Chapter 355: Walking Into the Trap

Inside the barbecue shop, Song Zhenyu sat alone, eating slowly as she waited.

A few minutes later, someone approached.

She turned slightly, catching a glimpse of the man’s face. It looked familiar.

“You’re that guy who went violent!” she remembered quickly.

“I only fought back to help you,” Ye Qiu explained.

“That’s in the past. I don’t want to talk about it. Leave—I don’t want to speak with you,” Song Zhenyu said coldly, keeping her distance.

“I just came to warn you. Stay away from that rich kid. He’s not a good person,” Ye Qiu said, trying to sound sincere.

“Stop smearing my friend’s name,” Song Zhenyu snapped. “Just now, when the shop owner’s daughter stained his jacket, he didn’t even get angry. He scolded the guys who were mocking her instead.”

“He’s just putting on a show. He probably wants to hook up with that girl,” Ye Qiu muttered.

From where he was sitting earlier, he hadn’t gotten a clear look at Yu Shiqing’s face which gave him an excuse to talk trash.

Song Zhenyu sneered.

If the shop owner’s daughter was pretty, maybe his theory would hold water. But she wasn’t. She was, to be honest, quite unattractive.

What kind of idiot would Wang Haoran have to be? He had gorgeous girls surrounding him every day—why would he bother chasing a girl like her?

Still, she kept those thoughts to herself.

“You leaving or not? If you don’t, I’ll call the police and report you for harassment.” She grabbed her phone, ready to dial.

“No, no—I’ll go.”

After paying through the nose for his last legal issue, Ye Qiu didn’t want any more trouble. The word “lawsuit” gave him a headache.

—

In the upstairs bathroom, the faucet ran noisily. The half-washed jacket had slipped from the sink to the floor.

“Now do you believe me?” Wang Haoran straightened up and smiled at Yu Shiqing.

Her face flushed bright red. She couldn’t meet his eyes. Her heart pounded wildly, as if it were trying to leap out of her chest.

“Which is why,” Wang Haoran said gently, “you should believe in yourself a little more.”

Then he turned and left, cool and composed.

As for asking Bian Suwen to treat her—that could wait.

He had just kissed her. If he brought it up now, saying her birthmark could be removed and she’d become stunningly beautiful, she might suspect his motives.

Fixing the birthmark was important, but not urgent. Better to save it for next time.

When Wang Haoran returned to the table, Song Zhenyu spoke up the moment he sat down.

“Ye Qiu was here just now.”

“What did he say?” Wang Haoran asked.

“He said you were trying to seduce the shop owner’s daughter.”

Wang Haoran raised a brow. What is he, a fortune-teller? How did he guess that?

“That guy’s nuts,” he said. “Next time you see him, don’t talk. Just call the cops.”

“Got it,” Song Zhenyu nodded.

They went back to their barbecue. As they were finishing up, Yu Shiqing came downstairs and stepped into the front of the shop.

“Would you like to take your jacket now, or come back after it’s dry?” she asked carefully.

“Hang it up for me. I’ll come pick it up later,” Wang Haoran replied.

“Okay,” she said, her voice light with excitement as she’ll get to see him again soon.

But just as that thought warmed her heart, she glanced at the beautiful woman beside him and her mood sank instantly.

Wang Haoran noticed the shift in her expression. Reading her emotions clearly, he stood and said loudly to Song Zhenyu, “Thank you for treating me to dinner, Miss Song.”

“No need to thank me. It was my pleasure,” she said, smiling.

Yu Shiqing heard that and perked up. So that gorgeous woman was his teacher, not a girlfriend. That changed everything.

Wang Haoran walked Song Zhenyu back to campus.

All the while, Ye Qiu followed them from a distance.

Wang Haoran pretended not to notice. Once he saw Song Zhenyu off and night had fully fallen, he made his way back to the villa.

Ye Qiu kept tailing him until he watched him enter the property.

The sky darkened further.

Ye Qiu pulled out a night-vision scope and started observing the villa from afar.

Through the windows, he quickly spotted not just Wang Haoran, but also three beautiful women living inside.

Jealousy twisted his gut.

This was the life he always dreamed of—retiring with a house full of stunning tenants.

If Wang Haoran hadn’t messed everything up, he’d already be living that dream.

“I was ready to retire, but if someone’s going to push me around, I can’t just sit back. If I take that lying down, I’m no longer Ye Qiu!”

Fueled by resentment and envy, Ye Qiu passed judgment on Wang Haoran in his mind.

Once the thought took hold, he began preparing at once.

Less than an hour later, he returned with a crate—and inside it, a venomous silver-ringed snake.

He didn’t want to cause a scene. A clean kill was out of the question, so he’ll stage an accident.

This villa district had a fair amount of greenery. If someone died from a snake bite, it would be easy to chalk it up to a random incident.

He felt confident. No one would trace it back to him. No one would even realize it was murder. A perfect setup—silent, clean.

When everything was ready, Ye Qiu slipped into the villa grounds.

What he didn’t know was that the moment he entered the outer perimeter, Wang Haoran was already aware.

“Clever,” Wang Haoran murmured. “He brought a snake.”

His X-ray vision caught the silver-ringed snake inside the small crate, and he understood Ye Qiu’s plan immediately.

He noticed Ye Qiu following him during the day and stayed alert—but hadn’t made a move yet.

Ye Qiu was a protagonist, sure, but not one who posed a real threat to his life.

With a hundred worth of Internal Energy, Wang Haoran’s senses had become razor-sharp.

Even if Ye Qiu tried to snipe him from several hundred meters away, he would still have time to dodge.

In Wang Haoran’s eyes, Ye Qiu was just a sheep. A wandering one, maybe, but still a sheep.

He did not act earlier because he was hoping Ye Qiu would come back willingly and start producing wool again.

But now, the sheep was biting back.

Which meant it was time to put him down.

That said, Wang Haoran had no plans to lift a finger. Because as Ye Qiu crept closer, two other figures had already sensed his presence—Feng Xuansu and Ning Aoxue.

Both women were on alert, guarding against Yan Yuntian’s schemes, so they never let their guard down.

Ye Qiu might have been a top-tier assassin, cautious and skilled, but he was no match for their level.

Their power was overwhelming—like giants stepping into a playground.

As Ye Qiu slipped into the villa’s garden and crouched in hiding, waiting for the perfect moment to act, two shadows moved silently behind him.

A strange chill crawled up the back of his neck. The moment he turned around, his pupils dilated with alarm—only to be met with two fists crashing into view, filling everything he saw.