Chapter 100: The Strongest King

Wang Yong kept nodding there over and over, like a little underling with no idea of his own.

Once they entered the Celestial Fortune VIP House, the beautiful hostesses saw Tian Xing arrive and all lowered their heads in a bow, calling out crisply, “Mr. Tian!”

“Mm.”

Tian Xing waved a hand casually, then found a front-desk manager dressed in a strikingly seductive style, tall and graceful, and said, “Xiaofang, the Celestial Hall isn’t booked, is it? I’m taking that room.”

“Yes, Mr. Tian.”

Xiaofang glanced quickly at the reservation sheet and said, “No booking.”

The four of them took their seats, and Tian Xing’s easy familiarity, as though he were returning to his own home, surprised Zhang Rui and the others.

“You’re very familiar with this place?”

Zhang Rui asked with curiosity.

“I bought the place. I’m the owner now. What do you think? Ha-ha.”

Tian Xing really did have a certain sly swagger; he had been quiet the whole way here, and only once they reached the restaurant did he begin to show his hand.

“Damn, you’re kidding. No wonder it’s Xiaofang this and Xiaoya that, so affectionate. But those two girls downstairs really are not bad.”

Li Liang suddenly grew interested and insisted on having Xiaofang come up to drink with them.

In the end, Zhang Rui gave him a scolding, cursing him for having no backbone and no restraint wherever he went, unable to do anything properly.

Seated to the side, Wang Yong had not said a word, his hand clenched around his phone as though waiting for something.

The dishes soon arrived, all of them ordered by Tian Xing in advance.

Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, Australian lobster, stir-fried frogfish, pearl sea cucumber, soft-shell turtle soup, and the Yellow River Delta crabs at their fattest after the early autumn—every one of them huge, female and male alike, each weighing more than a jin.

“There’s nothing much here, just a simple meal. Eat whatever you like. These crabs are excellent; one of my brothers went sightseeing in the Yellow River Delta wetlands and brought them back for me. They’re even tastier than the ones from Yangcheng Lake.”

Tian Xing introduced the food with great modesty. Ever since taking over Celestial Fortune, he had pursued a high-end route focused on seafood. Restaurants with all sorts of mixed stir-fried dishes were already finding it hard to survive; one had to seize a single specialty and build it up. That alone was enough to make money.

“What are you kidding? This table must cost at least ten thousand or so. And you’re calling it a simple meal? Do you take us for rich men?”

From the bottom of his heart, Zhang Rui felt that Tian Xing was someone worth knowing, very sincere, with none of the sly tricks so common among people who mixed outside. To be honest, Zhang Rui really felt a certain mutual appreciation between them.

“Ah, come on, why be polite? Just treat me like a rich man. Dig in! Ha-ha.”

As he spoke, Tian Xing divided the crabs among them and had the waiter open several bottles of the finest Wuliangye. The three-tael stemmed glasses were filled to the brim.

Soon the few of them were eating and drinking heartily, and a glass of liquor went down almost at once. Just as everyone was in high spirits, Wang Yong’s phone suddenly rang.

He glanced at it, hurriedly hung up, then pressed the glowing screen black before stuffing the phone into his trouser pocket.

At that moment, Li Liang got up, patted Wang Yong on the shoulder, and said, “Brother Yong, come with me to the toilet. I’ll tell you a joke.”

“I’m not going. I don’t need to.”

Wang Yong stammered a refusal.

“Come on.”

From behind him, Li Liang slammed a hard knee into Wang Yong’s lower back. The pain made him nearly jump. With no choice, he followed Li Liang out.

The moment they stepped into the restroom, Li Liang locked the door behind them without a word and snatched the phone straight out of Wang Yong’s pocket.

Missed call.

Just as expected, it was Fatty.

Li Liang called back at once. “Hello!”

“Damn it, you hung up on me. Find a chance to tell Tian Xing that our Brother Hua won’t let him hand the job to Zhang Rui. I just reported it to him. When are you paying me? I’ve done everything you asked, and I’m injured this badly too, damn it!”

