Chapter 8
JIANG CHENG had never picked candies like this, even when he was little.
His family never really allowed sweets, junk food, or soda; he’d always felt as if he was living like an ascetic. As a result, he didn’t really crave junk food or sweets. Usually whenever Pan Zhi found something good, he’d shove a bunch of it in Jiang Cheng’s direction.
It was a novel feeling to see Gu Fei place a handful of candy on his desk for him to pick from.
There was coffee candy, milk candy, mint candy, fruit candy…and all of these were divided further still into soft and hard varieties. He stared for a while and finally picked out a milk candy. He had only just opened the wrapper when Gu Fei reached out and took away the rest of the pile.
“The hell?” Jiang Cheng was stunned—then he remembered that Gu Fei had said “take your pick,” not “take it all.” He immediately conceded that the logic was irrefutable, but he couldn’t help but ask, “Do you think your stinginess is going to save you enough cash to have Wang Jianlin prostrating himself at your feet tomorrow?”(6)
Without a word, Gu Fei looked down at the sweets in his hand, picked out the other two milk candies, and placed them in front of Jiang Cheng. He then put the rest back in his pocket.
…What a weirdo.
Jiang Cheng unwrapped all three pieces of milk candy and stuffed them into his mouth, unable to find anything else to say.
The English teacher’s name was Mr. Lu. Because he liked to yell, he was better than Lao-Xu at keeping the students’ attention and maintaining a quiet class. He saw overall better results than Lao-Xu did.
Although none of the teachers Jiang Cheng had met today could compare to his old teachers, the entire period taught by Mr. Lu was uniquely invigorating.
If someone so much as scratched an itch, he would jab the pointer stick at the student and ask if they needed help with that. Jiang Cheng hadn’t been so focused on a lecture in ages. The second his attention strayed even slightly, he’d find himself shocked back to reality by Mr. Lu’s roars.
The classroom became rowdy again the instant the bell rang, like a pressure valve being released. Some people even let loose a few howls as they stretched their backs.
“You!” Mr. Lu suddenly jabbed the pointer stick toward the back of the classroom. “Come with me.”
The gesture and the “you” covered a fairly wide range of students. There was another wave as everyone once again whipped their heads around one by one. Even when he felt a bunch of eyes on him, Jiang Cheng didn’t pay it any heed. He was a new transfer, after all; he doubted the teacher would even remember his name… “Gu Fei!” Mr. Lu yelled again.
Gu Fei sighed. He’d been looking down at his phone, and at the sound of the teacher’s thunderous voice, he dropped it to the ground. He glanced up at Mr. Lu, then gestured with his head at Jiang Cheng.
“He’s calling you.”
“Hm?” Jiang Cheng froze. “Me?”
“Yes, you! Gu Fei’s deskmate!” Mr. Lu pointed at him again with his stick. Several students scrambled to move their heads out of its radius.
Jiang Cheng had no choice but to stand up. He wondered what the English teacher wanted from him. He glanced back at Wang Xu as he walked to the door; he’d stood up too. If the teacher hadn’t called Jiang Cheng away, they would have been battling it out by now.
“The name is Jiang Cheng, right?” Mr. Lu turned and started heading downstairs.
“Yes sir,” Jiang Cheng answered as he followed. “What did you want to see me about?”
“Your Xu-zong has been bragging to me for days, saying that a capital-R Real overachiever has arrived…” Jiang Cheng was confused. “A capital what?”
“A capital-R, Real, overachiever,” Mr. Lu explained as he gave him a look. “You’ve never heard the expression before?”
A Real overachiever.
“…Oh. I get it now.” It was the first time Jiang Cheng had heard someone specify capitalization out loud.
“Our school started out as a general high school before it got turned into a vocational school, and then it was changed back to a general high school again,” Mr. Lu said. “It can’t compare to your old school, but I hope it won’t affect you.
Just continue studying the way you did before.”
“Oh.” Jiang Cheng thought about how he’d studied in the past and figured the teacher didn’t know him very well.
