Main Text, Chapter 86: The Hero Saves the Damsel

Fei Ye had barely stepped into the shop when a porcelain bowl lay right at his feet.

He brought his foot down, and with the force of the blow the bowl spun up with a whistling hum. Fei Ye reached out, caught it cleanly, and flung it away at random.

The ruffian had not even finished shouting before a gust of force came hurtling toward him. A porcelain bowl smashed squarely into his temple. The impact was heavy; it struck him so hard that stars burst before his eyes. He lurched, dazed and unsteady, and only after groping at the counter beside him several times did he manage to steady himself.

The bowl fell to the floor and shattered with a sharp crash.

Only then did the people in the shop react, all turning to look.

“Fei Ye—” Zhong Yuhan cried out when she saw him, panic rising in her heart, her pulse leaping wildly.

Fei Ye gave her a faint smile, then swept his cold gaze over the gangsters.

“Yiyi, hold these for me first.” He handed the things in his hands to Liu Yiyi and walked toward the thugs.

The gangsters immediately pulled knives from their pockets. These days, anyone in the underworld carried some kind of weapon on them. Knives were easy to conceal and unlikely to draw attention from prohibited-item checks, so many of these vicious men kept such blades on hand.

Four or five of them drew knives at once and closed in on Fei Ye.

From the calm look on their faces, it was clear that stabbing people was nothing new to them.

“Ah! Fei Ye, watch out—” Zhong Yuhan screamed. She knew Fei Ye had fought with Liu Lei and the others, and that he was skilled, but those had only been school fights, between students. That was completely different from the kind of slashing and stabbing that happened in the underworld. In her heart, Fei Ye was still only a student. Facing these people, he was in great danger.

Fei Ye remained utterly composed. Conveniently, the shop had many tables that had been knocked over and kicked to the floor. He grabbed one and rushed forward, slamming it hard into one gangster’s face.

A crisp crack rang out.

The blow left the thug’s face covered in blood on the spot. His nose was broken, blood streaming freely, and all four of his upper and lower front teeth were knocked out. Blood filled his mouth as well, and a huge swelling rose on his forehead.

One move was enough to strip a gangster of all fighting ability.

“Hiss—ouch, that really hurts—” Everyone who saw it could not help but shudder, as though the table had smashed into their own faces. Their cheeks seemed to turn cold, and they pitied the gangster.

Another thug tried to ambush Fei Ye, but Fei Ye kicked a bucket toward him. The man’s footing slipped, and he was tripped directly by the bucket.

Fei Ye picked up a bowl of steaming porridge and shoved it straight into the gangster’s face, scalding him so badly that he cried out to heaven and earth while clawing at his face in a frenzy. His whole face turned the color of a ripe date.

The table in Fei Ye’s hands whirred through the air like a large board, and every swing sent those thugs howling as if in a slaughterhouse. How could they possibly be a match for him? Soon there was blood, but every drop of it belonged to the gangsters. Fei Ye himself did not suffer a single scratch.

When two of the thugs saw that the situation had gone badly, they hurriedly turned to flee.

Fei Ye hurled the table in his hand. It smashed down directly in front of them, nearly cracking their skulls open. Terrified, the two men froze in place.

Fei Ye said in a low voice, “You think you can just walk away after this? Who is going to pay for the damage to the shop?”

“Big brother, big brother, we’re just trying to make a living. We were blind and didn’t recognize your greatness. Please, spare us today!” one thug begged.

“Spare you? Did you ever think of sparing anyone else before?” Fei Ye said with a cold laugh.

The two men went weak with fear.

“Pay for the damage to the porridge shop, then admit your mistakes and apologize. Then I’ll let you off this once,” Fei Ye said icily.

“We, we, we have no... no money...” the two thugs said in feeble voices.

“No money? Then don’t blame me,” Fei Ye said gravely.

The two men trembled and tried to bolt for the door. Fei Ye kicked a stool beside him into the air, and it smashed into their knee joints. Their legs went numb, their knees buckled, and they dropped to the ground.

Then Fei Ye strode over and delivered a forceful kick to the acupoints in their legs, leaving the two men with numb, stabbing pain all the way down their lower limbs. They could not move even a single step. Without more than half an hour, they would not be regaining the use of their legs.

Fei Ye helped Zhong Yuhan and her mother to their feet. Zhong’s mother had only been shoved down and was not injured, but Zhong Yuhan had scraped the skin off both hands, and the backs of her hands were scalded.

“Yuhan, let me look at your hands,” Fei Ye said, taking Zhong Yuhan’s hand and examining the wound carefully.

Fortunately, it was nothing too serious.

“Xiaohan, are you all right?” Zhong’s mother asked with concern.

“Mom, I’m fine,” Zhong Yuhan said to comfort her, then introduced Fei Ye and Liu Yiyi to her mother. “Mom, they’re my classmates, Fei Ye and Liu Yiyi.”

“Fei Ye, thank you. We really owe you today,” Zhong Yuhan said with a smile.

“Yiyi, thank you as well,” Zhong Yuhan added.

“Yuhan, you don’t need to thank me. Fei Ye is the one who saved you. I didn’t really help much,” Liu Yiyi said quickly.

“Thank you both so much. We really relied on you today,” Zhong’s mother also said gratefully.

Fei Ye hurriedly replied, “Auntie, please don’t say that. Yuhan has helped me a great deal at school too. Let’s call the police first and wait for them to handle it. Then everyone can help clean up the porridge shop together.”

The police arrived very quickly. This was a lively night market street, with officers stationed nearby. When they heard someone had reported a smashing and vandalism incident here, they came at once.

As soon as they arrived, they handcuffed the gangsters and then intended to take Fei Ye away to give a statement.

At that point, Liu Yiyi stepped forward and said that she was the daughter of Liu Changliang, and that these people were her friends. After a few brief questions, the officers took the gangsters away directly, sparing Fei Ye and the others a trip to the station to record their statements.

Then everyone pitched in to clean up the shop and put everything back in order. It took a full hour before the place was finally tidied.

“Yuhan, the injury on your hand isn’t serious. I have a prescription that works very well. I’ll bring it over tomorrow and treat you with it. By Monday, when classes start, it should be no problem,” Fei Ye told Zhong Yuhan.

“Mm. Thank you, Fei Ye,” Zhong Yuhan said shyly.

“It’s nothing. You don’t need to thank me. If anything, I’m the one who dragged you into this,” Fei Ye said. “I can probably guess what happened. Your family’s porridge shop had been open all this time without trouble, and now that you’ve had a falling-out with Cao Bing, something like this happens. Looks like, in anger, he’s trying to get back at you.”

“Fei Ye, don’t misunderstand. There’s really nothing between Cao Bing and me. He’s always liked me, but I’ve never liked him,” Zhong Yuhan said. Even she did not know why she felt the need to explain this.

“It’s fine. I understand you. I just didn’t expect Cao Bing to be so petty and narrow-minded that he would actually do something like this to you,” Fei Ye said with a nod.

“I should head back too. I’ll come by again tomorrow to check on you,” Fei Ye said.

“For the next two days, be absolutely sure not to get your hand wet, or it’ll get infected and become worse,” he reminded her.

“Mm!” Zhong Yuhan answered sweetly, looking at him.

Seeing that it was already getting late, Fei Ye said goodbye to Zhong Yuhan, and the two of them took a taxi back to school together.