So, your boyfriend is pretty impressive, huh Dimensional strike, crooked-mouth Dragon King

“Mom, did Dad offend someone out there?”

A middle-aged man of around forty looked uneasy as he walked, lowering his voice to ask his mother.

The old woman beside him looked to be in her sixties. Her cheekbones were sharply pronounced, her hair was streaked with gray, and her face carried a distinctly harsh expression. She frowned.

“Shut up. Don’t say anything.”

The old woman glanced around at the people surrounding them. Every one of them looked fierce and vicious, clearly the sort who made their living in the underworld. They were still ordinary people themselves, and no matter how strong their nerves were, anyone would feel intimidated by such a scene.

They had trespassed into a heavenly household, only to find that fantasy had become reality.

Had they really not tried to save themselves on the way here?

They had. But… it had been completely useless. Instead, they had been tied up and gagged. They seriously suspected that if they kept resisting, these people might punch each of them.

After their resistance failed, they obediently followed along. On the way, they had still held on to a sliver of hope. After all, the people from the Dongfang family had merely “invited” them over.

They had not done anything overly excessive, at most being a little rough. They had even clung to a faint hope that perhaps this was actually a good thing.

But after arriving and seeing the enormous crowd of Du family members standing in strict formation, their faces had gone pale. The last trace of hope in their hearts had vanished as well.

A good thing… What a load of crap. “A good death” would be more like it.

“What you’re doing is illegal! Believe me, I’ll call the police and have every one of you arrested!”

“Shut up. Say a little less…”

“Why should I shut up? I was having a perfectly good time at the bar when a bunch of lunatics rushed in and dragged me away! What do you think my friends are going to think of me?”

The argument came from the rear of the group.

Chen Youliang’s grandson and granddaughter had been brought along, as well as his son. The son and grandson both strongly resembled Chen Youliang, making them instantly recognizable. The granddaughter, on the other hand, looked like her grandmother. Her cheekbones were equally high, giving her an inexplicably sharp and unpleasant appearance.

She wore heavy makeup and lipstick, with eye shadow and glitter around her eyes. She had on a camisole, several hickeys of unknown origin on her neck, and pink-dyed hair…

Unlike the custom-made, high-end pink Xia Tongxin had once dyed her hair, this girl’s pink looked jarringly unnatural.

She looked exactly like… one of those delinquent club girls, or perhaps a billiards assistant.

She had been dragged out of a bar and embarrassed in front of her friends, so she was throwing a tantrum. Unlike the other members of her family… there seemed to be something wrong with her head.

The situation was so obvious, yet she simply could not understand it.

She kept shouting about how they were breaking the law and insisted that the bodyguards of the Dongfang family be arrested. After all, the young lady of the Dongfang family had only ordered them to bring everyone over; she had not told them to scold or silence her.

But the girl’s delicate yet arrogant manner and constant stream of profanity had already caused many of the people around them to frown.

The members of the Du family waiting by the roadside, ready to act at any moment, looked especially irritated and impatient. In less than half a minute, dozens of people had cast their eyes toward her.

Once again, she had pushed herself straight into the spotlight…

Chen Qiao completely ignored the unfriendly gazes around her and continued chattering away. She even stopped walking, folding her arms as she stood in place and pointed at the people around her while cursing them nonstop.

“It’s all your fault! Who acts like a bunch of lunatics in the middle of the night? This is unlawful detention and intentional assault!”

“I’m going to call the police and have every one of you arrested! Do you know who my boyfriend is…?”

Tap, tap, tap.

The sound of approaching footsteps rang out. An elderly woman who was not particularly tall walked out from among the crowd, hunched over with her hands clasped behind her back. The clothes she wore were different from those of the other members of the Du family.

The emblem representing the Du family on her clothing was much more vivid. At the center of the design was a small, inconspicuous number…

99.

It seemed to be some sort of identification number.

“Who is your boyfriend, little girl?” the Dormitory Aunt asked with a smile. It was an exceptionally kindly smile.

Chen Qiao finally seemed to have found an outlet for all her emotions. Her expression and tone became even more harsh and spiteful, especially after she saw that the old woman in front of her was wearing the same uniform as the rows of black-clad men around them.

That made her even more displeased.

“Who my boyfriend is has nothing to do with you. Do you think you’re worthy of knowing?”

“Old woman, I advise you to be sensible and get down on your knees to apologize immediately. Otherwise, I’ll tell my boyfriend what happened today. You’ll regret it!”

Chen Qiao was incredibly arrogant. The smile on the Dormitory Aunt’s face remained unchanged, but… for some reason, compared with the kindness it had shown before, it had grown much colder.

There was also a hint of mockery and disdain in it. Unfortunately, Chen Qiao, who had already begun indulging in her fantasies, failed to notice. She continued yammering away.

“Is that so? Then please give your boyfriend a call, little girl. I’d like to see whether he can make us kneel down and apologize.”

The smile on the Dormitory Aunt’s face had completely turned into a cold sneer.

The entire city of Dahai could ask around and see for themselves: who would dare make someone from the Du family kneel?

What an impressive boyfriend.

Based on what Chen Qiao had said, unless someone from one of the other Three Great Families stepped forward to protect her, then… heh.

It would not matter who came to speak on her behalf.

It seemed that her pride had been challenged. With so many people watching, she had been left with no way to save face. Chen Qiao’s face flushed red as she pulled out her phone and prepared to call her boyfriend.

She found a contact labeled “Young Master Xu.”

As for the boyfriend she kept talking about… well, in a certain sense, he really was her boyfriend. However, Young Master Xu himself might not remember the matter very clearly.

After all, he had too many girlfriends. Chen Qiao was not particularly beautiful, either. At most, she knew a few “special skills” that other girls did not. That was what had earned her the title of girlfriend in front of him.

