Chapter 70: Junior High School
“Have you heard of the two worst junior high schools in our city? No. 15 Middle School in Daoli District and No. 21 Middle School in Daowai District.”
Xu Yannuo nodded slightly. She had heard some rumors but wasn’t sure if they were true. Back when she was in school, classmates spread exaggerated stories about those schools, making them sound like something out of a movie. Having no close friends, she never dared to ask for details and only overheard bits of gossip during idle moments. Her own junior high was right next to a vocational high school, which had lax management. The students there were unruly—dyeing their hair bright colors one day, wearing bizarre outfits the next, and often loitering around her school gate, picking fights or even extorting others. She had been targeted and bullied by some of those vocational school students. Though the bullying was bad, she felt it still paled in comparison to the infamous legends surrounding No. 16 and No. 21 Middle Schools.
Now that I’m in high school, I finally have a chance to ask, “Is it really like the rumors say? Do groups in the school fight with machetes, and the teachers don’t dare to intervene because they’d get attacked too?”
Wang Sinan nodded. “It’s true. Not only do they carry machetes, but they also bring bricks to smash heads. It’s the kind of fight where a group of people beat someone to death. From time to time, there’s a pool of blood right outside the boys’ bathroom.” Wang Sinan waved his hand dismissively. “But let’s not talk about those reckless idiots. Let’s talk about Chen Ciyi and Xu Hang. Back when my brother first started junior high, not many people knew him. Just like now, he had a lot of competitions and often skipped class. Then one day, he actually went to school and had the bad luck to run into that arrogant school bully from the fourth year of Middle School 15. That bully was so full of himself—he walked without looking and bumped right into my brother. And guess what? The bully had the nerve to get angry. He was outrageously arrogant—not only did he not apologize, but he pointed at my brother and demanded that he kneel down and apologize.” Wang Sinan clicked his tongue. “Normally, Chen Ciyi doesn’t like to cause trouble. When he encounters unreasonable people like that, he usually just ignores them and walks away, thinking it’s childish and boring. But that day, for some reason, he just snapped. He reached out and beat that guy up, and it was brutal—he really went all out. The bully’s group of lackeys behind him were all stunned. By the time they realized what was happening, the bully was almost beaten to death by Chen Ciyi. Then, about ten of his lackeys rushed forward all at once. So many people! Guess what happened in the end?” Wang Sinan’s face was full of admiration.
Xu Yannuo felt there was no need to guess. Wang Sinan was so animated and hyped up about the story—could it possibly be that Chen Ciyi was the one who got beaten down? But to hear the crucial part that followed, she played along and asked, “What happened?”
“Of course, my brother took all of them down. You have to understand, those who usually follow the boss around are all capable fighters—his most trusted aides. And those guys were all in their third or fourth year of junior high, while my brother was only in his first year at the time…”
Xu Yannuo interrupted Wang Sinan, “Get to the point.”
Wang Sinan waved his hand, “Don’t rush, I have to explain bit by bit. The key point is this—my brother became legendary after that one fight. But he wasn’t interested in being some campus boss, getting worshipped by underlings every day or chased after by girls. All he liked was skipping class. So aside from that one time, hardly anyone ever saw him fight again. He couldn’t be bothered with school brawls or gang fights, whether from our school or others. But his reputation spread anyway. That’s when Xu Hang, that bastard, set his sights on him. Back then, Xu Hang was the top dog at No. 21 High. When he heard about my brother, he started picking fights like an absolute moron, sending him challenges. My brother ignored him, but the guy just wouldn’t back off.”