Chapter 96

I don’t know where I found the strength and courage, but I suddenly scrambled up from the ground, rushed behind this guy, grabbed him by the neck, and dragged him away from Wang Qin to the wall. Then I picked up a shard of broken glass from under the nearby window and pressed its sharp tip against his neck. “Don’t come any closer. If you dare move, I’ll stab him. Try me if you don’t believe it.”

With the sharp glass tip pressed against his neck, the guy didn’t dare breathe too hard and quickly said, “Bro, let’s talk this out…”

“Who’s your bro?!”

I held his neck with one hand and the glass shard with the other. “You’d better pull your pants up right now, or I’ll cut that thing off.”

Terrified, the guy hurriedly pulled up his underwear with his hands.

Li Qiang spoke up repeatedly, “Tang Zheng, we’ve got no grudge against each other. If you let him go now, I’ll pretend today never happened. How about that?”

“Fuck your mother.”

I said coldly, “Li Qiang, if I let you three animals do anything to Wang Qin today, I’d be worse than cutting off my own dick. If you still want to try anything, I don’t mind spilling some of this guy’s blood.”

As I spoke, I pushed the glass shard forward a bit more, its sharp tip pressing against the carotid artery in the guy’s neck.

Immediately, a burning pain shot through my palm. I didn’t need to think to know the glass had cut me, but I had no time to worry about that now.

“Tang Zheng, are you really going to stick your nose in this?” Li Qiang’s face darkened. “What’s Wang Qin to you that you’d go this far for her? Did she sleep with you or something?”

“Li Qiang, you’d better watch your filthy mouth.”

Even though Wang Qin and I did have that kind of relationship, admitting it now would make me a complete idiot. Li Qiang might just decide to go down fighting with me.

Wang Qin sobbed, “Tang Zheng, just go. I have nothing to do with you. It’s not worth you doing this.”

“Shut up!”

I didn’t have time for sentimental talk with her.

I said coldly to Li Qiang, “Li Qiang, let’s make a deal. You escort me and Wang Qin out, and I’ll give your buddy back to you. Otherwise, I don’t mind opening a hole in him.”

Li Qiang’s expression flickered rapidly, probably because he hadn’t expected me to seize the upper hand.

But just then, a sharp pain hit my abdomen, and my grip on the guy loosened involuntarily.

Because while I wasn’t paying attention, the guy had elbowed me, sending a churning agony through my stomach that nearly made me throw up uncontrollably.

“Fuck your mother!”

Once he broke free from my hold, the guy hit me with another elbow strike, this time making my head buzz loudly. I couldn’t help but slump against the wall.

But it didn’t end there. The guy rushed over and gave me a brutal beating. I lay on the ground, covering my head with both hands.

“Stop hitting him, please stop!”

Wang Qin cried out loudly, “Don’t you want to have me? As long as you let Tang Zheng go, I’ll agree to anything!”

“Sister Qin…”

Before I could finish, another punch landed on my stomach, the pain forcing the rest of my words back down.

“Should’ve known better from the start.”

Li Qiang grinned viciously, came over, and kicked me. “You two go ahead and take care of this slut first. We’re all brothers here—I’ll let you two have your fun first today.”

“Then we won’t hold back.”

The other two walked over to Wang Qin, laughing lewdly as they tore her clothes apart in an instant. Her pale, naked body was exposed, but now I felt no desire—only hatred, hatred that I couldn’t even protect Wang Qin.

Wang Qin looked at me with despair in her eyes, unable to say a word, tears streaming down her face, her lips bitten until they bled.

The two guys laughed heartily. “Sister-in-law, your figure’s really something. Today, we brothers are in for a treat.”

“But don’t cry, sister-in-law. Who cares who does it? Just let us have some fun today, and you’ll come to love this feeling too.”

As they spouted their filthy words, they pulled down their pants, revealing their disgusting parts.

“Come on, give me a blow.”

One of them grabbed Wang Qin’s head with his big hand and shoved his ugly thing toward her mouth.

I watched, my eyes nearly splitting with rage, but Li Qiang had his foot pressing down on my back, and I had no strength left. All I could do was watch helplessly.

“Tang Zheng, tell me yourself—isn’t this slut just so horny?” Li Qiang suddenly patted my cheek. “I was thinking of letting you join in the fun too, but you had to be blind and go against me!”

“Li Qiang, fuck your mother!”

I cursed angrily, “What kind of man does this to his own woman?”

Bang!

Li Qiang grabbed the fire extinguisher I’d held earlier and smashed it against my back, the pain so intense I nearly curled into a ball.

Just as the guy standing in front of Wang Qin was about to shove his disgusting thing into her mouth, several people burst in through the door. “Don’t move!”

Right after, a woman rushed in frantically. The moment she saw the two guys’ exposed parts, she let out a scream and quickly retreated outside.

The second I saw who had come in, I breathed a sigh of relief. Chen Hui had made it after all.

Otherwise, I’d probably have been done for today.

