Gao Qingmei realized that she might not be able to defeat Cao Xin, and that she and Li Yang had been arguing, and it seemed that she had never won in the past.
She could only pout and say, "I'm not going to argue with you, you scoundrel!"
"Another bowl, please!" Li Yang ordered another bowl, immediately attracting a lot of attention. They were already the focus of everyone's attention when they came in, and Li Yang's eating just now had already caused a lot of discussion. With this shout, people started buzzing. They thought he was some kind of important person, but it turned out he was just a glutton.
Many boys laughed disdainfully, and many girls also thought it was like a beautiful flower stuck in cow dung, getting so close to a good-for-nothing—how shameful! Their jealousy towards the two stunning beauties immediately subsided, and they felt much better.
Even the restaurant's waitresses looked at her with disdain, but out of professional habit, she didn't dare to express much dissatisfaction. She simply asked the kitchen to bring out another serving.
Li Yang ignored the gossip and stares of these people, simply focusing on his meal. Gao Qingmei, however, was quite annoyed, her face darkening. She gritted her teeth, silently cursing them as idiots. "Go ahead and be envious and jealous! You'll all die of thirst! I just don't like you! I love being slept with! You can all stay single forever!"
The odd combination of the three continued to be odd, with the two women sitting to one side watching Li Yang devour his food. The scene became increasingly incongruous. What kind of logic is it for a man to eat while women watch?
And Gao Qingmei even went to pay the bill, which brought everyone's contempt for Li Yang to its peak. Holy crap, is he even a man? Not only is he a good-for-nothing, but he's also a freeloader! This is utterly ridiculous! This world is too crazy and unfair; how can a man like this even exist?
Are these two beauties blind? Why are they so determined to hang themselves on this crooked tree?
Everyone was inwardly complaining, and their eating became much slower. They kept frowning and grimacing, making the atmosphere in the restaurant somewhat strange.
Li Yang, the main character, remained oblivious to their comments and disdain, slurping his food with relish.
Snap—
The shop door opened, and several burly young men walked in. With their tattoos and spiky hair, they were clearly not to be trifled with. One of them headed straight for the counter, while the rest wandered around the restaurant, grinning lewdly at the female diners. This immediately silenced everyone in the restaurant; the boys all looked like spineless bastards, heads bowed and necks hunched, not daring to look at anyone.
Someone tried to slip away, but a young man slapped him on the shoulder, making him flinch and sit back down. The young man grinned wickedly and said, "Hey bro, you're not giving me any face, are you? We're here to collect protection money, not you. You eat your food, I collect my money? Why are you leaving?"
"I...I'm full!" the boy said nervously.
"You're going to be full, aren't you? There's still a big bowl of food. Why don't you let your girlfriend eat it for you? She has quite a few mouths, two or three in total! Hehe..." The young man stared at the girl and grinned lewdly.
The girl was pale, filled with shame and indignation, yet dared not resist. The boy felt humiliated and insulted, but gritted his teeth, lowered his head, and also dared not resist, remaining utterly obedient.
"Damn it! Is the boss dead or something? If you don't come out, I'll smash your shop!" The young man in front of the counter slammed his hand on the table, which trembled and creaked painfully.
"Gentlemen, everyone... I... I've only been open for a short time, what's going on?" the owner said, his face pale.
"Nonsense, we're only here to collect protection money from you because you just opened. Five hundred a month, not much, right?" The young man put his arm around the boss's neck.
“Five hundred? That…” the boss said, his face pale.
"Damn it! Five hundred is too much? I'll smash up your shop right now, cripple all the men eating here, and rape all the women! Let's see if you have any money left!" The young man glared fiercely at the shop owner, threatening him.
The boss was half-crazy. If that really happened, his shop would be completely finished. He wouldn't be able to earn a single penny anymore, and definitely no one would come to eat there anymore!
The diners were so frightened that they almost collapsed in their seats, their faces ashen as if they had lost their parents.
The silence was eerily profound.
"Snoring..."
