At this moment, the blond-haired youth was in high spirits, boldly pressing his foot onto Shi Jingxia's knee, a pungent odor instantly filling the air, causing Shi Jingxia to cough involuntarily.
"From my perspective, you actually bear a resemblance to Technician No. 3 from the Watercloud Realm. By the way, are you also in the same line of work?"
Shi Jingxia endured the humiliation, her body trembling slightly, but she held it all in.
Just as she dipped a cotton swab in iodine, preparing to disinfect Huang Mao, he took advantage of her unguarded moment to snatch away the white veil from her face.
Shi Jingxia was thrown into a panic, hastily covering her face with her hands, but her true face was already revealed, stunning everyone present.
She was far from a stunning beauty; instead, she was grotesquely ugly, not even qualifying as ordinary.
The left side of her face was pockmarked and purplish-black, resembling a bruised eggplant. She looked three parts human, seven parts ghost, and entirely terrifying.
Outside the door, a crowd had gathered, pointing and gossiping about Shi Jingxia.
"Bang!"
I grabbed a chair and smashed it down on the blond-haired youth's back. With a muffled thud, the chair splintered, and the youth was sent sprawling on the ground, emitting a wretched, pig-like scream of agony.
He clutched his cheek and spat out a mouthful of blood-stained saliva.
"Kid, what do you think you're doing? How dare you meddle in my business?"
"To hell with you, I don't care who you are. I'm here to deal with you."
Enraged, Huang Mao jumped up, roaring at his companions, "You idiots, what are you waiting for? Beat this kid to death."
The other two, initially stunned, quickly reacted, grabbing tables, chairs, and stools, and began raining blows upon me.
I dodged the sudden attack from Green Hair but couldn't evade the sneak attack from Red Hair. This young man had no sense of fair play, picking up a soy sauce bottle from the table and striking me, an unsuspecting comrade, on the head.
The soy sauce bottle struck my head heavily, shattering upon impact, and a mixture of soy sauce and blood trickled down my forehead.
In extreme anger, one often forgets pain. With eyes unwavering, I remained unflinching, leaving the other party bewildered.
Taking advantage of Red Hair's momentary confusion, I kicked him in the groin, causing him to double over in pain, his expression contorted in agony as he collapsed to the ground, wailing and sweating profusely.
As the saying goes, "The tough are afraid of the tougher, but the tougher fear the reckless." At that moment, I was like a raging lion, unleashing astonishing strength and overwhelming these youths, knocking them all to the ground.
I grabbed a stool leg and delivered a flurry of blows, breaking several legs. Then, seizing a kitchen knife, I was about to strike when Shi Jingxia embraced me from behind.
"Stop it, if you continue, lives will be lost."
The three punks knelt in a row, repeatedly kowtowing and apologizing, babbling incessantly.
"Damn it, lick Miss Jing's toes."
"What?"
Both the Zang'ai family and Shi Jingxia exclaimed in astonishment. I also snapped out of it. What had I just said? How could these guys benefit from such a good deal?
"Slap yourselves in the face, and make it loud."
The group looked at each other in confusion. Huang Mao gritted his teeth and slapped himself in the face, and the other two accomplices followed suit. Before long, blood oozed from their lips, and their faces swelled like winter melons.
"Destroying others' property always requires compensation, doesn't it?"
The three immediately expressed their willingness to compensate at a fair price, asking me to name it.
"While Ru Jia Restaurant may operate on a small scale, it's still an ongoing concern. Now that you've smashed the henhouse, it's no trivial matter."
Huang Mao froze, sensing impending trouble, nervously watching me.
I raised a finger and wagged it in front of him.
Huang Mao asked, "Ten thousand?"
I shook my head.
With widened eyes, Huang Mao exclaimed, "One hundred thousand?"
I nodded and added, "If you're a dollar short, I'll make a wound on you."
Intimidated by the beating, Huang Mao reluctantly agreed.
These fellows, idle all day, only scraped together a little over ten thousand yuan. Finally, Huang Mao reluctantly took off a pendant from his neck, holding it out to me.
"This is all I have of value. It's a rare item. Will this suffice?"
The pendant, crafted from white jade, exuded a gentle warmth and resembled a chili pepper. I weighed it in my hand; it felt substantial, yet oddly cold, emitting a peculiar aura.
Unfamiliar with such things, I had no idea of its worth.
Mother Shi interjected, "Forgive them, and let them go."
With a softened stance, I said, "If it weren't for Auntie's intercession, you dogs would've met your end today. Now, get lost before I decide to teach you a real lesson."
The men scrambled away, fearing for their lives.
Handing over the compensation from the young men to Mother Shi, she adamantly refused to accept it. Eventually, she reluctantly accepted cash but refused the pendant.
At some point, Shi Jingxia had vanished. Despite searching inside and out, she was nowhere to be found. Mother Shi called out to her at the door, but there was no response, leaving her in despair.
"Where has this child gone? This is truly exasperating."
"Auntie, don't worry. Let's split up and search. Jingxia shouldn't have gone far."
We left the house and went in separate directions, combing the streets.
A love for beauty is inherent in girls, and I imagined Shi Jingxia was no exception. However, the bruises on her face had become an indelible wound. Now that this scar had been ruthlessly exposed, if her inner strength wasn't sufficient, she might struggle to accept it for a while. I truly feared she might do something reckless.
As we searched along the streets, asking passersby, one person mentioned seeing a girl by the nearby moat. The description matched mine: a girl in white, sitting by the river, crying. I hurried over.
From afar, I saw Shi Jingxia sitting by the riverbank, unharmed, which relieved me. I slowed my pace and approached her, unsure of what to say.
After a long while, Shi Jingxia looked at me tearfully and asked, "Aren't you afraid of me?"
This seemingly calm question carried so much bitterness and helplessness, shattering my heart into fragments.
"I'm not afraid. Inner beauty is true beauty."
"My mom used to say that too."
"Oh?"
I picked up a small stone and handed it to Shi Jingxia.
"You said you want to be happy every day, to let go of all your worries and bravely continue living."
Taking the stone from my hand, Shi Jingxia tossed it into the moat, taking a deep breath.
"You're right. I'll bravely carry on and live a life that I'm proud of."
Changing the subject, Shi Jingxia looked at me and said, "I never realized. You're usually so quiet. How come you're so intimidating when you get tough? If I hadn't stopped you today, I don't know what would've happened."
"I don't know either. But one thing's for sure: I can't stand seeing them bully you."