Chapter 121: To Have Eyes but Not Recognize Mount Tai

Since Lin Le entered that realm, this was still the first time Ji Xiaorui had ever heard him speak through telepathic transmission.
The moment she caught it, she froze in surprise. And with those two seemingly casual words—“low-key”—he’d sent, her disguise slipped at once. She could not keep quiet.

“Honey…”
Ji Xiaorui was never one to hide things. As soon as she understood, she was about to blurt out the explosion.

“Goodness me—this is outrageous, absolutely shocking! My husband is that Mr. Lin? The same Mr. Lin from Haidong they were all talking about—the new underworld boss in Haidong who drove the outside syndicates out all by himself!”

Ji Xiaorui nearly wanted to tell everyone there at once.

Lin Le had expected that reaction. Before she could speak, he lifted his foot and pressed her toe under the table.

“Ah…”

Everyone at the table, including Ni Fang and Lingling and the others, turned toward Ji Xiaorui.

“Xiaorui, what happened?”
“Ah? I…” Ji Xiaorui was about to answer when Lin Le pressed down again with slightly more force.

“Ah… oof…”

“It’s nothing. I just suddenly noticed that my husband is even more handsome than before. Ha-ha-ha.”
A few people exchanged looks of disbelief.
“Come on.”
“You all needn’t make a spectacle of your affection like that. It’s really too much.”

Across from her, Zhang Yang watched in growing rage, as if he had the urge to skin Lin Le alive.
“By the way, Xiaorui, your boyfriend’s surname is Lin too, right? Could he really be the Lin in Haidong?”
“If that’s true, now that’s impressive,” Lingling said, clearly treating it as a joke.
Everyone laughed.

Only Ni Fang’s eyes flickered strangely.

She suddenly recalled that this Lin from Haidong was rumored to be very young—under twenty—and, now that she thought of it, somewhat like Lin Le.
Same surname, same age, yet… ah.

Ni Fang laughed bitterly in her mind. She had wide reach in society, including people in Haidong’s underworld, and no one there knew the situation better than she did.

It was said that Mr. Lin had, in one night, swept away the Four Pillars of the Hongying Society of the Jinling Big Faction, completely halting that group’s bid to absorb Haidong.
In all of Haidong’s underworld, the elders all gave him deference. By all accounts, he was a ruthless, decisive fighter.

But looking at this Lin Le in front of her, though he did drink well, Ni Fang was no stranger to men with big stomachs. Plenty of prettyboy lords who lived by selling liquor could hold their liquor just as well.

She was actually generous not to reduce him to that. Yet aside from his decent drinking capacity, he seemed to have nothing in her eyes—poor, rustic, and rough. How could he be compared with the Lin Sir said to be like a dragon in the sky?

She laughed bitterly to herself again. Ji Xiaorui was also ridiculous—clutching a lump of mud like she had found a jewel.

Ji Xiaorui had no idea what Ni Fang was thinking. To her, the misunderstandings and teasing from Lingling and the others felt deliciously amusing.

Haha, these people are so silly. You think your joke is clever? It’s you who are funny. You all guessed it already, yet treated it as a joke. How could you not know my husband is truly that very Mr. Lin you keep talking about? How can you fail to recognize a mountain like Tai Shan? Ha…

Ji Xiaorui wore a wicked smile, her vanity soaring. She alone held a secret no one else knew, and it made the whole thing even more entertaining.

At that moment Zhang Yang muttered coldly, “If this kid really is the Mr. Lin from Haidong, then I’ll eat this table whole.”

“Hey, Zhang Yang, say that again!” Ji Xiaorui snapped, eager to hurl the truth in his face and make him eat it.
“Fine, Xiaorui, Zhang Yang was joking. Come on, stop talking and eat. You’ve forgotten the food.”

Ignoring Zhang Yang, Ji Xiaorui served Lin Le, then resumed chatting and eating with Ni Fang and Lingling.

Ji Xiaohai, who had just seen Lin Le beat out Ding Jun after three bottles of liquor, had made Lin Le his secret idol. He now looked like an eager fan, serving Lin Le and asking how to train his own drinking stamina.

Zhang Yang sat alone, seething like a useless extra in the room.

After a while, the room door opened and Ding Jun stepped in with a stern face. After his complete embarrassment moments ago, his return made him far more subdued.
The others glanced at him and smiled inwardly, but he was a little older and had some reputation in the circle, so no one openly mocked him; they simply returned to their talk.

“Brother Jun, are you all right?”
“I’m fine. What could happen to me?”

He had just knocked back two full bottles of white liquor, and even with great tolerance, Ding Jun had begun to feel it.
But after he stepped out earlier, he had vomited all the liquor he’d drunk, so the alcohol had not yet fully taken hold; he was still fairly clearheaded now.

Seeing him, Zhang Yang was helplessly frustrated. Ding Jun had always called himself “big brother” to him, and among people Zhang Yang knew, he had done pretty well.
In Zhang Yang’s eyes, it was usually Ding Jun who led them in roughing people up. Since coming back from the military as a captain, his words carried even more confidence. Yet tonight, he’d been thoroughly humiliated before Lin Le.

“What now? Are we done here?”
“If we let it end like this, I won’t be called Ding Jun,” Ding Jun said darkly.
Zhang Yang felt a spark of hope.
“Sounds like you’ve already made arrangements?”
“I already called Xiangzi and the others. Tonight I’m going to deal with this Lin Le properly, and in doing so, I’ll settle the score for you as well.”

He said it all grandly, though he was planning revenge for himself.
Zhang Yang didn’t care. Whoever got the revenge, as long as he could humiliate Lin Le tonight, it was enough.

Xiangzi wasn’t from their own crowd, and Zhang Yang had never met him, but Ding Jun had once said Xiangzi had gone to prison three times for deliberate assaults, and once had even slit a man’s ear. A truly ruthless figure.

Zhang Yang was certain that once Xiangzi moved, Lin Le would take a hard hit. The thought that this calm-faced Lin Le would soon be crushed by him nearly made him laugh out loud.

“But Brother Jun, how will it be done? Xiaorui’s skills are sharp, and Ni Fang and the others are all here. We can’t just go at him head-on,” Zhang Yang said, suddenly uneasy.

“Don’t worry. I’m not that dumb. I already had Xiangzi set up the trap. We only need to lure that kid to Zijin KTV. After that, you don’t need to do anything—just watch the show.”
At once Zhang Yang felt triumphant. He knew Ding Jun’s methods well; no dirty trick was beyond him. It seemed this kid Lin Le was destined for trouble.