The voice on the other end was the Fatty, apparently in a hospital. He spoke very quickly, his emotions unstable.

“You fking idiot! Get lost. I’ll deal with you later.”

Sure enough, things were exactly as Brother Rui had guessed. Li Liang had now caught Wang Yong red-handed and cut the call.

He kicked Wang Yong’s knee, catching him completely off guard. The floor of the restroom was slippery, and Wang Yong went crashing face-first to the ground, his mouth striking the urinal rim. His teeth accidentally bit through his lip, and he cried out in pain, his mouth full of blood and saliva.

“Brother Yong, this is a honey trap you’re running, huh? Pretty wild!”

Li Liang kicked him again in the stomach, and the pain made Wang Yong nearly vomit up everything he had just eaten.

“I was wrong! I was wrong.”

Wang Yong did not dare talk back and kept begging for mercy.

“Wrong? Then tell me what happened.”

Li Liang grabbed Wang Yong by the hair and hung him directly over the urinal opening. A dagger slid out from his sleeve and pressed against Wang Yong’s carotid artery. Terrified, Wang Yong shifted frantically, trembling all over.

“I’ll talk! I’ll talk!”

Wang Yong was scared senseless again, and poured everything out on his own: “Fatty and I knew each other a long time ago. We used to be card mates at the gambling table. He’s lost a lot of money lately and came to me to borrow some. I thought of Xie Tianhua behind him, and that’s when I came up with this plan. I lent Fatty ten thousand and told him that if he helped me with this, he wouldn’t have to pay it back. After it was done, I’d give him another ten thousand! Then I went to Zhang Rui and brought up the plaza on purpose, acting urgent because I was afraid he’d find out that the plaza had already been taken by Xie Tianhua. The next day I brought him there, arranged for Fatty to block the way at the entrance and pick a fight, to provoke Zhang Rui. Then Fatty would run to Tian Xing for help. Tian Xing would definitely not stand by and watch other people occupy his construction site or let his own people be chased and beaten by outsiders. Then I planned to set up Tian Xing’s expert to fight Zhang Rui! At first I designed it so Tian Xing could handle Zhang Rui himself. I never expected him to still lose. But I had a second layer of insurance. After the fight, even if Tian Xing lost, he definitely wouldn’t be able to swallow it, and he’d report the whole thing to Xie Tianhua. By then Zhang Rui and the big hooligan Xie Tianhua would have made an enemy of each other. Going against Xie Tianhua? Ha-ha. There are barely a few people in all of Bohai City who can deal with him. By then my revenge would basically be avenged! It counts as killing with a borrowed blade, I guess.”

Wang Yong seemed to have been beaten stupid; he spilled everything. Even Li Liang beside him could not help laughing. This idiot actually called that killing with a borrowed blade.

Still, Wang Yong was devious enough. Ever since being driven out of Lehuo City by Zhang Rui last time, he had been thinking of ways to get back at him and vent his hatred. But in the open he was no match at all, so he could only play dirty, and that was when he came up with this borrowed-blade scheme.

No matter how formidable Zhang Rui was, Wang Yong refused to believe he could even subdue Xie Tianhua.

What he had not expected was that everything had gone exactly according to plan, and Tian Xing and Zhang Rui had indeed fought. Yet somehow the two of them had developed a sort of heroic mutual admiration. Tian Xing not only failed to report the matter to Xie Tianhua, he even handed all the equipment work over to Zhang Rui and treated him to a seafood feast. Was there any justice in that?

A fight that made a friend.

“That was a pretty decent plan. Why don’t you switch careers and become a screenwriter?”

Li Liang patted Wang Yong’s cheek, the dagger twirling playfully in his hand. In the end, he drove it straight into Wang Yong’s lower abdomen, sinking the blade in four or five centimeters.

“Remember this: Brother Rui is not someone you can touch. In Bohai City, he will be the strongest king for decades to come.”

Li Liang spoke each word clearly, looking at Wang Yong, who had already been stabbed into unconsciousness, with utter arrogance.