Even though Ye Shuang had not learned martial arts officially, physically, she was intimidating enough. In any case, after witnessing her break concrete with her bare hands, no one was dumb enough to use their life to test if she was bluffing… Even if she was, even if she was the clumsiest person the world had ever seen, being grabbed anywhere by those claws of hers wouldn't be enjoyable.
"Leave the wallet or your lives. Pick one." As Fang Mo looked on with shock and awe, the handsome man slapped the dust away from his palms, scanned the group of ruffians out of the corner of his eyes and issued that sentence calmly. Even though the tone was light, the threat inherent was heavy.
Fang Mo's brows that were previously locked from distress started to unfurl. He started to observe this incredibly dazzling man who had come to his rescue.
Yes, dazzling!
Since he had been a little boy, the term dazzling had always been used to describe Fang Mo. He was not perfect, but examined from any perspective, he was more than above average, so it wasn't out of place to describe him as dazzling.
Knowledgeable, kind, had a respectable career, and came from a good college… In his parent's and friends' eyes, although there might have been the occasional newcomer who caught their attention, the perpetual go-getter of their group had always been Fang Mo. Just as a genius would get 100 marks in their best subject, Fang Mo achieved 90 marks in all subjects.
Therefore, no matter how humble he might appear on the surface, there was a certain pride within Fang Mo. This translated into how he chose his friends, allowing only those whom he assumed to be at least of the same level as him to join his close circle.
To his pleasant surprise, he found someone of his own age that greatly interested him. However, what Fang Mo didn't know was that the handsome man he admired wasn't as confident as he appeared to be.
Even though Ye Shuang was assuming the hubris and audacity of a Wuxia web novel main character on the surface, internally, she was quivering… No matter how macho she appeared, she was ultimately a woman… well, as much a woman as she could be considering the situation.
How many women in the real world knew how to fight in a street brawl? A little slapping or yelling during a lovers' spat aside, which woman had real martial arts training? If possible, Ye Shuang really didn't want to have gotten herself involved, but the situation had called for it. They were grossly outnumbered, and both her underdeveloped younger brother and drunk boss had zero fighting capability, so her only option was bluffing her way out of it.
Ye Shuang's heart was quivering, but the group of ruffians were quivering even more. The ruffians stared straight at the broken cement pieces on the floor.
One of them even surreptitiously stepped on a piece just to try it out. When it broke into dust under his light touch, there was a sharp inhalation of cold breath among the group of ruffians.
Ye Shuang prayed that was enough to scare them away. However, what she didn't understand was, it was not that they didn't want to leave, but they didn't dare to.
This was a common plot point in television series, wasn't it? A common pastime of these sorts of heroes was to beat up street rascals. The moment they turned, the man would aim a shuriken at their backs… Fine, perhaps the man wouldn't be crazy enough to carry a hidden weapon on him, but he could very well pull out the telephone pole and swing at them like a baseball bat…
The stalemate continued until the atmosphere became more than a little awkward. Fang Mo was surprised at how civilized this man was. He could have easily sent all the rascals to the hospital; after all, powerful men talked more with fists than words, right?
However, since this one didn't seem like he was going to do that, he, as the rescued party, didn't think it was right to offer his opinion.
After some time, the ruffians' brains started to work again and the first information that was processed was the sentence that the handsome man had said earlier… Leave the wallet or… F*ck! Of course, leave the wallet!
The group quickly snapped into it. They not only returned Fang Mo's wallet politely but added their own wallets into the mix. As if afraid that Ye Shuang wouldn't be satisfied with just that, they unloaded everything they had in their pockets for her as well. As they did so, they thanked God silently, because the man they had the misfortune of meeting was good-natured enough to not break any of their bones…
Fang Mo accepted his wallet quietly and was struck speechless by this strange development. Similarly, Little Brother Ye, who accepted the ruffians' wallets, had no words to describe the absurdity of the situation.
After the group of ruffians retreated, Fang Mo had almost recovered from his drunkenness. Holding the top of the car for support, his brows were raised slightly, and his curious gaze fell on Ye Shuang.
Good looks, good physical, and most importantly, still so humble even in such a situation. I'm impressed.
"Thank you for your help tonight." Fang Mo had originally wanted to ask whether he needed to send them to the hospital, but when he saw how clean Ye Shuang's hands were, he swallowed that question.
He pulled out his name card from his car's glove compartment and presented it politely to them. "It's getting late and I'm sure both of you are in a hurry to get home. I'll have to invite both of you out for a meal in the future as sign of appreciation… This is my card. My personal phone number is on it, if you need many help, don't hesitate to call."
Invitation to a meal? Impossible since it's already too late.
Give them money directly? Wouldn't they take that as a humiliation?
Fang Mo had completely forgotten the fact that Little Brother Ye had taken all of the wallets and treated them as model citizens of the new era. Of course, as appreciative as he was, he couldn't ask them to join him in his car; he wasn't that close to them. What if they were not as they seemed‽
Therefore, an offer like "Where are you going, how about I give you a ride?" was automatically cancelled in his mind… From this, one could tell that Fang Mo was the careful type and wouldn't mingle with others in society easily.
When Ye Shuang recovered, her boss had already said everything that needed to be said. What she really wanted to say was: If you're really that thankful, how about you increase my monthly salary…
Then again, thinking about her current identity, she didn't really voice that opinion.
"You're welcome, anyone else would have done the same thing!" Ye Shuang forced a smile, but her heart was bleeding money.
"By the way, my name is Fang Mo, how shall I refer to the two of you?" Fang Mo figured this was the politest way to get their names so that he could officially invite them to a restaurant in the future.
Ye Shuang said carefully, "I'm Ye Shuang…"
If she was not mistaken, she had been caught by her boss just last week for browsing the internet at work; she wondered if he would remember her name.
"Ye…"
Fang Mo smiled as if he had more to say, but he only got a word out of his mouth before he collapsed weakly to the floor without warning.