Let the bidding begin.”
As the words fell, unlike the bidding wars from before, the hall went eerily quiet.
Even the somewhat dazed Jiang Ruobai noticed the awkward atmosphere and whispered, “Does everyone dislike it, so they do not want to bid on this painting?”
“It is not that they do not like it; they are afraid to bid.”
Jiang Ruobai did not understand, thinking that the people here were all very strange.
Su Jiachen’s eyes were sharp as he looked at the awkward youth on stage with a mocking gaze.
He beat the struggling Su father to the punch, slowly raising his paddle, “Thirty million.”
Upon hearing Su Jiachen’s bid, the young man’s eyes filled with resentment, yet he maintained a smile on his face, trying his best to keep up appearances.
Su Zhonghai glared at Su Jiachen, who was seated behind him, but dared not act out in front of so many people.
The youth said, “Young Master Su bids thirty million. Distinguished guests, are there any other bids?”
“Thirty million, going once. Thirty million, going twice. Thirty million, going three times. Congratulations to Young Master Su! This ‘Ten Thousand Violets and Thousands of Reds’ has been sold. The proceeds will be donated to the charity fund. Thank you for your kindness.”
Pei Sichen was the first to applaud. The rest of the crowd followed suit, and Su Zhonghai, seated in his chair with a pale face, was forced to join in the applause as well.
Su Jiachen walked slowly off the stage and personally handed the painting to Su Zhonghai.
Su Zhonghai took the painting and questioned him in a voice only the two of them could hear, “How did you do it?”
If Su Jiachen had not arranged it intentionally, how could the attendees have been so unified in not bidding on the painting?
Originally, Su Zhonghai’s plan had been to bid on the painting himself, and then naturally introduce Su Lin to the crowd while on stage. But Su Jiachen had bid first; if he tried to bid against him, the outside world would see it as a conflict between father and son, and Su Lin would remain an unrecognized illegitimate child.
“Father, you are old. It is time for the Su family to have a new successor.” Su Jiachen whispered into his father’s ear, wearing the smile of a victor.
“I will personally take care of that bastard of yours.”
“You!” Su Zhonghai stared at Su Jiachen in disbelief, feeling unsettled, “What exactly have you been doing behind my back?”
Su Jiachen replied, “You should not be worrying about what I have done; you should worry about what I am about to do. You only need to understand one thing: the Su family only needs one son, me.”
“You are delusional! I will not let you succeed!”
Su Jiachen laughed, “You are wrong again. While you were busy enjoying your father-son reunion these past few days, I have already arranged the best nursing home in the United States for you, ensuring you can enjoy your golden years in peace. As for that woman, I have also contacted the most comprehensive psychiatric hospital in the area for her. I believe she has already been staying there for some time.”
Su Zhonghai’s face turned deathly pale in an instant, “What did you do to Meijing?!”
“Father, do not worry. Once the banquet is over, the three of you will be reunited.” Su Jiachen’s eyes suddenly sharpened, but his smile never faded.
At that moment, Su Zhonghai stared at the son who had grown taller than him at some point, feeling as though every ounce of strength had been drained from his body.