Volume One, Chapter 2: Feed You a Bone, and You Dare Bite the Master?

The heart monitor beside Yan’s father’s bed shot wildly upward the moment he saw Su Chen appear. Trembling, he pointed at Su Chen, his face twisted with fury.

Yan Fengjia, standing nearby, had already pieced together most of the story.

Su Chen had once been his closest brother.

Before Yan Fengjia left Qinghai City back then, he had specifically entrusted Su Chen with taking care of his father.

During the years he spent overseas with the Jiang family of the Heavenly Palace, he had even quietly used some of his connections to help the Su family rise.

And yet the brother he had personally fed and lifted up now aimed his fangs at the family dearest to him.

Faced with Yan Fengjia’s icy, bone-deep stare, Su Chen abandoned all pretense. He sneered and tugged hard at his collar.

Spreading his hands, he said indifferently, “Yan Fengjia, your father signed a wager agreement with my Su family before!”

“Now that he has failed to meet the terms, I’m officially demanding, on behalf of the Su family, that your Yan family’s entire equity be sold to us at the lowest price. What exactly did I do wrong?”

His tone was cold, devoid of the slightest trace of humanity.

“Su Chen! You beast!” Qin Wanqiu denounced him in rage. “Old Master Yan trusted you because you were once Fengjia’s best brother, and that’s why he signed that agreement in the first place.”

“It was you, you who deliberately leaked the Yan family’s business secrets to the Li family people, letting them monopolize the market ahead of time. Otherwise, how could the wager agreement have been triggered?!”

“Get lost. What are you supposed to be?!” Su Chen said with utter impatience, shoving Qin Wanqiu hard aside. “This is business. Business is a battlefield. Have you never heard that there is no merchant without cunning?”

Qin Wanqiu stumbled and crashed into Yan Fengjia’s solid chest.

“Fengjia, I’m sorry. Your sister-in-law is useless. I failed to prepare in time. If the Yan family really goes under... if something happens to the old master... I... I won’t know how to answer to your dead brother...” Overcome with self-reproach, Qin Wanqiu trembled all over, tears breaking loose.

In her own family, she had never been cherished. Her parents favored sons over daughters and only loved her younger brother.

But in the Yan family, Old Master Yan had always treated her like his own daughter.

And what had she done? She had nearly driven the Yan family to ruin.

Could it be... that she truly was a jinx? A woman cursed to bring misfortune to her husband?

Yan Fengjia gently patted her shoulder.

She was only a woman, not even formally married into the Yan family, yet she stood alone amid these ruins and shouldered everything by herself.

For that alone, he would never resent her.

Much less had he any right to.

“Sister-in-law, it’s fine. The men of the Yan family aren’t all dead yet. I’m back now. The sky won’t fall.”

“Fine!” Su Chen bared his teeth in a savage grin and slapped the wager agreement down on the table with a sharp crack. “Then either find a way to save the Yan family from bankruptcy right now, or sign obediently and sell the equity to me at a low price.”

“Yan Fengjia, times have changed,” Su Chen said, straightening his back, his face full of smug pride. “You’re no longer the untouchable young master of the Yan family. And I’m no longer the little follower wagging my tail behind you.”

“Today, I’m here to tell you that Su Chen can rise too! Being the big brother for a day doesn’t mean you can be it forever.”

Yan Fengjia remained utterly unmoved.

During those years in the Jiang family of the Heavenly Palace, he had seen ugliness in human nature far worse than what stood before him now.

As for this clown, if he wanted the Su family erased from Qinghai City, it would take only a word.

“Su Chen, do you know who helped the Su family become what it is today?” Yan Fengjia asked, his voice calm, but carrying a bone-chilling cold.

Su Chen seemed to have heard the greatest joke in the world and burst into laughter.

“Hahaha! Yan Fengjia, everything I have today was earned by Su Chen step by step on my own! It was because I met benefactors who helped me! What the hell does that have to do with you?!”

“Besides, haven’t I helped your Yan family too?” He shamelessly pointed at Qin Wanqiu. “I worked with your so-called sister-in-law. She was the one who was stupid and didn’t do her market research properly. How can that be blamed on me?”

Su Chen’s face blanched. He stared at the caller, bewildered and frightened.

How could this be?

How could Yan Fengjia possibly know Wan Sanqian?

And why did Wan Sanqian sound so frightened?

Yan Fengjia did not explain. He simply took out his phone and dialed a number.

Very soon, a woman’s voice came through, cold and emotionless, yet respectful to the extreme.

“Master, Li Ao’s body has been delivered to the Li family on time. What further instructions do you have?”

Yan Fengjia’s voice carried the authority of an emperor.

“Tell that scum Wan Sanqian to get his ass here and see me! I’m giving him only fifteen minutes. If he isn’t here in fifteen minutes, you tell him...”

“He can stay away forever!”

Hearing Yan Fengjia address Wan Sanqian so brazenly, even ordering him to “get over here,” Su Chen’s pupils contracted sharply.

“Yan Fengjia, you’re still putting on an act...” Su Chen roared, suppressing his panic and sounding fierce to cover his fear. “Do you even know who Wan Sanqian is? He’s the true underground overlord of Qinghai City, someone even your precious first love Gu Qinghan can’t afford to offend.”

“I’ve heard he even has support from top overseas conglomerates. You think you can call him over? Bluffing still depends on your target. Who the hell do you think you are?”

“You’ll know soon enough.”

After saying that, Yan Fengjia no longer looked at him. He turned and slammed the door of the ward shut.

At that moment, there was only one thought in his mind: save his father.

Fortunately, during those years in the Phoenix Women’s Prison, he had studied under several reclusive masters.

Among them, his Seventh Master’s miraculous medical art capable of snatching life back from death had long since become second nature to him. It was perfect for treating his father.

“Fine! Let me see how long you can keep up this act!” Su Chen growled through clenched teeth, clutching his broken wrist. “Today, whether you sign this wager agreement or not, you’re signing it!”

He immediately called for a doctor and blocked the doorway while his injuries were treated, clearly intent on staying put.

But just as the doctor finished setting a splint on his wrist—

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

Su Chen’s phone suddenly began to vibrate violently. It was his father calling.

“Hello, Dad... Where am I? Of course I’m at that old bastard’s hospital. Don’t worry, I’ll settle the wager agreement today for sure...”

“What? Wan Sanqian is heading to this hospital?! He... he’s coming here for what?” Su Chen’s voice shot up, his face turning white as paper.

His father’s voice on the other end was a near-breakdown roar. “You damned bastard, Su Chen! What kind of king of hell did you provoke at that hospital? Mr. Wan just took a mysterious call and got so scared he nearly lost his soul! He even overturned the whole dinner arranged to sign that major deal with us and ran out!”

Su Chen’s hand around the phone shook violently, beads of sweat bursting out across his forehead.

Today was supposed to be the day Wan Sanqian signed a major deal with the Su family, a deal big enough to propel them into the highest ranks.

And yet Wan Sanqian had actually abandoned the meat already in his mouth just to rush here.

What kind of existence could frighten Wan Sanqian so badly, so completely?

A freezing chill spread from Su Chen’s palm to the soles of his feet, making him feel as if he had fallen into an ice cavern.

His terrified gaze locked onto the tightly shut door of the intensive care ward, and a thought that made his very soul tremble surged wildly through his mind.

Could it be... that Yan Fengjia really knows Wan Sanqian? And... that Wan Sanqian is actually afraid of him?