Chapter 986: The Big Shot
As soon as Ye Fei disappeared from the hall, a large crowd of people walked in. Leading the group was a handsome young man, and Zhang Tao and his core group now surrounded this young man like stars around the moon, their faces full of caution.
When they reached the central table, the young masters first escorted Zhang Yu to the seat of honor.
Then, as the host, Zhang Tao clapped his hands loudly to get everyone's attention and announced, "Let me introduce everyone to Young Master Zhang Yu from Wanghai, one of the Four Gentlemen of Wanghai. It's truly an honor to have him here today. Let's welcome Young Master Zhang Yu!"
With that, Zhang Tao led the applause, and the other young masters followed suit, clapping vigorously.
This included the county magistrate's son, Young Master Qiang, and his cousin.
Zhang Tao didn't introduce them, which would normally be considered disrespectful, but they had no objections. Their status was far below Zhang Yu's, so they didn't dare to steal his thunder.
For the ordinary employees, the title of "Young Master Zhang Yu" seemed distant and irrelevant. However, since Zhang Tao, who could make or break their careers, had spoken, they naturally had to show their respect and joined in the applause.
Zhang Yu stood up and nodded condescendingly at the crowd, feeling inwardly pleased.
Back in Wanghai, there were plenty of young masters with higher status than he.
The title of "Four Gentlemen of Wanghai" was largely due to his association with Ye Yu. At that time, they had pretty much run rampant in Wanghai.
However, their glory was short-lived. Before they could revel in it for long, Ye Fei emerged and killed their ringleader, putting a significant damper on their activities.
Zhang Yu, who had had several encounters with Ye Fei, had a deep understanding of the cunning and ruthlessness of the new Lingyun Club leader, who had already become a legend.
After Ye Yu's death, Zhang Yu had hidden at home, too afraid to even show his face, and had even quit his job, fearing that he might run afoul of Ye Fei and meet the same fate as Ye Yu.
After a few months, just as Zhang Yu was starting to breathe easier, thinking Ye Fei wouldn't hold a grudge against him and the others who had been associated with Ye Yu, he heard the news that Wu Erqi had been killed by Ye Fei.
This news nearly scared the life out of Zhang Yu. He knew exactly why Wu Erqi had died—it was because he had messed with Ye Fei's woman.
Thinking back to his entanglement with Mingyue Xin, and considering the closeness between Ye Fei and Mingyue Xin, she might have been Ye Fei's woman as well.
With this realization, Zhang Yu dared not even stay in Wanghai anymore and quietly left home to hide in a smaller city nearby.
Originally, Zhang Yu had planned to lay low for a few years until Ye Fei had completely forgotten about him before returning to Wanghai.
However, within days of arriving, he was recognized by a young master from Wanghai whom he had met before. This young master and his family treated Zhang Yu like a distinguished guest, almost as if he were royalty.
From this experience, Zhang Yu understood something important. Although the title of "Four Gentlemen of Wanghai" had become a joke after Ye Yu's downfall, he still had his father to rely on.
His father was the deputy director of the Wanghai Public Security Bureau, and a relatively high-ranking one at that.
While his position in Wanghai was neither extremely high nor low, outside of Wanghai, it was a different story.
In terms of rank alone, he was comparable to the mayor of this small city, and considering his connections and influence, he was even more powerful than the mayor.
With this backing, in the surrounding cities, as long as he didn't provoke the Lingyun Club, Zhang Yu could live an even more luxurious life than when Ye Yu was still alive. So, he continued his extravagant lifestyle in this city, completely enjoying himself and forgetting his worries.
Today, the reason he came to this small county was entirely because of the young master who had recognized him back then—Wen Shao, the cousin of Qiang Shao.
After successfully connecting with Zhang Yu and getting along well with him, Wen Shao wanted his cousin Qiang Shao, who usually had a decent relationship with him and regularly offered him favors, to also benefit from this connection. So, he brought Zhang Yu to this place.
Since it was the first day of the Lunar New Year, most of the entertainment venues that Zhang Yu usually frequented were closed. By chance, he overheard Qiang Shao mention the party organized by Zhang Tao, and, having rarely interacted with people from lower social strata, he became interested and decided to come.
Back in Wanghai, although Zhang Yu had always been well-received wherever he went with Ye Yu, he had also faced his fair share of disdain from others.
Now, seeing so many people clapping for him, even though he knew few of them were sincere, he felt incredibly pleased from head to toe. This also increased his appreciation for Zhang Tao, who had helped create this atmosphere for him.
After acknowledging everyone, Zhang Yu sat down and patted Zhang Tao on the shoulder, saying, "Your name is Zhang Tao, right? Our names are quite similar. Maybe we were even related five hundred years ago."
Zhang Tao was taken aback by Zhang Yu's friendly gesture and felt extremely honored. His lips trembled with excitement as he quickly replied, "Yes, yes, I never expected to share the same surname with Young Master Zhang Yu. It must be a predestined connection from a past life!"
As soon as Zhang Tao said this, even though most of the people present were his friends, they couldn't help but look down on him.
The surname Zhang is extremely common in China; there are probably eighty to ninety million people with that surname. If one followed Zhang Tao's logic, wouldn't Zhang Yu have a predestined connection with nearly a hundred million people?
However, Zhang Yu was very pleased. He patted Zhang Tao on the shoulder again and said, "You're a good guy. Come on, let's have a drink together!"
Zhang Tao was even more excited. Ignoring the fact that he was still feeling the effects of the alcohol from lunch, he heartily downed the two ounces of white liquor in his glass.
Seeing this, Wen Shao, who had brought Zhang Yu here, couldn't stay calm. If this continued, Zhang Tao would steal the position of his top lieutenant. So, he quickly interjected, "Young Master Zhang Yu, we've met the people and had our drinks. Let's go find some real fun now."
The main reason Zhang Yu had come here was his curiosity about the common folk's gatherings, which he found somewhat novel.
Now that the novelty had worn off, he didn't want to stay in the noisy hall any longer. He immediately nodded in agreement but then frowned and said, "But in this small place, what kind of fun can we find?"
This was exactly what Wen Shao had hoped for. He quickly replied, "That's why we should head back to the city. There are so many more things to do there."