Chapter 28 — Shen Yushu's Soldier Brother
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
Shen Yushu wasn't one to swallow that kind of insult. She went to confront Wu Xiaocan, even slapping him across the face in public. Wu Xiaocan then put out a vicious threat, telling Shen Yushu to watch her step after school — he was going to have a gang of men take turns on her.
This matter eventually came to the attention of Shen Yushu's brother, Chen Yuming. It was a winter afternoon. Zhong Yongliang could never forget the scene from that day.
A Land Rover pulled up at the school gate. A tall, broad-shouldered young man stepped out of the vehicle and went straight to Wu Xiaocan, who was kicking a ball around on the sports field.
Wu Xiaocan, not yet grasping the situation, put on his usual arrogant air and said to Chen Yuming: "Whoever you send, it won't work. Who do you think you are? Just some stinking soldier? Who do you think you're scaring? Let me tell you — no matter how good a fighter you are, we're a whole bunch of guys. We'll beat you to a pulp."
Chen Yuming said only one thing: "Go to the school broadcasting station and apologize to Shen Yushu. Then this is over."
Wu Xiaocan laughed — a wild, arrogant laugh. He had never heard such a ridiculous joke in his life. His band of lackeys around him erupted in laughter as well.
Chen Yuming frowned, then drove his foot into Wu Xiaocan's lower abdomen, sending him toppling over with a single kick. He then raised his fist and hammered it into Wu Xiaocan's body, and the sound of cracking bones rang out at once.
Wu Xiaocan's lackeys were stunned speechless on the spot. Though they had fought plenty of brawls in their time, they had never seen anyone who came at a person with such intent to shatter bones right from the very first blow. This was on an entirely different level from anything they had ever encountered.
Chen Yuming was truly enraged. Shen Yushu had been the apple of his eye since childhood; he had never once let her suffer the slightest hardship. And now this Wu Xiaocan had not only laid hands on his little sister but had spread rumors to humiliate her, even threatening her. Chen Yuming had truly reached the end of his patience.
Zhong Yongliang had been one of Wu Xiaocan's henchmen back then. He was standing right there in the middle of that crowd, watching Wu Xiaocan shriek like a stuck pig, and it shook him to the core. The wretchedness of that scene was such that for days afterward he kept starting awake from nightmares.
The Wu family was of course no pushover either; otherwise Wu Xiaocan could never have put on such airs. But the moment they learned that the man who had beaten him was a major general in the army, they wilted.
However formidable you may be in your own corner of the world, you still have no say in what goes on in the army. They did make their complaint to Chen Yuming's unit, and Chen Yuming did receive a disciplinary slap on the wrist, but not a bone of him was actually broken.
And that was only Chen Yuming's own background. Later the Wu family learned about Shen Yushu, about Chen Yuming's parents, and about Old Master Chen away off in the capital.
At once they were scared half out of their wits. Come to think of it, their son's conduct might have looked like mere foolishness, but put seriously, it already amounted to intimidation, insult, and defamation; taken a step further, it could even be counted as molesting and indecently assaulting a young girl. If the Chen family had truly set its mind to ruining them, Wu Xiaocan would have been finished for life.
Fortunately Chen Yuming was a magnanimous sort. After the Wu family came to his door weighed down with gifts large and small to apologize, Chen Yuming let it be known that he would not pursue the matter any further; but at the same time he let it be known that Wu Xiaocan's continued presence at the school was none too good for the young lady's health, body and mind alike.