Chapter 1253: Making a Mountain of a Molehill
Only now did Xia Yingluo understand what he was saying. She sneered. “Mr. Zhao, you’re minding too much.”
Li Rui was helping two girls peel their grapes; he was pretty thoughtful when he took care of others. At this point, he looked up at the two of them and asked Xia Yingluo with a smile, “Yingluo, who’s this nobody?”
“Who are you calling a nobody!” Pei Yan couldn’t tolerate that someone was insulting her fiancee.
But Li Rui didn’t give a hoot.
Xia Yingluo was in a better mood now and responded to her brother, “This is Zhao Yixuan.”
Hearing this name, Li Rui figured what exactly was going on. Since she was a child, his precious little sister had only dumped others, but no one had ever dumped her. Until she met this man. He’d hurt her so deeply and abandoned her so openly, turning her into the butt of a joke.
This Zhao Yixuan was really courting death.
“Zhao Yixuan?” He ignored the two other people and chided his sister. “I was wondering who it was. How did you fall for somebody so… underachieving? He has no looks, no substance, no good family background, even a pig has better judgment than you.”
“Yes, yes, I’m a pig.” Xia Yingluo did some self-reflection.
Pei Yan’s expression was awfully distorted. What did it mean to say that even a pig wouldn’t fall for Zhao Yixuan? They obviously implied that a rich Miss from the Pei family was inferior to a pig! Zhao Yixuan’s expression wasn’t any better, he hadn’t expected to be shamed so harshly!
He looked at Xia Yingluo, seemingly hurt. “Yingluo, I know that I have caused you a lot of hurt by choosing to be with Yan Yan, but you can’t degrade yourself this way either. Is it any good for two girls to accompany a man? Even if you’re out to anger me, you shouldn’t be treating yourself with so little respect.”
Out to anger him?
Xia Yingluo had not planned to bother about him, but he was going far overboard. Zhao Yixuan really thought too highly of himself.
She was about to say something when Li Rui stopped her.
With him around, how could he possibly allow a girl he brought out to be insulted by a jerk like this? He got up with a grin. “Mr. Zhao, am I right? Come a little closer.” He had a tall and imposing physique, and having been involved in the complexities of the secret societies for so many years, he was able to assert dominance just by standing up. He was an intimidating figure alright.
Zhao Yixuan was guarded. “Who are you?”
Li Rui was still smiling. “And you think you’re fit to ask?” The very next moment, he sent the cocktail he was holding onto Zhao Yixuan’s face!
“Ah!” Pei Yan screamed first. She tried to evade it, but it was too late—some of it spilled onto her body, dress, and her arms.
“Don’t you go too—!” He yelled. But before he was done, he felt his world spin, his feet leave the ground, and his body crash heavily onto the table opposite. The table flipped and the glass shattered all over the ground. People began backing off and screams could be heard. Zhao Yixuan felt a burning sting in his back. He wasn’t sure if there were glass shards lodged in his back, but he was having difficulty getting up.
Pei Yan took a while to react to the situation. She screamed, “Who are you to hurt someone else?! Security! Security!”
“This was for the two girls you disrespected.” Even in this chaos, the smile on Li Rui’s face was still intact. He took a few steps towards Pei Yan, forcing her to back off in a panic. “I forgot to say, I don’t have a habit of not hitting women. This slap—” With that, he gave Pei Yan a tight slap to the face. “is to teach you, the third party, a lesson for snatching Yingluo’s boyfriend. Although this silly girl has a horrible judgment for picking such a man, you don’t have the right to covet anything of hers, even her trash.”
Pei Yan had fallen to the ground from the impact and was now lying beside Zhao Yixuan. Her arms had been scratched by the glass shards on the floor, and she looked both pathetic and hilarious. “You actually hit me?!” She screamed and staggered to her feet, as if ready to fight Li Rui. “Do you know who I am?! I can make your family bankrupt!”
That was when the security officers arrived and held her back. “Everyone, stop moving! What’s going on?”
Li Rui was unfazed as he took a few steps back while shielding the two girls.
Pei Yan never really dared to fight Li Rui at all, actually. From his beatings, she could tell that he wasn’t anyone to offend, and she’d regretted it the moment she charged towards him. Fortunately, the security officers had arrived in time and given her a good reason to retreat. “He started the violence!” Pei Yan pointed at Li Rui. “Quick, arrest him and teach him a lesson!”
Security officers in the nightclubs and bars were all well-trained to size people up, and one look was all it took for them to know that Li Rui wasn’t one to offend. They asked politely, “Mister, how should we address you?”
Li Rui could tell that they were trying to figure out his background and status by asking that question, and hence, gave a casual smile. “I guess your bar over here is closing down soon? Why, I haven’t been here in just a few years and you don’t recognize me anymore? Where’s Scabby Qiang? Tell him his ancestor is back!”
The few security officers exchanged glances.
Scabby Qiang was the boss of this bar, and this was a nickname that his gang leader had given him when he was still a runner. But now that his business was this successful, no one dared to call him by his nickname anymore—everyone addressed him as Brother Qiang now. But this man actually knew him by his nickname “Scabby Qiang”, and addressed him by that; it showed just how powerful he must be.
They cautiously said to Li Rui, “Brother Qiang isn’t in tonight. Mister, could leave your name—”
Before the security officers were even done talking, Pei Yan was already screaming, “Why are you being so polite to him?! Hurry and chase him out! If you don’t, I’ll lodge a complaint! Let’s see if your bar is stronger, or if Imperial Entertainment’s Pei family is more powerful!”
Imperial Entertainment’s Pei family!
The few security officers were slightly skeptical. Everyone in City S knew of Imperial Entertainment and the Pei family. If this woman really was one of them, things were going to get complicated.
One of the security officers tried to weigh the situation before smiling at Li Rui in exasperation. “Mister, how about this, let’s all take a step back?”
Although Li Rui was able to name Scabby Qiang, his unwillingness to declare his identity made it all a little suspicious; who knew if he was just exaggerating things? The best they could hope for was for the parties involved to settle this and part ways amicably.
But Li Rui wasn’t going to let things go just yet. He sneered. “I brought an important person out with me today, but this adulterous pair ruined everything. If word goes out, it’s an embarrassment to me!”