Chapter 110 — A Timely Arrival

"Drive, now—or you'll regret it." Yang Ce was nothing like Chen Shutang, who loved to reason things out at length. When words failed, his fists spoke first—that was the Yang Juehuan way.

"Driving's fine and all, but—" The cabbie patted the meter in front of him. "See that number up there? We get where we're going, you pay in full."

"Say that again." Yang Ce looked at the cabbie with a cold smile.

"I'll say it ten thousand times, same thing." Since Yang Ce and Chen Shutang were both in the back, separated from the driver by a safety partition, he wasn't worried about what Yang Ce might do to him. And if Yang Ce dared to get out of the car, he'd simply drive off.

*Bang.* Yang Puqi's fist slammed into the partition, and it instantly caved in with a deep dent.

The cabbie nearly jumped out of his skin. "What are you doing?"

"Believe me when I say my next punch lands on your head?" Yang Ce said coldly. "Drive. Now. Don't waste my time."

"Fine, I'll drive, but you can't go wrecking my cab!" The cabbie, clearly rattled by Yang Juehuan's move, could only mutter under his breath.

"You think I won't smash your car to pieces?" Yang Ce had caught the mumbling. He glared.

"All right, all right, I'll drive!" The cabbie cursed his luck—trying to fleece them had backfired. Who'd have thought Yang Cenbin was this fierce, punching a solid partition into a dent just like that?

"See?" Yang Ce pointed at the cabbie. "No use reasoning with this kind of person. They're just asking for a beating." In truth, he was also explaining himself to Chen Shutang—sometimes force was unavoidable, and he'd rather she didn't keep calling him crude.

Chen Shutang sighed. Yang Yanzhou really did have a point. She'd threatened to report him and he hadn't been scared at all, but the moment Yang Puqi used his fists, the man turned docile. What kind of person was that?

The cabbie, hearing Yang Juehuan's words, immediately flared with anger. He was no saint—every profession has its bad apples. This driver, Xu Songshu, had once been a small-time thug; when he got too old to run with the pack, he'd taken up driving a cab, though he still kept ties with some of the underworld crowd.

In his daily driving he bluffed and cheated, squeezing every fare he could, and was especially ruthless with out-of-towners and young couples like Yanzhou. But he hadn't expected to run into trouble today. Still, Xu Songshu wasn't about to let Yang Ce scare him off for nothing. While driving, he stealthily pulled out his phone and sent a text to a few of his no-good buddies, telling them to wait at Yang Ce's destination and teach them a lesson.

The rest of the trip, Xu Songshu didn't dare act up, playing the meek little nobody. But in his heart he thought: once we reach Wenxing Road residential compound, I'll give Yang Ce a lesson in blood. I won't rest until I've squeezed every last cent out of him.

The car pulled up to Huaxing Road residential compound. Xu Songshu saw his buddies waiting by the roadside and felt his confidence return at once. He pulled the car right up beside them.

*Clatter.* The rear door was yanked open by Xu Songshu's friends. One of them, a fellow with a watermelon-rind haircut, bared his teeth at Yang Puqi. "Get out."

"Qiangzi, this little punk not only won't pay the fare, he wrecked the partition inside the car!" Xu Songshu, suddenly full of swagger, looked at Yang Yanzhou with smug satisfaction.

"Hey, kid, you've got some nerve all right—young as you are, you've already learned to ride for free, and you wrecked the partition too. Didn't figure you for such a tough guy!" the one called Qiangzi said, glaring at Yang Yanzhou.

"And who the hell are you?" Yang Ce gave Qiangzi a look of utter contempt. "This is none of your business. Go find somewhere cool to hang out."

"Motherf—" Qiangzi swung his hand at Yang Juehuan's face. "You little bastard, what kind of talk is that? Turning down a face-saving offer, huh? Asking for a beating?"

Yang Ce tilted his head and casually dodged Qiangzi's swing, then said with some impatience, "I'll say it one last time: this is none of your concern, or you'll deal with the consequences." He turned to Xu Songshu. "And you—I saw how docile you were and thought I'd toss you a little extra to make up for your trouble. But you went and called your friends to ambush me. Sorry. Not a single cent now."

"Ho!" Qiangzi laughed. "This kid's got a sharp tongue! You see how many brothers I brought? I'll admit you've got some skill—putting a dent in that partition like that. But no matter how tough you are, can you take on all four of us? Trying to play the hero in front of your girl—don't end up the clown instead." Then he turned to Chen Shutang. "Your boyfriend's trying to show off. You're a looker, so I'll give you a face-saving deal: just hand over five thousand yuan and we'll call it even. Otherwise, your boyfriend might be spending his New Year in the hospital."

Seeing the man drag things out, Yang Ce grew annoyed. He hadn't wanted to cause trouble downstairs from Chen Shutang's place—after all, his mother-in-law-to-be was nearby, and word would get around. So he'd wanted to just chase these people off quickly. But the fellow kept pushing his luck. Frowning, Yang Ce said, "I'll give you three hundred and we're done. It's New Year's—I don't want to waste my breath on you."

"What? Three hundred?" Qiangzi saw Yang Ce was willing to pay and took it as a sign he'd caved. His confidence soared. "Five thousand. Not a cent less, or no one leaves."

"Go to hell." Yang Cenbin's patience was truly gone now. He swung a slap that sent Qiangzi spinning and sprawling to the ground.

"Get him! Get—get him! Beat him up!" Qiangzi spat out a front tooth, his words whistling through the gap.

They all assumed Yang Ce had only gotten the drop on Qiangzi because he was caught off guard, and didn't think Yang Moyi was really that tough. They figured there were four of them—no way they'd lose.

So they all stepped forward and surrounded Yang Ce.

"Hey, what's going on here? A gang brawl?" Just as they were about to make their move, a loud shout rang out.

They turned to see two police officers in uniform walking over. Instantly they didn't dare lift a finger, and stood meekly to one side.

Sure, they had numbers—but what small-time thug dares to defy the police?

"What's going on here?" one of the officers asked.

"This kid rode without paying—we were just stopping him and asking for our money," Xu Songshu hurried to explain first.

"Is that so?" the officer asked.

"No, it's not!" Chen Shutang immediately objected. "This driver took us the long way around. We refused to pay the extra fare, so he called these people to keep us from leaving."

"Huh? Aren't you Captain Chen's daughter?" the other officer suddenly asked, looking at Chen Shutang.

"Uncle Cai?" Chen Shutang recognized him now—a policeman from her father's unit, the deputy chief of the public-order division, who also lived in this compound. Sometimes he came and went from work with her father. Of course she knew him.

"Heh, so what's this? These fellows even tried to fleece you?" The officer named Cai turned to his colleague. "Take a few of them back to the station first."

"Ah?" Xu Songshu was dumbstruck. He'd really stepped in it this time. The young man was no pushover, and the girl was just as formidable—from the officer's tone, she was clearly from a police family too, and her father was a captain.

"It's a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding, officer, I was just joking, it's nothing," Xu Songshu hastily changed his tune. It was New Year's—if he got hauled into the station, he'd be eating his New Year's Eve dinner behind bars. That would never do.

"A misunderstanding? That's not what you were saying a moment ago," the first officer snorted. "Didn't you say someone was riding without paying?"

"No, no, I was just joking," Xu Songshu said, sweat streaming down his face. What rotten luck today.