Paul narrowed his eyes and looked at Justin.
He was waiting for Justin’s explanation. Since Quinn had already interfered, there was no doubt that he would see this through to the end.
However, Justin’s usual expressionlessness was such that he couldn’t guess what he was thinking. He broke into a frown. It was only after he waited for a while that he realized that Quinn still hadn’t uttered a word even after such a long time had passed.
He looked over in surprise to see Quinn, who was so livid that his face was all red, glaring at him furiously.
Paul was taken aback. He was about to speak when Quinn asked, “Who did you say it was just now?”
Paul subconsciously replied, “Y’know, Nora Smith. Master, you haven’t heard of her before, right? She’s from a small town in California, and is currently living with the Andersons…”
Quinn suddenly rubbed his fist at this point. Then, while he was unprepared—no, one could say that he was actually prepared, but it was just that he couldn’t avoid it at all—Quinn’s fist was already in his face.
Smack!
Paul stumbled backward several steps from the punch. He could feel a sore and unbearable sensation in his nose. Then, a warm liquid trickled downward.
The punch stunned him, and he stared at Quinn incredulously. Quinn, however, reprimanded him sternly, “That’s the end of this matter!”
Paul, “?”
He was dumbfounded. “Master, you—”
“What else do you want to say? Won’t you hit Lucas if he tries to snatch your wife? Your men were asking for it! As for what came after, it was a complete coincidence! Paul, you should count yourself lucky that you weren’t the one that tried to lay his hands on Nora Smith. Otherwise, I would have straight-up expelled you from the sect!”
Quinn’s words were fair.
First of all, the person who had tried to take advantage of Nora wasn’t Paul but Winston.
Secondly, Winston and the others were already dead. Relatively speaking, those dozen or so lives had already made up for their mistake—in fact, the price they paid was a little too great. Should Quinn still refuse to let go of the matter, he would look rather unreasonable.
Lastly, Paul was ultimately still the first senior of the unofficial disciples. Without his actions breaching his boundaries, Quinn couldn’t easily just expel him from the sect.
Paul was stunned.
Quinn had still been filled with righteous indignation just a moment ago. Why was he suddenly pulling a long face at him?
He wanted to say something, but Quinn was already waving him off and saying, “You must be the one at fault for this incident, Paul. You don’t have to say any more. If this ever happens again, I won’t let you off so easily. Lucas, send him out!”
“Yes, sir.”
Lucas replied respectfully. He grabbed Paul’s arm and said, “This way, Paul.”
Paul was older than Lucas, but Lucas was an official disciple. Therefore, all unofficial disciples had to see him as someone more senior than them. This was a rule in the Quinn School of Martial Arts.
Lucas had great physical strength. Moreover, Quinn had just punched Paul, causing him to see stars everywhere. Thus, Paul was dragged straight out the door by Lucas.
After he left, Quinn glared at everyone who had come to watch the show and bellowed, “What are all of you doing here? Have you finished your practice for today? Mark, have you finished all 3,000 sets of low kicks? Gordan, have you perfected your stance? And you…”
As Quinn spoke, all his disciples and grand-disciples quickly slipped away one by one. Soon, the place became empty again.
It was only when everyone left that Nora finally walked out of the inner room while holding the two children’s hands.
At the sight of her, as though he had expected better from her, Quinn said, “The great Big Sister of the Quinn School of Martial Arts has actually been taken advantage of by a little hoodlum. Won’t you even find it embarrassing if word of this spreads?!”
Nora yawned. “Therefore, you have to keep my identity a secret even more. Otherwise, I’ll be embarrassing you, which makes you the one embarrassed.”
Quinn, “…”
Nora wasn’t bothered at all. She waved at him and then led Pete and Cherry out the door. “I’m off, old man. I’m dying of sleepiness.”
Quinn was so mad that he was glaring at her huffily, yet there was nothing he could do about that lazy disciple of his.
Justin left together with Nora. Then, they separated at the door, with each taking their respective little baby home.
—
Elsewhere, Paul was still utterly bewildered when Lucas pushed him out.
Lucas was aware of Nora’s identity, so he was currently looking at Paul in disappointment. “Why were you so muddleheaded? How could you let your men do something like stealing someone else’s girlfriend?”
Only then did realization dawn upon Paul. “Master hates people who bully the weak the most. Is that why he was so angry just now?”
That old man had always been a man with a strong sense of justice.
Lucas, “…”
Just how was he supposed to tell the first senior of the unofficial disciples that the term ‘bullying the weak’ wasn’t appropriate in this situation? The one he was bullying… was the strong!
The corners of his lips spasmed a little. He patted Paul on the shoulder and warned, “Master only gave you a punch just now, and on top of that, he didn’t use his full force. You can say that he has already shown you mercy. Don’t you do anything heinous or illegal out there, especially during this period of time!”
Paul’s eyes flickered. “You know me, Lucas. I’ve always been doing business very honestly, so how would I have the guts to do anything bad? I keep Master’s teachings in mind at all times!”
Lucas was relieved to hear that. He breathed a sigh of relief and replied, “That’s good.”
After cleaning off the blood on his nose at Lucas’s, Paul left the Quinn School of Martial Arts.
His subordinate, who had gone with him to the Quinn School of Martial Arts to ask for help, couldn’t help but say, “Boss, are we really going to keep our act clean for a while? The acquisition of the car racing club…”
Paul sneered, “Of course we have to behave—we’ll just be the honest businessmen that we are! As for the car racing club… Heh, we’re buying it over legally. Is there anything dishonest about that?”
His subordinate was scared. “But didn’t Mr. Quinn say just now that…”
Paul waved and said, “You don’t need to take what that old man says to heart. He’s just putting on a lofty act!”
The subordinate understood now. “Okay.”
Then, he began to get ahead of himself. “Are we going to swallow down the losses just like that this time?”
Paul narrowed his eyes. He sneered, “We may not be able to mess with Justin Hunt, but a certain someone does have to bear our wrath for this incident!”
“Who is it?”
Paul looked at his subordinate. “Who do you think it is?”
His subordinate understood what he meant at once. “I’ll head to the Andersons right away!”
—
Nora was still thinking about an important issue while on the way back to the Andersons’ with Pete.
Did those ten people really die from a gas explosion?
She clearly remembered that the room was ventilated. It stood to reason that even if the gas valve really had been opened, it shouldn’t have gone to the extent of exploding.
While she was contemplating the issue with a frown, Mia and Brandon were also visiting Jimmy in the hospital.
As Jimmy had received timely treatment, he had already more or less recovered by now.
A lively Brandon said, “Cherry is taking us to the Quinn School of Martial Arts this weekend! She’s on very close terms with Grandpa Quinn!”
Jimmy was surprised to hear that.
Their family had run into some kind of trouble recently. Although his parents hadn’t outright told him anything, through bits and pieces of their conversations, he was able to more or less guess what had happened. Thus, he knew that the matter was related to the Quinn School of Martial Arts.
He held Brandon’s hand excitedly and asked, “Is Cherry on very close terms with Mr. Quinn?”
In that case, would Cherry be able to put in a good word for his family?