Chapter 13#
No. 13 chapter#
The contents of the envelope were too bizarre to even notice the neat, childish handwriting, like that of a child.
Lyu Zhiqiang swallowed hard, looking at the letter in his son’s hand, and asked in a low voice, “…Who did you just say wanted that little toy, too?”
“It was Brother Xiaoshan…” The moment Lyu Xiaofeng finished speaking, the bathroom door opened.
The Luo Mingshan he mentioned happened to come out carrying a laundry basin.
Lyu Xiaofeng shuddered, hastily crumpled the letter in his hand into a ball and hid it behind his back, then smack closed the precious box behind him, his panic and fear almost overflowing.
His movements were too big, like a startled bird, drawing the attention of everyone in the dorm.
Even Zhou Ming asked, “What’s wrong, Xiaofeng? Why are you so jumpy?”
Lyu Zhiqiang barely managed to cover for his son: “It’s nothing, he’s just like that.”
It wasn’t a big deal, so everyone else turned back to their own business.
Luo Mingshan was among them.
He hung his head, a few strands of long hair falling down, sticking to his slightly sweaty cheeks. His expression looked pale and tired, yet he had no complaints at all. Even his eyes were soft and obedient as he quietly carried the oversized laundry basin, step by step, toward the drying room outside.
Only after he left did Lyu Xiaofeng whisper to Lyu Zhiqiang, “Dad… do you mean that little motorcycle was stolen by Brother Xiaoshan? And that he threatened to beat me up?”
“No, it definitely wasn’t him.” Lyu Zhiqiang thought seriously for a moment, then shook his head firmly.
Luo Mingshan probably just liked that wood carving, that’s all.
After all, Luo Mingshan was just a pitiful person who was bullied, enslaved, coveted by countless people but unable to protect himself, and could only cling to Zhao Hang to survive.
Lyu Zhiqiang looked at the life-saving medicine in his hand, his tone turning grave: “Maybe we’ve been thinking wrong all along.”
Lyu Xiaofeng tilted his head: “Thinking wrong about what?”
Lyu Zhiqiang: “Maybe that person’s goal wasn’t your toy, but to help us.”
The more he thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed. He pulled his son down by the arm and crouched, eyes lighting up: “Maybe that person felt sorry for us and wanted to help, so they gave us medicine and candy. But they didn’t want to reveal themselves, so they left a note telling us to shut up. As for the toy… maybe they took it as symbolic payment because they were afraid we’d be too embarrassed to use the medicine they gave.”
Lyu Xiaofeng’s eyes widened: “…Really?”
“It must be.” Lyu Zhiqiang grew more certain. “Otherwise, only an idiot would trade over a hundred repentance points for a wooden toy. The benefactor’s real intention was to help us; the toy was just taken along the way. But the benefactor doesn’t want fame, so Xiaofeng, you must keep your mouth shut and guard the benefactor’s secret, understand?”
“Mm-hmm, I know, I will!”
The two secretly agreed, washed up with gratitude, got into bed, and soon fell into a sweet sleep.
And not far from them, on Bed 3, the so-called idiot who supposedly traded over a hundred repentance points for a wooden toy was also tightly clutching the wooden motorcycle in his hand, eyes closed, a satisfied smile curling at the corners of his lips.
.
Days passed unhurriedly, and everyone’s lives gradually improved.
Lyu Xiaofeng’s mother began to recover, but his father didn’t quit the night shift; instead, he continued to save money. Lyu Xiaofeng himself became the first “downline” in Zhou Ming’s “prison fellowship” business, earning a little pocket money every day by delivering letters.
Zhou Ming had already recruited over a dozen child workers. His business had fully covered Dormitory Building 8 and had a stable customer base. He was now preparing to expand into the adjacent Building 7, constantly sending repentance points into Zhao Hang’s account.
But…
“Luo Mingshan, are you blind?” Zhao Hang was exasperated to the point of being dumbfounded. “I told you to hit the face, why do you always hit the shoulder?”
