Chapter 39 (Seeking Monthly Votes) The opponent used the Fruit of Prestige, but it was a critical failure!

"Seeing that you're being so sensible, how about this? Call me Daddy, and I'll go a bit easier on you later. What do you say, loser?"

Du Wenzhe and his companions burst into laughter.

"Alright, Brother Wenze, you really like hearing 'Daddy', do you?"

Xu Ming gave a light chuckle and suddenly came to a halt, making his group stop at an open space just outside the bar—safely out of range of any surveillance cameras.

"You think you're pretty tough? If you're so tough, then I must be Chan Ho-nam."

"F*** your mother, smash him!"

Without any wind-up, the instant the profanity left his mouth, Xu Ming's size-nine-and-a-half shoe planted squarely into Du Wenzhe's stomach.

Instantly, Du Wenzhe folded in half like a cooked prawn, his face turning the color of a boiled lobster.

Before the Hong Kong artists could react, several Toyota HiAce vans pulled up beside them.

This vehicle, also known as the Liangguang Light Infantry Transport, was famously nicknamed the Mobile Office of Chan Ho-nam.

As if the onboard air conditioning was set to maximum freeze, a massive horde of people poured out, shouting battle cries as they swarmed forward.

They were all staff members from Benshan Media who had come along for the performances, and trailing near the back, hopping around excitedly, looked suspiciously like Song Xiaobao.

"What are you doing? What are you doing? This is a society ruled by law!" the Hong Kong artists panicked, shouting reprimands over and over.

"When I talk to you about the rule of law, you want to play gangster with me. Now that I'm playing gangster with you, you want to talk to me about the rule of law? No wonder you're so good at playing both sides."

Xu Ming patted the face of the man who had just spoken. The man's face turned crimson, yet he didn't dare talk back.

"I f*** your mother..."

Before Du Wenzhe could finish his sentence, Xiaoshenyang landed a solid slap across his face, shutting him up instantly.

Seeing the others about to swarm forward, Cheng Ye, who had maintained the most restraint at first, was practically itching to join in.

"Mr. Xu, I know you, and you should know me too. We're all peers in the entertainment industry, is there really any need to make things so ugly?"

Dicky Cheung took off his sunglasses and stepped forward, putting on an amicable expression aimed at keeping the peace.

Xu Ming slapped his own forehead and clicked his tongue. "Look at my memory, how could I forget a big star like you?"

"Do me a favor..."

A flash of delight crossed Dicky Cheung's eyes as he decided to deploy his ultimate "face-giving" skill.

Bang!

Xu Ming delivered a front kick straight to his chest, sending him flying backward.

"I'm returning that kick on behalf of the Little White Dragon, just to teach these Hong Kong friends some manners so they won't say we're inhospitable." Xu Ming waved a hand.

The crowd immediately surged forward to engulf Dicky Cheung.

Xu Ming held profound respect for patriotic Hong Kong artists, but for two-faced opportunists who belittled the mainland while making money off it, he showed zero mercy.

Since they chose to hang out with the likes of Du Wenzhe and Dicky Cheung, getting the beating of a lifetime was well-deserved.

"Watch the limits. Take everyone out for a late-night snack afterward and put it on my tab."

Leaving behind these words, Xu Ming climbed into a car with his bodyguards and left first.

His previous restraint was solely due to the presence of security cameras and potential witnesses inside the bar.

As for now? He walked away cleanly after accomplishing his mission, concealing his deep merits and fame.

"Dicky Cheung, is it? We just love beating up little punks like you."

Zheng Kai excitedly stretched out his leg, finally managing to plant a footprint right on the man's face amidst a flurry of boots.

Chen He had to pull him back forcefully from behind.

"I haven't had enough fun yet. When do we ever get an opportunity like this?" Zheng Kai protested in confusion.

"You idiot, they're going to take cars away soon. If we stay here, we're completely finished. Let's get out of here while we can," Chen He retorted.