“Students like Wang Xu and Gu Fei… Try not to mess with them. They’re all just here to kill time,” Mr. Lu went on. “If I hadn’t called you out, he’d be looking to pick a fight with you right about now, and he wouldn’t give up until he emerged with another demerit point on his shoulder. He has a penalty on his record already.”
“…Oh.” Jiang Cheng nodded. It seemed that Mr. Lu actually cared about his students.
Mr. Lu shot him a displeased look. “Aren’t you going to thank me?”
“Thank you.”
“Your English grades were pretty top-notch—why don’t you be student rep for my English class?” Mr. Lu suggested. “Yi Jing is the current student rep.
She’s also the class president, and the student rep for Chinese class…” “Hm?” Jiang Cheng blinked, then immediately shook his head. “Nope.”
“Why not?” Mr. Lu was a little surprised. “I heard Lao-Xu say you used to be class president. You don’t think being a student rep for one class is too much work, do you?”
“I was only the class president for one semester.”
“How come?” Mr. Lu asked.
Jiang Cheng shot him a glance. “Because I got into fights and skipped class.”
Mr. Lu’s eyes widened. He stared and opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
“I’ll be heading back to class now, then?”
“Hey… Hold on.” Mr. Lu mulled over it for a moment. “How about you come work on some course materials for me some day when you have the time?”
Jiang Cheng sighed inwardly. He wanted to say he didn’t have a computer at the moment, but since Mr. Lu seemed to be a good person, it was hard to reject him a second time. He nodded.
“Good, good.” Mr. Lu grinned. “Go back to class, then.”
“Fuck, what’s taking him so long?” Wang Xu said from his perch on Jiang Cheng’s desk. “Is he avoiding me? Does he think he can hide forever?!”
“Lao-Lu wants him for something, probably,” Zhou Jing said.
“What the hell could he possibly want?” said Wang Xu. “When have you ever seen Lao-Lu ask a student for something?! He probably just wanted to ask some questions to get to know the new transfer. And the new guy didn’t dare come back to class once he was done! Asshole!”
Gu Fei, who had been quietly playing a game on his phone this whole time, finally cut in. “You’re planning to settle the score right here?”
“No shit!” Wang Xu bowed his head and ran his fingers through his hair in irritation. “Fuck!”
Gu Fei put his phone down and peered up at him.
“…Or, where else should I do it?” Wang Xu was a little hesitant.
“Not my problem,” Gu Fei said. “Just don’t bring your mess around me.
It’s fucking annoying.”
“Maybe you can just forget it,” Zhou Jing said. “You both got each other once—you’re even.”
Wang Xu turned and glared at Zhou Jing. “Your great fucking uncle it’s even!”
“Go down to the field or do it outside of school,” said Gu Fei, still playing his game. “Just not next to me. It’s irritating as hell.”
“He’s back,” Zhou Jing said.
Gu Fei looked up, sweeping his gaze across the front of the room. Sure enough, Jiang Cheng was slowly ambling toward them with both hands in his pockets and his eyes on Wang Xu.
“Hiding from me, are ya?” Wang Xu sneered. “You’ve got guts, coming back before the bell.”
“Three things,” Jiang Cheng said.
Wang Xu looked at him, not quite comprehending what he just said.
“One: get down,” Jiang Cheng said as he stuck out an index finger. He then proceeded to put up another finger. “Two: the one who started it is always the jackass.”
Wang Xu finally reanimated. He glared at Jiang Cheng and was about to say something when Jiang Cheng cut him off and held up a third finger.
“Three: just tell me how you want to resolve this. If all you’re going to do is keep blabbing on, then I concede.”
As he said this, a silence fell over the class, who had all been waiting to see the show unfold. They watched with bated breath for Wang Xu’s reaction.
Gu Fei tilted his head back and, leaning against the wall, let out a low whistle. Based on Gu Fei’s many years of experience as a popcorn-eating bystander, Jiang Cheng’s words and the way he carried himself as he said them immediately put Wang Xu’s future career as boss of the class in jeopardy.
The expression on Wang Xu’s face went through several quick changes.
Jiang Cheng couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but he didn’t miss the quick glance Wang Xu shot Gu Fei the first chance he got. He saw very clearly that Wang Xu was afraid of Gu Fei—or maybe he subconsciously viewed Gu Fei as someone to lean on.
