Liu Bing was extremely anxious, fearing Shen Fanyun would complicate matters. Yuan Ye didn't look like someone to be trifled with, and with Shen Ruyan, the proprietress, echoing him, how could they—mere youngsters just a few years out of school—contend with two local heavyweights? Obedience was the only way out. If they resisted, everyone present would suffer for it.
Without another word, Liu Bing quickly got up, pulled Li Ruoshui to her feet, and began to push her toward Yuan Ye. "Brother Yuan, Ruoshui is all yours."
"Um, that is, can we leave now?"
"Oh, right! Ruoshui is pure and untouched. She hasn't dated all these years—she's still a virgin. Brother Yuan, you're in for a treat tonight."
The moment he heard this, Yuan Ye's eyes lit up. He wasn't expecting a virgin? He certainly wouldn't let such good fortune slip by.
Li Ruoshui hadn't expected that Liu Bing, her classmate of many years, would so brazenly betray her just for self-preservation. To make matters worse, this whole mess had been stirred up by Liu Bing herself.
"Liu Bing, you've gone too far."
"Exactly! We're all classmates. Do you have any conscience?"
"Besides, why should Ruoshui suffer for a mess you made? This is just blatant bullying! Utterly shameless!"
A group of classmates couldn't stand by any longer and began to berate her. Liu Bing, however, remained indifferent, doing her best to ingratiate herself with Yuan Ye.
Yuan Ye smiled. "You sure know how to handle things. Not bad, not bad." He snapped his fingers, signaling the two burly men behind him to take Li Ruoshui away.
Li Ruoshui wasn't panicking. Had Shen Fanyun not been present, she would have been at a complete loss, but with him there, she wasn't afraid at all.
"Hehe, it's a blessing you've earned over three lifetimes to be chosen by our big brother. Let's go." One of the burly men reached out to clasp Li Ruoshui's shoulder.
It was over in an instant. Shen Fanyun moved, grabbing the man's wrist and casually tossing the ninety-kilogram man through the air.
Everyone was speechless. Is this some kind of innate super strength?
Before the second burly man could react, Shen Fanyun delivered a knee strike. The man's body curled up like a shrimp as a sharp pain forced him to his knees with a thud. The floor cracked, dozens of fissures spreading out from the point of impact.
The crowd, including Li Ruoshui, was dumbfounded. This… This is definitely not mere physical strength!
The faint smile on Shen Ruyan's face froze. Yuan Ye's brow furrowed, his expression darkening. He waved his hand again, and seven or eight of his henchmen swarmed Shen Fanyun.
One slap for each man. Before any of them could even touch him, they were all sent flying as if struck by an invisible tidal wave.
What was that? Yuan Ye took a deep breath. He had been active in Hangcheng City for a long time but had never seen a young man with such ferocious power. His henchmen had been with him for ten years; they were truly battle-hardened. How could they be so useless?
Shen Fanyun turned, poured two more glasses of liquor from the table, kept one for himself, and offered the other to Yuan Ye, whose expression was no longer arrogant.
"Care for a drink?" Shen Fanyun smiled.
"Hmph." Yuan Ye still managed to maintain his boss-like demeanor. He snorted coldly, took the glass, and made a show of drinking it.
Shen Fanyun's expression suddenly changed. "You were actually going to drink it?"
BOOM!
His fingers clamped onto Yuan Ye's throat like a vice, lifting him off the ground. He dangled in the air like a struggling chick.
"A drink offered by me, Shen Fanyun, is not something a person of no consequence dares to accept!"
Shen Fanyun slowly tightened his grip, his other hand casually sipping liquor. The scene left everyone dumbfounded, as if they were witnessing a miracle.
Shen Ruyan gasped, stumbling back several steps before she caught her balance.
COUGH. COUGH.
Yuan Ye coughed violently. In all his years, when had he ever been so humiliated?
"Kid, you're courting death!" Yuan Ye threatened through gritted teeth. "I, Yuan Ye, am not someone you can mess with in Hangcheng City. Provoke me, and you'll regret it!"
"You'd better quit while you're ahead. If this escalates, you'll only find a dead end!"
Visibly annoyed, Shen Fanyun tightened his grip.
SNAP.
Yuan Ye's eyes rolled back. As Shen Fanyun let go, the once-arrogant man crumpled to the floor, his condition unknown.
Shen Ruyan felt an overwhelming urge to flee. She had really hit a steel plate today.
She hastily turned to leave, but when she looked up, Shen Fanyun was standing right in front of her. The sight startled her. How is he so fast? No one had even seen him move.
"Where are you going?" Shen Fanyun flashed a brilliant, toothy grin.
Shen Ruyan forced herself to remain calm. "The bar is busy. I was just going to handle a few things."
Shen Fanyun pointed at Li Ruoshui. "Is she your employee? Your subordinate?"
"N-Neither," Shen Ruyan feigned a smile. She knew exactly why Shen Fanyun was confronting her after dealing with Yuan Ye.
"Since she's neither, what gives you the right to boss her around and hand her over to this so-called Brother Yuan?"
SLAP!
The blow sent Shen Ruyan staggering, nearly knocking her to her knees. When the others looked, they saw that her beautiful face was already split open. Bright red blood trickled down her skin, a terrifying and grotesque sight against her disheveled state.
"Lift your head," Shen Fanyun's icy voice echoed in her ear.
Shen Ruyan was filled with anger, fear, and indignation. She was the proprietress of Houhai Bar. To open such a large establishment in the pricey Hangcheng City meant she was a person of status and influence, a phoenix among her peers. When had she ever been so humiliated in her own territory by some unknown upstart?
"One should be merciful when they can. I think you've gone too far!" Shen Ruyan bit out each word.
Shen Fanyun scoffed. "When you were acting so despicably, did you think you were going too far? Now you're concerned about it?"
Shen Ruyan was speechless.
She took a sharp breath, her mind racing for a response, but another slap from Shen Fanyun caught her off guard, forcing her to her knees.
Shen Fanyun picked up the liquor bottle and poured its contents over her head, letting it drench her completely.
"You should be grateful I'm in a good mood from meeting an old friend tonight."
"Otherwise, you'd be a corpse right now."
Shen Ruyan was speechless once more.
"I admit I failed to handle this situation properly," Shen Ruyan said, mustering a courage she didn't know she had. "But your viciousness is a blatant slap in the face! You're showing me, Shen Ruyan, no respect at all!"
Shen Fanyun couldn't help but laugh. "You want respect?"
He pulled out a business card and tossed it in front of her. "Here's my contact info. Bring it on."