CHAPTER 1588: CHAPTER 1640: LI YIFEI VS. YOUNG MASTER

Li Yifei walked over. Originally, when trouble broke out, he would have been the first to rush out, after all, that was his comrade-in-arms, his former subordinate. But this meal was truly unpleasant, so Li Yifei didn’t have the motivation to go out. After everyone left, he poured himself some drinks and drank two more cups of white spirit.

But he was always listening for sounds outside. Seeing the situation growing more intense, Li Yifei had to come out. They were still his comrades-in-arms; Li Yifei couldn’t just watch them actually kneel before a bunch of second-generation heirs. That would not only be an insult to Yan Silong but also to Li Yifei, to the profession of soldiers, to the blood running through their veins, and even an insult to the former Flying Hawk Squad, even though Yan Silong wasn’t a true member of the Flying Hawk Squad.

As for the others, whether they want to kneel or not is none of Li Yifei’s business, especially someone like Yueyang, who even took away the woman who was drinking with Li Yifei. Li Yifei couldn’t care less.

What bothers me isn’t what the woman beside me thinks; it’s the matter at hand. You screwed up, kid — that’s Li Yifei’s thought.

Yan Silong heard Li Yifei’s voice and felt the hand patting his shoulder. At this moment, Li Yifei stood up, and Yan Silong was immediately moved. These friends at the table had been together for years; it’s understandable for them to opt-out now, because when it involves large amounts of money, the talk of loyalty becomes impossible.

And Li Yifei stood up, which surprised Yan Silong. He knew that what he did today wasn’t very honorable. On the surface, he couldn’t say anything, but some words and things were deliberately shown to Li Yifei, spoken for him to hear. Yet now, the old squad leader still stood up, making Yan Silong even too ashamed to look at him.

But he had to say something, Yan Silong had already fallen, and he couldn’t drag Li Yifei down with him. He quickly said, "Captain, you don’t need to worry about me. Today’s matter, I and Yueyang are the unlucky ones, let’s not drag anyone else down."

Li Yifei chuckled, slapped Yan Silong’s shoulder, and said, "No need to talk about dragging down or not. In every matter, there’s always a distinction between being right and not being right. If you’re right, don’t worry about other things. But if you’re not right, there’s no harm in admitting it."

Li Yifei spoke calmly, his expression relaxed. His physique was quite strong, and as he stepped forward, it seemed to change the atmosphere — if it was previously filled with a sense of tragic grandeur, then when Li Yifei stepped out, the atmosphere somehow became much lighter.

That’s right, Yan Silong had mentioned that this old squad leader was very good at fighting. Now that he’d stood up, at least if there was a conflict later, they had someone capable of fighting on their side.

Yan Silong heard Li Yifei’s words, felt like nodding vigorously, thinking back to when his squad went out for training and competed against other squads, many of his team underperformed, and Li Yifei and a few others comforted himself and the others.

Li Yifei smiled slightly and said, "But when you’re right, you can’t admit defeat. Once you kneel down, it’s hard to get back up. I recall a slogan from training days, ’Faces to the sky when dead, immortal forever if alive.’ Even though today isn’t a matter of life and death, just think, even if they let you go when you kneel, would these young ones let you off? If you kneel, they can sit you on your neck, force you to continue bowing, and after bowing, make you their mule. Right?"

The last few words were directed at the opposite side.

In the moment Li Yifei stepped out, the opposing side was somewhat speechless, not knowing why, it was like they suddenly didn’t know what to say. Maybe they were curious about the identity of this sudden person, or maybe they were waiting for their opponent to reveal a new trick.

A few second-generation heirs even fell silent. In the middle of them, the one who seemed to have the most say was called Young Master, who didn’t make a sound. His eyebrows furrowed, his expression tangled, as if thinking about something very important.

When Li Yifei threw the question at them, everyone on the other side looked toward Young Master, who seemed lost in thought, and had no response, so they could only wait.

Yueyang was still kneeling on the ground, his expression was complex. Initially, he didn’t think much of Li Yifei, especially after Yan Silong revealed Li Yifei’s background to him, so he wouldn’t waste time on someone he found boring.

And now, he was kneeling, the friends at the table retreated, while the always underestimated Li Yifei stood up, reprimanded the opposite side into silence. This contrast left Yueyang not knowing what to say.

Yan Silong sniffed. He felt that what Li Yifei said made sense — even if he knelt down, the people on the other side wouldn’t necessarily leave it at that. What’s more, what they said was that not kneeling meant they could immediately leave, but the implication was that if they left now, they would have to tear up their relationship, which would create a big scene. Also, kneeling, they didn’t say what consequences there would be, so even if they knelt, it wouldn’t necessarily end things.

