Chapter 2: Betrayal Among Thieves

Lu Feng was a man of his word—when he said "get lost," he meant it. The two thugs, one with an earring and the other with dyed yellow hair, had initially wanted to walk away with dignity, but after receiving several hard kicks, they had no choice but to literally roll away, not daring to get up until they'd put twenty meters between themselves and Lu Feng. Only then did they scramble off in shame.

Lu Feng returned to the unconscious girl, crouched down to check her breathing—which was very shallow—and then took her pulse.

Her pulse was weak, deep, and frail, barely detectable unless pressed heavily; it spoke of depleted energy and exhausted blood. Clearly, she was suffering from a deficiency pulse. Lu Feng studied the girl's face more closely; she was a pretty young woman, but cursed with such a sickly constitution—no wonder she fainted so easily.

She was struggling to breathe. He needed to press the "Shanzhong" and "Tianchi" acupoints to help her breathe and regulate her heart meridian.

But those acupoints were on her chest. Lu Feng hesitated, hand poised awkwardly as he gazed at the girl's full bosom, swallowing hard, unsure how to proceed.

He recited to himself, “A healer’s heart is like a parent’s,” steeling his resolve. With righteous determination, his hands descended.

His left hand pressed the center of her chest, fingers sinking between two soft mounds. His right hand pressed the left side, fingers sinking into the supple flesh. The sensation was so soft and yielding it sent a shiver through him.

Despite his wandering thoughts, Lu Feng had studied medicine and martial arts since childhood and was well-trained. Locating the acupoints was child's play.

After a while, the girl woke with a faint moan. As soon as she opened her eyes and saw Lu Feng, then looked down to see his hands on her chest, she bolted upright in terror, whimpering as she scrambled backwards until she was pressed into a corner, hugging her knees, trembling and quietly sobbing—looking as though she'd already been violated.

"Hey! Nothing happened to you, so what are you crying for? Even if something had, it wasn't me! Don't go blaming me. It’d take a lot of effort to treat your sickly body, even if I wanted to!" Lu Feng protested.

The girl, still lost in the terror of her recent memory, hugged her knees over her chest and sobbed, "You… you touched me…"

Lu Feng hurriedly pointed at his own chest, exclaiming, "Hey, hey, hey! That wasn’t touching! I was pressing acupuncture points—do you understand? Here in the middle is the 'Shanzhong' point, helps with breathing. On the left is 'Tianchi,' regulates the heart. You’re frail and asthmatic—you should know this!"

"You touched me… wuwuwu…" The girl just kept crying, not hearing a word.

Lu Feng grew flustered. He'd never encountered a situation like this. He took a step forward, wanting to explain.

"Don’t come any closer… please let me go. I won’t call the police…" the girl whimpered, begging softly.

"Damn it! It's not like I… Wait, you weren't even— Anyway, it wasn’t me. I saved you…" Lu Feng realized that in the eyes of the world, he'd gone from rescuer to villain.

The girl glanced up, saw him holding her purse, and instantly lowered her head, crying louder. "You can have all the money in my bag, just please let me go…"

"This is my loot…" Lu Feng muttered, glancing at the women’s purse in his hand. It had been stolen from thieves in the first place, but it didn’t feel right not to return it. Sighing, he handed it back. "Alright, alright, here’s your bag. Whatever you think happened, it wasn’t me. I chased off those two guys. I’ll leave now—I won’t hurt you."

With that, Lu Feng set off with his big dog.

Rubbing his stomach, Lu Feng sighed, "Qilin, looks like we’ll go hungry tonight. Why did I return her bag? That was my prize, wasn’t it? Oh well… The old man said to earn money in the city by treating patients, collecting fees. But that girl is so frail—she’d take months to treat. We can’t go hungry that long…"

He and the dog wandered slowly for a while, when suddenly hurried footsteps sounded behind them, followed by a clear, commanding shout: "Stop!"

Lu Feng turned to see the girl in the white dress from earlier, but now her delicate look was replaced by a cold fury, as if he were her sworn enemy.

"Is there something else?" Lu Feng began, wanting to ask why she'd followed him.

Without a word, the girl lunged at him with a vicious side kick aimed at his chest—no trace of weakness in her movements.

Lu Feng frowned slightly, raised a hand, and effortlessly caught her by the ankle. His gaze drifted up her long, slender leg and he clicked his tongue. "Hey! You shouldn’t kick so high—people can see up your skirt."

"Shameless!" she snapped, retracting her leg and swinging a fist at his face, her punch sharp and practiced—she clearly knew how to fight.