Ever since Jiang Cheng saw the Fresh Out of Jail quartet at Gu Fei’s store that day, he knew that the somewhat polite and mellow “it’s none of my business” façade that Gu Fei put up was just that: a façade.
Tsk. What the hell is with him? He’s acting like he’s some lofty immortal wandering on the fringes of society.
“I’ll be waiting for you at lunchtime,” Wang Xu announced, hopping off the desk. As he walked back to his own seat, he turned and pointed a finger at Jiang Cheng. “And don’t even think about running away.”
“Mm-hm,” Jiang Cheng answered as he sat down. After some thought, he turned and asked Gu Fei, “Is that guy a big deal in your class?”
He noticed now that the rest note shaved onto the left side of Gu Fei’s head had three dots: It was a thirty-second rest.
“Something like that,” said Gu Fei.
“What do you mean, something like that?”
“It means he’ll fight whoever dares to say he isn’t.”
Gu Fei’s eyes were still glued to his phone, his fingers busy swiping around on the screen. Jiang Cheng saw that the game he was playing was Aixiaochu, the kind of mindless matching game he’d only played in middle school when he needed to kill some time but had nothing else better to do. He was surprised to see Gu Fei spend his time either watching videos or playing that garbage game—and he seemed pretty into it, too. How juvenile.
Jiang Cheng couldn’t help himself. “You like to play that game?”
“Mm, it doesn’t take a lot of brain power,” Gu Fei said. “It’s not like I’m an overachiever like you.”
Jiang Cheng was already irritated by everything that had happened that morning. At those words, he almost landed a punch directly into Gu Fei’s thirty-second rest. He clenched his jaw and stopped himself, though—for one thing, Gu Fei had helped him when he passed out the other day. And he ate three of Gu Fei’s milk candies just now, too… If that even counts?
“It’s courageous of you to face your smooth brain head-on,” Jiang Cheng said. “Good for you.”
Gu Fei turned, took one long look at him without any expression, and said in an obnoxiously high-pitched voice, “Good luck at lunch time!”
Damn you and your great uncle’s big yellow dog! Ugh.
Jiang Cheng didn’t listen much in class for the rest of the morning. His chest felt tight. Even after he blacklisted the family of three, he couldn’t help going back and tapping on their Moments.
He didn’t have a good relationship with them—things had been more tense than anything else—but that was the only home he’d known for more than a decade. It was the “family” he had seen every single day; they were carved into his memory. He couldn’t simply throw those sentiments away.
Seeing the calm on the other side made him feel even more miserable than being pushed out of the place he’d called home for more than ten years. It seemed that no one was affected by his absence—his permanent departure, rather… Or perhaps they simply weren’t showing it?
He slumped over his desk, stuffed a hat under his head, and closed his eyes. Forget it, he thought as he decided to take a quick nap. He wasn’t someone who needed to be in his own bed to fall asleep, but he hadn’t slept well ever since he got here. Li Baoguo’s place was way too old and run-down, and on top of that, the guy lived like a total slob. The house was full of cockroaches and spiders—and rodents, too. Listening to the sounds of mice scurrying around the apartment all night made Jiang Cheng feel like he lived inside a dumpster.
The teachers at Fourth High were much more understanding than his old teachers when it came to slacking off during class. He slept all the way through the period, even dozing through the break in between classes without lifting his head once, and not a single teacher came up to disturb him.
It wasn’t until the final bell for the last period of the morning sounded, and Wang Xu slammed a palm onto his desk, that Jiang Cheng straightened up with a yawn. His back felt a little stiff.
Wang Xu glared at him sideways. “Let’s go.”
Jiang Cheng didn’t say a word as he stuffed all his books and notebooks into the desk drawer, then stood up with his backpack.
Wang Xu turned with a flourish and walked toward the back door of the classroom. If it wasn’t for the down jacket he was wearing and the fact that there was no breeze, it would almost set the kind of tone that said, “Watch out, the big boss is coming.”
A handful of people followed by his side. Judging by their excitement, they were probably his little assistants. The popcorn-eaters hadn’t had the chance to catch up yet.
