Chapter Eighty-Seven: Honey, Don’t Be Mad

“Hey, honey, don’t be angry. I was only joking with them just now.”

“What am I supposed to be angry about? Why are you following me around? Why don’t you go back and talk about ideals and human anatomy with them!”

Seeing Han Ning fume like that, Yang Jiekai tried every trick in the book, but nothing worked. At last he chuckled and said, “Honey, are you jealous?”

“I’m jealous of you? In your dreams!”

Han Ning turned away. She had meant to say a few more things, but suddenly her delicate face flushed bright red.

Only then did she realize: what exactly was she so angry about? Could it be that she was actually jealous over this infuriating man?

Impossible. He was so annoying—how could she possibly be jealous of him?

Though she thought that way, she still felt a faint discomfort in her chest, but she no longer threw a tantrum.

Seeing that she had calmed down, Yang Jiekai patted his stomach and said, “We’ve eaten and drunk our fill. Next I’m taking you out for some nightlife.”

“No.”

“You’re still jealous?”

“You...”

Han Ning was momentarily at a loss for words. Grinding her teeth, she finally said, “Fine. Where are we going?”

“Do you prefer clubbing or karaoke?” Yang Jiekai asked.

After thinking it over, Han Ning said, “Let’s do karaoke. I don’t like those noisy clubs.”

In truth, aside from that little episode earlier, Han Ning was in unusually high spirits today. For the first time in her life, she was living like an ordinary person, with company matters and everything else completely pushed out of her mind. She felt wonderfully relaxed. Otherwise, she would never have kept following Yang Jiekai out for nightlife.

She had come to karaoke bars before because of business socializing, but she had never once sung inside one.

Yang Jiekai booked a small private room and asked what she wanted to sing. To his surprise, Han Ning could not answer.

“I only know how to listen. I’m not very good at singing. You sing. I’ll listen.”

After flipping through the song list for a while, Yang Jiekai chose a few English songs.

As the pleasant intro began, Han Ning recognized one of her usual favorites.

Yang Jiekai took the microphone, and the instant he opened his mouth, she froze.

A slightly husky voice. A pure, classic London accent. A faint nasal resonance. Every pronunciation and beat was flawless.

Especially his expression while singing. It was as if he had become a completely different person. No longer the irritating pest from before, he now seemed more like an elegant gentleman.

When the song ended, Han Ning sat there in a daze, still unable to react.

“What’s wrong? Did I sing badly?” Yang Jiekai lowered the microphone and smiled at her.

“No, you sang beautifully.” Han Ning praised him sincerely, never expecting this man to sing so well.

“You’re not singing, and singing alone is no fun for me.”

Yang Jiekai scratched his head. “How about we dance instead?”

After thinking about it, Han Ning said, “I know a little bit about dancing.”

Yang Jiekai nodded and selected a few rock songs.

Han Ning blinked. “I don’t know this kind of music!”

Yang Jiekai laughed. “It’s very simple. Come on, just follow me!”

As he spoke, his body began to sway to the rhythm. Seeing that Han Ning was still seated, he pulled her up from the sofa.

“Move with the beat. Forget everything, forget all your troubles. Just think about throwing all that messy stuff away. In one sentence: let loose!”

Han Ning hesitated for a moment, but under his persuasion, she still tried to sway along.

“Yes, that’s it. Now all that’s left is happiness—let all that messy stuff go to hell!”

Under Yang Jiekai’s guidance, Han Ning gradually found her rhythm and swayed face-to-face with him.

A good ten minutes later, they were both drenched in exhilaration.

Han Ning let out a long breath, feeling an unprecedented lightness and joy.

“Cheers, honey!” Yang Jiekai raised his glass.

“Wait for me. I’m going to the restroom.”

This was a rather shabby karaoke bar, so there was no restroom in the private room. They had to use the public restroom out in the corridor.

After leaving the room, Han Ning let out a long breath. From childhood to adulthood, she had never felt so relaxed.

After she finished in the restroom and was washing her hands, someone suddenly tapped her shoulder. Han Ning whipped around and saw a drunken man staring at her.

Frowning, she was about to leave, but the drunkard raised a hand to stop her. “Pretty lady, come drink with me.”

“Move!”

Han Ning’s face showed clear disgust. She was about to go around him, but the drunk suddenly grabbed her arm. “Cut the act. I’ll give you five thousand. Serve me tonight.”

It was obvious the drunk had mistaken Han Ning for a karaoke hostess.

“Let go, or I’ll call the police!” Han Ning struggled hard, but the drunkard grew bolder and actually wrapped his arms around her. “Stop pretending. Five thousand not enough? Then how about ten thousand? Just make sure you take good care of me, and I won’t treat you badly.”

Han Ning hurriedly cried out for help, but the people passing by as though they had seen nothing kept going about their business, completely ignoring her pleas.

“Give me the money, and I’ll take care of you.”

