The noise outside gradually faded. I stood up and opened the door of the private room. The outside was already empty.

The owner and the waiter were busy cleaning up the leftover food, empty bowls, and chopsticks. I staggered over to them.

"Do you have any liquor?" I asked.

"Yes." The owner looked at me in surprise and asked the waiter to fetch some.

The owner knew I was a student, so he brought out some cheap spirits with simple packaging and a high alcohol content.

"Don't clean this up yet," I said, pointing to the table where Ye Zhan and the others had left their empty bowls and chopsticks. Although everyone had already left, I still felt like they were still there. "Bring me nine empty cups."

The owner didn't ask why and did as I said. He didn't clean up and brought over nine empty cups.

I arranged the empty cups and filled them all with liquor. Picking up one of them, I faced the many empty bowls and said, "Brothers, forgive me for not coming out tonight. But I, Wang Hao, promise that from now on, you will be my best friends for life!"

"Especially you, Ye Zhan." I held the cup and clinked it against another cup I had deliberately placed at the head of the table.

Then, I downed it in one gulp. After that, I drank the remaining eight cups one by one.

The owner and the waiter of Dawei Spicy Hotpot looked at me in astonishment, but I ignored them and completed this bizarre ritual. After nine cups of liquor, my whole body was even hotter, and my steps were unsteady. I staggered out of the restaurant, never feeling so alive before. If there weren't so many students passing by, I would have shouted out loud.

As the wind blew, the cheap liquor churned in my stomach. I leaned against a tree and vomited. My mouth and nasal cavity were full of vomit, bitter and sour, but my heart was still sweet.

Suddenly, someone patted me on the back. I turned my head and saw a stranger. I uttered a "huh," preparing to ask if he had mistaken me for someone else, but his hand suddenly swung, and a dark object came crashing towards my head with a whoosh. Having just vomited a lot, my mind was much clearer. The body I had been training for days responded effectively, and I dodged instantly. The wooden stick hit my shoulder.

"Damn," I cursed. "Who are you?"

My shoulder hurt intensely. The person swung the stick again, and I kicked him hard in the stomach. He fell to the ground with a cry. Instantly, two or three more people surrounded me. They didn't have weapons but swung their fists at me in unison. I dodged one but couldn't avoid the other, and a punch landed hard on my stomach. I vomited again, the chewed vegetables and enoki mushrooms mixed with mucus splattering all over one guy's head and clothes.

"Shit, that stinks!" he cursed, kicking me again. I lost my balance and fell face-first to the ground.

Three or four people kicked me simultaneously, targeting different parts of my body. They were clearly experienced, showing no hesitation. I could only desperately protect my head. Seizing an opportunity, I grabbed one guy's foot and yanked him to the ground.

"Screw you!" I punched him in the eye, making him cry out and roll to the side, clutching his face.

Unable to protect my head, I took a kick to the face, making me dizzy and seeing stars. Then, someone else hit my cheek with a stick, and I collapsed completely, my vision going black as I nearly passed out.

"Fuck," the guy with the stick cursed. "You think you can challenge Ye Zhan? You're still too green!"

Lying on the ground, unable to stand, I forced myself to keep my eyes open and not pass out. They didn't continue attacking but arrogantly said, "This is a lesson for you. Be smart next time and don't challenge Ye Zhan. Got it?" Then, the three or four of them turned and walked towards Chenggao.

Sure enough, they were Chenggao students. They claimed to be acting for Ye Zhan, but their true purpose was to drive a wedge between us. This "divide and conquer" strategy clearly wasn't over yet. That person seemed determined to go all out against me.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

After lying there for about twenty minutes, I gradually got up. My days of physical training had paid off; at least the punches and kicks didn't hurt as much anymore. Only the side of my face hit by the stick was still numb. My mouth tasted bitter and salty. I spat, noticing blood. Without needing a mirror, I knew I must look terrible right now.

My body was covered in footprints, and my face was burning. I sat on the ground, smoked a cigarette to calm down, and then stood up again, heading towards Chenggao. As I entered the dormitory, many students looked at me with surprised expressions. I ignored them and went straight back to my room. My roommates were also shocked when they saw me. I waved my hand at them and said, "You guys go out for a while and call Liu Zihong and the others over."

The others quickly left the room, and soon Liu Zihong, Ou Jiahao, Li Mu, and Gong Ning came in.

"Brother Hao, what happened?!" Gong Ning was the first to rush over, looking at my face with a stunned expression.

