The bald man in a black suit left with a swollen and bruised face. His heart was filled with injustice and fear. He needed to go back to answer his boss.

He knew that he wouldn't be able to get the interest for this loan.

The other party was a powerful figure, the heartless kind that might shatter your head if he got angry. He couldn't afford to provoke him.

His boss probably didn't want to offend this kind of person as well, right?

Fortunately, he got back the loan amount. This trip wasn't a waste.

But, his face got smashed by the brick for nothing… Ouch! Pain!

Sigh~

…

After getting rid of the loan sharks, Elaine heaved a sigh of relief. She said to Arius, "Arius, thank you for helping me just now."

"It's nothing." Arius shook his head.

"Oh, right. Why are you here?" Elaine suddenly asked. She was curious about his perfect timing.

"I followed you because I thought something bad might happen?" Arius smiled.

Elaine's heart jumped. She turned her head and felt her ears turning warm. She put down her hair to cover it up.

"I'm not talking to you anymore. I'm going to take a look at my mum."

Elaine ran back to the convenience store and explained everything to her mother. She told her that the loan sharks were gone and the loan receipt had already been burnt.

Mrs. Caldwell hugged Elaine and cried in joy. She almost went crazy from the torment these people had given her the past few days.

"Oh right, Little Elaine, who did you borrow the money from? Tell him that even though we don't have so much money now, we will definitely return it to him as quickly as possible," Mrs. Caldwell wiped her tears and said.

"I borrowed it from him." Elaine looked in Arius's direction.

"Ah, he's just a young man. Where did he get all the money from?" Mrs. Caldwell was surprised.

"His family runs a company," Elaine explained.

Mrs. Caldwell was enlightened. Then, she suddenly thought of something and asked curiously, "Little Elaine, you…"

Elaine looked at her mother's expression and immediately knew what she was thinking. She stomped her feet and complained sweetly. "Mom~ what are you thinking? He's my table buddy."

"Alright, alright, alright. I'm not thinking about anything. Mom is not thinking of anything," Mrs. Caldwell said quickly.

"You little girl, why aren't you inviting him to our house? He did our family a huge favor. I want to personally thank him."

Elaine wanted to call Arius over, but she noticed that he was already walking towards them.

"My mom says that she wants to thank you personally," she told Arius.

"That's right, Little Arius. I hope you don't mind me calling you this way. I really have to thank you for this time. If not, our family wouldn't have known what to do." Mrs. Caldwell was full of gratitude.

"I don't mind. Auntie, Elaine is my table buddy. She has helped me a lot, so I should help her when she has difficulties," Arius replied.

"Good, good, Little Elaine is lucky to have a table buddy like you."

The more Mrs. Caldwell looked at Arius, the more she liked him. This was a good child. He was just a little naughty…

But, you could tell that he was a responsible person who had a bright future. He was polite, and he took care of Little Elaine well. If he could be her son-in-law… that would be great.

During the martial arts era, people tend to get married early on. Mrs. Caldwell felt that she could start considering her daughter's marriage.

"Stay here tonight for dinner." Mrs. Caldwell suddenly got enthusiastic. "Auntie will go and buy some ingredients immediately. Little Elaine, take care of Little Arius."

After she finished speaking, she didn't give Arius and Elaine any time to react. She directly rushed out of the door.

Arius and Elaine exchanged glances with each other. The atmosphere had become a little strange.

"Why don't I… leave first?" said Arius.

"Leave your head. My mom has already gone out to buy food. If you leave, how will I explain to her when she comes back?" Elaine rolled her eyes.

"Just find a random excuse. For instance, you can tell her that I have some urgent matters to attend to," Arius gave her some suggestions.

Elaine looked at Arius.

Why doesn't this fellow want to stay at my house?

She was a little embarrassed, for sure, but Arius's unwilling expression made her a little uncomfortable and unhappy.

"You can explain to her personally if you want to. I'm not explaining." Elaine glared at Arius.

"Alright, alright, it's just a meal. I, Arius, am not afraid at all." This was what Arius said, but he looked as though he was going to the execution field.

Elaine finally understood his emotions when she saw his reaction. This fellow wasn't actually unwilling; he was just a little scared. Usually, he didn't seem afraid of anything. She almost forgot that he was a teenage boy too.

She couldn't help but laugh secretly behind his back.

Arius stood in the shop, uncertain of what to do. He looked at the candies scattered on the ground and went over to pick them up.

Elaine regained her senses. Her gaze turned gentle as she looked at Arius's back view. She squatted down and started cleaning the candies with him.

"I will transfer you the remaining money later," she remembered the leftover money and said.

"Okay!" Arius nodded.

"As for the 15 thousand USD, I will work part-time during the summer vacation to return it to you," Elaine continued.

"That's not right. It's 15,100 USD," Arius smiled and replied.

"Yes, yes, yes, it's 15,100. You're such a miser." Elaine rolled her eyes.

"Hahaha…" Arius laughed casually. He didn't mind her reaction.

Elaine didn't realize that the respect hidden in his words was what allowed them to continue their relationship as normal. They didn't suffer any estrangement because of this matter.

…

After some time, Mrs. Caldwell came back with the ingredients. She was carrying many bags in her hands and had bought a lot of fish meat.

"Little Arius, you can talk upstairs with Elaine. I'll be in the kitchen cooking." Mrs. Caldwell greeted them before she got busy in the kitchen.

"Come on, let's go upstairs."Elaine led Arius up the stairs.

"Isn't Uncle around?" Arius asked.

Elaine bit her lips as she said, "He's here. I'll bring you to see him."

Arius saw Elaine's father. He was a drunk and skinny man,while his legs were gone.

"How did your father… became like this?" Arius was really shocked.

"My father used to be a martial warrior. One day, after coming back from the Amazon Continent, he became like this. His teammates managed to save him after much difficulty, but his legs were gone. Even his Spiritual Ki nucleus was broken. He came a crippled," Elaine explained in low spirits.

"This…" Arius knew that the martial arts world wasn't as beautiful as the public made it out to be, but he didn't expect it to be so cruel.

He even felt a little frightened when he saw the ghastly wounds on Mr. Caldwell's body.

Also, he didn't think Elaine's father could be a martial warrior.

"Since you know how brutal the martial arts world is, why do you still practice martial arts? Why do you still want to take part in the martial arts exam?" Arius couldn't help but ask her.

"I want to take revenge!" Elaine closed the door and gritted her teeth as she said.

"It's caused by someone?" Arius was flabbergasted once again.

"My dad's teammates say that he became like this because their opponents had set a trap," Elaine explained.