The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 639 - 638 Acting

Chapter 639: Chapter 638 Acting

As Pei Ziheng, having changed into his gear, stepped onto the stage, the boxing match officially began.

It was no wonder that Shen Mingzhu was so anxious, given that Gong Rong was almost twice Pei Ziheng’s size in both height and build.

Both fighters had their hands wrapped in boxing gloves, but Gong Rong’s gloves were more than twice the size of Pei Ziheng’s.

No matter how one looked at it, Pei Ziheng seemed like the one destined to be overpowered.

Shen Mingzhu had Pei Yang and Zhao Yun stand by the edge of the ring, ready to step in and "rescue" her son at the first sign of trouble.

"Round one, fight!"

Following the referee’s command, the two fighters on the stage immediately assumed defensive stances, with eyes locked onto each other like beasts, slowly circling.

Meanwhile, the crowd below was boiling over with cheers and shouts.

"Hit him, go for it!"

"Come on, fight, what are you scared of, damn it!"

Finally, amidst the deafening jeers, Gong Rong found his moment and threw a punch at Pei Ziheng’s face.

"Ziheng!"

Seeing the huge fist heading towards her son’s face, Shen Mingzhu stood up anxiously, but the next second, her heart settled back down.

Pei Ziheng deftly leaned to the right side, and Gong Rong’s massive, powerful fist barely missed his left ear.

"YES! Well done!"

Zhao Yun, clutching the ropes around the boxing ring, shouted excitedly.

Gong Rong’s supporters were not to be outdone, jeering at Pei Ziheng while cheering Gong Rong on.

After loosening his muscles and bones for a moment, Gong Rong launched another offensive.

Pei Ziheng continued to dodge nimbly.

Seeing that his attacks missed twice in a row, Gong Rong seemed clearly irritated, increasing both the speed and the ferocity of his punches.

Pei Ziheng, agile as a monkey, dodged left and right, jumping up and down.

Gong Rong swung more than a dozen punches but failed to touch even a strand of Pei Ziheng’s hair.

"Fuck, all you know is how to dodge, you fight like shit, you coward!"

Someone in the crowd complained, to which Zhao Yun shouted back with a loud voice, "Screw your MB, if you’re so capable why don’t you get in the ring and fight!"

The noise on the ground matched the tumult in the ring, where Gong Rong was getting infuriated.

In this duel, although he appeared to have all the advantages, knocking down Pei Ziheng was not easy.

With Pei Ziheng being much shorter, Gong Rong had to punch down ten or twenty centimeters lower than usual.

No matter how fast and fierce his punches were, each one went against his usual boxing style. After fighting for so long, he was as tired as a dog while Pei Ziheng seemed not to have broken a sweat, which only fueled his anger.

He motioned to Pei Ziheng with a beckoning fist, signaling Pei Ziheng to come forward and fight.

Pei Ziheng ignored Gong Rong’s provocation.

He was self-aware, knowing the huge disparity between him and Gong Rong, and dared not relax in the slightest.

He had promised his mother he would not lose and certainly not let himself get injured.

Seeing Pei Ziheng ignoring him, Gong Rong had no choice but to continue with heavy punches, but they still missed every time.

"Ding ding ding!"

With the ringing of the gong by the referee, round one ended in a draw.

Gong Rong, dissatisfied, approached the referee, complaining about Pei Ziheng’s evasive tactics and wanting the referee to declare Pei Ziheng the loser on those grounds, in an attempt to force Pei Ziheng into a head-on confrontation in the second round.

A professional boxer hard-pressuring a twelve-year-old kid to fight, who exactly is playing dirty here?

The referee inwardly scorned Gong Rong while rejecting his suggestion on the grounds that there was "no rule that one must engage,".

Shen Mingzhu, having watched a round, finally let out a sigh of relief.

Actually, as early as the day before, Pei Ziheng and Ma Weilong had rehearsed this strategy for her to see, but at the time she thought that Ma Weilong was intentionally going easy on Pei Ziheng.

Now it appeared that her son’s tactics were indeed very effective.

Mingzhu’s tense heart was finally somewhat relieved.

Soon, round two began.

Pei Ziheng continued with his evasive tactics, not directly clashing with Gong Rong, who became so enraged that his punches became disordered and without technique.

