Qin Feng grinned. "Manager Zhao, would you like to sing a song to liven up the atmosphere? Be my guest." Then he shouted to the crowd: "Let’s all welcome Manager Zhao to sing us a song!"

 

The ladies gave him a round of applause. "Yeah, woohoo! Manager Zhao, show us your stuff!"

 

Zhao Hu remained impassive. "Get down from there. You need to know your place," he grumbled.

 

There was no humor in his voice. His cold countenance gave Qin Feng no face. "I don’t care how Sister Flower treats you, I decide things in the hall. What if customers came in while you’re fooling around? Where's your foreman? Where's Dazhong? Did he not give you any work to do?"

 

He craned his neck and shouted towards the stairs leading to the second floor, "Li Dazhong, come down here!"

 

Li Dazhong had just finished wiping the blood off his face in the second floor restroom. Fortunately, nothing vital was damaged, but his skin was badly cut up. His waist also hurt a little, but the rest was nothing.

 

When he heard the call, he slowly limped down the stairs. When he saw Zhao Hu, he cried, "Brother Hu, Brother Hu... You gotta do something about this! This Qin Feng guy, he... hit me! See what he did – I’m all disfigured."

 

Qin Feng whipped around to glare at him, startling Li Dazhong enough to almost fall down the stairs.

 

Zhao Hu immediately rushed over to him, pale-faced. "What happened?!"

 

Li Dazhong was terrified of Qin Feng. Even with Zhao Hu beside him, he was afraid to speak.

 

Zhao Hu rushed back to Qin Feng, screaming, "You hit Dazhong?!"

 

"Yes. I taught him a lesson."

 

The atmosphere suddenly became stiff and cold. A younger girl who had booed Zhao Hu a minute ago wisely hid in a dark corner. Only Yuanyuan and Li Xiuju were still standing tall in support of Qin Feng. He jumped down from the stage and walked up to Zhao Hu. "This guy, despite being a foreman, has allowed the waiters to drink, play cards, and gamble during working hours, while all the dirty and tiring work was being done by the ladies. He made the private room stink of tobacco smoke. Shouldn’t this behavior be dealt with?"

 

Zhao Hu was stunned, but immediately said, "That’s far above your pay grade. Don't think you can do whatever you want because you have Sister Flower on your side. She likes spoiling you, but I won’t. Who do you think you are, hitting my people-”

 

He did not finish speaking before Qin Feng's fist shot out.

 

Bang!

 

The punch landed swiftly and precisely on Zhao Hu’s nose bridge. He had already retracted his hand before anyone noticed anything. Zhao Hu promptly collapsed to the ground, covering his broken nose with his hands and rolling back and forth while howling in pain.

 

"You'd better be more polite when you speak to me next time."

 

The reason Qin Feng gave face to Brother Kun but not to Zhao Hu and Li Dazhong was that he had a plan. After all, Brother Kun was also a major member of Brother Jun’s team, so he had to give him full face. However, such low-ranking managers as Zhao Hu and Li Dazhong had to be beaten up until they forgot their own names to get them to play along. It was also a way for Qin Feng to build up a strong reputation. In Brother Kun’s case, he gave both face and a warning. He should know his priorities clearly now and will be more compliant with Sister Flower’s leadership in the future.

 

These were trivial matters. To Qin Feng it was nothing at all, but it was an important step to take before he was promoted. After hitting Zhao Hu and Li Dazhong, his authority was enough to outrank everyone in the Free Man Bar except Sister Flower and Kun.

 

This was an instinctive ranking in people’s hearts. It was not about status, age, or ability. This was a sort of military hierarchy among primitive tribes. Even after the thousands of years of the development of civilization, this way was still recognized in society.

 

In prison especially, it was almost the only way to gain status.

 

Simple, rough, and practical.

 

Kun had gone out to deal with something and Sister Flower was resting in her office. He wouldn’t be disturbed.

 

Zhao Hu cursed, but he still couldn’t get up. Qin Feng kicked him and cracked three of his ribs.

 

Zhao Hu rolled over and passed out.

 

---

 

At 4:30 in the afternoon, Jia Dapeng came out from Tianhe Airport and couldn't wait to take out his cell phone to call Zhang Dali.

 

He spent the past two days in Hainan, partying with a few childhood friends who all had villas with ocean views in the center of Sanya. He went there because of an international modeling competition being held there. It was said that top female models from dozens of countries would be competing. The carefree children of high-ranking cadres loved to think about this in their spare time. They carefully studied the careers of all of their favorite local and international models and knew quite a number of people in the industry. When they were free, they went out together to score chicks. Jia Dapeng made a respectable conquest this time around too. He met a model from Ukraine. Her figure, face, and skin were all excellent. On the balcony of a villa with an ocean view, they watched the sea and enjoyed the salty breeze. Those two days really relaxed his mind, but Zhu Fei was still in his heart, and Qin Feng was still on his mind.

 

It was Zhang Dali who tried his best to persuade him to go to Sanya. He hoped that Jia Dapeng could weather the storm there. After all news of him beating up an old sanitation worker on New Century Square were spreading all over the city. Had it not been for Tianhe's media moguls having very good personal relationships with Jia Quan and Zhang Dali conducting early negotiations with Director Jia in person, Jia Dapeng would have been exposed before the whole city. But even so, on WeChat and on online forums, a lot of people still forwarded the news to each other and condemned the matter.

 

"How are things going? Is that guy dead yet? Don't tell me. Let me guess."

 

Jia Dapeng was in a good mood. "He broke a leg, cracked one arm, and lost three teeth. Right? Haha, he’s lucky. If it weren’t for my father, I would have killed him."

 

Zhang Dali received Jia Dapeng's phone call with a nervous heart. "Dapeng, why did you come back so soon? Weren’t you going to stay a few more days? You’re not in the clear here yet."

 

"Oh, I'm sick of it.” Jia Dapeng groaned. “I'm tired of flirting with girls all day. My friends all went to Phuket, and I thought about that guy, so I came back. How's it going? Tell me, where did you pick him up?"

 

"I... I was no match for him."

 

"Are you shitting me? You were no match for him?!" Jia Dapeng completely freaked out, screaming into his phone.

 

Zhang Dali hesitated before continuing, "Hey, don't go home yet. We should meet somewhere first. Wait for me at Waihuan Road near the airport. I'll be right there."

 

"OK, get over here! Goddamn it!"

 

---

 

On the same flight as Jia Dapeng was also a certain rich young man from the south. He came to Tianhe alone on this trip, dressed in a custom-made, casual Armani suit, a Patek Philippe watch on his wrist and a Hermès belt on his waist. These all showed his status.