Chapter 70: A Misconception

“Are you all crazy?” Zhao Shangang glared at them, scanning their faces one by one. “Didn’t you open your damn eyes to see who you were hitting?”

Su Chunfeng let go of the man’s arm, turned, and walked over to help Li Zhichao, who was still lying on the ground with a bruised and swollen face. “Zhichao, how are you?”

“I’m fine!” Li Zhichao stood up, spat out a mouthful of bloody foam, and grinned. “Didn’t lose out today, came out ahead!”

Although Su Chunyu had been knocked to the ground, he hadn’t really taken many solid hits. So, after the beating stopped, he immediately scrambled up, glaring fiercely, ready to keep fighting. Now that he saw the situation had changed, it clearly wasn’t a good idea to keep fighting. He trotted over to his brother and also put on a bold, heroic manly stance. “I didn’t lose out either, came out ahead! Smashed that guy’s head open!”

Seeing the dark bruise by his brother’s eye, Su Chunfeng frowned but didn’t say anything.

He bent down, picked up a brick from the ground, and silently walked toward the two who had just been ganging up on Xiao Yu — Ren Qiang and Feng Xiaoming.

At that moment, the young man who looked to be about twenty-one or twenty-two and whose arm Su Chunfeng had just released, cradled his right arm that felt broken and was throbbing with sharp pain. Grimacing, he hunched over and walked up to Zhao Shangang, forcing a smile. “Brother Shangang, what, what’s going on here? These guys are from outside the village.”

“Go to hell!” Zhao Shangang kicked him to the ground, pointed at Su Chunfeng, Li Zhichao, and Su Chunyu, and shouted, “These are all my brothers! You dare lay hands on them?”

Then, Zhao Shangang froze.

He saw Su Chunfeng, who had always disliked causing trouble, walking silently toward Ren Qiang and Feng Xiaoming with a grim face, holding a whole red brick.

“Chunfeng, Chunfeng, listen to me…” Ren Qiang trembled all over in fear.

“You, what are you doing?” Feng Xiaoming was terrified. He turned and ran.

Su Chunfeng chased after him, kicked him to the ground, and stomped hard on his face several times. Then he turned and walked over to Ren Qiang, who had already had his head cracked open and was bleeding a bit, though not seriously, by Su Chunyu. He grabbed Ren Qiang by the collar and slowly, deliberately raised the brick in his hand. In front of everyone, under Ren Qiang’s terrified pleas—”Chunfeng, don’t, don’t…”

Whack!

The brick slammed into Ren Qiang’s face, smashing it and making the blood flow.

Su Chunfeng kicked him to the ground, then squatted down, still holding the brick. With precise but ruthless hits, he started smashing Ren Qiang’s hands.

Whack, whack, whack!

“Ah, I won’t do it again, never again…”

The horrifying, muffled thuds of the brick hitting flesh and bone and Ren Qiang’s piercing, miserable screams echoed across the quiet open area inside the school gate.

Only after Ren Qiang’s hands were a bloody mess did Su Chunfeng stand up. He sighed and said, “Don’t hit my brother.”

With that, he threw down the unbroken brick, turned, and walked up to Zhao Shangang. Seriously, he said, “Shangang, I need to ask you a favor… My brother goes to school here. He can’t be bullied.”

“No problem!” Zhao Shangang declared earnestly. “Your brother is my brother. If he ever gets bullied in Dongwangzhuang from now on, I’ll write my name, Zhao Shangang, upside down!”

“Thank you.” Su Chunfeng looked over at Xiao Yu. “Go on, get to class. Remember to study hard!”

“Okay.” Su Chunyu was full of curiosity now, but he knew it wasn’t the right time to ask questions. He obediently turned and started walking back, wondering to himself—Who is that guy called Shangang? He rides such a cool motorcycle and looked so intimidating when he was swinging that helmet around hitting people. It seems like everyone is scared of him.

Now, the whole group was trembling with fear, not even daring to run.

And most of them were shooting hateful looks at Ren Qiang, Feng Xiaojun, Feng Xiaoming, and Wang Haibin—Damn it, why didn’t you say they were Zhao Shangang’s brothers?

