Chapter Fourteen: An Uninvited Guest

“What?” Ye Fan frowned. Were the troublemakers even coming to his own home now?

“Do we know each other?” he asked.

The burly man leading the group shouted, “Cut the crap! Someone wants your leg!”

What? What did I do?

Ye Fan’s expression changed drastically. Forget the lamb skewers—he raised his hand and splashed the lamb soup toward them. “Screw you! Who asked for your leg?”

Then he ran.

“Trying to act tough and run?” the scarred man shouted angrily. “Chase him!”

Gathering all his strength, Ye Fan ran while wondering who he had offended to warrant such hostility.

After a while, gasping for breath, he dashed into a small park, feeling genuinely anxious. Alone, he couldn’t take on those guys.

Circling around a flower bed, Ye Fan reached into his pocket and remembered he had bought some pepper spray the day before!

He had casually slipped it into his jacket pocket after buying it yesterday but had forgotten to give it to Li Yaoyao this morning.

Fortunately, he hadn’t given it away. Hiding behind the flower bed, he watched the three men approach, then suddenly unleashed a “lightning five-spray” attack!

“Take this... a sneak attack!”

Hiss, hiss, hiss!

The pepper spray hit their faces directly.

“Ah! My eyes!”

The scarred leader clutched his eyes and collapsed, struggling on the ground. He had charged ahead and thus received the brunt of the spray.

“Kid, don’t get cocky! I was careless just now, didn’t dodge!” he shouted.

Seeing them writhing and screaming, Ye Fan quickly sprayed more pepper spray.

Then he picked up a watermelon knife one of them had dropped, pressing the blunt side against the scarred man’s lower back. “Speak! Who sent you?”

“I won’t say! My brothers will be here soon. I advise you to surrender now!”

“Still defiant?” Ye Fan struck the scarred man’s hand with the knife’s back, causing a painful shudder.

“Okay, okay, I’ll talk!”

The scarred man finally relented, wiping tears from his eyes. “It was Brother Huang...”

“What?”

Ye Fan was shocked. Why would Brother Huang want to catch him?

“Speak! Why did Brother Huang send you after me?”

“I really can’t say!”

“Won’t say?” Ye Fan struck again, making the scarred man yelp.

“I’ll say... Brother Huang said you slept with his woman...”

...

When Ye Fan returned to the supermarket, his expression was still dazed. He couldn’t figure out who had leaked the information.

He had gone to the Golden Dragon Building on a whim yesterday, meeting Chen Shuting by chance. He hadn’t been seen by Brother Huang when he escaped, so how could Brother Huang know?

Moreover, nothing had happened between him and Chen Shuting, so why would Brother Huang claim he slept with someone he shouldn’t have?

Perplexed and bitter, Ye Fan pondered.

Brother Huang was bound to find him sooner or later at the supermarket. He couldn’t just wait to be captured.

He needed to find Chen Shuting and ask her to protect him.

Chen Shuting would surely protect him, especially since the clue about the jade pendant was still with him.

Gathering his thoughts, Ye Fan ordered several bags of rice online, then called Chen Shuting.

“Hello? Sister Chen? This is Ye Fan.”

“Ye Fan?”

Chen Shuting’s lazy voice came through, as if just waking.

“Why are you calling? Any news about the jade pendant?”

“Uh... I was going to visit a friend this morning, but I ran into some men.”

Ye Fan made up a reason and continued, “They’re Brother Huang’s men. They’re after me!”

“After you?”

Chen Shuting’s voice instantly sharpened. “Why are they after you?”

“No idea!”

“Could it be because of the jade pendant?”

Chen Shuting recalled that yesterday at the antique shop, she had mentioned the jade pendant in front of Brother Huang. Maybe he had guessed it was a token from the Lin family.

This realization made her uneasy. This was her last hope and absolutely couldn’t fall into the wrong hands!

With this in mind, she said seriously, “I’m sending people to pick you up. Stay at my place for a few days.”

“Ah? Okay!”

Ye Fan nodded and looked toward the wooden crate in the store’s corner.

Everything else was insignificant, but this crate had to come with him.

Just then, the crate glowed—it was a reply from Li Yaoyao.

Ye Fan opened it and saw a collection of old items pouring out.

Ancient vases, old oil lamps, copper coins, wood carvings, and a finely crafted jewelry box.

“Brother Ye Fan, the villagers sent me quite a few antiques today. What do you think? I haven’t sent the daily supplies you gave me because the villagers only want food!”

Reading Li Yaoyao’s reply, Ye Fan scratched his head awkwardly.

He still had some freedom in this supermarket; buying items was easy to explain as stock. But if he went to Chen Shuting’s place, he couldn’t so openly purchase things.

He hoped the rice he just ordered would arrive soon to ease Li Yaoyao’s urgent needs. Once things calmed down, he could return to the supermarket and resume sending food.

Unfortunately, fate was unkind. The delivery hadn’t arrived, Chen Shuting’s people hadn’t shown up, and Brother Huang’s men came first!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The rolling door shook as loud knocks rang out, accompanied by shouting outside.

“Ye Fan! Open up!”

“You’ve got the nerve to sleep with a woman but can’t open the door?”

Through the window, Ye Fan saw the scarred man leading about ten others. They wore long sleeves and pants, masks, and sunglasses—well protected.

Open the door? As if!

Ye Fan chuckled softly, sitting firm as a mountain, waiting for Chen Shuting to come.

At that moment, a black business van sped across the street, nearly knocking down those outside the door.

“Hey! What are you—”

The scarred man holding a cleaver stopped mid-sentence as a group of even more professional-looking thugs stepped out.

They looked like special forces, dressed in tactical gear, wielding spiked baseball bats—genuine wolf-tooth clubs!

Ye Fan’s eyes lit up. This must be Chen Shuting’s people!

“Wow, no wonder she’s from the Lin family. The support is solid!”

He laughed and opened the rolling door, hands on hips. “So, are we gonna fight or not? My people are here!”

A young man in a white suit and sunglasses stepped out of the van and sneered as he scanned the scene.

“You must be Ye Fan?”

“Yes. And your name?”

Ye Fan smiled.

“I’m Lin Zhenjie! The third eldest in the Lin family, known on the streets as Lin’s Third Young Master!”

So this was Chen Shuting’s younger brother-in-law!

Ye Fan was taken aback, sensing something off, but had no time to dwell.

Since their people were here, he had nothing to fear. He decided to send the rice to Li Yaoyao first.

He approached Lin Zhenjie casually. “Good you’re here! Give me a moment—I just got a shipment this morning. I’ll send it over right after I finish.”

He even reached out to pat Lin Zhenjie’s shoulder.

Lin Zhenjie visibly recoiled with undisguised disgust, stepping back to avoid the touch.

“Why are you so damn clingy? Take him away!”

With a wave, several "special forces" thugs carrying wolf-tooth clubs moved forward and forcibly dragged Ye Fan onto the van.

“Hey! Wait! I’m Chen Shuting’s friend! You can’t do this to me!”

Ye Fan struggled, but Lin Zhenjie laughed behind him.

“Chen Shuting? Without my big brother, what’s she worth? Shut his mouth!”

“I... ugh...”

Ye Fan was gagged, fitted with a black hood, and just like that, was kidnapped!