Ye Chen was stunned.

How did this end up involving him?

Had he provoked or offended the other party?

Why was he suddenly being humiliated so disrespectfully?

Zhang Jingshan and Li Changfeng were just as baffled.

Yes, based on the information they had gathered about Ye Chen, his past was indeed that of a complete bottom-feeder and gambling addict, with a history of owing high-interest loans.

But to claim that Ye Chen, who had made a few million by selling his deposit subscription rights, couldn't handle losing, and would curse his mother over a million-yuan loss—wasn't that a bit far-fetched?

From their recent interactions with him, could Ye Chen possibly be that type of person?

"Did I offend you somehow? Why are you so insultingly tearing me down?" Ye Chen said, suppressing his anger.

"Offend me? Someone like you, a low-life gambling addict, thinks you'd have the chance to offend me?" Li Mu sneered. "I only brought you up to make a point to Young Master Zhang—he's been going downhill, getting worse and worse. Get it?"

"Li, who I choose to be friends with is none of your damn business! No matter how bad I get, at least I'm not like you—fooled by a cross-dressing pervert!" Zhang Jingshan roared angrily.

Li Mu, who had remained calm and composed earlier, immediately turned pale upon hearing Zhang Jingshan's words.

That was his lingering shame.

However, he quickly collected himself and replied with a nonchalant smile, "Fine, I won't stoop to arguing with you over such pointless things!"

With that, he turned and left.

"Damn it, one day I'll deal with him!" Zhang Jingshan muttered furiously as he watched Li Mu's back.

Ye Chen frowned.

In his past life, he had encountered Li Mu here on this day, but only from a distance. He had known Li Mu was a young master with some family background, but he hadn't bothered to investigate further, assuming he was just another rich second-generation heir.

What he hadn't expected was that Li Mu's influence was significant enough to force Zhang Jingshan to swallow his pride.

This piqued his curiosity.

"Mr. Zhang, Mr. Li, what's his background?" Ye Chen asked.

"Just an idiot!" Zhang Jingshan huffed indignantly.

Li Changfeng smiled wryly and explained, "He's the heir to the Sihai Group. His family has plenty of money, but that alone wouldn't be enough for him to provoke Old Zhang like this. What makes him so brazen is that his uncle is a high-ranking official in the city bureau, and his grandfather is a retired provincial department head."

"Huh?"

Hearing "Sihai Group" and "city bureau leadership," Ye Chen raised his eyebrows.

In his past life, after the Maple Leaf Hotel was uprooted, the city bureau leader who had been acting as a protector was also arrested. Shortly after, the Sihai Group came under investigation, and its chairman and executives were either arrested or fled.

The once-mighty Sihai Group in Jiangzhou fell apart.

Could the arrested city bureau leader have been Li Mu's uncle?

Now things were getting interesting.

"Mr. Zhang, do you have some grudge with him?" Ye Chen asked, snapping out of his thoughts.

This time, Zhang Jingshan answered before Li Changfeng could. "That idiot got into a fight with me years ago. He became obsessed with a livestreamer, spending millions to rank at the top of her supporter list. He tried to meet her in real life, but she always found excuses to refuse. It turned out she was actually a cross-dressing man wearing a silicone mask! When I found out, I exposed it because her schemes were hurting my company's streamers."

Ye Chen was dumbfounded. This is too melodramatic!

Li Changfeng chuckled, "It gets even more ridiculous!"

"Oh?" Ye Chen, who wasn't one for gossip, couldn't help but get intrigued.

Zhang Jingshan continued, "Since then, he's been attacking me whenever he gets the chance. Eventually, I got fed up and started stealing every girl he showed interest in. Either they ended up with me, or neither of us had a chance!"

Ye Chen was speechless. This is a recipe for lifelong enmity!

"The feud got so intense that even the old secretary stepped in to scold me and ordered me to stop antagonizing him. I had to back off, but Li Mu didn't let up, which brings us to now."

"Alright, enough about this. Ye, do you know that loan shark who conned you at the Maple Leaf? Did you really lose a million there?" Zhang Jingshan shifted the topic.

"Lost it first, won it back later. No loss, no gain—just an eye-opener." Ye Chen smiled faintly, unwilling to elaborate.

Sensing Ye Chen's reluctance, Zhang wisely dropped the matter, though he couldn't help but feel puzzled. Ye Chen didn't seem like the type to blow up over a little money.

"By the way, didn't what Li Mu said earlier make you angry?" Zhang asked curiously.

"Why waste energy on someone whose time in the sun is almost up?" Ye Chen replied with a knowing smile.

Hearing this, Zhang and Li Changfeng both felt a jolt.

"What's that supposed to mean? Something wrong with his luck?" Zhang asked cautiously.

"Could be," Ye Chen said after some thought.

Before Zhang could probe further, commotion erupted nearby.

"It's starting!"

Excitement rippled through the crowd as they rushed toward the stone gambling area.

"Let's go, Ye," Zhang said eagerly.

Ye Chen nodded slightly and followed him leisurely toward the crowd.