What could he do? She knew too many special tricks. If he refused to acknowledge her, he would have no way to keep enjoying those “special skills”…

“Beep… beep… beep…”

As everyone watched, Chen Qiao’s call began to ring. In a particularly telling detail, none of the Chen family members who had been brought there stepped forward to stop or interrupt her.

Instead, they simply watched Chen Qiao make a scene.

To some extent, they were also looking forward to seeing what the “Young Master Xu” she kept mentioning could do. They hoped he might be able to get them out of this mess. Otherwise… judging from the situation tonight, they were unlikely to have an easy time.

The bodyguards from the Dongfang family had not made them feel as though their lives were in danger. But the moment the Du family arrived, their hearts began to pound.

Why did every one of these people look as though they wanted to kill them?

That couldn’t be right… This was a society governed by law…

Meanwhile.

In a high-end commercial KTV somewhere in Dahai City, shifting lights, screams, and women dancing on the tables blended together into a scene of extravagant debauchery.

It was completely different from those low-end commercial KTVs frequented by construction-site bosses and the like, with their cheap liquor.

The private room was filled entirely with minor internet celebrities, and even the alcohol started at five figures a bottle. Well, at least by ordinary people’s standards, five-figure booze was already considered extremely high-end.

“Bzzzt, bzzzt…”

“Hm?”

Amid the chaotic surroundings, a phone began to vibrate. The man Chen Qiao had called “Young Master Xu” was dressed in an expensive white suit, a cigarette dangling from his mouth as he exhaled clouds of smoke. With one arm around a pretty minor internet celebrity, he lounged against the sofa and pulled out his phone.

Young Master Xu froze when he saw the name on the screen.

“Chen Qiao? Who’s that?” Young Master Xu frowned. He didn’t remember anyone by that name.

Still, he soon dismissed the thought. Since she had his phone number, she was probably one of his girlfriends. He must have forgotten her after having his fun.

Chen Qiao… The name seemed familiar. He finally remembered!

Oh, right. She was the “special-skills girl.” Well, he had to admit, she really did have something special. Of all the women he’d been with, none of them had been as impressive as Chen Qiao.

See? Every trade had its master. Chen Qiao was a perfect example. The saying that having more skills never hurt was true no matter the situation.

That was how she’d managed to leave an impression on Young Master Xu.

He answered the call, raised both feet onto the sofa, and leaned back like a spoiled rich second-generation heir. After taking a puff of his cigarette and blowing out the smoke, he finally spoke.

“Baby, what’s wrong?”

It wasn’t that he particularly liked Chen Qiao. He simply didn’t want to bother remembering names. He had so many women that trying to remember all of them would probably kill off half his brain cells.

If he had that kind of brainpower, he would have taken the college entrance exam long ago and shown his old man what he was capable of. Then he could have taken more shares from his big brother.

Unfortunately, studying was completely beyond him. All he could do was take the roundabout route of going abroad and returning as some kind of “overseas returnee,” adding a layer of polish to his résumé.

That way, he could be considered a highly educated intellectual. When he eventually took over the family business, he could also silence the objections from the people below him.

He would have a perfectly legitimate claim to it.

You think studying abroad makes you impressive?

Kid, forget it. You’re still living in the past. If you really had the ability, you should have gone head-to-head in the college entrance examination—millions of people battling it out simultaneously. After surviving that, going abroad would have been more than mere résumé polishing. It would have been refinement.

If you could fight your way out of that, you’d already be gold. Why would you need to be gold-plated?

Come on. It was precisely because they couldn’t fight their way through that studying abroad became the final “fig leaf.” Everyone in the circle knew it perfectly well.

That was also why so many companies nowadays always looked at an applicant’s original academic background when hiring: junior college, bachelor’s degree, key university, Project 211, Project 985… Each one was a hurdle.

They were all called college students, sure, but the gap between one university and another was even greater than the gap between a human and a dog.

The moment Chen Qiao heard him address her so intimately as “Baby,” the nervousness she’d felt on the other end of the phone vanished, and she immediately found her courage.

“Honey, someone’s bullying me. They’ve illegally detained me…”

Chen Qiao briefly explained what had happened. Young Master Xu’s brows drew together on the other end of the line. He wasn’t an idiot. It was obvious that she had offended someone.

And judging from the circumstances… the other party seemed to have a powerful background.

Was it really worth spending so much time and effort just to have a little fun?

After a brief calculation, Young Master Xu decisively chose to… cut ties with her and hang up.

Obviously, rich people weren’t idiots. Neither were spoiled heirs. They simply wanted to enjoy themselves with their money. Besides… who did she think she was, trying to use him as a weapon?

If one special-skills girl was gone, couldn’t he just find another? Three-legged toads might be hard to find, but two-legged women were everywhere.

“Young Master Xu, who was that just now?”

“Just some performer. Forget about her. Come on, keep drinking. Everything tonight is on me!”

“Young Master Xu is awesome!”

“Hubby, you’re amazing!”

A few minutes later, while Young Master Xu was still basking in the excitement and joy, his phone rang again. Annoyance flashed across his face.

“Who is it? Why do you keep calling? Don’t push your luck!”

But the moment he saw the name displayed on the screen, the irritation vanished from his face, and his eyes suddenly cleared.

“Everyone, stop! Shut up!”

There was panic in Young Master Xu’s voice. The room instantly fell silent, and the flashing, swaying lights stopped as well, replaced by stark white fluorescent lighting.

He answered the call.

“Hello, Dad?”

“You little bastard! Where the hell are you right now? I’m going to beat you to death! What the hell have you been doing out there?!”

The middle-aged man’s roar thundered through the phone.

Young Master Xu: “???”