Luo Mingshan: “…”
He couldn’t very well say it was because he found it disgusting.
After all, that person’s face looked greasy, and there was a lot of snot and tears.
He didn’t say a word, but Zhao Hang lifted his eyelids, glanced at him, and sneered, “Disgusted? You’re the only one with so many demands.”
Luo Mingshan, caught off guard having his thoughts seen through, felt his cheeks flush slightly.
Zhao Hang’s tone was impatient: “Fine, we’ll teach face-hitting later. Today I’ll teach you the flying kick. I’ll only demonstrate once, so watch carefully.”
With that, Zhao Hang stepped back a few paces, then jumped up with his left foot first, followed by his right. In midair, he extended his right leg and fiercely kicked the man in the chest, sending him flying three meters away with a bang.
“Got it? The power from the calf is important, and also this high leg raise movement…”
Zhao Hang rambled on for a while, but the man on the ground still hadn’t gotten up.
Zhao Hang gave him a disdainful look: “Forget it, this one can’t practice anymore. I’ll find you someone else to train with.”
The moment Zhao Hang finished speaking, the electronic card announced—
“Zhao Hang, deducted 30 points. Balance: 174 repentance points.”
“Luo Mingshan, deducted 10 points. Balance: 17.5 repentance points.”
17 points… might not even cover one flying kick.
Zhao Hang reached out his hand toward Luo Mingshan. Luo Mingshan, used to it, handed him his electronic card. Zhao Hang casually swiped 70 points onto it.
Only after the two had completely left the 6th basement level of Living Building 8 did the people hiding in the rooms step out into the corridor.
They looked at the unlucky man who had been kicked down and still hadn’t gotten up, feeling a sense of sympathy and shared doom, and began cursing indignantly—
“What kind of person is that? If he wants to teach his wife how to fight, can’t he use a wooden dummy? Why does he have to practice on real people? How many people has he messed with in the past few days!”
“Absolutely lawless. Why doesn’t this scumbag just die already?”
“Damn, I originally thought he was a devoted husband who loved his wife, but it turns out he’s just a twisted pervert.”
“Don’t overthink it. A wife-beater isn’t a good man; he’s just a pure freak.”
“Is there no one who can control him?”
“Who could control him?! He’s not afraid of losing points at all. The points on his card seem endless, damn it!”
“Ah… Is Zhao Hang really just randomly grabbing people on the street to beat up just to teach his wife martial arts? Is he that unreasonable? Could there be some misunderstanding? Like maybe these people accidentally offended him somehow.”
“The guy lying on the ground has never even seen Zhao Hang before. How could he have offended that demon?! Zhao Hang is a pure scumbag and degenerate! He randomly picks unlucky people to beat up. Maybe tomorrow it’ll be you or me!”
The man lying on the ground looked dazedly at the lights overhead.
Excruciating pain came from every part of his body. Amid the bystanders’ chatter, even a grown man like him felt wronged, his nose stinging.
Why him?
He had never provoked Zhao Hang.
And he knew Zhao Hang was not someone to mess with. He always avoided him. On what grounds did Zhao Hang beat him?
Why did misfortune cling to him? He had been keeping a low profile this whole time. Ever since he came in, he had essentially kept his tail between his legs. Except for a few days ago, when he got envious of that guy Zhou Ming earning a lot of repentance points through some shady methods and tried to extort him without success, he hadn’t caused any trouble since.
…Wait.
The man suddenly thought of something. He twisted his face in pain and struggled up from the ground, grabbing a passerby and asking, “By the way, do you know… that guy Zhou Ming, who’s doing the fellowship thing, what’s his relationship with Zhao Hang?”
“The two of them… they seem to live in the same room. But their relationship doesn’t seem good. When Zhou Ming first came in, he was badmouthing Zhao Hang everywhere. Now he’s much more restrained, probably scared after being beaten up. Why?”
The man’s face turned pale, and he slumped to the ground.
He finally understood.
No wonder Zhou Ming earned so many repentance points but usually acted so low-key and frugal.