At that moment, a faint voice suddenly came from behind.

“Jiekai!”

Seeing who had arrived, Han Ning felt as if she had grasped a lifeline. She immediately broke free of the big man and hurried to Yang Jiekai’s side.

“Who the hell are you?” The drunken brute saw that the newcomer was only a somewhat thin man and paid him no mind at all.

Bang!

Without another word, Yang Jiekai rushed forward and kicked the drunk hard enough to send him flying. Then, in a single bound, he was on him, seizing the man by the collar, pinning him to the floor, and beating him savagely.

“I’m in a good mood today and don’t want trouble, so I’m just giving you a lesson.”

Yang Jiekai had originally planned to cripple one of the drunk’s arms, but with Han Ning there, he did not want to make a bigger scene.

Back in the private room, Han Ning was still shaken.

“It’s fine. I’ve got you. Nobody dares bully you. Places like this are all the same. A few drunk thugs causing trouble is normal.”

Back when Yang Jiekai had been a mercenary, he had frequented places like this, so he was no stranger to what had just happened.

“Why do you like fighting so much?” Han Ning asked. It was not the first time she had seen Yang Jiekai throw hands with someone. It seemed that violence was the only way he knew to solve problems.

“How else would you handle it?” Yang Jiekai said with a smile.

Han Ning answered seriously, “There are many ways to solve a problem. Using force is the worst way.”

Pfft.

Yang Jiekai immediately laughed. Han Ning, a flower grown in a greenhouse, was still far too naive. There were indeed many ways to solve problems in this world, but all of them were built upon overwhelming force.

Whether you were a politician standing high above others or a billionaire with fortunes beyond measure, once someone pointed a gun at you, you would still wet yourself.

This orderly society was, in truth, held up by the supervision of force. Without police, without the army, without those organs of violence, who would obey all those rules?

Just then, the private room door was suddenly opened. A stranger poked his head in, glanced around furtively, and then quickly left again.

Yang Jiekai knew at once what would happen next, though Han Ning had no idea.

“Honey, let me ask you something. If someone wanted to beat you up, what would you do?”

After thinking it over, Han Ning said, “Call the police, of course!”

Yang Jiekai kept smiling. “What if you don’t even have the chance to call the police? Like just now—if I hadn’t beaten that punk up, even if the police came, they couldn’t have charged him with anything. He never actually did anything to you.”

“So if I hadn’t hit him, then you would have been the one losing out. We may be contract husband and wife, but even I haven’t hugged you yet. That bastard grabbed your ass and got handsy with you. Could I just let it go?”

“This...” Han Ning was at a loss for words.

Yang Jiekai stretched his arms and smiled. “In a bit, you sit over there and I’ll put on an action show for you.”

“An action show?” The more Han Ning listened, the more confused she became. In the business world, she was a shrewd and formidable woman, but when it came to the underworld, she knew absolutely nothing.

At that very moment, the door was kicked open with a bang.

More than a dozen men rushed in. The drunken man Yang Jiekai had just beaten pointed at him and shouted, “Big brother, it’s him!”

A tattooed brute held a machete in his hand and glared at Yang Jiekai. “You’re the one who hit my brother just now?”

Han Ning was instantly terrified by the scene.

Yang Jiekai gently patted her shoulder. “Honey, I’ll try to look as cool as possible in a moment. Watch closely.”

After saying that, he did not waste another word. He simply grabbed the ashtray from the table and hurled it fiercely.

With a crack, the ashtray struck the tattooed man squarely in the forehead, and blood instantly splashed out.

“Kill him!” the tattooed brute roared in fury, charging forward with the machete in hand.

To Yang Jiekai, these small fry were nothing worth fearing. He simply wanted to give Han Ning a real-life action movie, so he did not go in for any brutal, direct finish. Instead, he deliberately made his movements as flashy as possible.

Among today’s martial arts disciplines, if one were to speak only of visual beauty, taekwondo would surely take the prize.

Yang Jiekai’s combat skills did not belong to any single school. Back in training camp, he had learned everything—taekwondo, karate, even iron palm techniques—and then taken the best from each to forge a style that was not especially elegant but was terrifyingly effective in actual combat.

He started with a stepping side kick that sent one man flying, then followed with a smooth, airborne side kick, using nothing but taekwondo techniques.

What should have taken only a dozen seconds ended up taking him a full minute and a half, all because he was deliberately pursuing visual flair before finally knocking the whole group to the ground.

“If you’re a real man, leave your name!” the tattooed brute barked as he got to his feet, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. Knowing full well he was no match, he had no intention of continuing the fight.

“My name is Yang Jiekai. If you want revenge, you can find me at Dragon Palace Bar.”

“We’ll see about that!” The big man shot him a vicious look, then hurriedly called his men away.

When he turned back to Han Ning, she was already staring at him with her mouth wide open in shock.