Chapter 20: Egon Müller TBA

Anders called this time with real business.

“I’ve been keeping an eye on those people for you, and there’s new intel lately.”

Wei Tingxia furrowed his brows. “Why are you still tracking them?”

“That’s not the point,” Anders said lightly. “I still don’t get how you found them back then, but I know you don’t want them mixing back into society, so I’ve been watching.”

It was a gesture of goodwill. Anders wanted to trade actions for Wei Tingxia’s forgiveness.

“Fine, what’s the discovery?”

Anders said, “Besides the one you saw getting out of prison a few days ago, there are three more. They’re planning to sneak over to your side.”

“…”

Wei Tingxia gripped his phone so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

After a long moment, he finally spoke slowly. “I don’t want them coming over.”

Anders replied, “I understand.”

“No, you don’t.” Wei Tingxia’s voice was ice-cold, yet restrained by reason, carrying a dead-water-like indifference.

“I don’t want them anywhere within thousands of meters of Yan Xinfeng. I don’t want them standing on the same land as Yan Xinfeng. I showed mercy before, but not this time.

“If they insist on ignoring my warning…”

He let out a light chuckle. “Then I’ll smash them to pieces and feed them to the fish.”

Wei Tingxia had no power or influence; his only weapon was a pretty face. He should have seemed fragile, lost, helpless. But when he said those words, no one would think it was a joke.

What he said he’d do, he would do. Beneath that beautiful skin was something cold and hard as steel. Anders had seen it once five years ago—this was the second time.

Anders sometimes wondered if Yan Xinfeng even knew what kind of person he was sleeping with.

“…”

There was silence on the other end for a few seconds. When Anders spoke again, this nominal older brother finally got serious. “Alright, they won’t board the ship. They won’t get the chance.”

“Good,” Wei Tingxia said. “Please help me find out exactly what they’re planning.”

“Sure.” Anders agreed crisply—that was his specialty. “I’ll have an answer for you within 72 hours.”

With that, he hung up. Wei Tingxia stared at a plant with thick leaves for a moment, took a deep breath, turned around, and headed back to the private room.

But as soon as he turned, he saw two people walking toward him.

[To keep you from making a fool of yourself, heads-up: they’re your classmates, but you don’t interact much. Names optional.] System 0188 chimed in timely. [Names optional.]

Behind those two, Li Yan’s figure flickered vaguely.

Weren’t they supposed to be vacationing at a five-star hotel? Why were they at the manor?

Wei Tingxia calmly pocketed his phone and put a smile on his face.

“Wei Tingxia!” The man in the suit among the two called his name first, his smile full of pleasant surprise. “It really is you—this is too much of a coincidence!”

[Yang Huaizhong.]

Wei Tingxia pretended to recall. “You’re… Yang Huaizhong?”

“Hey, yeah, that’s me!”

Seeing that he was recognized, Yang Huaizhong hurried forward two steps and patted Wei Tingxia’s arm familiarly. He then pointed to the person beside him. “Class president—still remember him?”

He didn’t.

Wei Tingxia kept smiling and nodded. “Of course I remember…”

[Tian Meng.]

“…Tian Meng, right?”

The scene was just like when relatives visited home as a kid—they’d poke you and ask if you remembered who they were, whether you were actually related or not. Purely putting you on the spot.

If they were really family, would they even need to ask? The sweet-talkers would’ve called out the name right away.

Wei Tingxia felt annoyed inside. He didn’t understand how he’d ended up running into them even after hiding out in the suburbs.

The class president they mentioned also gained a bit more smile in his eyes upon hearing Wei Tingxia say his name.

Compared to Yang Huaizhong, his clothes were plainly more modest. But sharp eyes could tell that the seemingly ordinary cut used top-notch materials, exuding understated luxury.

Throughout the conversation, Yang Huaizhong’s gaze kept drifting toward Tian Meng, steering the topics his way frequently. Clearly, Tian Meng was the center of this gathering, the target of that overly enthusiastic flattery.

“What are you doing here?” Yang Huaizhong looked him over curiously.

Wei Tingxia didn’t want to expose Yan Xinfeng, so he brushed it off casually. “Came to check it out with a friend.”

Yang Huaizhong immediately suggested, “Why don’t we sit together then? Li Yan invited you last time, but you said you had something come up. Now we run into each other—this is too perfect!”

“No, I—”

Before Wei Tingxia could refuse, Li Yan hurried over. “Xiao Xia!”

She called out affectionately, her face piled with surprise. “How come you’re here?!” As if she hadn’t just been peeking from the crowd earlier.

Wei Tingxia had originally thought it was just a chance encounter, but Li Yan’s inconsistent attitude clearly showed intent.

His refusal interrupted, he simply dropped the excuses, softened his expression, and explained again, “Came to check it out with a friend.”

The level of this seaside resort manor was moderate, mainly catering to middle-class and above. Wei Tingxia showing up here didn’t exceed Li Yan’s expectations.

She invited him warmly. “Since you’re here, let’s have a meal together! We’re all old classmates!” The expectation in her tone was obvious. It was a far cry from her cold glance in the parking lot earlier.

Interesting. Such an abrupt attitude shift meant there was definitely an agenda.

“Sure.”

Wei Tingxia agreed.

And right at the next second after he agreed, Hu Yao pushed open the door to their private room.

As soon as he entered, he said, “Mr. Wei ran into some classmates.”

Yan Xinfeng: “Classmates?”

“Yes,” Hu Yao nodded. “A bunch of them—probably a class reunion.”