No wonder the repentance points in Zhao Hang’s card seemed inexhaustible.
No wonder Zhou Ming shouted “I’ve got someone up top” when he escaped that day.
…I see.
.
Zhao Hang hadn’t let Zhou Ming publicize his relationship with the “fellowship,” so once Zhou Ming’s business took off, many people grew jealous and started provoking trouble.
Whenever that happened, Zhao Hang would, under the guise of “teaching,” take care of those people.
Gradually, the foolish still blundered blindly, while the smart had already figured out that Zhou Ming and the dozen or so kids behind him couldn’t be messed with.
But in public opinion, Zhao Hang was already a notorious top-tier scumbag.
Zhao Hang was very satisfied with this situation and had been in a much better mood these past couple of days.
The only thing that didn’t go well was Luo Mingshan’s learning progress—it was truly painful to watch.
Although teaching Luo Mingshan to fight was completely a pretext—giving him an excuse to punish those who provoked the “letter-delivery squad,” and more importantly, to rack up sin points and cement his vicious image as “brutal, unreasonable, and so evil even a passing dog would get kicked”—
But…
Luo Mingshan’s learning curve was an insult to him as a teacher.
Zhao Hang’s head ached from watching. He walked over, pried open Luo Mingshan’s fist, arranged it into the correct posture, and demonstrated the motion a few times in the air. “Got it?”
Only then did Luo Mingshan make the correct move.
But… the force was too light.
The “human dummy” only staggered a little, didn’t even fall.
Zhao Hang shook his head. It seemed some things really required talent.
Luo Mingshan had learned to talk and write quickly as a child, but he was truly no good at fighting.
But mainly it was his nature. Zhao Hang could tell Luo Mingshan had mostly learned the postures, but he held back when actually striking, afraid of hurting others.
In the end, Luo Mingshan’s character was too timid and soft; he wasn’t cut out for fighting.
Seeing it was getting late, Zhao Hang cleanly took care of this scumbag who even bullied children and headed back.
Watching his repentance point balance increase day by day,
And his reputation worsen day by day,
Zhao Hang couldn’t help feeling a bit happier. He even softened his tone toward Luo Mingshan: “You’ve been learning martial arts for two days now. Any thoughts?”
Luo Mingshan: “A bit tiring. I have to finish off four or five people within three hours, and control my strength.”
Zhao Hang snorted: “This is nothing. When I first started learning martial arts, I practiced seven hours a day.”
Luo Mingshan turned to look at him: “Brother Zhao was already pretty strong. Why did you work so hard to learn martial arts? Don’t you dislike fighting?”
Few people knew that among all the kids, Brother Zhao, the best fighter, actually hated fighting.
Why?
Because fighting was exhausting. Even if you won, you’d still get hurt. Even if you didn’t get hurt, your hands would ache.
Zhao Hang feared pain the most.
He feared it so much that he had to trick three-year-old Luo Mingshan into giving him “blow it away” to feel a little better.
Zhao Hang’s tone was casual: “Because I wasn’t strong enough.”
How strong could an eight-year-old kid be, even if he was the best fighter?
Could he beat a group of ten- or eleven-year-olds?
Could he beat a thirteen-year-old boy who was 1.7 meters tall?
Could he beat a large dog charging at him on its owner’s command?
No.
Not even close.
He had to be stronger, stronger, even stronger.
Luo Mingshan froze for a moment, as if sensing something. A trace of sadness flickered in his beautiful eyes: “A’hang-ge—”
But before Luo Mingshan could finish calling out that forbidden name that would upset Zhao Hang, Zhou Ming came running over in a panic: “Z-Zhao Ge! Something’s wrong! One of the letter-delivery kids hasn’t come back yet. I thought he was just off playing somewhere, but then all of a sudden I found this in my pocket! I don’t know who slipped it in or when!”
It was a note.
On it were two lines scrawled messily.
“Zhao Hang, your guy is in my hands.
“8 PM tonight, 7th Academy, 9th Passage, Basement Level 1.”