Damn, have I been tricked?
"Well, you little brat. You dare to fool me? Believe me or not, I'll spank your bottom!" Li Yang pretended to be angry, bared his teeth and claws, pounced on her, and amidst the little girl's screams, grabbed her in his arms and slapped her round and cute bottom a few times.
Unexpectedly, the little girl initially struggled and screamed, but later became as docile as a cat, lying motionless in his arms, with only her slightly rapid breathing echoing in his ears.
Huh? Did I hit him too hard?
"What's wrong?" Li Yang quickly stopped and looked at her face. He saw that her eyes were like water, her face was flushed, and she looked shy and bashful.
Suddenly seeing Li Yang's searching eyes, she let out a soft moan and threw herself into his arms, saying sweetly, "You're so naughty, you hit me there. It made me feel so nervous and uncomfortable!"
Chapter 26: Cutting Flesh with a Blunt Knife
Holy crap, did I arouse her? Apparently, some girls' butts are especially sensitive, and even a slight touch will cause them to leak juices.
"Um... are you still going to lie to me?" Li Yang had no choice but to pretend to be serious and change the subject.
The girl chuckled, then said innocently, "They didn't lie to you. Someone's just trying to extort money from you, saying you have to pay three thousand yuan before dinner!"
Li Yang felt dizzy. "Then why are you acting like nothing happened and joking with me?"
"real?"
"Of course it's true, my mom is at your house. Why don't you go in and ask?" The little girl's face showed a hint of distress as she looked at Li Yang with a serious expression.
"Oh? In that case, I'll come to your shop this afternoon." A cold glint flashed in Li Yang's eyes; it was time to test the power of Jeet Kune Do.
All the moves are already etched in my mind; all that's needed is real combat and practice.
He took the little girl home and sure enough, he saw Aunt Qiu talking to his mother with a worried look on her face. Li Yang stared at their lips to test his lip-reading skills. Although some of the lip shapes were a little blurry, he had completely mastered 80% of the words. He could also read the words he didn't know based on the context.
It's fair to say his lip-reading skills are basically up to par. All he needs is practice.
"Mom, Aunt Qiu, I'm back." Li Yang greeted them and went into his room with Zhao Ran. His mother and Aunt Qiu didn't seem to notice. They continued talking.
"Don't worry, I'm here. They won't succeed." Li Yang entered the room and gently comforted Zhao Ran, who was looking sullen.
"Yes. I know that with Brother Li Yang around, I'm not afraid of anything." Zhao Ran gazed at him intently, then silently hugged his waist.
Li Yang lovingly stroked her soft hair; at that moment, silence spoke volumes.
"Yangyang, let Xiaoran stay at your house for a while. Your mother and I are going out to take care of some things," Aunt Qiu's voice came, clearly indicating that they planned to deal with the thugs themselves.
“I already know what happened. I absolutely don’t trust you to go. Besides, I’m all grown up now, not a child anymore. Let me go instead; I can be of help.” Li Yang pushed open the door and said earnestly to them.
The two recalled their previous supermarket shopping experience and agreed with Li Yang's assessment. However, their mother remained uneasy, saying, "This time is different from last time. These people are thugs, and they're ruthless. You shouldn't go. We're women; they wouldn't stoop so low as to attack women."
"Don't say anything more, I'm going no matter what," Li Yang said firmly.
"None of you should go. I think I'll go alone. You all stay on the side and watch. If things don't go well, come out and call for help or the police immediately!" Li Yang suddenly felt that this was the safest way. If they were there, he wouldn't be able to act freely and might even be taken advantage of.
"But Yangyang..." the mother tried to say something. Li Yang had already strode out without saying another word.
"This child! He's really grown up, becoming more and more disobedient!" Mom grumbled discontentedly, hurriedly pulling Aunt Qiu and Zhao Ran along to follow.
