"Are you an idiot?" Wei Zhao's patience frayed the moment he heard Li Cihua's words. "If I factored in what's between us, he'd already be dead. You think he'd still be standing there waiting for you to find him? Besides, I went after him because he crossed me."

Li Cihua was instantly rendered speechless. There was no denying it — Wei Zhao's words were infuriating.

"Then... can you spare him?" Li Cihua coughed twice, speaking with some awkwardness.

"He's not dead, so what's there to spare? If he were dead, you wouldn't need to call me." Wei Zhao said, "Besides, don't you have a skilled man at your side? Someone who can concoct Seven-Herb Death Powder can't handle a little problem like this? All right, I'm busy. Jiaren needs me to drive her. Bye."

Without waiting for Li Cihua to respond, Wei Zhao hung up.

Li Cihua stared at the phone, the call disconnected, thoroughly disgruntled. You're busy? Who do you think you are, a cowboy? But he didn't dare say that aloud — he still had to keep calling Wei Zhao.

"Oh, Arrow-Brand Bro, is that some kind of Landmine dying?" Shen Yushu asked once Wei Zhao finished his call.

"Seems he's not dead yet. Almost, maybe?" Wei Zhao didn't know how many silver needles Li Cihua had pulled out.

"Ugh, if he dies it's no fun. Not entertaining at all." Shen Yushu shook her head. "Arrow-Brand Bro, can you make him wish he were dead?"

"Probably." Wei Zhao said, "But I can't see him right now, and I can't be bothered to go save him."

"Oh, I bet that Li Cihua will call again. When he does, just make his cousin wish he were dead, okay?" Shen Yushu suggested.

No sooner had Shen Yushu finished speaking than Wei Zhao's phone rang again.

"Hello? Didn't I tell you I was busy? Can't you understand plain speech?" Wei Zhao showed Li Cihua no courtesy whatsoever.

"Wei Zhao, I'm calling you because I'm at my wit's end — I'm sure you can understand that much!" Afraid Wei Zhao would hang up again, Li Cihua rushed it all out in one breath. "Keep my cousin alive, and whatever terms you want, just name them."

Wei Zhao was taken aback. It seemed the skilled man at Zhao Qibing's side wasn't much after all — at the very least, not as capable as himself.

"Uncle Tang's leg is broken. You can cover the medical expenses." Wei Zhao intended to take Shen Yushu's advice and make Li Dilei wish he were dead. But wishing you were dead was still better than actually being dead, wasn't it? So Wei Zhao wasn't about to do it for free — he'd make Li Cihua pay a price.

"No problem, I'll put up three—" Li Cihua was about to say three hundred thousand when Wei Zhao cut him off.

"Three million. I'll give you an account number. If I don't see the money before nightfall, don't bother sending it — use it to buy your cousin a nicer coffin and burial plot." Wei Zhao figured that for Tang Yun's family to buy a house, it would cost at least one or two million anyway, so asking for three million wasn't really excessive.

A stroll out the door, a run-in with some unlucky fool, and the money for a house just fell into his lap.

"Fine!" Li Cihua was a man who did big things. When he heard Wei Zhao wanted three million, it stung a little — money was tight right now — but for his cousin's life, three million really wasn't much!

Wei Zhao had little cash on hand at the moment. The hundred million he'd gotten from Liu Tianyi, plus the proceeds from the auction, had basically all been poured into the pharmaceutical company — expanding the scale, expanding production. The upfront investment was bound to be substantial. So despite his vast holdings, Wei Zhao had surprisingly little money in hand.

Wei Zhao texted Li Cihua the bank card number Tang's mother had set up earlier, then sat back and waited for the money to arrive.

Tang Yun wanted to say something, but with Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu both present, she couldn't very well speak up, so she let Wei Zhao do as he pleased. Fortunately, she consoled herself — it was compensation for her father's medical expenses, so she felt no guilt keeping it. Otherwise, taking yet more money from Wei Zhao would only deepen her debt to him...

"Oh, Arrow-Brand Bro, weren't you going to make him wish he were dead? Why are you saving him?" Shen Yushu asked.

"Isn't 'wishing he were dead' just saving his life?" Wei Zhao smiled.

"Hahahaha..." Shen Yushu burst into delighted laughter. "Arrow-Brand Bro, you're so wicked! Almost as wicked as me!"

"Not as wicked as you." Wei Zhao shrugged. When it came to tormenting people, Shen Yushu was better than him.

Tang Yun and Gu Mengyao couldn't help but smile too. The young miss had no real concept of money, but she was still startled that Wei Zhao had swindled three million with a single sentence! So Wei Zhao was this formidable? He could conjure that much money just like that?

And from his expression, he didn't seem to regard the money as anything at all. Gu Mengyao grew a little nervous. She was always threatening to dock his pay — did he find that laughable?

But Gu Mengyao grew more and more puzzled as to why Wei Zhao had come to be her follower in the first place! With his skills and methods, there was no need for him to work for her at a salary of thirty thousand... Where on earth had Daddy found such a capable man?

"Yao Yao, Xiao Shu, where are you two headed now?" Wei Zhao turned and asked. "Tang Yun and I are going to the night market to buy a few things."

"We'll come too, right, Yao Yao jie?" Shen Yushu winked at Gu Mengyao.

"We..." Gu Mengyao was a little tempted.

"I want fried mushrooms! Yao Yao jie, keep me company, won't you?" Shen Yushu took Gu Mengyao's hand.

"All right, all right, we'll all go together then." Gu Mengyao nodded.

Tang Yun pouted, somewhat displeased. Why did they have to tag along when she and Wei Zhao were going on a date? But Tang Yun couldn't say anything — the young miss had just treated them, and now she'd turn around and shoo them away? That would be rather ungracious.

Wei Zhao said nothing more. If the young miss wanted to come, so be it. He started the car and drove toward the night market.

Along the way, Tang Yun received a phone call — from her mother.

"Mom? Is something the matter?" Tang Yun didn't know why her mother would call at this hour. Didn't she know Tang Yun was out with Wei Zhao? Usually, when she and Wei Zhao were on a date, her mother rarely interrupted.

"Yun'er, I just got a text on my phone saying three million was deposited? What's going on? It's not a scam text, is it?" Tang's mother didn't really understand mobile banking. Earlier, when Wei Zhao's card had been crushed under the house, she and Wei Zhao had gone to the bank to open a new one — this time in Tang's mother's name. Back then, opening mobile banking came with a free jug of soybean oil, and given Tang's mother's penny-pinching nature, she'd naturally signed right up.