"Mr. Shen, Please what did I do wrong?" Zeyan cried out.
In the dark office, men dressed in black surrounded Zeyan and Mr. Shen. Mr. Shen sat on a couch while Zeyan knelt, his hands tied behind his back. One of the men, sitting on the center table, asked,"Boss, what should we do with him? The audacity of this boy to disrespect our pride like that needs to be severely punished."
"We just need to ensure he gets the message. He still has to wed her legally next week. We don't want her marrying a cripple, now do we?" Mr. Shen asked.
"We treasure Ziyu too much, so we'll keep him intact," the man said, ordering the others to hold Zeyan.
"Please, what did I do? I'm sorry!" Zeyan begged.
Now how did things get to this point?
Two hours ago...
Zeyan sat at a rooftop bar with Wei Yichen and Guo Ruiyang. Ruiyang was Zeyan's other best friend. The trio had been close since middle school. Ruiyang, however, had taken a different career path. He is an actor, so he rarely hung out with the boys, but when they did meet up, they went all out with the partying.
"So, how have you guys been lately?" Ruiyang asked, sipping from his martini.
Zeyan just hummed, and Yichen burst out laughing. Ruiyang looked confused before asking,"Was it that eventful?"
"'Eventful' can't even begin to describe how funny last week was," Yichen laughed some more.
"Tell me," Ruiyang asked curiously.
"So, last Thursday evening, Zeyan and I went to Shen Racetrack. We decided to do ten laps around the course. On the seventh lap, he thought I was ahead of him and decided to face off with the driver in front. He pushed the driver into the wall, smashing the right side of their car and the side-view mirror. The driver got pissed and decided to hurt Zeyan's pride by driving in reverse in front of him — and still made it to the finish line. Of course, I and that person had the same color of racecar, so Zeyan thought it was me. Turns out, the driver was the owner of the track. She later asked that our bookings be canceled, especially on the days she uses it."
Ruiyang, clearly interested, leaned in to ask more questions.
"The person is a she? Like, a lady?"
When Yichen nodded, both of them laughed while Zeyan sipped his beer, clearly embarrassed.
"That's not even the worst part. Zeyan met her Friday morning at a coffee shop. She told him he didn't apologize for crashing into her the night before. Guess what this fool said?" Yichen asked.
"What?" Ruiyang asked.
"He called her a slut and said she was trying to hook up with him," Yichen laughed while Ruiyang covered his mouth in shock.
"I didn't call her a slut! I just said she was probably looking for a rich guy to latch onto," Zeyan tried to defend himself.
"They practically mean the same thing," Ruiyang said.
"Oh, there's more," Yichen continued.
"This buffoon got drenched in hot coffee and iced water. Later, he met her again — at his own house. Turns out, she's his fiancée, arranged by his grandparents!" When Yichen said this, Ruiyang laughed even harder. Zeyan downed his beer and poured himself another.
"Not only did you destroy her car, you might destroy her future," Ruiyang said, still laughing.
"I didn't agree to the marriage," Zeyan defended.
"Lies. His grandparents and father just delivered the betrothal gifts to her house," Yichen informed.
Then something clicked in Zeyan's mind.
"Her name is Shen Ziyu. She gave me her business card at the coffee shop."
"She's a Shen?" Yichen and Ruiyang said in unison.
"Yes. Her card said that if any sort of problem arises, I should take it up with the CEO. She's also a major shareholder of Shenlong Group," Zeyan explained further.
"Bro, what have you done?" Ruiyang asked, downing his martini in panic.
"Have you forgotten that Shenlong is Luchen's biggest shareholder and investor? Are you planning to tank all your father has built? You might have just messed with Mr. Shen's daughter," Yichen warned.
They both looked panicked, but Zeyan still looked confused. Understandable. Although Zeyan and Yichen both studied business management, Zeyan only did so for the sake of his grandparents. Yichen, on the other hand, worked as an Executive Managing Director at Luchen.
"Zeyan, I think you need to apologize soon. I know we joked about it before, but it stops being fun and games when Mr. Shen is involved, okay?" Yichen said seriously.
Just then, a man sat beside them.
"A glass of Dack Janiels," he said.
When the guys turned to see who it was, Yichen and Ruiyang gasped in shock.
