Falsely believing that Scarface would either be killed or severely injured by his full-strength blow, Tang Xueyan waited for the impact.
Crack!
Yet before Scarface even fell, Tang Xueyan heard a crisp snap come from her own fist. Feeling as though her bones were about to shatter, the pain brought tears straight to her eyes.
Brushing the dust from his chest, Scarface grinned evilly and said, "Little beauty, if you're into this sort of thing, you should've said so sooner! Big brother will give you everything you want. The harder you hit, the more excited big brother gets. Come on, again!"
Turning green with rage, Tang Xueyan let out an angry shout and lashed out at Scarface once more.
This time, however, she knew better than to use her fists. Instead, she unleashed a powerful spinning kick straight at Scarface's chest.
Lin Hao, watching from the side, could only shake his head. One lesson clearly wasn't enough for this woman; it was obvious Scarface had trained extensively in external body-hardening techniques.
Aren't you just serving yourself up on a silver platter like this?
Sure enough, when Tang Xueyan's high heel struck Scarface's chest, not only was he completely unharmed, but the recoil sent Tang Xueyan stumbling back several paces.
Having her heel snapped off by the impact threw off her balance, and she nearly toppled backward onto the ground.
Seeing this, Scarface lunged forward aggressively, a lewd grin on his face as he waved his ugly, bulky paws and lunged to grab her chest.
First her knuckles had been injured by Scarface's counter, and now even her ultimate move—the super aerial spinning kick—had failed to scratch him in the least.
Tang Xueyan had never encountered such a situation before, and she completely lost her composure.
Terrified as Scarface lewdly lunged for her chest, her face drained of color in panic.
In her terror, she instinctively stepped back, forgetting entirely that the heel of her ten-centimeter stiletto had already snapped off.
Losing her center of gravity instantly, she pitched forward as if she were about to crash straight into the pavement.
Yet right at that critical moment, Tang Xueyan suddenly felt herself pulled into a warm embrace.
Looking up, she saw it was Lin Hao who had caught her, and she instinctively let herself rest in his arms.
Meanwhile, facing the incoming Scarface, Lin Hao held Tang Xueyan with his left arm while shooting his right hand out from empty space, firmly grabbing Scarface's wrist.
In an instant, Scarface felt as though his right hand had been clamped in a pair of iron pliers, completely unable to break free no matter how hard he struggled.
Easily subduing Scarface, Lin Hao steadied Tang Xueyan and said with a smile, "Wait for me over there. Be a good girl!"
With that, Lin Hao released his left arm from around Tang Xueyan and prepared to deal with Scarface.
Earlier, when Lin Hao saw Tang Xueyan easily handle a bunch of punks all by herself, he had simply stood on the sidelines to watch the show.
But this was different. Scarface was clearly a formidable opponent, far beyond what she could handle.
If he didn't step in now, it would be inexcusable.
"Okay!" Tang Xueyan nodded heavily and stepped back, her beautiful eyes shimmering as she watched Lin Hao stand up for her.
While speaking with Tang Xueyan, Lin Hao had already let go of Scarface's right wrist. After all, holding another grown man's hand for too long was a bit too bizarre; Lin Hao had no desire to keep that up.
Massaging his wrist, Scarface sneered malevolently, "Brat, looks like you've got a death wish, daring to lay a hand on me."
With that, Scarface raised his right foot and kicked viciously toward Lin Hao.
As a former Jiangbei sanda champion, Scarface took the greatest pride in his leg techniques.
In his mind, the moment he threw a kick, his opponent would undoubtedly scramble to dodge, seeing as anyone he had ever kicked before either died or ended up permanently crippled.
Having studied under a martial arts master in his youth, Scarface had once shattered a bowl-thick jujube tree with a single kick upon completing his training.
To his absolute astonishment, however, Lin Hao showed no intention of dodging the vicious, cunning kick whatsoever. Instead, he mirrored the move, raising his own right foot to kick right back.
He's trying to match kicks with me?
Asking for death!
A flash of excitement crossed Scarface's eyes as he practically envisioned Lin Hao's leg snapping under his blow.
"No!" Tang Xueyan, who had been anxiously watching over Lin Hao, cried out in alarm.
Having suffered two consecutive setbacks at the hands of Scarface's subordinates, Tang Xueyan knew how dangerous he was and feared Lin Hao would get hurt going head-to-head.
Just then, a crisp snap rang out as Lin Hao's right foot slammed viciously into Scarface's leg.
Scarface let out a miserable screech and dropped to his knees, feeling as though a giant sledgehammer had just crashed down onto his right foot.
A wave of blinding pain instantly assaulted his nervous system.
