What Was Under His Bed Back Then

He finally looked at An Yang with a sense of impunity. Those with power and influence he couldn't afford to provoke, but he had plenty of experience dealing with young men like this—usually a few threats were enough, and if not, a quick beating would do the trick. After all, he had two men with him!

But on the bus, he really didn't dare start a fight, afraid of stirring up public outrage.

"Friend, you want to play the hero saving the beauty, right? Think about the consequences."

An Yang's breathing grew heavy—a sign of his anger. Xiao Xueer might have some pride, but that was just her personality; she wasn't a bad person at heart. In the end, she was still just a child.

Like An You. Even though she treated him terribly, he didn't take it too seriously. She was still a kid, and after all, she was his sister, so he willingly shelled out twenty thousand yuan to buy her clothes.

And now, this girl who had just graduated high school was pale with fear, too scared to speak up even when bullied. Forget that she was An You's classmate, forget that they'd spent the afternoon shopping together, forget that she'd just paid his bus fare—any man who saw this couldn't stand by and do nothing.

Wang Hu saw that An Yang hadn't responded and thought he'd been intimidated. "Friend, those of us in the underworld know to play it safe. Don't go looking for trouble."

The other tattooed young man glanced down at Xiao Xueer's chest. A high school girl, and he could already see a cleavage—it shocked him. He looked up and said, "Yeah, friend, don't bring trouble on yourself for someone who's none of your business."

An Yang's eyes narrowed slightly. "None of my business? She's my sister!"

Xiao Xueer finally felt like she'd found a lifeline. She didn't care whether this straw could pull her out of her misery; at least she saw hope. In her desperate situation, the pride from the afternoon was gone, replaced by nothing but pitiful vulnerability.

"Brother An Yang~"

Wang Hu froze, his face darkening. If that was the case, this wouldn't end so easily. If it blew up, they'd at least have to spend a couple of days at the Public Security Bureau.

"Friend, we touched her, so what? My brother and I didn't mean it. What do you want?"

"Kid, I'll say it again—don't make trouble for yourself. Your Grandpa Zhou here gives you a piece of advice: out in the world, watch your step!"

An Yang stared at Wang Hu, then at Zhou Xiong, who was even more arrogant than Wang Hu. The anger on his face grew stronger. If he hadn't been here, who knows how much Xiao Xueer would have suffered.

"Fine! Fine! Fine! Then I'll give you a piece of advice too: in life, watch your step!"

Zhou Xiong blinked, not yet reacting, when a fist appeared right in front of his face. Then came a sharp pain—a speed and power he'd never felt before. His first thought was: these two had picked the wrong guy to mess with.

"Thud."

The immense force carried his body into the seat beside him, then bounced him back. Zhou Xiong collapsed in the aisle, several teeth on the floor, blood streaming from his nose and mouth.

Wang Hu was stunned. He'd been a brawler since childhood, knew fighting inside and out. He knew that knocking someone out with one punch was just artistic license on TV—he'd never seen anyone that fierce in real life.

He felt for his waist. Damn, he hadn't brought his knife today!

Wang Hu swallowed hard. First, he helped Zhou Xiong up, ignoring the guy's garbled, toothless mumbling in his ear, and dragged him forward. But he still turned back to throw a threat at An Yang.

In the underworld, face was everything, wasn't it?

"Fine, I, Wang Hu, admit defeat. But friend, my brother and I will remember this. Don't think being tough means you can act cocky. When I, Wang Hu, was out there swinging a knife, you were still playing in the mud somewhere!"

An Yang's face darkened. He lunged forward in one stride and kicked Zhou Xiong, sending him flying out of Wang Hu's grip, tumbling to the ground behind him and sliding two meters toward the front of the bus.

"You did something wrong and think you can just walk away? That easy?"

The driver finally noticed the commotion and pulled over to the side of the road. He had no idea what was going on, only hearing the passengers in the back erupt in shouts. Even the office workers who'd been silent earlier were suddenly fired up.

"Well done! Get rid of these scum of society!"

"People like that deserve a beating. If you hadn't done it, I would've stepped in!"

"Laying hands on such a pretty girl—you'd be lucky if you got off with just a beating!"

Zhou Xiong curled up on the ground, groaning in pain. At least half his teeth were gone, blood and saliva mixing as they dripped out. This was probably the worst pain he'd ever felt in his life—even getting stabbed before hadn't hurt this much.

Wang Hu glanced around, baring his teeth in a vicious snarl. The crowd quieted down a bit. He turned to An Yang and said:

"Friend, an ordinary man wouldn't have skills like this. Which outfit do you run with? My brother and I didn't know and accidentally crossed you. If you leave your name, we'll come by another day to apologize properly."

