Chapter 160: Bestowing Goods Upon Those Destined

Iron Bull exchanged a glance with Gouzi, and together they "helped" the two men into the BMW. Iron Bull sat in the front, while Gouzi took the rear seat, pinning both of their necks with his hands as he chuckled, "You two really have some nerve! Iron Bull, drive, let's head back to our place."

"Who are you people? Do you know who we are?" Yan Hao felt a strange sensation being held in Gouzi's arms—it wasn't just fear, but something else entirely that he couldn't quite name, leaving him profoundly uneasy.

"We know. You're Yan Hao, right? The Crown Prince's cousin. I hear you're quite arrogant around the capital, aren't you?" Gouzi grinned, tossing his long hair back over his shoulder, believing he looked dashing. In reality, no matter how he tossed his hair, neither Yan Hao nor Qu Kun could ever associate him with the word "dashing."

Qu Kun's heart sank, a heavy sense of impending doom washing over him. He was undoubtedly much smarter than Yan Hao. Since Gouzi clearly knew who they were and yet still dared to abduct them, it meant Yan Hao's identity offered no deterrence whatsoever. In fact, it was precisely this identity that might have brought about this trouble in the first place. He furrowed his brows in silence, choosing not to speak.

Yan Hao, however, was stunned. "If you know who I am, how dare you kidnap me?"

"I'm abducting *you* precisely because of who you are. Shut your trap. This isn't your time to speak. Later on, I'll let you use that mouth of yours instead, hehe." Gouzi's gaze turned lecherous, sending a shudder through Yan Hao. A sudden terrifying possibility crossed his mind, draining the color from his face. He glanced at Gouzi, who was staring back at him with an ambiguous, predatory leer, making Yan Hao's heart pound frantically against his ribs in sheer terror.

Yan Hao obediently clamped his mouth shut. Only then did Gouzi turn to Qu Kun with a smile, saying, "Look at you, much more obedient than him. Don't worry, I'll be very gentle with you both later. It won't be painful; on the contrary, you'll remember my kindness for the rest of your lives."

Seeing Gouzi's expression, Qu Kun practically confirmed his worst premonition. A wave of nausea rose in his throat, and thinking of the possible outcome awaiting them, he shuddered. Furrowing his brow, Qu Kun asked cautiously, "What do you want with us? I'm afraid there might be some misunderstanding here."

"Smart boy, you know I want something from you. But there's no misunderstanding here—and even if there were, it wouldn't matter," Gouzi chuckled broadly.

Turning his face away, Qu Kun dared not say another word, secretly racking his brain for a way to escape.

After winding through various streets for ten minutes, Gouzi pulled two strips of black cloth from his pocket and meticulously blindfolded both men. Clearly, he did not want them to know his whereabouts. This action brought a glimmer of relief to Qu Kun's heart; since Gouzi went to the trouble of hiding their location to prevent them from revealing it later, it meant they would likely be let go eventually. He breathed a sigh of relief—no matter what, as long as they kept their lives, it was already a blessing.

Qu Kun was indeed intelligent and kept his mouth shut. Unlike Yan Hao, who immediately associated the black cloth with terrorist organizations and assumed he was about to be executed, letting out a panicked scream. Gouzi slapped him twice so hard he nearly passed out, knocking out two front teeth and instantly silencing him.

Iron Bull was an exceptional driver, and the car was of high quality. Before long, the four of them arrived at Gouzi and Iron Bull's residence in Beijing—a relatively secluded residential complex. When the black blinds were removed from their eyes, they found themselves in a modest, sparsely furnished room containing nothing more than a single bed.

Throwing the two men unceremoniously onto the floor, Gouzi grinned at Iron Bull, "Iron Bull, want me to share one with you?"

Iron Bull quickly took a few steps back, his face pale with horror. "No way! I'm nothing like a pervert like you."

"Tch, what pervert? I'm still better than you—you aren't even interested in women," Gouzi joked.

"Who says I'm not interested in women? I just haven't met the right one yet," Iron Bull protested, a blush creeping up his neck as he rushed to clear his name.

"So that means you *are* interested in women, then?" Gouzi laughed.

Unwilling to engage in further banter with Gouzi, Iron Bull muttered a dismissive curse and retreated outside. Before leaving, he cast a pitying glance at the two pathetic heaps slumped on the floor.

