Chu Ge laughed so hard he was out of breath, leaning back in his chair, he glanced sideways at Chen Jue.

"Ha... haha, Third Master, oh Third Master, how did I not realize before that you're so humorous? In this godforsaken place of yours, who would be bored enough to come here? Uninvited? Hahaha! You're really overthinking it!"

"Laugh my ass off! Are you fucking looking for trouble? You..." Before Chen Jue could speak, Bao Zhanhai, standing next to him, exploded first, suddenly raising his right hand and hurling the teacup he was tightly gripping towards Chu Ge's head.

Chu Ge tilted his head, easily dodging the teacup, which smashed to pieces on the ground with a "crash" as Chen Jue raised his right hand, interrupting Bao Zhanhai's next words, "Zhanhai, I asked you to get me another teacup, didn't you hear me?"

Bao Zhanhai frowned, "Third Master! I..."

Chen Jue finally looked at Bao Zhanhai, "Huh?"

Feeling Chen Jue's undeniable gaze, Bao Zhanhai took a deep breath, squinted at Chu Ge, picked up the teapot, poured tea into another teacup, placed it in front of Chen Jue, and resumed standing behind him with a darkened face.

Chen Jue lightly tapped his fingers on the table, looking at Chu Ge, who had finally stopped laughing and continued eating and drinking voraciously, with a faint smile, "Mr. Chu, my subordinate has a bit of a temper, please don't mind him."

Seeing Chu Ge's indifferent reaction, still focusing on the plate of dried tofu strings, it seemed the breakfast on the table was far more attractive to Chu Ge than he, Chen Jue, was. This made the smile on Chen Jue's face more complicated.

"Mr. Chu, perhaps you're right. My place is indeed far from the city, deserted, and even godforsaken, but... don't you think if something happened here, it would be harder to know than in a private room at a leisure club?"

Chu Ge swallowed a bite of turtle jelly, patted his full belly, leaned leisurely back in his chair, and smirked at Chen Jue, "Something happened? Haha... like what?"

Chen Jue smiled and turned his gaze to the dozen people, and a dozen guns, "Like murder and robbery, or... disposing of a corpse? My fish here, they don't just eat fish food; eating a person isn't much of a challenge for them."

Previously, Chen Jue's look in this direction was very subtle, but this time it was very obvious, the threat and intimidation plainly evident.

Just looking at his elegant smile at this moment, anyone might think he was discussing with a familiar friend where to eat later, not realizing the bloody topic he was actually speaking of.

Chu Ge took a napkin and not so elegantly wiped the corner of his mouth, tossed the napkin aside casually, and pinched his chin, seemingly pondering something deeply.

A few seconds passed, Chu Ge shrugged, "I hadn't noticed before, but now that you mention it, it sure is, huh?"

Feeling Chu Ge's casual, even playful attitude, Chen Jue felt extremely uncomfortable. When dealing with people, he typically held the upper hand, but from his first interaction with Chu Ge, especially at this moment, he felt continuously disrupted by Chu Ge, even being led by the nose.

Although Chen Jue was never short on patience, he felt he had to make some adjustments now, or else this intangible pressure might cause him to lose the necessary calmness.

Taking a sip of tea, Chen Jue put down the teacup, staring directly into Chu Ge's eyes, "Mr. Chu, since we've spoken to this extent, why don't we be a bit more honest with each other?"

Chu Ge gave a faint smile, crossed his legs, lit a cigarette, and did not give a definite answer.

Chen Jue was even more irritated in his heart, the smile on his face finally faded a bit, "Mr. Chu, if you agree with what I'm saying, don't you want to say something? Or do you think such things won't happen to you?"

"I think you should first ask them if holding a gun for as long as they have makes their arms sore," Chu Ge took a drag on his cigarette, looked at the men in black holding guns, "Don't you know maintaining high concentration and one posture for a long time is exhausting?"

"Their physical condition is excellent, so you don't need to worry about that, Mr. Chu." Chen Jue paused, "If I were you, I would be more concerned about whether they'll misfire due to fatigue, nervousness, or some other reason."

"Third Master, you're quite amusing. If their mental resilience were so poor, would you have stationed them here waving those things to scare me?" Chu Ge sneered, disdainfully curling his lips, "Besides, you are you, I am me; imposing your thoughts on me, don't you find that laughable?"

"Mr. Chu, you truly have courage, I, Chen, truly admire that." Chen Jue sighed long, his gaze suddenly sharpened, "But Mr. Chu, what makes you think their presence here is merely to scare you? What makes you think I won't let them shoot?"

Feeling the rare ferocity on Chen Jue's face, Chu Ge laughed again, his smile calm and ambiguous.

