Chapter 391 - 391 Accepting the Challenge
Last night, He Biao sent his younger brother, He Tao, to Raide Hou Da's small clinic, causing Hou Da's wife to have a miscarriage and also injuring Chen Jun. However, He Tao is still a few months shy of eighteen, so he won't face severe punishment. But as the mastermind behind the scenes, He Biao will definitely have to take responsibility.
Moreover, last night He Biao also captured Gu Xianping and his son, severely injuring Hou San and others. With so many charges combined, it wouldn't normally matter much, as his boss wouldn't just stand by and watch. So, after escaping last night, he went straight to a house in the suburbs, where he spent a lavish night with one of his mistresses.
He had thought by today the matters would have been smoothed over and he could swagger back into Jiuchuan County. But the news from Hu Liang in the morning shattered all his illusions.
If it were just the police wanting to catch him, Hu Liang could certainly have settled the matter. However, after the Lu Family's annihilation last night, the Jiuchuan County police didn't have the time to bother with his trifles. The ones truly not letting go of him were the soldiers under Wu Anping.
Wu Anping is known for his intractability, and although Hu Liang has connections in the city and money to pave the way, his city connections couldn't reach the army, nor could his money buy off Wu Anping. Therefore, there was no way Hu Liang could fix He Biao's problem.
Hu Liang's advice to He Biao was to turn himself in, rather than getting caught by the soldiers. If caught by the police, with Hu Liang's maneuvering, he'd get at most a two to three-year sentence, and then arranging for a parole or early release wouldn't be difficult. But if the soldiers caught him, he wouldn't die but would lose half his life!
It was because of Hu Liang's advice that He Biao finally ground his teeth and decided to go to the police station to turn himself in. However, before surrendering, he first came to Old Fifth Yang's restaurant to finish the fight with Ye Qing that hadn't concluded before. In his eyes, his current plight was entirely due to Ye Qing. Therefore, before turning himself in, he wanted to utterly defeat Ye Qing and tarnish his reputation!
He Biao stood at the doorway of the private room, arrogantly looking at Ye Qing inside. Since he had decided to surrender, he naturally had no more concerns. The reason why he was shouting at the door was to let all the restaurant employees hear and witness Ye Qing's loss of face after being beaten by him!
"What are you doing?" Wang Yuanbo stood up first, indignantly said, "He Biao, I've been wanting to find you, and here you are delivering yourself to my doorstep. Last night's events, they're all tied up with you, aren't they!"
Wang Yuanbo wanted to intimidate He Biao, to make him leave here knowing his place. Little did he know that He Biao was ready to surrender; his intimidation was utterly useless.
"Director Wang, I came here to surrender. But before I do, I still want to have a good fight with him!" He Biao coldly eyed Ye Qing inside and said, "Ye, I've heard plenty say you're a great fighter, but I just don't believe that crap. Over the years, few have dared to claim in front of me that they can fight. Yesterday's scuffle doesn't count, if you're a man, then fight me fair and square. You can play the craven turtle once or twice, but not for a lifetime!"
Most of the restaurant staff gathered around, many of whom were whispering about the situation from yesterday.
Yuan Xiaoyu was also there, the most anxious of all. Yesterday she saw Ye Qing fighting He Biao, and Ye Qing was kicked by He Biao, so now many were spreading rumors that Ye Qing was no match for He Biao. Some even had wilder speculations, claiming Ye Qing knew he couldn't beat He Biao, so he made up an excuse to run and not settle the score thoroughly. Thus, Ye Qing's act of fleeing without fighting was truly contemptible.
Now that He Biao was again challenging Ye Qing, even more people were convinced of He Biao's superiority over Ye Qing, as they hadn't seen Ye Qing challenging He Biao. If Ye Qing could beat He Biao, why would he swallow such a silent loss?
Hearing He Biao's intention to surrender, Wang Yuanbo was also somewhat at a loss and turned to look at Huang Feiming.
Huang Feiming meanwhile was looking at Xu Changzhi, waiting for Xu's cue. Xu Changzhi watched Ye Qing, unsure of what exactly had happened here and hesitant to speak.
Gu Xianping glanced warily at He Biao and said in a low voice, "Ye Qing, don't fight him, this guy is a Madman!"
Ye Qing didn't speak, just picked up the teacup on the table and slowly took a sip of clear tea.
"Ye, didn't you fucking hear me speaking!" Seeing Ye Qing's leisurely actions, He Biao was furious and cursed out loud: "Bastard, I'm giving you one more chance. If you're a man, come out and fight me. If you fucking want to be a shrinking turtle, that's fine too. But if you don't fight me today, from now on whenever you see me, you'd better kneel and kowtow respectfully!"
Upon hearing these words, some of the staff admired He Biao even more and looked down on Ye Qing. These young employees, who were mostly belligerent, held no respect for Ye Qing, who didn't come out to fight.
