"Are you the owner of the Epang Palace?"
"Is there a problem?"
Yuan Bingshan smiled, "Look, how come your managers seem not to recognize you?"
"I rarely come here; is it really that surprising they don’t recognize me?"
Jiang Chen’s calm demeanor left the manager a bit bewildered.
He was just the Epang Palace’s most basic level of management and indeed didn’t know who the big boss behind the scenes was.
Yuan Bingshan stopped talking and looked at Jiang Chen, who had suddenly appeared, with an inscrutable expression.
Soon, the CCTV footage was pulled up.
The manager held a tablet, "According to the kitchen’s service record and the CCTV footage, the two bowls of noodles were served together."
Yuan Bingshan felt sure of himself and laughed again, "This seems to only prove that you made two bowls of noodles, but who knows which table you served them to?"
"Isn’t there surveillance footage of this gentleman’s table?"
The manager shook his head.
Indeed, the Epang Palace had surveillance cameras, but they were only installed in some necessary places, such as the kitchen, hallways, and the corridor leading to the restrooms.
Jiang Chen fell silent.
Just having the kitchen’s surveillance footage indeed wasn’t enough to clear things up.
"Sir, how about this, we’ll waive all of your expenses for tonight, how does that sound?"
Jiang Chen took the liberty to suggest.
The manager was taken aback, hesitating.
He didn’t have the authority to waive a customer’s entire bill, but Jiang Chen displayed such confidence that the manager couldn’t really tell if he was the big boss behind the scenes.
"The same words, I do not wish to say a third time."
Yuan Bingshan was still unwilling to let things go and curled the corner of his mouth into a smile that was not too extravagant, yet appeared quite fearless.
Even without solid evidence, Jiang Chen already had an answer in his heart as to whether the other party had eaten one bowl or two.
This man was clearly looking for trouble on purpose.
"I assume you’re also a person of status, sir. Having the Market Supervision Bureau come over would not look good for either of us. Since you’re dissatisfied with our approach, perhaps you’d like to suggest an alternative?"
Jiang Chen’s tone was amiable.
Where on earth had this guy popped up from?
Always meddling in trivial matters?
While feeling somewhat annoyed, Yuan Bingshan also felt a flicker of interest.
"You’re right, wasting public resources really isn’t appropriate. However, the fraudulent behavior of your Epang Palace has left me feeling quite unsatisfied. How about this, let me throw a punch to vent my anger, and we’ll consider this matter settled, okay?"
Jiang Chen was caught off guard.
Though the other party’s physique wasn’t particularly imposing, the issue was that he had no masochistic tendencies.
"I don’t think that’s a very good idea."
Jiang Chen quickly shook his head.
"Then how about we each throw a punch at the other, that would be fair, right?"
Yuan Bingshan continued.
The round-faced girl teasingly stared at Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen didn’t immediately refute and cleared his throat, seemingly kindly, "We live in a society governed by law nowadays, where violence is not advocated to settle issues. Besides, not to conceal from you, sir, I’ve practiced martial arts for many years, and the power behind one of my punches might be more than you can handle."
No sooner had he said this than not only Yuan Bingshan but even Lan Peizhi behind him showed an almost imperceptible curl of amusement on her face.
"It’s okay, you can punch first."
Yuan Bingshan’s eyes gleamed with amusement, and he grandly assumed a posture, signaling Jiang Chen to make his move.
Jiang Chen was silent.
He thought the other party was joking, only to realize he was serious.
"Come on, let me feel the power of your punch."
"Sir, I really think we should forget it, in case someone gets hurt..."
Jiang Chen hadn’t finished speaking when a voice chirped in eagerly to stir up trouble.
"No worries, just go for it—he has health insurance!"
Jiang Chen was utterly speechless.
Damn health insurance!
He turned reflexively, only to see a round-faced girl smiling at him, her two small canines especially endearing as she waved her tiny fists.
Jiang Chen’s eye twitched.
He had heard that Capital City was full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers, but he hadn’t heard it was filled with lunatics.
"Sir, I really wasn’t joking, fists and feet are blind..."
Excitement was faintly twinkling in the other’s eyes.
Jiang Chen felt like he was trapped.