Yan Hao and Qu Kun trembled violently at the conversation between Gouzi and Iron Bull. A mere beating they could endure, but if Gouzi were to violate them, death would be a sweet release. The mere thought filled them with disgust and an overwhelming urge to vomit.

Gouzi was in no rush. He first pulled out his phone and called Long Fei. Receiving a confirmation from Long Fei, he hung up and smiled lecherously at the two figures on the floor. "To be honest, I'm not that interested in the two of you myself, but it's been a while since I've had some fun. I suppose I'll just have to compromise a bit today. Hey, why are you covering that spot? If you're going to cover anything, you should be covering your rear end, you idiots. Complete morons, you don't even know that much," Gouzi said, laughing aloud as he saw both Yan Hao and Qu Kun tightly clutching their lower groins.

"Still, you don't need to worry. The Boss said not to take your lives—I'll just snap a few extra photos later and send them over to your precious Crown Prince, hehe." Gouzi chuckled with a hint of cruelty as he began to take off his clothes.

Qu Kun started begging, "Big Brother, let's talk this out. If nothing else, you can beat me up or set other conditions, just please don't do this to me. I'm begging you!"

"Don't come near me! Don't come near me, or I'll fight you to the death!" Yan Hao was on the verge of a complete psychological breakdown. At this moment, Gouzi's smile seemed utterly evil, and he looked less like a human and more like a demon crawling straight out of hell—no, far worse than a demon.

"Scream! I love it when you scream. It gives me a greater sense of achievement, haha." Gouzi slowly closed in on them.

***

Long Fei hung up the phone, wearing a grin more lewd than anyone could imagine. He mentally began to pray for Yan Hao and the other fellow: *Oh heavens, oh earth, let the tempest of Gouzi descend upon them with even greater fury!*

He detested being followed, but Long Fei knew where to draw the line. Coming to Beijing this time wasn't about starting a full-scale war with Qin Tianzhu or Yan Qing; it was merely meant as a test. Since they wanted to initiate a show of force against him, he had no choice but to strike first. However, the networks and influences of these scions of powerful families were deeply tangled. Long Fei had no desire to genuinely take their lives—that would only muddy the waters of the capital even further, potentially stirring up monstrous waves and inevitably making him more enemies, lifelong blood enemies at that. Doing so would passive-aggressively trap him in a corner. Even though he had just performed a great service for the country yesterday, if he were to rack up several human bodies, the authorities above likely wouldn't let him off easily either.

"Why are you grinning so sinisterly? Oh right, I saw you on the phone just now. Who was it? Don't tell me Sister Dani is missing you again?" Long Fei was standing by the roadside wearing a silly smile when Ye Qian emerged from the Old Summer Palace. Though the sights were grand, exploring without Long Fei by her side felt completely unappealing to her. After taking a brief glance around, she had hurried out, only to find Long Fei hanging up his phone with that sly, sinister grin on his face. She ran over to interrogate him.

"You think your Sister Dani is as clueless as you?" Long Fei mocked with a faint smile.

Ye Qian paused, looking unconvinced. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"My meaning is simple: it means Sister Dani knows how to be a good woman. That's why when her man is out handling business, she doesn't bombard him with phone calls every single minute. Do you understand? You still have a lot to learn in that regard." Long Fei prepared to hail a taxi back to the hotel, as the hour was growing late.

Somewhat to Long Fei's surprise, Ye Qian didn't argue back. Instead, she let out a soft "Oh." Long Fei lowered his extended hand, turned his head, and stared at Ye Qian in bewilderment.

Feeling self-conscious under his gaze, Ye Qian snapped, "Why are you staring at me like that? Is there a flower growing on my face?"

"No flowers, I just find it a bit strange. Why aren't you picking a fight with me? This doesn't seem like your personality at all. I'm not used to it. Honestly, I'd rather you yell at me; at least then I'd feel more comfortable." Long Fei possessed a textbook case of masochism, but what he said made sense. Having grown accustomed to bickering with Ye Qian, her sudden compliance felt deeply unnatural to him—not just unnatural, but thoroughly awkward and thoroughly uncomfortable.

