Heartthrob, Your Image is Crumbling!

Chapter 359: This Matter Isn't Over

Zhou Yuwen slapped the fat guy against the wall.He hadn't held back with this strike. The fat man's head instantly spun, feeling as if it no longer belonged to him. Like a dead pig, he slid down the wall and collapsed.

Seeing the fat man get beaten, the group following him immediately grew anxious.

The blonde delinquent girl standing closest to him actually showed a surprising amount of loyalty.

Flying into a rage, she charged right at him.

"Fuck you, ah!"

Before her words could even settle, Zhou Yuwen grabbed her by the neck. With a vicious sweeping kick, he sent her crashing heavily to the ground.

"Who else wants to move?"

Two people were already laid out at his feet. There were about four or five male and female thugs left. Originally, spurred on by the delinquent girl's curse, they had wanted to charge in with her.

But seeing their vanguard taken down in a single move changed their minds.

Under Zhou Yuwen's piercing glare, they instantly chickened out.

Looking at this group of worthless thugs, Zhou Yuwen couldn't be bothered to waste his breath. He told Lu Wanting to take his older cousin and younger cousin and leave first.

For an intellectual like Peng Xiaoyong, slapping a delinquent girl might not be an issue, but the moment he was actually bullied, he would definitely be left feeling dizzy and disoriented.

Especially after taking a hit from the fat man earlier, his head was currently spinning.

Now being pulled along by Lu Wanting, he wasn't sure what to feel. He simply followed her away in a daze.

Liu Yilin actually wanted to say something to Zhou Yuwen, but the situation was far too chaotic. Hesitating to speak, she was ultimately pulled away by Lu Wanting as well.

"Don't let them leave!"

The fat man had been slapped into a dead pig by Zhou Yuwen.

But this delinquent girl was incredibly stubborn. Even though her back ached from Zhou Yuwen throwing her, she still clutched her waist and howled, ordering everyone not to let them go!

Hearing this, one of the girls who was close friends with the delinquent reflexively moved to block their path.

As a result, she watched as Zhou Yuwen grabbed the delinquent girl at his feet by the hair, dragging her up like a dead dog. "Don't let who leave? Hmm? Don't let who leave!?"

"Ah!"

The delinquent girl felt a blinding pain. She reached out to claw at Zhou Yuwen, tears springing to her eyes as she struggled on the ground.

This brutal display frightened the departing Lu Wanting, but Zhou Yuwen simply told them to keep going and not to worry about it.

Seeing Liu Yilin walking at the very back, the delinquent girl yelled out without thinking, "Liu Yilin! Just wait until school starts! You are so dead!"

Hearing this, a look of panic couldn't help but surface in Liu Yilin's eyes.

But before the delinquent girl could finish, Zhou Yuwen slapped her again. "What did you say? You said my sister is dead? Do you believe I can end you right here and now!?"

As he spoke, Zhou Yuwen's tone abruptly shifted. He violently clamped his hand around the delinquent girl's neck and squeezed.

"Cough! Cough!"

Zhou Yuwen's tone and gaze were genuinely murderous. His large hand clamped around her neck like an iron vise, looking as though he could strangle her to death at any given moment.

The delinquent girl continuously slapped at the hand choking her, but it was completely useless.

"Cough! Cough, cough!"

The blonde delinquent girl's miserable state terrified the rest of the group. They all immediately fell dead silent, not daring to utter a single word until Lu Wanting had led the others away.

Zhou Yuwen stared at the delinquent girl in front of him, whose eyes were bulging from his grip, before finally letting go and tossing her to the ground.

The delinquent girl groveled on the floor, coughing incessantly.

Zhou Yuwen crouched there and observed her for a moment. Finally, he gave a disdainful evaluation, "Look at you. Of all the things you could learn, you chose to play gangster?"

"Trash."

As Zhou Yuwen stood up, he felt she was blocking his path. With a sweep of his foot, he nudged her over onto the fat man by the wall.