Lan Peizhi was watching from behind, and if Jiang Chen chickened out now, it would be quite embarrassing.
With the mindset that, at worst, he’d take a punch himself, Jiang Chen took a deep breath, dispensed with the formalities, clenched his right fist, took a few steps forward, swung his arm, and aimed a punch at the other person’s face.
Don’t hit the face when fighting?
He wasn’t one to follow that rule.
Moreover, the other person clearly had started the trouble without cause, intentionally looking for a quarrel. Since the other person had given him this opportunity, why wouldn’t he seize it to showcase himself?
Maybe he would even win Lan Peizhi’s favor.
Confident in his own martial skills, Jiang Chen felt that, excluding professionals like Annabelle who relied on fighting for a living, dealing with ordinary people should be no problem.
After all, even the illustrious Little Prince Ye had once endured a beating at his hands.
This wasn’t an underground fight in the East Sea. Jiang Chen only used eighty percent of his strength, just enough to let off some steam for Pei Zhi.
But he forgot one principle.
Complacency leads to defeat.
That punch of his, which seemed fierce and powerful, didn’t even touch Yuan Bingshan, who simply leaned back slightly and effortlessly dodged it.
Jiang Chen was caught off guard when his punch missed.
"Did I say you couldn’t dodge? I said each person gets to punch the other once," Yuan Bingshan explained, adding to the rules.
Jiang Chen lowered his hand, "Sorry, I didn’t know. Let’s start over."
Now it was the other side’s turn to fall silent.
Seeing Jiang Chen genuinely step back several paces to start over, Yuan Bingshan’s lips curled upward, "Your turn is over, now it’s mine."
Jiang Chen wanted to say something but stopped himself.
At that moment, another "voiceover" sounded.
"A man’s word is his bond; you can’t go back on it," said the round-faced girl.
Was she in cahoots with him?
Jiang Chen, realizing too late, felt he had been outmaneuvered, but had no grounds for argument.
No one had said you couldn’t dodge.
He had misunderstood the intention.
Although he was frustrated, Jiang Chen didn’t make excuses. He regulated his breathing, tensed his muscles, and gestured for Yuan Bingshan to make his move.
So, dodging was allowed?
Then he could just dodge as well.
But what happened next completely shattered his easy-going demeanor.
Yuan Bingshan, not particularly muscular, twisted his neck and shoulders, creating a series of bone-crunching sounds. Slowly clenching his fist, there was a terrifying determination in his eyes that erupted with an intimidating aura.
Jiang Chen had a bad feeling, and as his eyelids twitched, Yuan Bingshan suddenly stamped his foot, transforming in an instant into a swift arrow released from a bow.
Jiang Chen instantly realized he needed to dodge, but to his dismay, he couldn’t figure out which way to go.
It felt as if no matter where he dodged, he couldn’t escape.
He only had a split second to think.
As Yuan Bingshan closed in and it was too late to consider further, Jiang Chen could only attempt to dodge to the left.
Better to take a chance than to wait for the inevitable.
But Lady Luck did not lift her skirt for him this time.
Yuan Bingshan’s mouth betrayed a sharp intent. His right fist swung upwards in a forceful arc towards Jiang Chen’s lower abdomen.
If it landed, at the very least, he’d be vomiting everything he had eaten that day.
Jiang Chen clenched his teeth, knowing he no longer had room to dodge and braced himself to take the hit.
But just at that critical moment, an unknown force pulled on his shoulder, and he found himself uncontrollably lifted from the ground and gently pushed back two or three steps.
The once-triumphant Yuan Bingshan, whose smile had not even had time to set, was sent flying backward, crashing harshly onto the stage and tumbling awkwardly, disturbing the dancers who were like fairies "creating mists and crafting shadows, as if not of this world."
Even those with the highest professional standards could no longer ignore the commotion, and the harmonious atmosphere of The Epang Palace was abruptly shattered.
On the second floor, many guests stood up, rushed to the railing, and looked down in surprise.
"Impressive, impressive..."
The round-faced girl turned back in astonishment, glanced at Yuan Bingshan sprawled on the stage, then stuck out her tongue and looked toward the graceful figure who had finally revealed herself.