YiHan was about to reply to Fang Yi's question when JingYuan patted him on the shoulder. He turned around and saw JingYuan mouth to him: it's better to let Qin Feng explain himself.
Only then did YiHan realise he'd said too much to Fang Yi. He hurriedly said, "Anyway, it's… Huh? Fang Yi, I've got a call coming in. Let's chat another time. See you."
Fang Yi placed down his phone and pursed his lips. "Qing Feng," he whispered to himself. "Who is Qin Feng? What's special about him? Does he have an additional head? Hmph. If he won't leave then he can just sleep on the sofa. Let him freeze!"
YiHan wasn't lying when he said he had a call coming in. He looked down at his phone. The new caller was Jiang Hua. It's late now. Why would Jiang Hua be calling him at this hour?
"Jiang-ge?" YiHan hurriedly answered the call.
The voice that responded to him wasn't Jiang Hua though. It was a stranger speaking swiftly, "Hello, are you the brother of the phone of this owner? I'm a bartender at The Dusky Alley. Your brother had too much to drink. Two men attempted to take him with them but he was so out of it that we can't confirm if he knows them. We called you as you're the person he last contacted. Could I please get you to confirm these two men's identities or to pick him up?"
YiHan instantly shot up. "I'm his brother!" he yelped. "Thank you for calling me. Please stall them. Don't let anyone take him away. I'll be there soon!"
"Okay," the bartender replied. "I'll do my best to stall them. Please hurry u–" Before the bartender ended his sentence, a coarse voice could be heard from the other end.
"Oi!" the man shouted. "You, server! Who are you calling?" Immediately after, the call dropped to a beeping tone.
YiHan flew out of bed and quickly got dressed. JingYuan got changed too.
"What is it?" asked JingYuan. "Did something happen to Jiang Hua?"
YiHan's panic was visible on his face. As he put on his pants, he explained, "He's in The Dusky Alley. He's drunk and two men are trying to take him away! Goodness knows who those two bastards are and where they want to take him to!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, he grabbed his phone and wallet and strode out of the room. JingYuan followed close on his heels with car keys in hand. They bumped into Bai Yan at the top of the stairs.
"It's late," Yan said, a glass of water in his hand, "where are you two rushing off to?"
YiHan didn't stop. He walked around Yan as he replied, "Something bad has happened to Jiang-ge! We're going to save him!"
A loud crash could be heard from behind YiHan, the sound of a glass of water falling to the ground. Even so, YiHan didn't look back or falter. He opened the door with JingYuan at his side and they jogged over into the garage.
On the way there, YiHan called Chen Feng and asked him to head to the bar with some men, the faster the better.
The Dusky Alley is a bar well-known among the gay community. It's also a messy place. YiHan was a regular in his last life. He'd yet to step foot in it ever since his rebirth but he knew just how chaotic it was in there. A handsome man like Jiang Hua, with good looks, a good body and was obviously inexperienced, entering the place all alone would immediately attract anyone intent on picking a target. To top it all off, Jiang Hua got drunk. It was easy to imagine how those with bad intentions would be itching to make a move. If it hadn't been for the bartender's call… YiHan didn't want to imagine what could've happened. He didn't know why Jiang Hua, for no apparent reason, would get drunk in that kind of place. YiHan could only hope they can make it in time.
The car sped through the city and screeched to a halt outside of The Dusky Alley. The two men stepped into the bar. Their eyes scanned across every nook and cranny in the bar. Soon, they spot a group of men crowding around a corner of the room.
YiHan and JingYuan looked at each other in the eye and quickly walked over to the crowd. They pulled two men of the crowd aside to check out what they were standing around. As expected, it was Jiang Hua. His eyelids were drooped low as he stood behind the standing figures of two young men, one in a business suit and one in a bartender's uniform. The trio was surrounded by a ring of men attempting to grab at Jiang Hua. One of the muscular men had a hold on Jiang Hua's arm. Jiang Hua's two protectors did their best to loosen the man's grip but they failed. They weren't tall or muscular in the first place. Jiang Hua was also drunk to the point of needing support to even stand up straight. The two men had to focus on supporting Jiang Hua while protecting him from the group around them. The tie on the young men in the business suit was crooked. His clothes were tugged askew. The bartender's bowtie was also barely hanging onto his collar. The two were in such a panicked state that they looked bedraggled.
"I said I'm his friend," said the man with the grip on Jiang Hua's arm. "Just who are you? Let go. Or do you want to kidnap him?"
YiHan let out a "Jiang-ge" and charged straight into the fray. JingYuan quickly pulled YiHan aside and grabbed the wrist holding onto Jiang Hua's arm. JingYuan pulled the hand back hard, forcing the man to let go in pain. Then, JingYuan kicked at the man's stomach. The man cried out in agony as he took a few steps back from the impact.
The remaining men surrounding Jiang Hua and his two protectors glanced at each other before swarming forward at JingYuan. Anxious and afraid that JingYuan would be overwhelmed, YiHan dashed ahead as well. Upon seeing YiHan joining the fight, JingYuan swiftly made sure he was available to protect YiHan at all times so his lover wouldn't be hurt. Jiang Hua's protector in the suit handed the drunk man to the bartender beside him, then he charged into the fight as well. Don't be mistaken by his slender figure. The man fought fiercely. He punched and lunged at everyone he could reach. As the men brawled, Chen Feng and his men finally arrived. They pushed through the crowd into the fight. JingYuan tugged YiHan out of the battlefield as Chen Feng's men took care of the other brawlers. Chen Feng and his men were ex-military. As individual fighters, they were very strong. The tables turned and the brawl was soon over. Jiang Hua's harassers, all eight of them, were pressed into the ground.
