A chuckle escaped He Juan’s lips everytime he recalled Chen Youzhi’s speechless look. He’d really like to tag along with them to see how these two taciturn people would get along with each other. A shame that he had urgent work to do. However, he was not too worried though. Chen Youzhi was good at taking care of someone and as for Mu Yuze... he knew that the boy would quickly learn that Chen Youzhi was actually very kind deep down.

He only wished that the boy would no longer get angry at him.

He sighed when he recalled how Mu Yuze still did not look him in the eye when he bid him goodbye earlier.

It was not like He Juan liked to flaunt his body. No, he only let down his guard because his mind was still fuzzy with sleep. Moreover, he would only go topless at his own house! He had no idea that Mu Yuze would react so strongly either!

The boy was not traumatized, was he...? He Juan sighed again. It seemed like he had to be extra careful about how he dressed from now on...

He gently stepped on the brake once the bar came into sight. A sign hung on the front – ’Queen of Spades’ – with the illustration of a crowned glass of beer on the side painted with the corresponding deck card. Chen Youzhi was right, it was a very ordinary and inconspicuous bar. Not only that, the name was tacky too.

Instead of parking right on the front, He Juan opted to observe the situation from afar and alerted his men. Less than two minutes later, the door to his car opened and three men slid into the passenger seat, greeting him, "Good morning, Boss!"

He Juan chuckled as he glanced at them through the rearview mirror. He could see that they had dressed to impress. Even Ma Ping, who was usually spotted with bird nest hair, had taken care to style his hair with oil. "Such a pity that your drinking session is interrupted, huh?"

"Damn right!" Ma Ping laughed and cursed out loud as he raked his fingers through his hair. "I have spent almost one hour on this! In the end, the ones who get to see me so handsome and suave are still the same old faces! You told me, Boss, won’t you get angered to death?!"

The other two cackled and elbowed him on the side, teasing. "Old Ma is ready to pick up a wife, Boss!"

"Yeah, he’s been so adamant on settling down nowadays! Look at him! Which girl would want to marry him?!"

"Damn you!" Ma Ping let out an angry laugh. "I will marry a literal angel for you to see, okay?! By then, you will be forced to eat dog food everyday!"

"You want to get married?" He Juan asked, surprised. He had not heard of this before. For him, marriage was a foreign event that seemed like a myth – distant and unattainable. He could not imagine ever finding someone who would be able to accept him for who he was instead of crying and trembling in terror at his presence.

Come to think of it, him being disinterested in marriage was one thing, but it might not be the same with his men.

"Yeah..." Ma Ping showed a bashful look on his otherwise ferocious face, making him mellow down a lot. "I am almost thirty five, Boss. I have decent savings, a house and a car. I think the next step is to settle down, no? It’s just the matter of whether there is a girl out there who wants to be with me..."

Hearing this, the two men who had just talked bad about him instantly changed their tone. "What are you talking about?! Look at you, you are rich, suave and strong! How is it possible that you can’t find someone?!"

"Yeah yeah, you can just crook your fingers and all the girls in this city will land on your feet!"

He Juan laughingly piped in, "Should I start to prepare for a winter wedding, Old Ma?"

Cheeks flushing red, Ma Ping waved his hand furiously and switched the topic. "Enough... enough about me! Aren’t we going to catch Blue Lotus right now?"

Being reminded by Ma Ping of their current situation, the playful mood in the air was replaced with a solemn one. Everyone quickly threw the topic of Ma Ping’s marriage to the back of their minds and focused on the task at hand.

"He’s still inside?" He Juan asked as he peered into the closed bar.

"Uh-huh," one of the men, Old Huang, answered. "We have been monitoring the front gate since last night and Old Liu is guarding the back entrance. So far, there is no sight of Blue Lotus anywhere." 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"Strange..." He Juan murmured, his brows furrowed.

"What’s strange, Boss?"

"I don’t know, just... don’t you think that something is off?" He Juan could not properly explain his feelings. If he had to put a word to it, then it should be instinct. His instinct told him to tread carefully and be on his highest guard. He had no idea why he was feeling like this either. Even if the Queen of Spades had become a hideout for Blue Lotus and his men, He Juan was confident that he could incapacitate them alone. Bringing his men with him was just an extra insurance.

The three men glanced at each other in confusion and shrugged, not knowing what He Juan was talking about.

Sighing, He Juan tapped on the steering wheel and turned off the car engine. "Alright guys, let’s go."

The men had gotten used to He Juan’s way of leading. Pumped up and full of buzzing energy, they exclaimed loudly, "Let’s do it!"

They jumped down from the car and rushed to the bar.

Ma Ping took the lead by kicking the door open while releasing the trigger on his gun, pointing it forward. He yelled out loud, "Everyone, put your hands up in the air~"

There was a second pause as the people inside were caught off guard by their sudden appearance. But once their eyes landed on the gun in Ma Ping’s hands, the scene immediately descended into chaos. Shrill screams reverberated through the air. A waiter tripped over a chair, causing the dirty glasses in his hands to crash to the ground and shatter into pieces. People were scrambling like headless flies to find a place to hide.

"Uh-oh," Old Huang gripped the bartender’s hand who was holding onto the phone handle, presumably trying to alert the people upstairs, causing the latter’s face to pale in an instant. "No funny business. We’re just going to visit the second floor for a while, okay?"

"It’s okay, don’t be afraid of us!" The other man grinned while spinning the gun in his hand. "We won’t bite hehe."

Amidst the disordered scene, He Juan’s eyes did not even stray to the side as he marched straight toward the stairs.

.

.

A/N: fyi even though they called each other ’Old XX’, it doesn’t really mean that they’re old. It’s just an address that indicates that they’re close friends/brothers. Just like those Hongkong action blockbuster *cough* if you know what I mean