Volume 1, Chapter 41: My Young Brother Says That One Must Never Be a Coward

Another round of uproarious laughter erupted from the group of young socialites surrounding them. The night was too dark to make out Ning Yu's features clearly, and feeling thoroughly disappointed, they jammed their beer bottles down into the ground.

Shards of glass scattered everywhere, and spilled alcohol pooled across the pavement.

The leader of the pack was deeply disappointed and stopped looking at Ning Yu altogether. "Fifth Master! Just for those words you just said, we'll play another round with you all night long! I refuse to believe we can't beat you even once!"

"Exactly! But I'm stating this upfront: as for those fifty women, I have very high standards!"

Li Shiyan's gaze was cold and detached as he stared strictly at Cheng Xiuming, refusing to even glance at Ning Yu. "Just win, and I'll get fifty celestial beauties for you."

It was evident another round was about to begin. A few of the young women sitting in the passenger seats of the sports cars had already turned pale with fear, too terrified to speak easily, staring blankly ahead like lost souls.

Unable to watch any longer, Cheng Xiuming walked over and stepped close to Li Shiyan. "Stop this. It's only going to get darker."

Li Shiyan turned his head to fixate on him. "Who told you to bring her here?"

Cheng Xiuming choked back a retort. "Fine, I brought the wrong person. Out of everyone, I shouldn't have brought her. I'm washing my hands of this."

With that, Cheng Xiuming walked away in a huff toward Ning Yu, lit a cigarette, and refused to look back at the group.

Several of the young socialites snickered. "Anyone who didn't know better would think Brother Cheng and the Fifth Master were a couple! Hahaha, Brother Cheng is walking away, but are we still playing, Fifth Master?"

Li Shiyan released the handbrake. "Cut the crap."

The roar of engines surged again, and the cars looked ready to launch forward.

Ning Yu clutched her palms tightly, having no idea what she could possibly say to hold him back.

The young men let out another series of wild jeers. The arrow was already loose on the bow and had to be shot; Li Shiyan slammed his foot down on the accelerator.

Suddenly, a figure darted forward, and he instinctively slammed on the brakes.

A rush of wind swept past. Ning Yu's figure swayed slightly as her legs pressed directly against the front license plate of the wine-red Koenigsegg.

With a harsh, grating screech of friction from the emergency brakes, she met Li Shiyan's cold glare. His expression turned grim as he roared, "Are you out of your mind?! If you want to die, don't use my car!"

Ning Yu parted her pale lips. "Stop playing."

The scene instantly quieted down. Cheng Xiuming turned his head to look over as well, realizing sure enough, she was the only one capable of stopping him.

When Li Shiyan remained silent, the young socialites nearby had no choice but to hit their brakes and stop as well, casting intensely irritated glances at the mood-killing Ning Yu.

Resting his slender hands on the steering wheel, Li Shiyan drawled, "Thought you could keep me in line?"

Ning Yu ignored his attitude, staring at him with stubborn fixity. "You are not allowed to play anymore."

"Who do you think you're talking to, Ning Yu? What kind of status do you think you have to say that?" His temper flared instantly, dark and violent.

Ning Yu bit her lip, unable to voice a reply.

Seeing how coldly Li Shiyan treated her, the group of socialites felt emboldened to speak up:

"Whose woman is this brought from? She doesn't even know the basic rules?? Why hasn't anyone dragged her away yet?"

"Trying to police the Fifth Master? I suppose this is just some new trick to grab his attention, huh?"

"What a total buzzkill! Trying to block the Fifth Master, no less! Ruining our game isn't something you can just walk away from easily!"

The leading socialite instantly came up with an idea. "See that pile of glass shards on the ground? As long as you take off your shoes and step on them with your bare feet, walk right through them honestly, our Fifth Master might just consider giving you a chance to throw yourself at him!"

This "brilliant idea" was immediately met with jeers and enthusiastic support from the surrounding crowd of young men:

"Step on it! Go ahead and step on them barefoot! Prove your sincerity to the Fifth Master. Don't talk about quitting the game—tonight, the Fifth Master will go anywhere with you!"

Ning Yu stared unblinkingly at Li Shiyan, meeting his gaze evenly. "If I walk across them, will you listen to me?"

The man let out a cold scoff. "Who knows?"

Amidst the jeering catcalls of the young men, Cheng Xiuming tried to step forward to dissuade her. "Don't..."

Without dodging or flinching, Ning Yu locked eyes with Li Shiyan's gloomy expression. After a long moment of silence, she pushed Cheng Xiuming's hand away. "Alright."

Without another word of hesitation, Ning Yu walked over to the patch of ground covered entirely in shattered glass and bent down to take off her shoes.

As she lifted her foot, the jeers from the crowd grew even more deafening.

The woman's pale, delicate foot pressed down, inch by inch, as the sharp edges visibly sliced into her flesh.

"Bang."

A liquor bottle was violently smashed against the ground. Li Shiyan stepped out of the sports car and barked a command, "Shut your mouths!"

The surrounding group instantly fell silent, not even daring to breathe.

With zero gentleness, Li Shiyan yanked her away, staring down at her with a fierce, dark gaze for a long time.

He pulled a helmet from the backseat and placed it on the hood of the car. "If you dare to ride a lap with me, tonight, I'll go with you."

Ning Yu looked at him, her fingers gripping her sleeves tightly out of tension.

Before she could speak, Li Shiyan sneered, "If we lose this bet on this lap, you'll end up in someone else's bed. Do you dare?"

Looking at the man repeating his question before her, he seemed no different from how he had been eight years ago.

He would always chase after her for the answer he wanted until he finally forced it out of her—

"Do you like me, Little Yu?"

"No."

"You really don't like Li Shiyan? Ning Yu, why have you got such terrible taste?"

"That's right, my taste is just terrible."

"Then who do you like?"

"Nobody."

"Then why don't you like me?"

"Because I like Big Brother."

"Who's Big Brother?"

"Li Shiyan."

"So who do you like?"

"Fine, fine, fine. I like you, I like Big Brother, I like Li Shiyan."

Their childish dialogue from back then surfaced in Ning Yu's mind, gradually overlapping