Chapter 22 — Come with Us If You Have the Guts

After reading the note, Wei Zhao laughed it off. He hardly believed Shen Yushu was warning him out of kindness — that girl thrived on chaos, and her only aim in telling him was to keep him going after Zhong Yongliang and his crew. She must be fed up with Zhong Yongliang herself.

The physics teacher was a man in his fifties, but his scholarship was solid. Though Wei Zhao had already taught himself everything the man covered, he still listened with relish.

"Naipao, what's the matter with you?" Zhong Yongliang glared at Zhang Naipao in annoyance. "Didn't I tell you to put him in his place? What were you doing?"

"Don't even mention it, Brother Liang. I'd just stuck my foot out to trip the bastard when he stepped right down on the top of it. Damn it, it hurt like hell." Zhang Naipao's face was a mask of pain. "It still hurts."

"Did he catch you at it?" Zhong Yongliang frowned. He had taken a kick from Wei Zhao just yesterday, so he knew exactly how much force the fellow packed; Zhang Naipao must be hurting badly.

"I don't think so. He never even looked down." Zhang Naipao was baffled by it too.

"Shit. To think the two of us got taken down one after another by some country bumpkin. During the break exercises, we'll corner him in the bathroom. I want him to learn the difference between piss and beer." Zhong Yongliang spoke with venom. Ever since he had enrolled, he had been named one of the school's Four Great Young Ruffians, and he had never once been made to eat crow like this.

"And let him learn the difference between shit and cake," Gao Xiaofu added.

The three of them were still talking when a man in black came toward them, a cigarette dangling from his lips. "Hey, Liangzi, what's all this? Holding a meeting or something?"

"Brother Ming." Zhong Yongliang looked up and saw Zou Ruoming, second in rank among the school's Four Great Young Ruffians. The man's misdeeds outdid his own; rumor had it that back in middle school he had dragged a girl from his class into a grove and had his way with her.

Zou Ruoming nodded, savoring the "Brother Ming." His family background was nothing next to Zhong Yongliang's, after all; it was his ruthlessness that set him apart, along with a big brother of his who ran with the underworld, and that was why he got away with so much at school.

"Anything you need Brother Ming for?" Zou Ruoming asked.

"Nothing much. Just a country-bumpkin transfer student. In a little while I'll teach him who runs this school." Zhong Yongliang, unwilling to lose face in front of Zou Ruoming, spoke as if it were nothing.

"You're holding a whole meeting over one country bumpkin?" Zou Ruoming lost interest at once, having expected something more entertaining. He shook his head and walked off.

These past few days he had set his sights on a girl in Senior Three, Class Nine, and was turning over ways to get his hands on her. But the cold beauty was proud and aloof, so Zou Ruoming was considering whether to simply take her by force.

He called her a girl because Zou Ruoming was in the college entrance exam prep class — the so-called "senior four," where students who had failed to get into university went. If Zou Ruoming wanted a university place, he could buy one whenever he liked; staying on in high school had been his own idea. He relished this life of having a hundred people answer his every call, and he knew that once he went off to a university in another city, none of it would exist anymore.

University students and high school students lived in utterly different worlds, and away from home he would be outside his family's sphere of influence; if he kept swaggering the way he did now, he would come to a very bad end.

So Zou Ruoming told his old man he wanted to repeat a year and sit the college entrance exam again the following year. Seeing that his son was willing to study, Zou's father happily agreed, plainly unaware of the little schemes turning in the boy's head.

Wei Zhao passed three class periods in comfort. Gu Mengyao acted as though she had never met him, not so much as glancing his way, while that girl Shen Yushu kept stealing sly looks in his direction.

Wei Zhao certainly did not think Shen Yushu had fallen for him. The girl was probably hoping to watch him fight Zhong Yongliang.

Since he sat in the last row, anyone leaving the classroom would have no reason to pass by him; so there was no doubt these three were coming for him. And Wei Zhao knew it was only a matter of time before they came looking for trouble.

"Hey, Yaoyao, look — that idiot Zhong Yongliang is going after Brother Shield." Shen Yushu had been watching Zhong Yongliang and Wei Zhao all through class, and when Zhong Yongliang finally moved against Wei Zhao she grew excited at once.

She had long wanted to see Zhong Yongliang humiliated; only out of respect for their elders had she held back from doing anything to him. Now that someone was doing it for her, she was naturally thrilled.

"Oh? Good. Let Zhong Yongliang teach that bastard a lesson." Gu Mengyao's anger had not cooled.

"No way, Yaoyao. Why are you taking Zhong Yongliang's side?" Shen Yushu blinked. "You're not secretly in love with him, are you?"

"As if anyone would love him. But I hate Wei Zhao more." Gu Mengyao sniffed. "Let's go. Leave him alone."

"Don't be like that. I want to watch. I want to see who wins." Shen Yushu tugged at Gu Mengyao, refusing to let her leave.

"Fine. It just so happens I'd like to see that bastard get beaten. It'll settle my grudge." Gu Mengyao said this aloud, but for some reason she did not want Wei Zhao to lose. All things considered, she still found Zhong Yongliang the more detestable of the two. Wei Zhao was hateful, yes, but not hateful to that degree.

And so the two curious creatures, hand in hand, hid themselves in the doorway of the classroom and watched what was happening inside.

"Kid, do you know why we're looking for you?" Zhong Yongliang blocked Wei Zhao's way, cocky as could be, and jabbed a finger at him.

"I know. Because yesterday I kicked you in the ass and sent you sprawling on your face." Wei Zhao spoke with perfect calm, as though it were nothing worth mentioning.

"Damn you, if you know, what are you acting so tough for? You think you're something?" Zhang Naipao's eyes bulged, and he reached out to grab Wei Zhao by the collar.

"Your foot doesn't hurt anymore, I take it?" Wei Zhao easily brushed Zhang Naipao's hand aside, a note of mockery in his voice.

Zhang Naipao's face went red in an instant. This was a humiliation he kept buried deep in his heart — so Wei Zhao had done it on purpose after all.

"Kid, if you've got the guts, come to the bathroom with us. This is a classroom, too many people around; if the dean of students sees, it's no good for anyone." Zhong Yongliang was seething with rage at Wei Zhao. Was the boy truly stupid or just pretending? Why was he so blank-faced about it? Did he not realize the three of them were going to beat him senseless?