The woman was as quick to act as she was to speak. Tao Xiaoyun had no time to react before that slap came whistling towards her face. Unable to dodge in time, feeling the rush of air against her cheek, her face instantly paled.
The onlookers gasped softly, thinking to themselves that the delicate face of this student girl would likely be red and swollen for days if it took such a hit…
Just as Tao Xiaoyun, her face ashen, braced herself for the impact, she realized the incoming rush of air stopped abruptly, a mere ten centimeters from her cheek.
The portly woman, initially gleeful at the prospect of hitting that tender face—’These little hussies are asking for it, a couple of slaps will sort them out…’—her excitement over the imminent contact was cut short. Suddenly, a hand shot out from the side, clamping onto her wrist like an iron shackle.
Shocked, the woman turned to see a very handsome young man frowning at her coldly, his eyes filled with a chilling intensity.
Tao Xiaoyun stood frozen for a moment. When the expected pain didn’t come, she snapped out of it and saw the familiar figure now standing beside her, holding the woman’s wrist.
“Xu Ze!” Li Yan, standing nearby, cried out joyfully upon seeing him.
The woman, taken aback by Xu Ze’s sudden intervention, was jolted back to reality by the pain in her wrist. She let out a sharp cry of pain, then violently shook her arm several times until Xu Ze released his grip.
“You little punk! What do you think you’re doing?!” the woman snarled, glaring at Xu Ze with her heavily shadowed eyes, the fat on her face quivering with anger.
Xu Ze paid her no mind. Instead, he turned to Li Yan and Tao Xiaoyun, who looked both startled and relieved, and asked calmly, “What happened?”
Seeing Xu Ze appear so suddenly, both girls relaxed. They had simply planned to go shopping, never expecting to get into such trouble. Just as they felt helpless and about to be taken advantage of, Xu Ze’s arrival was a welcome relief.
The surrounding crowd also breathed a sigh of relief that Tao Xiaoyun hadn’t been hit. It would have been a real shame if such a pretty face had been slapped by this harridan.
A flash of excitement lit up Li Yan’s eyes upon seeing Xu Ze, but it dimmed just as quickly when she noticed Sun Lingfei standing behind him.
Tao Xiaoyun, however, didn’t notice this. At Xu Ze’s question, she quickly explained the situation.
It turned out that while they were strolling, they saw a little boy fall while roller-skating. Tao Xiaoyun went over to help him up.
But that simple act caused a problem. After the boy stood up, his arm hung limply, seemingly unable to move. The boy’s mother—this very woman—then insisted they pay 3,000 yuan for medical fees…
Naturally, Tao Xiaoyun and Li Yan refused, leading to the current standoff…
As soon as Tao Xiaoyun finished, the woman sneered at them, a vicious look on her face. “Oh ho! So the two little hussies have backup, do they? No wonder you’re so brazen…”
“I’m telling you, you hurt my son! If you don’t cough up 3,000 yuan today, none of you are going anywhere!” After this threat, she glared menacingly at Xu Ze, sizing him up before adding with a cold snort, “You pretty boy, don’t think I’m scared just because there’s more of you now! You hurt my hand too! Just wait till my man gets here, he’ll sort you out!”
Xu Ze was unfazed by her threats. He glanced at the little boy hiding behind the woman. The boy’s right arm did indeed seem to have a problem, hanging limp at his side without movement. However, the boy showed no sign of pain, only a fearful expression as he peeked out from behind his mother.
After hearing Tao Xiaoyun’s explanation and observing the boy, Xu Ze had a better idea of the situation. He looked at the woman coolly and said, “My classmate was only trying to help him up. How can you blatantly extort money like this?”
Faced with Xu Ze’s cold expression and remembering how his casual grip had left her wrist bruised (her man still hadn’t arrived), the woman shrank back slightly. But she pulled her son in front of her, took his right arm, and waved it gently in the air for the crowd to see.
“Humph! Me, extort? Everyone, look at my son! Look at this arm! It can’t move at all now! Who knows if it’s broken or not? Asking for 3,000 yuan, is that really so much?” she loudly proclaimed to the onlookers.
Seeing the child’s clearly dangling arm, although the crowd disliked the woman intensely, the fact remained—the child’s arm was problematic. A wave of sympathy washed over them.