Then, he straightened up and walked away.

The group of thugs didn't dare to block Zhou Yuwen. After all, their leader had been knocked unconscious with a single slap.

In truth, Zhou Yuwen didn't possess that much superhuman strength. Knocking someone entirely unconscious was a bit of a stretch, but the fat man's head was definitely spinning too much to recover, which was why he hadn't gotten up.

The fat man was completely aware of what had just transpired. He wanted to get up and throw out some harsh words, but his body felt incredibly heavy, so he decided to wait a moment first.

And so, Zhou Yuwen walked away openly and without any hindrance.

When he entered the private room, he found Peng Xiaoyong standing there.

Meanwhile, Lu Wanting and Su Qing had Liu Yilin surrounded on the sofa, clearly interrogating her about what had happened.

A standing Peng Xiaoyong looked furious. "You should have told Fourth Aunt and Fourth Uncle about this kind of thing much earlier!"

"Does your teacher simply not care?"

When Zhou Yuwen opened the door and walked in, Lu Wanting was the first to spot him. Her eyes lit up as she announced, "Zhou Yuwen is back!"

"Zhou Yuwen?!" Su Qing also stood up. She hurried over and grabbed him, asking, "Are you hurt?"

Zhou Yuwen replied that a bunch of kids couldn't possibly hurt him.

"You scared me to death! Seeing how badly your older cousin was beaten, I was really worried you'd get beaten up too. I even called Liu Shuo!"

She really knew how to strike a nerve. Peng Xiaoyong's face darkened once again.

Just as they were speaking, the door was shoved open. Liu Shuo led the charge, looking absolutely ferocious. His expression only shifted when he saw Zhou Yuwen. "Bro! Are you alright? Sister-in-law told me you got jumped!?"

Following closely behind Liu Shuo were four or five young men. Liu Shuo had likely grabbed a stool the moment he heard the news and rallied this group over.

Zhou Yuwen shot Liu Shuo a speechless glare. "Who could possibly beat me up?"

Realizing he had misspoken, Liu Shuo quickly chuckled. "Oh, oh! No, I mean, sister-in-law said you were surrounded. It scared me so much I immediately brought people over. I was even planning to call for more backup. Bro, these are my newly acknowledged brothers! When they heard there was going to be a fight, they all rushed right over! Hurry up, call him Brother Zhou!"

"Brother Zhou."

"Brother Zhou!"

The four or five young men had probably had a bit to drink and were having a great time chatting with Liu Shuo earlier. Most likely buzzing from the alcohol, they had all charged in blindly behind him.

Zhou Yuwen nodded at them, then assured them that it wasn't a big deal.

"Go back and enjoy your time. Liu Shuo, accompany your friends back to drink."

Despite Zhou Yuwen's words, there was no way Liu Shuo would actually go back. He dismissed the group, then stayed behind himself. Closing the door, he asked, "Bro, what exactly is going on here?"

Zhou Yuwen didn't know what was going on either. He directed his gaze toward Peng Xiaoyong. Peng Xiaoyong avoided Zhou Yuwen's eyes, looking at Liu Yilin instead.

At this, everyone turned their attention to Liu Yilin.

Liu Yilin was just a young girl with an inherently gentle and timid personality. Knowing she had caused trouble, she shrank back, her face entirely filled with grievance.

As it turned out, the blonde delinquent was Liu Yilin's classmate. However, she rarely attended classes. By the third year of high school, there was always a specific group of students whose presence was entirely inconsequential.

Normally, everyone minded their own business and stayed out of each other's way.

But Liu Yilin was extremely well-behaved and often used as a benchmark by the teachers in class. They would say things like, "Look at how Liu Yilin does this or that."

Sometimes, when reprimanding the blonde delinquent, the teacher would even say, "Look at the state of you! You don't act like a girl at all!"

"Look at Liu Yilin!"

