Heartthrob, Your Image is Crumbling!

Chapter 358: County Town Anecdotes

Peng Xiaoyong wasn't a meddlesome person, but seeing his younger cousin apparently being bullied, anyone would frown. "Yilin?"Liu Yilin, huddled in the corner, looked up. Sure enough, it was none other than his own cousin.

Twenty-six-year-old Peng Xiaoyong looked somewhat like a mature adult. Dressed in business-casual attire and wearing black-rimmed glasses, he walked over with his brows tightly furrowed. He glanced at the strangely dressed delinquent girls, and then at his cousin, who clearly looked like a girl from an honest family. Peng Xiaoyong had no idea why his cousin would hang around with such disreputable people, but he was truly repulsed by them. He directed his words at Liu Yilin. "The college entrance exams are right around the corner, yet you're in the mood to come here and sing? Don't you have classes today?"

Education in northern Jiangsu had always been about minimizing time costs. This was especially true for the senior year of high school, where the concept of a winter holiday simply didn't exist. Generally, students only got half a day off each week. For the winter holiday, they were allowed a five-day break starting from New Year's Eve, but they had to be back at school for self-study exactly at seven o'clock on the morning of the fifth day.

Peng Xiaoyong had emerged from this exact high-pressure educational environment, so he couldn't understand why Liu Yilin was here right now.

"I..." Liu Yilin stammered, unable to form a complete sentence.

Peng Xiaoyong grabbed his cousin's wrist. "Come with me. I'm taking you home."

Saying that, he prepared to pull Liu Yilin away.

"Hey, who are you, uncle? What business is it of yours?"

Seeing Peng Xiaoyong actually trying to take Liu Yilin away, the blonde delinquent girl immediately grew displeased. She blocked his path and even gave him a harsh shove.

"?"

This left Peng Xiaoyong somewhat stunned as he glanced at the blonde delinquent girl standing before him.

Small county towns had a surplus of these malnourished-looking country girls. Their main trait was that they feared nothing in heaven or earth, and they completely disregarded someone like Peng Xiaoyong.

Peng Xiaoyong couldn't be bothered to get entangled with them. He stated bluntly that this was his sister and he was taking her away right now.

"You are all at the age where you should be studying. Messing around here every day, are you doing justice to your parents!?" Peng Xiaoyong spoke with righteous indignation.

However, upon hearing this, the delinquent girls couldn't help but burst into raucous laughter.

Doing justice to their parents?

Uncle, are you a school teacher or something?

Whether I do justice to my parents or not, what the hell does it have to do with you!?

The blonde delinquent girl blocking Peng Xiaoyong clutched her stomach and laughed for a while before telling him to mind his own business.

"Liu Yilin, make your choice. Either you become my brother's girlfriend today, or I'll ruin your reputation at school! Don't test me!" the blonde delinquent girl declared seriously.

The more Peng Xiaoyong listened, the deeper his frown became.

The main issue was that his cousin actually looked terrified.

How could this not anger Peng Xiaoyong? He just wanted to get Liu Yilin out of there first and ask about the specific details later.

But who would have expected that, seeing Peng Xiaoyong about to use force...

The blonde delinquent girl wasn't afraid in the slightest. She used her own body to physically block him. "What do you think you're doing!? Did I say you could leave?!"

Her tone was incredibly arrogant.

She was frail and skinny, while Peng Xiaoyong was at least five feet nine inches tall. Wearing thick winter clothes, he looked fairly sturdy. As he grappled with the blonde delinquent girl, he frowned and scolded, "Move aside!"

With a slight exertion of force, he accidentally pushed the blonde delinquent girl to the ground.

"?"

The incident happened so suddenly. Peng Xiaoyong had never intended to get physical, so he was a bit bewildered at that moment.

The fallen delinquent girl was also stunned for a second, but then she flew into a furious rage. "Fuck you!"

