Chapter 20: Definitely Suspicious
"Brother Biao, who would you like us to take care of?" said the punk as he threw the cigarette to the floor and stomped on it.
"Even I haven't met him before, but my master had already sent a picture to my cell phone! In a while, I will go and look for this person. Just look for my signal. Once I wave, you all come over!" Ah Biao then put on his shades. He didn't want to be recognized by people because he was Wang Zhitao's chauffeur who frequently came to the school's entrance.
"No problem!" The young punk nodded.
This young punk was Zhang Yuliang who had been sent to the hospital by Yang Ming recently. It was only three days ago that he and the other yob got discharged. The hospital fee was pretty hefty and he was worried because he used up his ready cash. Then, Zhang Biao came to find both of them to teach a student a lesson and promised a fee of a thousand yuan in return.
Zhang Yuliang agreed to it without hesitation. How hard can "fixing" a student be? It should be a piece of cake!
"Are you Yang Ming?" Based on the image on his phone, Zhang Biao found Yang Ming amongst the crowd at the school entrance.
"Yup. Who are you?" Yang Ming looked at this man with shades and realized that he didn't know him.
"Great, it's you! There's a person who asked me to give you a word or two. Do wait a while and don't be too arrogant!" Once he finished speaking, Zhao Biao waved his hand to signal for Zhang Yuliang and his partner to come over.
Yang Ming stared at Zhang Biao like an idiot, "Is your brain fried? Who are you?"
Zhang Biao didn't respond and moved aside, excited for Zhang Yuliang's performance.
"You f*****..." Zhang Yuliang dashed in front of Yang Ming. Only then did he recognize that this was the person who sent him to the hospital just a while ago. The F-word had been swallowed back into his throat.
The yob also recognized that the person they were supposed to beat up was Yang Ming. He had an even more painful expression than Zhang Yuliang. Still want to have a fight with him? He could have gone to heaven with another beating from Yang Ming. The yob trembled and asked for forgiveness, "Brother Yang, it's you. It's a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!"
"Yes, a misunderstanding. We were just thinking about coming over to you to apologize!" Zhang Yuliang's response was pretty quick too.
"It didn't seem like it. That man with the shades seemed to say that both of you were here to give me a lesson?" Yang Ming smiled.
"How could it be? Damn! Who would dare to touch Brother Yang unless they no longer wanted to live anymore?!" Zhang Yuliang said with a smile.
"Yes, me and Brother Liang... Liang was just here to visit you since we have just been discharged from the hospital!" the yob added.
"Just discharged? I think you both didn't have a long enough hospital stay and wanted to go back, right?" Yang Ming said while he squinted his eyes.
"Hai, no, no. If there was nothing else then we are going to go first. We will treat you to a meal on another day!" Zhang Yuliang now wanted to avoid this plague immediately. After some small talk, he wanted to leave right away.
"Ai! Why are you both being so cooperative? Whack him!" Zhang Biao was nervous when he saw how both of them decided to leave after a few words.
"Brother Biao, we don't want that thousand yuan. You go find someone else!" said Zhang Yuliang shook Zhang Biao's hand.
"How could this be? Both of you promised me at the start!" Zhang Biao panicked. He had already promised Wang Zhitao. Now, these two people decided to stop their act at the last minute, how was he going to explain to Wang Zhitao!?
"Damn. If you call me again I am going to f*** you up!" The yob was also panicking. He was afraid of Yang Ming but not of Zhang Biao who was just another chauffeur. Nothing to be afraid of.
"This..." Zhang Biao's mind blanked. Even these punks in the society can't do much. It's better to save the trouble. Zhao Biao stared at Yang Ming with hatred, and walked away with a 'hmph'!
"Wait!" Yang Ming saw how Zhang Yuliang wanted to go and stopped him.
"Brother Yang, is there anything else?" Zhang Yuliang heard Yang Ming's words and reluctantly turned around.
"Do you know that person?" Yang Ming was, of course, pointing at Zhang Biao.
"Oh? That guy with shades? I don't know him. He found me through a mutual friend and was looking to give a guy a lesson... Of course, had we known it was Brother Yang earlier, we wouldn't have dared to come!" said Zhang Yuliang as he lowered his voice.
"Alright, I understand. You both can go." Yang Ming waved his hand. He didn't really want to cause any problems for Zhang Yuliang. Instead, he should have thanked him! If it wasn't for them, he wouldn't have gotten those contact lenses that gave him his special power!
Yang Ming pondered carefully. Who would want to cause him harm? Recently, he only had problems with Zhang Yuliang but from today's situation, it definitely wouldn't be Zhang Yuliang who wanted to give him a lesson. Who else could it be?
