The Scumbag Ex-Wife of the Heroine in the Old Abusive Article - Chapter 35

“What kind of competition?” Qin Yang asked calmly.

“Let’s see who’s stronger,” Li Feng replied. As soon as he finished speaking, the burly man beside him puffed out his chest, glaring at Qin Yang with a smug, confident look.

Qin Yang glanced at them indifferently. “Why would I compete with you?”

Li Feng, assuming she was afraid, burst into laughter, and his companions joined in.

“Scared already? If you’re too chicken, just apologize to me and hand over your Kunze for a couple of days of fun.”

“Hahaha!” Li Feng and his group erupted into another round of raucous laughter.

Qin Yang’s expression turned icy. She raised her gaze, sweeping a cold glare across Li Feng and his gang. “I’m willing to compete, but a dry contest like this is boring. Let’s raise the stakes.”

Her gaze was chilling.

Li Feng swallowed hard, a strange pressure rising in his chest.

She just glanced at me. What am I afraid of?

Li Feng spat on the ground.

Wei Yang had been as strong as an ox since childhood and was a Qianyuan. Remembering this, Li Feng suddenly regained his confidence. “What do you want to bet?”

“A thousand taels,” Qin Yang said. “If you lose, you pay me a thousand taels. If I lose, I pay you a thousand taels. How about it?”

Before Li Feng could respond, Liu Dian, ever the sycophant, craned his neck and chimed in, “Qin Yang, you’ve got some nerve! Everyone knows your family is dirt poor. Where would you even get a thousand taels?”

“Really? You know me that well?” Qin Yang glanced at Liu Dian, her expression a mix of amusement and mockery.

She had assumed Li Feng would sever ties with Liu Dian after the previous night’s events, considering Liu Dian had instigated their competition. Yet Liu Dian had somehow managed to smooth things over with Li Feng so quickly, even bringing him to confront her.

“Of course I know you! Don’t forget, Qin Cheng is my Kunze,” Liu Dian declared smugly. Though Qin Cheng offered him no practical advantages, his decent looks made him a pleasant diversion.

“So, knowing my abilities, you deliberately slandered me to Li Feng, goading him into challenging me. What exactly are you scheming?” Qin Yang demanded, her voice low and sharp.

Liu Dian froze, momentarily stunned. What abilities?

Realizing his mistake, Liu Dian hurriedly grabbed Li Feng’s sleeve, protesting, “Young Master Li, don’t listen to her nonsense! She’s utterly useless. How could I possibly harm you?”

Qin Yang scoffed, “If I had no skill, how could I have defeated Li Feng?”

Liu Dian, feeling guilty, glanced at Li Feng and raised his voice, feigning composure. “You stole someone else’s poem!”

Qin Yang ignored him, raising an eyebrow at Li Feng and sneering, “Li Feng, think carefully. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Li Feng wasn’t a fool. He looked at Qin Yang, recalling the events of the previous night, and felt uncertain.

Seeing his hesitation, Liu Dian, eager to seize the opportunity to deal with Qin Yang, quickly interjected, “Young Master Li, don’t listen to her lies! She’s just scared and trying to bluff her way out.”

Dressed in coarse, homespun clothes, she looked every bit the village woman. Could she really be bluffing?

Li Feng gritted his teeth. The memory of Qin Yang humiliating him in front of so many people the night before made him want her dead. What did it matter if she had some skill? His best friend, Wei Yang, was destined to become the Martial Top Scholar—a fact acknowledged by all the instructors at the Academy.

How could he possibly fail to deal with Qin Yang?

Once he dealt with her, Qin Yang, that Kunze, would be his. Thinking of this, Li Feng said fiercely, “It’s just a thousand taels of silver? I’ll take your bet. But if you lose, you’ll not only give me the silver, but also offer your Kunze to me with both hands.”

Still daring to covet the Female Lead?

Qin Yang’s cold smile vanished. “In that case, if you lose, I’ll take one of your legs. Dare to bet?”

Li Feng glanced at Wei Yang, who was as strong as an ox, a cruel glint flashing in his eyes. “Don’t regret this.” He signaled to Wei Yang with a look.

