Chapter 3
“Junior, get out of here! It’s dangerous!”
Bai Qianyu clearly had no idea who Su Jiu was. Seeing her standing there in a daze, she assumed she was frightened, so she hurriedly pulled off her glove, grabbed Su Jiu by the wrist, and tried to lead her out of the circle of Lin Lie’s lackeys.
“Huh?”
When Bai Qianyu’s slightly warm hand clasped hers, Su Jiu was stunned. She’d only come to buy some barbecue—how had she ended up running into the male lead’s younger sister?
Seeing that Su Jiu was still standing there in a daze, Bai Qianyu glanced at Lin Lie’s lackeys, who had recovered and were slowly closing in. Her brows furrowed as she thought, This is bad.
She had no choice but to turn and shout coldly at the others, “Let this junior go! I’m the one who hurt Lin Lie. She has nothing to do with this.”
By now, Su Jiu had mostly figured it out. This must be the part of the original story where Bai Qianyu was injured by the Lin family and hospitalized.
If the male lead, Bai Ming, hadn’t rushed back overnight with the secret medicine from his university mentor, Bai Qianyu’s chest injury and internal bleeding might have kept her from even taking the college entrance exams.
As Bai Qianyu tugged at her, Su Jiu turned around and lowered her head slightly, considering a question: If she helped Bai Qianyu out now, would that count as turning over a new leaf?
“Heh. You’re going to such lengths to protect her—you must know each other. Get them! Tie them both up!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Lie’s gaze fell on Su Jiu’s lovely face. His throat bobbed involuntarily. He hadn’t noticed before that this junior was so pretty.
Bright eyes and pearly teeth, her smile as lovely as peach and plum blossoms. Though young, she was as fresh as a lotus beaded with morning dew—seven parts adorable, three parts alluringly haughty.
He could beat them up, then let this junior go. She’d be grateful to him...
His thoughts churned until, at last, this was the only idea madly racing through his mind. Su Jiu had kept a low profile all year, rarely going out, so Lin Lie had no idea who she really was.
“Big bro, just leave it to me.” One of the lackeys, a thin young man with a sharp face, rubbed his hands together and chuckled. As he stepped forward, his muscles bulged and his body suddenly grew as tall and imposing as an iron tower, radiating immense pressure.
“Isn’t that Shi Houzi, the guy who got locked up for assault half a year ago? I heard his blood-condensation level is almost eighty, and he used to run wild at school, injuring plenty of people. Wasn’t he sent to juvenile detention?” A bespectacled boy spoke up from nearby.
“The Lin family really has connections. They even got that thug out and made him Lin Lie’s bodyguard. I hear Shi Houzi can punch straight through granite. He’s almost reached the minimum standard for a junior warrior. Those two girls are in for it.” A boy in a basketball jersey shook his head and quickly shrank back. He was happy to watch, but playing the hero and rescuing a beauty was out of the question.
Some of the students nearby recognized Shi Houzi. Seeing him move, a few girls even lowered their heads, unable to bear watching, and hurriedly called the Enforcement Hall.
“Sorry. I dragged you into this.”
Bai Qianyu took a deep breath and looked at Su Jiu apologetically. She planned to circulate the strength within her body and fight Shi Houzi head-on. Even with the Lin family backing him, he wouldn’t dare kill anyone in broad daylight.
If she fought them, she might get injured and receive compensation. She could give some of it to this junior afterward.
Just then, she looked at the younger girl beside her. Her delicate face was utterly calm, as if she’d witnessed scenes like this countless times.
Her eyes were so calm, like a quiet mountain village at dusk, utterly peaceful.
But what good was simply staying calm?
“Aren’t you afraid of the Enforcement Hall?”
As Bai Qianyu hesitated, Su Jiu looked at Shi Houzi as he approached with a savage grin. Her expression didn’t change as she turned and casually stepped in front of Bai Qianyu.
This was no longer about the male lead’s younger sister. As a teacher in her previous life, Su Jiu couldn’t stand by and watch a girl get bullied by a pack of delinquents. This was one of her inviolable principles.
“Th-this...”
Hearing the words “Enforcement Hall,” Shi Houzi hesitated. He was clearly wary of this official law enforcement organization. After all, he’d already been locked up once.
