Chapter 4

After seeing Liu Xiangtian lying on the ground for a long time without getting up, Three Eyes chuckled and asked, "Brother, did I win?" He turned around and picked up his own clothes from his henchman and put them on.

"I'm not so sure." Liu Xiangtian stood up at some point, his face showing no signs of pain, but his bloodshot eyes gleamed with cold light. "You..." Three Eyes knew the strength of his two kicks earlier, which a 15- or 16-year-old boy should not have been able to withstand.

"Hehe, looks like I underestimated you!" Three Eyes strode towards Liu Xiangtian and kicked him in the face. Liu Xiangtian stepped back but didn't fall. Three Eyes kicked him again, and Liu Xiangtian took three steps back but still stood there. His nose and mouth were bleeding, and his face was swelling. Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Liu Xiangtian smiled slightly.

Three Eyes himself was a little scared, even though he was the one who hit people. "Give up!" he shouted, using all his strength to throw a punch at Liu Xiangtian. Liu Xiangtian's trembling body suddenly squatted down, and Three Eyes' punch missed and he lunged forward. Liu Xiangtian's wobbly body became agile, and he quickly drew another blade from his waist, thrusting it into Three Eyes' soft ribs. The tip of the blade stopped when it pierced the muscle, and Liu Xiangtian pulled back the blade, pointing it at Three Eyes and saying, "You were already dead just now."

Three Eyes touched the wound on his soft ribs, leaning against the wall and remaining silent. Liu Xiangtian stood there quietly waiting for his response. Li Shuang was excited and whispered to Gao Qiang next to him, "Hehe, Tian ge won!" Gao Qiang nodded and slowly moved his hand to the hilt of his knife in case Three Eyes couldn't accept his loss and launched a surprise attack on Liu Xiangtian.

After a while, Three Eyes lifted his head and looked at Liu Xiangtian, saying, "I feel a bit unconvinced. But as a man, I must keep my word. I lost! From now on, you are my boss. As long as you give the word, I'll give you my life." He finished speaking and respectfully bowed.

Liu Xiangtian chuckled and then fainted. Quick on his feet, Three Eyes caught him and shouted, "Everyone, get out there and stop a car for me!" Before he could finish, Li Shuang had already rushed out to find a car.

When they brought Liu Xiangtian to the hospital, he was diagnosed with multiple cartilage injuries, slight internal bleeding, and a mild concussion. He had to stay in the hospital for treatment. Li Shuang called Liu Xiangtian's parents and told them he had been in a car accident and was in the hospital. After hearing this, Liu Xiangtian's parents rushed over, and Li Shuang and the others comforted and explained the situation to them. To increase the credibility, Li Shuang grabbed Three Eyes, who had just had his wound dressed, and said, "Uncle and aunt, he's the one who hit Tian ge with his car!" High Strong and several of his brothers nodded vigorously, while Three Eyes blushed and scratched his head, laughing awkwardly.

After half a month, Liu Xiangtian had mostly recovered, and the doctor said he would be fine after some more rest. That day, only his parents came to pick him up from the hospital. Three-eyed and the others had been informed not to come. Liu Xiangtian didn't want his parents to see those people.

Back home, his parents made a big feast to celebrate his release from the hospital. Seeing the table full of food, Liu Xiangtian felt ashamed. If his parents knew that he had been hospitalized because of fighting with others, he didn't know how they would feel. Presently, Liu Xiangtian felt he owed his parents, but he couldn't give up his current life. In this passionate and indulgent period, he felt that being respected by others was the most joyful thing in the world! At least, that's what he believed now.

He didn't know whether what he was doing was right or wrong, but one thing was certain: he liked his current life. Maybe he was just born to be a bad guy. For the time being, Liu Xiangtian put his worries aside and enjoyed the meal with his parents.

The next day, Liu Xiangtian walked to school with his backpack. He saw at least fifty people standing across the street from the school gate, and a smile spread across his face. Three-Eye and Gao Qiang were squatting on the ground, smoking and chatting, while Li Shuang, who was too fat to squat, stood beside them and gestured wildly while speaking. Even Liu Xiangtian, who was quite far away, could hear his loud voice. When the three men saw Liu Xiangtian approaching, they threw their cigarette butts and stood up. Gao Qiang cleared his throat and shouted, "Stand straight, everyone! Tian-ge is here!"

The scattered little brothers quickly lined up in two rows. When Liu Xiangtian came closer, they all shouted in unison, "Hello, Tian-ge!" The students passing by were very self-aware and stayed far away. The pedestrians on the road turned their heads and thought to themselves: "This is the black society, isn't it?"