Wang Zhitao! Yang Ming suddenly thought of this person. But he's just a student. Would he find people from the society to handle him? It didn't seem likely. However, who could have explained these kinds of things? During these past few days, he was really close to Chen Mengyan, it was entirely possible that Wang Zhitao got annoyed and wanted to give him some lessons!
After coming to this conclusion, Yang Ming was prepared to verify this with Wang Zhitao. Of course, he couldn't ask him directly, but he could figure it out indirectly!
Yang Ming turned around to go back to class. At this time, Wang Zhitao was nervously holding his phone awaiting the good news from Zhang Biao. He panicked as he saw Yang Ming return to the classroom without a single scratch. He thought Yang Ming had changed his plans and hadn't gone outside the school yet.
Wang Zhitao had already memorized Yang Ming's routine. Yang Ming usually returned to his house to have lunch every afternoon, therefore, he asked Zhang Biao to wait at the school's entrance. But why did he come back to school today?
"Class monitor, why are you not out for lunch?" Yang Ming had just entered the classroom and noticed that Wang Zhitao was staring at him. Yang Ming felt that something wasn't quite right so he went to ask Wang Zhitao first.
"I… I am still not hungry. Yang Ming, don't you always go home to eat? Why are you back here today?" Wang Zhitao expected Yang Ming to have gone out to take a few beatings, but he didn't think that Yang Ming would have come back. His man was outside waiting for him. But because he was nervous, his words slipped.
Yang Ming confirmed his suspicions further as he heard Wang Zhitao's words. This fellow is suspicious!
"Oh. There's no one at home today, so I am not going back for a meal." Yang Ming made up a story.
"Ah? Not going?" Wang Zhitao was surprised. Zhang Biao and his gang were still waiting at the school entrance!
"Why? Is there any problem?" Yang Ming prompted.
"No… no problem!" Wang Zhitao shook his head immediately. "Then... I will be going off for a meal first. Goodbye." Wang Zhitao wanted to leave Yang Ming immediately so that he could give Zhang Biao a phone call.
He didn't think that Yang Ming would continue to ask, "I heard that there was a really delicious steamed bun store opposite our school. I wanted to ask you the name of it. Since you are rushing off, then it's fine. I will just buy a meal in the school's canteen."
Wang Zhitao had walked two steps but he turned around immediately after he heard Yang Ming. He said passionately, "Aiya, I am not rushing! The meals in the school's canteen are really nothing much. There were rumors that people found rocks within the rice as well! Let me tell you how to go to the steamed bun store. Once you exit the school's gate, there's a warehouse selling items. Beside that warehouse is the store, Eastern Steamed Bun King. The vegetable steamed buns there are awesome!"
Suspicious. Definitely suspicious! Since when has Wang Zhitao been so kind to me!? Yang Ming now confirmed that it was most probably Wang Zhitao who got Zhang Yuliang to come and give him a lesson.
Chapter 21: It Was Really Him
"Really? Thank you for that! I'm going now!" Yang Ming finished his sentence and he patted heavily on Wang Zhitao's shoulder. It looked like a friendly act but Yang Ming actually had used great force on him.
Wang Zhitao was patted until he gritted his teeth. Under normal circumstances, he would already be pissed off, but now he only wanted Yang Ming to step out of school as soon as possible. He didn't want to make more trouble so he acted like he was very happy, grinned and said, "You're welcome!"
Yang Ming laughed as he walked out of class.
As Yang Ming's front leg stepped out of the classroom, Wang Zhitao's phone vibrated.
Wang Zhitao took it out and looked. Then he glanced around, made sure no one could hear him and answered the phone.
Wang Zhitao lowered his voice and spoke, "Hello, Ah Biao, are all of you there already?"
Zhang Biao immediately apologized, "Master, I'm sorry!"
Wang Zhitao was confused. He didn't understand why Zhang Biao was apologizing. "What do you mean? You can't find anyone for it?"
Zhang Biao complained, "No, Master. This Yang Ming isn't that simple. Regarding the two punks that I found around here, once they discovered that their opponent was Yang Ming, they didn't dare fight him. Instead, they greeted Yang Ming with a smiley face!"
"How could it be like this?!" Wang Zhitao was stunned. "Eh, wait. Are you really sure you saw Yang Ming?" Wang Zhitao remembered that Yang Ming had just stepped out of the classroom!
"Absolutely, yes. Oh yeah. Master, Yang Ming had gone back into school. You should be careful!" Zhang Biao didn't know that Wang Zhitao had already met Yang Ming.
