"Brother Li, I'm Xiaoyong, and this is my girlfriend Meili. We really admire you and want to learn kung fu from you to protect ourselves. We've drunk, feel free to drink at your pace."

Xiaoyong and his girlfriend came before Li Xiang, each holding a two-ounce glass of liquor. Before Li Xiang could speak, they tilted their heads back and drank.

"Drink slowly, drink slowly."

Li Xiang watched as they came to toast him, glass after glass, feeling somewhat worried for them.

Especially the girl, whose face turned red instantly after drinking.

"Drink less, if you can't handle it, just drink a soft drink."

Perhaps spurred by Li Xiang's words, or maybe they all wanted to express their admiration for Li Xiang through reckless drinking, in the end, Li Xiang was the only one drinking soft drinks.

The wine flowed like rivers, and the dishes came in waves.

Some people drank too much and left for the restroom.

By this time, Chen Long had also drunk a lot, but as someone who's been in the social mix for years, this amount of alcohol hadn't yet gotten him drunk. Riding the strength of the drink, he hinted, "Brother Li, I know what you're worried about—it's just about status. The law prohibits them from engaging in profit-driven operations, but relatives aren't banned. When the time comes, your uncle can just invest a little. Besides, we're just taking you as our master. You teach us martial arts, we teach the students. You don't have to participate in the business, so it has nothing to do with you."

Clearly, he wasn't giving up on his earlier suggestion.

"Let me think about it a bit more."

Li Xiang understood Chen Long's intent. It was indeed a solution, but he knew his own situation well. What he practiced were all lethal techniques, no half-measures. Was it really appropriate to teach these to everyone?

Moreover, his current combat technique was only at a master level, merely comparable to someone who's practiced combat for more than ten years. He was far from founding his own school. Possibly, only by elevating both the Military and Police Combat Technique and Maga Skill to a grandmaster level could he reach that stage.

"Alright, Brother Li, consider it. We'll get the preliminary work ready first."

Li Xiang nodded. He was pleased to see this group finding legitimate work and stepping away from illegal activities, so he tacitly allowed it.

As the dinner was ending, Li Xiang had eaten enough, and he stood up to leave.

"Brother Li, want to go sing later?"

"No, you guys go have fun. I have something to do later this afternoon, so I'll be leaving first."

He needed to pick up some carpet later and then return to Jinghai, so he wasn't going to join them.

"Let me see you off."

Chen Long stood up and led Li Xiang towards the private lounge door. But before they could reach it, the door was suddenly slammed open with force.

Xiaoyong, with yellow-dyed hair and a head full of blood, stumbled in. Upon seeing Chen Long, he looked as if he'd found his savior, "Brother Long, save me."

"Xiaoyong, what happened?" Chen Long hurriedly went up, supporting Xiaoyong and inquiring about the situation.

Before Xiaoyong could answer, seven or eight suited thugs followed in, stopping abruptly as they saw the room full of people.

"Brother Long, they've got Meili."

"What's going on?"

Chen Long instantly sobered by three points at the sight, drawing on his years in the underworld. Those seven or eight men weren't to be trifled with.

These days, who's still wearing suits? They're outdated and old-fashioned.

But wearing a suit doesn't mean they can't be messed with.

Typically, situations like this go to two extremes: either they're real phonies, or they're genuinely formidable.

But judging by appearances, it's clear they're the genuinely formidable kind.

"Meili drank too much, and I accompanied her to the toilet. At the entrance, she accidentally threw up on someone. Before we could apologize, that guy kicked us down. Then his call summoned all these people from the adjacent room who, without a word, started beating us. I managed to escape to seek help."

While Xiaoyong was speaking, another group entered the doorway. The leader draped a black suit from one of the followers over his upper half; his lower half still soiled. He stormed in with a face full of fury, but upon seeing the non-mainstream look of everyone in the private room, he couldn't help but laugh angrily.

"No wonder you ran so fast; you were going to get reinforcements. Does it help? Just a bunch of riffraff!"

Meanwhile, Meili was being held up, seemingly unable to stand, with her hands on her stomach, a trail of blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, looking utterly disheveled.

"Friend, they're just kids and naive. I'll apologize on their behalf, and we will compensate for all your losses at standard rates."

Seeing the person in charge appear, Chen Long wanted to de-escalate the situation, turn a big problem into a small one, and handle it with money.

By this time, the commotion had finally drawn the hotel manager's attention. Recognizing who was causing the trouble, he hurried over, nodding and bowing to the other party, "Young Master Zhou, please calm down..."

"Get out of here; this is none of your concern."

"Alright."

The manager came quickly and left just as fast.

With the obstruction gone, Young Master Zhou mockingly said, "Kids acting foolish? Then I'll teach them some manners. Standard compensation, right? Fine, I'll give you a chance."

He gestured to a follower holding his coat and said, "This coat here is a new Prada commemorative edition I just bought, ¥110,000—compensate me."

A follower pinched his nose with one hand while holding the stained coat with the other, tossing it in front of Chen Long with disdain, "Take it, fork over the cash."

"¥110,000? You robbing us?"

"The coat isn't damaged, just needs a visit to the dry cleaners."

Everyone present was outraged upon hearing the price of the coat, thinking the man was trying to extort them, and began yelling.

"Bunch of country bumpkins, do you even know Prada? The price of just one of my shoes could buy all of your outfits. Don't you think it's odd that you, wearing bargain bin clothes, can afford to dine here? Surely it must be crowdfunded?"

Young Master Zhou unveiled everyone's dirty laundry with one sentence. And indeed, this meal was actually split among everyone.

One by one, they fell silent.

"Could it be I guessed right? You come here pretending to be wealthy without the means, trash, pah..."

"You..."

Shamed by Young Master Zhou's words, everyone's face flushed with anger. They had indeed pooled together money to show appreciation for Li Xiang. Now being slandered in such a manner, the hot-blooded youths couldn't bear it. Filled with a sense of injustice, they shouted, "Brother Long, I've had enough of this guy's act. We outnumber him; let's get Meili back."

"Yeah, get Meili back."

"Beat up this poser."

...

"What? Want to fight?"

"Bring it on, who's scared of who?"

"And you think you deserve to be called Brother Long?"

The two groups instantly squared up chest to chest, the atmosphere teetering on the edge of conflict.

A brawl was about to erupt.

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