Qiao Zhen felt that this man was really stubborn, but he also knew Lu Zheng's temperament and that he couldn't go against him, so he could only nod helplessly in agreement.

"Then hurry back, don't keep me waiting."

Upon hearing this, Lu Zheng simply nodded quickly and headed to a nearby ATM.

Qiao Zhen was left alone at the stall, idly playing on her phone, when a discordant voice suddenly rang out.

"Hey beautiful, eating barbecue alone?"

Upon hearing that greasy and disgusting voice, Qiao Zhen almost instinctively frowned, but seeing that there were three of them, she didn't want to cause trouble, so she could only endure it and say something.

"No, my boyfriend has gone out to do something, he'll be back soon."

To everyone's surprise, the thugs laughed even louder after hearing this: "Stop pretending, little girl. You're just out for barbecue by yourself. Let your big brother keep you company."

As she spoke, she moved to sit down to the side and prepared to put her arm around Qiao Zhen's shoulder.

Qiao Zhen practically jumped up and walked to the table next to her: "I'm warning you, don't go too far!"

Seeing Qiao Zhen's aggressive demeanor, the thugs were not afraid at all; on the contrary, they became even more excited.

"She actually has quite a temper, I like that."

Qiao Zhen frowned, looking at the three people in front of her, wondering how to escape.

She saw the proprietress standing to the side, but the proprietress could only give her an apologetic look.

Qiao Zhen didn't blame him. After all, for someone like him who needs to do business in one place for a long time, if he offends someone here, it will be difficult for him to continue operating in the future.

"If you take another step forward, I'll call the police!"

As Qiao Zhen was speaking, she took out her phone to make a call, but one of the thugs next to her quickly ran up, grabbed Qiao Zhen's phone, and threw it to the ground.

Qiao Zhen was caught off guard; her phone was smashed to pieces and the screen immediately went black.

She frowned, took two steps back, and was calculating how to stall for time until Lu Zheng returned.

"Brothers, it's just a matter of sitting down and having a drink, why make such a fuss?"

Seeing Qiao Zhen suddenly back down, the thugs were a little confused, but they didn't have time to think about it and just chuckled.

"If you know what's good for you, little girl, sit down and have a few drinks with your brother."

Upon hearing this, Qiao Zhen looked around and tried to sit in a spot far away from the thugs.

The thugs, coaxed by Qiao Zhen, temporarily lowered their guard and decided to have some fun with her, without insisting on getting too close to her.

As Qiao Zhen poured the wine, she kept glancing at the ATM machine not far away, cursing under her breath.

Is it really that slow to withdraw money? It's been so long and it's still not back.

The thugs on the side became increasingly impatient, and their gazes toward Qiao Zhen grew more and more lewd.

"My dear sister, how can you just drink alcohol? There are many ways to enjoy life."

As he spoke, the thug couldn't resist any longer and began to touch Qiao Zhen's thigh.

Qiao Zhen steeled her resolve and immediately ran out, heading straight for Lu Zheng to withdraw the money without looking back.

Seeing this, the thugs behind realized they had been tricked, and after being cursed at, they quickly chased after them.

"What the hell do you mean? Are you messing with me?"

The thug couldn't contain himself and cursed loudly, but Qiao Zhen caught sight of a familiar figure.

Lu Zheng had just withdrawn the money and was in a bad mood when he saw two or three people harassing Qiao Zhen.

He immediately frowned, ran forward quickly, and kicked the thug.

Lu Zheng's speed was so fast that the thugs didn't have time to react.

By the time they realized what was happening, Lu Zheng had already shielded Qiao Zhen behind him and was slowly taking off his suit jacket.

The thug, having been kicked for no reason, became even more agitated: "Who are you? You're the girl I'm picking up. I advise you to get lost if you know what's good for you!"

"I'm his man." Lu Zheng said through gritted teeth, threw his coat to Qiao Zhen behind him, and punched her.

Lu Zheng used all his strength in that punch, knocking out two of the thug's teeth.

The thug howled in pain after being beaten, collapsed to the ground with a scream, and spat out a mouthful of blood.

The other two thugs had never seen such a scene before and were too scared to move.

Lu Zheng had no intention of letting these two off the hook. After waving his fist, he raised an eyebrow at them and asked, "Which of you two wants to go first?"

After exchanging a glance, the two immediately pointed at each other and said, "He goes first, he goes first!"

Looking at the dog-eat-dog scene in front of him, Lu Zheng sneered: "How about this, I'll give you a chance. You two fight each other, and whoever hits the other harder won't have to take my hit."

Upon hearing this, the thugs assessed the other party's strength and decided that it would be more worthwhile to fight each other, so they finally managed to raise their fists and start hitting each other.

Qiao Zhen was terrified by this scene. If she had just chased the others away, why did she have to make such a big fuss?

If all else fails, we can hand it over to the police.

"Never mind..." Thinking of this, she couldn't help but step forward and tug at Lu Zheng's sleeve.

Lu Zheng turned his head and saw Qiao Zhen pleading for those thugs, which fueled his anger even more.

"These scumbags harassed you, and you actually spoke up for them?"

Hearing this, Qiao Zhen was slightly speechless. She wanted to refute that she was not pleading for those people at all, but just felt that it was not worth wasting so much time on such people.

But just as he was about to speak, Qiao Zhen saw the thug he had punched earlier struggling to his feet, pulling out a knife and about to stab Lu Zheng.

"Watch out!" Qiao Zhen screamed, stretching out her arms to protect Lu Zheng's back.

Caught off guard, Qiao Zhen was slashed, and blood immediately flowed out.

When Lu Zheng saw the wound on Qiao Zhen's arm, his eyes turned bloodshot with rage. Ignoring the fact that the person in front of him had a knife, he immediately engaged in hand-to-hand combat with him.

The thug, now emboldened by the knife in his hand, yelled and prepared to swing the knife again.

Unexpectedly, Lu Zheng's strength was so terrifying that he dislocated the man's hand. The thug let out a scream and then had no strength left to make a sound.

Lu Zheng knocked the knife away from him and punched him twice more until the man could no longer stand up. Only then did Lu Zheng rush to Qiao Zhen's side and ask what was wrong.

"Are you alright? Are you badly hurt?"

"It's nothing." Qiao Zhen shook her head. In fact, it was just a cut from a knife. The wound wasn't deep, and only a few beads of blood came out.

Seeing Lu Zheng's distressed expression, Qiao Zhen couldn't help but move her lips, but in the end, she didn't say anything.

But since Lu Zheng had assaulted someone, the matter couldn't be left unresolved. After much thought, Qiao Zhen took Lu Zheng's phone and called the police.

The person who answered the phone asked lazily, "What is it?"

Qiao Zhen quickly recounted what had just happened to him.

After they acknowledged the situation, a police car and an ambulance arrived and took everyone who needed to be taken away to their respective locations.

So, Qiao Zhen and Lu Zheng sat down in the police station.