“Hey,” Jiang Cheng called from behind them.
“Are you chickening out?” Wang Xu replied immediately.
“Are you bringing these people as your teammates, or as your cheerleaders?” Jiang Cheng asked.
Wang Xu glanced at the guys beside him, then glared back at Jiang Cheng.
“What, you scared?”
“Cheerleaders are fine by me,” Jiang Cheng said, sizing them up as he approached. “But if they’re going to fight, then you better get the order straight among yourselves first.”
Wang Xu waved his hand and said to the others, “Don’t follow us.”
“Are you going to watch?” Zhou Jing nudged the desk.
Still playing Aixiaochu—a game only people without overachiever brains liked to play—Gu Fei finished the round and finally stood up. “Nope.”
“Maybe you should go take a look. Aren’t you worried something will go wrong?”
“And why would that be my problem?” Gu Fei stuffed his phone in his pocket and walked away.
When he got downstairs, those friends of Wang Xu’s were still craning their heads in the direction of the back gate. There was no sign of Jiang Cheng and Wang Xu anywhere.
One of them spotted Gu Fei and immediately walked up. “Da-Fei…” “Shhh.” Gu Fei put a finger to his lips. “Don’t bother me.”
Elementary students hadn’t started class for the semester yet, so Gu Miao must have been waiting at the gate for him for an hour already. He didn’t have the time to watch Wang Xu get beat up. That was right—he was that certain that when Wang Xu went up against Jiang Cheng, the only possible outcome was Wang Xu getting his ass kicked.
That indifference in Jiang Cheng’s eyes was something Wang Xu didn’t have. Not to mention the displeasure written plainly all over him like countless tightly packed “NO”s—it was enough to scare off someone with trypophobia.
Either something had happened recently that left him in a funk, or something was chronically wrong with the guy’s head. How could Wang Xu, a kid who harbored the naïve dream of ruling the streets, possibly contend with a legit psycho in a bad mood?
A green head flew past Gu Fei like a gust of wind as soon as he walked out of the school gate, and a chorus of impressed wows rang out around him.
Gu Fei fetched his bicycle from the bike shed. As soon as he climbed on, Gu Miao once again flew past like the wind, pausing beside him for only two seconds—long enough to pilfer a handful of candies from his pocket. By the time he got his bike out to the main road, Gu Miao was standing at the side of the road, peeling open a wrapper. She had picked out all the fruit candies.
“Want a ride back?” Gu Fei asked. “Or do you want to follow behind?”
Gu Miao picked up her skateboard. Just as she was about to hop onto the back seat, he reached out a hand to stop her, taking her chin in one hand and peering at a small scratch by the corner of her eye.
“Did you scrape yourself, or is this from a fight?”
“Scrape,” Gu Miao said.
Gu Fei didn’t press the issue. “Get on.”
Gu Miao got onto the back seat with her skateboard in one arm and held onto his waist with the other.
It might have been just a scrape, or it might have been from a fight. Either way, the little girl was stubborn as hell, so it was useless to even ask. He couldn’t nag her about it too much, either. She preferred to take care of her own business, even if it meant getting roughed up occasionally.
“What do you say we go buy a pair of gloves for you,” Gu Fei said as he pushed down on the pedal. “Those little leather ones you wanted last time?”
Gu Miao quickly took off the dirty down-filled gloves she was wearing and gave him a thumbs-up.
*** The streets outside the back gate of Fourth High were busier than the ones out front. It was a strange phenomenon. The back gate opened onto a smaller street which had a more laid-back street management committee than the one by the front gate. Because of this, all kinds of stalls and makeshift stands lined the street’s sides, one after another. Most of them sold food, and business was booming.
As Jiang Cheng followed Wang Xu through the various aromas, he fought the urge to say, How about I treat you to some food first? However, seeing the indignant anger and determination on Wang Xu’s face, Jiang Cheng held his tongue. He didn’t want to make the guy cry.
He’d treat this like a tour, then, he decided, and then come back later to eat. There were quite a lot of stalls that appealed to him, selling all kinds of grilled meats: fatty veal, pork belly, lamb kidneys, lamb tendons… Jiang Cheng swallowed.