An Yang let out a light scoff, stepping closer. "You were all tough talk a minute ago. Go on, throw another threat at me. I'm listening."

Wang Hu backed away, trying to muster his courage. "Friend, forgive where you can, leave some leeway, and we'll meet again. But if you don't listen, the worst that happens today is we take a beating. We'll remember you, and you won't have a moment's peace from now on!"

An Yang took a step forward, grabbed the struggling Wang Hu, and easily pinned him down. A fierce glint flashed in his eyes. He shoved Wang Hu forward hard, slamming his head into the metal pole on the bus.

"Thud!"

A dull sound. Blood everywhere.

Wang Hu was dazed, sitting on the floor not knowing what to do, clutching his bleeding head.

The crowd was shocked.

Xiao Xueer covered her mouth in horror, staring at the scene. The sight of blood hitting her harder than the harassment she'd just endured.

An You was stunned. She felt like, without realizing it, the useless brother she'd always looked down on had become pretty capable—rich, generous, and a good fighter.

No, not capable. At best, he was just presentable. What was being a good fighter? Just thug tactics.

The driver quickly jumped in, grabbing An Yang's arm. "Brother, that's enough. Keep going and something bad will happen. These punks—just give them a beating and toss them off the bus."

An Yang looked around, then leaned in close to Wang Hu's ear and said calmly, "When I, An Yang, was out on missions in the Amazon, pulling the trigger and killing people, you were still playing with knives somewhere."

Wang Hu shuddered, a chill running down his spine.

Ignoring the stares from everyone on the bus, An Yang walked over to Xiao Xueer, patted her head to comfort her, and asked, "Did that scare you?"

Xiao Xueer looked up at him. The fear and grievance she'd been holding back finally burst out. She shook her head, wrapped her arms around his waist, buried her face in his stomach, and sobbed loudly.

"Brother An Yang~"

At that moment, she didn't care about pride or familiarity anymore.

An You sat beside her, staring blankly. She blinked, feeling a faint twinge of jealousy, but quickly suppressed it.

So what if he'd beaten up two thugs? No big deal.

An Yang escorted them all the way to the hotel room. The hotel wasn't top-tier, but it wasn't low-end either—probably nothing to Xiao Xueer, but definitely a heavy burden for An You.

Of course, as her older brother, spending money on his sister seemed only natural, but An You would never accept it.

Xiao Xueer was still a bit unsettled. She'd just graduated high school, a girl of seventeen or eighteen, raised in a small city. Without An Yang today, everything that happened could have left deep psychological scars on her.

An Yang felt helpless about it. He didn't know how to comfort people, so he left that task to An You and gave Xiao Xueer a few basic reminders, keeping his tone as gentle as possible.

"If something like this happens again, you have to shout, got it? Buses are crowded—not everyone lacks a sense of justice. Even if no one steps up to stop the bad guys, it can at least curb what they do next. You have a phone, right? If no one steps forward, remember to call the police yourself. That's usually enough to scare them off."

Xiao Xueer sat on the edge of the bed, her eyes a little red. She lifted her head high, staring at An Yang without blinking.

An Yang wanted to look at her face, but when he glanced down, he caught a glimpse of a pale white cleft and quickly averted his gaze.

"Alright, get a good night's sleep. Forget about this by tomorrow. But remember what I told you—got it? I'm leaving now. Rest early."

Sitting on the bed, An You didn't know how to comfort anyone either. She wasn't much of a talker, and she'd never done anything like this before.

Xiao Xueer gradually steadied her emotions. Wanting to find something to distract herself, she said to An You, "An You, your brother is pretty good to you, isn't he? Willing to spend so much money on clothes for you. Why do you dislike him so much?"

An You paused, then said, "What do you know? You've only known him for a day. I've known him for over ten years. He's done plenty of shady things—I know it all too well."

Xiao Xueer smiled softly, her face as delicate as an angel's: "I think he's a nice person too. Gentle, and very graceful. He followed us around shopping for so long without saying a word!"

An You curled her lip and hit the nail on the head: "He's faking it!"

A strange glimmer flickered in Xiao Xueer's eyes, and she added, "And he's really capable too. He looked so cool when he beat up those two thugs."

An You waved her hand. The more Xiao Xueer talked like this, the more flustered she felt. Impatiently, she said, "Oh, you don't know—back then, under his bed..."

Xiao Xueer blinked, looking very curious: "What?"

An You froze, the words caught in her throat. She shook her head and said, "Nothing..."