Lo and behold, Zhou Tianhao let out a peal of laughter.
"You said I'm committing something illegal, right?"
The smirk on his face suddenly disappeared and he said in an icy tone, "I have changed my mind. The rest can leave, but you will stay with the other two and drink with me as well."
He was referring to Jiang Churan and Xu Rongfei apart from Zhang Yumeng.
The two girls had caught his attention ever since they entered the room. One of them was elegant and innocent, while the other was tall and fit; both of them were extraordinarily pretty. They were even more attractive than the top girls working for Sister Rouge and were on par with the girl in a white qipao. Above all, they were young and fresh. He had been eyeing them for a while, waiting for his opportunity.
"Brother Hao, I apologize on behalf of my girlfriend. She's not very sensible. Please let her go, for the sake of my father," Yang Chao hurriedly gave a sycophant smile.
"Your father? Why don't you ask him if I should give you a pass?"
Zhou Tianhao slammed the wine cup hard on the floor, and shouted, "I told you to get out of my face! So shut up and fuck off!
"Otherwise, no one lives tonight!"
The shattering of the wine glass startled the girls. They had never seen anyone so angry before.
One of the attractive rich girls tugged the elbow of her boyfriend and muttered, "Hey, maybe we should leave."
It was evident that many had started to waver.
They were friends only when they were having a good time; none of them was willing to stand up for the two girls when faced with a crisis such as this. Although they called each other brothers and sisters, it was only lip service and their relationship was skindeep.
In addition, since Zhang Yumeng and the other girls were all from wealthy families, they wagered that Zhou Tianhao wouldn't really harm them anyway.
"Hey little bird, we are only asking you to share a few cups of wine with Brother Hao. Don't worry, he won't bite." Sister Rouge poured a cup of Chateau Latour 1961. One barrel of this vintage would cost over 130,000 British pounds.
She nodded at A'Biao and A'Biao acknowledged by nodding and came up to the three girls.
Zhang Yumeng's face paled as fear finally set in. She backed away, trying to hide behind her boyfriend.
Yang Chao plastered on a smile as he apologized desperately. However, he didn't dare to stop A'Biao.
He had heard about Zhou Tianhao's power and influence many times from his dad. Although his dad was a reputable business man and owned a sizable hotel, Zhou Tianhao's benefactor was much more powerful than that of Yang Chao's father. He had the support of big wigs in the city hall. If he really pissed Zhou Tianhao off, the matter could end violently. If Yang Chao's father was here, they might still be able to get away with it, but Yang Chao was just a teenage boy and he was no match against Zhou Tianhao.
Jiang Churan's face hardened, and she knew she had got herself into a hot mess.
However, she was not afraid.
Jiang Churan's father, Jiang Haishan, was near the center of power at Chu Zhou City. She doubted that Zhou Tianhao dared harm her. However, she wagered that he wouldn't let her get away easily, either.
Even as Zhou Tianhao's bodyguard was about to fetch the girls for his boss, someone put a hand in front of him, stopping him cold in the track.
Everyone was surprised by the turn of the event.
They watched as Chen Fan stood beside Jiang Churan and Xu Rongfei, one hand in the pocket and the other reached out, blocking the bodyguard. He turned his head over his shoulder and said to Zhou Tianhao, "Mister Zhou, they are both my friends. Give me some face, and let them go."
"Are you crazy?" Jiang Chuan poked Chen Fan's back and whispered.
It could have been a simple, although unpleasant matter. She would sit down with these disguising old men, have a few drinks with them and endure some uncouth banter and then they should be on their way home. However, Chen Fan's involvement would muddy the water beyond saving.
"Oh? Who are you? Why should I give you face?" Zhou Tianhao asked coldly. His patience was wearing thin. First, one of his guests was beaten up by them, and now a kid dared to talk to him as if he was his equal. It was as if no one took him seriously any longer.
"Who am I?" Chen Fan pitched his head to a side and pondered for a while:
"I am someone you don't want to mess with."
The boys and girls could only stare at Chen Fan. Most of them were convinced that Chen Fan had one too many at the bar.
"For fuck sake! He is going to get us all killed!" Yang Chao was shocked by Chen Fan's folly. He knew he shouldn't have brought him with them to the KTV.
He was truly frightened by how quickly the situation had escalated. This whole mess wasn't that much of a big deal until Chen Fan rose up to challenge Zhou Tianhao.
Ding Junfei's legs started to tremble; he could not imagine what Zhou Tianhao would do to them next.
"Ha ha ha ha!" Zhou Tianhao laughed out loud. "I can't afford to mess with you?"
