Chapter 64: So Close They Could Share a Pair of Pants…

Xie Hong lay on the ground, dazed for a good half minute before he came to his senses. He clutched his chest and coughed violently, finding it extremely difficult to even speak.

“Cough, cough… Song, Song Shi, how dare you, how dare you hit me.”

It took Jiang Shi a while to realize what had happened. Since he had already hit him, he raised an eyebrow. “Weren’t you afraid of getting hit when you were running your mouth?”

“You… cough, cough…” Xie Hong propped himself up on the ground with both hands and glared at the group of people standing behind him. “What are you standing there for? Help me up!”

The two boys in front finally came back to their senses and hurriedly ran over to help Xie Hong up.

A dull pain throbbed in his chest. Xie Hong could even taste a hint of blood in his mouth. He swallowed and looked up towards Jiang Shi.

A tall boy he had never seen before stood behind him, his face expressionless, his eyes dark, just looking at him.

Xie Hong shivered under that gaze, and the pain in his chest intensified.

“I’m calling the police! You’re not getting away with this today!”

“Then call them.” Jiang Shi crossed his arms, unconcerned. “At most, I’ll be lectured by the police and then compensate you for your medical expenses. But you, if you call the police today, everyone will know about you getting beaten up by me tomorrow…” After saying that, he glanced behind Xie Hong and gave a very faint smile. “But, it seems everyone already knows.”

Xie Hong was about to gnaw his gums to pieces. He wanted to fight back, but with Cheng Ye standing there, tall and imposing, even though he hadn’t used much force, the muscles on his arms were so obvious.

That kick had given him psychological trauma. He didn’t dare, and neither did the people behind him. The two sides were at a standstill.

A few seconds later, Xie Hong shouted in a fit of rage, “Security! Where’s the manager! Are the people at this restaurant dead!”

The manager, who had been hiding in the crowd, hurriedly squeezed out. “Gentlemen, harmony brings wealth, harmony brings wealth. You see, this is a case of the great water dragon flooding the Dragon King’s temple. We’re a small business and really can’t afford the trouble.”

Xie Hong went up and kicked the manager. “I don’t have time to listen to your bullshit. I was beaten up in your restaurant. You have to give me an explanation.”

The manager was kicked back a step, but the smile on his face didn’t fade. He looked back and forth between the two sides, unable to discern their status, and was hesitant to make a decision.

A few seconds later, a security guard jogged over to his side and whispered something in his ear. The expression on the manager’s face changed.

He forced a smile at Xie Hong. “Rest assured, we will definitely give you a satisfactory explanation.”

After saying that, his face turned cold when he looked at Jiang Shi’s side. “These guests, isn’t it wrong to hit someone in public?”

Cheng Ye took a step forward, about to say something, but Jiang Shi pulled him back. He stood in front of Cheng Ye, his expression calm and composed. “Yes, we did hit someone, but he was rude first. We just couldn’t control our emotions and retaliated. But I also said, if you want to call the police, then call them. We’ll do whatever the police say.”

Xie Hong had been at odds with him for years. Now that he had been beaten, he already felt humiliated. If he called the police, wouldn’t that be admitting that he was inferior to Jiang Shi?

Jiang Shi was willing to bet that Xie Hong would rather be killed than call the police.

Xie Hong was indeed thinking the same thing, but he really couldn’t swallow this insult. He could only roar at the manager, “Throw them out! I don’t want to see them in this place for the rest of my life!”

The manager hesitated upon seeing this. Xie Hong saw it, and his face turned ferocious. “Do you know who my uncle is? Offend the Xie family, and I’ll make you suffer.”

The security guard leaned over to the manager again and whispered a few more words.

The manager’s expression changed again. He squeezed out a smile at Xie Hong. “Mr. Xie, is it? Rest assured, Xiangju Tower will definitely give you a satisfactory answer regarding such a vile incident.”

After saying that, he gave the security guard a look. The security guard understood and stood in front of Jiang Shi’s group. “Please leave.”

This blatant act of kicking out customers made Wang Zhuo feel a surge of nameless anger. “No, on what grounds? He was the one who provoked us first. Why are you asking us to leave? And we paid.”

A group of walk-in customers who had come in with a 60% discount. The manager wouldn’t bother with them too much. “A bunch of troublemakers. Call someone to throw them out. Oh, and have the front desk blacklist them. Xiangju Tower will not serve them in the future.”

Even a fool could see that the manager, seeing that Xie Hong was richer and had more status than them, was kicking them out without distinguishing right from wrong.

Wang Zhuo was about to go forward to argue when several security guards suddenly appeared and surrounded them. “Sorry, sirs, please leave.”