That made sense. The two of them then dragged Wang Chuanjun and Sun Yizhou out from the crowd and quietly hailed a taxi.

"Holy crap, I'm taking back what I said before. Your boss is seriously badass—he just did what I've always wanted to do but never dared."

"I used to work on Dicky Cheung's crew before. That guy was always so arrogant. To see him get this today... justice has finally been served."

"You two better watch yourselves from now on and try not to cross the company."

At those words, the smiles on the faces of Wang Chuanjun and Sun Yizhou instantly froze.

Standing on Xu Ming's side felt exhilarating right now, but if they were ever standing on the receiving end... just thinking about it sent chills down their spines.

***

Back at the hotel.

When Xu Ming slipped under the covers, the bed was already pleasantly warm.

"Mmph~"

A soft, unconscious murmur drifted from beside him.

It startled him for a second, but feeling a jade-smooth arm draped across his chest, he remembered.

She really was obedient; when he told her not to leave, she actually stayed.

Xu Ming slid deeper under the blanket.

Moments later, delicate, suppressed gasps echoed softly through the room.

"I was still sleeping..."

"Who cares about sleeping? Wake up and let's have some fun."

Early the next morning, Xu Ming was still sound asleep.

A shrill, persistent ringtone woke him up. Groping around blindly, he answered the call.

"Did you get into a brawl with someone last night?"

Uncle Benshan's voice boomed through the receiver, instantly jolting Xu Ming completely awake.

"Just a minor disagreement, Master. I figured it was too late at night to disturb your sleep," Xu Ming replied.

"You didn't disturb me last night, but my phone hasn't stopped ringing since morning! Do you know those people have checked into the hospital now, and every time they talk to the media, they keep dropping your name? It's blown up into a massive scandal, and there's no way to suppress the public opinion," Uncle Benshan scolded irritably.

He had finally figured out that while this disciple of his usually kept a low profile, whenever he actually caused trouble, it was always a massive mess.

"Don't worry, Master. I guarantee not a single video clip was left behind last night, and not one clear photo of my face was taken," Xu Ming swore up and down.

If anyone only looked at the bar surveillance footage, he technically belonged to the victim category.

"That's fine... wait, is that the point here? What on earth actually happened? Give me a straight explanation."

"Well, last night Xiaoshenyang and the guys went out to unwind, and we overheard those Hong Kong guys badmouthing me..."

Xu Ming relayed the whole sequence of events to his master from start to finish. Since he was firmly in the right, he didn't even need to exaggerate.

"If I hadn't called my senior and junior brothers over, I would've been the one getting slapped last night! They recognized who I was and still dared to pull that stunt—were they slapping my face? No, they were slapping *your* face, Master!"

"Get lost, you little rascal."

Uncle Benshan chuckled despite himself, then asked, "Did they really act like that?"

Clearly, he knew a thing or two about his disciple's talent for embellishment.

"I had Cheng Ye record the whole thing on his phone. Whoever's lying, may their future sons have no..." Xu Ming opened his mouth to swear an oath.

"Alright, alright. Have Cheng Ye send me the audio later. Still, same old rule: we never go looking for trouble, but we're never afraid of it either."

"However, we need to control the public narrative; we can't just let them spin whatever story they want. You should hold a press conference or something to clear the air."

"Making baseless accusations—isn't that just framing someone? This is a society ruled by law, are they really allowed to run wild like that?"

After hearing the origin of the incident, Uncle Benshan was furious as well.

If his own disciple made a mistake, he would naturally discipline him himself.

But if outsiders tried to ride roughshod over them, fighting back was entirely justified.

Those bastards from Beijing had even dared to call him demanding an explanation.

Did they even bother asking Andy Lau what kind of person Zhao Benshan was? Did he ever need to give anyone an explanation in Shanhaiguan?

With his master backing him up, Xu Ming's confidence soared instantly.

He immediately called his assistant, Xiaoyuan.

"Rent a venue, contact the media, and announce that I'm holding a press conference to clear up the rumors."