323 Chapter 323: The Hei Clan (2/2)
”My restaurant, my rules. If you're not happy with that, you can leave.”
”Don't get so cocky, old man!” the lead henchman snarled. ”The Hei family can easily buy ten or even a hundred of your restaurants! We can put you out of business, close your restaurant and make it that you will never be able to open a restaurant again for the rest of your life!”
Okay, this was just pissing me off.
”Hey,” I snapped, rising to my feet and swallowing another mouthful of rice. Damn, too much kimchi there. As I said, I was not a big fan of it. ”Leave the guy alone. Don't you realize how pathetic you sound? A bunch of you guys ganging up on the poor uncle and bullying him like this? Putting him out of business? Threatening him? Who the hell do you think you are? Scratch that, you guys think you can do anything and get away with it just because you belong to the Hei Clan, huh? Is this how members from one of the Ten Great Families should behave?”
”Ho?” the lead man in a suit glared at me with a sneer. ”You've got guts, brat. Not only did you not leave the restaurant when we told you to, you even dare to get in our way? Are you not afraid of offending our Hei Clan?”
”Who the fuck cares about your stupid Hei Clan?” I snapped irritably. ”This is not your home. This is a public restaurant. And for the record, no, I am not afraid.”
I had met people from the Stuart Clan, Franklin Clan and Porter Clan, and even had an encounter with people from the Lacroix Clan, and they were all decent, nice and civil. They didn't throw their weight around and abused their status to bully others. I guess it made sense that at least one of the top ten Great Families thought highly of themselves and would exploit their position to take advantage of people from the lower class.
Such people existed in reality, after all.
”Shitty brat!” the lead henchman grabbed my shoulder roughly. ”You aren't from around here, are you?”
”You're right, I'm not from around here,” I affirmed dryly.
”Allow me to teach you a lesson then! The Hei Clan isn't someone you can mess with!” the lead henchman cocked his fist back and threw a punch at me.
I parried his fist. The concrete beneath my feet cracked from the impact. I raised an eyebrow.
”I hope you will pay for the damages in the store, dude.”
”Shut up!” the dude threw another punch without his other hand. I ducked his fist, feeling the sonic boom breeze past my cheek.
”Oi, no fighting in the restaurant. If you want to fight, take it outside.”
”Why, you…!”
The guy threw another punch, but I kicked him so hard he flew out through the door and crashed heavily into the pavement outside. His two subordinates gaped at me, uncomprehending.
”What happened?”
”I…didn't see.”
I glared at the both of them, my eyes narrowed, and refusing to back down.
”Are you really from the Hei Clan? You're supposed to be members of one of the Ten Great Families, and yet here you are, resorting to violence like uncivilized barbarians, or underground triads? I see now, the Hei Clan is actually a secret society (this is a Chinese pun, secret societies are translated as ”Hei She Hui”) trying to pretend to be one of the Ten Great Families.”
Like the mindless idiots they were, trying to prove me wrong, the two remaining henchmen launched themselves at me.
”Get him!”
Seriously, dudes? You are bloody grownups picking on a kid and an old man. Did they not know the meaning of shame? Or did they perhaps not have any self-respect?
”I said…if you want to fight, take it outside!”
I dodged the first punch from the second guy, and then delivered a roundhouse kick that sent him flying through the door to join his leader on the pavement. The third and last guy swore as he tried to hit me from behind.
”Damn it!”
I didn't even bother to turn to face him. Instead, I snapped my leg up and caught him in the jaw before his fist could reach me, and again he was hurled out of the shop and sent sprawling on the street next to his comrades.
Cracking my knuckles, I stepped out of the restaurant and cracked my knuckles as I towered over them.
”You wanted a fight, right?” I asked menacingly. ”Sure, I'll accompany you. But only as long as we're outside. Don't go around bothering other people and wrecking their restaurants, you morons.”
”Ugh…”
The three of them writhed on the ground, clutching their guts or jaw and rubbing their injured parts tenderly. They looked up at me, and even though their eyes were concealed by their sunglasses, I could tell that they were slightly afraid of me.
”D…don't think you can get away with this, you shitty brat!”
”You have no idea who you're offending!”
”Oh, but I do. Weren't you the ones who proudly proclaimed that you're from the Hei Clan?” I watched them coldly. ”Attacking others and bullying people of a lower status…you bring shame to the ten Great Families.”
”Shut up! What do you know about the ten Great Families, you commoner?!”
The leader tried to lunge at me. Given that he had been lying on the ground the longest, he obviously had the most time to recover.
Stepping to the side, I effortlessly dodged his clumsy strike, and then brought a knee to his midriff. He howled as he doubled over, and then I rammed my elbow into his neck, almost breaking his collarbone. He dropped like a rock.
”I don't really know or care about the ten Great Families, but I'm going to stand up to a bully when I see one.”
”Oh…”
I whirled around when I heard a scrape on the pavement as someone approached, and her silky voice that indicated how she was impressed by my performance.
”You…you're really something, aren't you?”