But... they were people with real backing. The consequences of being firm seemed more severe, would he have to lose his position, and flee to another place?

The faces of the few men who’d retreated were unnatural. Choosing to leave at this moment probably made it hard to reconcile with the other side in the future. However, avoiding trouble was human nature. Yueyang caused the trouble himself, so why should he drag them into his mess? They all had families and businesses and couldn’t go crazy with him.

The expressions of several women varied. Zhao opened her eyes a bit wider, surprised that the silent soldier Li Yifei actually stood up, and indeed it was unexpected. Especially the words he spoke were powerful; didn’t see those arrogant second-generation heirs remain silent?

Is he going to make a move? Zhao speculated, feeling that if Li Yifei took action and resolved the other side, he could indeed be considered a hero.

Little Hua bit her lip. Her thoughts differed from Zhao’s, as she hoped Li Yifei impulsively took action to take the enemy’s resentment upon himself, making things a bit easier for Yan Silong.

The other women, except for the one standing in front of the man, were all unbothered spectators, adopting a nonchalant attitude.

After a brief silence on the other side, a group of young elites glanced at the most distinguished Young Master, who stared at Li Yifei with furrowed brows, seemingly pondering something.

"Young Master?" One of the elites gently nudged him in the waist, asking quietly. These elites had a hierarchy among them, and generally in times like these, they would defer to the highest rank to speak.

Li Yifei also remained silent across the way, standing beside Yan Silong, looking at the group of troublemakers with significant backgrounds.

Yan Silong puffed out his chest, deciding to toughen up as Li Yifei had instructed, clenching his fists while standing beside the veteran captain, feeling a surge of power within him.

Indeed, Yan Silong may not have had it as smooth as he presented today. In that complex work environment, people between each other were full of calculation; it was far from the simplistic and straightforward life he had while in the military, where there were many superior to him, and every day was spent keeping his head down and tail tucked.

When he had to kneel down, Li Yifei stood out, which immediately moved Yan Silong.

The scene suddenly went silent; the people opposite were also looking at the Young Master, while his gaze was fixed on Li Yifei. After several seconds, he suddenly shuddered, and a trace of fear flashed in his eyes. After coming to his senses, he instinctively stepped back while still staring at Li Yifei.

The surrounding people were bewildered by his action; one of the elites beside him grabbed his arm and whispered, "Young Master, should we continue or...?"

"What the hell!" The Young Master suddenly cursed, glaring fiercely at his companion before turning his gaze back to Li Yifei. His breathing became somewhat unnatural as he gritted his teeth and asked, "What’s your name?"

Li Yifei had observed the reaction on the other side, noting the sudden strange behavior, which proved that this guy... knew him! So he chuckled and said, "What do you think my name is?"

The Young Master’s name was Zheng Hao, only twenty years old this year, born with a silver spoon, having had smooth sailing for years and never encountering a hardship. Whenever he stirred up trouble, his family could settle it, but today he felt he might have gotten into big trouble, the kind that neither he nor his family might be able to handle.

If the man opposite was indeed who he suspected, then this would be significant trouble.

Zheng Hao’s body shivered as he met Li Yifei’s calm gaze, and he felt a chill down his spine despite it being midsummer, the hottest time.

Seeing Zheng Hao’s reaction, the followers and elites on either side were somewhat confused. They looked at Li Yifei with bewilderment, as if wondering what was special about him to cause Zheng Hao’s strange response.

On Yan Silong’s side, his eyes darted twice, sensing the atmosphere had shifted. Those previously domineering elites seemed to lose their edge suddenly, especially the highest ranked one, who actually showed fear in his eyes.

Undoubtedly, he was afraid of the veteran captain, not of them.

With this realization, Yan Silong turned his head to look at Li Yifei, noticing his expression was composed, unchanged from beginning to end, with no sign of panic.

What exactly was going on? Yan Silong truly thought Li Yifei was just an ordinary retired soldier, returning home to marry and raise a family.

The men and women behind were also watching; some were hoping for a fight, while others prayed for nothing to happen.

With trembling lips, Xiao Hua murmured to herself, "Please don’t let anything happen, otherwise the past years will have been for nothing."

Zhao blinked, her long eyelashes fluttering, suddenly realizing she had done something foolish at the dinner table earlier, moving to Yueyang’s side instead of staying by Li Yifei’s side, because at this moment, Li Yifei’s demeanor was truly that of a real man.

Just then, Zheng Hao on the other side shouted a name with force, "Are you Li Yifei?"