Scrambling to her feet, she lunged at Peng Xiaoyong and slapped him hard across the face.

The slap echoed crisply, immediately leaving a red mark on Peng Xiaoyong's cheek.

Peng Xiaoyong never dreamed that he, a man who had always lived in civilized society, would be struck by a little delinquent girl. What he expected even less was that this slap was only the beginning.

This group of delinquent girls truly feared absolutely nothing. With a single shout, all three of them rushed forward.

At first, Peng Xiaoyong only defended himself, but eventually, he grew highly annoyed by these girls and threw a fierce punch right back.

A one-punch knockout!

The punch sent the loudest blonde delinquent girl crashing straight to the floor.

Although there wasn't anyone in their immediate corridor, the commotion attracted quite a few onlookers from a distance.

"What kind of fucking man are you! You hit women!"

"Let go!"

Now, Peng Xiaoyong was in real trouble. He originally wanted to leave without a trace, but these delinquent girls were more troublesome than anything else. Even after being knocked to the ground, she stubbornly clung to Peng Xiaoyong's thigh, refusing to let him leave.

Seeing the situation go south, another girl did not hesitate and immediately ran back to call for backup.

Watching the wretched girl at his feet holding onto him in a death grip, refusing to let go despite his shouts, Peng Xiaoyong felt a surge of ruthlessness. He wondered how such parasites could exist in this society; they ought to be humanely eradicated!

At this thought, a fierce glint flashed in Peng Xiaoyong's eyes. He gathered his strength, preparing to deliver a vicious slap to this woman!

'Filthy woman, how dare you hit me?'

Just as Peng Xiaoyong was about to make his move.

A shout suddenly rang out. "Who hit my sister!?"

Seemingly out of nowhere, four or five equally strangely dressed punks dashed out. The leader was a burly, heavyset guy with a buzz cut and a scar across his face.

Seeing this man approach, the woman hugging Peng Xiaoyong's leg suddenly went frantic and shrieked, "It's him! Bro! He hit me!"

As she spoke, the woman scrambled behind the heavyset guy.

Peng Xiaoyong assessed the group opposite him. They were mostly teenage boys, but the heavyset guy dressed a bit more normally and looked a few years older. Peng Xiaoyong figured he might be somewhat more reasonable.

Genuinely believing this heavyset guy was the delinquent girl's actual brother, Peng Xiaoyong stated that she had started it.

"I'm her brother, and I just wanted to take my sister away. I meant no harm," Peng Xiaoyong explained.

The heavyset guy frowned, looking highly impatient. "You think you can just take her away because you said so? Who the hell do you think you are? Are you the one who hit my sister?"

"She hit me first!" Peng Xiaoyong retorted.

"She hit you, so you hit her back? You're a grown man bickering with a little girl; aren't you ashamed to show your face outside!?" These were actually the exact words the heavyset guy's teacher had told him while studying in school.

Now, repeating them to someone else, he felt quite imposing.

Peng Xiaoyong insisted, "Regardless, I just want to leave with my sister."

"If you don't let me go, I'll call the police!"

"Why don't you try and call them?" the heavyset guy sneered, glaring at Peng Xiaoyong from the corner of his eye.

Peng Xiaoyong wasn't going to indulge him. He pulled out his phone and prepared to dial the authorities.

The heavyset guy hadn't expected him to actually dare to call the police.

Without a second thought, he reached out and smacked the phone right out of Peng Xiaoyong's hand. "You really have the fucking nerve to call the cops?"

"?" Peng Xiaoyong froze.

Just as he looked up, the heavyset guy swung a heavy slap directly at his face.

"You hit my sister, and you think calling the cops will clear things up?!"

The heavyset guy was a few years younger than Peng Xiaoyong, but he was an ignorant thug who fought fiercely every single day. How could a scholar like Peng Xiaoyong possibly match him in a fight?

Seeing how weak Peng Xiaoyong's combat prowess was, the heavyset guy grew even more excited.