The ones who entered were, of course, police officers. Seeing what the two men were about to do to Wang Qin, they were instantly furious. One of them dashed forward and pinned the two guys to the ground.

At the same time, several others lunged at Li Qiang. He glanced left and right, rushed to the window, and was about to jump when one of the officers grabbed him tightly.

“Damn it, instead of learning anything good, you’re out here doing these twisted things—and even thinking of doing something so disgusting to a woman.”

The officers had seen exactly what those two were about to do, and they couldn’t help but kick them a few times.

Chen Hui hurried in, untied the ropes on Wang Qin, and then took off her own jacket to drape over her.

I slowly got up from the ground, feeling aches all over my body, but still managed a grin at Chen Hui. “Manager Chen, if you’d been a little later, the consequences would’ve been unthinkable.”

There wasn’t a shred of exaggeration in what I said. If Chen Hui had arrived even a bit later, Wang Qin might have been violated by those two bastards.

Chen Hui helped me up and asked, “How are you holding up?”

“I’m okay, not dying.” I forced a bitter smile.

“That’s good.” Chen Hui said, “Let’s get to the hospital first. You’re part of the company now—I can’t just let you work while injured.”

Chen Hui took me and Wang Qin to the hospital, accompanied by two police officers. After all, this wasn’t a minor incident—if they’d been a little later, we might have been in real danger.

At the hospital, the doctor first examined Wang Qin, who was still in shock, and said there wasn’t much of a problem—she’d recover after some time. The police immediately went to take her statement, though I didn’t know what they asked.

Soon, my test results came back: my head had been cut open, my palm was sliced by the glass, and though I’d taken plenty of punches and kicks, they were all external injuries—just needing some ointment.

Lying on the hospital bed, I felt the pain all over my body even more clearly now.

Earlier, I’d been running on sheer willpower. Now that I’d let go of that tension, the pain hit me full force, almost as if it had been amplified.

Chen Hui said, with a hint of meaning, “That story about a theft was fake, wasn’t it? You mainly went to save that woman, right?”

“I was afraid you wouldn’t agree if I told you straight out.” I forced a bitter smile. “Actually, she’s my neighbor next door. I used to deliver packages to her, but I don’t know why her man tied her up and was going to let other men have her. So she called me, and I had to go.”

“Why are you telling me all this?” Chen Hui said flatly. “Shouldn’t you be telling my sister instead?”

“Manager Chen, I really appreciate what you did today.” I said, still shaken. “No matter what, I owe you for this.”

Chen Hui said expressionlessly, “Rest for a bit. I’ll go check on your neighbor.”

With that, she stood up and walked out.

I knew she might be going to ask about what was between me and Wang Qin. I had no idea if Wang Qin would spill anything—if she said I was her man, that would be trouble.

So I forced myself up from the bed despite the aches. Most of my injuries were external, so moving around hurt a bit, but it wasn’t too serious otherwise.

But after searching outside for a while, I couldn’t find any sign of Chen Hui or Wang Qin.

Had that woman just left?

After circling around, I had no choice but to head back to the room. Just as I was about to lie down, Chen Hui returned, a smile on her face. “Tang Zheng, even though you took leave today, I’ve decided to report this to the company.”

“Report to the company?” I froze, then asked cautiously, “Is it a public criticism?”

“No, it’s a commendation.” Chen Hui smiled mysteriously. “Think about it—a client facing a life-threatening situation and the threat of assault calls you, and you risk yourself to save her. That’s pure positive energy. If word gets out, it’s nothing but good for our company.”

“You mean we should also report it to the media?” I hadn’t expected Chen Hui to be thinking along those lines.

“Exactly.” Chen Hui nodded with a smile. “This is definitely a good thing for our company. And I just confirmed with your neighbor—it was indeed a desperate call to you, and you rushed over. So no matter how you look at it, this is a great chance for us to promote the company.”

She had a point, but if this got back to my cousin, she might misunderstand me.

I thought for a moment and asked cautiously, “That makes sense, but I’m worried Yaoyao might get the wrong idea. After all, I left during work hours.”

I was just testing the waters—I couldn’t exactly say I was afraid my cousin would misunderstand.

“It’s fine.”

Chen Hui said with an air of mystery, “I’ll just say I approved your leave. Yaoyao won’t have any objections. Besides, what you did was a good deed. If you hadn’t gone today, that girl might have fallen victim to those scumbags, right?”

I thought it over and figured she had a point, but I didn’t know anyone in the media.

Just as I was mulling that over, the two police officers came back to take my statement. I told them what Chen Hui and I had discussed—that I’d received Wang Qin’s distress call during work, talked it over with Chen Hui, and then went to save her.

About ten minutes later, the statement was done. The officers told me to rest well and then left.

I asked, puzzled, “Manager Chen, what do we do now?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll get the media to cover this right away. And I’ll follow up on that girl’s situation too. That way, we can boost our company’s reputation, and we’ll even provide her with free legal aid.”

Chen Hui said with a beaming smile, “So from now on, you’re a great hero.”