Only Qin Jian’s plate of stir-fried noodles was eaten clean, leaving nothing behind, while his two subordinates barely managed to eat a few bites, suppressing their nausea. Time seemed to drag when waiting; the three, cramped in the small diner, had arrived early but waited the entire afternoon without seeing their awaited guest. The diner finally saw its rare peak of customers for the day, and the shopkeeper, having lost patience after the long wait, signaled for the three patrons who had graced his establishment all afternoon to settle their bill and leave. Sun Chen finally lost patience, suddenly standing up and slapping a stack of crisp new bills onto the table: “What’s all this fuss? I’ll take over this shop!” At that moment, a group of sweaty construction workers entered the diner, causing a ruckus. Sun Chen’s move with the money caught everyone’s attention, and they all shot unfriendly glances his way. “What? Isn’t this money enough or what?” Sun Chen spread the wad of cash out, glaring angrily at the shopkeeper. The eyes of the small restaurant owner lit up immediately. With just a glance, he had already estimated that there were at least fifteen or sixteen hundred-yuan bills spread out on the table. Holy cow, this short, chubby guy is really generous. A month of hard work wouldn’t earn him this much. This short, chubby guy must be out of his mind to want to rent out my entire restaurant. The owner hesitated for a moment before reaching out to grab the money on the table, but his hand was sharply hit by Sun Chen with chopsticks. Hold on! Sun Chen glanced around at the idle onlookers, the message clear: clear out the place before taking the money! The owner, with a bitter expression, apologized profusely to his regular customers. It was like a bride being carried away on her wedding day; this was the first time he had encountered such good fortune, and he was not about to let this cooked duck fly away. Fortunately, his regular customers were quite accommodating, showing curiosity mixed with excitement as they were ushered out, some even taking the opportunity to tease and half-jokingly demand a treat next time. The owner agreed eagerly, urging them to leave quickly, fearing that any delay might make the chubby fool change his mind and take back the money.
As the crowd was being ushered out by the restaurant owner, a voice suddenly rang out: “Boss, you’re in such a hurry to get rid of us, aren’t you worried he might be scamming you with counterfeit money?” The owner paused, realizing the point. The three men inside, scruffy in appearance, with nothing particularly wealthy about them except for their protruding bellies, did not look like affluent people at all. They had been in his shop all afternoon. Could they really be trying to dine and dash with a bunch of fake bills? Moreover, if they were truly wealthy, why would they bother to book out his rundown little restaurant?
Upon hearing the reminder, the owner without a second thought, dashed back to the table and quickly grabbed for the bills to check their authenticity. Sun Chen, furious, gripped his chopsticks tightly and stabbed at the owner’s hand. Unexpectedly, Ouyang Ce, who had been sitting calmly on the other side, suddenly went berserk, his foot swinging under the table aiming a vicious kick at the owner’s lower body.
Throughout this, Qin Jian, the boss of Marumi, maintained a calm demeanor, seemingly unaffected by the chaos around him. Even as his subordinates cursed the audacity of the man who had made them wait, even as the owner, overwhelmed by the sudden influx of regulars, tried to clear them out, and even when Sun Chen once again theatrically pulled out a wad of cash to throw around, Qin Jian just smiled, his gaze lost in some distant point. However, when Sun Chen and Ouyang Ce lost control and lashed out at the owner, his smile faltered momentarily, and his large hands, resting on his knees, subtly moved before returning to normal. Oddly enough, his smile then brightened, more radiant than ever.
Sun Chen, gripping his chopsticks like a wooden fork, aimed with a deep-seated grudge at the owner’s audacious hand. Ouyang Ce, with a deceptive air of kindness, was in fact the most sinister; his upper body appeared still, but his foot flew out towards the owner’s vital area. At that moment, the migrant workers who had followed the owner back to watch the commotion, upon seeing Sun Chen and Ouyang Ce’s aggressive moves, instinctively roared and rolled up their sleeves to intervene. Now they were convinced that these three, who had seemed similar in dress, were indeed swindlers trying to freeload.
When the owner thought the three were just dealing with some private business, he was ready to leave. But the reality was different; their familiar owner was being bullied right in front of them. That was too much! At the shout of the sharp-eyed worker, everyone reacted without a second thought, driven by instinct, they rushed towards the three.
