The sound of Zheng Yong being slapped reverberated loudly around the venue for everyone to hear. All the guests gathered around them, and they were immediately treated to a sentence from An Lin that had them even more stupefied.
“M-hm, when dealing with scum like this, it’s best not to use words when you can use actions!”
Everyone looked on in astonishment, some even felt An Lin’s words to be utterly absurd!
Was he crazy? Not only had he just beaten Zheng Yong, but he was also now verbally abusing him too?
What had happened? Did they miss something?
The two of them appeared to have been conversing amicably, why has a brawl suddenly broken out?
Even those who had been keeping an eye on the situation from the beginning were no better informed to explain the situation.
Xuanyuan Cheng fell silent upon hearing An Lin’s remark.
Slowly, he began to nod his head in agreement. “An Lin, what you just said… makes a lot of sense!”
Xu Xiaolan also looked at An Lin with a smile in her eyes but did not say anything.
The guests gathered around them all widened their eyes in surprise. Not only were the two of them not remorseful or apologetic in the least, but they were instead expressing their approval!?
Could it be that An Lin was not the only crazy one, but the three of them were actually all crazy too?
When Zheng Yong fell to the ground, tremors were running through his whole body. He gaped at An Lin blankly, completely dumbfounded by An Lin’s actions.
Ever since he was born, his status and identity had demanded fear and respect. No one has even dared to scold him, let alone assault him like this.
But now, An Lin had not only slapped him in front of all these people but was also labeling him as scum…
He had never been humiliated like this in his whole life! Rage sent tremors running through his body, but as the son of tonight’s host, he couldn’t just flare up recklessly in rage.
Lin Wuhua looked at An Lin, a worrisome expression on her face.
Meanwhile, Gao Peng was absolutely ecstatic. The situation had developed beyond his expectations, but it appeared as if the end result could only spell more trouble for An Lin. The impending doom awaiting An Lin triggered a twisted sense of joy within him.
Soon, a slightly chubby man squeezed into the scene.
“What happened? Why has everyone gathered here?”
Everyone’s expressions took another drastic turn as they saw who the new arrival was. The son had just got bashed, so now the father was also here!
The newcomer to the scene was none other than Zheng Hongyi, Zheng Yong’s father, as well as the leader of the Zheng family clan, the largest family clan in the southwest.
Some of the guests had already begun to shake their heads and sigh with sympathy, seemingly already able to foresee the tragic fate awaiting An Lin and his friends.
Zheng Hongyi looked at Zheng Yong, slumped on the ground, his face swollen to the extent that it resembled a pig’s head. Then he turned his gaze upon An Lin’s trio, before falling into an involuntary daze, unable to grasp what had transpired.
An Lin lightly swirled the wine glass in his hand, the wine in the glass appearing particularly vibrant under the lights.
“Discipline your son properly, tell him to stop screwing people with drugged wine in the future…”
Zheng Hongyi listened to An Lin’s remark, then looked at the glass of wine in his hand.
Cunning as he was, he immediately had a rough grasp of the sequence of events that had transpired.
He took a deep breath, before making his way toward Zheng Yong with his head lowered.
“Father…” An expression of fear appeared on Zheng Yong’s face.
Slap!
Another loud slap reverberated through the venue as Zheng Hongyi held his hand up high, his whole body trembling with rage.
But that was not all, as Zheng Hongyi continued to rain down punches and kicks on Zheng Yong even as he cowered on the ground. “You dumb f*ck, do you know what you’ve done? You better learn a f*cking lesson from this and repent for your actions.”
Zheng Hongyi let loose a torrent of abuse as he continued to rain blow after blow upon Zheng Yong.
He knew that the more severely he punished his son, the greater of a chance his son had of being allowed to live.
This scene left all the guests completely dumbfounded.
Some even began to rub their eyes, fearing that their vision was failing them.
My God! Has Zheng Hongyi gone crazy too?
Those three people just bashed your son, shouldn’t you be teaching them a lesson? Why have you turned on your own son instead?
Zheng Hongyi was not acting this time, his blows rained upon Zheng Yong, each blow creating a muffled thump, audible even to the surrounding guests.
After a while, Zheng Hongyi seemed to run out of energy. He turned to his housekeeper and roared: “Liu, drag this disobedient trash outside and continue. Keep going until both his legs are broken!”
The housekeeper stared at Zheng Hongyi with a blank expression, at a loss for what to do.
“Hurry up!” Zheng Hongyi roared again.