At that moment, the sound of eating suddenly became very abrupt! Upon hearing this sound, everyone cursed inwardly, "Are you trying to get yourself killed? You idiot, are you trying to kill us all?"
The diners all inwardly condemned and resented Li Yang, but dared not resist in the slightest for demanding protection money.
"Boss... beautiful lady, stunning beauty... how about we rob her of her beauty?" one of the henchmen said excitedly to the young man at the counter. He had been glaring at the people eating when he suddenly saw Gao Qingmei and Cao Xin, and immediately became excited.
"Hmm?" The young man in the lead frowned slightly. What he had just said was just to scare the boss. They had rules for collecting protection money: they would only take the money and not assault anyone—that was the rule from above. But if they actually raped someone, they would be breaking the rules, and the consequences would be dire.
He frowned as he looked at the strange table. Suddenly, the person who had been eating noodles with his head down raised his head, stretched lazily as if no one else was around, and let out a satisfied burp.
"Comfortable—I've almost eaten my fill... Wait, what's going on?" Li Yang's nonchalant actions immediately terrified those who were almost about to wet themselves. The boys looked at him with resentment, while the girls were full of contempt and blame, wishing they could take off their skirts and pee on Li Yang's face.
However, at that moment, the young man who had his arm around the restaurant owner's shoulder suddenly changed his expression, trembled, and rushed over to the boy who was eating noodles.
"Boss, boss... sect leader... I, I'm a subordinate in the sect, in charge of collecting protection fees in this area... I've met you, boss!" The young man stammered excitedly to Li Yang.
"Oh? You're also from the sect? In charge of protection fees in this area?" Li Yang said casually.
"Yes! I'm sorry, boss, we didn't know you were here. If I had known, I definitely wouldn't have come. Have I disturbed your meal?" The young man said tremblingly, sweating profusely.
"No, not really, but these people are quite annoying. The restaurant staff are also just so-so, but they're passable, so we won't raise the price. We'll just collect their protection money as usual. But these people seem pretty annoying too, so we'll just charge each of them fifty yuan. Those who don't have money, leave your clothes behind, just the lower half, men and women are the same!" Li Yang glanced at the crowd indifferently and said.
"Yes, boss! I'll get right on it!" The young man became excited and rushed forward as if he had received a command.
"Damn it, you all heard that, right? Looks like you've messed with the wrong people. Someone said you each have to pay fifty dollars, or you're not leaving here. Don't even think about calling the police. The police eat, drink, and whore with us, so beating them won't do you any good! Hand over the money obediently, or the boys will take their pants off, and the girls will take their pants off too, hehe..." The leader of the group coldly scanned the crowd, then winked at his henchmen, signaling them to act immediately.
"You've gone too far! You're bullying us!" A boy, who had been secretly criticizing and looking down on Li Yang, stood up and shouted in a panic. Next to him sat a girl with heavy makeup, her eyes arrogant, as if she were something special.
"Holy crap! So you're really putting on airs!" The leader of the youths cursed and rushed over, slapping the boy across the face and then slapping the girl across the face, yelling, "You think you're so great? Believe me or not, I'll rape her in public!"
"Big brother, I was wrong, I was wrong..." The boy burst into tears...
No one dared to argue or say anything more, and they obediently handed over their money... The restaurant owner wanted to hesitate and bargain a bit, but the young man in the lead smashed a chair with one palm, which made the owner tremble and immediately take out the money.
Li Yang, Cao Xin, and Gao Qingmei swaggered out, and several young men bowed respectfully to see them off.
Chapter 565: Pity
"Those people are so annoying!" Gao Qingmei said after leaving the restaurant.
“They deserved to be beaten and punished!” Gao Qingmei continued.
Cao Xin simply shook her head and said nothing. She also found those people despicable and disgusting, but she wouldn't actually curse them out, as that wasn't in her nature.
"Actually, I should have let you do it just now. You would have enjoyed it even more!" Li Yang teased, patting Gao Qingmei's buttocks.
"Tch! I wouldn't. Hitting them would dirty my hands! It's a sign of incompetence and despicable to envy and hate others when you can't even live your own life properly!" Gao Qingmei said.