"I'm asking you, how are we going to settle the score for hitting my sister?"

The heavyset guy demanded as he forcefully shoved Peng Xiaoyong backward.

By this time, Peng Xiaoyong had been out of the private room for quite a while.

Strangely, the others hadn't seemed to notice his absence yet, and Lu Wanting was still singing.

Zhou Yuwen and Su Qing were sitting on the sofa, chatting and laughing.

After singing two songs, Lu Wanting suddenly lost interest, which was when she finally remembered Peng Xiaoyong.

She turned and asked Zhou Yuwen, "Hey, where's your cousin?"

Zhou Yuwen shook his head. "I don't know."

Lu Wanting muttered, "That's weird, he's been gone for so long. What is he doing?" Finishing her sentence, she tried calling his phone, but surprisingly, it didn't connect.

Seeing this, Zhou Yuwen offered, "Should I go outside and look for him?"

"Never mind, I'll go check," Lu Wanting said. She needed to use the restroom anyway, so she figured she would see if Peng Xiaoyong was outside.

With that, she stepped out of the room.

Su Qing commented, "Sister-in-law is unfamiliar with this place. Could she get lost?"

"How could that be possible? She's not a child," Zhou Yuwen chuckled in amusement.

Su Qing insisted, "You should still go out and take a look. This place is pretty chaotic."

"..."

In truth, proper and decent girls genuinely believed that KTVs, billiard halls, and internet cafes were incredibly sketchy and chaotic places.

Zhou Yuwen thought she had a point, so he decided to follow along and check outside.

Lu Wanting and Zhou Yuwen exited the room one after the other.

Lu Wanting found Peng Xiaoyong first. After taking just a few steps, she spotted him cornered in the corridor by several people, with the heavyset leader actually hitting him.

Seeing this scene, Lu Wanting's brows instantly pulled together as she cried out, "What are you doing!"

Though her voice was loud, Lu Wanting was, after all, a gentle and soft-spoken girl.

Everyone looked up to see a beautiful figure weave straight through the crowd and run to Peng Xiaoyong's side. Spotting a deep slap mark on his face, her frown deepened. She glared angrily at the shaven-headed guy opposite them. "How can you be so barbaric! Is there no law in this place at all!"

The locals spoke with a noticeable hometown dialect, but Lu Wanting spoke with a smooth and melodious accent, sounding somewhat soft and gentle.

In a big city, such an accent would seem perfectly natural, but in a small town, it sounded especially amusing. The heavyset guy grinned widely and laughed. "Beauty, who is he to you that you care about him so much?"

Lu Wanting possessed a strong sense of justice and wanted to reason with the heavyset guy.

But Peng Xiaoyong didn't want Lu Wanting to see his pathetic state. He knew the group in front of him were nothing but scoundrels, so he shielded Lu Wanting behind him and said, "This has nothing to do with her."

Peng Xiaoyong even tried to lie to Lu Wanting, claiming he had some business to handle here and urging her to take Liu Yilin and leave first.

Although Lu Wanting was worried about Peng Xiaoyong, she also sensed that something was very wrong here and thought about calling the police.

Therefore, she grabbed Liu Yilin's hand and tried to slip past them along the side.

But who would have thought, the heavyset guy suddenly reached out, planting his arm against the wall to block their path.

Lu Wanting looked at the heavyset guy, a hint of fear in her eyes.

She watched as the heavyset guy smirked and asked, "Did I say you could leave?"

"What do you want!?" Peng Xiaoyong demanded.

"What do we want? Hmph."

Although the corridor was mostly empty, causing a scene out in the open was still bad for appearances. The shaven-headed guy obviously harbored malicious intentions as he said, "This isn't the place to talk. Come on, let's go chat in a private room."

With that, he waved his hand.

Peng Xiaoyong and the girls didn't understand what he meant.