Zheng Hongyi’s yell startled Housekeeper Liu out of his daze and he hurriedly called for the security guards to carry Zheng Yong away, who was by now battered and bruised all over his body.
“Mr. Zheng, I hope that you weren’t kidding when you said ‘until both his legs are broken’.”
A tall, slim woman in a black evening dress walked into the scene, a cold expression on her face. The words just then had been uttered by none other than her.
This woman was Huang Shanshan, who had accompanied Zheng Hongyi in getting here.
Huang Shanshan had also noticed that there was something amiss about the glass of wine in An Lin’s hand.
The drugs in the wine could fool the average person, but it was obvious for any cultivator with a certain level of cultivation base.
“You need not worry about that, I deliver on what I promise!”
Zheng Hongyi replied with a determined expression on his face, before making his way toward An Lin and his friends and bowing in apology. “I am truly sorry, it is my failings as a father that has resulted in my son’s actions. Respected envoys, are you satisfied with my treatment of the matter?”
An Lin nodded. “Yeah, it was so-so. Tell your son to restrain himself in the future, otherwise next time, it’ll be his third leg that gets broken…”
An Lin was, of course, aware of Zheng Yong’s intentions.
To drug Xu Xiaolan?
Even though it was impossible for Zheng Yong to succeed, even the mere thought of it was intolerable to An Lin.
It was only because of Zheng Hongyi that An Lin did not punish Zheng Yong more severely.
Zheng Hongyi tremored in excitement and relief, as he knew that his son’s survival was ensured for now. “You have a heart of gold, respected envoy, I am forever indebted to you for your kindness!”
All the guests at the scene were wondering to themselves if they were in a dream.
Someone had just bashed his son, and not only did he continue to beat his own son, but he also expressed his gratitude to the perpetrators immediately afterward…
Gao Peng had also been scared sh*tless, his legs almost giving out from under him.
What had just happened? He was completely at a loss!
Amongst the guests, some were still in a state of confusion, whereas some shrewd individuals had quickly grasped the situation.
An Lin mentioned ‘screwing people over with fake wine’, this appeared to be the key instigator of this incident, as there was most likely a problem with Zheng Yong’s wine.
The fuss that Zheng Hongyi caused upon discovering the drugged wine, as well as his referring to An Lin’s trio as special envoys all hinted toward the fact that the three had very special identities.
Perhaps… they were the people that Zheng Hongyi wanted to introduce to everyone tonight.
Sure enough, having taken care of Zheng Yong, Zheng Hongyi made a grand introduction for An Lin, Xuanyuan Cheng and Xu Xiaolan to all the guests present.
The identity of the trio was said to be central special envoys specializing in the investigation of paranormal events.
The guests present were all a little confused at what this identity entailed.
However, there was no confusion in interpreting the top-secret documents Huang Shanshan brought out immediately afterward.
There was one clause in the document: “Upon seeing this document, all government officials in the southwest region must do their best to assist the special envoys in completing their mission.”
After seeing the document, all the guests turned their astonished gazes upon An Lin’s trio.
The scope of the document was such that it was effective even to the provincial party secretary.
Assuming the document was, in fact, authentic, then the identity and background of An Lin’s trio was simply unimaginable!
The guests at the ball had finally begun to understand the reason behind Zheng Hongyi’s handling of tonight’s incident.
His seemingly unreasonable actions could now also be explained.
Gao Peng stood rooted to the spot, his gaze transfixed on the document.
Never would he have thought that the purpose of this ball was simply to better accommodate the completion of the mission assigned to An Lin’s trio.
All these important characters of the southwest region, turns out that they were only the support cast to An Lin’s trio!
Gao Peng seriously felt like he was about to go crazy.
And to think that he was taunting and plotting in secret against someone like this, did he want to die!?
Lin Wuhua was in even more of a daze. Only a year ago, she and An Lin were still both students at Hua Qing University. Wasn’t he forced to withdraw due to excessive debt? How had he now transformed into a central special envoy?
To be able to garner the cooperation of all the important characters of the southwest region, just how much power would that require?
Lin Wuhua now felt that Xu Xiaolan’s words couldn’t ring truer, she really was blind. Turning her gaze upon Gao Peng, who had, at this point, pretty much gone crazy, then looking at An Lin, confidently mingling and conversing with the guests in the crowd, a deep sense of regret welled up in her heart.
However, in the end, all she could do was breath a silent and forlorn sigh.
Even if she were given the choice again, if she did not know what she now knew, she’d probably make the same decision anyway…
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