I Fell In Love With The Fruit Stand Proprietress At First Sight - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Good Skills

A female martial arts heroine?

Ding Chi’s eyes widened again.

However, having inexplicably acquired a “sister,” she was in no mood for any “family reunion.” Instead, while the men’s attention wasn’t on her, she quickly winked and mouthed for Song Nianxi to leave.

Sister, even if you just call the police for me, that’s enough! Why run out here? To get beaten up together?!

She didn’t want to implicate anyone else in her problems.

Especially this… Ding Chi’s feelings were complex—especially this woman who had been constantly appearing in her mind for the past few days.

Song Nianxi received the look from the young girl and was slightly amused.

A little girl whose wings haven’t fully grown yet, trying to play tough?

“Her sister?” The man was startled, muttering to himself that he hadn’t heard about Ding Chi having a sister. A cousin? Maybe a stepsister? But no matter what: “Well, that’s perfect. Since you’re her sister, you can pay off the debt she owes me on her behalf! Otherwise—your little sister here today,”

He threatened with a smile: “won’t leave without shedding a layer of skin.”

Sigh, the cliché threat scene.

Song Nianxi raised an eyebrow and chuckled lightly: “Alright, if you want to bully her, you’ll have to get past me first.”

Ding Chi’s eyelashes fluttered in shock. Although touched, she thought, This shop owner must be crazy from selling fruit every day.

There were several men here. It would be a miracle if they weren’t both beaten to a pulp!

The leader, Brother Ba, burst into loud laughter as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world. His subordinates followed suit.

“Hahahaha…” He doubled over, holding his stomach: “Little lady, I think you’re pretty, and we boys are chivalrous and don’t want to play rough. Either pay the money for your sister, or I’ll give you ten seconds to scram—”

Song Nianxi suddenly interjected, without context: “Well, she—is also pretty.”

And yet I don’t see any chivalry from you? You look menacing, don’t scare the kid.

Brother Ba, mid-laugh: “???”

The subordinates: “???”

The woman pointed with a fair, round fingertip. Hearing this, Ding Chi’s face flushed hotly, thinking, What nonsense is this sister talking about in a situation like this?

Although, although… I am quite good-looking myself.

But you don’t have to say it in front of these people!

“Cut the crap!” Brother Ba snapped back, spitting on the ground: “Are you going to pay her debt or not? I don’t have the patience to listen to your jabbering!”

“Sigh,” Song Nianxi sighed with feigned distress, casually tossing the apple core in her hand into a nearby trash bin: “Big Brother, I’m just a stall owner. I earn meager wages every day. I only have a few hundred bucks on me. Where would I get money for you?”

Seeing Song Nianxi’s outfit of a faded old shirt and old jeans, Brother Ba hadn’t actually expected her to have the money. It was pointless to even ask. He completely lost his patience: “No money? Then get lost!”

He didn’t care if she was a real sister or a fake one; he just wanted to get the money from Ding Chi!

He turned around again, grabbed Ding Chi’s collar, raised the punch he hadn’t landed earlier, and prepared to give her another lesson. However, the moment his hand moved, it was grabbed with a sudden force.

Brother Ba: “???”

Blocked repeatedly, he was furious. He instinctively swung a punch at the person who had stopped him. The person dodged lightly, then quickly moved, pulled Brother Ba’s arm, and executed an over-the-shoulder throw, slamming the man onto the ground.

Ding Chi, still sitting on the ground: “???”

Holy moly, that sister’s skill was so smooth and fluid just now!!

Brother Ba was stunned by the impact, seeing stars and feeling a sharp pain in his back.

He never would have thought that the force, which even he, a man, couldn’t resist, had come from the woman in front of him, whom he had dismissed as a delicate flower.

He struggled to get up and yelled at his subordinates: “This woman is a fighter! Attack together!”

Song Nianxi clicked her tongue, showing no panic in her eyes. She casually picked up an abandoned clothes rack from the ground and swiftly swung it onto the shoulder of the first man who rushed her, making him howl in pain. She then lifted her leg for a quick kick, tripping and flipping the second man to the ground…

Because her techniques were practical, used by the police, the woman wasted no time on flashy moves. Every strike was precise and effective. Her movements were agile and decisive. The several men couldn’t gain any advantage over her, getting bruised and battered all over, yet they couldn’t even touch the woman’s clothes.

Ding Chi, who had watched the entire fight, had her mouth wide open, completely mesmerized.

So… so handsome…

Good Heavens, is this really the fruit stand owner?… Is the street so full of hidden masters nowadays? No, this is like a martial arts master from the Shaolin Temple playing the role of a humble sweeper…

And though it was a beating, the woman was beautiful, and her punches and kicks somehow possessed an aesthetic quality. She was cool, unrestrained, and her confident, in-control demeanor was particularly pleasing to the eye.

Three minutes later, all the men were lying on the ground, groaning.

Brother Ba clutched his bruised eye, struggling to climb to his feet and stumbling several times, while yelling: “Go! Go! Go!”

If they stayed any longer, he feared the woman would beat them until their own mothers couldn’t recognize them!

