Top Soldier Pursued by a Beauty

Leng Yue trembled, her eyes brimming with unshed tears, displaying both anger and indignation. Zhao Dong gently patted her shoulder and pulled her behind him.

Zhao Dong looked up at Chen Jun and said with disdain, "This is an age of free love. Her parents aren't even forcing her to marry anyone, so who the hell do you think you are, trying to strong-arm her?"

"You dare talk back to me?" Chen Jun pointed at Zhao Dong's nose, his eyes wide with disbelief.

Zhao Dong sneered. "So what? You're the type of garbage who thinks he's all that and looks down on women. I'll do more than just talk back to you. I'll hit you, too!"

At his words, Leng Yue, Qing Yu, and all the women in the restaurant widened their eyes. In that instant, Zhao Dong's figure seemed as imposing as a deity's. People always talked about the rise of women's empowerment, but in reality, to the truly powerful, women were still nothing more than playthings. Yet here was Zhao Dong, in this high-end restaurant, speaking such powerful and resonant words on their behalf. How could they not be moved?

The adoration in Qing Yu's eyes grew even more intense. "Sob... how can there be a man as good as you in this world, Senior? Senior, you're so amazing!"

The women were in an uproar, but Chen Jun's pride had been thoroughly trampled. He flew into a rage out of sheer humiliation and roared, "Kid! Do you have any idea who I am? You dare threaten to hit me? You must have a death wish!"

"Heh, you think you're that impressive?" Zhao Dong's eyes still held a look of scorn.

Chen Jun sneered, "Listen up, kid! I am the captain of the Xuanlong Special Operations Team, an eighth-level Great Grandmaster!"

"Wow! An eighth-level Great Grandmaster? So powerful?" Zhao Dong feigned a look of fear.

The surrounding crowd was genuinely intimidated by Chen Jun's claim.

Chen Jun said smugly, "Heh, now that you know how scary I am, get on your knees and apologize. If I'm in a good mood, I might let you off with only a few broken bones!"

"Heh, I thought an eighth-level Great Grandmaster was supposed to be skilled with his fists, not just his mouth," Zhao Dong shrugged, a playful expression on his face.

"Damn it! Are you messing with me?" Chen Jun finally realized Zhao Dong was mocking him.

Without another word, Chen Jun threw a punch straight at Zhao Dong's face. The whistling wind from his fist sent a ripple of fear through the crowd, and everyone scrambled backward.

"Noisy!" Zhao Dong's expression hardened. He lifted his left hand, effortlessly catching Chen Jun's fist. His right hand swung up high, then came down hard.

SMACK!

A crisp slap echoed through the restaurant.

Chen Jun was sent spinning through the air before he crashed to the ground. A spray of blood and broken teeth flew from his mouth.

A moment of dead silence was shattered by a sudden roar of laughter.

"Hahaha! So this is an eighth-level Great Grandmaster? He's nothing special!"

"You call that an eighth-level Great Grandmaster? I'm dying of laughter!"

"Hmph! A man who bullies women is all flash and no substance, just as I thought!"

"And that guy is so cool! He sent that piece of trash flying with a single slap!"

The crowd's mockery made Chen Jun so humiliated he could have died.

Zhao Dong looked down at him with an amused gaze. "Still not leaving? Haven't you embarrassed yourself enough?"

"You bastard! You've got guts! Offending me will be the worst mistake you ever make!"

"Is that so?" Zhao Dong said nonchalantly. "I've offended plenty of people, and many of them have said the same thing. Do you know what happened to them?"

"What happened?" Chen Jun asked instinctively, not processing the question.

Zhao Dong smiled. "They all ended up just like you—beaten senseless by me."

At that, the crowd erupted in another round of thunderous laughter.

Chen Jun felt a mouthful of blood rise in his throat, nearly fainting from rage. "Fine! Fine! So you're all ganging up on me, is that it?" He glared at Leng Yue. "Leng Yue! Well played! So this is why you wouldn't accept my proposal? Because of this piece of trash?"

"Just you wait! All of you, just wait!"

With that, Chen Jun fled in utter disgrace.

At the side, Leng Yue stared blankly at the door, her expression melancholic. It was the first time Zhao Dong had seen her like this since they met.

Just then, Qing Yu walked over. She gave Leng Yue a complicated look, then said with a hint of disappointment, "Senior, I have a few things to take care of, so I'll be leaving. We'll meet again some other day."

"Alright, I won't see you out then," Zhao Dong nodded slightly.

After Qing Yu left, Zhao Dong and Leng Yue exited the restaurant together.

Leng Yue looked up at the sky, took a deep breath, and gave a bitter smile. "Zhao Dong, I'm in a bad mood. Can you have a drink with me?"

"Of course," Zhao Dong agreed.

They found a nearby bar and headed inside. After several rounds of drinks, Leng Yue's face was flushed. More than twenty empty bottles already littered the table. Zhao Dong had never seen her like this and, for a moment, didn't know what to say. He just quietly kept her company, matching her drink for drink.

