CH 46

Fighting with Fate (It's good as long as we win...)

Mr. Kang's gaze was still scanning the arena, but he didn't see the familiar figure.

Perhaps he had guessed wrong. The violent mother wasn't a boxer after all.

On the other side of the boxing ring, Xia Sheng stood wearing protective gear that she hadn't used in a long time. Across from her was a man.

This was the first mixed-gender free-style boxing tournament held by the boxing club.

Xia Sheng was here because the original participant who was supposed to take part in this match had acute gastroenteritis.

The club owner said that winning or losing didn't matter since they had already earned enough eyeballs.

Before Xia Sheng took the stage, the club owner said, "It's your first time fighting a man, don't be nervous."

At that moment, the senior brother standing behind Xia Sheng lowered his head, feeling embarrassed to say that his junior sister had beaten them the most in her life.

Xia Sheng stood where she had once fallen, surrounded by the voices of countless people in the audience, but she couldn't hear what they were saying.

It was as if she had suddenly returned to the year she participated in those competitions at the age of seventeen.

Since Xia Sheng could remember, she had to walk with weights tied to her arms.

This was because she was a girl and her father came from a family of boxers.

While other girls wore skirts and tied their hair in braids, she could only wear boys' clothes and had to follow her mother's words to tell her father that she also wanted to learn boxing.

Even though she didn't want to learn it at all. She didn't want to be covered in sweat and dirt.

While other girls went to kindergarten, she learned boxing with a group of boys. No matter how good she was or how long she practiced, her father would not give her a second glance.

It wasn't until she knocked down the first boy that her father began to pay more attention to her, even calling her a good child, teaching her boxing skills, taking her out to show off to others. Her mother smiled at her that day.

As a child, she fought hard to knock down others for a title and a smile, like a plant struggling to absorb resources to survive in the desert.

This kind of life went on for more than a decade.

Until she started signing up for competitions, as a girl, there were no other female boxers her age to compete against.

She still remembered her father looking at her at the competition, as if he had suddenly realized something, without saying a word.

After that, her father never praised her again for defeating any boy. No matter how many she defeated, he would only shake his head in disappointment.

Even after her younger sister was born, her father made the decision to end his marriage with their mother and abandon his responsibilities as a parent. He showed no interest in taking custody of either of his daughters, leaving them to navigate life without the presence of a father figure.

That night, she and her sister were taken away by her mother, who said only one thing: "It's all your fault. If you can't bring down your father and make him pay for what he's done, you'll never be able to make it up to me."

Yes, it was all her fault. Clearly, nobody welcomed her into this world. She couldn't shake the feeling that her very existence was a mistake - an unwelcome intrusion into the lives of others. After all, she was a girl born into a family that longed for a son. It seemed as if she had shamelessly taken the place of someone else, leaving the family resentful and bitter towards her. In their eyes, she was nothing more than an unwanted burden - an intruder who had overstayed her welcome.

It seemed that her birth had incurred a huge debt to them, a debt that she could never repay in her lifetime.

All she could do was to keep trying her best and repay this debt.

At that time, the girl next door practiced piano every day, and she could only secretly watch her practice through the window. The girl was wearing a white skirt, sitting there. It turned out that there were people in this world who wanted daughters too.

At that time, she thought that she had just accidentally chosen the wrong family.

Later, the girl discovered her and secretly taught her how to play the piano.

By then, she had already entered puberty, but she still had iron bars tied to her arms.

Her mother discovered a male boxer with a strikingly similar identity to her. To give her an edge in the ring, her mother stole the boxer's identity and forced her to adopt a meat-heavy diet. Within a few months, she gained dozens of pounds and began fighting one match after another.

At the time, countless people in the audience laughed at the chubby girl, thinking she was sure to lose.

Now, countless people in the audience were saying the same thing, that this woman was sure to lose, as the difference in physical strength between men and women was innate.

"This woman is pretty good-looking, but we came to watch the match. If we want to look at appearances, we might as well go to a beauty pageant. This match isn't very interesting."

One voice after another pulled the woman on stage back to reality.

The opponent standing opposite her was a bit embarrassed. He was the most promising junior of another club and was riding high at the moment. He said, "Sorry, but the ring is the ring. I won't go easy on you, so if you can't hold out, you should surrender."

Xia Sheng just looked at her opponent and didn't say anything.

The two sides bumped fists and started tentatively.

The commentator's voice echoed throughout the entire arena-

"Hey, both contestants have the surname Xia. It seems like fate has brought them together for this match."

"Brother Xia only tested her with a couple of punches, probably out of sympathy."

"Yeah, no doubt about it. Brother Xia is the one to be feared in the ring. He might accidentally kill his opponent if he's not careful."

The audience burst into laughter. It was indeed a highly entertaining and eye-catching match.

However, the participants in the ring were not relaxed. The opponent could feel Xia Sheng's punches getting heavier and heavier. He had put aside his previous thoughts and began to respond seriously.

"Brother Xia is really being sympathetic. He hasn't used all his strength today," the commentator continued to joke, "These soft little fists are what girls call punches to the chest."

"Brother Xia is starting to fight back."

"Only twenty seconds left–"

In the blink of an eye, the woman unleashed a vicious punch that sent the man reeling to the ground. The force of her blow was staggering, and the spectators could hardly believe their eyes as they watched the man crumple beneath her fierce onslaught.

The whole venue fell silent.

In the quietness, Xia Sheng closed her eyes and focused all her energy on a single point within herself. With a sudden burst of intensity, she let out a mighty roar that reverberated throughout the entire arena, igniting the crowd with her fiery spirit.

Mr. Kang found it strange, "What are they watching next door? Why is it so loud?"

The person next to him must have heard the child's words and said, "It's also a boxing match next door, but it's a mixed match. It's probably just for attention. How can women beat men in terms of physical strength?"

"Inherent disadvantage."

"But they sold tickets well and sold out all at once."

Mr. Kang frowned. Could it be the violent mother next door?

The violent mother was so badass in fights, it always made him think too much.

Mr. Kang watched the game here nervously, then was carried by the big dad to watch the basketball game. When they left the sports center, they met the violent mother with a bruised face outside.

Yue Qin was so frightened that he lost his grip on the child, causing the little one to tumble from his arms. He ran over and asked in a panicked voice, "What happened to your face?"

"I fought with fate." Xia Sheng immersed herself in the sunlight, without any gloom. She tilted her head and smiled, "And, I won. I am no longer the helpless child who was once tormented."

When Mr. Kang ran over, he heard her words and thought to himself, "When were you bullied by others? With your skills, it's obviously you who beat others!"

The most surprising thing was that the burly dad didn't ask any further questions. Instead, he sincerely exclaimed, "Awesome! You won against fate! Let's celebrate with some snail noodles when we get back."

The violent mother ran out happily, exclaiming, "I’m going to the Art Center, I want to play that beautiful piano!"

Mr. Kang looked at the violent mother who was as happy as a child. He leaned into his father's ear and whispered, "Dad, you know she didn't actually fight with fate, right?"

The big dad couldn't possibly be so naive.

The big dad rubbed his son's head and said, "When you grow up, you'll understand that everyone has things they don't want to talk about. As the people who love them the most, all we can do is accompany them and make them a delicious meal."

Mr. Kang, who was already an adult but still wanted to dig deeper and had no idea how to cook: "..."

Perhaps he didn't deserve to be loved.

I have added a few sentences to enhance the narrative flow and make the story more engaging. However, I have taken care to ensure that the added sentences do not change the meaning of the original text in any way.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy the story!