Chapter 155 — A Very Sinister Man

The kind who used sly tricks to ruin Wei Zhao, yet never let Sun Jingyan see it — that was the sneaky, underhanded sort of man he was.

"You don't mind if I sit down, do you?" Even as Chen Tian said it, his hand was already dragging a chair over and planting himself beside Wei Zhao and Sun Jingyan's table.

It was a table for two, but one more chair hardly mattered.

With Chen Tian added to the mix, the atmosphere at the table turned rather strange.

Sun Jingyan and Wei Zhao were strangers to begin with, so at a moment like this neither dared say much — too many words and they might give themselves away, and let Chen Tian see through the act.

And Chen Tian, who had tried to ruin Wei Zhao earlier and failed, felt somewhat sullen about it, thinking to himself: if not for Sun Jingyan sitting here, I'd crush the life out of you!

"Heh heh, so where does my friend make his fortune?" Seeing that no one at the table was speaking, Chen Tian found a topic himself — he wanted to sound out Wei Zhao's background first. Chen Tian was in top form today when it came to misery. He had thought that flying thousands of miles to Songshan City would let him be seen everywhere arm in arm with Sun Jingyan, but the moment he brought it up, she had brushed him off with the excuse that she had a boyfriend.

He had assumed she was just putting him off, and naturally did not believe it, so he kept pressing. Sun Jingyan, thoroughly out of patience, made the excuse that her boyfriend was waiting for her at the bar, having arranged to meet — never expecting Chen Tian to follow her over with such shamelessness.

In desperation, Sun Jingyan seized on the first idea that came to her and dragged Wei Zhao over to play the part.

Chen Tian had only recently returned to the country and knew nothing of Sun Jingyan's life in Songshan, so when he suddenly saw that she really did have a boyfriend, he dared not conclude whether it was real or fake, and could only probe carefully.

"No fortune to make," Wei Zhao said. His opinion of Chen Tian had plummeted. He had not much wanted to involve himself in whatever was going on between Chen Tian and Sun Jingyan to begin with, but the fellow had walked up and, without so much as asking who was right or wrong, given him a show of force — so Wei Zhao saw no need to be polite either.

No fortune to make? Chen Tian was taken aback, not quite understanding what Wei Zhao meant by that. Did he mean his family was rich, and he had no need to earn money?

But the clothes on the man were hardly fine — cheap goods off a street stall. Could this kid be playing the pig to eat the tiger?

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Wu Chengtian, and Jingyi and I grew up together." Chen Tian nodded at Wei Zhao and extended his hand once more.

"Let's skip the handshake. You nearly crushed me to death just now." This time Wei Zhao had no intention of reaching out at all. "All right, you've finished your introductions — so you can leave now, can't you? Do you realize that sitting here, you're blocking my view of the performance?"

Hearing Wei Zhao's words, Sun Jingyan frowned and shot Wu Chengtian an irritated glance. The Wu family that Wu Chengtian belonged to was known for its skill with the hands — a pair of iron palms, trained to a marvel, said to be handed down from the iron-sand palm technique of Shaolin.

Sun Jingyan knew the Wu family's background, and so naturally knew just how strong Wu Chengtian's grip could be. Hearing Wei Zhao's words, she understood at once that Wu Chengtian had pulled something during that handshake!

Motherfucker! How sinister! Wu Chengtian's expression turned ugly and awkward all at once, and inwardly he cursed Wei Zhao for being far too devious — earlier, when his hand was being crushed, he had said nothing and looked as though he could bear it! Had he cried out back then, even if Sun Jingyan knew Wu Chengtian had cheated, she could not help but mark Wei Zhao down a little: what kind of man so weak would he be, how could he protect his woman? At the least bit of pain, hollering and shouting — how could a woman entrust her whole life to that?

But Wei Zhao had not. He had borne it naturally enough at the time — and now, suddenly, he brought it up again. This was plainly revenge! Yet Wu Chengtian could do nothing about it. The second handshake had also been his own doing first, and the man had taken one loss from Wei Zhao already and swallowed it in silence; to take another loss, anyone with half a brain would simply refuse, then add a jab or two of sarcasm — perfectly normal!

And so, although Wei Zhao had exposed what he had done, he had done it by way of the second handshake — without the slightest hint of deliberately tattling.

"Mr. Lin jests. My grip may be a little strong... it's a habit of mine, and for a moment I forgot to hold back when shaking hands with an ordinary person..." Wu Chengtian's meaning was plain enough: Wei Zhao, you are merely an ordinary man — you are not fit to be with Sun Jingyan at all.

"Oh, so that's how it is!" Wei Zhao nodded. "It seems I misunderstood Mr. Wu. To show my apologies, I've decided to shake your hand one more time!"

And with that, Wei Zhao reached out first.

"Hm?" Wu Chengtian was slightly startled. He had not expected Wei Zhao to agree to another handshake — what kind of game was this? But whatever the game, Wei Zhao had gone this far, and he could not lose face either, so he reached out as well and clasped hands with Wei Zhao.

"Awoo—" An incomparable crushing pressure surged through Wu Chengtian's hand! Looking at Wei Zhao's smiling face, Wu Chengtian knew he had just been paid back in full by this brat!

Caught completely off guard, Wu Chengtian had his hand squeezed by Wei Zhao, and he let out an involuntary cry of alarm.

His hands had not been in this much pain in years, and that was precisely why Wu Chengtian had cried out! Of course, he did not think that far into it. He blamed the agony entirely on Wei Zhao's surprise counterattack -- a move that had caught him unawares and left his hand aching so fiercely.

He never stopped to consider: could any ordinary man, no matter how hard he squeezed, have hurt him like this?

But fury had already swept away Wu Chengtian's reason! He could not believe that he, the proud heir of the Wu family's Iron Hands, had been seized by some nameless boy. It was an unspeakable humiliation!

Just as Wu Chengtian was about to strike back, Wei Zhao had already released his hand and was regarding him with a look of genuine puzzlement. "What? Did I hurt you? I didn't even use any force!"

Sun Jingyan cast a contemptuous glance at Wu Chengtian. What is this supposed to mean? Wei Zhao says you squeezed his hand and hurt him, and you cry out as though Wei Zhao has just squeezed yours? Were you hoping I would believe that?

But who would buy it? The Wu family's Iron Hands, wounded by an ordinary man? Sun Jingyan didn't believe a word of it. She was growing ever more convinced that Wu Chengtian was thoroughly hypocritical. Back when they had not spent much time together, she had thought him courteous and proper, treating him like an older brother. But ever since he had begun pursuing her, everything about him rubbed her the wrong way.

Damn it! Wu Chengtian would have loved nothing more than to slap Wei Zhao across the face and beat the living daylights out of him. This kid was far too underhanded!

"Wu Chengtian, don't you think your behavior right now is no different from that of a clown?" Sun Jingyan furrowed her delicate brows, fixing him with a stern gaze. "If Uncle Wu knew what you've been up to, he'd be very disappointed."