“What’s going on here? What’s happening?”

Li Qiang, who was both a township police station security team member and the security guard for Dongwangzhuang Township Middle School, ran over from inside the school, shouting loudly. When he saw Zhao Shangang was there too, he couldn’t help but frown. He walked over and said, “Shangang, what are you doing? Why are you fighting at the school? You’re making things hard for me, brother.”

“Sorry, just ran into this mess. These guys came to the school to bully one of my brothers.” Zhao Shangang pointed at the group and roared, “Get the hell out of here, all of you!”

The whole group shivered and trembled, quickly scurrying off toward the school exit.

Seeing that most of these people were outsiders and several of them had bloody, miserable-looking heads, Li Qiang felt a bit better. He said, “Shangang, everyone says you’re making it big in the county town. What brings you back today?”

“Back to take care of some business.” Zhao Shangang smiled. “Oh, right, Qiangzi, see that little brother over there?” Zhao Shangang pointed at Su Chunyu, who had reached the corner behind the boys’ dorm and was looking back curiously. “That’s a little brother of mine, a really close one. You know I’m usually very busy, don’t come back much. So I really have to count on you to look out for him. Make sure he doesn’t get bullied, okay…”

“No problem! What’s his name?” Li Qiang smiled.

Zhao Shangang looked over at Su Chunfeng.

Su Chunfeng smiled slightly and said, “Su Chunyu. Class 21, seventh grade.”

“Okay, got it! Leave it to me.” Li Qiang patted his chest.

“Thanks a lot! I’ll buy you a drink sometime…”

“Don’t mention it.”

“I’ve got things to do, gotta go now.”

“Alright, see you later.”

“See you!” Zhao Shangang nodded, then swung his leg over his motorcycle. Still worried, he added, “Qiangzi, my little brother absolutely cannot suffer even the slightest bullying. If anything happens, I’ll have words with you when I’m back.”

Li Qiang gave a pained smile. “Alright, alright, rest assured. I’ll even have him stay in my security room.”

“Won’t say more pleasantries. See you!” Zhao Shangang started the motorcycle, turned his head, and smiled at Su Chunfeng. “Chunfeng, Zhichao, come on, let’s go to my place for a drink.”

“Yeah, let’s go.” Su Chunfeng nodded. He and Li Zhichao picked up their bicycles and walked them out, while Su Chunfeng turned back to Li Qiang and said, “Brother Li, I’m counting on you!”

Li Qiang smiled and waved.

One motorcycle, two bicycles, the three of them headed out of the school.

Zhao Shangang drove his motorcycle slowly, complaining a bit as he went. “Chunfeng, our brother goes to school here, why didn’t you tell me?”

Su Chunfeng waved his hand. “Let’s not talk about it. Sigh.”

“I told you, those idiots are unreliable, telling them is a damn waste of breath…” Li Zhichao cursed and spat. “I told you earlier you should have told Brother Shangang. With Brother Shangang saying a word in Dongwangzhuang, who the hell would dare bully Xiao Yu? What was the point telling those other people?”

Seeing Su Chunfeng’s expression wasn’t great, Zhao Shangang smiled to smooth things over. “It’s over now, and Xiao Yu wasn’t really hurt anyway. Don’t dwell on it.” For him, this kind of minor scuffle like kids playing wasn’t a big deal at all. But since Su Chunfeng seemed in low spirits, he didn’t say more.

Su Chunfeng’s mood really wasn’t good.

He felt some self-blame.

Since his rebirth, he hadn’t harbored any grand ideals or ambitions. He only wanted to accompany his family and live a happy, peaceful life. So he had always tried his best to avoid trouble. Even when he saved Zhao Shangang’s mother, and a destined-to-be-extraordinary tough guy like him was so grateful he even knelt down and earnestly vowed to be his slave to repay the debt, Su Chunfeng didn’t want too much contact with Zhao Shangang. After all, this kind of person didn’t walk the straight and narrow.

After his brother started school at Dongwangzhuang Township Middle School, Su Chunfeng had considered whether his brother might get bullied.

