The corner of the corridor led to the restroom. I went in first, followed by Li Jie. Gong Ning, Liu Zihong, and the others walked behind us, and I casually closed the door. Seeing that there was no one else in the restroom, I turned around to face Li Jie.

Li Jie was very subdued, his face ashen, not saying a word, probably anticipating what was about to happen to him.

I took out a cigarette, lit it, and then said, "Liu Zihong, go ahead. Whatever he did to you, you do the same to him now."

Liu Zihong walked over from the door, looking at the blond-haired Li Jie, his face slowly turning red, probably building up his emotions. After a while, Liu Zihong slowly raised his hand, gritting his teeth, preparing to strike. He still had some fear towards Li Jie, otherwise, he wouldn't have hesitated for so long. Li Jie seemed to have grasped this psychology, glaring at him fiercely, "Liu Zihong, dare you hit me?!"

Being yelled at by Li Jie, Liu Zihong really didn't dare to hit him. He retracted his raised hand, looking at me for help.

I felt particularly speechless. We had so many people on our side, and Li Jie was alone, yet he still managed to scare Liu Zihong like this.

Without saying a word, I kicked Li Jie in the stomach. Li Jie was knocked to the ground by my kick. The restroom floor was quite dirty, with some liquid stains here and there. Li Jie half-sat up, looking quite resentful. I walked over, grabbed his hair, and kneed him hard. Li Jie's nose started bleeding immediately, and he coughed hard a few times, saying, "Alright Wang Hao, feel better now? I won't oppose you anymore. It was my fault for helping Zou Yang. I shouldn't have taken his money."

"Is this how you beg for mercy?" I squatted down, slapping him twice. I felt that I was indeed changing slowly, much less ruthless than before. I didn't shake when hitting someone, unlike the first time I hit Zou Yang, I cried first before he even did anything, thinking back, it was really embarrassing.

These two slaps indeed had an effect. Li Jie's tone softened again, "Wang Hao, I was wrong, I won't dare anymore."

Seeing that it was almost enough, I waved my hand, and Liu Zihong came over. I patted Liu Zihong's shoulder, indicating him not to be nervous. I understood the feeling of hitting someone for the first time, so what I just did was a demonstration for him. Liu Zihong looked at Li Jie's miserable appearance, and his courage grew much stronger. He reached out and slapped Li Jie's face. This slap wasn't too light or too heavy, and Li Jie lowered his head without reacting.

Seeing that Li Jie didn't respond, Liu Zihong grew even bolder and slapped him twice more fiercely. Li Jie didn't say anything, keeping his head down, lost in thought. After Liu Zihong delivered these two slaps, he looked completely different, no longer avoiding eye contact like before, but filled with a confident aura. Liu Zihong took out ten yuan from his pocket and held it in his palm, patting Li Jie's face with it, saying, "You wanted money, right? Do you still want it now?"

Li Jie still didn't speak. He might have surrendered to me, but not necessarily to others. Being beaten by Liu Zihong probably made him even more unwilling.

"Can't you hear me?" Liu Zihong's tone raised several decibels. With a "slap," he delivered another slap. I could tell, hitting someone was addictive. Fighting was instinctual for men. Once the inner beast was unleashed, it couldn't be easily contained.

"I don't want it, I don't want it anymore," Li Jie said twice in succession, probably unable to bear being hit by Liu Zihong anymore.

"Heh heh," Liu Zihong chuckled and then left, winking at me.

"Is it over?" I tossed the cigarette butt and said, "Let's go after it's done." Gong Ning and the others looked at me dumbfoundedly. According to the previous plan, each person was supposed to slap him a few times. But for some reason, I suddenly felt a touch of mercy for Li Jie, thinking he looked quite pitiful. "Let's go, let's go," I walked out of the restroom first, and Gong Ning and the others followed.

"Hao Ge, it's so satisfying, just like what I dreamed of!" Liu Zihong hurried to my side, excitedly saying.

"Heh heh," I smiled and didn't say anything more. Returning to the classroom, the class had already started, and the teacher was teaching example problems. I pushed the door and entered without hesitation, and the teacher frowned but didn't say anything to me. We all sat down, and Xia Xue was still sitting next to me. She whispered, "Where's Li Jie?"

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"He'll be back soon," I took out a book and started reading, but my heart was surging with excitement.

This was the first step, but I had already taken it. After a while, Li Jie came in. He didn't report to the teacher, just pushed the door and entered. Obviously, he had tidied up already, his hair was neat, there was no nosebleed, just some palm prints on his face. He walked to his seat with his head down, the whole process was nothing special, indicating that it wasn't the first time he had been beaten.

"Don't cause trouble all the time," Xia Xue looked at me worriedly. "What if it gets to the school and you get expelled?"

"It's okay," I smiled. I was personally chosen by the Ear-Slapping King as the next boss, how could I be easily expelled?

