Chapter 691: Captured and Taken Back
It wasn’t easy, but when Zhang Xu saw that these few brothers were all persuading on one side not to continue in this manner and to resolve the current major issue first, he knew his chance had arrived. If he didn’t seize this opportunity now, who knows how many more chances he would have to wait for. Thus, he perked up, ready to risk it all, betting everything on this one move.
If he could succeed this time, he would no longer be subservient to others, and once out, he would even have the chance to settle scores with those fair-weather friends.
Embodied by this thought, no matter how tough or exhausting it was, it wouldn’t feel that painful. After finding an opportunity, he charged straight ahead, but little did he know he was more unlucky than the others and got caught straight away by one of the lackeys on the side, an individual who usually went unnoticed.
This person had been secretly watching the group talk from the shadows, crouching there, and managed to catch Zhang Xu very accurately just as he tried to escape. He immediately yanked Zhang Xu by the hair, dragged him down to the ground, and began to taunt, saying:
"You really think you could escape with that weak body of yours? What a joke. Did you even consider whether or not you could get away? You pretty boy, it’s an honor for you to stay with us, and yet you dare think about running away? Are you overestimating your importance? Let me show you what the price of trying to escape is."
After these words, a slap was thrown, so loud that everyone present was taken aback, especially Lao Si and Lao Liu, who were arguing. Both were startled, not expecting this man to even think about escaping under such circumstances. It was utterly preposterous.
Without a lesson, how could they prove their authority? So, one by one, each person went up and gave a slap, finally venting out their anger. Lao Si also realized that now was not the key moment for quarreling, and Lao Liu recognized his mistake. After exchanging glances, they felt that they couldn’t go on arguing like this.
After an apology was exchanged, the matter was settled. Lao Er was especially relieved to see this; these men were sometimes really difficult to manage but when confronting real issues, they would reconcile and understand what was most important, resuming their task. This pleased Lao Er immensely, and he withheld further comment.
Lao Er then said to Lin Qi, "If you can’t manage this, who can? Take it slow. If you don’t want to cooperate with me, as you have seen, we act very swiftly when united. If anything goes wrong later, I’ll be the first to grab you. If I can’t survive, being so close to me, you probably won’t either."
It seemed like Lao Er could sense that he was slowly being cast aside, so he resorted to talking tough to prove his presence and discourage her from taking any more risks. But the more he spoke, the more pointless it seemed. Lin Qi was no longer afraid of such threats; in fact, she found them laughable.
She just laughed and replied, "If you trust me so little, why bother cooperating with me at all? You’ve said it so many times; if our cooperation fails, what will happen? How many times have you really trusted me? If you keep this attitude, I truly believe we can end this partnership, as I have no intention of dealing with it any further. I don’t like the feeling of constant mistrust, and I’m sure you understand that feeling, don’t you?"