Chapter 562 — I Take My Orders from Wei Zhao

"The most I can go is two million eight hundred thousand. If you won't sell, there's nothing more I can do—go find someone else to take it at four million." Zhang Baji spoke mildly. "Though with the way this teahouse of yours is being run, I doubt anyone will buy."

"You..." Kang's father knew this was a threat. Fury surged in him, irrepressible, and he stared at Zhang Baji with bloodshot eyes. This was not a matter of backing down or being afraid—a family's whole future hung on it. And so he stiffened his spine. I won't sell. You can't very well beat me to death, can you? "Don't go bullying honest folk," he said. "I don't want trouble with you, but that doesn't mean I'm afraid of you..."

"Oh? Old thing, did we bully you?" Zou Ruoguang regarded Kang's father with amused interest. "So you won't sell, is that it? Fine—from now on we'll be here for tea every single day!"

Kang Xiaofeng came home from school to the teahouse. The moment he pushed the door open he sensed that something was off in the air, and when he heard the man before him pressing his father to sell the teahouse, anger flared in him at once. What were these people up to?

"Don't you bully my dad!" Kang Xiaofeng ran over and planted himself in front of his father, glaring at Zou Ruoguang, Zou Tiandi, and Zhang Baji.

Why did this man look a little familiar? Kang Xiaofeng was briefly taken aback. And Zou Ruoguang and Zou Tiandi found Kang Xiaofeng somewhat familiar too, though they could not recall where they had seen him.

"Kid, whose turf are you from? This is none of your business—run along back to your room and do your homework!" Zou Ruoguang said with a taunt, not taking the schoolbag-laden Kang Xiaofeng seriously in the least.

"I..." Kang Xiaofeng had meant to go find Wei Zhao first, but Wei Zhao had gone out, so he had steeled himself and stepped up alone—he could hardly stand by and watch these men bully his father. Having been in Wei Zhao's company lately, he was no longer the timid, fearful boy he had been; he felt himself a man who could stand his ground. So he lifted his chin and said, "I take my orders from Boss Lin. Where are you from?"

Kang Xiaofeng knew Wei Zhao was formidable—but only within the walls of the school. Whether his name could cow these men, he had no idea.

"Xiaobo, stop this nonsense, go to your room and read your books!" Kang's father was terrified to see his son come home from school and lock horns with these people, afraid that hot young blood would land them all in disaster.

"Boss Lin? What Boss Lin?" Zou Ruoguang was taken aback. He had only been needling the boy offhand—how was he to know Kang Xiaofeng would actually produce some Boss Lin? But turning it over in his mind, among the strong figures in Songshan City's underworld, there was no Boss Lin that he knew of.

"Wei Zhao—Boss Lin!" Kang Xiaofeng said, forcing himself to keep his nerve, though he added, "New to Songshan, and very tough. I'd advise you not to cross my boss—I'm his number one henchman!"

"Gah?!" At the name Wei Zhao, Zou Ruoguang leapt a full three feet in the air as though someone had trodden on his tail. His face drained of color, turning white in an instant, and he turned his head toward his father, Zou Tiandi, in something close to terror.

Zou Tiandi was badly startled too. No—surely not? How was this Wei Zhao everywhere, a ghost that would not stay buried? Wherever he turned there was his shadow. And now a "number one henchman" had cropped up as well? But Zou Tiandi was, after all, a man of some standing, and he kept his composure. Wondering whether the boy was simply making it up, he hurriedly took out his phone and dialed his son Zou Ruoming's number.

If Wei Zhao had any henchmen, Zou Ruoming should know. In any case, first he would confirm whether the boy was bluffing. If Wei Zhao had no such follower, Zou Tiandi resolved to beat Kang Xiaofeng's face into a bloody pulp—who did he think he was, scaring people like that? At the instant he had heard Wei Zhao's name, Zou Tiandi's heart had nearly stopped with fright.

"Hello, Ruoming? Let me ask you something—does that Boss Wei Zhao have any henchmen?" Zou Tiandi did not dare show Wei Zhao any disrespect, and so he addressed him as Boss Wei Zhao as well; he was truly afraid that the young man before him might have some connection to Wei Zhao.

Zou Ruoming had no idea why his father was calling to ask such a thing, but he answered anyway: "There's one. Name's Kang Xiaofeng—used to be a total coward, but ever since he latched onto Wei Zhao he's been strutting around school like a big shot..."

The surname Kang... Kang's father had called him "Xiaobo" just now, and Zou Tiandi had heard it. So the boy before him was Wei Zhao's henchman beyond any doubt! Zou Tiandi did not know how he managed to hang up the phone; his face was frozen in deep terror.

In that instant he finally remembered where he had seen this Kang Xiaofeng before—at the hospital! That time he was hospitalized, when he had clashed with Wei Zhao, this Kang Xiaofeng had been there too!

"!" Zou Tiandi spun around and drove a kick into Zhang Baji's chest, sending him sprawling flat on his back, his head cracking straight against the leg of a table, blood pouring out in a gush. But that did not sate Zou Tiandi's fury—he went at him with a flurry of kicks.

Zou Ruoguang, over on his side, came to his senses as well and piled in, raining blows on Zhang Baji.

"Brother Zou, Young Master Zou, what are you hitting me for?" Zhang Baji was dazed by the beating. What was wrong with this Zou father and son, flying into a rage out of nowhere?

"Hitting you? You son of a bitch, you nearly got me killed! You bastard—you didn't even hear them out properly! This boy's tied to Boss Wei Zhao, and you dared to pull your schemes on him? Why aren't you dead?" Zou Tiandi was beside himself. Was this not just trying to get him killed? The things he had done lately had already put Wei Zhao in a foul mood, and now here he was bullying the man's own henchman—was he courting death?

A few days ago he had crossed Tang Zhi's younger brother's girlfriend, and Zou Tiandi had been on tenterhooks ever since, never knowing whether Wei Zhao might come looking for trouble. Barely had things settled down than he went and provoked Wei Zhao's henchman. Just how lucky could a man be? Why did every accursed thing have to land in his lap?

This sudden turn of events left the whole Kang family dumbfounded. Kang's father and mother watched the Zou father and son in their fury with astonishment and dread, and what amazed them even more was that the mere utterance of Wei Zhao's name from their son's lips had made the Zou father and son about-face on the spot and start thrashing Zhang Baji.

But now Kang Xiaofeng finally understood: these two knew Wei Zhao—and not only knew him, they were afraid of him. Otherwise they could never have worked themselves into such a fury.

They kept beating Zhang Baji until he was nearly unconscious before Zou Tiandi and Zou Ruoguang finally stopped. It was not fear of crippling him that made them stop—they had simply worn themselves out. Both were big-boss material; the actual beating was usually left to their underlings, and they rarely fought prolonged battles.

Their main purpose in coming today had been to intimidate Kang's father; they had never reckoned on coming to blows.

"Brother Kang, my apologies—it was all a misunderstanding! Zhang Baji here just deserved a beating. He dragged us out here on a fool's errand, and it turns out he was up to no good! Good thing we caught on and put a stop to it in time, or heaven knows what this bastard might have done!" Zou Tiandi called Kang Xiaofeng "Brother." It felt awkward, but he had no choice—he did not dare do otherwise.