Only then did Xie Hong laugh. “Jiang Shi, weren’t you so proud just now? Show me how proud you can be now. You really think you’re a young master? Now you can’t even enter the door of Xiangju Tower. Aren’t you embarrassed?”

Cheng Ye took a step forward, and Jiang Shi quickly reached out and grabbed him.

The crowd around them was getting bigger. He frowned and said in a low voice, “Don’t.”

Cheng Ye clenched his fists. “He’s talking about you.”

“So what if he is? Are you going to beat him up again?”

Cheng Ye didn’t speak, his body tense.

Jiang Shi pulled him. “Alright, if we continue to make a scene, we’ll be in the wrong.”

The security guards were urging them. Liu Man, who had a short temper, was already pushing and shoving them. The gazes of the onlookers fell on them, and Jiang Shi felt his face burn.

Before, in the Song family, everything was about decency. At that time, his status wasn’t that great, but wherever he went, people would greet him respectfully and prepare everything for him. At the very least, he wouldn’t be publicly humiliated like today.

But none of this was his fault.

Jiang Shi’s hands, hanging at his sides, were clenched so tightly they turned white. Under Xie Hong’s provocative gaze, he closed his eyes.

The next second, a hat landed on his head.

Cheng Ye’s emotionless voice came from beside his ear.

“Let’s go.”

Jiang Shi’s fingertips trembled.

Cheng Ye pulled the brim of the hat down, his gaze sweeping over the manager, then Xie Hong. His gaze was calm, sweeping over everyone’s face as if to memorize them.

“Let’s go.”

Two buttons on Liu Man’s shirt had been pulled crooked by the security guards. His chest was red with anger. Hearing this, he paused. “Brother Cheng?”

He never would have thought that Cheng Ye would be the first to give in.

Cheng Ye didn’t say anything. He took Jiang Shi’s hand and led him to turn around. They had only taken three steps when a loud voice came from the crowd. “Make way, make way…”

The voice was very familiar. Jiang Shi looked up and saw a curly-haired head squeeze out of the crowd.

Zhang Chi grinned at Jiang Shi, struggled to get to his side, and with a bump of his hip, squeezed in between Cheng Ye and Jiang Shi.

He put his hand on Jiang Shi’s shoulder. When he turned his head again, the smile on his face was gone. “Xie Hong, it’s been a few days, and you’re spouting shit again? I’m very curious, if you don’t act like a bitch for a day, do you feel uncomfortable?”

“Zhang Chi…” Xie Hong’s face changed. “What are you doing here?”

Zhang Chi said, “Wherever my little baby Jiang Shi is, that’s where I am.”

This time, not only Xie Hong, but Cheng Ye next to Jiang Shi also changed his expression. Even the manager’s expression changed.

The manager didn’t know who Xie Hong was, but he knew Zhang Chi. The only heir of the Zhang family, who would be given the stars if he asked for the stars, and the moon if he asked for the moon. He really couldn’t understand how Zhang Chi knew this group of people. He could only smile obsequiously and step forward. “Young Master Zhang, I didn’t expect you to be eating here today…”

Zhang Chi pushed the manager’s face away with his hand and stood in front of Xie Hong with his hands on his hips. “Didn’t you say Jiang Shi hit you? I’m with him. Him hitting you is me hitting you. I’m hitting you. If you have the guts, hit back.”

He brought his fair face close to Xie Hong’s. “Come on, if you have the guts, hit me here.”

Even Huo Ji didn’t dare to provoke Zhang Chi easily. How would Xie Hong dare? If he dared to hit Zhang Chi today, his father would break his legs tomorrow.

He squeezed out a very ugly smile and took two steps back. “What are you joking about…”

“Who’s joking with you?” Zhang Chi said. “What kind of man are you, only daring to have the manager kick people out? If you have the guts, hit back. I’ll stand right here and not move. You hit me.”

Xie Hong’s face was ashen.

Zhang Chi sneered upon seeing this. “Apologize.”

“On what grounds?”

“On the grounds that my surname is Zhang. Don’t you like to use power to oppress people? If you don’t apologize today, then tomorrow you can only call your father to come to my house in person.”

Xie Hong’s face instantly became extremely ugly.

Zhang Chi raised his chin arrogantly at him.

The air was quiet as the two faced off in silence.

In the end, Xie Hong stood in front of Jiang Shi with a dark face and reluctantly lowered his head to say “sorry.”

Zhang Chi: “Hehe.”

Jiang Shi: “…”

After apologizing, Xie Hong ran away. The few classmates behind him looked at each other and also left.

“What an idiot.” Zhang Chi clapped his hands. “An idiot like that dares to trouble you. One day I’ll find someone to secretly put him in a sack and beat him up.”

