Top Soldier Pursued by a Beauty

Zhou Chongming was already drunk, and fueled by his overconfidence in the private room, he slurred loudly, "Bullshit! Who… who the hell dares to say they don't know me? Call… call your owner out here! I'm doing him a favor by eating here. He himself said… said it's on the house!"

His shout made Li Mujing's expression turn ugly. With so many people watching, however, she restrained herself and said to the server, "You see? My son-in-law says he knows the owner. You'd better go get him."

The server sighed helplessly, walked into the office, and called Zhang Wei, explaining the situation in detail.

Zhang Wei immediately became furious. "Son of a bitch! They dare to cause a scene here? Mr. Zhao already can't stand them. Today, I'm going to teach these people a proper lesson!"

Consumed with anger, Zhang Wei rushed over.

Meanwhile, in the main hall, Li Mujing and Wang Han were completely baffled, as anxious as ants on a hot pan.

What in the world is going on? The server was so polite earlier, constantly reassuring us that the meal was on the house. Why is he suddenly playing dumb? And why was mentioning Zhou Chongming's name completely useless? Was Zhou Chongming bluffing? But… the server was genuinely respectful before, and someone definitely arranged this private room and these dishes for us. If it wasn't Zhou Chongming, then who could it have been?

As Wang Han mulled it over, she suddenly gasped as a figure popped into her mind.

Could it be… Zhao Dong?!

The thought startled her.

Could it really be Zhao Dong? But… but Zhao Dong is such a loser, just a discharged soldier from a dirt-poor family. How could he possibly know the owner of the East Sea Grand Hotel? He's probably not even worthy of shining the owner's shoes! It can't be Zhao Dong. It has to be Zhou Chongming. There must be a mistake somewhere!

At this moment, Zhou Chongming was still in a drunken stupor, his brain half-functional, completely unaware of what he was doing.

Soon, Zhang Wei arrived with a group of men, storming over and surrounding Wang Han's party.

"I'm the owner here," Zhang Wei said coldly. "Someone was looking for me?"

Wang Han and Li Mujing were startled. Li Mujing gathered her courage and said, "B-Boss, didn't you say earlier that our meal would be on the house?"

Zhang Wei glanced at Li Mujing and sneered, "On the house? Who the hell do you think you are to deserve a free meal from me? In your dreams!"

"But… but you clearly said…"

"Yes, I did," Zhang Wei snorted. "But that was out of respect for that important figure. Otherwise, what makes you think you deserve Private Suite 888? You should take a long, hard look in the mirror!"

Hearing this, Wang Han quickly pushed Zhou Chongming forward. "Boss, the important person you mentioned must be Chongming. He's right here. You can go ahead and comp our meal now."

Zhou Chongming's eyes were half-open as he drunkenly pointed at Zhang Wei and roared, "You… Who the hell are you? I said to comp the meal… Didn't you hear me?"

Zhang Wei's expression darkened. As a member of the Zhang Family, very few people in all of East Sea dared to speak to him like that.

Seeing Zhou Chongming's audacity, Li Mujing was further convinced that his family was incredibly powerful. With a crowd watching, she grew arrogant herself, pointing a finger at Zhang Wei. "That's right! Look closely, this is the young master of the Zhou Family, Zhou Chongming! He told you to make the meal complimentary, didn't you hear him? Are you deaf? Do you have any idea who I am?"

Zhang Wei's face turned utterly grim, as dark as a pool of black water. Not many people had managed to infuriate him this much over the years. The surrounding employees were so intimidated by the cold aura emanating from him that they didn't dare breathe a word.

Zhang Wei stared grimly at Li Mujing and Zhou Chongming. "Very good. Very good. Daring to speak to me like that… there aren't many people in East Sea as brave as you two."

The moment he finished speaking, Zhang Wei waved his hand and bellowed at the security guards beside him, "Men, get them! Beat the hell out of those two for me!"

"Yes, sir!"

The guards immediately swarmed forward and began punching and kicking Zhou Chongming. Terrified, Li Mujing rushed in, trying to push them away while screaming, "What are you doing! You're attacking people! Help! Somebody help!"

Zhang Wei's anger boiled over. "You still dare to scream!"

He raised his hand and slapped Li Mujing hard across the face. The blow made her see stars and sent her stumbling to the ground.

Seeing this, Wang Han went berserk. "You dare hit my mom! I'll kill you!"

As she lunged forward, Zhang Wei, still fuming, slapped her across the face as well, leaving her completely stunned.

Meanwhile, Zhou Chongming was being pummeled until his face was bruised and swollen like a pig's head. He repeatedly begged for mercy.

Wang Han and Li Mujing watched, on the verge of tears. Didn't Zhou Chongming say he knew the owner? Why was he being beaten to a pulp?

The beating finally sobered Zhou Chongming up. He pleaded repeatedly, "Stop hitting me! I'll pay, I'll pay!"

The guards gradually stopped. Zhang Wei snorted, "Wouldn't it have been better if you'd been this sensible from the start? If I ever catch you bluffing like that again, I'll make you regret it! I don't fucking know you!"

Beaten black and blue, Zhou Chongming scrambled clumsily to his feet. Like a coward, he didn't dare utter a single word as he shuffled to the front desk and asked meekly, "Hello, how much is the total?"

"The total is 538,000 yuan. Please use your card."

Zhou Chongming paled in shock. "How much? Did I hear you correctly?"

"That's right, sir: 538,000 yuan. The thirteen dishes came to 97,000 yuan; the rest is for the alcohol."

Zhou Chongming protested angrily, "That's still impossible! I remember we only opened a few bottles. Even at 30,000 a bottle, it wouldn't be that expensive!"

The server shook his head and pointed to the bags of liquor Wang Han and Li Mujing were carrying. "Sir, all the liquor in the private room was opened. You can count the bottles yourself."

Zhou Chongming looked at the bags in Wang Han and Li Mujing's hands and felt a mouthful of blood rise in his throat. "Han… Auntie…" he stammered, "how many bottles did you two… take? Can we return a few?"

Li Mujing's face flushed with embarrassment. "Ah, Chongming… all this liquor… it's all… all been opened. We can't return it."

"I…"

Zhou Chongming barely managed to swallow the curse on the tip of his tongue. Li Mujing looked down, so ashamed she wished a crack in the floor would open up and swallow her whole. Wang Han also hung her head, her face burning, unable to say a word.

Zhou Chongming sighed in defeat and pulled out his card, his heart bleeding with every beat. "Fine… let's pay."

After the card was run, the server shook his head. "Sir, you only have 170,000 yuan on this card. It's not enough."

Zhou Chongming's face went dark. He had completely forgotten he didn't have enough money in his account.

He looked helplessly at Wang Han, who just shook her head with a bitter expression, signaling she didn't have any money either. He then turned to Li Mujing.

Li Mujing forced an awkward smile. With her family's savings being just over five million yuan, how could she be crazy enough to spend 500,000 yuan on a single meal? Her mind raced, and she said with a grin, "Chongming, your uncle and I keep our money in passbooks, and we didn't bring them. But listen, that painting and watch you gave us… aren't they worth about a million yuan? We can just give them those."

With that, she presented the painting and watch to Zhang Wei. "Boss," she said with a smile, "this watch is worth hundreds of thousands, and so is the painting. Together, they're worth about a million yuan. You can take these for the meal, and you can even give us the change."

Zhou Chongming's face went white with terror. "Auntie, don't—"

But it was too late. Li Mujing had already handed over the watch and the painting.