“Idiot, what are you afraid of? Do you think I can’t get you out again? Grab Bai Qianyu, the one who hurt me!” Lin Lie shouted disdainfully.
“Roar!”
At his words, Shi Houzi seemed to have been handed carte blanche. He hesitated for a moment, then nodded repeatedly. He gave a deep growl toward Su Jiu, like a roaring beast. His burly frame loomed like a small mountain, and when he stepped forward, it seemed as if the whole area trembled.
Of course, that was just an illusion. This wasn’t some snowy mountain—how could the ground shake because of a martial artist who hadn’t even reached junior warrior rank?
It was an intimidation technique he’d learned while roaming the wilderness.
Shi Houzi looked at the two girls, his small eyes gleaming with amusement. He loved this feeling, like a cat playing with a mouse.
“You two little girls haven’t seen blood before. Today, I’ll show you the combat techniques I honed in the wilderness.”
As he spoke, he stretched out a hand, preparing to grab Bai Qianyu.
But his gaze suddenly landed on Su Jiu, standing in front of Bai Qianyu in her bold, sexy outfit, with eyes as indifferent as still water and as calm as a deep abyss.
“You’re not even trying to dodge? Then die!”
Shi Houzi narrowed his eyes and roared. He turned his hand and swung it toward Su Jiu, putting all his strength into the blow. He had no idea how to treat a woman gently.
After all, the Lin family would cover for him.
Just as his palm was about to strike Su Jiu and everyone closed their eyes, she finally moved, a look of amusement on her face.
“Tsk, you call that a martial technique? Keep practicing, big guy...”
Su Jiu turned slightly to the side and lightly punched toward his palm, as leisurely as if she were out buying groceries. “Boom!” Their fists and palms collided, sending a shockwave through the air. Dust and grit swirled around them, making it impossible to see what had happened to the two figures still holding their positions.
“That girl’s going to need an amputation... It’s all my fault.”
It happened in the blink of an eye. Bai Qianyu hadn’t been able to stop any of it. All she could do was watch the two collide.
Just as she was about to pull them apart and take Su Jiu straight to the hospital, the dust cleared...
A horrifying sight came into view. The students around them began vomiting. Even Bai Qianyu, usually so resolute, felt her stomach churn.
Su Jiu was covered in blood, which made her face look especially eerie. She held a limp, severed hand, while Shi Houzi lay opposite her like a dead dog, barely breathing.
Lin Lie and his lackeys were dumbstruck. They might be school bullies, but they’d never seen anything this bloody.
Fighting back nausea, Lin Lie became certain that this girl who looked like a junior student was a high-level warrior—maybe even a Battle General! He hurriedly fled with his lackeys.
After all, once someone became a warrior, aging slowed as their rank rose.
With that, Su Jiu tossed the severed hand back to Shi Houzi, turned to Bai Qianyu, and smiled faintly. “I really didn’t know he was that fragile. Sorry for getting blood on your barbecue stall.”
She thought to herself, I’d better avoid talking to her too much.
Then she pulled about five hundred in Dragon Country currency from her pocket. Despite Bai Qianyu’s emphatic attempts to stop her, she stuffed the money into Bai Qianyu’s pouch and said softly, “Take it. This was my fault.”
Seeing Su Jiu’s face and hair streaked with blood, Bai Qianyu fought back her nausea and replied politely, “Thank you. I’ll treat you to a meal next time.”
Honestly, without Su Jiu, she wouldn’t have known what to do. She might have ended up in the hospital—or become Lin Lie’s kept woman.
Su Jiu shook her head, called an ambulance for Shi Houzi, and prepared to leave. As the mayor’s daughter, she wasn’t afraid of the minor hassles involving the Enforcement Hall.
But what had happened today was honestly exhausting for a salted fish like her. If that guy died, even if she’d acted in self-defense, she’d still have to give a statement and deal with all sorts of trouble.
“Could I add you on QQ? Then I can treat you to a meal sometime and thank you properly.”
After walking a few hundred meters, Su Jiu heard Bai Qianyu’s slightly breathless voice behind her. A fair hand holding a bottle of iced black tea appeared beside her.