“Are you serious?”
Yang Lu paused mid-bite on his lobster, looking up at Lin Xiaohan.
This woman was actually asking him to slap her? It reminded him of how Zhou Suyun had behaved.
“I’m serious! As long as it means you’ll forgive me.” Lin Xiaohan replied firmly, closing her eyes and tilting her face up.
If a slap would earn his forgiveness, then it was worth it.
Yang Lu looked at her, recognizing that she wasn’t kidding. He raised his hand, preparing to deliver the slap.
While the reward for slapping the same person again was much smaller, every bit counted. Besides, Lin Xiaohan’s skin was soft, and the slap would be more satisfying than it had been with Zhou Suyun.
However, just as he was about to strike, he stopped and lowered his hand.
Lin Xiaohan’s eyes welled up with tears, and the faint mark from his previous slap was still visible on her face.
She had a painful past—her beloved grandfather had died when she was young, and her father had been too focused on business to show her much attention. Her mother had left, and her grandmother preferred her brother over her.
She’d eventually ended up as the protagonist’s woman. If he had only loved her, that would have been fine, but he was a notorious womanizer. On top of that, Zhao Ritian’s enemies often sought her out, making her life even more miserable. Out of all the female leads, she was perhaps the one who had it worst.
Seeing her now, genuinely apologizing, he found he just couldn’t go through with the slap. “Damn it, when did I, a villain, grow soft-hearted?” he thought.
The onlookers, who had been clenching their fists in anticipation, finally relaxed. If Yang Lu had slapped such a beautiful woman right then, they might not have been able to hold themselves back. This story is hosted at NovelPing.
“Why didn’t you slap me?” Lin Xiaohan opened her eyes, surprised to see Yang Lu had resumed eating his lobster. She had been certain he’d raised his hand to slap her. Did this mean…?
A thought began to form in her mind.
Yang Lu, noticing her look of surprise, rolled his eyes and said, “My hand hurts today. I don’t feel like it.”
He wasn’t about to admit he’d felt a pang of sympathy. This whole villain thing was clearly not his forte.
“You still care about me after all! I knew it!” Lin Xiaohan broke into a bright smile.
She was thrilled. The fact that he hadn’t slapped her proved he still had feelings for her. All the sadness she had felt earlier vanished, replaced with a newfound sense of happiness. She truly mattered to him!
Yang Lu just rolled his eyes again. “No idea what you’re talking about. I don’t understand.”
‘I’m the villain here, he thought. Emotions? Not my thing.’
“Yang Lu! There you are! Today, I’ll show you what it means to be a real man!”
As Yang Lu finished his lobster and was about to reach for a piece of leafy green on the table, a furious voice rang out from the doorway. He looked up to see a towering man, his expression ice-cold, storming toward him with an imposing air.
The man brushed past a waiter in his path, hurling him aside with a single hand. The people around him gasped.
“Soldier King, Zhao Ritian!”
The name echoed in Yang Lu’s mind. The man marching toward him was none other than the novel’s protagonist, Zhao Ritian. Judging by the fury in his eyes, it was clear he intended to kill Yang Lu.
Yang Lu wasn’t particularly worried.
With his Nine Yang Divine Art at the fourth level, he was confident he could handle Zhao Ritian. However, Zhao Ritian’s protagonist status meant his protagonist points far exceeded Yang Lu’s villain points. If he killed Zhao Ritian now, he’d likely face a severe plot backlash, which was something he wanted to avoid. You are reading on novelping.com, the official source.
Yang Lu recalled reading similar scenes in novels, where the protagonist’s dramatic arrival always seemed grand and imposing. But experiencing it now, he felt it was more irritating than anything else. Zhao Ritian’s entrance was like a thug posturing for a fight—anything but dignified.
“Today, I’ll—”
“Zhao Ritian, what do you think you’re doing?!”
Zhao Ritian had reached Yang Lu and was about to strike when he was interrupted by an angry voice.
Turning around, he saw Lin Xiaohan glaring at him.
“Lin… Lin Xiaohan, what are you doing here?!” Zhao Ritian stammered, barely able to suppress his impulse to call her “first wife.” Remembering their previous encounters, he quickly caught himself.
But why was she with Yang Lu? This didn’t add up.
“Where I am is none of your business!” Lin Xiaohan replied coldly, her annoyance evident. Did he really think she needed his permission to be anywhere? His timing was terrible, interrupting just as she and Yang Lu were about to resolve things. If he ruined this, she would never forgive him.
“I get it!” Zhao Ritian exclaimed, suddenly realizing what was going on. “You’re here to get back at him for slapping you this morning, right? Lin Xiaohan, no need to lift a finger. Leave it to me—I’ll make sure he’s finished! You can count on me.”
Seeing the opportunity to defend his beloved, Zhao Ritian prepared to attack Yang Lu. But before he could, something unexpected happened.
“Shut up!” Lin Xiaohan shouted. “I like it when he slaps me. What does that have to do with you? Now get lost, or don’t blame me for what I do next!”