Shuangling: Braving the Rapids

"Aunt Zhao, are you alright?" Yue Chuan bent down and squatted next to Zhao Sumei, carefully checking her injuries while asking softly.

"Xiao Chuan'er?" Zhao Sumei could hardly believe her eyes. She stared at the boy with a complicated expression, and after a long while, she managed to squeeze out a few words, "You... what are you doing here?"

Yue Chuan didn't reply, but looked up and glared at the "bald man" before gently helping Zhao Sumei up.

Seeing the two about to leave, Jiang San'er rubbed his bald head and suddenly a wicked smile appeared on his lips. "No wonder...no wonder you old woman came here...to...to sell yourself! So you came to deliver food to your son on the side. That makes sense, you can make a lot of money selling yourself here, enough to support your...your son's education, hahaha..."

Jiang San'er was definitely no good. He deliberately stuttered on certain sensitive words, which made the group of black-clad thugs laugh lewdly.

Suppressing his anger, Yue Chuan first settled Zhao Sumei on the stone platform of the flower bed, then turned to Jiang San'er and angrily rebuked, "What are you doing here? What right do you have to hit people?"

"I...I...we..." Upon hearing this, Jiang San'er's face instantly turned cold. He stammered, trying to say something, but couldn't utter a single word. Just then, a large, fat man with pockmarked nose jumped out from behind him. The man shoved Jiang San'er aside, leaned down, and glared at the short Yue Chuan, cursing, "You little brat, you dare ask us what we do? We're here to enforce the law, specifically to deal with unlicensed street vendors like you!"

After saying that, "Hemp-nosed" grabbed Yue Chuan by the collar, lifted him up, and then threw him far away like a sack of potatoes.

Yue Chuan, a skinny guy, couldn't withstand the fall. He coughed violently a few times and then lay on the ground groaning in pain.

Zhao Sumei, standing to the side, was so enraged by this sudden turn of events that her lips turned purple. She gritted her teeth and roared, "Zheng the Bear! Are you even human?! You even hit a child!"

"Pockmarked Nose" was far more ruthless than Jiang San'er. He spat, then brandished his fist and roared, "Shut the fuck up! I'm just asking you one question: do you still dare to sell food here?"

Zhao Sumei didn't reply. Her eyes were filled with tears, and she wanted to rush to Yue Chuan's side immediately. However, her ankle was swollen, and she stumbled and fell to the ground on the stone platform. At this moment, Zhao Sumei didn't feel much pain. Instead, she felt a deep sense of guilt. If she hadn't offended someone she shouldn't have, she wouldn't have dragged Yue Chuan into this mess!

Thinking of this, Zhao Sumei's eyes welled up with tears. Fortunately, she had experienced some things and understood that the most urgent task was to save Yue Chuan. So, the woman wiped away her tears and pleaded with the students around her, "Any...any kind student...could help take this child back to school? I...I thank you all!"

Those cries of agony pierced the students' hearts like steel needles. People are naturally compassionate, but in this situation, no one dared to rush forward to help. If they were to be retaliated against by "Pockmarked Nose," wouldn't they end up like that short student?

Qin Shoufeng was no exception. His heart clenched, and he gripped the iron gate railing with both hands, straining to look outside. If he had wings, he would have flown out to save the injured person long ago—it was none other than his dearest cousin! But when he saw the menacing faces of the black-clad thugs, his legs trembled and became unresponsive.

Just as Qin Shoufeng was at a loss, someone next to him whispered, "Let's go report to the teacher!"

Upon hearing this, Qin Shoufeng immediately realized what was happening. He turned around and ran towards the Political Education Office, disappearing in the blink of an eye...

Time passed second by second, and more and more students gathered to watch, and the situation gradually got out of control.

Security captain Zhang Tianhu seemed to realize that something was wrong. He first went outside the school, then turned around and closed the passage door and bolted it shut. His two subordinates then stood guard on both sides of the iron gate, preventing the students from getting any closer.

Zhang Tianhu's image in the students' minds was not very good to begin with, so doing this shameful thing in front of everyone seemed a bit excessive.

