Chapter 250: His Face Turned Purple!

Li Dong's words struck a nerve with Feng Jinsong.

Glaring at Li Dong with resentment, Feng Jinsong said darkly, "Li Dong, this isn't a society of barbarians anymore!"

Li Dong glanced at him and replied coldly, "Get lost!"

Feng Jinsong's expression changed, and he gritted his teeth, "Don't mess with me! If I don't leave, are you really going to take action? Do you believe that a single call from me could land you in jail? You come from an ordinary family; getting into college isn't easy. If you end up with a criminal record and are expelled from school, think about the consequences for yourself!"

Feng Jinsong was also afraid that Li Dong, a ruffian, might actually act on his threats. He quickly tried to intimidate Li Dong with his words.

Li Dong sneered. Even after more than a year of college, this guy was still so childish.

Not wanting to waste more breath on him, Li Dong impatiently said, "Did you hear me? Get lost. Go wherever you want but stop hanging around in front of me!"

Li Dong couldn't even be bothered to get revenge on someone like Feng Jinsong. If he hadn't run into him today, he might have forgotten about him entirely.

Although Feng Jinsong had caused some trouble for Qin Yuhan back then, Li Dong had already dealt a blow to Feng's family-owned supermarket, causing them losses of hundreds of thousands. That debt was settled.

As for now, Feng Jinsong was simply not in the same league as Li Dong.

Despite Feng's family having some money in Dongping, it didn't amount to more than ten or twenty million. Feng Jinsong fancied himself the scion of the richest family in Dongping, but his vision was still too narrow.

Dongping may be small, but it had its share of wealthy people. If you truly wanted to show off wealth, there were at least fifty to eighty millionaires in Dongping. The Feng family was far from being the richest.

These days, wealthy people were all low-key. Most tycoons who started in the seventies and eighties had less-than-clean backgrounds.

Usually, people wouldn't flaunt their wealth unless necessary.

Hearing Li Dong's blunt remarks, Feng Jinsong's face turned red with anger.

With a fierce glare at Li Dong, Feng Jinsong said angrily, "I came with Yuan Xue. Do you think you have the right to make decisions here?"

Li Dong glanced at him, then looked at the silent Yuan Xue and asked, "You brought this guy with you?"

Hearing Li Dong refer to him as "this guy," Feng Jinsong was nearly livid.

Honestly, he was a bit intimidated by Li Dong. Although Li Dong didn't state it outright, Feng Jinsong chose to ignore it.

Seeing Li Dong's question, Yuan Xue glanced at him and then at Feng Jinsong before saying lightly, "I don't know him. We ran into each other on the way."

"Pfft!"

The others in the private room nearly burst into laughter. Yuan Xue's response was quite a blow.

Feng Jinsong's anger grew, his face turning purple.

Yes, he had come with Yuan Xue, but Yuan Xue hadn't explicitly asked him to come, and she even called out to him on the way here! In just a few minutes, to be directly dismissed as a stranger—Feng Jinsong felt like he had been slapped in the face!

Casting a resentful look at everyone in the private room, Feng Jinsong's disdain for Yuan Xue grew even more intense. He even hated her more than Li Dong. Today wasn't just a matter of losing face; it was as if someone had trampled on his dignity.

Without saying anything further, Feng Jinsong turned and left.

At this point, staying would only make him more embarrassed.

Once he left, the atmosphere in the private room became much livelier.

Li Dong raised his teacup and smiled at Yuan Xue, saying, "Let's toast with tea instead of wine. Here's to you, that was quite refreshing."

Yuan Xue snorted and replied coldly, "I don't drink tea."

Li Dong, somewhat speechless, said, "Come on, don't be so pretentious. It's freezing in winter; don't keep up a cold face. It's chilling just to look at."

Yuan Xue retorted, "You're the one being pretentious!"

"Fine, fine, I'm pretentious. Let's just clink glasses," Li Dong laughed, not arguing further, and raised his teacup to clink with Yuan Xue's.

Yuan Xue rolled her eyes in exasperation and ignored him.

Li Dong wasn't bothered by this; he was used to such expressions. He remembered how Yuan Xue had been cold for years in high school, and they still managed to get along.

Afterward, Wang Jie called in the waiter to order food and introduced Wu Mei to Yuan Xue.

Yuan Xue looked at Wu Mei with a complex expression. As a good friend of Chen Yue, Yuan Xue wasn't sure how to react to Wang Jie's new girlfriend. She wasn't sure how to approach the situation.

But Wang Jie wasn't at fault; after all, he and Chen Yue had broken up.

As for who was right or wrong, Yuan Xue wouldn't judge, but everyone has their own preferences. Yuan Xue chose to maintain a neutral attitude towards Wu Mei.

She would neither offend nor get too close—treating her as a stranger.

Wu Mei wasn't particularly concerned, and since Yuan Xue was also cold towards others, she didn't mind much.

Wang Jie and Li Dong noticed the subtle tension but chose not to bring it up.