Wei Yang stepped forward, glaring at her provocatively.

“Wait,” Qin Yang called out.

“Getting scared now? Too late for that!” Li Feng sneered triumphantly.

Qin Yang shot him a disdainful look. “Who said I was scared? I’m just afraid you’ll back out. Let’s sign a life-and-death agreement before we start.”

Qin Yang didn’t trust these people’s character. With written proof in hand, even if she crippled them and reported it to the County Magistrate’s Office, she would be in the right.

And she had no intention of letting them off easy.

“Fourth Sister, don’t be reckless,” Qin Zhao said, his brow furrowed as he shook his head.

“Don’t worry,” Qin Yang reassured him with a comforting smile.

Li Feng’s men quickly prepared paper and ink, and the two signed the life-or-death agreement.

“We’re fighting here?” Qin Yang asked, setting down the brush and raising an eyebrow.

“We’ll go to the Academy’s Martial Arts Arena,” Li Feng replied.

Qin Yang followed the group to the Academy’s Martial Arts Arena, where a specially designated sparring platform stood. They gathered beneath the platform.

News of Li Feng’s defeat by a country girl the previous night had already spread throughout the Academy, drawing a crowd eager for a spectacle.

“Three consecutive wins,” Li Feng declared. “The first match will be hand-to-hand combat. Whoever is knocked off the platform loses.”

Hand-to-hand combat?

Qin Yang glanced at the group. Li Feng was small and wiry, while Liu Dian looked utterly drained. It was obvious that Wei Yang would be their champion. Qin Yang wasn’t intimidated. In her previous life, she had studied martial arts under a renowned master during her free time. Combined with the original host’s formidable strength, she felt confident. Though she didn’t know Wei Yang’s exact skill level, his bull-like physique suggested a lack of agility—a weakness she could exploit.

“After you,” Wei Yang cracked his neck, shot Qin Yang a disdainful glance, and stepped onto the platform.

Qin Yang followed him onto the arena.

“It’s Wei Yang! That Female Qianyuan is in for a beating. Everyone knows Wei Yang is undefeated in our academy. The dean even nominated him for the Martial Top Scholar exam this year.”

“Exactly! What a waste of such a pretty face.”

“I love her face too!”

The crowd buzzed with chatter.

“Take this!” Wei Yang launched the first attack, throwing a punch at Qin Yang. She retreated and sidestepped, the fist grazing her bangs, narrowly avoiding a direct hit.

A collective gasp rose from the audience.

Missing with his first punch, Wei Yang threw another, Qin Yang continued to retreat and evade.

Enraged, Wei Yang intensified his attacks, his punches becoming faster and more ferocious. Yet Qin Yang continued to dodge with ease.

“Why are you just dodging?” Wei Yang panted heavily, glaring at Qin Yang.

Qin Yang shrugged nonchalantly. “What does it matter how I fight? As long as you don’t knock me off the arena, I haven’t lost.”

Her indifferent demeanor only fueled Wei Yang’s fury. He had been fighting relentlessly, yet hadn’t even touched the hem of her robe, while he was already exhausted.

Frustrating!

Wei Yang wiped the sweat from his face, stomped his foot hard on the ground, and used the momentum to charge at Qin Yang. She was now standing at the edge of the arena, one wrong move away from falling.

The crowd held its breath, their palms sweating for Qin Yang.

Qin Yang frowned. As he lunged, she sidestepped at the last moment, a thump echoing in her ear.

Wei Yang lost his balance and tumbled off the arena.

“What…?”

“Wei Yang actually lost?!”

Qin Yang leaned over the edge and looked down, shrugging. “My apologies.”

Li Feng flew into a rage. “Qin Yang! You dare cheat?!”

Qin Yang blinked innocently. “How is that cheating? He lost his footing and fell. Everyone saw it.”

“You!” Li Feng pointed at Qin Yang, gritting his teeth. With a flick of his sleeve, he rushed forward to help Wei Yang up. “Qin Yang, you may have gotten lucky this time, but you won’t be so fortunate next time.”

