Upon hearing this, Gu Bei was so furious that he was practically gnashing his teeth. Bai Yinning had already planted a seed of doubt in his mind regarding Number Four’s allegiance. Shen Peichuan’s words made him distrust Number Four even more.
Besides, Shen Peichuan had told Zong Jinghao of an incident that had really happened before. Two years ago, a new hostess had been assigned to wait on an important figure. Unfortunately, she had made him blow his top instead. In a fit of rage, Gu Bei had ordered his men to beat her up. His men had consisted mostly of large, beefy men, and they had beat her to death that night.
He had almost forgotten about that incident. Now that he was hearing about this from another person’s mouth, he knew that one of his men had leaked his secrets.
Gu Bei turned to Luo the Third and uttered in a low voice, “Thanks for today.”
With that, he turned and left the club in a huff.
Luo the Third smirked as he watched Gu Bei leave. He finally understood what was going on. Shen Peichuan and Zong Jinghao’s play-acting had actually been convincing enough for Gu Bei.
To be fair, they weren’t tricking Gu Bei at all. Number Four had, indeed, told them a few things about Gu Bei. However, he had only become one of Gu Bei’s favorites recently and he was still in the dark about certain events that had happened in the past. Shen Peichuan was the one who had dug up this old incident. He was merely recounting it now to make Gu Bei believe that Number Four had betrayed him and confessed to everything.
According to Shen Peichuan’s investigations, Number Four had a part to play in the hostess’ death. Hence, he thought it perfectly fine to allow him to have a taste of his own medicine.
The information that Number Four had actually yielded was rather inconsequential, and none of them entailed Gu Bei’s criminal past. Although Number Four was an easily frightened man, and pliant in the face of torture, he was clever enough to avoid telling them of the stuff that would be truly incriminating.
Gu Bei left the club and ordered his men to bring Number Four to the villa.
He headed back to the villa in a fury, only to find his men already there with Number Four.
Number Four could sense that something was wrong from the tense atmosphere. Carefully, he ventured, “Mr. Gu…”
Before he could finish speaking, Gu Bei curled his lips into a horrible smile and gave Number Four a painful kick. Number Four collapsed onto the floor immediately. He was still recovering from his injuries, and one kick from Gu Bei sent him sprawling onto the floor, grabbing his stomach and twisting in pain.
“Didn’t you tell me that they didn’t interrogate you?” Gu Bei bent down and grabbed his throat in a chokehold. “How dare you betray me?”
Number Four’s eyes widened in horror. Didn’t Gu Bei believe my lie earlier? How did he suddenly find out about this?
“You can’t listen to what that loser says…”
Smack!
Another slap landed on Number Four’s face. Gu Bei roared ferociously, “You have balls to argue with me when I’d heard it with my own ears, you wretch! I knew it! How could they have given up such a good opportunity to interrogate you, handing you back to me unscathed? I see how it is now— you’ve betrayed me! You promised that you’d be a spy for them, didn’t you? Number Four, I’ve always treated you well. I never expected that you would bite the hand that feeds you one day!”
Gu Bei was fuming mad. He had pulled out all stops to rescue him, but Number Four had betrayed him instead. This feeling of betrayal brought on by a disloyal friend was worse than that brought on by a cheating girlfriend.
He wanted to strangle Number Four to death right now to alleviate the fury in his heart.
Number Four was shell-shocked. I had told them a few things about Gu Bei, but they weren’t consequential information. Besides, since when have I ever agreed to be a spy for the other side?
“There must a misunderstanding somewhere…”
“A misunderstanding?” Gu Bei was so angry that he delivered another two slaps across Number Four’s face. He used so much strength that he felt a tingling numbness in his hand. Number Four’s mouth was full of blood. His face, which had been bruised beyond recognition before, now swelled so much that he looked positively pig-like.
“I’m not deaf!” Gu Bei exclaimed, laughing cruelly. “Number Four, do you remember what I’d said?”
Number Four was so frightened that he was shaking like a leaf. Blood dripped from his mouth to his shirt, drenching the checkered blue fabric in bright red blood.
To plead for his life, Number Four threw his arms around Gu Bei’s leg and cried out, “Mr. Gu, you must believe me. I’d never betrayed you at all. If I really betrayed you, may the heavens strike me dead this instant!”
At that moment, a loud clap of thunder sounded outside.
Number Four and Gu Bei were both speechless.
“I guess even the heavens want you dead,” Gu Bei kicked his arms away and ordered his subordinates to take Number Four away. “Throw him into the sea and leave him to the fishes!”
“Mr. Gu, you have to believe me.” Number Four crawled over to him and hugged his leg again in desperation. Crying, he pleaded, “I’d never betrayed you. You have to believe me.”
Gu Bei gazed at Number Four and realized how much he resembled a dog at that moment. Scoffing, he snapped, “I’d like to believe you too, but one look at that useless face of yours tells me that I’d be a fool to believe that you’d never betrayed me.”
Number Four had no backbone whatsoever. Seeing how badly Bai Yinning’s men had tortured him, it was impossible that he hadn’t yielded up important information to them yet.
“What are you waiting for?” Gu Bei bellowed. A few of his subordinates dashed forward and yanked Number Four away.
“Please, believe me! I’d never betrayed you!” Number Four refused to admit it till the end. If he did, he would be digging his own grave.
However, no matter how hard he tried to convince Gu Bei, the man was dead certain that he had betrayed him.
Gu Bei wanted to make an example out of Number Four to allow his men to see how he would handle traitors and betrayers.
