The man quickly composed himself, "You have business with me?"

Michelle used his other hand to pick up his glass and drank his whiskey. He tightened his grip and twisted the man's wrist. The man groaned and his hand became slack. Michelle caught the item fallen from his hand into the glass.

The object clinked with the ice and the glass. Under the light, the thin needle glinted clearly.

Lei Wenjing saw it and his eyes became sharp. He turned to Michelle, "Apologies for my lack of awareness, Mr. Langley. Would you like to take him, or should we handle him for you?"

Michelle raised his eyebrow. It seems like this bar has something more to it than it looks on the surface.

"I'll take him."

After he said that, the front door opened. Jake appeared and dragged out the man from the bar with Michelle's glass. Ming Chen recalled the photo Yu Renjia showed him a few days ago.

Isn't this the guy who has been following him?

Lei Wenjing excused himself after apologizing one more time. This needed to be reported to the owner.

Ming Chen gave him a new glass of whiskey.

"You don't seem fazed by the event, Bartender Ming." Michelle swirled the liquid in his glass.

"It is our policy to not pry into our customer's affairs." Ming Chen smiled.

"Really? Then, what will you do if you found one of your customers is being beaten in an empty alley?"

"Of course, call the police and an ambulance. Like every citizen should."

"And if they were killing someone?" Michelle looked at him.

"Call the police all the same," Ming Chen wiped a glass and answered calmly, "As you said the other day, Mr. Langley. There are no customers for me once I'm outside this bar. There won't be any special service."

Ming Chen's eyes were looking down at the glass on his hands. Michelle couldn't see his eyes, but he didn't see any facial reaction although Ming Chen was clearly lying.

Ming Chen heard a low chuckle. He glanced at the source and found Michelle was laughing. His eyes were looking at him, but he wasn't sure whether the man was laughing at him or something else.

"You look better when you smile, Mr. Langley." Ming Chen couldn't help but tell his thought out loud.

"Is that so? I never see it, so I couldn't tell." Michelle leaned his body forward and placed his arms on the counter.

With his position, he was directly under the decoration lamp. His face was closer than usual, so Ming Chen could assess his features clearer. His eyelashes were longer than he thought they were.

"It's hard to believe that you never heard it from the people around you, Mr. Langley."

"As for you, you must've heard it enough in your life."

Ming Chen only smiled in reply.

"Have you never felt tired of it?" Michelle stared at him.

"Of what, exactly?"

"Smiling."

Ming Chen was slightly stunned. Nobody ever asked him this, so he never really thought about it. Even before becoming a bartender, his face was already used to smiling. It was probably the reason he was quickly hired by the owner although he didn't know that many things about making drinks. He was quick to learn, so it wasn't a problem now.

Michelle watched him pondering about his question. He wondered if this was something to be thought about.

Eventually, Ming Chen shook his head, "I'm not sure. It came off as a natural thing to do for me. Just like breathing."

When his shift ended, Ming Chen checked his messages. He saw both Yu Renjia and Wen Rui texted him, telling him that everything ended well.

Bai Hua aced her stage. She passed to the next stage smoothly along with Lin Xia who was in the middle rank. Yu Renjia saw her home safely while Wen Rui investigated the people involved in rigging the order. They might be Lin Xia's people, so they needed to put extra attention to them later.

As he thought, it was probably time for him to move too. The number of people they needed to keep a lookout for was increasing.

He looked up from his phone and saw the familiar black car in front of him.

The problem was this man who was still watching his every move.

"How about a ride back, Ming Chen?"

"…" Ming Chen entered his car, "Are you heading to your office again, Michelle?"

"No, I'm not. I just want to give you a ride back." Michelle answered honestly.

"It's hard to believe you waited until I finish until this late," Ming Chen looked at him, "I see that the green-eyed man who has been stalking me lately is your people, Michelle."

Michelle didn't say anything and only smiled at him.

So he did notice Jack. Then, what about the others?

"Can you please stop him before I report it to the police? I won't pry, but it's troubling me."

"I understand," Michelle took a small box from his side and gave it to Ming Chen, "As a token for my apology."

Ming Chen refused it, "I can't possibly accept gifts from my customer."

"Didn't you say there are no customers for you outside the bar? Please, I insist."

You always insist…

In a literal sense, not in a polite way.

When he opened it, it was actually a box of chocolate.

"It's wine chocolate from F Country. I just received several boxes, and I couldn't finish them by myself, so I've been giving them away to my friends. If you like them, you can tell me. I'll gladly give you more."

"…Thank you very much."

In the morning, Yu Renjia woke up. He sat up and saw an unfamiliar box of chocolate on the coffee table.

Is this Ming Chen's?

He asked about it after waking Ming Chen up as they ate their lunch. Ming Chen answered honestly.

"What? It's from him?" Yu Renjia picked up the box and studied it.

Yu Renjia opened the box and took out the chocolates into a bowl before throwing the box away, "We can't take any chances with that creep."

Ming Chen looked at the trash bin regretfully. He really liked the box's design.

"How can you suddenly be so close to him that he gave you chocolates?" Yu Renjia asked.

Ming Chen then realized he forgot to tell the two of them about the other day when Michelle took him back the first time.

"…No, it's like this–"

Ming Chen explained the whole story. He also didn't forget to say that Michelle was giving the chocolates to the people around him not only to him.

"And you believed him, so you accepted it?" Yu Renjia narrowed his eyes.

"…I didn't really believe him, but I couldn't really refuse him either."

Yu Renjia took his phone and sent a folder to Ming Chen, "I didn't want to use this, but you should read what Rui got."

Ming Chen opened the folder. He wasn't really surprised to see it contained files about Michelle Langley. He sighed before reading it. Although Wen Rui was obedient most of the time, he also couldn't say no to Yu Renjia.

Michelle Langley, the leader of Moonlight, a mafia group based in A Country. He took over the group at the age of 18 after his grandfather, the previous head, got killed in a gang war against their rival. With the help of Red Mist, Wei family's group, they annihilated this rival group at the age of 20.

At the age of 23, Michelle successfully monopolized illegal weapon dealings in A Country and was the main arms supplier of Red Mist. Along the way, he also toppled 2 big families and 1 massive drug syndicate. At the age of 25, he brought Moonlight its throne.

Since then, his business grew rapidly and both his black and white businesses have branches on an international scale. He was immune to A Country's legal laws and untouchable in several countries. He didn't try to take control of C Country since it was Red Mist's home turf. Anyway, Red Mist's glory was also his glory.

Ming Chen read his long list of 'achievements'.

"It's better if you quit your job at that bar. This kind of person, he'll do anything to get what he wants. There're still many ways we can do our task. Besides, Bai Hua could possibly quit her part-time job entirely after winning this competition." Yu Renjia said as he ate a piece of chocolate while turning on the television.

Ming Chen considered his words seriously before nodding, "Maybe you're right. We still have more than sufficient money for the three of us to use in 10 years. I can also help you guys more that way."

"How can we not? You always earn money for us in every generation."

"Then, I'll hand in my resignation tomorrow."