The bell rang, signaling the start of the match.
As soon as the bell sounded, Joker charged straight at his opponent, showing no mercy or hesitation despite facing a woman.
Su Miao countered with a punch of her own.
Their fists collided with a loud bang, sending both fighters stumbling back two steps.
Su Miao discreetly shook her tingling hand, her eyes flickering with a hint of surprise. This wasn't her original body, after all, and its strength and speed weren't quite up to par yet.
The first round went to Joker.
The odds shifted again, now standing at 9:1.
The spectators weren't surprised, some even suspecting that Joker was holding back. After all, she was just a woman – Joker should have been able to incapacitate her with a single punch. Look at those skinny arms and legs, they thought. Joker could snap them like twigs if he wanted to.
As the bell rang for the break, Su Miao retreated to the edge of the ring, gulping down the mineral water Yan Zhuo handed her.
Xiao Zeyan burst out of the VIP box, shouting, "Su, are you messing with me?"
She had seemed so fierce earlier, but now she looked as weak as a sick chicken. He wondered if he'd been duped, suspecting she might be Wu Shao's plant.
Seeing Xiao Zeyan's outburst, Wu Shao emerged from the adjacent box. "Young Master Xiao, why so angry? It's not like you to be so rough with a beautiful lady."
Su Miao stopped drinking and rested her hands on the ring's railing, looking up at Xiao Zeyan. "Mr. Xiao, lend me 100,000. I'll pay you back in ten minutes."
"What for?" Xiao Zeyan asked, puzzled.
She had already messed up his plans, and now she wanted to borrow money? This woman had some nerve.
"Lend me 100,000 to place a bet," she replied.
Xiao Zeyan was speechless. So that's how she planned to make money – by betting against herself?
"If he won't lend it to you, I will," Tan Zhuo interjected, stepping out of the VIP box before Xiao Zeyan could respond.
"Got money to burn?" Xiao Zeyan snapped.
Tan Zhuo ignored him, his eyes fixed on Su Miao.
"That works," Su Miao nodded, then announced loudly, "100,000 on me to win. I'll pay you back in ten minutes."
The crowd was stunned. What did she just say?
She was betting 100,000 on herself to win and promising to repay Tan Zhuo in ten minutes. In other words, she intended to defeat Joker within ten minutes.
Such an audacious claim drew laughter from the audience.
"Did she say she'd beat Joker in ten minutes? Hahaha!"
"That's nothing but a pipe dream."
"This has to be the joke of the year."
When Joker heard Su Miao's bold statement through the translator, even he burst out laughing.
"Stupid woman," he sneered.
Su Miao merely glanced at him, unperturbed.
Tan Zhuo pulled out his black card and handed it to an attendant. "Place her 100,000 bet, and put another 5 million on her to win for me."
The attendant was stunned. Was Young Master Tan serious?
Xiao Zeyan was equally baffled.
Before he could question Tan Zhuo's decision, the bell for the second round rang.
Su Miao rolled her shoulders and neck, her red lips curving into a deeper smile.
Suddenly, a fist shot out with lightning speed. Joker's pupils constricted in shock – he hadn't expected Su Miao to attack first, nor had he anticipated such blinding speed and agility. She was like a completely different fighter from before.
Joker hadn't won nine matches in a row for nothing; he managed to dodge the first punch. But avoiding the next one wouldn't be so easy.
Su Miao's punches came in rapid succession, her strength incomparable to what she'd shown earlier.
Watching Su Miao's transformation, Xiao Zeyan turned to Tan Zhuo. "You saw through her act from the start?"
It was clear now that Su Miao hadn't been using her full strength before.
"She's very strong," Tan Zhuo said gravely.
Even stronger than he had imagined. In fact, he suspected she still wasn't going all out.
Su Miao proved Tan Zhuo's praise right with her actions. No sooner had he finished speaking than Joker was sent crashing to the ground by her strike.
Joker fell face-first, the impact causing the ring to shudder.
"Holy crap, Joker's down!"
"Is this some kind of act?"
"I bet everything I had on you, don't you dare play dead!"
The spectators shouted in disbelief.
But their cries were in vain – Su Miao had won this round.
In the final round, Su Miao dropped all pretense. With a single move, she floored Joker and claimed victory.
No one had expected the third round to end so quickly – so fast that the audience didn't even have time to cheer.
The entire venue fell silent.
Su Miao looked down at Joker, her voice dripping with disdain. "You should go home and drink your milk."
There was no point in trash-talking before a match. Some things were better said after you've beaten your opponent to a pulp.
See how embarrassing it was for him now? His face was practically swollen from the beating.
She then looked up at Tan Zhuo on the second floor. "That didn't take ten minutes, did it?"
Tan Zhuo shook his head. "No, it didn't."
The hands of the old clock on the wall pointed to nine o'clock.
Su Yuyan stared blankly at the slowly moving second hand for a long while before finally looking away. His long, dark eyelashes lowered, casting a shadow across his young face.
It was a rare moment of vulnerability.
He felt so stupid for believing her.
Earlier that day, she had clearly wanted to abandon him, yet he had trusted her. How foolish he had been.
Just as Su Yuyan was wallowing in his gloomy thoughts, the door opened from the outside. "Big son, come help me out. I can barely carry all this!"
The voice preceded its owner.
Su Yuyan's head snapped up, his beautiful obsidian eyes, gleaming like black glass, fixed on the doorway. He stared at the slender figure half-hidden behind a mountain of packages.
He didn't react, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Hadn't she run away? Why was she back?
"Why aren't you answering? Are you asleep?" Su Miao was laden with bags of all sizes, her vision completely blocked by her burdens.
As she set down her load, Su Miao caught sight of the small figure sitting on the sofa.
"Kid, why didn't you answer when I called?" she muttered, then suddenly had a thought. "Don't tell me you're too hungry to speak."
She had returned later than expected, mainly because Xiao Zeyan had kept pestering her about holding a celebration party. It had taken quite some convincing to decline.
"I'm sorry I'm late," Su Miao said as she began unpacking dinner from one of the bags. "I got you a special kids' meal. The restaurant staff said it's their best-selling set. Give it a try."
"Kid, listen up. Not only did I bring back food, I also bought you some new clothes," she said, opening the lid of the takeout box. "Don't know if they'll fit, but if they don't, just toss 'em and I'll buy you more."
"I'm telling you, we've got money now."
We can afford to eat one steamed bun and throw another away...
Su Yuyan pursed his lips, his small brows furrowing. His beautiful eyes had unknowingly welled up with tears.
Stupid woman, why did she have to come back after leaving?
It would've been better if she'd just abandoned this burden for good.
Su Miao finally realized she'd been talking to herself, as the child hadn't given any reaction. She looked up at him and caught a glimpse of those pretty, dark eyes brimming with unshed tears.
"Kid, are you crying?"
"Don't tell me you thought I wasn't coming back for you, so you've been crying in secret?" Su Miao's face lit up with excitement, as if she'd discovered a new continent.
This little brat acts all high and mighty, but who knew he'd be secretly crying his eyes out?
"You—" the boy's childish voice was filled with anger as he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "I was just thinking, why couldn't you have died out there?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Su Yuyan regretted them.
But he couldn't bring himself to apologize. His eyelashes lowered, the jet-black lashes hiding the deep disgust in his eyes.
He hated this side of himself.