Wei Yang rubbed his lower back.

Li Feng: “Wei Yang, can you still fight?”

Wei Yang pushed Li Feng aside, strode back onto the arena, and glared fiercely. “Next, we’ll test our strength. See those stone weights? Whoever lifts the heaviest one wins.” He stepped forward and effortlessly hoisted a two-hundred-jin stone weight.

“Good!”

Students cheered from below.

When it was Qin Yang’s turn, she rotated her wrists, did a quick warm-up, and approached the stone weights. There were stones weighing two hundred jin, two hundred fifty jin, three hundred jin, and four hundred jin—the latter being the limit, rarely lifted by anyone.

Wei Yang had lifted the two-hundred-jin stone. Qin Yang walked to the three-hundred-jin stone, exerted minimal effort, lifted it, held it for a moment, and then set it down.

“Your turn,” Qin Yang said.

This…

How is this possible?

This was three hundred jin—even he couldn’t lift it so effortlessly. Yet this slender female Qianyuan had hoisted it with ease and held it for so long.

How did she do that?

“Wei Yang, go for it!”

“Wei Yang!!”

Wei Yang glanced at the students below the stage, steeled his resolve, and walked toward the three-hundred-jin stone. If he could lift it, he’d at least tie with Qin Yang, unless she could lift the four-hundred-jin stone.

But how could she possibly do that?

As far as he knew, only Great General Cheng in the entire dynasty could achieve such a feat.

Wei Yang took a deep breath, strained to lift the stone, and quickly set it down, his body leaning forward slightly from the effort.

Seeing this, Qin Yang strode to the four-hundred-jin stone. Xiang Yu’s legendary cauldron lift was estimated at five hundred jin, and the world record for weightlifting in her previous life was around five to six hundred jin. This stone was only four hundred jin, and as a Qianyuan, she possessed a significant physical advantage.

Qin Yang inhaled deeply and hoisted the four-hundred-jin stone.

“What?! She actually lifted it!”

“How does she have such strength?”

All eyes turned to Wei Yang, whose face had gone pale as he stared in shock at the female Qianyuan before him.

“Still going?” Qin Yang asked. “Looks like this is the heaviest one.”

Wei Yang remained frozen in disbelief, unable to recover his composure.

Li Feng shouted, “Wei Yang, hurry up and lift it!”

Wei Yang snapped out of his stupor, didn’t even glance at Li Feng, and fled the scene as if his life depended on it.

Li Feng stared in disbelief.

Wei Yang conceded?!

How could this be possible?

He looked at Qin Yang in shock.

How could she have possibly defeated Wei Yang?

Qin Yang jumped down from the arena and approached Li Feng, extending her hand. “A bet’s a bet. One thousand taels.”

With everyone watching, Li Feng couldn’t refuse. He pulled a silver note from his sleeve and flung it at her before storming off in anger.

“Wait,” Qin Yang called out.

“What else do you want?” Li Feng snarled through gritted teeth.

Qin Yang stepped closer and waved the life-and-death contract in her hand. “Don’t forget about the leg. Trying to weasel out of the deal?”

Li Feng’s face turned livid. He whirled around to face Qin Yang. “What? You actually want my leg?”

Qin Yang smirked. “What else?”

From the moment he set his sights on Wen Jin’an, she had no intention of letting him off easy. Taking his leg was a mercy. With the life-and-death contract signed, even the County Magistrate couldn’t intervene.

“Fine! Very well!” Li Feng’s fury reached its peak.

“Qin Yang, how dare you? Do you even know who Young Master Li is?” Liu Dian chimed in, hoping to curry favor.

“You want my leg? Fine. I’m not one to back down from a loss.” With that, Li Feng kicked Liu Dian to the ground and stomped viciously on his leg.

A bloodcurdling scream tore through the air.

“There’s your leg. Remember this debt, Qin Yang.” Li Feng turned and left with his entourage.

Qin Yang frowned, watching Liu Dian writhe on the ground, clutching his leg and howling in agony.