But Liu Cha was not alone in the room. There was another fellow, whom Yang Ce had seen at Su Ya's concert; one of his underlings had even tried to sell him scalped tickets back then. According to Bao Lin, this was the son of that Vice President Qu of Mingyang Entertainment.

What were these two cooking up together? Still, to say Liu Cha was acting on his own nerve might be giving him too much credit. The son of Vice President Qu was plainly no good either; put the two of them together, each egging the other on, and there was nothing they wouldn't dare.

Inside the room, the ferocious brute walked in and said respectfully to Liu Cha and the young man, "Brother Cha, Brother Cai, we've brought them."

"Then bring them in," said the young man called Brother Cai—Qu Cai, in fact, the son of Vice President Qu of Mingyang Entertainment, and a classmate of Liu Cha's besides; the two were on good terms. "I want to see just what this girl who's got you so besotted looks like."

"But Brother Cai, when the elevator stopped on the second floor, a man and a woman barged in by accident," the ferocious brute said cautiously.

"So what if it's a man and a woman? Just throw them out." Before the brute could finish, Liu Cha waved him off impatiently. "Hurry up and bring them in. I'm losing patience."

"Brother Cha, the thing is, those two know Shen Hua. They're making a fuss, demanding we let Shen Hua go. When we refused, they said they wanted to talk to you," the ferocious brute explained.

"Idiots. Just beat them and chase them off." Liu Cha did not take it seriously at all and spoke with open irritation.

"But they said they'd call the police. I had no choice but to grab them first," the ferocious brute said.

"Wait—bring them in and let me have a look," Qu Cai said. He was more cautious than Liu Cha, and he gave the ferocious brute his instructions.

The ferocious brute nodded and went out. Liu Cha, however, said dismissively to Qu Cai, "Qu Cai, what do you care about those two for? Better to think of a way to help me settle Shen Hua."

"Don't worry. Today I guarantee you'll have Shen Hua beneath you." Qu Cai spoke with full confidence, but the corner of his mouth curved into a cold, grim smile.

"I'm just impatient, that's all," Liu Cha said with a dry, sheepish laugh.

"I'm doing this for your sake too—I don't want any complications. Didn't you hear them say they'd call the police? If they do, your little scheme goes up in smoke," Qu Cai said.

"You really do think of everything," Liu Cha said with a placating nod.

Of course, every word and every expression of their exchange fell within Yang Juehuan's view; Yang Ce saw it all clearly, and he found it strange. This Qu Cai plainly did not seem to be genuinely helping Liu Cha—more like he meant to do him harm. But with Liu Cha's intelligence, it seemed unlikely he would ever notice.

The rest Yang Ce could more or less piece together. Liu Cha had not given up on Shen Hua, and had probably poured out his woes to Qu Cai, who had then supplied him with this rotten scheme: have Shen Hua abducted and take her by force.

By this time the ferocious brute had come back out. Seeing Yang Ce and the others still standing there obediently, he relaxed and said to the other two, "Take them in."

"Move." The buck-toothed brute and the silent one shoved Yang Ce and the others into the room. Yang Ce greeted them with careless cheer: "Ha, what a coincidence—we meet again."

Liu Cha and Qu Cai visibly started at the sight of Yang Ce. Even Qu Cai had not expected to run into him here.

Seeing Yang Ce's casual manner, the buck-toothed brute flew into a rage and stepped up to cuff him on the back of the head. But before his hand could even touch Yang Juehuan's body, he felt a sudden burst of pain in his belly; a tremendous force came surging through and sent him flying.

Yang Juehuan stood rooted to the spot, as though he had not moved at all. The buck-toothed brute had not even seen which leg Yang Ce had kicked him with, and terror seized him. He was a veteran of many brawls and knew full well the weight of that blow.

A backward kick carried far less force than one delivered straight on, and its aim was not nearly so true—yet Yang Jiyan had done it in one seamless motion, without the slightest drag or hesitation, and sent him flying with ease.

Seeing Yang Ce kick the buck-toothed brute across the room, the other two brutes immediately made to strike, but Qu Cai's expression changed and he hastily called them off: "Stop!"

At Qu Cai's word the two brutes checked their hands, though they were by no means certain they could take Yang Juehuan in a fight.

"Brother Yang! A misunderstanding—haha, nothing but a misunderstanding." Qu Cai came forward as though nothing had happened, all smiles, and clasped Yang Juehuan's hand, full of fussy concern.

Yang Jiyan gave a cold laugh. "So it's a misunderstanding that you tried to grab my brother's girlfriend too, is it?"

This Qu Cai fellow gave Yang Ce a headache, and for the moment he had no good way to deal with him. After the concert, Yang Ce had made inquiries through Bao Lin, and learned that Vice President Qu was one of Bao Lin's old-timers, and moreover was related by blood to Zhai Lei, so Yang Ce had let the matter of his responsibility drop at the time.

And this Qu Cai was his son. No matter what was said, if Yang Ce meant to move against Vice President Qu, he would have to pick the right moment; otherwise he might well chill the hearts of a whole crowd of veterans, and put Bao Lin in an awkward spot besides.

But this time it was a chance to teach Vice President Qu a lesson, and it all depended on how this Qu Cai played it. From the look of things now, though, Qu Cai had clearly changed his plan and was preparing to back down.

He had looked into Vice President Qu and Qu Cai himself, and Qu Cai would surely look into him in turn. After all, he had cut a bit of a figure at Shu Ya's concert, and his identity was no great secret—a little digging would turn it up.

Qu Cai must have learned who he was by now, which was why he couldn't very well start groveling the instant he laid eyes on him. After all, the weight of Mingyang Heavy Industries counted for far more with Bao Lin than his father, Vice President Qu, did.

Earlier he had caught a few lines exchanged between Qu Cai and Liu Cha through his penetrating vision, but he had no proof. That was only what he himself had seen. To bring down a man like Qu Cai without solid evidence might hand others a handle against him and give tongues something to wag about.

"Oh, Brother Yang, you mean Shen Hua." Qu Cai spoke with a hint of helplessness. "This business—well, it's my fault too. I didn't keep Liu Cha in hand. Liu Cha's sweet on Shen Hua and wanted to take her out to dinner, but Shen Hua wouldn't come. Liu Cha got worked up and did something unreasonable. I've already given him a talking-to."

"Is that so?" Yang Ce shot back with a cold smile.

"That's right. Actually Liu Cha didn't mean anything else by it—he only wanted to invite Shen Hua to dinner, he just went about it a bit too extremely," Qu Cai explained. "Isn't that right, Liu Cha? Hurry up and admit your mistake. No more flying off the handle in future."

Liu Cha was no total fool. That night, at Shen Hua's doorstep, he had seen how his father behaved toward Yang Juehuan, and he knew Yang Ce was not someone he could afford to cross.

Liu Cha's backing was his father Liu Chan, and if even Liu Chan could not afford to provoke the man, then Liu Cha certainly could not. So he put on a courteous face before Qu Cai, and in his heart he gave up any indecent designs on Shen Hua.

Earlier Qu Cai had egged him on and his head had gone cloudy; now that he had cooled down, fear set in. Shen Hua was Yang Juehuan's sister-in-law—if he had really done anything to her, he'd have been finished for good.