The three of them set out, with Li Yan naturally taking the driver’s seat in Zhang Yurong’s car.

The destination was a high-end restaurant in the city, where Zhang Yurong had already reserved a table in the afternoon. As they followed the waiter to their reserved seating, Li Yan habitually observed the entire restaurant’s situation along the way. To his surprise, he encountered acquaintances there, and not just one!

Zhang Yurong and Yue Yao were simply too eye-catching. Either one of them alone would attract a lot of attention, and appearing together, they drew many gazes in the restaurant. Those who didn’t see them were nudged by their companions to look at the beauties.

After they were seated, most of the gazes directed at the beauties had retracted, but two tables of people were still watching. Each table had three men, one table had three younger men, two of whom were recognized, Lan Tianci and Wen Qiang, and another young man of a similar age, presumably also a wealthy second-generation.

Li Yan ignored Lan Tianci and Wen Qiang, even though he could feel Lan Tianci’s strong jealousy and resentment from afar, but such a brat was not worth his attention. His focus was on the other table with three composed men.

After greeting Yue Yao and Zhang Yurong, Li Yan delegated the ordering responsibility to the two of them, as he did not really care.

"You guys go ahead and order. I see two friends and will go say hello."

Zhang Yurong and Yue Yao had also noticed Lan Tianci and Wen Qiang. Back then, it was when Yu Xiaodi and Wen Qianyi were looking for Li Yan, joining Zhang Yurong and Yue Yao who were also searching for him. At that time, Lan Tianci, in a state of nervous tension, had urged Yu Xiaodi to leave quickly, saying that if Li Yan was already dead, continuing to search would be a waste of time. These words had left the four of them very angry and displeased, and Yue Yao was even moved to kill, but since Li Yan appeared just then and sent him away, they let it go.

Because of this incident, they could now still recognize Lan Tianci and Wen Qiang who were with him.

"What kind of friends are those? Aren’t they friends of your little lover? They even cursed you last time!" Zhang Yurong couldn’t help but complain softly.

Li Yan was surprised. My little lover? Does she mean Yu Xiaodi? ... Is this jealousy?

Yue Yao glanced at him, shook her head secretly. I can’t help you now. That guy is clearly pursuing Yu Xiaodi. Why bother acknowledging him and cause trouble for yourself by saying hello?

Li Yan did not explain, he got up and walked over. This made Zhang Yurong frown slightly, but she controlled herself. It was a rare opportunity to have a meal together, and encountering such a situation was somewhat disappointing.

Seeing Li Yan approaching, Lan Tianci was also a bit surprised. He exchanged a glance with Wen Qiang and muttered, "What does he want to do coming over here?"

"Just to say hello, perhaps worried that we might disturb his pursuit of the beauties." Wen Qiang responded to him with both curiosity and admiration. This Li Yan really had some skills; Yu Xiaodi had already fallen for him. These two beauties, he probably only met them once at the last banquet, and yet he could still arrange to meet them.

Lan Tianci snorted lightly, "I just want to go and greet them!"

As Li Yan drew closer, Wen Qiang quickly said, "That wouldn’t be good, right? He’s moved on to new targets, so there’s no one left to compete with you for Xiaodi, is there?"

"Hmph! He clearly knows how to deceive women and live off them, how could he think it’s too few?" Lan Tianci said disdainfully.

To their surprise, Li Yan did not stop in front of them but turned aside and went to the other side. This left Lan Tianci, who was ready and full of energy, feeling frustrated, while Wen Qiang could only smile wryly.

The other man had been watching Zhang Yurong and Yue Yao, and hearing their conversation, he sneered wickedly, "Want to mess things up? I’m good at that! Also, such impressive beauties being hooked by such an unattractive man, where does that leave us handsome guys?"

"..." Seeing that he was inclined toward action, Lan Tianci quickly thought it over and started to incite him, just like he incited Ling Muhang, to cause trouble for Li Yan.

...

"Sister Rong, he’s not going to find them." Yue Yao whispered to Zhang Yurong, noticing that Li Yan wasn’t heading toward Lan Tianci and Wen Qiang’s table.

