The moment he heard his phone ring, Leon Li felt a surge of irritation.
Everything falls apart at the critical moment.
It left him feeling deeply annoyed.
He pulled out his phone and glanced at the caller ID—it was his old man, Leo Li.
Leon didn't dare hang up.
He answered, ready to brush off a few words and hang up, then get back to forcing the kid in front of him to apologize.
But the voice from the other end—Leo Li's—instantly drained all color from Leon's face.
His eyes widened, his whole body trembling in the chair, sweat rolling down his cheeks, and even his breathing grew heavy.
After he hung up the phone...
Leon Li looked completely dazed, all traces of arrogance gone.
Instead, what replaced it was a deep sense of powerlessness, disbelief, and an uneasy feeling he couldn't quite name.
"What happened to him?"
"No idea. Wasn't he just acting all high and mighty a minute ago?"
"How come he's suddenly speechless? What was with that phone call just now?"
The crowd waiting for drama stared at Leon Li, full of curiosity and confusion.
He was just bragging about being worth hundreds of millions.
What could possibly make him change his face so fast?
Chloe Cheng glanced at Evan Lin instinctively, seeing his calm face—he didn't even bother to explain.
Maggie Sun stood off to the side, not even thinking about intervening anymore.
"I..."
Leon Li looked at Evan Lin, his throat suddenly dry and hoarse: "I was wrong."
"Can you... can you forgive me, just this once...?"
Leon Li's voice trembled.
Just now, on the phone, all he heard was his dad, Leo Li, roaring in fury.
The message was simple.
In just a few short minutes, the company received over ten contract termination notices from major clients.
And not only that—River City's richest man, Sawyer Summer, personally called Leo Li and asked how he'd like to go bankrupt.
A disaster out of nowhere.
It left Leo Li utterly cold inside.
He wanted to fight back, but the situation spiraled so fast, 'rapid' wasn't even the word for it.
It was so fast it was unreal.
The company he'd spent over a decade building was suddenly in crisis—operations frozen, bankruptcy looming, and millions in debt hanging over their heads.
Now Leon finally understood just what kind of person he'd provoked.
The people nearby heard Leon apologize, but most still didn't get what was happening.
What shocked everyone even more was that, after saying just one sentence, Leon slid off his chair and dropped to his knees.
"Please, I'm begging you, I really know I messed up."
"Just treat me like nothing, let me go, please—my dad can't go bankrupt!"
Leon was nearly crying as he spoke.
After all those years as a rich young master, losing everything and being forced to live like a regular person—that was even harder to accept than dying.
"Don't disturb my meal. You're ruining my appetite."
Evan Lin said it flatly.
Leon scrambled to his feet and bolted outside, terrified to stay a second longer.
Maggie Sun looked at Evan Lin with a complicated expression.
She'd guessed that Master Lin from Seacrest might have incredible power, but never imagined that, in just a few minutes and a single phone call, Leon could be scared out of his mind like that.
Just how terrifying must that kind of power be?
Maggie didn't dare even imagine it.
Leon fled the scene, and Maggie had thought maybe she could use this to get closer to Evan, but seeing he didn't even glance her way, she felt utterly dejected.
Once Maggie and Leon left, the ramen shop's atmosphere stayed weird.
Many people eyed Evan Lin with even more curiosity.
But no one was dumb enough to walk over and ask anything—honestly, the whole thing was just baffling.
Not long after, Hank Chu and Ken Feng finally showed up, running late.
"Evan, sorry for the wait! I was supposed to be here earlier, but it's all Hank's fault—he just had to video chat with his girlfriend and held me up."
Ken shook the snow off his coat, dragged over a chair, and sat down with a grin.
"What do you mean I just had to video chat? You're the one who wouldn't get up—I even yanked your blanket and you still wouldn't move!"
Hank came in after him, laughing and cursing as he slapped Ken's shoulder.
The two were still goofing around when they finally noticed Chloe Cheng and Jill Jing sitting next to Evan.
One was gorgeous.
The other was adorable.
Both girls left Hank and Ken momentarily stunned.
"Who are...?"
"So what should I call them? Sister-in-law?"
Among Evan, Ken, and Hank, Evan was the youngest.
Now, seeing the two girls beside Evan, Ken was totally confused.
Ever since Evan helped him out in Capitalview, Ken had become pretty chill about girlfriend stuff.
He hadn't bothered going back to look for his old flame either.
"So which one do I call what?"
Hank was stunned too, glancing at the girls, a bit embarrassed.
Hank was chatty with guys, but when girls were around, he got kind of shy.
Chloe blushed, while Jill slurped her cola, blinking and looking at Evan.
"Quit messing around, what are you even talking about?"
Evan shook his head.
Just then, the boss brought over bowls of beef noodles.
"Whoa, boss, did you win the lottery or something? Is beef free today? There's so much!"
Ken stared in surprise at the pile of beef in his bowl, thinking Evan must've ordered it special.
"No big deal, eat up, eat well—today's on me."
The shop owner grinned and looked at Evan: "Money doesn't matter, but what just happened was seriously satisfying."
"These bowls are my treat!"
With that, the boss went back to work.
Ken and Hank were still confused, not sure what had happened.
They only found out from the other patrons that Maggie Sun had come by earlier.
"That Maggie Sun chick must be kicking herself now, huh?"
Ken stirred his beef noodles with his chopsticks, thinking aloud: "What's that saying again?"
"Yesterday you ignored me; today you can't reach me."
Ken chuckled.
He used to stand up for Evan when Maggie treated him badly.
But seeing Maggie get put in her place felt seriously satisfying to Ken.
"And that Ivy Deng—if she knew how powerful you are now, I wonder what she'd think."