All the noise and chatter in the bar was gone. It was now so silent that one could hear a pin drop.
"Are you people crazy?" said one of the men pressed into the ground. He was as thin as a monkey. "Why are you attacking us for no reason?"
"Should I have stood by and watched as you whisk away my brother-in-law?" JingYuan's deep voice rumbled.
YiHan softly cleared his throat and jabbed an elbow into JingYuan as he looked away.
The man was taken aback. A moment later, he spat through gritted teeth, "What nonsense are you spouting? I'm his friend. I also haven't heard him mention a family member like you before. What? You were going to kidnap him, weren't you?"
JingYuan's eyes bored into the man. "Oh? You're friends? What is his name then?"
"Of course I do," the man stubbornly insisted. "But why would I tell you, an outsider?"
"I know it too," JingYuan replied, "but I can tell you, an outsider. His surname is Jiang and he's part of the Bai family. You don't deserve to lay a single finger on him. If you ran off with these losers before we arrived, I might've just let it go. Unfortunately, you still refuse to give up. No one can save you now."
Fear rose within the man when he heard "the Bai family" but he continued protesting, "Who'd know if you're telling the truth or not? You're just trying to intimidate us."
Chen Feng stepped forward and slapped the captured man across the back of his head. "Who do you think you are?" he disdainfully said. "You're just a nobody. Do you think you're worth Mr Mu lying to you? You sure think highly of yourself."
YiHan stepped forward to support Jiang Hua, pulling the drunk man's arm around his shoulders. YiHan then gently pat the man on the face.
"Jiang-ge?" YiHan softly called out. "Jiang-ge, can you hear me? I'm YiHan. Do you recognise me?"
Jiang Hua squinted at YiHan and whispered the younger man's name. However, he'd slurred it out so softly that it was hard to tell what the man was saying.
The bartender on Jiang Hua's other side didn't let go at YiHan's approach. "Are you his family?" the young man asked, frowning.
YiHan smiled at the rather dishevelled man and replied, "You're the bartender who called me just now? My surname is Bai. On the phone just now, I said to you, 'Please stall them. Don't let anyone take him away. I'll be there soon!' Do you believe me?" As YiHan said so, he pulled out his phone and dialled Jiang Hua's number.
Music echoed through the bar as a phone on the floor lit up. Chen Feng went to pick up the phone and handed it to YiHan.
"Look," YiHan said, showing the ringing phone to the bartender. "Did you use this phone to call me just now? You should see my number calling it right now."
The bartender took the phone and looked down at it. "Brother" was displayed on the cracked screen as the caller. Tension drained out of him.
"My apologies," the bartender apologetically said. "That group of men kept going on about how they're his friends or acquaintances. It made me paranoid." He then handed Jiang Hua over to YiHan.
As YiHan shifted to accept Jiang Hua's weight, he smiled in gratitude at the bartender and said, "What you did was right. Thank you for calling me. Who knows what would've happened otherwise? What's your name? I'm Bai YiHan from the Bai family. Our family is extremely grateful for what you've done today!"
Jiang Hua was so drunk that his legs were wobbly. He couldn't even support himself anymore. No matter how thin the man was, he was still an adult man. JingYuan could tell YiHan was straining, so he walked over and took Jiang Hua over from YiHan.
The bartender was stunned by YiHan's admission. He didn't think there'd be powerful men among the guests today.
"No, no," said the bartender, shaking his head and waving a hand before him. "I just thought those men didn't look like good men and I merely poked my nose in where it shouldn't. No need to thank me. Also, the man just now helped me a lot. If not for him, I wouldn't have been able to stall them for so long."
YiHan was in a good mood from having succeeded in saving Jiang Hua. He chuckled and replied, "Don't say that. Because it might just be an incident of being busybody for you but you'd saved us from a great disaster. Thanks are a must."
The young bartender still shook his head. He kept silent and wouldn't tell YiHan his name. JingYuan glanced at the man.
"Zhu Xun?" JingYuan read from the bartender's nametag. "That's a good name."
It was only then did it occur to the young man to cover up his work nametag. Upon hearing YiHan chuckling once more, a red flush bloomed across his face.
YiHan then looked up at Jiang Hua's other protector, the man in the suit, smiled and said, "Thank you for helping out. I am forever grateful."
The other man straightened his outfit and walked over, replying, "Excuse me, you're…are you the Little Master of the Bai family? I'm Lu FengYu. I'm…Secretary Jiang's friend."
YiHan took a closer look at the man. The rowdy situation just now had distracted him. Now that the man had tidied himself up a little, YiHan could tell he was rather handsome. YiHan thought back to how hard the man fought to protect Jiang Hua and how furious the man was in the brawl. No matter what, this man didn't seem like a normal "friend" to YiHan. Even if he was close to Jiang Hua, YiHan had never once heard of him from the other, now drunk, man.
Lu FengYu's occasional worried glances at Jiang Hua flicked a switch in YiHan's mind. It's probably one-sided.
True. With Jiang Hua's charms and status, it's more than normal for someone to have romantic feelings for Jiang Hua.
"Thank you so much for protecting Jiang-ge just now," YiHan said with another smile. "I owe you one. If there's anything I can ever help you with in the future, please ask away."
Translator's Note: Apologies for the missed/late updates! Here they are.