Chapter 2: 0002 Mysterious Youth (Please Collect)
Ye Qiu took a day and a night's train from the Qinling Mountains to Zhongshan City.
With one yuan, Ye Qiu squeezed onto a public bus.
The bus was crowded with men, women, and children, all packed within the carriage.
Ye Qiu stood in the middle of the carriage, and as the bus stopped and started, the number of passengers didn't decrease but seemed to increase instead.
Soon after another stop, quite a few more people got on the bus. While Ye Qiu was lost in his thoughts, suddenly a girl squeezed in front of him.
She wasn't very tall, just about the height of Ye Qiu's chin.
The girl had a pair of "Spiritual Energy" eyes that caught Ye Qiu's attention, prompting him to look a couple more times.
They were clear and transparent, without any impurities.
Screech...
The bus suddenly braked hard, causing a shake that made everyone inside sway.
The girl standing in front of Ye Qiu also stumbled into him because of the abrupt stop.
"I'm so sorry, so sorry..." the girl quickly got up and apologized, her face turning slightly red.
"No worries," Ye Qiu said, shaking his head indifferently.
Seeing that Ye Qiu just shrugged his shoulders, the girl smiled sweetly, nodded, and thought well of him.
As the bus traveled on, three young men with dyed red hair, about twenty years old, boarded.
The trio quickly scanned the entire carriage, and their eyes soon fell on Ye Qiu's area. They exchanged smiles and started pushing through the crowd towards him.
Although Ye Qiu's eyes were half-closed, he had already sensed the ill intentions of the three men.
This was because the three men stopped near the girl, prompting other passengers around to give way.
The girl frowned slightly, deliberately creating some distance from the men, but given the small carriage and the crowd, she could only move so far.
One of the trio pushed to the other side of the girl, another blocked her from behind, and quickly they formed an encirclement, trapping the girl in the middle, clearly intent on taking advantage.
Ye Qiu watched the actions of the three men quietly as the girl looked scared, glancing sideways, hoping to get help from someone else.
However, in today's world where people are reluctant to get involved, there were few willing to risk helping others. Those who seemed ready to intervene were quickly intimidated by the fierce looks of the three men and backed off.
As a result, the three men became even more arrogant. As for Ye Qiu in front of them, they didn't take him seriously at all. In their eyes, Ye Qiu was just a country bumpkin, wearing clothes embroidered with Adidas and Nike logos—the trio almost laughed out loud. They thought it was a joke that such a hick dared to meddle. To them, it was simply an absurd fantasy.
However, very soon, the impossible indeed happened.
"How shameless it is for a few grown men to bully a girl," Ye Qiu said, pulling the girl behind him as he stepped forward to protect her.
"Who's this country bumpkin; mind your own business," one of the red-haired young men replied hotly, swinging a slap towards him.
Just as the slap was about to hit his face, Ye Qiu laughed coldly, suddenly reaching out a hand and grabbing the red-haired man's wrist, then twisting it hard, a crack immediately heard by everyone in the carriage.
The red-haired man's face contorted in pain as he continuously apologized: "I was wrong, I dare not do it again, big brother, please let me go."
"Get lost," Ye Qiu snorted, releasing the man.
Intimidated by Ye Qiu's bravery, the three men quickly left the bus. At that moment, the girl stepped in front of Ye Qiu and whispered a thank you.
"My name is Chu Yao."
"Jialong Building station!" The announcement for the stop rang out inside the bus, and upon hearing it, Ye Qiu was momentarily startled. Had they arrived so quickly?
He hurriedly got off the bus, not even managing to reply to Chu Yao.
"Hey..." Watching the hastily departing Ye Qiu, Chu Yao sighed, "I don't even know your name..." Their distance grew steadily farther apart.
The tallest building in Zhongshan City in front of him must be the address given by the old lecher.
There was also a contact number on the note, and the contact person was Shen Tianlong.
Ye Qiu didn't rush inside but instead made a phone call.
After a long wait, someone finally answered with a cough, "Hello, who is this?"
"I am the old man's disciple; he has asked me to come down the mountain to protect someone."
"Oh, hello, hello," the person's voice immediately warmed up, sounding much more eager, "He told me about you coming over; where are you now?" asked the person on the other end of the phone.
"I'm just downstairs."
"Please wait a moment, I'll send someone down to pick you up shortly."
"..." Ye Qiu hung up the phone and then slowly walked into the Jialong Building.
The building was huge and lavishly decorated. The people coming and going were all in suits and shiny shoes, their hair slicked back—except for Ye Qiu, who stood out on his own.
