Chapter 92
IT WAS OVERCAST TODAY. Despite the hour, the sun had yet to make an appearance, and the few intact streetlamps along the lane were still lit.
Gu Fei felt the slight chill of the breeze against his torso as he zoomed toward Jiang Cheng’s apartment on his motorcycle. It was a satisfying kind of feeling, though, as if his entire being was enveloped in the cool and refreshing wind.
It had been a long time since he rode his motorcycle. He usually only took it out when he went cruising with Li Yan and the guys, but since he’d gotten together with Jiang Cheng, he’d been going out with them a lot less. When Liu Fan had called him the other day, he’d said he was going to write an ode to “the best bro who abandoned me.”
It wasn’t far to Jiang Cheng’s place. At the speed Gu Fei was going, it took less than five minutes in total. He was a little worried that Jiang Cheng wouldn’t manage to restrain his temper long enough to keep from going downstairs and dealing with Li Hui on his own.
Jiang Cheng wouldn’t be at a physical disadvantage, even if Li Hui had backup; there was no way Li Hui’s side could come out on top against Jiang Cheng’s skill in a fight. But these were special circumstances. Jiang Cheng was a high school senior preparing for his university entrance exams, and a fight like this wouldn’t be worth the impact on his mood, let alone the trouble that would come along with it.
It was bad enough to have moved from a key high school in a big city to a place like Fourth High. And then to be plagued with all these nuisances…
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There weren’t many people on the street at this hour. People who had to go to school or work hadn’t yet left home, so the only ones out and about were grannies and grandpas who got up early to exercise and buy their groceries. And so the small group of guys on Jiang Cheng’s street were conspicuous; Gu Fei spotted them a little way ahead of him as soon as he turned the corner.
Gu Fei wasn’t wearing his glasses. From this distance, he could only make out Li Hui, who was standing a few steps away from the others; he didn’t recognize anyone else. But that didn’t matter. Li Hui wouldn’t have brought along anyone more impressive than idle delinquents. The only distinction would be between steelworks delinquents and non-steelworks delinquents.
Without slowing down, Gu Fei charged his bike at the group of people standing by the road.
These delinquents were pretty nimble. At the roar of the engine, they all turned their heads and started making to move out of the way. When the motorcycle reached the group, a lot of them had jumped clear. But they weren’t Gu Fei’s target. Gu Fei leaned forward, lowered himself on the bike, and pulled a long rubber baton out from the modified back fender.
Li Hui’s reaction was markedly slower than his thugs’. Everyone else had already scattered by the time he was just turning his head.
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Gu Fei swung, and the baton in his hand cracked against Li Hui’s ass.
Li Hui yelled, but not with a lot of conviction or power; in fact, it was probably only 70 percent of his usual full volume. The ashy pallor of his face gave away why: He’d likely stayed up all night playing mahjong.
Like father, like son.
By the time everyone else reacted enough to start swarming around him, Gu Fei’s bike had already passed them by more than a dozen feet. He pumped the brakes and pushed one foot against the ground, and the bike pivoted around on its front tire, its tail end swinging in an arc.
Now that he was closer, he could make out the faces of the people Li Hui had brought with him. There were four or five of them, all from the steelworks neighborhood, but the only one he knew was a guy people called San Gou—a nickname that meant “Third Dog”—who often bought things from his store.
San Gou blinked in shock when he recognized him. “Da-Fei?”
“Out of my way,” Gu Fei said.
He charged his motorcycle once again toward the group. San Gou hesitated for a split second, then stepped back.
But the others were prepared this time. Someone stepped up to the bike with a knife in his hand, swinging it hard at Gu Fei’s face. Gu Fei veered slightly to the side to avoid the knife as he brought the baton down against the guy’s arm. As the bike zoomed past them, he heard the knife clang to the ground.
He hadn’t struck with much force, only enough to disarm him. He didn’t know these people well, so he didn’t want to provoke them more than necessary. If any of them turned out to have the same pigheaded streak as Monkey, it’d be another sticky mess to get out of.
His only real target was Li Hui. Li Hui was a coward. He never would’ve had the balls to come look for Jiang Cheng on his own. Even with a posse backing him up, he hadn’t been bold enough to seek Jiang Cheng out while he was at school.
For students at Fourth High, fighting came as easily as eating. If Jiang Cheng had backup, Li Hui would never dare try to face him head-on.
Now, Li Hui tried to jump out of the way, but he couldn’t move faster than the motorcycle. Just as he was turning to run, Gu Fei’s baton swung down once again, this time slamming into his leg.
“Fuck!” Li Hui burst out. “I’ll fucking fuck your great uncle! When did I pick a goddamn fight with you?!”
“Just now.” Gu Fei swung his bike around again.
Li Hui pointed at him. “You wanna bet I’ll kick your ass?!” He glanced to the sides, signaling to the others that they should all rush up together.
“This has nothing to do with these gentlemen here.” Gu Fei killed the engine and got off the motorcycle. Baton in hand, he walked up to Li Hui. “You called up all these people just to come mess with a high schooler. If word gets out, you won’t just be embarrassing yourself, you’ll make a joke of everyone who helped you.”
“Don’t you try to get between us!” Li Hui’s spit practically flew as he shouted. “He took my dad’s savings!”
“Your dad had savings?” Gu Fei sneered. “Maybe you should check with the bank first. If the bank won’t let you check, you can call the cops to help. The police will help you look into it for sure.”
“I don’t need to check! I know he took it!” Li Hui yelled.
“All right, then.” Gu Fei looked at him steadily. “When are you going to pay me for all those things you took from my store?”
Li Hui was bewildered. “When the fuck did I take anything from your store?”
“A whole case of Zhonghua cigarettes and two cases of Maotai,” said Gu Fei. “And—”
“Bull-fucking-shit!” Li Hui interjected. “Does that shitty store of yours even carry that kind of expensive crap?!”
“And you think that dad of yours—who had to play mahjong on credit—had a savings account?”
“You…” Li Hui blinked, struggling to keep up.
“Don’t worry about whether I have it in the store or not,” Gu Fei said. “I said you took them. I know you took them.”
“You fucking piece of…” Li Hui’s eyeballs practically bulged out of their sockets. He didn’t know how to continue the conversation, so he decided to swing his fist at Gu Fei’s face instead.
Gu Fei didn’t bother dodging. Li Hui’s fist was taking such a long route to its destination that when Gu Fei’s own punch landed on his nose, Li Hui’s arm was still wide open, like he was going for a hug.