"Master Chang, Master Chang! Why didn’t you give me a heads-up you were coming? I would have greeted you personally! Don’t tell me you find my presence embarrassing. How remiss of me, how terribly remiss!" From a distance, Chen Jinlong shouted as he spotted Chang Yuanyi.

Chen Jinlong was dressed in a red, Huaxia-style Tang suit, with a string of wooden beads around his neck. His hair was streaked with gray. He was a true self-made man, one whom almost no one in the circles of Jinling dared to slight.

"Old Chen, when are you going to drop the habit of spouting polite but hollow words? I fucking thought your wings had grown in and you’d flown the coop! I didn’t expect you to show your face. Tsk—not bad. It seems you still have some self-awareness!" Seeing Chen Jinlong arrive, Chang Yuanyi scoffed dismissively.

With that, he turned to Ji Yi. "Miss Ji, just say the word. Whatever you decide, I’ll make it happen."

Chen Jinlong, who had already stopped in his tracks, was taken aback to see Chang Yuanyi acting so obsequiously toward a woman. What is going on? Who is this big shot?

"Master Chang, before you, I, Chen Jinlong, will always be a fledgling with bare wings. I would never dare act as if they were fully grown! You must never doubt our bond! By the way, Master Chang, may I ask who this lady is?"

Chen Jinlong had ignored the middle-aged man kneeling on the ground the entire time. After his fawning speech, he turned his gaze to Ji Yi.

A completely unfamiliar woman, and one with an utterly ordinary aura. Her only asset is her striking beauty. Yet she can make Master Chang act so deferentially? Honestly, Chen Jinlong couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

Unfortunately, Chang Yuanyi paid him no mind, instead waiting eagerly for Ji Yi to speak.

"Little Fan, what is all this? I just came to shoot a series of ’human feasts.’ How did it turn into such a big ordeal?" Biting her lip, Ji Yi, who was extremely unaccustomed to such spectacles, was also somewhat dazed.

"Then let it go. We’ll focus on our shoot. The sky could fall and it would have nothing to do with us," Qin Fan said with an indifferent smile. He couldn’t be bothered to interfere with Chang Yuanyi’s messes. Let them do whatever they wanted.

"Mm," Ji Yi hummed in agreement. She then looked at Chang Yuanyi and said, "Let’s just drop it. It’s not a big deal, and the man has already apologized. A man’s pride is precious, and he’s already gone so far as to kneel. Where we can show mercy, we should."

"Alright, we’ll do as Miss Ji says!" Chang Yuanyi replied with an ingratiating smile. He then shot a cold glance at the middle-aged man on the ground and barked, "SCRAM!"

"Thank you, Master Chang, thank you, Miss Ji, thank you!" the middle-aged man cried out repeatedly, but his face showed no sign of relief. Getting past Chang Yuanyi was one thing, but he still had to get past the Dragon Lord to be truly in the clear.

"Dragon Lord!" Getting up from the floor, the middle-aged man stood behind Chen Jinlong, head bowed and trembling as he spoke.

"What happened?" Chen Jinlong asked, his expression grim.

"Dragon Lord, I was blind. I didn’t recognize Master Chang and said things I shouldn’t have. And I... I failed to recognize the great personage that is Miss Ji and offended her! Dragon Lord, I... I was wrong!" the middle-aged man stammered, swallowing nervously again and again. Attending to a man like this was like accompanying a tiger; he was trapped in a state of terrifying anxiety.

"So, in short, you had eyes but couldn’t see, is that it?" Chen Jinlong said in a low voice, suppressing his fury.

"Dragon Lord, I—!" Hearing Chen Jinlong use the phrase "had eyes but couldn’t see," the middle-aged man’s eyes flew wide with terror. His entire body began to tremble violently. It seems... It seems I already know my fate.

But before he could finish, Chen Jinlong raised a hand to cut him off, saying flatly, "Get lost!" As he spoke, he flicked his eyes toward his bodyguards. They immediately understood, moving to flank the middle-aged man. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Dragon Lord, give me a chance! Please, give me a chance!" Seeing these two guardians at his sides, the man, who was well-acquainted with Chen Jinlong’s methods, cried out in desperate panic.

"Tired of living? I told you to get lost! Didn’t you hear me!" His own pride on the line, Chen Jinlong barked in a low, furious voice.

At the words "Tired of living?" the middle-aged man’s body trembled even more violently.

So, my options are to live on without my eyes, or die whole. Now that it’s come to this, these are my only choices!

GULP. GULP.

His legs grew weak. Under Chen Jinlong’s crushing demeanor, he stumbled away, his eyes darting around at the magnificent splendor of the hall. He knew his dark future was now on a countdown.

From the subtext of the conversation, the middle-aged man’s fate was clear to everyone except for Ji Yi and Li Yunzhe.

Without even glancing at the terrified, despairing figure as he departed, Chen Jinlong’s somber expression melted into a slick, accommodating smile. He looked at Ji Yi and extended his hand. "Miss Ji, a pleasure to meet you, a true pleasure!"

As the saying goes, you don’t hit a smiling face. Faced with Chen Jinlong’s polite smile and extended hand, Ji Yi forced a dry one in return. She had no interest in being introduced to such a person, but it would be too inappropriate not to respond to his gesture.

Just as she was steeling herself against the discomfort and preparing to extend her delicate hand, Qin Fan suddenly spoke.

"Your hands are dirty."

Dirty hands. Who was he talking about? Anyone with a functioning brain knew those words were directed at Chen Jinlong.

Faced with this humiliating tone, Chen Jinlong’s expression changed drastically. Having weathered the storms of Jinling for many years, he had bowed his head and played the part of a subordinate before. But to be insulted so publicly... this was a first. Perhaps he could have stomached it before his rise to power, but his current status made it impossible to swallow his pride.

His face turned cold as he looked at Qin Fan. "Pardon me? What did you just say? I didn’t hear you clearly. Could you repeat that?"

"I said your hands are dirty. Don’t sully her fine hands with them," Qin Fan said, shaking his head at Chen Jinlong with disdain. "I’m speaking human. Do you understand?"

"You!"

Under the watchful eyes of everyone present, as Chen Jinlong’s rage was about to erupt, Chang Yuanyi lunged forward and smacked his outstretched hand down. "Master Qin said your hands are dirty," he said urgently. "So don’t you fucking hold them out and embarrass yourself!"

WHOOSH!

Master Qin? Even Chang Yuanyi has to call him ’Master’?

In that instant, a bucket of ice-cold water seemed to douse Chen Jinlong’s burgeoning fury. Having clawed his way to his current position, he was no fool who couldn’t read a situation. This man, whom even Chang Yuanyi addressed as ’Master,’ wasn’t being ignorant; he possessed the capital to treat Chen Jinlong as less than human!

Realizing this, the fury vanished from his trembling expression, replaced by a pliant, fawning smile. "Haha, you’re right! Master Qin is correct. An old man like me gets lazy about washing his hands. It’s best not to dirty Miss Ji’s immaculate hands! Haha—!"