He was dressed in knockoff street stall clothes, hadn't shaved for two days, and wore a pair of black sneakers. This attire should not have appeared here.
"Good day, sir, may I ask who you are looking for?" A receptionist at the front desk saw Ye Qiu looking around and took the initiative to ask.
"I'm looking for Shen Tianlong." The reception girl thought for a moment with confusion. The name sounded somewhat familiar, but she couldn't place it.
"Who's that? Who are you looking for?" At this point, a supervisor came over and asked the receptionist.
The receptionist cautiously said, "He says he's looking for Shen Tianlong."
The supervisor glanced at Ye Qiu, frowned, and quickly said, "We don't have a Shen Tianlong here; you'd better leave."
Ye Qiu shrugged his shoulders, not bothering to say more to the woman. Instead, he went and sat down on a leather sofa nearby.
Seeing Ye Qiu sitting on the sofa, leisurely crossing his legs, the supervisor said irritably, "Security, get rid of this beggar, don't let just anyone in."
Several security guards came over at her command, gesturing for Ye Qiu to leave.
"What if I don't go?" Ye Qiu didn't take the security guards in front of him seriously at all.
"You stinking beggar, if you don't leave, we'll beat you up and carry you out," the security guards said with a laugh.
"Heh..." Ye Qiu sneered.
"Hey, you looking down on us?" The security guards rolled up their sleeves, ready to sort out Ye Qiu.
"Which one of you is Young Master Ye?" At this moment, a middle-aged man appeared in the lobby, looking around and calling out urgently.
"Uncle Liu, who are you looking for?" The supervisor saw a high-level executive from the company and quickly went up to greet him.
"Have you seen a young man? He just entered our building," Uncle Liu said earnestly.
"A young man? Uncle Liu, you're being too vague. Could you be more specific?" the supervisor asked.
As they were talking, there suddenly came a cry of pain, drawing everyone's attention.
"Didn't you want to hit me?" Ye Qiu held a security guard's wrist between two fingers, and with just a little force, the guard cried out in pain.
Seeing Ye Qiu, Uncle Liu's eyes lit up, he ran over, and asked respectfully, "May I ask if you're Ye Qiu, the young master invited by Chairman Shen?"
"Ye Qiu, the young master?" The supervisor and the other security guards were stunned. Why was the high-ranking Uncle Liu being so polite to this young man?
"I am Ye Qiu. Is your chairman named Shen Tianlong?" Ye Qiu mentioned, touching his chin.
Uncle Liu nodded eagerly, "Our chairman is Shen Tianlong. Please come with me upstairs; our chairman is waiting for you."
When they heard this, the face of that previously arrogant supervisor and the faces of the security guards instantly turned the color of pig liver.
They hadn't expected that this shabbily dressed young man was a guest of the chairman. No wonder Shen Tianlong's name sounded so familiar—it was their chairman, after all. They knew that the tallest building in Zhongshan City, the Jialong Building, was owned by Chairman Shen.
"That... um... you, may I ask you for a favor?" Ye Qiu took a couple of steps forward and then stopped, standing right next to the previously arrogant female supervisor.
Turning back, Uncle Liu said, "I don't know what Young Master Ye wishes to ask of me, but if it's within my power, I won't refuse."
"This person, I think she's not suitable for her current position," Ye Qiu said, pointing at the female supervisor.
Uncle Liu nodded at the female supervisor and said, "You don't need to come to work tomorrow. You're fired!"
"What..." Upon hearing these words, the female supervisor was dumbfounded. She was very satisfied with her current job—high salary, comfortable work environment—but just like that, it was all lost because of one person's comment.
"Are we okay?" The security guards were still in shock, thinking they were done for when Ye Qiu pointed at the supervisor. They hadn't expected Ye Qiu to let them off.
What the security guards didn't know was that if it hadn't been for them getting dealt with by Ye Qiu, he naturally wouldn't have let them off. Just like the supervisor; as soon as Ye Qiu got the chance, he took his revenge immediately.
Ye Qiu was quite vengeful, and the grudges of the day were never left for another!
Uncle Liu escorted Ye Qiu to the elevator, and the female supervisor still hadn't snapped out of it, struggling to accept this abrupt turn of events.
"Who on earth is he? Why can he get me dismissed with just one word!" the supervisor said in a daze. She finally understood the true meaning of the saying "don't judge a book by its cover." If she hadn't been so arrogant at first, chasing away that young man, perhaps her future would have turned for the better. Sadly, her worldly gaze cost her that opportunity, and even her job.