Feast of Flowers

Chapter 21: Flaunting Wealth

In an unprepared situation, Cao Yi was kicked down in public and was about to retaliate when two young men grabbed his arms. One stood on his left, and the other on his right, firmly holding him down, while saying, "Pei Ge, let it go. We all know you can't stand this kind of scum bullying women, but we can't stoop to their level, right?"

As they tried to persuade him, they twisted Cao Yi's arm forcefully, causing him to grimace in pain.

Despite being the one injured, people around them started blaming him, saying that he was in the wrong and had bullied the young girls. Fortunately, these two young men had kind hearts; otherwise, the girls might have been beaten.

Cao Yi could hardly believe his ears. When did he ever try to hit a woman?

"Mr. Pei?" Huajin couldn't believe that she would encounter Pei Yan twice in one day. She glanced at the two young men who were restraining Cao Yi and smiled gratefully at them.

"I just happened to pass by while having dinner, and I witnessed you being bullied," Pei Yan said, his heart burning with anger seeing Huajin being insulted while maintaining a smile. He glared at Huajin for a moment, took a deep breath, crossed his arms, and tilted his head, looking at Cao Yi. He flicked non-existent dust off his sleeve with his fair and slender fingers. "There's a small park nearby. Let's go there and have a leisurely chat about the significance of traditional handicrafts."

After a few steps, Pei Yan noticed that Huajin wasn't following and stopped to look at her. "Let's go," he said.

Huajin squeezed Tan Yuan's hand and followed behind Pei Yan. Pei Yan glanced at their joined hands, his eyebrows twitching slightly. He turned around and walked to the cashier counter. He took out a few bills from his wallet and placed them on the counter before striding out of the shop.

Cao Yi didn't want to be the center of attention in the coffee shop anymore, and he knew he couldn't win against the group of men. So he silently allowed himself to be "escorted" out. As he stepped down the steps outside the shop, he glanced at Tan Yuan, but she didn't look back at him.

"This place is nice. Fewer people, fresh air, and it's not some dark corner. This way, certain people won't accuse me of bullying," Pei Yan wiped the water off a public chair and sat down. After patting the empty seat beside him, he said to Huajin, "Come and sit here with me."

Huajin pulled Tan Yuan along, and they both sat down. After walking for a while, Tan Yuan had calmed down, but she kept her head lowered, feeling quite down.

"Tell me, did Huajin desecrate your ancestors' graves or borrow money from you and not return it? What could make you say such nasty things?" Pei Yan half-closed his eyes, and anyone could tell he was displeased.

Cao Yi didn't respond. Despite him standing and this man appearing out of nowhere to sit down, the man's aura still overwhelmed him.

Seeing his silence, Pei Yan didn't let him off the hook. "After all these years of education, have you only learned to flaunt your superiority in front of others?" Pei Yan recalled how Cao Yi had repeatedly insulted Huajin as a village girl outside, and he couldn't help changing his sitting posture. He feared he wouldn't be able to control himself from kicking again. "What's wrong with being a village girl? Are all your ancestors from the city for the past eighteen generations? As a person in their twenties, with no other abilities, you're quite skilled at mocking others based on their background. With your family background, what can you possibly show off?"

He raised his chin and said to the young man standing to Cao Yi's left, "Lao Wang, introduce yourself."

"I apologize for my lack of refinement," the man called Lao Wang modestly smiled. "My family background is quite ordinary. I only own over twenty chain supermarkets and have partnered in opening some hotels. But it's nothing worth mentioning, nothing worth mentioning."