After they passed the street, the delicious smells disappeared with it. He wondered where Wang Xu was taking him.
“Are we going on a hike or something?” he asked. His hunger was making him cranky.
Wang Xu ignored him, but after a few steps, he suddenly stopped, looking ahead with a frown. Jiang Cheng followed his gaze.
A few yards away from them, three people stood on the side of the road, all facing their direction with their hands in their pockets. After he and Wang Xu both looked at them, they slowly started walking over. Wang Xu reached a hand into his own pocket.
“What?” A tall string bean of a guy who looked like he’d been starving for years grinned. “Are you going to call Gu Fei? He just left with his little sister.
He probably won’t have time for your problems.”
“What do you want?” Wang Xu said gruffly, clearly impatient.
“Oho.” The skinny guy put on an exaggerated expression of surprise.
“Somebody’s got a spine today, huh? Not gonna run?” He shot a glance at Jiang Cheng. “This your new buddy? He must be damn impressive if you don’t even need to run away now.”
“It was a whole bunch of you last time, and you all ran ’til you wheezed,” someone laughed from behind the skinny guy.
The skinny guy looked at the two of them mockingly. “How about I count to three, and you can—” Jiang Cheng’s fist connected directly with the guy’s nose. His words were smashed clean away, and everyone on both sides turned to stone.
Jiang Cheng didn’t stop there. It was important to be decisive and quick in these matters. After the first punch, he grabbed the guy’s hat-covered head and yanked it down to meet his knee.
He didn’t use a lot of strength with either strike. In Jiang Cheng’s experience, it wasn’t enough to break his nose, but there’d definitely be blood pouring out, making it look like the guy had ketchup smeared all over his mouth.
Just as he thought, when he released his grip and shoved the skinny guy back, blood came gushing out of his nose. Out of reflex, the guy lifted a hand and wiped it.
Jiang Cheng glanced at Wang Xu, then stepped forward and knocked his shoulder into the arm of another guy, who was about to pull a knife—and for good measure, he headbutted the guy in the face. The guy yelped and covered his nose with his hands.
“Run, dumbass!” Jiang Cheng shouted at Wang Xu before launching into a sprint.
Wang Xu paused for a moment, then hurried to catch up with him. When they reached the intersection, Wang Xu pointed to the left. “This way.”
Jiang Cheng followed him, making several twists and turns until they were deep in another alley. They turned a couple more times before stopping in a clear area surrounded by the back walls of other people’s backyards.
“What is this place?” Jiang Cheng asked, looking around.
They were at a dead end, blocked on three sides by courtyard walls. The alley looked decrepit. Piles of snow and fallen branches were clumped on the ground along with all sorts of trash.
“This is…” Wang Xu panted, taking a minute to catch his breath, “where I go to fight people.”
“You’ve got unique taste,” Jiang Cheng said.
“Um…” Wang Xu looked at him and hesitated for a while, then finally said, “Thanks…for what you did just now.”
“Why thank me?” Jiang Cheng pulled a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and put it between his lips. “It’s not like I did it to help you.”
Wang Xu stared at him. “Fuck. Are you really a top student?”
“Let’s get this over with.” Jiang Cheng checked the time. “I’m hungry.
Hurry up so I can go eat.”
“It’s already over with.” Wang Xu sat on a three-legged stool nearby that looked so rickety it could have been a prop in a haunted house. “There’s no beef between us anymore.”
Jiang Cheng tutted audibly. “I’m leaving, then.”
“Just wait a little longer,” Wang Xu called out to stop him. “Monkey’s probably still around, and they got the numbers on us. If you go out now, you’ll run into them.”
Jiang Cheng went quiet.
“That was only three of them you saw just now. You left Monkey with blood on his face, so when you go back out, it’s definitely not just gonna be the three of them anymore. I…I’m going to call someone for help.” Wang Xu pulled out his phone.
Remembering what the skinny guy said earlier, Jiang Cheng knitted his brow and asked, “Who are you calling?”
“Da-Fei.”
“The fuck? Gu Fei?”
Jiang Cheng felt his face shatter into a million pieces and scatter all over the ground.
[6] Known for having been the richest man in China.