Chapter Eight: Shangguan Yang

Jianghai City, inside an upscale restaurant.

Xiao Ye was dining with Old Madam Li and Qin Xue’er. To avoid disturbances from others, he had simply booked the entire venue.

“Sir, what would you like to eat? Here is today’s menu,” a sharply dressed waiter said, handing the elegantly bound menu to Xiao Ye.

But Xiao Ye waved his hand, indicating that Old Madam Li and Qin Xue’er should look instead.

Having spent so many days in a pigsty, Old Madam Li’s eyes lit up at the sight of the menu. She looked as if she could devour everything listed.

Soon, dish after dish was brought out, piling high across the table.

“Xue’er, open your mouth,” Xiao Ye said gently, offering Qin Xue’er a piece of pork with his fork.

Yet she did not even part her lips. Xiao Ye looked at her in confusion.

He saw her eyes fixed on the meat, a trace of terror flickering in their depths.

Because of what had happened before, Qin Xue’er now felt only boundless fear at the sight of pork.

Seeing her reaction, Xiao Ye silently withdrew the fork, a sharp pain stabbing at his heart.

Then, he had all the meat dishes removed from the table and replaced with an array of vegetables. Only then did Qin Xue’er open her mouth to eat.

This scene filled Xiao Ye with sorrow.

...

To discover what Qin Xue’er liked, Xiao Ye ordered everything on the menu. Aside from meat, she could barely stomach a little seafood.

At least this way, he thought, her frail body would still get some nutrition.

As the three quietly ate, a sudden commotion erupted at the restaurant entrance.

“Who the hell booked out the whole place? Don’t you know this is where I eat?” a brash male voice bellowed as a man and woman strode in from outside. The man’s demeanor was thoroughly arrogant.

The woman at his side was heavily made-up and provocatively dressed.

“Young Master Shangguan, you really can’t go in!” a waiter pleaded.

“Get lost! I’d like to see who dares stop me!” Shangguan Yang cursed at the waitstaff, then glared into the restaurant itself.

At the sight of his face, Xiao Ye’s expression turned icy.

This was one of the very people who had orchestrated the downfall of the Xiao family—Shangguan Yang!

“Outsiders, leave at once!” Chi Long, his face cold, stood up, ready to throw Shangguan Yang out.

“Wait,” Xiao Ye suddenly raised his hand, stopping him.

Chi Long’s gaze, brimming with murderous intent, swept past Shangguan Yang. Had Xiao Ye not intervened, Shangguan Yang would already be a cold corpse.

Shangguan Yang looked surprised to hear Xiao Ye speak, then sneered, “Well, well, if it isn’t the stray dog from the Xiao family!”

His eyes flicked to Qin Xue’er and Old Madam Li, and though his pupils widened slightly, he only nodded with a mocking smile.

“So, it’s a gathering of stray dogs today. Maybe the slop buckets in the back are more suitable for you lot!” he jeered, bursting into raucous laughter.

Chi Long’s face became even colder; his eyes were void of warmth, and he was ready to kill.

But next to him, Xiao Ye pressed a firm, expressionless hand to his shoulder, holding him back.

Xiao Ye’s hatred for Shangguan Yang ran deep.

Back then, in order to save her son, his mother had knelt before Shangguan Yang, begging him to spare her child.

If not for her desperate efforts to send Xiao Ye away, there would be no King of a foreign surname today.

“I remember now, Xiao Ye. Your mother begged me like a dog to spare your life!” Shangguan Yang sneered.

“You’re alive and eating today—you should be thanking me for that!”

A mocking smile curled Shangguan Yang’s lips. Seeing Xiao Ye again did not inspire the slightest fear in him.

He was the eldest son of the Shangguan family, now one of the four great families of Jianghai. Why would he fear a stray?

Xiao Ye’s eyes narrowed, the anger within them intensifying with every word.

“What are you staring at? Am I wrong?” Shangguan Yang taunted. “I’ll give you a chance, for old times’ sake. Get lost before you ruin my meal!”

He waved dismissively, impatience written all over his face.

Suppressing his fury, Xiao Ye spat out two icy words: “Apologize.”

Shangguan Yang was stunned, disbelief flashing across his features, then suddenly burst out laughing.

“Xiao Ye, five years have passed, and you’re even more amusing than before!”

He laughed so hard he doubled over, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes as he continued to mock Xiao Ye.

After thirty seconds, Shangguan Yang finally regained his composure, eyes full of disdain.

Now that the Shangguan family was among Jianghai’s elite, he would sooner dream than apologize.

At that moment, the woman beside him, growing impatient, sneered, “Yang, hurry up and throw these people out—especially that ugly woman! I can’t even eat looking at her!”

Qin Xue’er trembled violently at the woman’s words.

Those three words—ugly woman—stabbed deep into her heart.

Once, she had been the celebrated beauty of Jianghai City. When had she ever been called ugly?

“Xiao Ye, are you deaf? My girlfriend told you to get out!” Shangguan Yang’s arrogance grew. Seeing Xiao Ye unmoved, he pulled several red bills from his wallet, preparing to toss them their way.

But in the next instant, Xiao Ye was suddenly before him.

Shangguan Yang was still oblivious to what had happened at the Tianxuan Hotel.

Then, with a leer, Shangguan Yang openly groped the woman at his side.

She squirmed with delight, sending a taunting look at Qin Xue’er. “Oh, Yang, how could you compare me to that ugly thing? Does she even deserve it?”

But before she finished, a cold flash swept past her face. She felt a burning pain across her cheek.

When she touched her face, her hand came away bloodied—there was a fresh cut running from her chin up to her forehead.

“Ah! Yang, my face!”

Clutching her wound, she screamed hysterically. The gash ran all the way from her chin to her brow.

Xiao Ye, gripping a steak knife, said coldly, “Now it seems you’re far uglier than my wife.”

No one in the world would ever be allowed to insult his wife’s appearance again. Xiao Ye vowed in his heart that Qin Xue’er would never suffer another slight.

“Xiao Ye, you bastard!” Shangguan Yang’s features twisted with rage.

“How dare you lay a hand on my woman? I’ll kill you!”

He snatched a steak knife from a nearby table and lunged at Xiao Ye.

But Xiao Ye simply raised his hand, and in a blur, the knife was wrested from Shangguan Yang’s grip.

With a sickening sound, Xiao Ye drove the blade deep into Shangguan Yang’s calf.

“Aaah!” The sudden agony tore a howl from Shangguan Yang’s lips, and his right leg buckled, forcing him to kneel before Xiao Ye.

“Xiao Ye, what did you do?!” he bellowed, unable to comprehend how Xiao Ye had struck.

But even as he stared in shock, another knife flashed from Xiao Ye’s hand, burying itself in Shangguan Yang’s other calf.

Bang!

The fresh pain sent Shangguan Yang crashing to both knees before Xiao Ye.