After class, I took Liu Zihong and the others to find Ye Zhan. Ye Zhan looked at my head, wrapped like a mummy, and clucked his tongue, saying, "Brick really went hard on you. You deserved it for deceiving his sister's feelings. But you got lucky, got yourself a good backer, huh?" I looked at the bandages wrapped around Ye Zhan's head and couldn't help but laugh, "Tit for tat, huh? Brick's beating was pretty harsh too."

Ye Zhan also laughed, not taking the events of that night seriously at all. Being beaten and still able to be so optimistic, I also learned from Ye Zhan.

"Let me tell you something," I said, "I just beat up Li Jie."

"Oh?!" Ye Zhan's eyes lit up. "Is that true? He didn't fight back?"

"He didn't fight back, he didn't dare," I chuckled and recounted the whole story of what happened just now.

Ye Zhan listened with delight, "Not bad, Mouse. Even I don't dare to mess with Li Jie, so naturally, he wouldn't dare to mess with me either. If you keep this up, you'll be the boss of our sophomore year. I might even have to call you 'Bro Hao' in the future."

"Cut it out," I patted Ye Zhan's chest, "Stop trying to gross me out. Seriously, I brought you here to discuss something."

Seeing my serious expression, Ye Zhan led me to the window in the corridor, where there were no eavesdroppers.

"What's up?" Ye Zhan asked me.

"I'm planning to take on Brick," I looked at him. "Will you help me?"

"Are you crazy, Mouse?" Ye Zhan widened his eyes.

"I'm not crazy, I'm serious. I'm just asking if you'll help me or not. If you won't, I'll think of another way."

"There's no need," Ye Zhan said, "Mouse, we're not even on the same level as Brick. And now, you've got Yucheng Fei backing you outside of school, and Brick backing you inside school. You can live quite comfortably without having to deal with Brick. Why do you have to take him on?"

"Who told you that Brick is backing me?" I was puzzled. How did everyone come to the conclusion that Brick was backing me? Even though I and his sister had a thing before, and even though everyone knew about it, how did they deduce that Brick had to back me? From Ear-Slapping King to Brick, and then to Li Jie, and now to Ye Zhan, it really baffled me.

"Brick said it!" Ye Zhan's voice raised several decibels. "He put it out there, saying you're his brother-in-law. Whoever messes with you is messing with him! Brick's words have long been spread throughout the whole Chenggao!"

I was speechless for a while. Ye Zhan said, "So, Mouse. Now that you have Brick backing you, Brick won't come looking for trouble with you because of Hongli. You don't need to fight him, it's not good for anyone if it gets serious."

"But Brick always wants to provoke a battle between Chenggao and the Vocational Institute. He's delusional about plunging all three schools into chaos," that night, Ye Zhan was indignant after hearing Brick's words. "Besides, I'm not Brick's brother-in-law, and I don't intend to be with Taotao. So, Brick is likely to come looking for trouble with me too. When that happens, plus Brick, it'll be even harder."

Ye Zhan looked at me in shock. I continued, "I want to continue being with Xia Xue. Brick doesn't know about this yet, and I don't want others to know either. I want to take care of Brick before he finds out. Not just for myself, but for the peace of our three schools. Ye Zhan, you may think I'm hypocritical for saying this, but I really mean it." The words of Ear-Slapping King in the office had also moved me. Even though Ear-Slapping King had many faults, he genuinely wanted what was best for the students.

"Ye Zhan, I want to take on Brick, will you help me?" I asked the question for the second time, and also the last time. I had already explained the reasons very thoroughly. If Ye Zhan still insisted on not helping, then I had no choice, and I also understood him.

"I'll help!" Ye Zhan slapped his thigh. "Mouse, whatever you want to do, we'll do it, and we'll do it spectacularly!"

The wind blew in from outside the window, lifting Ye Zhan's hair. I found that this guy was quite handsome, although not as delicate as Su Xiaobai, but with a few more masculine qualities. We looked at each other and smiled together.

The feeling of having brothers was really great...

Taking on Brick was a major matter and must not be leaked. Now that Brick had put out the word that he was backing me, Brick wouldn't come looking for trouble because of Hongli. Taking advantage of this time, I planned to carefully plan how to catch Brick off guard and bring him down in one fell swoop. I touched the spring knife in my pocket, and my blood began to boil faintly.

The only four people I could count on were Liu Zihong, Gong Ning, Li Mu, and Ou Jiahao. To be honest, they were just like me, with little fighting ability, but the key was loyalty; they wouldn't betray me easily. On Ye Zhan's side, there were seven people who could be counted on, all of them famous thugs in the sophomore year, brave and willing to fight, and they listened to Ye Zhan.

A total of thirteen people. We, these thirteen people, were going to pull Brick, who was like a god in Chenggao, down from his pedestal.