Facing the gazes of the crowd,
Pimple not only failed to notice anything wrong, but actually lifted his chin slightly, crossed his arms, and sneered:
"I've had my suspicions all along. Every year, plenty of high-ranking officials and wealthy types come to Shanghai, but few are as relentless as you. And ordering all this food, picking a place like Sullivan's on purpose—isn't that just to draw attention? Trying to make people believe you're Su Ning. If we hadn't run into each other, I'd have let it slide. But now you're actually trying to turn the tables and blame me."
The more he spoke, the more convinced he became of his own judgment. His voice turned indignant as he pointed a finger.
He declared loudly:
"Other people might buy your act, but I won't. First of all, my buddy here is a man of integrity—low-key, unassuming, no way he's a fraud. And second, I've got solid proof of his identity."
At that,
Pimple even took a moment to cast a trusting glance at Su An, who stood nearby.
Su An: ...
"You, on the other hand, might look convincing, but you're full of holes."
Excuse me?
What holes?
Now Su Ning was genuinely intrigued. Her men, who had been about to step forward and slap Pimple a few times, read her expression and held back for the moment. Little did they expect the fire to soon turn on them.
A bystander couldn't help but ask:
"This… young lady, what sort of holes?" The phrasing was deliberately vague.
Mainly because Pimple's expression was so certain,
and his tone so absolute.
"Hmph, listen up." With someone egging him on, Pimple grew bolder. In the sunlight, the pimples on his face were clearly visible, some already capped with white tips.
"First off, what kind of person is Su Ning? A famously wealthy woman. Women love beauty, but look at her—not a single decent piece of jewelry. Just a mechanical watch, and that's probably a cheap knockoff."
Everyone turned to look.
It was true.
She wasn't wearing any jewelry—no necklace, headpiece, bracelet, not even earrings. But no one would have noticed if it hadn't been pointed out—
her presence alone was too commanding.
Su Ning: Thinking back to the jewelry chests she'd drawn from those lucky draws—yes, by the chestful—a flicker of disdain crossed her eyes.
They were beautiful, sure, and valuable too.
But in terms of practical use, they couldn't compare to shares or property. They were good for showing off, nothing more.
Besides, in this era, rare and precious jewelry shared one common trait—
Big, and heavy!
Most were both: big and heavy!
And uncomfortable to wear.
Seeing that she didn't argue, Pimple smugly continued:
"Besides, everyone knows that Miss Su always travels with a full entourage for safety. But you? Sure, you've got a bit of a showy escort, but a pheasant with borrowed feathers is still a pheasant. You're just a mishmash."
The henchmen: ...
Sure, on the surface, there were only a few of them. But with Su One, that freak, among them, and the brothers hiding in the shadows, they were the real muscle.
This wasn't Beijing.
Being flashy everywhere was just asking for word of Miss Su's whereabouts to spread.
"And of course, there's the most important thing."
Pimple's eyes sharpened, his pointing finger trembling with excitement:
"Su Ning grew up abroad. Sure, they say her Chinese is good, but she's not a native like us. And this is Sullivan's—if she were really Su Ning, she'd instinctively speak a foreign language. But you act like you've never left the country."
At that, the crowd fell into thought.
That actually sounded reasonable?
"Honestly, you're a pretty capable scam artist. You managed to find out that Miss Su left Beijing on a cross-country tour. And you've got guts, trying to pull this off in Shanghai. You must be aiming for a big score. No wonder you didn't flinch when you bumped into my buddy, even taking the risk of using him to climb up."
"What a pity."
Pimple shook his head with a sneer:
"You can copy the surface, but you can't copy the essence. People like you will never understand what real class looks like!"
That remark won approving nods from many.
After all, they were mostly wealthy themselves and naturally believed they were different from the poor.
Pimple's confidence reached its peak. He was about to press his advantage when—
Slap, slap, slap, slap.
Amid the stunned, skeptical, and confused looks of the crowd, Su Ning clapped lazily and remarked:
"Brilliant. Truly brilliant. Thank you. I had no idea I had so many 'holes' that don't fit my status. Truly enlightening."
"You're still trying to struggle now? You won't give up until you're at death's do—AH!"
Su One rushed forward, expressionless, grabbed Pimple's finger, and snapped it backward. An earth-shattering scream of pain rang out.
That wasn't the end.
With another kick, she knocked him down. A couple of cracks, and his arms were dislocated. His whole body screamed with pain, his face scraping against the ground, popping several pimples...
Ah, that felt better.
Su Ning had a bit of a compulsive streak, after all.
Time seemed to freeze for a moment.
"But one thing at a time. I don't like people pointing fingers at me. Didn't your parents teach you that's rude? As a thank-you gift…" Su Ning chuckled lightly:
"I'll kindly fill in that lesson for them."
Everyone else, shocked by the sudden turn of events, stared wide-eyed.
Pimple's companions snapped out of it, many letting out horrified screams. But not a single person stepped forward to stop the violence — because.
Row after row of black guns were now aimed at all of them.
Gasps filled the air.
Su Ning acted as if nothing had happened. She looked down at the pathetic Pimple on the ground with a hint of disgust. "What a shame." Non-plot characters wasting her energy like this—what a loss.
No one else understood what she meant.
Only Pimple did.
Through tears of pain, he felt the strange, indifferent gaze above him. It was as if he were just an unruly object or animal—not human at all.
Terrified, he quickly looked away and saw a familiar face being dragged by the hair into view...
The commotion wasn't small.
Others also turned to look.
"Miss, this bastard tried to slip away while no one was watching. Looks like a repeat offender—good at finding gaps. We gave him a proper beating before he calmed down."
One of the henchmen reported.
Nothing more needed to be said. Even the dimmest person understood the truth now. The anger and indignation on Pimple's companions' faces had vanished, replaced by sheer relief.
They realized exactly what that guy had been trying to do by pretending to be Su Ning's younger brother.
The prettiest girl among them shivered with lingering fear...
"Su An" lay on the ground like a dead dog, his mind filled with regret.
He'd been in this game long enough—the wandering player who occasionally got caught. But every time, he managed to escape thanks to his quick thinking and nimble feet.
When Pimple spoke up earlier, he'd seen his chance to run. He'd actually made it out the door.
But they still caught him.
He tried a few clever moves, but unexpectedly his opponent was just as familiar with them, if not more. In no time, he was completely suppressed, and he was thoroughly beaten...
At this point, things were basically over.
Su Ning had no intention of staying around to be a spectacle for others and stood up to leave.
Far more people followed behind him than when he came in.
It was unclear where they had all emerged from.
Among the crowd, those who had earlier firmly agreed with the second “flaw” that Pimple had pointed out wore sheepish expressions.
At the entrance, the waitstaff at Sullivan’s handed over carefully packed takeaway gifts, along with the items that had not been served yet—all meticulously wrapped, clearly not something thrown together in a hurry.
That alone seemed to say a lot.
Su Ning gave a casual nod, not breaking stride, and strode away.
Inside Sullivan’s, someone let out a regretful sigh, but quickly perked up, endlessly making phone calls to cash in on connections—
With so many people here, the news couldn’t be kept under wraps.
