We agreed not to date, so why are you crying now that I've become the richest man?

Xu Jiao stood up and walked to the song selection table.

Sun Haoyu quickly stepped forward: "Give me a song called 'Borrowing Five Hundred More Years from Heaven'!"

"Don't bring the wolf here, I'll sing first." Li Meng pushed him aside, and the two started arguing for a spot at the song selection station.

Lu Wenbo sat next to Wang Yao and whispered something to her. Chen Zhiqiang, having finished eating, sat nervously on the sofa, staring at the screen.

Ye Chen leaned back on the sofa, crossed his legs, and closed his eyes to rest.

Gu Yuxuan put down her water glass, picked up her phone, and the faint light from the screen shone on her cool and refined face.

She quickly replied to a few messages.

The music in the private room was deafening, and Li Meng started belting out high notes into the microphone.

Xu Jiao walked back to her seat and deliberately sat very close to Ye Chen, her thighs almost touching his trouser leg.

"Ye Chen, can I add you on QQ?" Xu Jiao took out her phone, her thumb hovering over the buttons.

Ye Chen opened his eyes and said casually, "Okay. 852XXXXXX."

Xu Jiao quickly dialed the number and sent the request. She then smiled and waved her phone, saying, "It's sent! I wrote my name in the verification message. Remember to accept it!"

"Hmm." Ye Chen took out his phone, glanced at it, casually clicked "accept," and leaned back on the sofa.

Seeing that her goal had been achieved, Xu Jiao put away her phone with satisfaction and moved half an inch closer to Ye Chen.

Her gaze swept over the collar of Ye Chen's all-black short-sleeved shirt, trying to find a luxury brand logo, but to no avail.

"Ye Chen, you just said you earned over ten thousand yuan writing code. Which company specifically did you work for?"

Ye Chen didn't even lift his eyelids: "It's just an order I found online."

Xu Jiao persisted, pressing further: "There are so many orders online, and you're already getting big orders right after graduating high school. Your family elders must work in the internet industry, right?"

"no."

Xu Jiao held the juice glass to her lips, her eyes fixed on him:

"What kind of big business do your parents run back in their hometown? They can't have raised such an outstanding son as you; they can't just be ordinary office workers, can they?"

Ye Chen swallowed the warm water and glanced at her with a half-smile: "Both of you work, the kind with a fixed salary."

Xu Jiao was met with a rebuff, but she was still unwilling to give up: "Can a dual-income couple afford to buy you a phone that costs 15,000 yuan? You're making money too easily with this part-time job. Why don't you teach me? I also want to earn some pocket money to buy a bag."

Ye Chen turned his head and looked at her: "Okay."

Xu Jiao's eyes lit up: "Really? What do we need to learn?"

Ye Chen spoke calmly, as if he were giving a task: "First learn C language, then data structures, then computer networks. Memorize these three textbooks, write 100,000 lines of code, and you'll be able to take orders online."

Xu Jiao was instantly choked, her face stiffening.

Sun Haoyu, standing beside him, slapped his thigh and laughed wildly: "Xu Jiao, Old Ye is making you a programmer! With your skinny arms and legs, you'll lose all your hair after two all-nighters!"

Xu Jiao glared at Sun Haoyu, annoyed. "I was just asking casually!"

She sheepishly shrank back to her original position and picked up a skewer of grilled meat to cover her embarrassment.

Ye Chen completely shut down the topic with just a few words.

Xu Jiao went around in circles, but couldn't even get a glimpse of him.

Gu Yuxuan, sitting in the corner, heard everything clearly.

This boy's handling of questioning was incredibly skillful.

Despite Xu Jiao's relentless pressure, he didn't even change his posture, and every word he uttered perfectly met her expectations.

Gu Yuxuan had met many rich second-generation individuals, and those people were eager to reveal all their family wealth, as if afraid that others would not know that they were rich.

But Ye Chen was the complete opposite.

He is calm and low-key, unlike a college student who is flamboyant.

Gu Yuxuan stood up.

A pure white chiffon dress cascaded down her slender waist, the hem brushing against the edge of the sofa, subtly outlining her long, straight legs.

Wang Yao turned her head: "Yu Xuan, where are you going?"

"It's stuffy in the private room, let's go to the restroom for some fresh air." Gu Yuxuan picked up her handbag.

"Go on, come back soon, it's almost time for your song."

Gu Yuxuan pushed open the door and walked into the dimly lit corridor.

The marble countertop in the bathroom was spotless. She turned on the tap and rinsed her fair hands with cold water.

She turned off the tap, took a lipstick out of her handbag, and carefully touched up her makeup in front of the mirror.

Just then, two men reeking of alcohol staggered out of the men's restroom.

The man walking in front was wearing a black vest, and his arms were covered with blue tattoos.

The man following behind was wearing a floral shirt and had half a cigarette between his fingers.

The tattooed man paused, staring intently at Gu Yuxuan's back.

Gu Yuxuan put away her lipstick and turned to leave.

The tattooed man stepped forward, blocking her path: "Beautiful lady, all alone?"