After all, Wang Jie was in a relationship with Wu Mei, and Yuan Xue's relationship with Wu Mei didn't matter much as long as Yuan Xue didn't speak harshly.

The rest of the evening mostly involved Li Dong and Wang Jie chatting.

Yuan Xue and Wu Mei spoke little, responding only when asked.

After a few exchanges, Li Dong and Wang Jie stopped asking. It was too tiring to keep up the conversation.

When Wang Jie brought up opening an internet café, Yuan Xue interjected, "Internet cafés aren't great."

Wang Jie asked curiously, "What's wrong with them?"

"That's what Feng Jinsong mentioned earlier," Yuan Xue explained. "On the way here, Feng Jinsong said his father was working with others to develop the area where your internet café is located into a commercial street."

She added, "I saw his father inspecting the area with others."

The reason Feng Jinsong was with her was that he was accompanying his father who was touring the area around Jiejie Internet Café, and they happened to see Yuan Xue.

Yuan Xue already knew Wang Jie had an internet café in that area and had subtly gathered information from Feng Jinsong.

Otherwise, given her personality, she wouldn't have bothered with Feng Jinsong.

Li Dong had mentioned this news at noon, so Wang Jie was already aware and didn't show any surprise.

But Wu Mei was hearing this for the first time. She immediately grew anxious and asked, "Are they really demolishing the internet café?"

Yuan Xue nodded.

"When will it be demolished? Will there be compensation?" Wu Mei asked urgently.

Wang Jie had invested a lot of money and effort into the internet café. Wu Mei was concerned.

Demolition wasn't a problem as long as compensation was provided. Getting the investment back was fine.

But if there was no compensation and they were just evicted, it would be a huge loss.

Yuan Xue shook her head, "The demolition will probably happen after the New Year. As for compensation, I know the property owners will get compensation, but I'm not sure about the businesses."

Wu Mei grew even more anxious and turned to Wang Jie, "Ah Jie, is the demolition really happening?"

Wang Jie remained composed and said, "I'm aware of this situation and have it under control. Don't worry."

"But…"

"There's nothing to worry about. Don't you trust me?"

Seeing Wang Jie's confident demeanor, Wu Mei had no choice but to stop questioning, though she was still uneasy.

If there were significant losses, it would put their future together in jeopardy.

It wasn't that she was materialistic, but if Wang Jie faced major losses, her parents might not approve of their relationship.

No house, no car, and losing all their assets—would her parents let her follow Wang Jie into such a dire situation?

Li Dong, however, was more curious about Feng Jinsong's father developing a commercial street.

Although outsiders thought Feng's family had assets in the millions and was considered wealthy in Dongping, millions weren't a substantial amount in the real estate industry.

Even in a county like Dongping, developing a commercial street wasn't feasible with just a few million.

Li Dong calculated briefly that acquiring land and building would cost at least over a hundred million. Where did Feng's family get the money?

Yuan Xue shook her head again, "I'm not sure. Feng Jinsong mentioned it's a partnership, so they might own a share."

Li Dong thought for a moment and nodded, not asking further.

He suspected that the commercial street development in Dongping was likely being handled by an outsider. Outsiders typically sought local partners.

Feng's family had been established in Dongping for years and had connections with the local government, which could save a lot of effort and money.

Afterwards, they stopped discussing the internet café and Feng's family's finances.

If the demolition proceeded smoothly and compensation was provided, Wang Jie wouldn't face any significant problems. There was no point in overthinking it.

It was just over ten o'clock when everyone decided to leave.

When it came to footing the bill, Wang Jie was reluctant to let Li Dong pay and insisted on doing it himself.

Li Dong didn't argue. He knew Wang Jie's personality; letting him pay would make him feel better.

But Li Dong told Wang Jie that next time they met, he would cover the bill.

After leaving the hotel, the group dispersed.

Wang Jie and Wu Mei headed back to the internet café, while Li Dong was supposed to drive Yuan Xue back to the dormitory.

However, Yuan Xue decided to walk back alone.

Li Dong didn't insist. He wasn't sure how far Yuan Xue had gone with Qin Yuhan in their relationship, but it seemed unlikely they had done anything beyond holding hands. Yuan Xue's habit of walking back to the dormitory alone in the middle of the night wouldn't exist otherwise.

Seeing Yuan Xue off, Li Dong drove alone to the Kangping branch store.

When he arrived, Li Dong called Wang Ming and chatted for a while before heading to bed.

Since he didn't have much to do in the store during winter, Li Dong had been spending a lot of time there. Tonight was no exception.

His parents had been busy with the Spring Festival rush, and even though there were no major events happening in the store, there were still many small matters to attend to.

After reading for a while, Li Dong fell asleep.

The next day, he woke up early as usual.

The number of customers gradually increased as the end of the year approached, but it wasn't overwhelming.

His parents were in the store, and with the help of Wang Ming and his sister, Li Dong didn't need to stay around the entire time. After a simple breakfast, he decided to go check out the bookstore and see how the new comic section was doing.