Physical Education class ended while Jiang Yueming was still feeling irritated and restless.
But the trouble brought by getting too deeply involved with Xia He was far from over.
After school, when the clock tower in the center of the school rang its final chime for the day, Jiang Yueming was dragged into a rarely visited corner of the school.
Cramped and dark.
The light of dusk couldn’t reach inside.
Several figures, some standing and some squatting, blocked the entrance of the narrow alley.
To Jiang Yueming’s left was the school fence.
To his right was the wall of the sports equipment storage room.
He was trapped in the middle with no way to retreat.
Lu Renjia took a deep drag from his cigarette.
The butt shortened by a section.
Then he flicked the cigarette butt to the ground and crushed it under his foot.
“You sure know how to pick your targets.”
He stared down at Jiang Yueming in front of him and grinned.
Jiang Yueming didn’t make a sound.
He took half a step back.
His back bumped into the iron door of the equipment room, producing a soft sound.
“Xia He,” Lu Renjia pronounced the two words heavily. “Is she someone you can reach above your station for?”
“Boss, why waste words on him! Break one of his legs and see if he still dares next time!” Someone at the alley entrance shouted.
“Shut up!”
Lu Renjia didn’t even turn his head.
The two words were thrown back, and the person immediately went quiet.
“I’m asking you. What exactly is your relationship with Xia He?”
Jiang Yueming frowned.
Here it comes again.
This was countless times today that he had been asked like this.
“Friends.”
“Friends?” Lu Renjia’s gaze became even more dangerous. “Do you fucking think I’m stupid?”
A man walked up from behind and handed over a steel rod.
Lu Renjia took it and swung it around.
The threatening intent was obvious.
If that thick, heavy steel rod were to smash into someone with full force, even if it didn’t kill them, it would break bones.
“I’ll ask one more time — what exactly is your relationship with her?”
Jiang Yueming’s gaze lingered on the steel rod in his hand for half a second.
Then he raised his head and met Lu Renjia’s eyes without looking away.
“I already said. We’re just friends.”
“Fuck your mother!”
A palm carrying the smell of sweat and smoke swung toward his head.
Jiang Yueming instinctively raised his arm to block, but the force sent him stumbling sideways.
Before he could steady himself, from the corner of his eye he saw a black shadow smashing down from above.
He hurriedly dodged.
The steel rod grazed past his head and slammed into the concrete wall.
In the darkness, sparks flashed and then went out.
Taking advantage of Lu Renjia’s unsteady steps from the momentum, Jiang Yueming immediately slipped into the deepest corner of the alley.
He leaned against the wall, his heart pounding wildly.
Adrenaline rushed to his head in an instant.
“You react pretty fast.”
Lu Renjia shook his hand.
The webbing between his thumb and index finger felt slightly numb from the tremendous force.
Jiang Yueming didn’t speak.
He tilted his head and glanced at the white mark left on the wall from the impact, then looked at the steel rod in Lu Renjia’s hand.
Slowly, he straightened up.
The calmness in his eyes gradually faded, replaced by a flash of ruthlessness.
He could tell that Lu Renjia hadn’t held back at all.
If that strike had landed solidly, he would be lying in the hospital tonight.
The moment his back left the wall, he took one step forward.
The few people at the alley entrance exchanged glances.
They hadn’t expected that this ordinary-looking boy, after being surrounded by five people and having a steel rod swung at him, would still dare to step forward.
Lu Renjia’s grip on the steel rod tightened.
“You still fucking dare to come closer?”
“I… I…” Jiang Yueming lowered his head.
His shoulders hunched up.
His voice grew smaller and smaller.
His entire body looked like its bones had been pulled out as he timidly moved forward.
“I don’t dare anymore… I’ll stay far away from Xia He from now on…”
The surrender came surprisingly fast.
Lu Renjia was stunned for a moment.
He had thought he would need to put in more effort, maybe smash him a few more times, before this seemingly stubborn boy would submit.