Gu Yuxuan's eyes turned cold: "Get out of the way."

The tattooed man didn't move, his eyes brazenly sweeping over her neckline and waistline: "Don't rush off, it's fate that we met. I'm in VIP room V08 up ahead, let's go have a couple of drinks and make some friends."

Gu Yuxuan took a step to the left: "I'm not interested, please move aside."

The tattooed man stepped to the left, blocking their path once more: "Stop pretending to be innocent! Come on, have a couple of drinks with me, you'll get your share!"

The tattooed man suddenly stretched out his right hand and grabbed Gu Yuxuan's slender wrist.

The force was so great that Gu Yuxuan's wrist instantly turned red!

"Let go!" Gu Yuxuan struggled violently, a hint of panic finally flashing across her usually cold face.

The tattooed man gripped her tighter, using his drunkenness to forcefully pull her into his arms.

The man in the floral shirt next to him exhaled a smoke ring and then started making a vulgar commotion.

Gu Yuxuan's high heels screeched on the tiled floor as she was forcibly dragged toward the V08 VIP room!

Inside 203 private room.

Sun Haoyu was holding a microphone and yelling.

Ye Chen sat on the sofa and took out his phone to take a look.

The screen lit up; it was 9:45 PM.

He pressed the power button to turn off the screen, his brow furrowing slightly.

Gu Yuxuan has been gone for ten minutes.

Normal makeup touch-ups shouldn't take this long. This KTV is a mixed bag, and there are many blind spots in the corridor surveillance cameras, so it's highly likely that they've run into trouble.

Wang Yao also sensed something was wrong: "Why has Yuxuan been gone for so long? Could she be lost?"

Lu Wenbo leaned closer: "Why don't you go check in the restroom?"

Ye Chen reached for the black cigarette case on the table and stood up abruptly: "You guys sing first, I'm going to have a smoke and take a look around."

Pushing open the door to the private room, the corridor was filled with deafening singing.

Ye Chen walked down the corridor toward the restroom. Just as he reached the corner, he heard a woman's scolding voice.

"Let me go!"

Then came a man's rough, hoarse laugh: "Still so stubborn? Let's go!"

Ye Chen stopped and turned his head to look at the other side of the corner.

The tattooed man was gripping Gu Yuxuan's wrist tightly and dragging her forward. Gu Yuxuan used both hands to desperately try to break free, her face pale.

Hearing the noise, the man in the floral shirt turned around and saw a young man in a plain black short-sleeved shirt walking over.

The man in the floral shirt spat out his cigarette butt and arrogantly yelled, "What are you looking at? Get lost!"

Ye Chen didn't stop walking and continued to approach.

The man in the floral shirt was furious and reached out to push Ye Chen's shoulder!

Ye Chen knew that his thin arms and legs were no match for these two strong men. Seeing them pushing him, he quickly shrank back to the side. Although his movements were a bit clumsy, he narrowly avoided their hands.

Just as the man in the floral shirt was about to step forward again, Ye Chen suddenly pulled his phone out of his pocket, shoved the brightly lit screen, which was recording, directly at the two of them, and shouted sharply:

"I've already called the police! The security guards on this floor will be here soon, and the hallway cameras have captured everything clearly. You dare to make a move?!"

His shout was so powerful that it even echoed faintly in the corridor.

The man in the floral shirt paused, instinctively glancing up at the red-glowing security camera at the top of the corridor, his arrogance immediately subsiding by a third.

Taking advantage of the moment when the other party was stunned, Gu Yuxuan seized the opportunity and stomped hard on the instep of the tattooed man with her high heels!

"Ouch—!" The tattooed man winced in pain, and his grip loosened instinctively.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Gu Yuxuan struggled free and retreated several steps to hide behind Ye Chen, panting heavily, her cold eyes filled with a hint of lingering fear.

The tattooed man clutched his foot and groaned in pain, then turned around and glared at Ye Chen, his anger blazing: "You fucking want to die?!"

He roared and raised his fist, ready to step forward.

Ye Chen's heart was pounding, and his palms were already clenched with cold sweat.

But he didn't retreat even a step; instead, he stood firmly in front of Gu Yuxuan.

Undeterred, he held up his phone and shouted, "Come on! Hit me! If you dare lay a hand on me today, I guarantee you'll not only be bankrupt, but you'll also spend several years in jail!"

"The police will be here in three minutes. Let's see how you get out of this!"

Just then, the elevator at the end of the corridor made a crisp "ding" sound.

Immediately following was a flurry of footsteps, and several security personnel in uniform, carrying riot batons, rushed out: "What are you doing over there?!"

The tattooed man and the man in the floral shirt realized things were going badly and that they wouldn't get away with it today.

"Kid, you just wait!" The tattooed man pointed menacingly at Ye Chen's nose.

After uttering a harsh remark, he turned around, opened the fire escape door, and slunk away.

Only after the two figures had completely disappeared did Ye Chen finally let out a long sigh of relief, put down his phone, and feel a slight, almost imperceptible weakness in his legs.

The corridor finally returned to calm.