Yan Xinfeng had seen the class reunion invite Li Yan sent him. Their gathering wasn’t supposed to be today, nor at this place. The last-minute change in time and location felt deliberate.

“Where did they go?”

“To another building,” Hu Yao said. “Want me to go check it out?”

Yan Xinfeng raised a brow. “You go check?”

Hu Yao didn’t get why he repeated it and just nodded.

“He was just complaining to me that your attitude was bad,” Yan Xinfeng said slowly. “Should’ve recorded it for him to hear.”

Hu Yao retorted, “I didn’t have a bad attitude.”

“You did,” Yan Xinfeng said calmly. “He’s not blind; of course he could tell.”

Hu Yao was baffled. Wei Tingxia was the one who owed him the most, yet he acted all nonchalant and was here advising others.

“Got it,” he nodded. “I’ll adjust my attitude.”

Then he brought up the earlier matter again. “So about Mr. Wei—”

Yan Xinfeng nodded slightly and said indifferently, “I have a pretty good idea what they’re up to.”

Wei Tingxia might not know his classmates’ intentions, but Yan Xinfeng wasn’t blind. Back in university, he’d already investigated everyone thoroughly.

After disappearing for five years and reappearing in modest clothes, driving a 300,000-yuan car, with Yan Xinfeng not yet publicizing their relationship—who knew how many people thought they’d broken up.

How many dogs were drooling and pouncing already…

“Go contact the person in charge for me,” he told Hu Yao. “I want to talk some business with them.”

…

On the other side, Wei Tingxia walked into the restaurant reserved for the class reunion and was about to find a seat when Li Yan grabbed his arm.

“Xiao Xia, sit here!”

She led him to the seat next to Tian Meng, then smiled at Tian Meng. “Class president—ah, no, now it’s President Tian. Take good care of Xiao Xia; he’s been away for so long!”

As if leaving for five years meant he’d forgotten how to eat.

Wei Tingxia sat down and heard System 0188 analyze in his mind: [This is very likely a deliberate pimping setup.]

The targets being Wei Tingxia and Tian Meng.

That “President Tian” wasn’t just flattery for Tian Meng—it was hinting to Wei Tingxia: this guy’s rich, and since you like latching onto rich people, better grab him.

The hinted-at Wei Tingxia smiled, picked up his glass, and took a sip of water.

“Drop the ‘very likely,’” he told System 0188. “This is straight-up pimping.”

He’d thought it was some sophisticated ploy, but it turned out so boring. Wei Tingxia pondered how to slip away—if Yan Xinfeng found out, it’d be a disaster.

But now that he was seated, with people watching, how could they let him leave easily?

The dishes came, and Yang Huaizhong went around pouring wine from a bottle before sitting to Wei Tingxia’s right.

“Wei Tingxia, let’s have a drink!”

He raised his glass and clinked it with Wei Tingxia’s. “How many years has it been since we saw each other? You should’ve at least told your classmates where you were going.”

“I left in a hurry,” Wei Tingxia said. “Didn’t have time.”

Yang Huaizhong laughed twice and downed his glass in one go, while Wei Tingxia only took a shallow sip and set his glass down.

By the rules of whatever messed-up drinking culture, this was clearly disrespectful. But the coincidence was that he flushed easily from alcohol—even that shallow sip brought a faint blush to his eye corners and ears, looking very alluring.

Even that hint of disdain and casualness turned into the charm of a beauty putting on airs.

Tian Meng’s gaze grew more satisfied, sweeping over Wei Tingxia repeatedly, liking him more and more, like appraising an object.

Meanwhile, Li Yan started introducing Tian Meng’s background in a joking tone. From her eyes and posture, it was clear she needed something from him.

Wei Tingxia shared with System 0188: “First time being treated like a gift to someone.”

[Is this something to be proud of?]

“No, but it’s fresh.”

Li Yan was already trying to get Wei Tingxia and Tian Meng to drink together, and Tian Meng had raised his glass too.

No one wanted to say this kind of thing outright; tacit understanding was enough. This toast was just like that: if Wei Tingxia’s glass rim actually touched Tian Meng’s, it’d be silent consent, a mutual hookup.

In that instant, all eyes glued to Wei Tingxia’s suspended hand, holding their breath for his choice.

Tian Meng held his glass steadily, his eyes full of confident certainty.

Just in this brief standoff, a knock sounded abruptly.

Yang Huaizhong frowned. “Who is it, coming at this exact time?”

Before his words finished, the door to the private room was pushed open.

A man who looked like a manager walked in, followed by two servers holding trays steady with a decanter and glasses. The clear liquid in the decanter refracted an enticing sheen.

Everyone figured it was on Tian Meng’s account, sent specially. Tian Meng thought so too, and his smile deepened.

However, against everyone’s expectations, the manager ignored Tian Meng completely and strode straight to Wei Tingxia’s side, bowing slightly in greeting.

“Mr. Wei, we deeply apologize for not knowing of your visit sooner and for any neglect.”

The manager’s posture was extremely humble. After apologizing, he personally turned to pick up the decanter. The servers had already swapped a new glass for Wei Tingxia, and the manager bent respectfully to pour the liquid slowly into it.

The liquid swirled lightly in the glass, and a rich, intoxicating sweet aroma instantly filled the air—clearly no ordinary vintage.

The manager explained softly, “This is a special vintage of Egon Müller TBA. Since you prefer sweet wines, we specially selected this one. I hope it suits your taste.”

Everyone was stunned.

A special vintage Egon Müller TBA cost over a million per bottle alone, but what shocked them more was the information in the manager’s words.