Ken Feng’s face stiffened. Dressed in his little suit, he looked pretty ridiculous right now—like the butt of a joke.
People say you shouldn’t hit someone who’s smiling, but Brandon Yang never cared about that—he’d always get his kicks first. As for Ken, Brandon never liked him anyway.
Partly because Ken was close with Evan Lin, and partly because their dads were fighting over the resort village project. The bidding had reached the final stage, with only two competitors left.
One was Ken’s dad. The other was Brandon’s dad.
The resort project was a big deal—a juicy piece of meat. Ken’s dad had been scrambling for funds lately, even mortgaging their house, clearly gearing up for a showdown with Brandon’s old man.
So right now, Brandon couldn’t be bothered to put on a friendly face when he saw Ken.
Max Ma and the others perked up at Brandon’s words. Evan Lin had made them look bad earlier, but now that Brandon was here, things were bound to turn around, right?
Plus, from the way Brandon was talking, it was obvious he didn’t take Ken and his crew seriously at all.
But just as everyone was waiting for Brandon to go further—to start roasting Ken and Hank again—they suddenly noticed something odd. Brandon, leaning on his crutches and usually full of swagger, froze in place. His eyes locked on Evan Lin’s back, his whole body stiff.
Confusion, blankness, and shock flashed across Brandon’s face—then, unmistakably, fear.
Brandon’s shifting expression made everyone around him pause, confused.
Max Ma frowned and stepped forward, looking at Brandon Yang. "What’s up with you? Feeling sick or something?"
"N-no, it’s nothing," Brandon stammered, shaking his head quickly. He swallowed hard and glanced at Yvonne Xie beside him.
Yvonne had just been annoyed after Brandon brushed her off, but seeing his weird reaction now, she turned to look as well.
And as soon as she looked, Yvonne’s pretty face went pale in an instant.
"Hey, Yvonne, come sit down!" Amelia Jiao hadn’t figured out what was going on—she just felt the atmosphere suddenly get tense.
The rest of the boys and girls who’d been hoping for drama all looked confused, staring at Brandon.
Wasn’t this the perfect time to press the attack?
He’d just roasted Ken Feng a minute ago—shouldn’t he go after Hank Chu next, and then finally target the new guy Ken and Hank brought along?
Everyone was just frozen, unsure what to do.
Yvonne hesitated at Amelia’s call, then quickly responded, "Okay!"
She shuffled over to Amelia’s seat, praying in her heart that the scary guy wasn’t who she thought, then slowly looked up.
From Yvonne and Brandon’s angle, they’d only seen Evan Lin’s back until now.
As Yvonne’s heart pounded, she sat beside Amelia, silently hoping it wasn’t that infamous troublemaker. Then she slowly raised her head.
The moment Yvonne saw Evan’s calm, expressionless face, she shuddered but forced herself to smile.
"Yvonne, what’s going on with you? Ever since you went with Brandon to change his bandages, you’ve been acting weird." Ivy Deng noticed Yvonne’s nervous glance at Evan Lin and grew curious.
"It’s... it’s nothing," Yvonne shook her head.
Max Ma pulled Brandon over to a seat. Brandon gathered his courage, turned his head, and when he saw Evan Lin’s profile, his leg shook and he nearly fell over, muttering "shit" under his breath.
"What’s wrong, Brandon? You’re acting really weird today." Max patted Brandon’s arm, grabbed a drink from the side, popped it open and handed it to him. "Here, have something to drink."
"Yeah." Brandon nodded, but just seeing Evan Lin made him so nervous his hands shook holding the drink.
"Come on, today was supposed to be our chill barbecue, but then Ken Feng, Hank Chu, and their buddy showed up. Let’s all get to know each other." Max Ma slung his arm around Brandon and smirked coldly.
Ken and Hank tensed up at Max’s words. They knew there was no escaping this, so they exchanged a look—if Brandon really started trouble with Evan Lin, they’d kick him and bolt.
Strike first, or get wrecked later!
"Ken Feng, Hank Chu, aren’t you going to introduce your friend?" Max squinted, his tone playful.
Ken Feng grinned and coughed. "Brandon, this is my childhood buddy Evan Lin. He’s at Brightsea No. 2 High now."
"Yeah, Evan’s not much of a talker. If he says something wrong, go easy on him," Hank Chu chimed in.
They were being super humble.
Max and his crew just grinned even wider.
They looked at Brandon, waiting for him to stir things up.
But to their surprise, Brandon’s face twitched. He grabbed a drink, popped it open, and nervously slid it toward Evan Lin. "Uh, nice to meet you. Yeah, nice to meet you."
"I’m— I’m friends with Ken and Hank. Good friends! Here, bro, have a drink." Brandon’s voice was shaking.
Ken and Hank were stunned. They’d been planning to kick Brandon and run if he started beef with Evan, but now their plan was dead in the water.
"Brandon, are you serious? Aren’t you going to properly meet our new friend?" one of the guys asked, emphasizing "properly" like he expected Brandon to go off on Evan.
He really stressed the word ‘properly’, clearly waiting for Brandon to start cursing out Evan and his whole family.
Brandon’s attitude left Ivy Deng and Amelia Jiao speechless. They stared at Evan Lin, full of surprise and confusion.
Amelia was confused because she didn’t know what kind of background Hank’s unremarkable childhood friend had, to make Brandon act like this.
Ivy, who knew Evan’s story, was shocked that he could scare Brandon so badly. Even Yvonne’s expression was weird—she kept her head down, not daring to look at Evan.
On the other side, Max Ma frowned, clearly unhappy with Brandon’s attitude.
Evan Lin finally raised his head, looking at Brandon with a calm gaze. "You say you’re friends with Ken and Hank? Funny, I didn’t hear that earlier—you were cursing them out when you arrived."
"Looks like you’ve been living pretty well lately. Haven’t suffered enough, huh? Still not convinced?"
"Kid, thinking like that is dangerous."