The teacher meant no harm, but to the blonde delinquent, this was highly aggravating.

After being scolded by the teacher that one time, the blonde delinquent had returned to the classroom in a foul mood.

Then, her group of shady friends crowded around, asking what had happened and what the teacher had said to her this time.

Right at that moment, Liu Yilin, who had just finished wiping the chalkboard and was about to walk past, found her path blocked by the delinquent girl's outstretched leg. "Are you fucking blind? Can't you see my leg here?"

Liu Yilin had a weak temperament and didn't want to cause trouble, so she simply stepped around it.

But no matter where you went, there was always a group of people who simply begged for a beating. The more you tried to avoid trouble, the more they felt you were an easy target. Usually, at school, it was just some mild bullying.

For example, in the mornings, when Liu Yilin brought milk and bread to school, that girl would snatch it away before she could even take a bite.

"If you dare tell the teacher, you're dead meat!"

Sometimes, while Liu Yilin was quietly working on a test paper in front, the delinquent girl would suddenly kick her chair from behind. "Hey, got any money?"

In reality, the campus bullying incidents exposed in the news were extreme cases that didn't necessarily occur in every school. However, every single school harbored this kind of unspoken, subtle violence.

These were issues that, if brought up, wouldn't be considered serious enough to warrant severe punishment, yet they undeniably harmed others.

This blonde delinquent had been worthless scum since her first year of high school. When teachers pointed at her nose and scolded her, she would pretend she hadn't woken up yet, sometimes even laughing in their faces.

Liu Yilin had been subjected to this bullying, to varying degrees, for almost half a year.

This time, the blonde delinquent had claimed she wanted to invite Liu Yilin out to sing karaoke.

Liu Yilin naturally had zero interest in such things.

But the blonde delinquent insisted it would be the very last time, promising that if she came out this once, she would never bother her again.

"Really, babe. Aren't we good sisters? Just one last time, come out, okay!"

Such things were impossible to completely eradicate.

Liu Yilin sat on the sofa, her face filled with misery as she recounted the story to her older cousins and friends. By the end, she couldn't help but wipe away tears.

Halfway through the story, Peng Xiaoyong couldn't bear to listen anymore. He asked Liu Yilin, "Half a year!? Couldn't you have told your homeroom teacher!?"

Liu Yilin merely kept her head down, staying silent in her distress.

"She told you to come out and you just came? She said it was the last time and you actually believed her!? How could you be so stupid!?" Peng Xiaoyong was absolutely furious.

Peng Xiaoyong had seen it clearly earlier—that group of people was nothing but the scum of society!

He truly couldn't understand how his younger cousin had gotten involved with such people.

Hearing her older cousin's words, Liu Yilin felt even more wronged and squeezed out a few more tears.

"This matter cannot end like this. I'm telling Fourth Aunt and having her talk to your homeroom teacher!" Peng Xiaoyong said, moving to make a call.

Hearing that her older cousin was going to make a call, Liu Yilin suddenly burst into tears. "Don't call..."

"Liu Yilin, let me tell you! People bully you precisely because you are so cowardly!" her older cousin scolded angrily, resolute on making the call.

Zhou Yuwen thought for a moment before taking the phone away from him.

"Let's keep this from Fourth Aunt for now. Yilin is taking her college entrance exams soon; there's no need for her to get tangled up with this crowd."

Peng Xiaoyong had been blinded by rage and, caught off guard, had actually let Zhou Yuwen snatch his phone.

Peng Xiaoyong retorted, "Not tangled up? Do you think keeping the parents out of it will keep her from getting tangled up? Give me back my phone."

Zhou Yuwen hadn't intended to keep the phone. Since he asked for it, Zhou Yuwen handed it back, simply stating, "Don't interfere in this matter. I will find a way to resolve it."