Lu Feng dodged, surprised. "Huh… You’re pretty skilled. Why didn’t you fight back against those thugs earlier? You could’ve handled them easily."

"I save my strength for beating up people like you!" she spat.

"Hey, hey… I rescued you and gave your bag back—"

"Die, you pervert!"

Her eyes blazed with fury as she launched two more kicks. Finding her long dress cumbersome, she bent down and tore it off at the knees, transforming it into a short skirt and revealing two shapely calves.

Now unencumbered, the girl attacked with even more ferocity, leaping up and bringing her leg down in a crushing blow.

As her skirt flared out, Lu Feng couldn’t help but notice, "Wait, what? Safety shorts? That’s cheating!"

"Shameless!" she yelled, humiliated and enraged, her attacks growing even more ruthless.

Just then, a soft voice called from afar, "Qing… stop fighting. He's not… not the one…"

Lu Feng turned, startled to see another young woman identical to the first.

No, this one was the real girl from before—the one who’d fainted. The one attacking him was someone else. No wonder she wasn’t frail.

Twins. They were identical twins—same face, same dress.

"Sister, is it him or not?" the one called Qing demanded, wrinkling her nose at Lu Feng.

"It was him…" her sister replied.

"How dare you bully my sister! I’ll beat you to death!" Qing clenched her fists, ready to attack again, and Lu Feng quickly backed away.

The frail girl grabbed her sister’s hand. "He chased off the thieves."

Lu Feng finally exhaled in relief. Honestly, girl, could you not leave out the crucial details?

"Hmph!" Qing snorted, lowering her fists reluctantly.

"Thank you for returning my bag. My name is Su Muyu, and this is my sister Su Muqing. Qing is just hot-tempered—she didn’t mean to attack you," Su Muyu said, embarrassed at her earlier mistake.

Su Muqing tugged at her sister’s hand, whispering anxiously, "Sister, why are you telling him our names? What if he’s a bad guy?"

"He’s not. He didn’t hurt me—he’s not a bad person," Su Muyu reassured her.

"Says who? He was staring at me… at my…" Su Muqing wanted to say he’d seen up her skirt, but the words stuck in her throat. She stomped her foot in frustration. "He’s a pervert!"

Hey, you were the one who kicked your skirt up—and besides, you wore safety shorts! Does that even count?

Lu Feng silently rolled his eyes and waved them off. "Forget it, I’ve got things to do," he said, turning to leave.

"Wait…" Su Muyu hurried after him. "Can you tell me your name? I really want to thank you."

"Lu Feng—Lu as in land, Feng as in breeze."

Lu Feng intended to make a cool exit, but after a few steps he noticed Qilin hadn’t followed. Turning back, he saw the dog sniffing around the twins. He strode over, grabbed its ear, and scolded, "What are you sniffing for? Those are legs, not ham—don’t embarrass me."

Woof… woof…

The big dog whimpered as its owner dragged it away by the ear.

"Your husky seems hungry," Su Muyu remarked with a smile.

This isn’t a husky, all right? Have you ever seen a husky so big and fluffy? But Lu Feng couldn’t be bothered to explain. After all, Alaskan Malamutes did look a lot like huskies.

Dragging his silly dog, Lu Feng made a hasty retreat.

…

Five minutes later, as Lu Feng walked down the street, a red Volkswagen Beetle pulled up.

The window rolled down, and Su Muyu poked her head out. "What a coincidence. Where are you headed? We can give you a ride."

Lu Feng hesitated. "Will it cost money?" Earlier, he’d tried to catch a ride, but everyone wanted payment.

"No—" Su Muyu started, but Su Muqing cut her off.

"Sis, don’t talk to that bad man! You're inviting a wolf into the house!"

"Don’t exaggerate. There’s no harm in giving him a lift if it’s on the way," Su Muyu replied with a gentle smile. She turned to Lu Feng. "Where are you going?"

He’d been wandering the city, unable to find his way, and had no money for transport. Now, with a free ride on offer, he couldn’t refuse. He fished a note from his pocket, read the address aloud: "Moxiang Mendi Community, Tianhe District. Is that on your way?"

"Not at all!" Su Muqing said instantly.

"We live in Moxiang Mendi—how is that not on the way?" Su Muyu lightly tapped her sister’s hand, then turned to Lu Feng. "Get in. We’re just heading home for dinner."

"Thank you," Lu Feng said, nodding his thanks. He opened the back door, climbed into the Beetle, and motioned for Qilin to jump in after him.