Clutching wildly at his right leg, Scarface realized with horror that his foot had been broken straight through by Lin Hao's kick.
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
Surrounded by agonizing pain, turbulent waves crashed inside Scarface's heart. He had practiced his leg techniques tirelessly every single day for years, pushing them to the realm of splitting stones and breaking monuments. He was always the one breaking other people's legs!
Could the other guy's leg technique possibly be even stronger than his?
Yet who would ever believe that a soft, fair-skinned pretty boy like him possessed superior leg skills?
Hearing the sound of the bone snap, Tang Xueyan had been terrified to death, but upon seeing Scarface howling in agony on the ground, her worries vanished instantly, replaced by a gaze filled with sheer adoration.
Listening to Scarface's screams, Lin Hao had no intention of letting him off the hook just yet. The man had previously threatened to break both of his legs, so why should he hold back now?
"Crack!"
Another miserable howl echoed from Scarface. A scoundrel like this was clearly no good from the start, and Lin Hao felt entirely justified in dealing with him.
Inside the off-road vehicle in the distance, Lü Liang and Brother Dabi stared with dropped jaws, dumbfounded as they watched Lin Hao cripple Scarface's legs.
Neither of them had imagined that the former Jiangbei sanda champion whom Brother Dabi had praised to the heavens wouldn't even last a single move against Lin Hao before having his legs destroyed.
Panicking instantly, Lü Liang urged, "Brother Dabi, hurry up and call for backup! Your guy is totally useless. At least get a hundred or so men over here—I refuse to believe they can't take down one guy."
Brother Dabi roared angrily, "Call your sister! Have you watched too many gangster movies, you jerk? If numbers meant anything in this world, I would have taken over Jiangbei ages ago!
If I'd known the guy you wanted to deal with was this thorny, I wouldn't have touched this job for fifty million, let alone five hundred thousand!"
Realizing Brother Dabi was furious with him, Lü Liang hurriedly placated him, "Calm down, Brother Dabi. Since we can't beat him in a fight, let's change our approach.
The kid is just some poor loser with zero background. No matter how strong he is, he just assaulted someone. We can just call the police! I've got a tight brother over at the municipal police department..."
Glare at Lü Liang, Brother Dabi snapped, "Call your sister's police! Do you even know what I do for a living? Are you trying to send me up the river, you asshole?"
Lü Liang forced a smile and said, "Don't worry, Brother Dabi. My relationship with that brother of mine is ironclad. I'll slip him some cash, and they'll definitely arrest this kid!"
Brother Dabi hesitated, still harboring lingering doubts. Something about tonight's affair felt wrong, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Yet the moment he hesitated, Lü Liang had already dialed his sworn brother at the police department.
"Not a single one of them could actually fight!" Lin Hao had expected a real challenge, but since Scarface couldn't even take a single kick, he suddenly found the whole thing rather dull.
Turning around, he saw Tang Xueyan gazing at him with an infatuated expression, and with a slight smile, he walked over to her.
Taking her severely swollen, pink fist into his hand, Lin Hao gently grasped it with his right hand, channeling wisps of true qi through his palm to rapidly wrap around Tang Xueyan's hand.
Tang Xueyan instantly felt her right hand enveloped by a wave of intense heat. The initial pain began to fade away, replaced by an extraordinary, deeply soothing sensation.
As time passed, the fist that had been injured by Scarface's strike quickly healed completely under the nourishment of Lin Hao's true qi.
Just then, a sudden wail of sirens echoed from afar, followed by half a dozen police cars racing toward the scene.
Over a dozen police officers leaped out of the vehicles, led by a man in his thirties.
In the distant off-road vehicle, Lü Liang cheered excitedly at the arrival of the police cars. "My sworn brother is here! That kid is finished!"
"Who's causing trouble here? Cuffs on all of them, right now!"
The man was Tang Ren, a team leader in the municipal police department's criminal investigation division. The moment he jumped out of the car, he saw a pile of thugs sprawled across the ground.
However, when he approached Lin Hao and Tang Xueyan and spotted Tang Xueyan, his expression changed drastically. "E... Eldest Miss? Why are you here?"
The thugs on the ground had initially rejoiced when they saw the police charge straight toward Lin Hao and Tang Xueyan upon arrival, assuming them to be the reinforcements their boss had requested.
But when they heard Tang Ren—the head of the criminal investigation division—tremblingly address Tang Xueyan as "Eldest Miss," every single one of them was scared out of their wits.
If they still didn't realize who Tang Xueyan was by now, they might as well quit the underworld altogether.
We've dug our own graves!
The thugs felt like crying without tears; they had provoked an existence they could never afford to cross tonight.
"Is this place run by your family? Am I not allowed to be here?"
Seeing that Tang Ren, one of "their own," had tried to slap cuffs on him the moment he arrived, Tang Xueyan naturally didn't give him a pleasant expression.
Seeing Tang Xueyan glare at him coldly, Tang Ren turned green with fright.
As a distant relative of the Tang Family, he had climbed to his current position at such a young age entirely thanks to this family connection.
While he did possess some genuine competence, offending Tang Xueyan—the notoriously prickly Eldest Miss of the Tang Family—might spell the end of his career.
Tang Ren forced an awkward laugh. "Eldest Miss, I just received a report about a brawl here, so I rushed over to check it out."
Tang Xueyan sneered, "It seems the head of the criminal investigation division has plenty of free time on his hands if petty brawls require your personal attention."
"Eldest Miss, please spare me this once!"
Realizing she had achieved her goal and knowing when to quit while she was ahead, Tang Xueyan stopped pushing Tang Ren and instead pointed at the thugs on the ground. "These people attacked me unprovoked with weapons. Handle them yourself."
Hearing this, Tang Ren looked over at the thugs in shock. Have thugs gotten this bold lately? Daring to ambush the Eldest Miss of the Tang Family? Has the world gone mad?
"Cuff every single one of them and take them back to the police station! Send the injured ones to the hospital first, and notify their families to pay the medical bills!"
With that, Tang Ren personally fetched a pair of handcuffs and slapped them on Scarface first, prompting the other officers to spring into action.
Once all the thugs were locked in the police cars, Tang Ren still wanted to come over and curry favor with Tang Xueyan.
Seeing that Tang Xueyan refused to even look at him from start to finish, he offered an awkward laugh before boarding his cruiser and speeding off.
Before leaving, however, Tang Ren cast a deep, lingering look at Lin Hao.
For the Eldest Miss of the Tang Family to stay out late at night, forgoing sleep to accompany a stranger to a roadside food stall—there had to be some sort of relationship between them.
Tang Ren permanently etched Lin Hao's face into his memory. Anyone capable of making the Tang Family's Eldest Miss smile and accompany them personally must have an extraordinary background; Tang Ren naturally needed to remember him well.
That was the instinct of those who survived by clinging to the branches of great aristocratic families.
"Forget it, I'm not eating anymore. Drive me back first, and starting next week, send someone to pick me up and bring me to the Tang Family estate so I can continue your treatment."
Watching the police cars speed away, Lin Hao had lost all appetite and mood to eat.
"Alright!" Tang Xueyan felt a twinge of disappointment. Such a lovely dinner for two had been completely ruined by those thugs.
Her heart burned with fierce resentment; right now, she only wanted to drop Lin Hao off at home and then order a thorough investigation into whoever had dared ruin her evening.
In the off-road vehicle in the distance, Lü Liang and Brother Dabi watched the entire scene unfold, completely dumbfounded.
Try as he might, Lü Liang couldn't wrap his head around why the reinforcements he had called hadn't arrested Lin Hao and Tang Xueyan, but had instead hauled away the very men he had paid for.
Once the police cars cleared out, Brother Dabi finally snapped. Gripping Lü Liang by the collar, he roared, "What the hell is going on here? Didn't you say my men would be fine? Why are those two walking away scot-free?"
Terrified by Brother Dabi's actions, Lü Liang's heart fluttered with panic. "B... Brother Dabi, you're hurting me! I... I don't know why this happened either!"
"Listen up, you little piece of trash! I'm giving you one day to fish my men out of the police station. If you can't get them out, I'll cripple you!"
Tang Xueyan was currently leading Lin Hao toward where she had parked her car.
Her car wasn't far from where they were standing. Upon realizing that the target of his ambush tonight was actually Tang Xueyan, Brother Dabi wished he could drop dead on the spot.
Was someone from the Tang Family a person he could afford to provoke?
To an entity like the Tang Family, crushing a character like him was easier than stepping on an ant!
He had actually sent men to ambush the Eldest Miss of the Tang Family—wasn't this absolute suicide?
In a fit of rage, Brother Dabi delivered a vicious backhand slap straight across Lü Liang's face.
Simultaneously, he roared, "You son of a bitch! Did you eat a leopard's heart or bear's gallbladder? You actually had me move against the Eldest Miss of the Tang Family! Is your brain made of shit?"
Hearing this, Lü Liang wilted instantly, stammering, "Brother Dabi, I didn't know she was the Eldest Miss of the Tang Family!
Who could have guessed that a dignified young lady of the Tang Family wouldn't be sleeping at night, but would instead be eating at a roadside stall with some stinking loser? If I had known who she was, I wouldn't have dared try this if you gave me ten guts!"
Brother Dabi slapped Lü Liang across the face again. "You're the son of a bitch who started this mess! I don't care whether you knew or not—you're getting my men out of that police station within twenty-four hours, and you're coughing up twenty million in mental damages. Otherwise, you and I are completely through!"
"Twenty million?" Lü Liang shrieked in shock, but seeing the murderous look in Brother Dabi's eyes, he whimpered, "Brother Dabi, isn't that a bit too much?"
Though Lü Liang was quite wealthy, coughing up twenty million cash was no small feat for him.
Brother Dabi landed two successive smacks across Lü Liang's face. "Too much, your sister! Do you have any idea what kind of disaster you've dragged me into? That's the Eldest Miss of the Tang Family! Asking for twenty million is letting you off easy. If you don't pay up, I'll beat you to death!"
Seeing stars from the beating and recalling Brother Dabi's notorious rise to power, Lü Liang hastily pleaded, "Brother Dabi, give me some time! I'll get you the money!"
By now, Lü Liang harbored a bone-deep hatred for Lin Hao. Not only had the guy stolen his "woman," but he had also left him on the hook for twenty million.
At the same time, Lü Liang couldn't understand how a penniless loser like Lin Hao managed to hook up with the Tang Family's Eldest Miss.
He considered himself quite a catch, yet Xu Wei wouldn't even deign to give him a proper look.
Lü Liang vowed that once dawn broke, he would expose Lin Hao's true colors right in front of Xu Wei.
Having a beauty like Xu Wei wasn't enough for him; the bastard actually went out and seduced the Tang Family's Eldest Miss as well!
Over at the Tang Family estate:
After Song Ciming departed, Tang Wei suddenly slapped his forehead and cried out, "Dad, did we forget to give Divine Doctor Lin his consultation fee today?"
Upon hearing Tang Wei's words, Tang Shengshi bounded straight up. "You little bastard, why didn't you say so sooner!"
Seeing his grandfather glare at him, Tang Wei hurriedly replied, "I only just remembered!"
Tang Long and Tang Hu rushed over to surround Tang Shengshi anxiously. "Dad, what should we do now?"
Tang Shengshi declared, "I don't have many talents in this life, but I've never misjudged a person. Someone like Divine Doctor Lin is destined for limitless achievements in the future; our Tang Family must seize this opportunity.
Fortunately, the ancestors blessed us by letting me fall gravely ill, allowing us to befriend him before he truly rose to prominence. From what you've described, there's a strong possibility Divine Doctor Lin is a descendant of the Ancient Martial Artists—which makes it all the more crucial for us to stay on his good side.
With a figure like Divine Doctor Lin, simply throwing money at him would likely only make him look down on us. The consultation fee we give him must demonstrate the Tang Family's sincerity without alienating him."
The three brothers nodded in agreement upon hearing their father's words, falling deep into thought.
Tang Shengshi had made his point abundantly clear: regardless of where Lin Hao's future lay, his miraculous medical skills alone made him worth whatever price the Tang Family had to pay to recruit him.
Seeing that the three of them still hadn't come up with anything after a long while, Tang Shengshi spoke up. "Gift-giving is an art in itself. Providing charcoal in snowy weather is always better than adding flowers to embroidery. We'll leave it at that for tonight; Third Son, have people thoroughly investigate Divine Doctor Lin's background tomorrow. Only by presenting him with what he needs most right now will it have any real effect."
"Understood!" Tang Wei nodded and accepted the task.
Returning to his apartment, Lin Hao noticed that the lights in Wang Xuewen's neighboring room were off, realizing she hadn't returned yet. It happened to be a night where no one would disturb his pill-alchemy.
Locking his bedroom door tightly, he laid out the medicinal ingredients for refining the Great Restoration Pill according to the Pill Recipe, preparing to fire up the cauldron.
Just then, Lin Hao's phone suddenly rang.
Pulling out the phone to find an unfamiliar number, Lin Hao frowned, answered it, and asked, "Hello?"
"It's Li Yan!" a woman's voice came through the receiver.
Hearing his girlfriend's voice, Lin Hao instantly surged with excitement. He hadn't had a proper conversation with Li Yan in nearly half a year.
Receiving her call out of the blue tonight, despite the changed number, put him in an exceptionally good mood. Excitedly, he asked, "Yanzi, where are you? Why haven't you been answering my calls these past few days? Why did you suddenly change your number? Did something happen?"
Lin Hao had a stomach full of things he wanted to say to Li Yan, but he needed to figure out what she had been through over the past six months first.
Yet, contrasting sharply with Lin Hao's eager warmth, Li Yan's voice on the other end of the line was ice-cold. "Lin Hao, let's break up!"
"Why? Yanzi, do you know what you're saying?"