Watching the woman swing the child’s arm without a trace of concern, Xu Ze smiled inwardly. It seemed this had happened to the child before, and the woman knew exactly what it was. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be so casual about moving it.
‘Looks like this woman was absolutely determined to extort money from Tao Xiaoyun and Li Yan today,’ Xu Ze thought with a faint smile. Fortunately, he happened to be here. Otherwise, the two girls would likely have had to pay a hefty sum.
After a moment’s thought, as the woman continued to display her son’s arm to win the crowd’s sympathy, Xu Ze spoke up with a light chuckle. “Alright, alright. Let me take a look… If his arm was genuinely hurt by my classmate, we’ll certainly compensate you.”
Seeing Xu Ze’s calm, untroubled smile, the woman was taken aback for a second. But hearing him mention compensation, her heart leapt. Her child’s arm was having an issue, so what was there to fear from an examination? As long as he agreed to pay, let him look…
Tao Xiaoyun, however, was startled by Xu Ze’s words. She knew the child’s arm really did have a problem. She simply refused to believe that her gentle pull could have broken it, which was why she insisted on a hospital check-up. But for Xu Ze to agree so readily… she felt uneasy.
Noticing Tao Xiaoyun’s expression and that she seemed about to speak, Li Yan quickly gave her hand a subtle tug and shot her a meaningful glance.
Catching Li Yan’s look, Tao Xiaoyun paused, then remembered—what did Xu Ze do? He was best at treating people, especially problems with hands and arms. That was his specialty!
Back during the school basketball tournament, hadn’t Xu Ze easily fixed Hu Xuezhao’s hand, the one the school nurse said would take half a month to heal?
Relieved, Tao Xiaoyun relaxed. With Xu Ze here, what did she have to worry about? He certainly wouldn’t let them be extorted.
The woman sneered, hoisted her son up, and placed him in front of Xu Ze. She lifted the boy’s right arm a bit and said smugly, “See? Isn’t there a problem? My son was fine while skating. It was only after your girl pulled him that it became like this… Shouldn’t you take responsibility?”
Xu Ze examined the child’s arm. After the woman moved it a couple of times, the boy indeed showed no sign of pain. Xu Ze couldn’t help but smile slightly. He then reached out to feel the child’s arm.
The boy, however, was only seven or eight years old. Having just fallen and then witnessing his mother’s furious argument, he was naturally scared and unwilling to let Xu Ze touch him. He took a couple of steps back, avoiding Xu Ze.
Coaxing a child was no difficulty for Xu Ze. His mental faculties had improved significantly. Influencing an ordinary person was easy for him now, let alone a child who was naturally easy to哄 (coax).
With a gentle smile, Xu Ze looked into the child’s eyes and said softly, “Good boy, big brother really likes you… Let big brother give you a hug, okay?”
As a subtle, unusual light flickered in Xu Ze’s eyes, the child’s fearful expression quickly melted away, replaced by a happy smile. He then ran towards Xu Ze, giggling.
Seeing her son, usually shy around strangers, run so eagerly towards this ‘pretty boy,’ the woman’s face changed. What was going on? But she couldn’t stop him now. She could only snort coldly. ‘Fine, let him look… Just be ready to hand over the money honestly later…’
As the child ran over, Xu Ze reached out and caught him with a smile. He gently took the boy’s clearly immobile right hand in his left, as if to examine it.
But unlike the woman’s gentle movements, Xu Ze held the child’s wrist and suddenly lifted the arm, swiftly raising it and giving it a couple of shakes.
“Ah! What are you doing?!” The woman was horrified. She knew her son’s arm was merely dislocated, so a little movement was fine, but seeing Xu Ze shake it so roughly was terrifying.
With a sharp scream, she rushed over, snatched her son back, and glared furiously at Xu Ze. “What do you think you’re doing?! If anything happens to my son’s hand, can you afford to compensate?!”
The surrounding onlookers, seeing Xu Ze handle the injured arm so carelessly, began murmuring amongst themselves. This young man really didn’t know his limits. The child’s arm was already in that state, and he dared to move it so roughly? If he made it worse or caused more damage, wasn’t he just asking for trouble?
Xu Ze was just about to respond with a light smile when a man suddenly pushed through the crowd, shoving people aside as he barged in.
“What’s going on?! What’s going on here?! Who the hell hurt my son’s hand?!” he roared.