Zhang Yurong turned to look and was also a bit puzzled. Could the friends he mentioned be someone else?

Li Yan, of course, was not going over to greet Lan Tianci. He had a pretty good impression of Wen Qiang, finding him polite, well-mannered, and with a decent aura, unlike Lan Tianci’s annoying traits. Of course, he was well aware that, just like when they first met, Lan Tianci was initially quite gallant too, until things became awkward because of his relationship with Yu Xiaodi. But regardless, he wouldn’t leave a positive impression.

He approached the table of the other three men, who, like the other guests, had noticed Zhang Yurong and Yue Yao as well. The difference was that while others were focusing on the beauties and ignoring Li Yan, these guys not only noticed Li Yan but once they did, they ignored the two beauties entirely.

The three men seemed to know that Li Yan was coming, naturally pulled a chair for him.

Li Yan sat down directly, looked at the three of them, and asked with a smile, "You three old fellows, what are you doing here? Bored?"

"No manners!" one of them playfully scolded with a laugh.

The other two smiled and asked, "It’s no wonder you’re hiding in S City. Turns out you’ve snagged a few beauties. Why not bring them over to introduce us?"

"No way, you three old guys look like trouble, you’d scare them off." Li Yan shook his head exaggeratedly, took out a pack of cigarettes, and offered one to each of them.

After taking a puff together, Li Yan lowered his voice a bit and asked, "I know Third Brother is in S City, but what are you two doing here, Fifth and Sixth? Is something major going to happen?"

The "Third Brother" Li Yan referred to was the one who had just called him impolite, Zheng Yixuan, who had previously contacted him through Queen to inform him of Liu Yunqing and others defecting and engaging in terrorist activities.

The three of them were mature and stable men, though each was different in their own way. Zheng Yixuan was rather refined, with gold-rimmed glasses. If he were a dozen years younger, he might give off the vibe of a refined scoundrel, but now he felt like a successful person with a certain status, and he exuded an aura of authority and pressure. He Zhengyuan was a bit chubby, always carried a smile, and exuded optimism while helping others. Zheng Yuzun was more serious, his sharp eyes making people feel a bit guilty in front of him.

"Something major? Are you eager to stir up some major trouble, huh? Can’t we just catch up? We got the opportunity thanks to you." Zheng Yixuan shook his head at Li Yan. The Sixth Brother, Zheng Yuzun, was not just coincidentally surnamed Zheng, but was his cousin.

"Because of me? Haha, I am very honest and never stir up trouble. The last time I caused trouble, you told me to do it." Li Yan chuckled.

Zheng Yuzun said in a low voice, "You disappeared for two years, becoming a legend with more exaggerated tales, but nonetheless, many now see you as a ’former ace assassin’."

"You’re worried about me getting into trouble? Thank you, Sixth Brother!" Li Yan said earnestly.

Zheng Yuzun sighed, "Do I need to worry about you? I’m just concerned you’ll escalate things."

Li Yan frowned, "I rushed back last night. These four have nothing to do with me, and my people are dead? Why haven’t I received any news?"

"Aren’t you receiving it now? What I know is high-pressure confidential, and at most by tomorrow, Queen will have gathered this information for you."

"Excluding the traitor, Jesus and God were killed by us; the three at the Wenhua Hotel were a coincidence, but these five... looks like someone is deliberately ’helping’ me build my reputation!" Li Yan narrowed his eyes, instantly homing in on two targets.

(Thanks to yesterday’s supporters – book friend 100125192830461, "Nana’s March", "Ancient Dragon * Ranger", "Chilly Squad Leader", dongmin8061, book friend 091012223056421, "Romantic Ghost of Flowers & Moon", "Han God", "Only Persistence 1", "Xuanyuan Xiuji", "マスク┊Cass", "Quietly Waiting for Your Account", "If Back Then ~ Snow", CP Pampas) (To be continued, to know how things will unfold, please log in to www.qidian.com, more Chapters and support the author and legit reading!)