Chapter 128: Chapter 27: Zhang Yan’s Phone Wallpaper Is a Bit Scary

The entrance to Hongmei Cottage was a bit noisy.

A large group of delinquent-looking youths blocked the doorway. One of the slightly older ones, a guy with dyed yellow hair, slammed his hand against the doorframe and shouted at the top of his lungs, "What kind of bullshit rule is this? It’s just having a meal, isn’t it? You’re really going to bar people from coming in? For a place doing business, you sure act high and mighty!"

"I am truly sorry, sir. Recently, our restaurant transitioned to a strict invite-only system for regular customers. We no longer accept..."

A young man dressed as a waiter tried his best to explain, but the other party had no intention of listening and interrupted impatiently, "Stop talking in circles! Big establishments might bully their customers, but a rundown little joint like yours is going to pull the same crap? Get your boss out here! Let’s see who’s in the right!"

The waiter looked helpless. It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought about calling the police, but this kind of thing had happened several times already, and calling the cops wouldn’t solve the root of the problem. These thugs never actually did anything extreme, nor did they cause any quantifiable property damage that could be used as evidence. Even if the cops showed up, they could only mediate between the two parties, and the matter would eventually be dropped. Furthermore, if they provoked these guys, they might leave on the surface, only to pull disgusting petty stunts behind the scenes. That would easily ruin the dining experience for their guests and destroy the restaurant’s reputation. They had indeed arrested a few groups in the past, but the hooligans would just be released after a brief detention. It was only a temporary fix.

Seeing the situation, Zhang Yan asked Xia Xiqing to wait where she was while he approached the scene alone.

"What’s going on?"

When the waiter saw Zhang Yan, an apologetic look immediately washed over his face. "Mr. Zhang, you’re here! The appetizers have already been served in your reserved private room. We can bring out the main dishes as soon as you take your seat."

The young waiter tried to push aside the ruffians blocking the door, but the difference in numbers was simply too great. His expression grew increasingly anxious.

"Why does he get to go in, but we can’t?! Everyone’s supposed to be equal nowadays, so why are you discriminating against us? My brothers and I are blocking this door today. No one is going in!" Seeing that a customer had finally arrived, the young punks clamored even more aggressively.

Actually, on his way over, Zhang Yan had already deduced the gist of the situation from their loud argument. It was blatantly obvious who was in the wrong. He walked straight up to the slightly older man and said, "Buddy, I want to go in and eat. You’re blocking the way."

"Do you own this path? You can walk here, but my brothers and I can’t? What law says that?!"

Zhang Yan knew that reasoning with people who were clearly looking for trouble was futile. The only reason he was trying to maintain a polite demeanor was because Xia Xiqing was watching quietly from a short distance away. He chuckled softly and changed the subject. "Buddy, how old do I look to you?"

The man froze. Obviously, Zhang Yan’s question was completely out of left field. But perhaps intimidated by Zhang Yan’s calm and confident aura, or perhaps because of his clothes that screamed "expensive" at first glance, the thug reined in a bit of his insolence. "You look like a college student."

"Close enough. Just graduated."

Just as the man was wondering what Zhang Yan meant by that, he watched as Zhang Yan fiddled with his phone and opened his mobile banking app right in front of him.

"This is my pocket money. Can you see it clearly?"

The man looked over in confusion, still having no idea what kind of game Zhang Yan was trying to pull. But one glance was all it took to shock him. "O-over five million?!"

At that moment, Zhang Yan’s two statements clicked together in his mind. A recently graduated college student with over five million in pocket money... This meant the guy was a very young, super-rich heir!

Right on cue, Zhang Yan pressed the lock button, displaying his permanent lock screen wallpaper. It was a diagram showing the exact financial compensation required for injuring various parts of the human body.

Little Yellow Hair swallowed hard, wondering what kind of normal person would use something like that as a wallpaper. It was then that he finally caught onto Zhang Yan’s underlying message: "I have plenty of money, and I’m young and hot-blooded. No matter what happens, I can afford to pay you off."

Satisfied that the other man had gotten a good look at his newly changed wallpaper, Zhang Yan tucked his phone away. "I’m going into this restaurant to have a meal now, and I prefer a quiet atmosphere. Do you understand what I mean?"

"Understood! It’s getting late, and the boys are probably hungry anyway. If they won’t let us into this dump, we’ll just go somewhere else. Let’s go!"

Although his lackeys didn’t know why they were suddenly retreating early, they were just doing a job for hire. Naturally, they followed their boss’s orders without question. In the blink of an eye, the crowd at the entrance completely dispersed.

Bullying the weak and fearing the strong—this was the perfect embodiment of that saying. A ruffian’s only leverage was the fact that you couldn’t do anything to them, or that they could easily endure whatever countermeasures you threw their way. The moment they ran into a real tough guy, these people usually ran faster than rabbits. After all, anyone with actual courage wouldn’t have sunk so low as to make a living by harassing others.

Seeing the incredibly troublesome thugs scattered by a mere wave of Zhang Yan’s hand, the young waiter’s face filled with gratitude. "Mr. Zhang, thank you so much!"

"It was nothing." Zhang Yan waved to Xia Xiqing in the distance, and the two of them entered Hongmei Cottage together.

In an alleyway not far from Hongmei Cottage.

For the past while, the petty thugs frequently harassing the restaurant had been orchestrated by Huo Shaoqi. After his failed attempts to woo Sister Mei, he had somehow come up with this cliché "hero saving the beauty" scheme. It had actually worked quite well at first. He had visibly improved his relationship with Sister Mei, but for some unknown reason, he couldn’t push their dynamic any further. As a result, he doubled down, instructing the thugs to cause increasingly severe disturbances in hopes of finally getting a breakthrough.

Figuring it was about time to make his grand entrance, Huo Shaoqi was just about to head over when the group of thugs he hired unexpectedly returned early.

He frowned. "What’s going on? It’s not time yet."

"Brother Huo, we ran into a tough guy! We had to pull back early!"

"A tough guy? Tougher than me?! The regular customers at Hongmei Cottage are upper-middle class at best! Where would a tough guy come from?!"

Huo Shaoqi was rather displeased. Spending money and failing to get the job done didn’t really matter to him; it was just a little pocket change. However, wasting his time was an offense that he absolutely had to get to the bottom of.

"Brother Huo, listen to me..."

Huo Shaoqi patiently listened to the end and fell into deep thought. Based on the thugs’ description—a recently graduated college student and a super-rich heir—he immediately thought of one person.

"Could it be Zhang Yan?"

Come to think of it, he was the one who had first brought Zhang Yan here for a small gathering. If Zhang Yan had also been conquered by the flavors here and become a regular, it would make perfect sense.

"Forget it, just get lost," he waved them off.

This batch of guys was useless now. He would have to find a new group, which was just another hassle.

Huo Shaoqi muttered to himself, "This Zhang Yan sure likes to meddle in other people’s business. Then again, I guess it’s my fault for not giving him a heads-up beforehand.

"I’ll go let him know in a bit and tell him not to interfere anymore.

"After all, I had his back at the banquet. I’m sure he’ll give me at least that much face."

Smoothing out his clothes, Huo Shaoqi also started walking toward Hongmei Cottage.

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