Goodness, where did this monstrous woman come from?!

The men, their faces etched with fear, scattered like birds, running away. Brother Ba led the charge, running as if being chased by a ghost, terrified that the woman behind him would have a change of heart and stop him for another beating.

Song Nianxi dropped the clothes rack, glanced at Ding Chi, who was still dazed on the ground, walked over, bent down, and offered a hand.

Ding Chi instinctively flinched, having witnessed the woman’s combat prowess.

She almost thought she was about to get a beating herself.

“What’s wrong?” A trace of amusement flashed in Song Nianxi’s fox-like eyes as she kept her palm extended: “Scared?”

“No.” Ding Chi shook her head, placing her hand in Song Nianxi’s.

As their skin touched, Ding Chi felt immediate warmth and softness, and she could also feel a thin layer of calluses on the woman’s fingertips, tickling her palm. As the other woman leaned closer, she smelled a faint, pleasant, clean fragrance—not perfume, but something like an oud-rose scented shower gel.

Her heart inexplicably sped up.

Her mind momentarily short-circuited. Ding Chi forced herself to suppress the slight flutter in her heart, even thinking irrelevantly that the calluses might not be from holding a fruit knife, but from wielding a stick.

She used the woman’s strength to stand up, took three seconds to regain her thoughts, and then thanked Song Nianxi: “Thank you, Sister. Sister, you’re amazing.”

Ding Chi smiled, easily calling her “Sister” following Song Nianxi’s earlier self-introduction, her voice sweet, as she always was when trying to be charming.

She really is amazing. Like a heroic knight errant descending from the heavens, chasing away the villains with a few strikes and saving her, who was supposed to be just background noise.

Song Nianxi raised an eyebrow, amused by Ding Chi’s enthusiastic “Sister”: “You certainly picked that up quickly.”

“You have to call pretty people ‘Sister,'” Ding Chi said with a straight face: “Besides, Sister looks a few years older than me. What else would I call you?”

“A few years older?” Song Nianxi chuckled and shook her head: “Little sister, I’m probably more than just a few years older than you.”

“Sister,” Ding Chi was quick to seize an opportunity and wouldn’t change her address. She looked worriedly: “Although thank you for saving me, those guys are very difficult troublemakers in this area. Getting targeted by them is quite troublesome, and I don’t want to drag you into it.”

Ding Chi was actually sincere in saying this. Those men were extremely annoying. While they wouldn’t cause anything life-threatening, if you got involved with them, they would latch onto you, harassing you and creating trouble every now and then. Since her sister was running a business, getting entangled with them would be even more troublesome.

Song Nianxi wouldn’t be afraid, but she simply said: “I’ve already notified the police. They were probably caught when they ran away just now.”

Ding Chi found it slightly strange that the “Sister” used the term “notified the police” instead of “called the police,” but she didn’t think much of it, just giving a bitter smile: “Calling the police is useless. The police station will probably just detain them for a few days, categorize it as a brawl, and they’ll be out soon.”

And then, once released, they would face even more relentless retaliation from the group.

Although they called it “loan sharking,” the amounts weren’t in the millions. Some people would grit their teeth and pay off the thousands in interest. That’s why this tactic was foolproof for Brother Ba and his group.

They just happened to run into Ding Chi, who refused to pay another dime.

Song Nianxi caught another key point in her words: “You have some opinions about the police station here?”

Ding Chi, surprised by the turn in the conversation, paused before shaking her head: “It’s not really an opinion. Aren’t all police stations like that? They classify it as a brawl and detain them for a few days. It’s just work; everyone avoids trouble.”

Unexpectedly, Song Nianxi suddenly frowned: “Police work shouldn’t avoid trouble.”

Ding Chi: “?”

The woman seemed quite bothered by that statement. Although Ding Chi didn’t understand the point of her concern, she “obediently” echoed the woman’s words: “Mhm, Sister is right. They are supposed to serve the people.”

“Alright,” Song Nianxi softened her gaze, her composure returning: “You’re quite the smooth-talker, you girl. You’ve talked so much that you didn’t even notice your knee is bleeding?”

Her gaze fell upon Ding Chi’s leg. Ding Chi froze, belatedly feeling a sharp pain in her knee. She looked down and realized she had scraped off a large piece of skin on her knee, which was bloody and messy.

The weather was getting warmer now, so Ding Chi was wearing a short-sleeved delivery uniform and denim shorts. The injury stood out glaringly on her fair leg.

“Hiss—”

It must have happened when I fell earlier!

Ding Chi clutched her leg, cursing those men’s ancestors under her breath. She still had to deliver food. With a leg injury, she couldn’t ride her scooter. How was she going to work now?!

I’m going to lose about a hundred bucks in half a day, you know!

Likely having the same thought as Ding Chi, Song Nianxi immediately said: “Don’t deliver food this afternoon. Go take care of your injury first.”

The woman’s tone now was quite commanding, but Ding Chi didn’t resent it.

She put on a pitiful look, her eyes slightly red, making her look particularly endearing: “Sister, I don’t want to go home right now. I’m afraid my mom will worry if she sees it.”