Chapter 263 — Who Dies First

"Oh, didn't I already say? I'm his follower." Wei Zhao smiled. "And you?"

Damn you! An Liwen wanted to curse, because he had taken Wei Zhao's words as a provocation and a show of contempt for him! Even if you're Gu Mengyao's boyfriend, there's no need to flaunt it like that. And you're not even a boyfriend that Gu Pengzhan has approved of!

In An Liwen's eyes, Gu Pengzhan would never approve of Wei Zhao. He had no idea what kind of dog-shit luck this kid had stumbled into, to win Gu Mengyao's favor.

And that反问 "And you?" made An Liwen's blood boil even more. He thought back to those days—how glorious the Four Young Masters of Songshan had been, known to one and all.

Five years. Five years of scattering to the winds had made the young people of Songshan forget the Four Young Masters of old—so much so that someone was actually asking An Liwen what he did for a living.

"I've just returned from studying abroad, and I plan to invest in starting a company," An Liwen said flatly, a trace of haughtiness in his words.

"Oh, a company—that's good. I'm planning to start one too," Wei Zhao said offhandedly.

A flicker of anger crossed An Liwen's face. You're planning to start one too? You think starting a company is as simple as playing house? You, start one? Do you even have the capital?

"Oh? And what kind of company is Mr. Lin planning to start?" There was a hint of sarcasm in An Liwen's words.

"Haven't decided yet." It wasn't that Wei Zhao hadn't decided—he simply couldn't be bothered to tell An Liwen. A pharmaceutical company: that was something he had settled on long ago.

"Heh, good, good. If Mr. Lin wants to start any kind of company, just tell me. For little sister Yaoyao's sake, whatever I can help with, I'll help with!" An Liwen said earnestly.

You help? The moment you help, it'd go under, wouldn't it? Wei Zhao curled his lip, not believing for a second that An Liwen meant any good. As soon as he finished speaking, An Liwen was about to get up and leave—there was no point in continuing to talk with Wei Zhao here. He planned to go back and thoroughly investigate Wei Zhao's background first; know the enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without danger—that had always been An Liwen's motto in doing things.

He hadn't taken two steps from his seat when An Liwen suddenly clutched his abdomen, his breathing turning rapid, beads of sweat the size of beans rolling down. He tried to say something, but before he could, he collapsed to the ground, the muscles of his whole body twitching rhythmically, his face turning blue and purple, foam spilling from his mouth...

"Brother Jianwen..." Gu Mengyao was stunned for a moment, then rushed over in alarm. The two men sitting with An Liwen also hurried over at once.

"Quick, call an ambulance!" The man in the white casual shirt clearly knew about An Liwen's condition. Though tense, he didn't lose his head, while the man with the soft, feminine features swiftly pulled out his phone and dialed the emergency center.

Seeing the man in the white shirt come over, Gu Mengyao said hurriedly, "Brother Taizao, Jianwen's illness..."

"Where's the owner? Where's the restaurant owner? Get out here—someone's been poisoned by the food!" This man in the white casual shirt was named Su Taizao, and he too had been one of the Four Young Masters of Songshan.

A somewhat portly man came trembling out from behind the counter, looking at Su Taizao with fear. "Sir, it's not necessarily food poisoning that this gentleman has..."

"How is it not? When we ordered, we told you not to put in cilantro or celery—did you put them in anyway?" Su Taizao glared viciously at the restaurant owner. "If anything happens to Brother An, I'll make sure this restaurant of yours can't stay open!"

"I didn't put any in. I specifically asked the kitchen—there's none of that in the dishes..." the owner said cautiously.

"There's no cilantro in the dishes, and no celery either. The owner isn't lying." By now Wei Zhao had walked over to the table where An Liwen had been sitting, examining what the three of them had eaten. "But in this vegetable soup, there's some garland chrysanthemum. If I'm not mistaken, An Liwen should be allergic to vegetables with these pungent flavors—eating them would trigger his epilepsy."

"Garland chrysanthemum?" Su Taizao was startled at Wei Zhao's words and looked at the restaurant owner. "There's garland chrysanthemum in this?"

"Yes, there is garland chrysanthemum," the owner nodded. "We always add garland chrysanthemum to our soup—it clears heat and relieves summer heat..."

Su Taizao frowned. "Why didn't you say so earlier?" Though he knew it wasn't the restaurant owner's fault—he himself hadn't mentioned it when ordering. But in the north, garland chrysanthemum is rarely used in soup, not as frequently as celery or cilantro, so Su Taizao hadn't thought much of it when ordering. Who would have known that garland chrysanthemum would actually be in the soup!

With that, Wei Zhao walked back to his own seat and sat down, ready to eat his fast food. The reason he had gone over to look earlier was that he didn't have a good impression of An Liwen, and he didn't want the man's troubles to drag the restaurant owner down with them.

The restaurant owner cast Wei Zhao a grateful look. If Wei Zhao had not spotted the problem in time, and his restaurant had been stuck with a charge of food poisoning, he would never have been able to keep running it in peace.

"Wei Zhao, can you save Brother Jianwen?" Gu Mengyao knew well the hostility that had passed between An Liwen and Wei Zhao, but An Liwen was, after all, the elder brother of her childhood, and their families had always been on good terms. If something truly happened to him right before her eyes, her conscience would never let her rest.

Hearing Wei Zhao state An Liwen's condition and the cause of his attack with such precision, she instinctively pinned her hopes on him. She could not say when it had begun, but Gu Mengyao had come to regard the Wei Zhao beside her as an all-powerful presence...

Cooking, parking, driving off the local thugs—even when little Shu had gotten wedged between the iron railings, she had gone straight to Wei Zhao for help! Whatever she asked of him, Wei Zhao always managed to deliver, and that had bred in Gu Mengyao a dependence on him!

"Oh, I can. But I don't want to." Wei Zhao glanced at An Liwen.

"You—" Su Taizao was roused to anger by his words. "What kind of person are you? Watching a man die and refusing to help? Let me tell you, do you have any idea what the An family does? If they learn you stood by and let him die, you may as well start waiting for your own funeral!"

"Oh, then you can all wait for the ambulance. I'd say the man has a good ten minutes left in him." Wei Zhao regarded Su Taizao as though he were an idiot. "In that case, I won't save him—and we'll see who ends up waiting for whose funeral first!"

"You—" Su Taizao choked on Wei Zhao's retort, left with no words. He was used to throwing his weight around, and the threat had simply slipped out; he had not expected Wei Zhao to refuse to play by his rules at all.