But Pei Ziheng, noting his defensive gaps, launched a precise punch.

Pop!

Gong Rong’s chin took a direct hit.

By the time he realized he needed to counter, the time was up.

"Fuck your mother!"

Gong Rong spat out a mouthful of blood and saliva, cursing furiously.

Pei Ziheng remained noncommittal, his lips curling into a provoking smile that nearly made Gong Rong crush his back teeth in anger.

"You little prick, just wait, next time I’ll beat you down so hard you’ll take my surname!"

The second round was still a draw.

Although Pei Ziheng landed a hit on Gong Rong, it lacked sufficient force to knock him down, so it didn’t count for points.

...

The third round quickly began.

Gong Rong’s punches were noticeably fiercer and more ruthless than in the previous rounds, each thrown with full intent to kill. Even with Pei Ziheng’s spring-like agility, the audience below held their breath, worried for him.

If one of those punches landed, his bones would surely shatter.

Time ticked away, second by second.

Dang dang dang!

With the referee’s gong, the third round ended.

Neither side had knocked down their opponent this round, and it was still a draw.

Three rounds, all draws, this uneven challenge ended in a stalemate.

Shen Mingzhu felt relieved as if a heavy burden had been lifted.

Zhao Yun scooped up Pei Tang, cheering for Pei Ziheng with waving flags.

Just then, an unexpected twist occurred—

Gong Rong, having just taken off his gloves, took advantage of everyone’s distraction to throw a sneak punch at Pei Ziheng, who was preparing to leave the ring.

As the casserole-sized fist approached her son’s head, Shen Mingzhu’s mind went blank with anxiety: "Ziheng—"

"Bang!"

At the critical moment, Pei Yang stepped forward and used his own body to block Gong Rong’s sneak attack meant for Pei Ziheng.

"Are you fucking insane!?"

Ma Weilong leaped onto the stage and kicked Gong Rong away.

The referees and other people from the gym swarmed in to hold him back, to prevent further injuries.

"Dad, are you okay?"

Seeing his father take the hit for him, Pei Ziheng’s face showed a rare glimpse of panic and apprehension.

"Mr. Pei, how are you feeling?"

While asking with concern, Ma Weilong also checked the bones in the area where Pei Yang had been hit.

"Ouch, it hurts!"

Hearing him cry out in pain, Ma Weilong dared not touch him further and hastily instructed the staff to call an ambulance.

Pei Yang was quickly taken to the hospital for a checkup.

The results of the examination would take half an hour to come out, but Pei Yang kept complaining about pain, so the hospital arranged for him to be admitted for observation.

"Dad, I’m sorry," Pei Ziheng couldn’t stop blaming himself.

"Daddy, if I blow on it, it won’t hurt anymore," Pei Tang offered sweetly.

As the whole family surrounded Pei Yang with care and warmth, Gong Rong’s father arrived at the door with his son to apologize and make amends.

Shen Mingzhu unleashed a torrent of anger and firmly stated she would not reconcile and insisted on pursuing the matter to the end.

Gong Rong’s father pleaded for his son, both promising to discipline him better in the future and offering to cover the medical and nutritional expenses.

In the end, Pei Yang softened and stated he would not pursue Gong Rong’s responsibility, provided Gong Rong wrote a guarantee to never trouble Pei Ziheng again.

Gong Rong’s father naturally agreed to everything.

Once the Gong family had left, Zhao Yun was the first one who couldn’t sit still anymore, "Uncle Pei, why let that bastard off so easily? He should be locked up for a couple of years for daring to launch a sneak attack on Ziheng. Letting him off is too lenient!"

Pei Tang continuously nodded in agreement, clearly in favor of Gong Rong learning his lesson the hard way.

Pei Ziheng, however, had returned to his usual calm and showed no emotion.

"Coach Ma, I am sorry for the trouble today. I’m fine, you can go back," he said.

After hearing Pei Yang say this, Ma Weilong expressed his concern a few more times before taking his leave.

Pei Yang then made the excuse of wanting to rest and asked his daughter, son, and Zhao Yun to take Demu home first.

When everyone had left, Pei Yang suddenly sat up from the hospital bed like a carp leaping out of water, "Wife, how was my acting?"