"You—I can't be bothered with you! Come on, accompany me to Liulichang for a walk." Ye Qian hailed a cab, shoved Long Fei inside, and instructed the driver to head to Liulichang.

Long Fei asked with a depressed expression, "What are we going to Liulichang for?"

"My brother, surely you've heard of Liulichang? The antiques there are the most famous in our entire capital! Oh, right, you must be looking for antiques. There's a shop called Rongbaozhai there; they have the most complete inventory and the highest number of genuine items. You should definitely go take a look," the driver chimed in, immediately turning into an enthusiastic tour guide the moment he heard their destination.

Long Fei furrowed his brow with irritation. *Damn it, why does every single driver in Beijing act like an eager busybody? Did someone pay them off, or has hosting the Olympics really boosted the civic virtue of the entire population that much?*

"Exactly! Just look—tomorrow is that bastard Bai Yaowu's grandfather's birthday banquet. As much as I hate that Bai, that white-eyed wolf, Grandpa Bai was always quite nice to me. I remember when I was little and they visited Tianhai City, every time they'd pat my head, praise me for being pretty, and bring me tons of gifts—hey, why are you looking at me like that?" Ye Qian broke off, blinking in surprise.

Long Fei flashed a mischievous smile. "Was he really that good to you? In that case, you might as well marry into the Bai family, hehe. That way, I wouldn't have to listen to you nag me anymore."

"Long Fei, say that one more time and see if I don't kick you out of this car! Like I said, it was *his grandfather* who was good to me, what does that have to do with him? Hmph! You're just a petty miser, are you jealous or something? Haha." By the end of her sentence, Ye Qian burst into giggles. Seeing Long Fei's displeased expression warmed her heart; if he could feel jealous over her, didn't that imply he actually cared about her?

The driver broke out in a cold sweat listening to this exchange. As a native Beijinger from a decent background who happened to run in circles with fairly well-connected people in the capital, he naturally knew who Bai Yaowu was, let alone Bai Yaowu's grandfather. The Bai family was an immensely influential and powerful aristocratic family in Beijing, with formidable might. Yet right here in his cab, this young man and woman casually dismissed them as punks and ungrateful wolves. How could he not be terrified?

Daring not to utter another sound, the driver at least had the sense to realize that the young man and woman in his backseat were no ordinary people; otherwise, they wouldn't dare refer to Bai Yaowu by name so disdainfully. For the rest of the journey, even when he noticed that this exceptionally gorgeous young woman had a fierce, volatile personality that made men tremble, he kept his mouth firmly shut. He drove carefully to their destination, and when they arrived, he tried to drive away without even collecting the fare, only to be intercepted by Long Fei.

"Hey, you haven't taken the money yet," Long Fei said, frowning as he pulled out his wallet. He felt today's taxi driver was acting rather eccentric.

"Ah?" The driver startled, hurriedly waving his hands. "No, it's fine, it's nothing, really!"

Accepting the money from Long Fei, he hastily made change and then sped off like a puff of smoke, vanishing without a trace. Long Fei turned to Ye Qian and remarked, "Hey, did you notice something?"

"What?" Ye Qian blinked.

"These Beijing taxi drivers all seem a bit sick—neurotic and acting completely out of nowhere," Long Fei observed solemnly.

Ye Qian scoffed. "I think *you're* the sick one. That's called high civic standards! Olympic Beijing, understand?"

Long Fei shook his head; he did not understand.

***

After walking around Liulichang twice, the two easily found the renowned Rongbaozhai. It was a time-honored brand, with triangular banners fluttering in the wind outside its doors, making it look less like an antique shop and more like a traditional tavern, which brought a slight smile to Long Fei's face.

Though Rongbaozhai enjoyed a certain reputation, business wasn't necessarily booming. At this twilight hour—neither early nor late—it certainly wasn't a bustling time, and the shop was quiet and desolate.

So much so that when Long Fei and Ye Qian stepped inside, the half-hundred-year-old shopkeeper with graying hair was still sitting comfortably in a high-backed armchair, holding a thread-bound book and swaying his head back and forth as he read. Though he saw the two enter, he merely offered a slight nod without bothering to stand up to welcome or entertain them.