Suddenly, Leng Yue grabbed his hand.

"Zhao Dong, you know, I'm not actually from some prominent family. My family is just a minor one in Provincial City," she confessed. "I studied hard ever since I was a child because I knew I couldn't rely on my family's influence to achieve my dreams."

"Still, my family wasn't poor... so when I was very young, my parents and Chen Jun's parents arranged our engagement."

Zhao Dong sighed. "I get the feeling you have a place for Chen Jun in your heart. Besides, you two were engaged. So why didn't you accept his proposal?"

"Why?" Leng Yue gave a self-mocking laugh. "When I was in college, my family suddenly fell on hard times. I was devastated and fell into a deep depression. But Chen Jun, who had been so good to me before, didn't comfort me. Instead, he joined the other students in mocking me. He even deliberately distanced himself from me, saying I wasn't worthy of him!"

"That can't be right," Zhao Dong said, surprised. "You're so beautiful. Even if he ignored everything else, he shouldn't have treated you that way based on your looks alone, right?"

Zhao Dong truly couldn't understand. As a man, how could anyone do such a thing to such a beautiful woman? Moreover, from the way Leng Yue spoke, it seemed they had been in a relationship before.

The desolation on Leng Yue's face deepened.

"Back then, I only cared about studying and never paid attention to my appearance. So compared to the other students who were always dressed up so flashily, I didn't stand out at all."

"Especially after my family's crisis, I often looked disheveled. The clothes I wore were cheap things from street stalls... I was a complete mess..."

"Chen Jun, on the other hand, loved fitness and music. He was tall, handsome, and his family was well-off. He was the undisputed campus heartthrob."

"Back then, countless girls were chasing him. Some even paid his roommates a fortune just to get his contact information!"

"We were a couple at the time, but when we stood together, we looked like we were from two different worlds..."

Even though he wasn't the one who had lived it, Zhao Dong could feel her loneliness. Hadn't he been in such a wretched state once himself? But he had met Ding Lan, who had given him the best time of his life.

The more Leng Yue spoke, the more agitated she became, her eyes growing redder. She gripped Zhao Dong's hand, her voice choked with emotion. "But do you know? Even though he treated me so coldly, I never once got angry!"

"Because I knew, back then, I really wasn't good enough for him. And I truly, genuinely loved him!"

"He would glare at me and berate me time and time again, but I would just swallow my pride and go back to him with a smile on my face, trying to please him."

"But then came that one day..."

"It was the campus's Top Ten Singers competition, a huge event attended by tens of thousands of students and teachers from the entire university!"

"That day, he was dressed to the nines, singing his heart out on the open-air stage on the sports field. He was like a prince on a white horse, and the girls in the audience were screaming wildly for him!"

"He was radiant, handsome, and so talented. In that moment... I was so incredibly proud to be his girlfriend!"

"I ran onto the stage with the bouquet I had prepared, and in front of tens of thousands of people, I handed him the flowers! I was so thrilled that day!"

As she reached this point, tears began to fall silently from her eyes. She sobbed, "I snatched the microphone from his hand, as excited as a little kid..."

"Don't say any more..." Zhao Dong couldn't bear to hear the rest. He could already guess what happened next.

"No! Let me finish!" Leng Yue threw back her drink, her tear-filled eyes looking at Zhao Dong with determination.

Zhao Dong's heart ached for her. "Okay. Go on, I'm listening."

Leng Yue's tears streamed down her face. "I was like an excited child. I held the microphone, looked at the man I worshipped, and shouted with all my heart, 'I love you, my dearest boyfriend! I want to be with you forever!'"

"In that moment... I was like a child showing off her most prized possession... Truly... That was absolutely the happiest moment of my life!"

"But... the deeper the love, the sharper the pain. That day was also the most desperate and agonizing day of my life!"

"Do you know what he did?"

Leng Yue spun around and grabbed Zhao Dong's arm, her eyes blazing with a towering rage.

She roared, "That bastard, Chen Jun! He smashed the flowers right in my face!"

"In front of tens of thousands of people, he pointed at my nose and screamed that I was a toad trying to eat swan meat! He called me a worthless, insane woman who didn't know her place!"

"He viciously trampled on the flowers I had so carefully prepared for him, spitting out the most heartless words!"

"The laughter from the audience drowned me. Can you imagine it? A teenage girl... being humiliated like that in front of tens of thousands of people... Do you have any idea how much that hurts?"

"So... from that day on, you developed this cold, icy demeanor and started keeping everyone at arm's length, right?" Zhao Dong felt a sharp pain in his own heart.

Taking a deep breath, Leng Yue wiped the tears from her eyes and said with a bitter smile, "I no longer believe in any kind of affection in this world."

"In my eyes, relationships between people are nothing more than transactions of self-interest... pathetic, ridiculous self-interest!"

Leng Yue's words left Zhao Dong speechless. He had no idea how to comfort her.

So, he asked, "What happened after that?"