Qin Zhu’s voice cracked as panic took over.
He kicked helplessly in the air.
The others simply looked at Qin Zhu, while Hua Feixue looked downright thrilled.
Hua Feixue was already imagining what coffin size would fit Qin Zhu.
Qin Zhu’s eyes bulged.
“No no no! I take it back! I wasn’t gonna rob anyone!”
“I swear I’m a good person!”
“Don’t turn me into a rock!”
Mo Xixi tilted her head slightly.
“Then stop screaming.”
“You’re noisy.”
Qin Zhu could only wail.
He kept flailing his head, the only part he could still move.
His voice grew higher with every plea.
“I’m sorry! I was just testing my luck!”
“Brother, sir, senior, big sister, ancestor – I didn’t mean it!”
“I’ll go back to farming! I’ll raise chickens!”
“W-Wait! I’m serious! I’ll leave, I’ll never come back!”
Mo Xixi only sighed and adjusted her grip.
Qin Zhu’s body stiffened even more, his limbs refusing to listen to him.
Now he wasn’t just dangling – he was practically a stone statue being carried across the room.
“This is illegal! You can’t just paralyze people!”
Mo Xixi ignored him, her small steps light as she carried him toward Hao’s direction.
Qin Zhu’s panic spiked when he saw Hao sitting calmly with the others, completely unfazed by his earlier outburst.
“Boss! I was wrong!” Qin Zhu cried.
“It was all a misunderstanding! I thought this was… uh… a dining pavilion!”
“I just wanted a meal!”
He desperately tried to wriggle, but his body wouldn’t budge.
Mo Xixi stopped in front of Hao’s table and unceremoniously dropped Qin Zhu onto the floor.
Thud!
Qin Zhu stared up helplessly, his face pale.
Hao looked down at him with a casual smile.
“So… what’s your name, little troublemaker?”
Qin Zhu quickly bowed his head.
“Q-Qin Zhu, boss! Qin Zhu!”
He was shaking.
“I swear I’m just a small character! Just a poor, miserable soul trying to make it in this cruel world!”
’Small character, huh?’
Hao leaned forward slightly, resting his chin on his hand.
“So, Qin Zhu.”
“Are you working alone?”
“Or maybe you’re related to the two thugs I met outside earlier?”
Qin Zhu’s heart almost stopped.
He opened his mouth, but no words came out.
He had hired Big Bro Bai and Skinny Liu to mess with Hao.
But saying it out loud was basically admitting he had plotted against him
If he confessed, he was dead.
If he lied and got caught, he would be even more dead.
Either way, he could already see his miserable ending if Hao handed him over to the Sovereign City officials.
Tortured until his mind broke.
Sold off as a spirit slave.
Or simply executed quietly and left to rot.
Qin Zhu’s eyes darted around wildly, searching for an escape that didn’t exist.
“No, Boss! I swear it’s not what you think!” he blurted.
“I just… happened to pass by! Coincidence!”
“Total coincidence!”
Mo Xixi let out a tiny snort.
Even Xiao Lianfeng, normally stoic, coughed into his hand to hide a chuckle.
Hao’s smile didn’t change, but somehow it became even more terrifying.
“Coincidence, huh?”
He reached down and flicked Qin Zhu’s forehead with a snap.
Qin Zhu yelped like a kicked dog.
“I-I’m serious, boss!”
“I’ll change! I’ll live honestly!”
“Just don’t turn me in, please!”
“I beg you!”
He even tried to bow, but with his stiff, half-paralyzed body, it looked more like a worm wiggling on the ground.
Hao sat back, watching the pitiful display.
“Well, at least you’re good at begging.”
Qin Zhu had no pride left.
At least on the surface.
Inside, his heart was boiling with hate.
If he survived today, he swore he would crawl back, bite down on his shame, and one day tear this entire store – and everyone in it – apart.
Even if he had to bow to every dog on the street and call it ’Ancestor’ just to stay alive for now, he would endure.
He swore it.
He would find a way to pay them back.
That smug rich boy sitting there? He would rip him apart piece by piece.
That little demonic brat who dared to kick him? He would make sure she regretted ever laying a finger on him.
Qin Zhu’s thoughts twisted darker by the second.
For now, he could only bear it.
“I… I can pay, boss!”
“I’ll transfer you everything! Every single crystal, every treasure, everything I’ve collected!”
“I even have some rare alchemy ingredients! I swear they’re priceless!”
Hao, however, didn’t even blink.
He simply stared at Qin Zhu as if he were a loud fly buzzing in the room.
No interest. No pity. Not even boredom.
It was the same look someone would give a dried poop stuck to their shoe.
Qin Zhu’s heart squeezed in terror.
Why wasn’t it working!?
He was practically throwing away his entire fortune here!
Hao tapped his chin.
“Are you sent by Gong Shaoyan or Gong Jueyun?”
Qin Zhu blinked, stunned for a moment.
What Gong what now?
Hao narrowed his eyes slightly, watching Qin Zhu’s reaction.
It was a possibility, after all.
If those father and son idiots couldn’t mess with him directly, sending some third-rate thug to stir up trouble was exactly the kind of cliché move they would pull.
He had read enough webnovels back on Earth to know how this plot worked.
If a young master couldn’t beat the protagonist, they would either send random assassins, poison the protagonist’s drink, or pay thugs to act tough and get slaughtered.
Classic.
Textbook villain behavior.
Honestly, Hao would be more surprised if they didn’t try something so cheap.
Qin Zhu gulped.
He knew exactly who Gong Jueyon was – the Vice Master of Azure Mist Dining Pavilion, a man rumored to have deep ties to the Royal Family of Yunlan!
Did that terrifying figure clash with this little store too?
Qin Zhu’s scalp went numb.
He should really not have involved himself with this place.
Absolutely not.
The next second, he shook his head so fast it almost snapped off his neck.
“No, boss! I swear, I wasn’t sent by anyone!”
“I came here on my own!”