A Dish Best Served Cold (The Man In Rage)
Chapter 1153 Paying for a Father's Sins

"Do what's right?" Ye Fan burst out into laughter.

It was a cold laugh that was laced with fury and the threat of violence.

"Li Er, how dare you tell me to do what's right. Did Chen Ao do the right thing when he betrayed me? When my family's lives were at stake, my wife was in danger and Mufan Group had gone down, did Chen Ao do the right thing?" asked Ye Fan relentlessly.

His words were like bombs that dropped explosively amongst them.

His fury assailed them with the force of a tsunami.

Ye Fan wasn't a coldblooded or heartless man. But Chen Ao had gone too far and committed too terrible a sin.

Ye Fan dared not imagine what fate would befall his mother or his wife if he had not arrived in the nick of time then.

Chen Ao's betrayal had nearly led them to their ends.

How could Ye Fan forgive him?

Li Er and the rest flushed, then became deflated. Ye Fan's bombardment of accusatory questions had rendered them speechless.

Chen Ao knew that he deserved his punishment. His eyes were bright with tears as he turned towards Li Er and the others. "Please stop. Mr Chu is right. I deserve this. I deserve to die. I'm not worth your trying to save me."

His voice was choked with tears and his words laden with guilt and regret. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he spoke.

He fell to his knees and said loudly, "Mr Chu, please kill me!"

Chen Ao's head collided with the floor with a loud and resounding thud that reverberated in the room.

"I'll give you what you want!" Ye Fan said with a mirthless smile and sent his palm slashing downward.

"No!"

Li Er and the others couldn't bear to witness the scene. Many of them shut their eyes instantly.

They knew that Chen Ao wasn't going to survive the blow.

Mr Chu's fist could put a dent in metal.

Chen Ao was just a man made of flesh and blood.

"Chen Ao, you fool, why did you betray Mr Chu?" lamented Li Er and the others. Fury and helplessness churned within them.

Just as everyone thought that Chen Ao was going to meet his maker, they heard the sound of screeching tires sounding outside Haiyuan Restaurant.

A beautiful young woman in a long dress charged into the restaurant the next moment.

"Dad!" A terrible cry startled everyone in the room.

Chen Ao trembled instantly and his pupils contracted in alarm. "Nannan, why are you here? Go home right now! Who told you to come? You stupid girl, you should be in Yanjing. Didn't I tell you not to come back to Jiangdong without my instructions? How dare you disobey my word!"

Chen Ao, who had not feared his own death, appeared slightly frantic at the sight of his own daughter.

He was terrified that in a fit of fury, Ye Fan might decide to kill his daughter as well.

He shoved Chen Nan away frantically and told her to leave Jiangdong and never come back.

"No, I'm not leaving, Dad. I'm not going to leave you and I won't let you die. I want you to live!" sobbed Chen Nan as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Her blouse was stained dark with her tears within moments.

"Leave! This is a matter between us grown-ups. It has nothing to do with a young girl like you. Get out of here!"

Chen Ao kept pushing his daughter away. But Chen Nan had made up her mind to stay. She wasn't going to leave that easily.

She had found out from her mother last night that her father had betrayed Ye Fan.

Terrified that Ye Fan might kill her father for his betrayal, she had hurried from Yanjing to Yunzhou.

Chen Nan had released a sigh of relief upon seeing her father alive and well. She turned towards Ye Fan with tears in her eyes and began pleading with the latter.

"Fan, please spare my father's life. It's all because of me. He made a mistake and betrayed you because he wanted to protect me. Lu Ming-Feng and Xur Shao-Hua threatened my father with my life and forced him to do their bidding. Fan, my father has always been loyal to you. He's never thought of betraying you. He did it because of me. It was all my fault. Kill me instead, Fan, and spare my father!"

Chen Nan's tears glimmered under the light while her sobs filled the air.

Everyone who heard her words and her weeping were moved.

Lu Ming-Feng and Xur Shao-Hua had tried to turn Chen Ao against Ye Fan so that they could quickly topple Mufan Group and destroy the empire that Ye Fan had painstakingly built in Jiangdong. But Chen Ao had been Ye Fan's loyal follower for many years. Ye Fan had treated him with nothing but utmost kindness. Chen Ao would never betray the man.

After numerous failed attempts at trying to get Chen Ao on their side, Lu Ming-Feng had discovered Chen Ao's Achilles' heel.

It was his precious daughter, Chen Nan.

Lu Ming-Feng had then sent someone to stalk Chen Nan in Yanjing and secretly take photographs and videos of her. These had then been sent to Chen Ao to blackmail him.

His daughter would suffer for his disobedience.

Chen Ao treasured his daughter above all else. Naturally, he wouldn't allow any harm to come to her.

Powerless to stop Lu Ming-Feng, Chen Ao could only submit to him and help him and Xur Shao-Hua topple Mufan Group.

Li Er and the others finally realized the truth after Chen Nan had shared it with them.

They had not known the reason for Chen Ao's betrayal.

"Chen Ao, why didn't you tell us that your daughter was in danger? We could have thought of something together. You wouldn't have had to shoulder everything on your own." Li Er and the others were furious that Chen Ao had not thought to share his burden with them.

Chen Ao simply shook his head.

"That wouldn't have helped. Mr Chu wasn't around and the Lu and Xur families were too powerful. There was nothing we could have done. Everything boils down to my incompetency. I didn't have the ability to protect my own daughter. This was the only way I could save her," said Chen Ao self-deprecatingly as powerlessness and despair colored his eyes.

"Fan, please spare my father's life. I'm willing to take his place," sobbed Chen Nan inconsolably. Her words were filled with guilt and remorse.

She didn't blame Ye Fan for his fury. She could only blame herself for her utter uselessness. She had been of no help to her father and instead had become his burden and was now going to be the reason for his death.

Li Er and the rest turned towards Ye Fan. They wanted to plead further with the young man but kept their mouths shut in the end and dared not say a word. Instead, they simply looked at him pleadingly and hoped that he would change his mind.

Qiu Mu-Cheng was probably the only person who dared to speak and persuade Ye Fan from killing Chen Ao.

After a long moment of silence, she finally couldn't take it any longer. She tugged at Ye Fan's sleeve and murmured, "Ye Fan."