A pin-drop silence fell into the room after Nie Yuanhu shouted out “Mr. Chen.”
People were confused as to who he was calling out to. Even Nie Shunchen was taken aback as he scraped his mind to think which superstar or super-rich he had invited tonight who had a last name of Chen.
He watched as Nie Yuanhu came over to Chen Fan and extended both hands to the young man.
“Mr. Chen. I had never thought that you would come to our banquet. I have never been more honored before.”
Chen Fan didn’t even spare Nie Yuanhu a glance much less shake hands with him, leaving Nie Yuanhu’s hands hanging. Nie Yuanhu was surprised by the cold shoulder and looked to Master Qiu in embarrassment. Qiu Yulin picked up the cue and stepped forward and bowed to Chen Fan.
“Perfected Cultivator Chen, this is the owner of the Hua Yi Entertainment, Mr. Nie. He admired you and wanted to meet you for a while.”
“Yes, yes. Mr. Chen, please just called me Xiao Nie.” Nie Yuanhu put on a toady smile and said.
Chen Fan was an untouchable mighty figure to Nie Yuanhu. He would even hand over his virgin daughter to Chen Fan much less plastering on an unctuous smile.
Little did Nie Yuanhu know that his action had stunned everyone in the room. Nie Shunchen was so shocked by the development, he rounded his eyes in disbelief.
How was that possible? How did Chen Fan get to know my dad? Why was Nie Yuanhu so ingratiating toward Chen Fan? What was going on?
Zhou Qinya, Qiu Yilun, Qian Lulu and Yun Qianqian were all shocked as well.
“Dad?” Nie Shunchen called out to his dad in confusion.
By now, Nie Yuanhu finally remembered his son, so he pulled Nie Shunchen over to him and said: “Mr. Chen, this is my son Nie Shunchen. Shunzhen, this is the new owner of Zheng’s Financial Group, and the new billionaire of Hong Kong, Mr. Chen Beixuan. You can call him uncle Chen.”
A new billionaire in Hong Kong?
Chen Beixuan?
Although the name of Chen Fan was unheard of by anyone in the room, Chen Beixuan was a household name in Hong Kong. The crowd boiled over as they had never thought that they would meet the legendary man that had shaken up Hong Kong’s power dynamic recently.
“He is the one who toppled the Zheng family and taken over the billions of assets from the Zheng family?”
“I have heard that even Zhou Daoji was killed by him. He is a deadly and powerful spell caster.”
“That’s him! I haven’t seen his picture, but I don’t think Boss Nie could have been mistaken. Chen Beixuan is a very young man, so I have heard, just like him.”
A surprised murmur rose from the crowd. Many pair of eyes stared at Chen Fan, trying to imprint the rare sight of such a legend permanently in their minds.
Chen Fan’s achievement was unprecedented. Any billionaire would have at least decades of hard word behind them. Even during the Information Age, the success of companies such as Facebook took its founder, Mark Zuckerberg a few years to achieve.
However, Chen Fan had taken over the wealth of the Zheng family and became one of the top ten richest men in Hong Kong before he had even reached twenty. Hong Kong was a capitalist society through and through. Anyone with that much wealth would determine the course of Hong Kong’s future. Superman Li, for example, had such a heavy influence on the city that people called Hong Kong the “Li’s City”
Compared to Chen Fan, the wealth of the attendees of this banquet were only around a few hundred million, a far cry from that of Chen Fan and Superman Li.
“He is Chen Beixuan?” Nie Shunchen pointed at Chen Fan and asked incredulously.
“Nonsense, he is your uncle, so stop called him by name and call him Uncle.” Nie Yuanhu slapped on Nie Shunchen’s head and chided him hotly.
Nie Yuanhu’s slap on Nie Shunchen’s face was a wake-up call. The young man’s face darkened as he locked his gaze on to Chen Fan and grew gloomy.
He had been convinced that these teenagers were just college students from the mainland and was ready to see Chen Fan bend his knees if not just to throw them off the deck and make them swim back. However, the tables had turned as Chen Fan turned out to the infamous Chen Beixuan. Nie Shunchen found it hard to come to terms with the reality of the situation and his shock and disbelief were shared by everyone, including Qiu Yilun, Qian Lulu, and Zhou Qinya.
Li Xinru couldn’t feel more regret for insulting the young man earlier. She had never thought that Yun Qianqian’s friend was such a powerful man.
Yun Qianqian, on the other hand, covered her mouth to stifle a surprised cry. She finally remembered why the name of Chen Beixuan sounded so familiar to her. He was the one who everyone had been talking about of late. Although the name made her think of Chen Fan, ultimately, she didn’t make the connection between the two.
“What’s happening? Have you offended Mr. Chen?”
Nie Shunchen finally registered the tension hanging the air. He pulled a taut face and looked to Nie Shunchen questioningly.
Nie Shunchen kept his silence and pressed his thin lips together.
“He just told me that if I don’t bend my knees and apologize to him, he will kick me off the deck and let me swim back to Hong Kong.” Chen Fan picked up a glass of Champagne and leisurely took a sip.
“You… you idiot!”
Chen Fan’s words made Nie Yuanhu’s hair stand on end. Suddenly, he felt his heart skipped a beat as the world slowly started turning dark. He scrambled to hold on to a table to steady himself before he collapsed to the ground.