Long Fei gave a slight nod in return. It seemed a time-honored shop like this required an old antique to mind the store—antiques looking at antiques, haha. Ye Qian, however, was somewhat displeased, casting a resentful glance at the old man, who didn't even deign to look back her way.

Ye Qian was ready to leave, but Long Fei paid her no heed. His gaze was locked onto a pair of jade bracelets hanging on the wall, his eyes gleaming brightly.

Seeing Long Fei staring at the wall as if he had stumbled upon a priceless treasure, Ye Qian curiously drifted over. Unable to tell what exactly he was looking at, she urged, "Hey, let's go! What are you staring at? Didn't you see the old man couldn't even be bothered with us?"

"Quiet," Long Fei muttered, his expression strange as he stared intently at the pair of bracelets on the wall.

They were a pair of the most ordinary-looking bracelets imaginable. Though they bore traces of age, they were hardly eye-catching. Yet those pale cyan bracelets exerted a strange, magnetic pull on Long Fei, as if an unseen force was drawing him toward them. Moving as if in a trance, Long Fei stepped forward, completely ignoring the elderly shopkeeper as he walked right past the counter and took the bracelets into his hands. Instantly, a wave of warm energy surged into his body, resonating with the Qi in his Dantian. He clearly sensed his own internal energy reacting to that warmth, as if eager to merge with it.

A treasure. Without a doubt, this was an absolute treasure.

Suddenly, Long Fei thought of Phoenix. He felt as though these bracelets were naturally meant for her—a strange, unexplainable intuition that he couldn't quite rationalize.

"Young man, do you wish to buy this pair of bracelets?" The old shopkeeper had appeared beside Long Fei at some point, fixing an unusual gaze upon Long Fei's hands.

*Buy? Of course I'm going to buy them.*

"No matter the price, I'll take them," Long Fei said with absolute conviction.

They said everything in life was governed by fate, and he felt a deep affinity with these bracelets. Since he had already made up his mind to gift them to Phoenix, naturally he would buy them no matter how expensive they were, and he wasn't worried about the shopkeeper trying to rip him off.

Ye Qian hurried over as well, furrowing her brow. In her eyes, the bracelets in Long Fei's hands weren't particularly pretty; apart from looking a bit rustic, they lacked anything special. What baffled her even more was *who* Long Fei intended to give these to. What era was this? Who wore rustic, genuinely ancient-looking jade bracelets anymore? Moreover, she thought Long Fei must be out of his mind—who bought things this way? Acting like a billionaire with money to burn, practically begging the shopkeeper to fleece him.

To her utter astonishment, the old man's response nearly caused Ye Qian's jaw to drop. "I can give you these bracelets for free."

Ye Qian's mouth hung open. It wasn't that she thought Long Fei was getting a massive bargain—she knew he could afford them and didn't care about the money. Rather, she found the whole situation abnormal. What legitimate businessman would give away items for free? And ancient antiques at that?

Long Fei smiled. "Old sir, why would you give them to me for free?"

The shopkeeper, wearing reading glasses, squinted and leaned down, casting his gaze through the gap above the frames directly onto the bracelets, then flicking his eyes down to the ring on Long Fei's finger. He let out a sigh. "Don't take me for a fool. I may be old, but I don't have senile dementia. I simply feel these items share an affinity with you, as if they were born to belong to you. I haven't given away many things in my life, but I'll gift these bracelets to you."

"You also think these bracelets share an affinity with me?" Long Fei paused. It seemed his intuition was correct. However, he had recognized the bracelets weren't ordinary only because his internal Qi had reacted to them upon contact. Why would this old man say the same thing? The man had just claimed he wasn't senile, so was it because these items were utterly worthless and he was trying to make a sale? Long Fei sneered inwardly; that possibility was virtually nonexistent.

"Young man, don't you think the ring on your finger and these bracelets look like a matched set?" The shopkeeper pushed up his glasses, glancing once more at Long Fei's ring with a flash of strange light in his eyes.

Long Fei nodded with a smile. "I thought they looked like a set too, which is why I was drawn to them the moment I walked in. Name your price, I really do want to buy them."

The shopkeeper chuckled. "I already said I'm giving them to you. Do you still doubt my word?"

"Then won't you be running at a loss?" Long Fei smiled. "These are antiques, after all. They might even be worth a fortune."