"Shen Qiang, you're extorting!"Standing in front of the apartment door, Lan Yong erupted in anger, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt, and dashed toward Shen Qiang in a few strides.

Shen Qiang didn't even glance at him, just calmly looked at Wu Zhaoyang and said, "Your girlfriend isn't just paralyzed, her skin has lost all elasticity, her looks have aged. I can not only make her stand up and live again, but also restore her beauty."

"After that, you can live happily with her, get married, have kids, go on vacations, and travel on honeymoon together."

Bang!

Lan Yong furiously pushed Shen Qiang aside and snapped, "You're extorting my brother Wu, you want him to be your lackey, your horse, your follower!"

Shen Qiang kicked Lan Yong hard and said coldly, "You think you're the Jade Emperor? Do I owe you anything? Do you have any idea how much it costs to save Wu Zhaoyang's girlfriend? Don't you? Let me tell you, just restoring her complexion alone would require at least a whole bottle of Jade Cream!"

"Just this medicine alone costs more than 20 million, and you can't even buy it with money right now!"

"Am I your dad, huh?"

"Giving it to you for free?"

"Eh?"

"Lan Yong, you're so righteous, why don't you cure her? When you gnaw on a pancake on the street corner, you know to pay for it, so how come when it comes to me, Shen Qiang, whatever I do is taken for granted?"

Hearing this, Lan Yong wilted a bit and stammered, "That's not what I meant."

"Then what do you mean?" Shen Qiang looked at Lan Yong coldly and said, "You're close with Wu Zhaoyang, aren't you? Ask him how many doctors he's brought his girlfriend to see. What kind of prices have those doctors quoted? How long would he have to sell oden to save up enough? Can they cure her? Is there any certainty? How long will it take to cure her? Is a lifetime enough?"

Lan Yong glanced furtively at Wu Zhaoyang.

"Whining and complaining to me, Lan Yong, are you qualified?" Shen Qiang raised an eyebrow.

Lan Yong fell silent.

Shen Qiang went on, "And let me make it clear to you, I'm not Ji Lianghuan; I don't have some big family backing me up. I approached the two of you to team up because I thought you were alright and wanted to bring you along to make a success of our business."

"If you too think it's beneath you to hang out with me, Shen Qiang, if you feel it's not worth it, that I don't deserve to be called 'Brother Qiang' by you, then get as far away from me as you can! I, Shen Qiang, am in want of loyal brothers, not a lack of a father!"

Turning his head to Wu Zhaoyang, Shen Qiang said with unusual earnestness, "Wu Zhaoyang, think it over for yourself, and listen clearly, when I say no haggling, I mean no haggling. I respect you, Wu Zhaoyang, so if you call me 'Brother Qiang,' you're my good brother."

"To treat a good brother's girlfriend, I, Shen Qiang, will do everything possible, absolutely sparing no cost. If I, Shen Qiang, even frown when using a bottle of Jade Cream worth several tens of millions for her, then I'm a grandson."

"But if you, Wu Zhaoyang, like Lan Yong, this dumbass, think that my demands are extortion, blackmail, making unreasonable troubles, harming you, then go ahead and slowly continue selling your oden. What the hell does it have to do with me? Then, each day when you pack up and come home, you can watch your girlfriend lying in bed, aging rapidly, crying every day."

"That, my friend, would be the outcome without Shen Qiang screwing you over!"

Lan Yong hung his head, seemingly wanting to say something, but when the words reached his lips, he chose to stay silent, just looking at Wu Zhaoyang.

Wu Zhaoyang took a deep breath, looked at Shen Qiang very seriously, and said, "Would you hurt me?"

Shen Qiang raised an eyebrow and clicked his tongue, "Look at the sorry state you're in, such great prospects. Standing on the street selling your damn oden, making less than three thousand a month, and with a sick girlfriend in bed, do I need to harm you? You're already living in a miserable world, don't you understand?"

"Before, you said that being loyal to me, Shen Qiang, means making sacrifices and losing freedom. Now, I can tell you plainly, Wu Zhaoyang, if your girlfriend continues to be sick like this, you, Wu Zhaoyang, won't be able to go anywhere. You can only stay by her side to take care of her."

"What kind of freedom is that? Are you still deceiving yourself? Telling yourself that you can do it, that this is the path you chose, that it's all because of your love? Let me tell you, that thought is bullshit!"

"What your girlfriend needs is not for you to hover around her all day taking care of her, but for her to be able to move freely, live her own life, and interact with you as an equal."

"And you, Wu Zhaoyang, need to be a real man who can make a mark in this glitzy world, achieve success, fame, big houses, fancy cars, and be respected wherever you go!"

"That way, in the future, when your children say to you, 'Dad, I want to buy a Ferrari. Do you think the blue one looks good, or is the red one better? Or should we buy both colors?'"

"But if you keep selling skewers at the night market, what your child will say to you in the future will be, 'Dad, can you buy me a bicycle? Even the cheapest one will do!'"

He pointed at the silent Lan Yong with his hand.

Shen Qiang raised an eyebrow and said, "Are you counting on this idiot to give you advice? He doesn't even know what you want. As soon as he heard that I was going to offer you a job, a chance to skyrocket to success and cure your girlfriend, what was he thinking?"

"He thinks I'm an asshole, that I'm extorting you, completely missing the point that I'm reaching out to pull you out of the mire!"

"Is his head filled with shit?"

"Apart from me, Shen Qiang, who else in this world would treat you guys like this? Ji Liangchuan? He's just outside, go ask him if he'd go to any lengths to save your girlfriend, ask him if he would buy a bottle of Jade Cream for your girlfriend!"

Lan Yong bit the dead skin on his lip, and while being scolded bloody by Shen Qiang, not only did he not get angry, his expression even turned somewhat ashamed.

"Answer me! Aren't you two very badass? What, playing mute now?" Shen Qiang got angry.

Wu Zhaoyang's fists creaked, but his voice was pitifully small.

"No. And right now, no one can buy it either."

Hearing Wu Zhaoyang's voice, Shen Qiang coldly raised an eyebrow, "Louder! I can't hear."

"No!" Wu Zhaoyang raised his voice, "And right now, no one can buy it either!"

Shen Qiang said with a cold face, "That's not what I want to hear."

Lan Yong was startled.

Almost at the same time, to his astonishment, he saw Wu Zhaoyang bow deeply to Shen Qiang with hands together at his sides, and bellowed out, "Brother Qiang!"

Shen Qiang smiled, turned his head and looked at Lan Yong.

Lan Yong paused for a second and unconsciously said, "Brother Qiang."

Shen Qiang's eyes curved into a smile, "Louder."

"Brother Qiang!" Lan Yong shouted.

Shen Qiang laughed, patting both of their shoulders, and said, "Good brothers. Trust me, as long as you two don't commit crimes or oppress the common people, even if the sky falls, your brother here will hold it up for you two!"

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