Chapter 25: Provincial Team Third Place

The crowd was shocked, swarming around the outside of the octagon, craning their necks in anticipation.

Everyone had heard that Jin Lu practiced Chinese Kickboxing, but no one really knew how skilled she was.

Even Zheng Qian thought Jin Lu was just trying to scare him; he never expected her to actually drag Duan Qiran into the octagon!

Outside the octagon, the crowd was packed three layers deep.

Even the gym's owner, Uncle Hou, heard the commotion and ran over to the octagon.

"Shuangshuang, I didn't mean it that way, there's no need to be angry."

"I told you, don't call me Shuangshuang!" Jin Lu immediately delivered a clean, standard, and textbook-perfect right roundhouse kick.

The sudden roundhouse kick caught Duan Qiran off guard, and he took a hit to the back of his thigh.

The crowd let out a gasp.

The roundhouse kick was extremely standard; it seemed Jin Lu really had practiced!

Practice was one thing, but Duan Qiran was from the provincial boxing team and had won several silver medals in the province; no matter how much Jin Lu had practiced, she couldn't possibly beat him.

Duan Qiran clearly thought the same, so he kept dodging Jin Lu's attacks.

"I really didn't mean it that way. Jin Lu, you've misunderstood me."

Misunderstood?

How could she have misunderstood?

Jin Lu knew Duan Qiran; what he said earlier was clearly meant to make Zheng Qian lose face and to challenge him to a fight in the ring.

She had a responsibility to help Zheng Qian regain his dignity.

She followed up with another roundhouse kick.

"Jin Lu, stop hitting, or I'm going to fight back." Duan Qiran felt that if he struck, he could easily break Jin Lu's bones with a single blow.

But wasn't this a great opportunity for physical contact?

"Shuangshuang, go easy. You'll have to pay for his medical bills if you break him," Zheng Qian kindly reminded her from below.

What the hell?

As the saying goes, spectators don't fear a big scene, but you're Sister Jin's boyfriend—how could you say that?

Sure enough, just as everyone expected, Duan Qiran took Zheng Qian's words as a provocation.

He had many reasons not to attack, but he only needed one reason to start.

Duan Qiran raised his arms and assumed a standard boxing stance.

His plan was that the next time Jin Lu kicked, he would rely on his physical strength to catch her leg, trip her, mount her, and subdue her.

Not only would he defeat Jin Lu, but he could also take advantage of this goddess, and perhaps not even hurt her.

Three birds with one stone.

Duan Qiran secretly decided that was what he would do.

Seeing Duan Qiran's stance, the crowd knew he was getting serious.

"Brother Ran, go easy, don't hurt Sister Jin."

"Yeah, give Sister Jin some leeway, don't injure her."

"Heh, who needs him to let me win?" Jin Lu scoffed.

She unleashed another roundhouse kick.

The purpose of a roundhouse kick is to control the distance between yourself and your opponent using the reach and power of your legs.

If you're far away, your fists can't reach me.

Once you try to enter punching range, I kick you with a roundhouse kick to push you back. If you insist on staying, I have the first-move advantage. That's why in many matches, you often see one fighter continuously using roundhouse kicks to keep their opponent outside of striking range.

A certain boxing champion once won a world-class championship just by using roundhouse kicks, even breaking their opponent's leg bone and ending their professional career.

Duan Qiran anticipated the move and reached out both hands, ready to catch Jin Lu's leg.

But unexpectedly, Jin Lu's right roundhouse kick was just a feint. She retracted it after extending it only a little, and immediately followed up with a high, spinning left roundhouse kick that landed directly on Duan Qiran's face.

No one had expected this.

Duan Qiran was sturdy and didn't fall, but his head was dazed by Jin Lu's kick, and he wobbled while defending with his arms.

Jin Lu seized the opportunity, throwing a right elbow strike to Duan Qiran's left cheek, and as she retracted it, she followed up with a reverse elbow strike to his right cheek.

Duan Qiran's face began to bleed, and he fell heavily to the ground, losing consciousness.

The entire room gasped.

Jin Lu had actually knocked out Duan Qiran?

That was a provincial Chinese Kickboxing bronze medalist!

Just how terrifying was Jin Lu's Chinese Kickboxing skill?

Zheng Qian was also stunned.

Jin Lu actually knew Chinese Kickboxing? And she was this strong?

No wonder the male coaches acted like her underlings when they first met.

Jin Lu looked down at the crowd below, then walked out of the octagon.

"You... you really know Chinese Kickboxing?" Zheng Qian asked in surprise.

Jin Lu nodded repeatedly.

"Lulu, why are you so angry today?" Uncle Hou walked over.

"It's nothing, this kid needed a beating." Jin Lu glanced at Duan Qiran, who was being carried out of the octagon by two people.

"Let me introduce you. This is my boyfriend, Zheng Qian. This is the owner of this gym, Uncle Hou."

Uncle Hou was surprised, then shook hands with Zheng Qian.

Duan Qiran had transferred to his gym just to chase Jin Lu.

Jin Lu had quit yesterday, and today she brought her boyfriend, Zheng Qian.

He could roughly imagine what had driven Jin Lu and Duan Qiran into the octagon.

Uncle Hou didn't open this gym for profit; he just did it for fun and to make more friends.

The gym was located near several institutions, so most of the people who came here after work were civil servants, wealthy individuals, and the like, all of whom had become his friends.

The gym was currently neither losing nor making money; breaking even was already beyond Uncle Hou's expectations.

He had never heard of someone like Zheng Qian.

But a man who could capture the gym's ultimate goddess must have an extraordinary background, status, and identity.

"So it's President Zheng. Come by whenever you have time; you're always welcome here. Just call me if you need anything." Uncle Hou appeared very polite and enthusiastic.

"Then thank you, Uncle Hou. I've trained enough for today. Why don't you go take a shower?" Jin Lu answered for Zheng Qian.

Zheng Qian nodded and went to take a quick shower.

"So fast? Your hair is still wet. Let me help you dry it." Jin Lu was acting like a virtuous wife at this moment.

Seeing this, everyone felt a pang of jealousy; if only Jin Lu were their girlfriend!

To have Jin Lu help dry his hair and use a hairdryer to carefully dry it for Zheng Qian—that was just too blissful!

If they could enjoy such treatment even once, it would be worth dying for!

"Alright, alright, so many people are watching. I'll do it myself."

"Why are you shy? I even washed the underwear you changed out of yesterday."

?

She was already washing Zheng Qian's underwear?

That clearly meant they had already spent the night together and were living together, otherwise how could she have gotten Zheng Qian's dirty underwear?

The goddess in their hearts had been captured by Zheng Qian in a single day.

Depressing!