"Damn it!" Wang Zhitao hung up the phone. He now realized that Yang Ming obviously knew that he hired those men and toyed with him!
When Wang Zhitao thought about this, he nearly destroyed his phone in anger. Since Wang Zhitao was exposed, he feared nothing. Since you can't be defeated using a direct method, I'll use a dirty one then. I don't think you can always get away with it!
While Yang Ming was humming a song as he walked back home, he met Li Dagang who was walking out from billiards room.
"Brother, you're great!" Li Dagang's sudden greeting stunned Yang Ming.
"What was great?" Yang Ming was confused.
Li Dagang said, "Damn. Stop acting. Your test results lately have improved significantly. Young Teacher Zhao praised you several times in our class. Even the poker-faced Lao Li praised your improvements as well!"
Poker-faced Lao Li was Yang Ming's class teacher who taught Biology. He was famous because he always showed a strict face. Class 7 and Class 8 were counterpart classes; they shared the same teachers.
Ever since his last biology test, Yang Ming had repeated success in cheating on his exams. His results were flying like a helicopter. Thus he became the teachers' example of the typical hardworking underachiever.
Yang Ming exaggerated and said without shame, "Yeah right. Can't you see who I am?!"
Li Dagang asked, "Can you share any tricks with me?"
Yang Ming said perfunctorily, "Just read the textbook… There is no other trick for learning..."
Li Dagang said sadly, "Eh! I'm really stupid. I would rather die than study. It's ok. I'll only stay until senior high school graduation, then I'll find a job!"
Yang Ming looked at Li Dagang's face. Yang Ming nearly revealed to him about the contact lenses, but thought again, Absolutely not! I can't tell this to anyone. If not, it will bring me too much unnecessary trouble.
These contact lenses were just a cheating tool for Yang Ming. What if it fell into others' hands? If one uses it for crime... Yang Ming couldn't even imagine it. Fortunately, he didn't let it slip out of his mouth. If not, he would be dead without even knowing why.
As he thought of this, Yang Ming began to sweat.
Yang Ming comforted Li Dagang, "It's ok. Everyone has their own ambitions; every trade has its master! Look at Xu Peng. Isn't he having a sweet life now? He even earns more than some university graduates!"
"Yeah, you're right!" Li Dagang patted Yang Ming's shoulder and said, "Thank you!"
Yang Ming felt weird. I had only comforted him for a bit but why did he thank me? Li Dagang was enlightened and Yang Ming's worry was swept away.
Li Dagang asked, "Are you going to meet with Xu Peng in the afternoon?"
Yang Ming said with a smile, "I'm not going. I have to study before the National Higher Education Entrance Examination."
When he thought about Chan Mengyan's and Zhao Ying's expectations on him, Yang Ming tilted his mouth slightly.
"Big Ming, the report card you brought back has improved a lot lately." Father Yang looked at Yang Ming voraciously eating the meal and said, "Every night you have mathematics tutoring with Teacher Zhao Ying. Your mom and I are thinking to visit her. Maybe we could buy something for her?"
"There is no need for that, Dad." Yang Ming swallowed a mouthful of rice then said, "Teacher Zhao isn't one of those kinds of people!"
Father Yang shook his head and said, "Why can't we do that? Teacher Zhao contributes a lot in the progression of your results. How could we not thank her for that?!"
"It is really unnecessary!" Yang Ming was going to say that Zhao Ying had become his sworn sister but he didn't speak about it. He was worried that his father might get the wrong idea so Yang Ming said, "Dad, I'll take her out for a meal one day!"
"That would work!" Father Yang nodded. He took out a hundred yuan and put on the table. Then he thought for a moment and he took out another hundred yuan. He passed this money to Yang Ming and said, "Find a place that's a little higher class."
That afternoon, Wang Zhitao didn't bother Yang Ming anymore. Wang Zhitao realized that he had underestimated Yang Ming. He wanted to get revenge but he was waiting for a good opportunity.
This time Wang Zhitao couldn't teach Yang Ming a lesson so it brought out Wang Zhitao's cruelty. He won't use thugs anymore. This kind of garbage method wasn't useful against Yang Ming. He prepared a method even more detrimental to Yang Ming so that he could eliminate the thorn in his side forever.
Of course, this fatal approach won't kill Yang Ming. He didn't have the guts to go that far but he thought of a way to make Yang Ming be completely discredited.
Suddenly Wang Zhitao's expression turned from a frown to a grin. It was a cold sneer.
Although Yang Ming knew Wang Zhitao hired those thugs, he didn't have much proof. He didn't really think much more about it but Wang Zhitao did something to surprise him.