He smiled and pointed at Chen Fan; his words were laced with conceit.
"It's over." Knowing the situation was out of control, Jiang Churan shut her eyes as if she was too afraid to see what was going to happen next.
"That, idiot! Even Yang Chao couldn't confront Zhou Tianhao directly. Why would he intervene? It is not the time to play hero. He would only bring all of us more trouble."
Xu Rongfei's face turned pale. She nudged Jiang Churan and urged: "What should we do? We need to save him!"
"How? Zhou Tianhao might not harm us because of my dad, but Chen Fan had no family in the city. Plus, he had openly spoken up against Zhou Tianhao. He wouldn't let that slide easily." "Jiang Churan said." "We are so very fucked!"
The bodyguard named A-Biao shouted at Chen Fan, "Kid, you have asked for this!" Then he threw a punch at Chen Fan with an arm that was thicker than Chen Fan's thighs. His fist wheezed across the air and aimed squarely at Chen Fan's chest. If this punch stroke home, Chen Fan would break at least a few ribs
Faces behind Chen Fan turned paled, seeing the sudden attack. Many young teenagers stood back to get out of harm's way.
Xu Rongfei screamed, "Get away!"
To her surprise, Chen Fan turned around and gave her a mischievous smile. "Don't worry. He is just a piece of cake."
He reached out one hand and stopped A-Biao's punch cold in its tracks.
Chen Fan then landed a solid kick on A-Biao, sending the bodyguard flying back.
Under the watch of many incredulous eyes, A-Biao's body flew back half a dozen meters and slammed to the ground right in front of Zhou Tianhao.
"A-Biao, Are you alright?" Zhou Tianhao pulled a tout face.
A-Biao felt that he was hit by a motorcycle, and the impact had shifted his innards. Suddenly, a powerful wave of pain shot through his body as he spat out a mouthful of blood.
"He-he actually beat that guy up?" Zhang Yumeng's eyes were wide open in disbelief as if she had just seen a ghost.
During her brief encounter with Chen Fan, not only she could find nothing extraordinary about this boy, but she was also convinced that he would be forever living at the bottom of the society for the rest of his life. However, it appeared that she was wrong.
It was such a dramatic turn of events that it was as if a TV show was playing out in front of her.
Yang Chao was also at a loss. The thought of Chen Fan retaliating against him for his previous humiliation gave him the jitters.
Chen Fan closed in onto Zhou Tianhao slowly and then sat right in front of him.
"I hope that was convincing enough for you?"
The room suddenly became pin-drop quiet.
Zhou Tianhao looked at the boy as anger and fear roiled inside him.
He was a shrewd businessman, and therefore he didn't let his feelings show on his face, "Yes, I agree that you are quite a fighter. But you might want to ask around what had happened last time when a martial artist got on my nerves. He is still in jail. We are living in a civilized society now; you can't scare people with muscles. One phone call to my lawyer will put you behind bars for the rest of your life!" A smug smile surfaced on his face as he rolled back into the sofa.
"What did you say?" Chen Fan grunted as he furrowed his brows again. His patience was wearing thin.
"Let them leave, and I will stay here; we have lots to talk about." Chen Fan said thinly.
Chen Fan planned to get Jiang Churan and others out of here first before he solved the problem the old fashion way.
Zhou Tianhao studied Chen Fan's face for a second and then glanced over his shoulder at the group of teenagers.
"Sure, why not. Rouge, let them get the fuck out of my face. While you… like you said, we have LOTS to talk about."
Yang Chao heaved a sigh of relief and got out of the room as quickly as they could.
The situation was beyond their control; the best they could hope for was not to suffer any collateral damage.
Xu Rongfei did not want to go, but she was dragged away by Zhang Yumeng.
Jiang Churan was the last to leave the room. She graced Chen Fan with a concerned glance before she disappeared behind the door. She reckoned that the boy was not at all who she thought he was.
"No wonder he looked so relaxed. But I hope he realized that Zhou Tianhao wouldn't so easily succumb to brute forces alone."
Nonetheless, she reckoned that she could only be a hindrance rather than help to Chen Fan if she stayed. Despite her concern and guilt, she followed her friends out of the room.
It wasn't until Chen Fan saw that everyone had left the room he finally heaved a sigh of relief. He didn't want Jiang Churan and Xu Rongzhen to get involved in this; one was Auntie Tang's daughter who he had promised to protect, and the other was a lover of his past life.
Chen Fan plastered a smile on his face and was about to use a spell to scare Zhou Tianhao, when his cell phone rang.