At this moment, several burly physical education students stepped forward, pointing at Captain Zhang and cursing:

"Captain Zhang, are you still a security guard at No. 1 High School? You're just going to stand by and do nothing about thugs beating up students?"

"If you can't handle this, then open the school gates and let a few of us out to rescue our juniors!"

"Don't think we don't know. You guys took the cafeteria owner's dirty money, and all you do is make things difficult for us. Once you leave campus, you won't dare utter a sound!"...

These physical education students had just been punished for "unauthorized entry," and they were already holding back their anger when they saw Zhang Tianhu and the others. At this moment, their words became even more intense, showing no mercy to the other party.

Zhang Tianhu was thoroughly scolded. He was about to retort when he was suddenly attacked by the students. Seeing that he had angered everyone, he gritted his teeth, stomped his foot, and walked towards "Ma Keng Bi" not far away.

"Zheng Xiong, give me some face and let me take this student away, otherwise if things really get out of hand, no one can cover it up..."

Zhang Tianhu, with a shameless grin, tried to persuade Zheng Xiong while winking at him, but the other man only glanced at him and didn't take his words seriously at all.

Normally, Captain Zhang was imposing and awe-inspiring, but when he came to this local thug leader named Zheng Xiong, he could only be obsequious and grovel. After much pleading, the other party reluctantly agreed to release the man. Only then did Zhang Tianhu pretend to walk up to Yue Chuan.

Yue Chuan was still slumped on the ground, but before Zhang Tianhu could help him up, the boy shook off the other's hand and struggled to his feet on his own.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Yue Chuan glared fiercely at "Pockmarked Nose," then limped toward Zhao Sumei. The boy was incredibly stubborn; he was barely able to protect himself, yet he still wanted to help Zhao Sumei—it was truly unwise.

"Why aren't you coming back to school with me, kid? What are you doing running off to again?"

Zhang Tianhu knew Zheng Xiong and his gang's methods and wanted to persuade the boy to go back, but before he could stop them, Zheng Xiong beat him to it.

Zheng Xiong's eyes flashed with a fierce light. He swayed his greasy body and rammed into Yue Chuan's face, roaring viciously, "You ignorant brat, trying to act like a hero in front of our law enforcement team? Watch how I deal with you!"

Seeing the other party's arrogant and domineering demeanor, Yue Chuan was enraged. He raised his head, gritted his teeth, and roared, "You... what kind of law enforcement team are you? Is this how you enforce the law? Bullying people in broad daylight, you're thugs! You're gangsters!"

Yue Chuan, usually a man of few words, was able to utter such sharp remarks, which shows that he was truly pushed to the limit this time.

Impersonating a public official to drive away street vendors was a despicable trick Zheng Xiong came up with, but now that a child has exposed it in public, he instantly loses his temper and raises his fist, the size of a sandbag, to hit the person.

Yue Chuan tried to dodge, but because of his previous injury, he was too weak to muster the strength. In that one second of hesitation, he took another solid blow to the face. In an instant, blood streamed from Qin's nose and mouth, and he fell to the ground again.

Just then, Zheng Xiong bent his legs and squatted down on the boy with his big buttocks.

If we compare the local thug Zheng Xiong to a fat pig, then poor Qin is a skinny chicken. Even if the fat pig does nothing, the chicken under it won't fare much better.

"You are... thugs! hooligans! Bastards..."

At first, Qin was still holding his breath, and he had the strength to hit and curse, but after only a few seconds, his face turned liver-colored and he even had difficulty breathing.

Seeing the boy being ridden and beaten by Zheng Xiong, not only Zhao Sumei, but even Zhang Tianhu standing to the side couldn't help but gasp. The students watching turned their faces away, unable to bear to look, and a few timid girls simply covered their eyes and screamed loudly.

Even though Yue Chuan was in such a miserable state, the ruthless Zheng Xiong still had no intention of stopping. He stretched out his fat hand, grabbed the boy's hair and pulled it up, then shoved him heavily into the mud.

"I told you to swear? I told you to swear, are you still going to swear or not!" Once, twice, three times...

The dull thud of his forehead hitting the ground grew louder and louder. Yue Chuan first lost consciousness, then was awakened by the pain, and then lost consciousness again. This cycle repeated several times until he completely lost all vitality...