"I got beaten up, what else could it be?" I said with a bitter smile. "Do I look like I just came back from a shower?"

Liu Zihong and the others gathered around me, all looking furious. "Who did it? Do they have a death wish?" "Brother Hao, do you know who they are? Let's go find them now!" "Damn, they dare to mess with Brother Hao..."

After they finished speaking, I said, "Go find Ye Zhan and bring him here. I'll be waiting in the dorm. Ye Zhan and his crew just finished their late-night snack. They might be wandering around outside or they might have gone home. Go look for them."

"Okay." The four of them immediately split up. Gong Ning took charge, mobilizing our classmates to help search, sending Liu Zihong and the others to different places, and even having someone call Ye Zhan's house from the convenience store downstairs.

Looking back, that was the era when mobile phones weren't widespread yet, and pagers were considered outdated. Contacting someone was quite troublesome. I sat on the edge of my bed, not bothering to wash up or change clothes, sitting there disheveled and smoking, reflecting on the ambush and trying to piece together any clues.

Gong Ning arranged everything, then came back into the dorm, closed the door, and sat next to me. "Brother Hao, do you know who did it?"

"I have a suspect in mind," I said, "but I'm not sure yet. Let's wait until Ye Zhan gets here."

"Could it be Su Xiaobai?" Gong Ning asked.

I looked up at him. I had always thought he was perceptive, but I didn't expect him to pinpoint the issue so quickly.

"Why do you think so?" I asked.

"Su Xiaobai, that guy," Gong Ning said, "even though he's quite influential at our school, his smile always seems deceitful, not sincere at all. And I guess you and he must have had some conflict. I don't know the details, but Xia Xue was initially with him and then got with you. I figure it must be because of this. Plus, you had a fight with him in front of the bulletin board this morning. He's not the type to let things go easily..."

Gong Ning didn't know about the situation between me, Su Xiaobai, and Taozi, so his deduction and linking of events were quite impressive. I nodded, "That's about right. Let's wait for Ye Zhan."

Gong Ning said no more, poured me a glass of water, and sat quietly by my side. Having vomited earlier, I drank the water, which sobered me up a bit, but my stomach started growling with hunger. I sent Gong Ning to buy some food from the convenience store downstairs, and I slowly ate to replenish my energy. The numbness in my cheek gradually faded, replaced by a pain that made me grimace.

The attackers had hit me hard and used weapons, clearly not planning to leave any room for retreat.

After a while, Li Mu returned and said, "We found Ye Zhan. He's hanging out on the street with his crew, heading over now." I nodded, "Good. Get ready; tonight, we're going to turn Chenggao upside down."

I had planned to follow Yuchengfei and Nan Nan's advice and study peacefully at Chenggao. But after tonight, that dream was shattered. However, I felt a simmering excitement inside me, as if I had been anticipating this moment for a long time.

I asked Gong Ning to buy a few more packs of cigarettes and lay them out on the table. Liu Zihong and Ou Jiahao also came back, saying Ye Zhan was on his way and would be here soon. After waiting a bit longer, the door burst open, and Ye Zhan stormed in angrily, followed by his seven brothers. "Haozi, what happened?!" Ye Zhan rushed over, looking at my injuries and the footprints on my body with concern. "Which bastard did this?!" Ye Zhan was furious, his eyes wide with anger.

"Close the door, have a smoke, and let's talk this over calmly," I said, pointing to the scattered cigarettes on the table.

"Smoke? Why the hell would I smoke now?" Ye Zhan said impatiently. "I came back as soon as I heard you got beaten up!"

"Don't worry, Ye Zhan, really, there's no rush." I said, "Have a smoke first. I need to explain this slowly; we can't be hasty."

Ye Zhan had no choice but to take a cigarette and light one for each of his brothers. The room filled with smoke, and one of Ye Zhan's brothers said, "Brother Hao, what happened? Ye Ge is really about to lose it."

I exhaled a puff of smoke and said, "At the school gate, four people ambushed me, one with a stick. But they didn't get off easy either. I gave one a black eye and puked all over another."

"You puked on them?" Ye Zhan looked at me in surprise.

"I had a bit to drink," I chuckled. "Then one of them punched me in the stomach, and I just couldn't hold it in."

Ye Zhan shook his head, "You can still laugh about it." But he seemed to imagine the scene and laughed along, giving me a thumbs-up. "You're something else, really."