"You'll resolve it? And how exactly will you resolve it?" Peng Xiaoyong sneered, clearly not taking him seriously. Holding his phone and still intending to dial, he snapped, "It's not your place to meddle in this. Stop poking your nose into other people's business!"

Peng Xiaoyong had already dialed the number and was about to make the call.

Seeing that Peng Xiaoyong was about to call her parents, Liu Yilin immediately panicked.

Zhou Yuwen directly snatched Peng Xiaoyong's phone again and hung up.

"You..." Peng Xiaoyong flared up, but just as he opened his mouth, Zhou Yuwen cut him off with an impatient question: "I said I will handle this matter. Do you not understand?"

Zhou Yuwen was seven years younger than Peng Xiaoyong, but that look in his eyes just now had actually managed to intimidate him.

"Knock, knock."

At that moment, someone knocked on the door. After two raps, it was opened.

It was a waiter. "Excuse me, your time is almost up."

With that, the waiter left. His brief appearance served to ease the tense awkwardness between the two cousins.

Zhou Yuwen returned the phone to Peng Xiaoyong once again. He said, "Older cousin, you've been abroad for a long time. I can handle this small matter, so let's not bother Fourth Aunt and Fourth Uncle."

Witnessing this scene, Lu Wanting was afraid a conflict would break out between Zhou Yuwen and Peng Xiaoyong, so she chimed in, "Hey, Xiaoyong, why don't you just listen to your younger cousin on this?"

Having just been reprimanded by Zhou Yuwen, Peng Xiaoyong felt he had lost face. He thought to himself, 'I was only trying to help solve the problem, yet this younger cousin of mine just wants to act tough?'

"Fine, you resolve it then. Just beat them all up and the problem will be solved, hmph." Peng Xiaoyong snorted coldly. Turning around, he stormed out.

"Hey, Xiaoyong!"

Seeing Peng Xiaoyong leave, Lu Wanting hesitated for a second before ultimately chasing after him.

As she left, she didn't forget to tell Zhou Yuwen, "Um, Yuwen, don't hold it against your older cousin. Also, thank you for earlier. You looked really handsome out there."

Saying that, she winked at Zhou Yuwen before hurrying after Peng Xiaoyong.

Only after Peng Xiaoyong had gone did Liu Shuo approach with a serious expression. "Bro, how are we dealing with this?"

Zhou Yuwen brought up the fat man from outside earlier.

He seemed a bit familiar.

"Do you know that fat guy's name?" Zhou Yuwen asked Liu Yilin, who was still seated.

Liu Yilin shook her head.

She explained that she only knew he was an older brother Zhao Rui hung around with outside of school.

Zhao Rui was the blonde girl.

Zhou Yuwen asked Liu Shuo, "Do you know him?"

"Uh, why would I know these kinds of people? Bro, you don't need to trouble yourself with this. Tomorrow, I'll just take a few guys and take a stroll around younger cousin's school gate," Liu Shuo offered.

Zhou Yuwen didn't agree with this method.

Looking at his younger cousin sitting there obediently, Zhou Yuwen patted her on the head and asked, "How about older cousin helps you solve this matter?"

Liu Yilin looked at Zhou Yuwen with wide eyes. "Older cousin, just... just don't tell my parents."

"Are you really that afraid of Fourth Aunt knowing?" Zhou Yuwen mumbled casually.

At that moment, the waiter returned to hurry them along, stating that their time was officially up.

And so, the group left the KTV private room.

As they exited, they glanced around, wanting to find the fat man to give him a proper lesson, but after searching for a while, they found no trace of him.

"This fat guy is truly worthless. He doesn't even want to seek revenge," Zhou Yuwen commented.

Liu Shuo grinned. "Maybe he went to call for backup?"

"That's entirely possible."

Just as Zhou Yuwen, Liu Shuo, and the rest were leaving the KTV, they saw the fat man from earlier arriving with a fierce and imposing crowd. They scoured the area but failed to find Zhou Yuwen.

"Damn it! This matter isn't over!"