However, the blonde delinquent girl from earlier understood perfectly. "What the fuck are you dawdling for? My brother told you to go to the private room!"

As she spoke, she stepped forward and grabbed Lu Wanting.

Lu Wanting was used to civilized society. Having a dirty-looking girl suddenly grab her gave her quite a fright.

Peng Xiaoyong naturally wanted to protect his girlfriend. He stepped up and ordered her to let go.

As a result, he was shoved hard once again.

"Ahem!"

At the deepest end of the corridor, about eight or nine people were caught in a scuffle.

Zhou Yuwen had stepped out right behind Lu Wanting, but he hadn't expected her to walk so fast. She had vanished from sight the moment he exited the room.

Zhou Yuwen was just about to call Peng Xiaoyong to ask where he was, when he turned his head and saw the group in the corridor.

He also saw his older cousin Peng Xiaoyong's pathetic, battered state.

Zhou Yuwen coughed, but no one noticed him.

So, Zhou Yuwen loudly rapped his knuckles against the door of the nearest private room.

The noise immediately drew everyone's attention.

Upon seeing Zhou Yuwen, Lu Wanting's face lit up with pleasant surprise. "Yuwen!"

"Another one?" the shaven-headed guy muttered involuntarily.

Zhou Yuwen observed that not only was Peng Xiaoyong cornered, His younger cousin Liu Yilin was actually here as well? Furthermore, her school uniform showed signs of being pulled and torn.

This caused Zhou Yuwen to furrow his brow. He walked straight through the crowd right up to Liu Yilin's side and asked her, "Who did this?"

Liu Yilin glanced at the blonde delinquent girl standing nearby.

Zhou Yuwen followed Liu Yilin's gaze, only to see the blonde delinquent girl looking completely unapologetic. She even tilted her head up arrogantly. "The fuck are you looking at?"

"?" The sweeping glance Zhou Yuwen gave her couldn't exactly be described as a menacing glare, but it inexplicably made the blonde girl feel a twinge of fear, prompting her to hurriedly hide behind the heavyset guy.

He hadn't been able to see clearly from a distance just now.

Zhou Yuwen realized that Peng Xiaoyong had been beaten as well?

Originally, Peng Xiaoyong had always carried himself with a stiff, upright posture. Now, he was actually hunched over, and a trail of blood clearly trickled from the corner of his mouth.

Zhou Yuwen had initially planned to deal with that blonde delinquent girl who clearly didn't understand the immensity of heaven and earth.

But the moment he took a step forward, she hid away.

Then, the heavyset guy stepped forward with a fierce swagger, blocking Zhou Yuwen's path.

The heavyset guy appeared to be slightly bulkier than Zhou Yuwen.

Zhou Yuwen chuckled. Although he was only eighteen, he was also a civilized man, dressed in a sharp suit and wearing an expensive watch on his wrist.

So, Zhou Yuwen unclasped his watch. As he took it off, he asked, "Did you hit him?"

"No shit? If I didn't hit him, who did?" The heavyset guy was highly dismissive. Watching Zhou Yuwen casually remove his watch, he could only think of one word: poser!

Zhou Yuwen handed the watch to Lu Wanting, asking her to hold it for him.

He said, "Did you not know he's my relative?"

"What the fuck does that matter to me? Who do you think you are?"

"Damn it, I'm warning you. Mess with me, and I'll even beat up the Emperor of Heaven himself!"

The heavyset guy crossed his arms over his chest, then extended a single finger to forcefully poke Zhou Yuwen's chest, intending to teach him a little lesson.

However, the moment his hand reached out, Zhou Yuwen suddenly seized his extended finger and snapped it backward.

"Ah!"

The heavyset guy reflexively doubled over in pain.

Zhou Yuwen swung a vicious slap across his face.

Zhou Yuwen didn't hold back any strength with this strike.

KTV corridors were generally quite narrow. With that single slap, Zhou Yuwen sent the heavyset guy crashing heavily into the wall.