Three-Eye scratched his head and looked at Liu Xiangtian apologetically. "Tian-ge, I'm really sorry about last time. Thank you for not stabbing me deeply. The doctor told me that the wound was near my liver." Liu Xiangtian laughed and said, "If I had really stabbed you, would you still be my good brother?" After speaking, he reached out his hand to Three-Eye, who grabbed it tightly. Li Shuang and Gao Qiang also came over and put their hands on top, and the four men held hands tightly, like their fates, intertwined into a knot. No one spoke, hoping that the excitement of this moment would stay in their hearts forever. In the hearts of the little brothers below, Liu Xiangtian was now a true hero. They believed that as long as Tian-ge was there, no difficulty could defeat them. Heroes are not just talked about, they can only be proved through actions.

After a while, the four men finally let go of each other's hands. Li Shuang took out a bulging paper bag from his pocket and handed it to Liu Xiangtian, saying, "Tian ge, this is the money we collected in a week. It's much more than before!" Liu Xiangtian opened the bag, nodded, and returned it to Li Shuang, saying, "Use this money to treat everyone to a meal tonight and let everyone get to know each other."

Li Shuang was delighted to hear this and said with his eyes narrowed, "Thank you, Tian ge!" Then he shouted to the small brothers around him, "Everyone gather at the door tonight. Tian ge is treating us to a meal!"

"YE~~~~~~!! Long live~!" The group cheered loudly, causing frowns from passersby.

During the day, they didn't say much, but at night Liu Xiangtian called home first and said he was going to a friend's birthday party and would be back later. Then he led more than fifty people, including Three-Eyes, Li Shuang, and Gao Qiang, to a not-too-big or small restaurant. When they entered, the small brothers made a lot of noise, scaring away the customers. Three-Eyes picked a clean table and let Liu Xiangtian sit in the middle, and then arranged for everyone to sit down. Liu Xiangtian, Three-Eyes, Gao Qiang, and Li Shuang sat together. The restaurant owner, hearing from the waiter that a gang of people had arrived, thought he had caused some trouble and hurriedly came out from the back, smiling and saying, "Oh! You brothers are really giving me face by coming to my little run-down restaurant. It's my honor to have you here, brothers! Whatever you want to eat, just ask. This time, brothers, it's on me!"

Li Shuang noticed the person speaking, a man in his thirties with no less fat on him than himself, who was talking with a friendly smile. He waved his hand and asked, "Are you the owner here?"

The owner, seeing that the speaker was a young, chubby man, did not dare to underestimate him and walked over, saying, "Hehe, I'm the owner here. May I ask why you've brought so many people here?"

"No intention of picking a fight!" Li Shuang pointed to Liu Xiangtian next to him and said, "This is my big brother. We came here today to have a meal. You'd better give us a fair price, or my brothers won't be happy!"

The owner let out a sigh of relief and said, "Hey, buddy, you're saying something else entirely. You guys came here because you respect me. Let's be friends and I'll pay for this meal!"

Liu Xiangtian waved his hand and said, "You don't have to be so polite, we didn't come for any other reason than to eat. Bring out your best dishes and we won't let you pay."

The boss chuckled and said, "Okay! Then I won't be polite with you guys. I'll go make arrangements, and you all can eat and drink to your heart's content!" Liu Xiangtian nodded, and the boss walked towards the kitchen.

As he left, Li Shuang grinned, "This boss is pretty good!" "Damn, he's no ordinary person!" muttered Gao Qiang. Three Eyes looked at the table and felt that something was missing. He slapped his forehead and shouted, "Wait a minute, I was too focused on listening to the boss's chat." Then he yelled, "Waitress, bring me six cases of beer!"

The waitress, a young girl with a red face, timidly asked, "What kind of beer would you like, sir?" Li Shuang, seeing that the girl was quite attractive, teased her, "Miss, what kinds of beer do you have? Tell me so I can listen."

"We have Harp, eleven-degree, Jiafeng, and Five Star."

"Do you have any others?" Li Shuang stared at the girl.

The girl's face grew even redder, and she whispered, "No, we don't have any others." "Think about it, think carefully..."

After a while, six boxes of "Jiafeng" beer were brought in by some young people. Three-eye poured the beer and stood up, saying, "Brothers, let's toast to Brother Tian for the first cup of beer, in honor of his recovery from the hospital." Everyone stood up together and said, "Cheers to Brother Tian!"

Liu Xiangtian stood up, smiled, and nodded his head, "Thank you, everyone. Actually, I should have toasted to all of you first, but I didn't expect Brother Zhang (Three-eye) to beat me to it. Let's not say more, let's drink!" Everyone shouted, "Drink!" and the sound of glasses clinking filled the restaurant.

Then, Li Shuang poured a glass of wine and stood up, "This glass is also for Brother Tian. May Brother Tian lead us to conquer our own territory!" Hearing this, everyone stood up again and said, "Cheers to Brother Tian, lead us to conquer the world!" Liu Xiangtian had just finished one cup, so he had to pour another cup and said, "We still need everyone's efforts in the future, and achievements are created by everyone together! Cheers!" "Cheers!" they all shouted.

After a while, some of the younger guys were already passed out under the table, while the food had not even been served yet. