Urban Martial Saint

The security room door was shut tight, and two guards had trapped the three people inside the room. The skinny one had even drawn the curtains, making it impossible for anyone outside to see what was happening within.

The skinny man may have been frail, but compared to Ye Qing, he could be considered strong. As for that hulking man, he looked even more ferocious. Although their number was smaller than Huo Pingping’s group, Huo Pingping and Huang Yun could be completely disregarded.

”What... what do you want to do?” Huang Yun was terrified, looking at the cold gleam in the two guards’ eyes, and regretted meddling in this mess. Could it be that she was going to lose her life over this today?

”What do you think!” the burly man barked as he took a wooden stick as thick as a wrist from behind the door and menacingly advanced towards the three of them.

”Ah!” Huang Yun screamed, hastily retreating several steps and taking cover behind Huo Pingping.

Even though Ye Qing was a man, in her eyes, he was nothing more than a wimp living off a woman. In a situation like this, Ye Qing would be of no use, less reliable than the brash Huo Pingping.

Huo Pingping was relatively calm, stepping back a few paces to avoid the hulking man, glanced at Ye Qing, and said, ”Your turn, ex-soldier!”

Ye Qing sighed helplessly, moved in front of the two women, and calmly looked at the burly man, ”Stop it, theft won’t get you many years. Confess now, and you can still be considered to have turned yourself in!”

”Shut the hell up, I’ve got no plans to go to prison!” the burly man retorted coldly, ”You three bastards, you should have pretended you knew nothing about this. But no, you had to make a fuss. Well, none of you is leaving here today!”

”Big brother, this has nothing to do with me,” Huang Yun pleaded with a trembling voice. She didn’t feel that Ye Qing could change the situation at all. Instead, she bore some resentment towards him. If it weren’t for Ye Qing exposing this matter, the two guards wouldn’t have turned violent toward them.

”Less nonsense, I’ll take care of them and then shut down the surveillance room. We’ll toss them out later tonight!” the skinny one commanded.

”Hehe...” With a cold laugh, the burly man raised the stick in his hand to smash down on Ye Qing’s head.

Ye Qing also raised his leg in response, kicking right at the stick. On impact, the burly man felt a shock in his hand, unable to hold onto the stick, it slipped from his grasp.

Ye Qing then took the opportunity to step forward, delivering a heavy punch to the burly man’s face. The man immediately collapsed to the ground, clutching his mouth as blood streamed from his nose and mouth.

The skinny one hadn’t even had time to react before hesitating a moment, by then Ye Qing was already in front of him. A hit with his elbow struck the skinny man’s chest, knocking him to the ground, crying out for his father and mother.

In less than a minute, both men had been taken down by Ye Qing.

Huang Yun was dumbfounded; she had assumed that Ye Qing couldn’t even take a single hit from them. Instead, the result was that the two men were no match for a single blow from Ye Qing.

Taking the opportunity, Huo Pingping launched a series of kicks at the two, cursing loudly, ”Dare to smash my camera, I’ll kick you two bastards to death!”

After Huo Pingping had kicked them a few times, Ye Qing went over to pull her away, saying, ”Enough, call an ambulance.”

”An ambulance? Call the cops,” Huo Pingping shouted angrily.

”Let it be, they were just stealing, it’s not a big deal. Call an ambulance first,” Ye Qing said, ”They are badly injured and can’t fight back now. Let’s take care of their wounds before handing them over to the police, so they don’t suffer more!”

Huo Pingping looked up at Ye Qing and said, ”Just stealing? You talk like a good person. What about those people a few days ago? Why didn’t I see you calling an ambulance for them?”

Ye Qing: ”It’s different.”

Huo Pingping snorted and said, ”What’s the difference? They’re both crimes.”

Ye Qing did not argue with Huo Pingping about these issues; he had his own reasons. The men he had dealt with before had blood on their hands and had ruined other people’s lives. Such people did not deserve his sympathy. However, to Ye Qing, these two were just thieves, which he did not consider an unforgivable crime.

In the end, Huo Pingping still called Chen Keai, Cutie, and also reported the incident to the police.

The ambulance arrived first, with Chen Keai following. Seeing the condition of the injured, Chen Keai’s eyes widened in outrage, looking up at Ye Qing she exclaimed, ”The nasal bone is broken, and so many ribs are fractured. Ye Qing, can’t you be more measured when you strike? Why be so violent?”

Huang Yun listened with her eyes wide open, having witnessed the entire process. She could hardly imagine that a casual punch from Ye Qing could be so powerful. Broken nose, fractured ribs – was that what a fist could achieve?

Ye Qing shrugged helplessly; in fact, he had been holding back with his punches. But ever since he had started practicing the Breathing Method of Acupoint Seeking Technique, his strength seemed to be growing uncontrollably.

”Violence freak!” Chen Keai labeled Ye Qing, discontentedly leaving with the ambulance.

Huo Pingping patted Ye Qing’s shoulder, saying, ”That’s just how Cutie is, overflowing with compassion since she was little. She’d rush to bandage an injured ant. Don’t mind her; I think what you did was quite good. If it had been me, I’d have beaten them to death ages ago!”

In terms of violence, Huo Pingping was absolutely on Ye Qing’s side.

It wasn’t long before the police arrived, and Huo Pingping recounted the whole situation. The police went to the hospital to arrest those two people, and Huo Pingping had thus dealt with the matter, providing an explanation for the company.

After reporting to the manager by phone, Huo Pingping, with a beam of satisfaction, gestured and said, ”Come on, sis is treating you to skewers. Huang Yun, join us!”

The three found a night market stall nearby, ordered thirty lamb skewers, and had a few beers. Finally, Huang Yun couldn’t help but turn to Ye Qing and ask, ”Ye Qing, since those two modified the surveillance records, why did they also smash the camera? Isn’t that just creating trouble for themselves?”

Huo Pingping, with the same bewilderment, looked at Ye Qing; she too couldn’t make sense of it.

Ye Qing countered, ”They told everyone that the camera malfunctioned, and the company’s staff would definitely come to check. If they inspected the camera and found no problems, then how would they explain the issue with the surveillance records?”

Huo Pingping and Huang Yun had an epiphany. The two security guards smashed the camera to give the impression that it was broken. That way, even if Huo Pingping’s company came to inspect, they wouldn’t know if the camera actually had any issues prior, nor would they suspect there was a problem with the surveillance records.

”Ye Qing, I didn’t expect you to be so attentive!” Huang Yun expressed her genuine admiration, ”I think you’re quite formidable yourself, taking down the two of them on your own. You must’ve been in the military before, you must be very good at fighting. But, you seem a bit too deferential in front of Wang Xuan, don’t you think?

I feel that, as a man, you should be spirited, have some backbone, and not let others walk all over you!”

Ye Qing shook his head and said, ”A man should know what to do and what not to do. If a man only dwells on trivial grudges, in the end, he is nothing but petty. Spirit and backbone are not about whether you can trample on others, but whether you can protect those who need your protection!”

Huang Yun and Huo Pingping were stunned for a while. It took quite some time before Huo Pingping finally slammed the table and said, ”Damn soldier, I’ve known you for so long, and it’s this sentence that I really admire. Here’s to you!”

Ye Qing had a beer with Huo Pingping and softly added, ”That sentence wasn’t mine.”

”Whose was it then?” Huo Pingping asked curiously.

Ye Qing replied, ”It was an elder of mine.”

”An elder? Then this elder of yours must be very capable!” Huo Pingping’s eyes shone with admiration.

”He passed away many years ago,” Ye Qing sighed lightly. The elder he spoke of was none other than Third Master Li Changqing!

Third Master Li had not only taught him martial arts, but also many important life lessons. This saying was something Third Master Li often told Ye Qing. Years had passed, but those words seemed to always echo in Ye Qing’s ears, never allowing him to forget!

”I don’t see it that way,” Huang Yun muttered quietly, ”A man should have some pride anyway. He embarrassed you in front of so many people, how can you hold your head high in front of your colleagues after that?”

Ye Qing glanced at Huang Yun and said, ”Wang Xuan may hold his head high in front of all his colleagues, but how many of them speak well of him behind his back?”

Huang Yun was instantly speechless, unable to refute Ye Qing’s point.

Moved by the conversation, Huo Pingping said, ”That’s just how life is. Those who are aggressive and overbearing in public often don’t receive genuine respect in private. What you should do and what you want to do, as long as you’re clear about it in your heart, that’s enough. Why bother quibbling over trivialities if it doesn’t cross your bottom line?”

Ye Qing looked at Huo Pingping, surprised she could say such a thing given her personality.

After having dinner, Ye Qing and Huo Pingping hurried back home. As soon as they reached the doorstep, they sensed something was off inside the house.

Fang Tingyun, Chen Keai, and Mo Xiang sat in the living room, the three girls talking about something in whispers. Their secretive demeanor seemed rather odd.

”What’s going on?” Huo Pingping wondered.

”Keep your voice down,” Fang Tingyun hastily gestured for silence and subtly pointed towards Mu Qingrong’s room.

Huo Pingping turned to look, only to see Mu Qingrong’s room door firmly shut, unsure of what was happening inside.

Perplexed, and without raising her voice, Huo Pingping asked, ”What happened? Did the big boss come back?”

Chen Keai whispered, ”Ms. Mu is inside; she seems to be in a bad mood today, she went straight to her room upon returning.”

”A bad mood? Why?” Huo Pingping was even more perplexed.

Fang Tingyun quietly said, ”I heard that... it seems there’s been a major problem with Ms. Mu’s company’s business...”

Everyone turned to look at Ye Qing, who, as a business representative of the company, would indeed know best.

However, in fact, Ye Qing had no idea. He had only been with the company for a few days, and with Wang Xuan targeting him, he had been deliberately excluded from the main business. Ye Qing didn’t know anything about the company’s business, let alone which deal was problematic!