He tilted his head, about to say something to Jiang Shi, when his peripheral vision caught the smiling manager. “Oh… and you. You’re fired.”

The smile on the manager’s face froze. “Young Master Zhang, listen to me…”

Zhang Chi couldn’t be bothered to listen to him. He dragged Jiang Shi away. “It’s not that I’m nagging you, but why didn’t you tell me you were coming to Jiangcheng? If I hadn’t been eating upstairs, heard there was a fight downstairs, and curiously came to join the fun, wouldn’t you have been bullied by them for nothing?”

Jiang Shi was dragged for several steps. Seeing that they were at the elevator door, he quickly stopped.

“Wait… my friends are still here.”

Zhang Chi turned his head and indeed saw several people standing behind Jiang Shi. And the boy he had just pushed aside was staring at his hand on Jiang Shi’s forearm. There was no expression on his face, but it made his heart inexplicably hairy.

He subconsciously let go of his hand, thinking that Jiang Shi’s new friend was quite fierce.

“You guys came here to eat?”

Jiang Shi “ummed” a response, somewhat helplessly. “I didn’t expect to have bad luck and run into Xie Hong.”

Most of the time, Zhang Chi was like a silly, sweet fool, cheerful and not at all awkward. “It just so happens that I’m alone too. Let me eat with you.” He waved his hand grandly. “My treat.”

Jiang Shi looked at Wang Zhuo, Wang Zhuo looked at Cheng Ye, so Jiang Shi looked at Cheng Ye.

From the moment Zhang Chi appeared until now, Cheng Ye hadn’t said a word.

Seeing his silence, Zhang Chi was also not happy. “Then they can eat. I’ll take you upstairs to eat.”

He pulled Jiang Shi to go, and Cheng Ye finally spoke. “Let’s eat together. Ask the waiter to add a chair.”

As long as there was food, Zhang Chi wasn’t picky. He squeezed next to Jiang Shi to sit, raised his hand to pour himself a drink, and chattered on. “I was planning to go find you in a couple of days. You don’t know, after the exam, I played for two days, and then it got so boring. My parents even wanted me to go traveling. It’s so boring to travel alone. Why don’t you come with me?”

Jiang Shi was used to his chatter. “No.”

“Why not?” Zhang Chi said.

“No money.”

Zhang Chi might not have other things, but when it came to money…

He became even more excited. “I have it! I’ll give it to you. How much do you want?”

Jiang Shi: “…”

Instantly, the way people at the table looked at him changed.

It was chilly on the side. Zhang Chi squeezed closer to Jiang Shi. “It’s so hot today. Do you feel a little cold?”

Jiang Shi was squeezed into a corner and couldn’t move. He looked up and saw Cheng Ye’s gloomy gaze. He paused, then pushed Zhang Chi. “Move over. You’re crowding your dad.”

Zhang Chi didn’t move. He raised his cup to cover the right half of his face in a self-deceiving manner. “Dad, who’s this next to me? He looks quite fierce.”

Jiang Shi was silent for a moment, then said, “Cheng Ye.”

“What!” Zhang Chi was shocked. “He’s the one…” He raised his voice, but seeing people looking over, he silently swallowed the rest of his words and whispered, “Damn, seeing is believing. Why is he like this?”

Jiang Shi thought, If not like this, then what kind of person is he?

Zhang Chi said, “He really lives up to his name. He looks quite wild.”

Jiang Shi said, “He can hear you.”

Zhang Chi: “…”

Zhang Chi turned his head abruptly. Cheng Ye was looking their way. Seeing him look over, Cheng Ye twitched the corner of his mouth, his pair of pitch-black eyes dark. “Thank you for just now.”

Meeting his gaze, Zhang Chi subconsciously felt a little hairy, but he still smiled. “You’re welcome. Jiang Shi and I are very close. I should be the one thanking you for taking care of him.”

He said, “Brother, do you remember me? We talked on the phone.”

“I remember,” Cheng Ye said emotionlessly. “Zhang Chi.”

Zhang Chi put down the cup in his hand. “Hey! Brother, you have a really good memory. I have to thank you for taking care of Jiang Shi when he was in that shithole. Otherwise, with his personality, I was really afraid others would bully him.”

“You’re welcome. It’s what I should do.”

“How can it be what you should do…” Zhang Chi said. “I know my dad best. Although we’re so close we could share a pair of pants, not many people can stand his personality.”

Jiang Shi: “…”

He looked up, and sure enough, Cheng Ye was looking at him. “Are you that close? So close you could share a pair of pants.”

“Not that close,” Zhang Chi said shyly. “I’m okay with wearing his pants. He probably wouldn’t be okay with it.”

Jiang Shi: “…”

My living dad, please stop talking.