What a fool Nie Shunchen was! Look at what had happened to people that dared to stand up against Chen Fan: Nin Tianchen had blocked his way so Chen Fan killed him; Zhou Daoji tried to avenge his disciple, Chen Fan killed him as well; the Zheng family owed him ten billion and refused to pay, Chen Fan had taken the Old Man Zheng’s life as well as the entire family wealth. Who in the right mind would mess with such a deadly and powerful mighty figure? Nie Shunchen was courting death.
“Mr… Mr. Chen. Please for my sake, forgive Shunchen.” Nie Shunchen managed to stand still as he pleaded to Chen Fan. Even as he talked to Chen Fan, he kicked Nie Shunchen’s leg.
“You fool! Kneel before Mr. Chen and apologize! NOW!”
Nie Yuanhu meant to save his son’s life, but Nie Shunchen didn’t appreciate it.
Nie Shunchen grew up with a golden spoon in his mouth and had never encountered any challenge in his life. He had been used to fancy cars and fancy asses and thought he was born to be envied by others.
Therefore, it was worse than killing him to ask him to bend his knees and apologize.
Nie Shunchen defied his father’s command and shouted out.
“Dad! Why should I? Because he had robbed the Zheng family? So what? The Zheng family’s business had nothing to do with Hua Yi Entertainment. What harm could he possibly do to us? I am not going to apologize to this asshole!”
“You… you… YOU!”
Nie Yuanhu pointed a finger at his foolish son and felt his heart was going to burst out of his chest.
Seeing the situation was beyond saving, Nie Shunchen turned around and gave Chen Fan a disdainful glare. “Chen Beixuan, I didn’t know who you are earlier, so I have offended you. But you have also hurt my friend, and taken my chick from me. We are square, how about that?”
Nie Shunchen thought his words were quite reasonable.
Hua Yi Entertainment was one of the biggest entertainment firms in China. Although there were other more influential firms out there, if they don’t cross paths in business ventures, they couldn’t pose much of a threat to the Nie family. As a dominating force in the industry, Nie family had deep roots in the key sectors of the business. It would be suicide for outside business to venture into their territory. The lopsided competition between Sony and Columbia was a good example.
However, Nie Shunchen had no idea who he was standing up against.
“Square?”
Chen Fan gave the young man a half-smile and said stoically: “I have said that if I heard one more word from you, I will end your life. Do you think I was joking?”
It was not uncommon to have an accident while people were on the open sea and Nie Shunchen knew it. Therefore, Nie Shunchen had come up with the conniving idea of throwing them off the deck and watch them struggle like some kind of plaything. His outright ignorance of human’s life had angered Chen Fan, and he wouldn’t get the jerk to get away with it.
“You really are going to kill me?”
Nie Shunchen nearly laughed at the idea.
He was the heir of the Hua Yi Entertainment, an influential man in the entertainment industry. Who in their right mind would kill him in broad daylight while he was surrounded by his peers? Although he had heard rumors of Chen Fan killing people in the Zheng family, he didn’t believe for one second that it was real.
Little did he know, as soon as Chen Fan mentioned killing the young man, Nie Yuanhu’s face suddenly darkened and was about to plead for his son’s life.
“No one can stop me here if I want to kill you.”
Chen Fan cracked a smile and shook his head. An azure-colored light came up in his eyes.
“Oh, really? Do it then! I knew you wouldn’t dare…”
Even as Nie Shunchen put on a smug smile, the last words froze in his mouth and his smile turned into a rigid contortion. Nie Shunchen’s life force was taken away from him, turning him into a lifeless standing statue.
“Shunchen, what happened to you?”
Nie Yuanhu panicked and hurried to hold onto his son’s rigid body. He shook his son’s arm but didn’t get a reply.
“Boss Nie, your son is dead.”
Qiu Yulin said with a heavy voice.
He could tell that Nie Shunchen’s life force was empty, his heart had stopped beating, he was as good as dead. However, he couldn’t figure out how Chen Fan had done that. If he had cast a spell to kill the young man, why didn’t he use any hand sign or incantation?
“Will Power Array, that’s Will Power Array “Qiu Yulin exclaimed. “Could be true that he had already reached the God Reining State?”
By now Nie Yuanhu finally realized that he had surely lost Nie Shunchen. His face was as pale as paper as he stood still in the middle of the room.
The other onlookers felt a chill go down their spines.
Nie Shunchen was dead!
The young heir of the Hua Yi Entertainment, Nie Shunchen was dead!
One minute ago, he was high on his horses, one minute later, he was already dead.
No had had even seen how he died. Life simply drained from his body the moment Chen Fan said he was going to kill him. Did Chen Fan do that to him?
The development reminded everyone of the rumors about what had happened to the Zheng family. Rumor had it that Chen Fan was a deadly spell caster with a hot temper. Nin Tianchen, Zhou Daoji, and Old Man Zheng were all killed by him. No one believed those rumors, but now they do. That would be the only explanation for Nie Shunchen’s sudden death.
Everyone looked to the indifferent young man, then they quickly lowered their heads to avoid eye contact.
His power was beyond that of the rich and the powerful. He could dictate a man’s life and death just as the feared emperors in ancient times who could kill a man with one word.
“You shouldn’t even offend a Grandmaster, much less me.” Chen Fan linked his hands behind his back and said slowly with a stoic expression.
A deadly silence suddenly fell over the room as no one dared to speak a word.