He didn’t expect him to go soft after just one hit.
“I thought you had some backbone,” Lu Renjia squinted as he sized up Jiang Yueming. “If you had said that earlier, wouldn’t it have been fine?”
“Yes, yes…” Jiang Yueming was still approaching. “I’m not worthy of Xia He. Don’t hit me. From now on I…”
His voice became almost inaudible.
“Smart choice,” Lu Renjia was in a great mood.
He stabbed the steel rod into the ground with a thud.
“As long as you—”
He hadn’t finished speaking when he noticed that Jiang Yueming had already walked right up to him.
The distance was too close.
So close that the steel rod couldn’t be swung properly at all.
This was space meant for close-quarters combat.
Jiang Yueming lifted his head.
By the time Lu Renjia saw the eyes that were completely different from his cowardly appearance, it was already too late.
A tightly clenched fist rapidly enlarged in his peripheral vision like a bolt of lightning.
It carried a vicious force straight toward his face.
Lu Renjia’s pupils contracted sharply.
He tried to retreat but couldn’t dodge in time.
Jiang Yueming’s sudden attack sent him crashing to the ground with one punch.
Intense pain mixed with blood flowing from his nostrils.
Lu Renjia fell onto the concrete floor.
The back of his head hit with a dull sound.
The steel rod slipped from his hand and rolled clattering to the corner.
The people at the alley entrance were all stunned by this scene.
They stood frozen in place, mouths open and eyes wide.
For a moment, none of them reacted.
Jiang Yueming turned around.
He stepped on the rolling steel rod with one foot, bent down, picked it up, and gripped it in his hand.
He raised his head.
His gaze swept across each of their faces one by one.
At this moment, he was completely different from before.
His brows were locked tightly.
His face was filled with ferocity.
There wasn’t a single trace of cowardice left.
Lu Renjia lay on the ground for half a second.
He stared at the patch of gray sky above him, as if he couldn’t believe that he had actually been taken down by the person in front of him.
He, Lu Renjia. One meter eighty-eight tall. Main player on the basketball team. Someone who walked sideways through the grade.
He had been knocked to the ground by a single punch from Jiang Yueming — a boy who looked frail, had terrible grades, and whose name almost no one knew?
The daze lasted only half a second.
The cold, bloody air was sucked into his lungs.
Along with the soaring rage that rushed to his head came his powerful curse.
“Fuck!”
This shout was like a command.
The people at the alley entrance finally reacted.
Cursing and swearing, they swarmed forward and surrounded Jiang Yueming completely.
Jiang Yueming stood ready.
He kept every single person within his field of vision.
The two sides faced off.
The heavy steel rod emitted a cold aura in the dim alley.
None of the people surrounding him dared to step forward and be the first to stick their neck out.
Lu Renjia climbed up from the ground.
He pushed two people aside and came to stand in front of Jiang Yueming.
He reached up and wiped the blood from his nose, leaving a horizontal streak of blood across his cheek.
Combined with his face twisted in anger, he looked ferocious and terrifying.
“You’ve got some guts.” Lu Renjia licked his gums and spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva.
His gaze landed on Jiang Yueming’s right hand that was holding the rod.
“That was the hand that hit me just now, right?”
Jiang Yueming didn’t speak.
“Then today, I’m going to fucking remove it.”
Lu Renjia took one step forward.
The four people behind him pressed in as well.
The air in the alley felt like it had been sucked out.
It was so stuffy it was hard to breathe.
“I want to see,” Lu Renjia’s voice was very low, “after today, whether Xia He will still look at a cripple with a broken hand.”
His threat didn’t make Jiang Yueming retreat even half a step.
Because he knew that behind him was the wall.
Once he gave up this bit of space to maneuver, he would truly be finished today.
But he also didn’t back down.
“Come on.”
Jiang Yueming gripped the steel rod tightly.
His knuckles turned white.
“Try and take it from me.”