Only Yuan Xiaoyu's friends, who had seen Ye fight, huddled nervously around her, discussing fervently.
"Why isn't Big Brother Ye coming out to fight him?"
"With Big Brother Ye's skills, how could he not beat him!"
"Yeah, Big Brother Ye is a retired Special Forces, what's this He Biao worth!"
The crowd buzzed with conversation, leaning towards Ye Qing, but they were more perplexed as to why Ye remained unresponsive.
Inside the room, Ye Qing was already sitting steadily, as if he hadn't heard the noise outside.
"Ye Qing, do you fucking dare to come out or not!" He Biao yelled angrily, "If you're too scared to fight, just say the word and I'll turn around and leave. Can't you fucking speak? Are you mute?"
"Ye Qing, come out and fight!" Someone shouted, and before long, quite a few people outside began clamoring for Ye Qing to come out.
"Damn, who's yelling!" Old Fifth Yang walked out and bellowed, which immediately quieted the clamor significantly.
Old Fifth Yang turned toward the room, looked at Ye Qing, and said, "Ye brothers, if you really don't want to fight, I'll send him away!"
"No need!" Ye Qing put down his teacup, stepped out of the private room at a leisurely pace, and stood in front of He Biao, under the gaze of all present.
Seeing Ye Qing come out, Yuan Xiaoyu and the others clenched their hands nervously, their palms sweaty. However, there were also many hisses of derision, as many people had been convinced that Ye Qing wouldn't dare to come out, and only did so because he had no other choice.
He Biao looked at Ye Qing with arrogant contempt and sneered, "What's up, Ye? Stopped being a shrinking turtle, huh?"
Ye Qing shook his head, looked at He Biao, and said, "He Biao, you have challenged me three times. I tolerated the first two because I found you pathetic. Being used by others as a tool and tossed aside when no longer useful, only to turn yourself in. Therefore, I wanted to leave you some dignity. But by challenging me a third time, you show that you are utterly ruthless. If you can't be merciful to others, why should anyone extend mercy to you?"
Speaking thus, Ye Qing slowly extended a hand and said, "So, I have come out. He Biao, I accept your challenge!"
"Big Brother Ye's words are awesome!" A girl screamed loudly from a distance, the very one who had dined with Ye Qing and Yuan Xiaoyu before. In their eyes, Ye Qing's appearance, speech, and skills perfectly matched their ideal White Horse Prince!
He Biao, however, was visibly annoyed and cursed, "Damn it, just fight. Why the hell are you blabbering so much? Are you planning to fight with your mouth or what?"
"Are you any less talkative?" Old Fifth Yang came out and said, "You were rattling on at the entrance just now, but Ye only said a few words!"
"None of your business, Old Yang. Get the hell out of my face!" He Biao pointed at Old Fifth Yang and said, "Once I'm done with this Ye, I'll deal with you personally!"
Old Fifth Yang was furious and said, "You sure talk big, I want to see if you can leave this place in one piece today!"
He Biao sneered coldly, "Old Yang, apart from relying on having more people, what else can you do? I came here today not planning to leave unscathed. But let me reiterate, you can't finish me off, and if you don't, I will absolutely hunt you down!"
"You've got it wrong!" Ye Qing shook his head and said, "Fifth Brother didn't plan on bullying you with numbers; what he means is, I won't let you walk out of here in one piece!"
He Biao was taken aback, then his face changed and he raged, "Ye, in my life, I've seen arrogant people, but never anyone as brazen as you. Damn it, I want to see what makes you so arrogant!"
With that, He Biao rushed at Ye Qing with a lunge, aimed a kick at him, but Ye Qing easily dodged it.
Everyone at the scene was waiting for this fight, including Xu Changzhi and others in the private room.
Xu Changzhi, having seen Ye Qing in action before, was well aware of Ye Qing's prowess. Annoyed with He Biao's constant provocations, he very much wanted to see Ye Qing crush He Biao beneath his boot. Seeing He Biao make the first move, Xu Changzhi immediately stood up and said, "Big Brother Ye, go for it!"
Huang Feiming stood next to Xu Changzhi, eyeing the sturdy build of He Biao against the somewhat leaner Ye Qing, and he really wasn't quite sure. Ye Qing and He Biao were not in the same weight class; could Ye Qing really be a match for He Biao?
"Young Master Xu, should I have Old Wang take this guy in first?" Huang Feiming whispered.
"Why would you do that?" Xu Changzhi glanced at him and said, "Big Brother Ye definitely won't lose!"
However, Huang Feiming thought otherwise. Watching the two already clashing, he believed it was only a matter of time before Ye Qing would be defeated. Xu Changzhi's admiration for Ye Qing seemed a bit too blind.