"Mr. Shen, good evening," they chorused.
Zeyan didn't greet him until after his friends nudged him.
"Oh, please don't be so exaggerated. I just came to greet my future son-in-law."
The bartender brought the Jack Daniels, and Mr. Shen downed it.
"I'll be borrowing him for a while," Mr. Shen said, placing his hand on Zeyan's shoulder and dragging him out of the bar.
Yichen and Ruiyang followed them until Zeyan entered Mr. Shen's car.
"Will he be alright?" Ruiyang asked worriedly.
"We can only pray he doesn't die," Yichen replied.
He Qinglu drove Mr. Shen and Zeyan back to Shenlong Group. They went up to the 38th floor, where only the chairman's office and the secretary's office were located.
Inside, a man sat on the couch opposite Mr. Shen's chair. A group of men in black stood behind him. When Mr. Shen walked in with Zeyan and He Qinglu following, the men greeted him.
"Boss, long time no see."
The man on the couch stood up and gestured for Mr. Shen to sit.
"Boss," he said.
"Wang Dali, I'm not the boss anymore. You are," Mr. Shen said, loosening his tie.
"Oh, Boss, you'll always be our Boss," Wang Dali replied. He signaled to He Qinglu, who suddenly grabbed Zeyan, pinned him to the ground, removed his tie, used it to bind Zeyan's hands behind his back and forced him to kneel.
"Mr. Shen, please, what's going on?!" Zeyan yelled.
Wang Dali squatted in front of him and placed a finger on his lips. "Shhh."
"Boss, what did this guy do for you had to call Hei Wu in?" Wang Dali asked Mr. Shen.
Mr. Shen waved for him to come closer, then leaned in and said,
"He is to marry our Ziyu."
The people in the room clapped.
"But he didn't show up for the betrothal gift ceremony at my house. Worse, he destroyed her royal blue racecar — the one I got her for her 16th birthday. Do you know how many times she's driven that car in the past six years? I started giving it monthly maintenance because of how much she used it. Now she had to send it for full makeover because of this guy."
Everyone in the room grumbled.
"How could such an insignificant being do that to our baby girl?" Wang Dali shouted and sat on the glass center table in front of Mr. Shen. Everyone agreed.
"We watched her grow up, and you had the guts to disrespect her like that."
"You guys know what to do?" Wang Dali said to the men. They began to surround Zeyan, but as he started pleading for mercy, all he could hear was:
"We just need to ensure he gets the message. He still has to wed her legally next week. We don't want her marrying a cripple now, do we?" Mr. Shen said.
"We treasure Ziyu too much, so we'll keep him intact," Wang Dali replied, motioning for the others to hold Zeyan.
When Zeyan finally closed his eyes and accepted his fate, he realized no one had touched him.
"This is just a warning. Next time won't be as peaceful. Got it?" Wang Dali said.
"If he doesn't get it, I'll just bury him before his grandparents," Mr. Shen added.
Zeyan stood up. He Qinglu untied him, returned his tie around his neck, and escorted him out, then drove him home.
At home, Yichen and Ruiyang were pacing around his room, too worried to sit down.
When he arrived, he briefed them on what happened. Yichen kept yelling while Ruiyang applied ointment to the red marks on his wrists.
"See? All you had to do was apologize that night, but no — you chose this Friday to be unlucky."
"Why say it like that?" Ruiyang asked, trying to stay calm.
"Because the Hei Wu he just met is a well-known gang in Shanghai and Beijing. Their boss changed and rebranded the gang as their purpose changed," Yichen explained.
Then Zeyan muttered, "I guess Mr. Shen was the former boss."
"Why do you say that?" Ruiyang asked.
"Because the current boss still called him 'Boss'", Zeyan explained. Yichen started rubbing his temples.
"Please, Zeyan, for the sake of our futures — be on your best behavior — especially around your soon-to-be father-in-law," Yichen begged.
"I plan to. He said he'd bury me before my grandparents if I didn't."
"I can't believe you're already on your in-law's bad side," Ruiyang lamented.
"Soon-to-be, you mean," Zeyan corrected.
Yichen sighed heavily and downed a full glass of water.
"You're going to be the end of me."