Just as Li Zhichao had said, Su Chunfeng had approached a few classmates in high school who were from Dongwangzhuang Village and Tunbingying Village. He’d asked them to remember to help out when they went home, and to pass the word to some of the tougher local students now in eighth and ninth grade at Dongwangzhuang Township Middle School, and also to classmates who had already become non-students, to ask them to look out for his brother and make sure he didn’t get bullied while studying there.

But he only realized now, having learned his lesson, that it was too arrogant to use an adult’s mindset to consider the temperaments of teenagers in the midst of puberty.

Thank goodness he had come today. Otherwise, wouldn’t his brother have been beaten and bullied by others?

Not using a fierce person like Zhao Shangang, and in the end still needing Zhao Shangang to step in… And himself, his brother, and his friend Li Zhichao had all gotten involved in a dangerous group fight. Li Zhichao hadn’t lost out and had even come out on top, but he was still injured. Look at him now, with his bruised and swollen face.

“Zhichao, thank you for today. Sorry you had to suffer like this,” Su Chunfeng said, full of remorse.

“Damn, that’s nonsense.” Li Zhichao stiffened his neck, displeased. “What’s between us? You being polite like that is like slapping my face.”

Su Chunfeng gave a bitter smile and quickly waved his hand. “Alright, alright, I won’t say things like that again.”

Li Zhichao laughed happily. “That fight today was so damn satisfying! Hey, I didn’t even expect to come out ahead. Did you see? I smashed open a few guys’ heads and made ’em all lumpy, haha.”

Talking and laughing, they arrived at Zhao Shangang’s home.

A lavish spread of food and drink was already laid out at home. Zhao Shangang invited Su Chunfeng and Li Zhichao to take the seats of honor, and called his brother Zhao Shanqiang to the table to eat and drink with them.

Zhao Shanqiang was a senior in the third year at Jinzhou County’s Second High School. As the saying goes, children from poor families grow up fast. Zhao Shanqiang had grown up in poverty, the family supported entirely by his older brother Zhao Shangang. So he had always been very sensible and studious. His grades at school were excellent; he was always in the top ten in the whole school in every exam.

As the older brother, Zhao Shangang never bothered with notions like students shouldn’t drink. In his view, if you’re a man, having a drink is normal.

However, while drinking and chatting, Zhao Shangang very seriously warned his brother again: “You have to study hard, only then can you have a future!”

Clearly, Zhao Shangang was a good older brother!

Even though he had already made a name for himself, becoming a sudden rich household by rural standards, and now he had plenty of income every day, he understood very well that the path he was on was not a good one.

Su Chunfeng watched this, and his admiration for this man grew even stronger.

When he went to the bathroom to relieve himself later, taking advantage of there being no one else around, the already tipsy Zhao Shangang spoke with deep remorse. “Chunfeng, you’re an extraordinary person, a capable man, a great benefactor to me, Zhao Shangang… There’s something I need to tell you first. I feel I’ve wronged you.”

“What is it?” Su Chunfeng frowned.

“Early in the fall, you know, we had made some money back then.” Zhao Shangang let out a drunken burp. “I took some money to Cheng the Blind, to apologize to him. After all, he helped me back then, and what we did was too much… But I really didn’t say anything! But, but…” Zhao Shangang shuddered as if with a chill, looking at Su Chunfeng. “That Divine Old Man, Cheng the Blind, he’s incredibly perceptive. He said, he said I have great fortune in this life, met a noble person, an extraordinary person. He said if there was a chance, he hoped I could act as a go-between, let my benefactor meet him. I definitely couldn’t agree to that! I didn’t mention you. But I’m afraid, afraid this Divine Old Man might figure out it was you.”

Su Chunfeng was silent for a moment, then smiled. “It’s fine. Don’t go see Cheng the Blind anymore in the future.”

“Mm.” Zhao Shangang assented. “Come on, let’s go drink. I’m happy today.”

“Alright.” Su Chunfeng nodded, but he thought to himself: Cheng the Blind… he’s probably not so divine that he could deduce exactly who it is, right?