"Mr. Chu, someone once asked me a question, and I'm genuinely curious about the answer. Now, I want to ask you this question, no matter how good you are in a fight, can you handle a gun?"

Chu Ge turned his head to meet Chen Jue's gaze, completely ignoring those dark gun barrels, and mischievously curled his lips, "If you really want to know the answer, you can certainly give it a try."

Chen Jue's face still smiled, but his eyes were already cold, devoid of the slightest hint of mirth, "Mr. Chu, are you forcing me? Are you truly unafraid of death, or do you really think I won't dare to do it?"

"Of course I'm afraid of death, very much so." Chu Ge exhaled the last puff of smoke from his mouth, flicked the cigarette butt casually, and as it traced an arc through the air, he beamed brilliantly again, "But you indeed don't dare to have them shoot, absolutely not."

"Ha, haha, hahaha!"

Hearing Chu Ge speak with such certainty and decisiveness, the corners of Chen Jue's mouth slightly upturned, he first chuckled softly, then burst into loud laughter.

At that moment, Chen Jue seemed just like Chu Ge a moment before, the only difference being that his laughter conveyed a kind of hysteria, a madness that neither Bao Zhanhai nor others had ever seen in him before.

Chen Jue laughed suddenly, and his laughter ceased just as abruptly, and when the wild laughter came to an end, he restored his elegant smile.

"Mr. Chu, are you a bit overconfident? I'm genuinely curious, on what basis do you make such an assumption?"

Chu Ge smiled faintly, "In front of so many of your subordinates, are you sure you want me to be that explicit?"

Chen Jue curled his lips, his eyes glimmering with an almost pathological stubbornness. He picked up the teapot, poured Chu Ge a cup of tea, and gestured for him to please continue, "Mr. Chu, please speak freely, I am all ears!"

"Why bother, you're just looking for trouble, aren't you?" Chu Ge rolled his eyes, picked up the teacup and took a large swallow with little grace, moistening his throat before setting the empty cup back on the table.

"Third Master, you're a clever man, and typically, clever people don't do things they're not sure about. You can't be certain of my origin, nor can you predict what consequences might arise if we become estranged, so when faced with such uncertainties, you naturally don't want to take unnecessary risks."

Chen Jue took a deep breath, nodded frankly at Chu Ge, and poured him another cup of tea, "On this point, I admit Mr. Chu is quite right. Is there more?"

"You don't want to take risks, but you also feel uneasy, after all, yesterday's incident involved Chen Yujie, your brother, with whom you have always maintained ties, someone with a deep background who connects you with the Chen Family in the provincial capital. If you do nothing, you may provoke dissatisfaction from Chen Yujie or the Chen Family, which in itself is another kind of risk for you, no?"

"So, caught between a wolf in front and a tiger behind, you, the fox caught in the middle, are of course awkward. Since some risks are inevitable, you at least want to discern who is the wolf, who is the tiger, and how you can minimize your risks to the greatest extent possible."

Here, Chu Ge took a sip of tea, "Third Master, do you want me to continue?"

Chen Jue sighed softly, a barely noticeable glint of helplessness and self-mockery flickered through his eyes, and he looked at those subordinates still holding guns, waved his hand somewhat wearily, "You're all tired, aren't you? Put the guns down."

As the sore arms lowered and the cold guns were tucked back into coats, Chen Jue asked again, "Mr. Chu, anything else?"

"Of course." Chu Ge glanced at Chen Jue's subordinates, "Are you sure you don't want them to leave?"

Seeing Chen Jue hesitate, Bao Zhanhai raised an eyebrow, "Surname Chu, don't try that trick with our Third Master. If our brothers all leave, it'll just be easier for you to do something to our Third Master, won't it?"

Sensing Bao Zhanhai's anxiety, Chen Jue dismissed it with a complex smile, sighing inwardly, "Zhanhai, you underestimate Mr. Chu, and overestimate me."

Thinking this, Chen Jue gave Chu Ge an apologetic smile, "Mr. Chu, please continue. I am all ears, there's no need for them to leave."

What Chen Jue didn't expect was for Chu Ge to shake his head, "Third Master, you're considered a local kingpin here in Lidu. Some things, I truly think there's no need to speak too plainly."

Chen Jue was taken aback, a complex emotion suddenly filled his heart, both comforting yet somewhat stifling.

Just from what Chu Ge had said, Chen Jue had reason to believe that Chu Ge wasn't bluffing. In his heart, there were indeed things that "didn't need to be spelled out."

Without a doubt, Chu Ge was leaving him a way out, but Chen Jue couldn't fathom why Chu Ge would do so—for if it were him, he certainly wouldn't make that choice.

The previous remark by Chu Ge proved to be correct, he is he, and Chu Ge is Chu Ge.

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