“I will never mistreat any of my men, but once you’ve betrayed me, I’ll make sure that you’ll die a horrible death!” Gu Bei raged angrily. Nobody would be able to save Number Four now.
Thoroughly frightened by now, the few subordinates picked Number Four up and started dragging him outside.
Number Four screamed and begged for mercy. Gu Bei was so annoyed by the racket he was making that he ordered his men to stuff a gag into his mouth. Afterward, they threw him into the boot of the car and drove to the beach in the countryside.
The subordinates in the car wondered if Gu Bei was merely trying to frighten Number Four and the rest of them. However, when they arrived at the beach, Gu Bei ordered them to fling Number Four into the ocean.
Although the subordinates didn’t particularly like Number Four, they were afraid that the same thing might happen to them one day. Immediately, they started pleading for mercy on his behalf.
A mustached man uttered, “Although he hasn’t helped you out much, he has helped you out with many assignments. Please spare him, Mr. Gu!”
Gu Bei scoffed and leaned against the bumper of the car. Crossing his hands over his chest, he exclaimed, “Since he has betrayed me, there’s only one outcome for him— death! The same goes for the rest of you. If any of you dares to betray me, I’ll make sure to kill you too. Anyone who dares to plead on his behalf can go down with him. I mean it!”
Everyone fell silent immediately. None of them dared to protest lest Gu Bei threw them into the sea as well.
“Well, why aren’t you moving?” Gu Bei asked sharply. “Shall I do it myself?”
The subordinates shivered slightly before lunging forward to grab Gu Bei, who was writhing madly in the boot. A gag had been placed in Number Four’s mouth, but his ears weren’t blocked. He heard everything that they had said, and fear soon filled his heart like never before.
He struggled desperately to escape, but the ropes binding him were far too tight. There was no way that he could free himself.
If anyone took a good look at his face right now, they would be able to see it contorted with fear.
Nobody could maintain their composure in the face of death.
After all, everyone had only one life to live. Once you died, there was no way you were returning from the dead.
Gu Bei’s expression remained unchanged. He wasn’t afraid of the consequences— if someone were to accuse him of murder, his father would be able to protect him. He could do whatever he wanted.
With a loud splash, Number Four fell into the water, causing huge ripples to rip across the surface. A few seconds later, the water’s surface had returned to normal, as though nothing had happened at all.
The subordinates stood by the shore, looking rather grim. One of them ventured to ask, “Do sharks really eat people?”
“Are you an idiot? Of course, they don’t. Humans are the most highly-ranked species in the animal kingdom.”
“I think you’re the idiot here. Who told you that sharks don’t eat people?” One of the other subordinates retorted.
“Well, have you actually seen them eat a human?” The first subordinate felt a little miffed. After all, humans ruled the world, while sharks were merely animals in the sea. How could they eat a person on the beach?
“Have you never watched Jaws? Those sharks sure know how to eat people.” The other subordinate refused to back down. Both of them thought that they were right.
“That’s a movie, for goodness’s sake! Sharks don’t eat people in real life.”
“What bunch of fools! Why did I employ all of you in the first place?” Gu Bei felt a headache coming on. “Let’s go.”
With that, he turned around and headed back into the car. A loud boom of thunder sounded at that moment, and a flash of lightning streaked across the sky. It seemed as though it was going to start raining, at any given second.
Afraid that they were going to get caught in the rain, the subordinates hurried back to the car, completely forgetting about their argument.
Number Four didn’t have many friends. Upon gaining some influence, he had become more arrogant and had offended many people around him. Hence, nobody would genuinely plead for mercy on his behalf. The subordinates had only done so just now out of fear that they would suffer the same fate one day.
All of them swore to themselves that they would never betray Gu Bei. Otherwise, they would be fed to the fishes, too.
Back in the city, Lin Xinyan took her kids to the pet shop to get some supplies for Baymax. Afterward, Zong Yanxi insisted on going to the amusement park.
Lin Xinyan looked up at the sky and saw that it was about to rain. Seeing as such, she tried to coax her daughter. “Let’s go to the supermarket instead. I’ll buy you something delicious.”
Zong Yanxi thought on her words for a while. “Alright. I’ll agree to that out of the goodness of my heart.”
Lin Xinyan didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. Pinching her daughter’s cheeks lightly, she scolded, “You were much cuter when you were younger, you know.”
“The lady at the pet shop has said that I’m pretty! How can I not be cute?” Zong Yanxi felt a little upset.
Lin Xinyan explained to her patiently, “Cute and pretty mean different things.”
“Get in the car, quickly.” She hurried her kids back into the vehicle.
They left the pet shop and arrived at the supermarket.
Just as they entered the supermarket, the rain started pouring down from the heavens.
A wild storm was picking up outside.
Zong Yanxi gazed at the rain and admitted despondently, “It’s good that we didn’t go to the amusement park, after all. We would have gotten completely drenched if we had.”
Lin Xinyan took her children’s hands and walked down the aisles of the supermarket. Aunt Yu and the newly-hired maid followed along behind them. Bringing up the rear was the chauffeur.
Aunt Yu, who was pushing a shopping cart along, uttered, “We’ve run out of fruits at home.”
They headed over to the fruits section and bought some in-season fruits. At this time of the year, fruits were aplenty, and the prices were rather cheap. Most importantly, they tasted fresh.
When they passed by the confectionary section, Zong Yanxi insisted on having a doughnut. She ran over to grab a plate as she carefully placed a doughnut onto it. As she picked the doughnut up with a pair of tongs, she peered through the glass and spotted a boy on the other side of the glass. When she got a clear look at his features, she gasped in surprise and exclaimed, “It’s you!”
