The security guards immediately straightened when they saw Ye Xiao Ling approaching. "Miss Ye," the head guard said, his tone shifting to respectful deference. "We were just handling a disturbance."
"Were you?" Xiao Ling's voice remained pleasantly cool as she surveyed the scene. Her gaze moved from Yang Wei to the two people on the ground, taking in Zhang Jie's theatrical writhing and Lee Yu Feng's defensive posture.
Lee Yu Feng quickly assessed the situation. She didn't recognize the young woman, but the security guards' obvious respect and the expensive cut of her clothes suggested someone with significant influence. The last thing she needed was to antagonize the wrong person.
"It's all a misunderstanding," Lee Yu Feng said quickly, forcing her voice into a more refined tone. "This man is my daughter's ex-husband, and we were just having a family discussion about some financial matters."
"Family discussion?" Xiao Ling raised an eyebrow. "Is that what you call accusing someone of theft and demanding security search them?"
Zhang Jie, still on the ground but sensing the shift in power dynamics, decided to double down. "He really did attack me! And he stole money from my sister!"
Xiao Ling walked closer, her heels clicking against the marble floor with measured precision. "How interesting. And this sister of yours—what's her name?"
"Zhang Yun Xi," Lee Yu Feng replied, trying to regain some control of the conversation. "She's the CEO of Zhang Clan Corporation."
"Ah." Xiao Ling's expression didn't change, but Yang Wei caught a subtle shift in her demeanor. "And you are?"
"Lee Yu Feng, her mother. And this is Zhang Jie, her younger brother."
Xiao Ling nodded slowly, as if filing away the information. "I see. And you believe this man stole money from your daughter?"
"We know he did," Zhang Jie said from the ground. "She gave him a settlement in the divorce, and now he's pretending he never got it."
"Fascinating," Xiao Ling said. She turned to Yang Wei. "Is this true?"
Yang Wei met her eyes, understanding the game she was playing. "I refused any financial compensation from the divorce. I told them this, but they seem unwilling to accept it."
Lee Yu Feng scoffed. "Of course he'd say that. Who would admit to—"
She was interrupted when Xiao Ling held up a hand. The gesture was small, but it carried enough authority to silence her immediately.
"Mrs. Lee," Xiao Ling said, her tone still pleasant but with an underlying edge, "I'm going to assume this is all a misunderstanding born from family tensions during a difficult time. Why don't you take your son to get medical attention if he's truly injured, and we can all move past this unfortunate incident?"
It was clearly a dismissal, and Lee Yu Feng recognized it as such. She began to remove the pendant from around her neck, ready to hand it over and escape this increasingly uncomfortable situation.
"Wait," she said to Yang Wei, "if this necklace is so important to you—"
"If we can't have it, then neither can he!" Zhang Jie suddenly lunged forward, snatching the pendant from his mother's hands.
Before anyone could react, he smashed it against the marble floor with deliberate force.
The sound of the delicate gold chain breaking and the pendant shattering seemed to echo in the sudden silence.
Yang Wei froze, staring at the broken pieces scattered across the polished stone. The lotus pendant—crafted by his father as a wedding gift for his mother, worn by her every day until cancer took her when Yang Wei was twelve, the last physical connection to the woman who had raised him with nothing but love and sacrifice—lay in fragments.
For a moment, the carefully constructed facade of Yang Wei the ex-convict cracked, revealing a glimpse of General Yang Wei, a man accustomed to swift and decisive action against those who threatened what he valued.
He knelt slowly, his hands trembling slightly as he gathered the broken pieces. The pendant's delicate lotus petals were bent beyond repair, the chain snapped in multiple places.
Behind him, Xiao Ling's bodyguards—who had appeared seemingly from nowhere—moved with practiced efficiency to restrain Zhang Jie and Lee Yu Feng.
"You shouldn't have done that," Xiao Ling said, her voice now carrying the full weight of her authority. The pleasant mask had completely fallen away, revealing the business executive who commanded one of the most powerful corporations in the region.
Zhang Jie, finally realizing he might have made a serious mistake, tried to bluster his way out. "You can't touch us! My sister is the CEO of Zhang Clan Corporation, and my future brother-in-law is Cheng Jun, heir to one of the most powerful families in the city!"
Yang Wei's head snapped up at the name. Cheng Jun—the name didn't appear in his mission files, which meant either the man was clean or very good at hiding his connections.
Xiao Ling's laugh was sharp and cold. "Cheng Jun? Those two 'backers' of yours aren't even fit to carry my shoes! Even if I crippled you today, they wouldn't dare utter a word of complaint!"
Lee Yu Feng finally grasped the severity of their situation. She threw herself forward, trying to shield her son from the bodyguards. "Please, we were once family with this man. Zhang Jie is still young—just let him off this time."
But Zhang Jie, in his arrogance and stupidity, pushed his mother away. "Stop embarrassing me! You think I'm afraid of some little girl?" He glared at Xiao Ling. "Go ahead if you dare! When Cheng Jun finds out about this, you won't survive in this city!"
The slap that followed was swift and precise. Yang Wei had moved faster than the eye could follow, his hand connecting with Zhang Jie's cheek with enough force to spin the young man's head around.
"That," Yang Wei said, his voice carrying a coldness that made the security guards step back, "is for your sister—for failing to teach you properly. So young, yet already lying, bullying, and throwing your weight around with your family's name. For the sake of what we once were, I'll let you off this time. But if I ever see you again behaving like this, I won't be so merciful."
Zhang Jie staggered, his hand pressed to his reddening cheek, finally understanding that he had pushed too far.
Yang Wei turned and walked toward the hotel entrance, the broken pieces of his mother's pendant carefully cradled in his palms.
Behind him, Zhang Jie's voice rose in a final, futile display of bravado: "You useless ex-con! Acting tough, huh? Don't run—fight me if you've got the guts!"
Yang Wei didn't turn around. He had bigger concerns now than the wounded pride of a spoiled brat. But he made a mental note that Cheng Jun—whoever he was—had just moved to the top of his list of people to investigate.