Li Yang hurried to Huixin Supermarket. He had just sat down on a stool when he caught a glimpse of a thug disappearing around the corner. Moments later, a dozen or so thugs appeared in his line of sight. The leader was a young man with messy, disheveled hair, shirtless, and a ferocious wolf tattooed on his chest. Even though they were hundreds of meters away, Li Yang could see them clearly. He could even make out their downturned smirks and the steel pipes and wooden sticks they were holding.
It seems they've come with ill intentions. They're going to such lengths to deal with a small supermarket, especially one frequented by a widow and her young daughter?
"You're Li Yang? Have you prepared the money?" the leading youth asked, pointing at Li Yang's nose.
The remaining thugs spread out in a fan shape, surrounding Li Yang in the middle. Their menacing aura was quite intimidating.
Li Yang glanced at them and then stopped paying attention to them, his gaze falling on the shirtless youth in the lead. He said in a slow voice, "You're Brother De?"
"That's right. The smart ones should hurry up and pay up, or I'll smash up the place!" Brother De spat a mouthful of phlegm on the ground and cursed.
"If you tell me who gave you permission to do this, I'll give you the money right now! It's just three thousand yuan, no big deal!" Li Yang said with a smile to Brother De.
"You're smart, but that's the rule in this world: if you take money, you have to clean up the mess. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for offending the wrong person. Don't waste our energy or test our patience, or we'll smash your balls in and make sure you can never pick up girls again..."
De Ge pointed at Li Yang's nose and cursed him, spitting as he did so, forgetting that Li Yang remained seated on a small stool, seemingly unafraid of their numbers.
"I knew someone was after me. I didn't expect this guy to be so clever, not coming after me directly, but instead trying to stab me in the back here! Is this guy an idiot, or has he eaten too much shit?" Li Yang suddenly squinted and cursed.
De Ge and the others were stunned. What a rascal! Not only was he not afraid, but he even dared to curse. He had guts! But wasn't he really showing them no respect?
"Little B! You don't know anything! This is called cutting flesh with a dull knife. Today I'll take three thousand, tomorrow it'll be six thousand, the day after tomorrow it'll be twelve thousand... Do you think this is more ruthless, or is it more ruthless to just grab you and beat you up?" Brother De's smile began to turn ferocious.
Damn, that's really insidious! A dirty trick that makes life worse than death!
"You idiot! Quickly kneel down and beg for mercy, hand over the money..."
"Yeah, damn it, if you don't give me the money, I'll smash your balls in with this stick..."
Li Yang's eyes suddenly turned cold. The cheetah, which had been lying in wait for a long time, suddenly attacked and killed its prey. It rushed in front of De Ge, throwing a punch straight at his face and kicking him in the groin.
De Ge's expression changed drastically. He had no time to dodge. He swung his arms to block a kick from below and a punch from above, but he couldn't stop Li Yang's hand that followed. Li Yang grabbed De Ge's neck with a fierce grab, like a dragon playing in the water. With each step forward, Li Yang's momentum grew stronger. The burly De Ge was thus grabbed by Li Yang's single arm, lifted into the air, and slammed to the ground with a thud, dust flying everywhere. Li Yang's other fist struck like a Vajra pounding a dagger, each punch landing squarely on De Ge's face.
Snowflakes flew everywhere, teeth flew everywhere, and in an instant, the once arrogant and domineering Brother De, who seemed to have everything under control, was now lying on the ground with his face covered in blood and bruises, powerless to resist, a pile of mud.
Li Yang suddenly looked up, his eyes sharp as an eagle's and a wolf's, and said in a deep voice, "Who else wants to come up and try?"
The dozen or so thugs were already intimidated. A few of the cowards dropped their sticks to the ground with a clang, while the rest trembled as they gripped their sticks, not daring to utter a sound!
“A bunch of useless trash! Tell me, who told you to do this?” Li Yang stopped and patted Brother De’s face as he asked.
Brother De's eyes were still fierce, but he was indeed somewhat afraid of Li Yang. He spat out a mouthful of blood and said, "Brother, you're ruthless! But if you want to know, you'll understand when school starts."