8 Making a name for himself (2)

Huang Mu was pretty surprised, he had prepared himself for a tough fight but apparently just one fist of his was enough to send Meng Wei flying; if Haung Mu was surprised one can imagine the reaction from the rest, complete silence envelopped the dining hall, even He Jie had stopped crying and was looking at Huang Mu with a bewildered expression.

Taking advantage of the situation Huang Mu turned around and glared at Meng Wei's henchmen:

"Scram!"

One of Meng Wei's closer friends mustered up the courage to reply:

"Don't go to far Huang Mu, do you want to slap elder Pin's face as well?"

He thought his remark was rather clever and put Huang Mu in a sticky situation.

"What do you trash have to do with elder Pin, are you claiming you are working on his behalf? Should we call him over?"

Hearing that they might involve the boss of White Valley in this complete loss of face and knowing what kind of temper he possessed the kids faces became as white as a sheet of paper, they quickly glanced at each other, then in unison rushed to grab the fainted Meng Wei and run out of the dining hall without looking back.

Huang Mu turned towards the previously crying kid:

"He Jie right? Don't mind those people, they are just losers. We are here at White Valley because we have the worst talent, this just means we have to work harder than the rest, not the end of the world right? Come grab one of those idiots' plates!"

Huang Mu smiled at him, turned around and sat at the table the bullies had previously occupied, he then started to eat from one of the many full plates they had previously requisitioned.

He Jie hesitated for a bit, his instinct telling him to steer clear from such a violent and likely troublesome kid fighting against hunger, at the end however the latter won out and he timidily approached Huang Mu's table. Seeing that Huang Mu was not bothered by his antiques and focused on his meal he quickly sat and started to chug food from a random plate down.

The rest of the dining hall seemed to slowly awaken as if a dizzy spell had been suddenly cast on them and an indistinct murmur took the place of the previous silence. Most of the disciples were still trying to digest what had just taken place, those who had been particularly unkind to Huang Mu in the past also had an extra layer of sweat on their faces, desperatly trying to figure out if they should apologize, feign ignorance or find some other counter-measure now that the small boy had proven himself to be a tiger masquerading as a pig.

In the meantime the group of bullies were rushing towards the main building in the valley while carrying Meng Wei, the common consensus between them was that Huang Mu had better enjoy his 3 seconds of fame before elder Pin proceeded to skin him alive.