Chapter 243 — Bizarre Conditions

Sun Jingyan let out an instinctive scream. She had brought Wei Zhao here to discuss serious business, never expecting to run into a pack of small-time thugs. If Wei Zhao got hurt, if his head were cracked open, who would be left to steal the data for her?

But it was Scarface whose head got cracked open. The beer bottle had ended up in Wei Zhao's hand—only half of it now, the other half having burst apart against Scarface's skull.

Scarface was clearly a ruthless sort himself. Even after being struck on the head by Wei Zhao, he did not cry out; instead it roused his vicious streak. He rose coldly to his feet and stared at Wei Zhao: "Which turf do you run on, brother? Don't you know everything around the North District market is under Scarface's protection? You come here looking for trouble on purpose?"

"Get lost." Wei Zhao still gave just the one word, except this time he added a gesture: he snatched up the bamboo skewer Scarface had finished eating and flung it with a sharp snap, driving it straight into the unscarred half of Scarface's face, punching clean through.

"Awooo—" Scarface let out a miserable howl. The nerves in the face are dense, and a hole punched through the cheek naturally hurts terribly. He had not made a sound when the bottle struck him, but this time Scarface truly could not hold it in, because the pain was too much!

Scarface was somewhat terrified. That bamboo skewer, so light and flimsy, and Wei Zhao had merely tossed it casually, yet it could bury itself in his flesh. Such skill was not something an ordinary man could manage.

Still, Scarface counted as a man of some spine. He cried out only when the skewer went in, then fell silent; gritting his teeth, he pulled the skewer out in one jerk and looked at Wei Zhao: "Brother, I admit I am no match for you, but a man should always leave himself some room. Don't push people too far!"

"Who's your brother? I'm an orphan! Dawdle any longer and I'll keep sticking needles in you!" Wei Zhao said offhandedly, not even lifting his head—utter contempt for Scarface.

"Mountains don't turn, but rivers do—we'll meet again!" Scarface gave a cold snort and left a parting threat: "If you've got guts, wait right here for me!"

"If you're calling people, hurry it up. I can't wait—I've got things to do after I eat. If you're not back by the time I'm done, I'm leaving." Wei Zhao was not provoked in the least; Scarface's taunts were useless on him.

Scarface's expression shifted. He beckoned to his three remaining brothers-in-arms, and they hurried away from the food stall.

"Scarface, why didn't you let a few of us go up?" asked one of Scarface's lackeys, a fellow called Purple Hair.

"The man's a tough one, probably trained in the martial arts. If you went up, you'd only get hurt!" Scarface was no fool: "Anyone who can throw a bamboo skewer into my face like that is definitely no ordinary man!"

At Scarface's words, Purple Hair and the others nodded in deep agreement: "Right, so what do we do? Just swallow this loss? How are we supposed to show our faces on the snack street after this?"

"Of course we can't just let it go! We'll go back and get Brother Guang to settle this for us!" Scarface said.

"Right, Brother Guang! Have Brother Guang bring his men and hack him to death!" Purple Hair said excitedly the moment he heard it. "Let's go find Brother Guang right now!"

When Sun Jingyan heard Wei Zhao call himself an orphan, she was rather shocked. She had not expected Wei Zhao to actually be an orphan! Of course, she did not think he was joking—no one would joke about their own origins like that.

Of course, what shocked Sun Jingyan was not only that, but also the skill Wei Zhao had just displayed! She had long known Wei Zhao's hands were quick—being able to lift the wallet off Wu Chengtian certainly required a fair turn of speed.

But Wei Zhao could fight with that same speed! She had not even seen clearly how the bottle in Scarface's hand had gotten into Wei Zhao's, and already Scarface's head had burst open.

And that bamboo skewer—who would have thought it could be used as a throwing dart to pierce a man? What kind of person was this?

She lowered her head, about to ask Wei Zhao whether he knew martial arts, when she saw that he had already buried his head in eating, heartily devouring a basin of spicy skewers. Sun Jingyan was momentarily speechless.

He had just finished beating someone up, so bloody a scene, and now he was eating as if nothing had happened at all!

"Mm... right, tell me about this business of having me steal the data?" Wei Zhao had eaten more than twenty spicy skewers before he slowed down and spoke to Sun Jingyan.

"The other side is a trading company, just like ours. We deal in roughly the same lines—office supplies and computer products," Sun Jingyan explained when she heard him ask. "But one of our company's business managers, while negotiating with a large corporation, gave their executive a certain percentage as a kickback—commissions, as it's commonly called. Somehow or other, the people the rival company hired filmed the whole thing, and now they're using it to blackmail our company..."

"Oh, I see. So their company doesn't do that sort of thing?" Wei Zhao pulled out two more skewers and asked.

"It is no secret in the trade. If you want to drum up business, how can you not slip the people in charge a little something? They do it too; it is just that we were the ones caught on camera." Sun Jingyan sounded rather resigned.

"If it comes out in the open, does it do you any harm?" Wei Zhao asked.

"We might be penalized by the authorities, and of course we would lose that client as well. He is one of our company's biggest clients, buying over ten million yuan worth of computers and office equipment from us every year. Once this is exposed, not only will he lose his position as department head, but his company may well hold him accountable!" Sun Jingyan said. "The most critical problem is this: after that, what company's people would dare work with us? Even taking a kickback can get you exposed. Who would come to an unsafe company like ours? I am afraid we will have no choice but to shut our doors for good..."

"That serious?" Wei Zhao knew nothing about business, but Sun Jingyan's explanation had given him the gist. "So what terms has the other company proposed? If they only meant to strike at a competitor, they would surely have made the recording public already; they would not have waited for you to come to me to steal it."

"Exactly." Sun Jingyan nodded. "Making it public would hurt us, but it would do them no good either. After all, it is a case of harming others without benefiting oneself. There is more than just the two of us trading companies in Songshan; there are plenty of others. Even if our company loses a client, that client will not necessarily run to them."

"Tell me their terms." That was what interested Wei Zhao.

"Their terms are... the chairman of that company wants me to be his mistress," Sun Jingyan said.

"What?! Pff..." Wei Zhao spat out the half-eaten spicy skewer straight away... "Cough, cough, what did you say? Their term is for you to be his mistress?"

"Yes!" Sun Jingyan nodded firmly. "So your fee will be half of theirs, and I will be your mistress too, but without carrying out a mistress's duties, because I am only half your mistress."