Chapter 156 — Just Who Exactly Are You? "Brother, All Right, You Have Tricks," Wu Chengtian Patted Wei Zhao's Shoulder, "I Have Learned Something, Brother; There Is Plenty of Time Yet"

"Heh..." Wei Zhao looked at Wu Chengtian, a faint, half-there smile sliding across the corner of his mouth. "I have plenty of tricks. You'll get to see them, one at a time, in due course."

Sun Jingyan watched Wu Chengtian's movements and frowned, wanting to warn Wei Zhao, yet not quite certain; and besides, given the ties between the Sun and Wu families, she could hardly slap Wu Chengtian's face in public. If word reached the elders, it would look as though she were being childish, taking an outsider's side... So Sun Jingyan was truly torn: on the one hand she did not want Wei Zhao to suffer any loss, and on the other she could not be sure whether Wu Chengtian had pulled something on him.

Wu Chengtian gave a cold snort, taking Wei Zhao's words for nothing but empty posturing. His aim had been achieved, so there was naturally no reason to linger; he strode quickly out of the bar. He would have someone look into Wei Zhao's background first, find out just where this kid had come from, and only then decide his next move.

Reaching the bar's entrance, Wu Chengtian opened the wallet casually and looked inside. There was only a thousand yuan or so, nothing else — not even an ID card.

A penniless wretch — Wu Chengtian cursed inwardly. He had meant to check Wei Zhao's ID and trace his background from the address and number on it; it seemed that idea could only be abandoned.

This shabby wallet — bought for a few yuan off a street stall, was it? Wu Chengtian looked over the stitching and the material and was left rather speechless. A family of that level, and Sun Jingyan could take a fancy to him? Was there some mistake? Could he be a colleague or something, dragged in at the last minute to make up the numbers?

The wallet, of course, was Wei Zhao's. When Wu Chengtian was about to leave, he had deliberately patted Wei Zhao and mouthed a few polite pleasantries — and it was while speaking that he had smoothly slipped the wallet away.

With the Wu family's Iron Hands, lifting a wallet was effortless. What the Wu family trained was the speed of the hand; petty pilfering was simplicity itself for him. It was even a little beneath him.

"A tip for you." Wu Chengtian casually handed a small wad of bills from Wei Zhao's wallet to the doorman. "A reward for you. The name's Wei Zhao."

"Thank you, Brother Lin, Brother Lin, you're so generous!" The doorman took the tip from Wu Chengtian's hand with some astonishment. Granted, there was no shortage of rich men in this place, and some did tip the doormen, but fifty or a hundred was already considered good. They were not beer girls or private-room princesses, who pulled in bigger tips; doormen like them got next to nothing.

For Wu Chengtian to hand over a thousand yuan at once was generosity beyond measure, so the doorman bowed and scraped before him in boundless gratitude.

"Gah, gah..." Wu Chengtian felt a surge of smug delight. Wei Zhao — let's see how you settle the bill in a moment. Surely you won't make the woman pay? That would be too humiliating for you. Gah, gah...

At the thought of Wei Zhao's imminent humiliation, Wu Chengtian shook off his earlier gloom, hummed a little tune, and flagged down a taxi. He had only just come to Songshan City and had not yet bought a car, so he took taxis wherever he went.

He tossed Wei Zhao's shabby wallet onto the ground. Naturally he cared nothing for such a trifle; it was only to make Wei Zhao lose face. As for tipping the doorman, that was merely to satisfy his own twisted amusement, a way to disgust Wei Zhao.

After Wu Chengtian had gone, Sun Jingyan looked at Wei Zhao with some apology. "Check — did you lose anything..."

"Lose something?" Wei Zhao glanced at Sun Jingyan, thinking that this girl's heart was not, after all, rotten to the core; she knew to warn him. But he feigned ignorance. "Lose what?"

"A wallet, that kind of thing." Sun Jingyan said. "Wu Chengtian is a petty sort. When he left just now, he patted you. I can't be sure whether he did anything to you..."

"Oh? Then why didn't you warn me earlier?" Wei Zhao asked, smiling at Sun Jingyan.

"Our families are old family friends... I could hardly embarrass him in public; and it wouldn't sound good if it got back to my parents." Sun Jingyan looked conflicted. "It doesn't matter, though. Whatever you've lost, I'll make it up to you."

"Heh..." Wei Zhao found himself thinking all the more that Sun Jingyan's heart was in the right place — at least she was willing to bear the loss herself. "Aren't you afraid I'll ask for an outrageous sum?"

"That..." Sun Jingyan was somewhat embarrassed by the question. She was ordinarily a formidable woman, yet today, before Wei Zhao, she had repeatedly come off the worse — and the root of it, she realized, was that Wei Zhao seemed to disregard her charms entirely. "You don't look like that sort of person."

Sun Jingyan's embarrassment lasted only a moment; she recovered herself at once. Her big eyes blinked and blinked at Wei Zhao, very alluring.

"Congratulations. You guessed wrong." Wei Zhao shrugged.

"Ah?" Sun Jingyan was left speechless, genuinely regretting the choice she had made today. Had she run into someone even harder to handle?

"But this time I haven't lost anything, so there's no need for you to compensate me." Wei Zhao chuckled and took out a wallet that looked rather upscale, opening it. "Someone traded a big wallet for a small one... Tsk, tsk, and there's US dollars inside too — quite a few bills. Oh, what's this? An ID card? Wu Chengtian? The photo looks like a memorial portrait. No wonder the man's so down on his luck..."

Sun Jingyan was slightly startled at his words. Just as she was about to say something, she saw him suddenly take out a wallet and was at once astonished. When Wei Zhao mentioned trading a big wallet for a small one, she already sensed something was wrong... Then Wei Zhao produced an ID card and called out the name Wu Chengtian... Only then did Sun Jingyan cover her mouth in shock, staring at Wei Zhao in disbelief.

He had actually taken Wu Chengtian's wallet and held it in his hand? When? When Wu Chengtian took his? What kind of speed was that? She had not even seen it... And more unbelievable still — Wu Chengtian had felt nothing?

If it were said that Wu Chengtian had lifted Wei Zhao's wallet without Wei Zhao noticing, Sun Jingyan could believe it. But if it were said that Wei Zhao had lifted Wu Chengtian's wallet without Wu Chengtian noticing, Sun Jingyan found that hard to believe.

The Wu family's Iron Hands trained hand speed; that he could lift Wei Zhao's wallet was nothing remarkable... Yet from what Wei Zhao was saying now, it seemed he had known all along that Wu Chengtian had lifted his wallet — and the fellow had even, in passing, lifted Wu Chengtian's wallet back.

Sun Jingyan was somewhat speechless. Just who was this sitting across from her? Was he an ordinary person?

"Just who are you?" Sun Jingyan was forced to face Wei Zhao squarely. She rather regretted having dragged Wei Zhao into this. From the look of it now, Wei Zhao was plainly no easy mark — this kid had been playing the pig to eat the tiger all along.

"It's better that you don't know." Wei Zhao said very seriously. "Give me a thousand yuan, and then you can go. Don't come to me about this again. That fellow is too stupid — there isn't even a shred of satisfaction in toying with him."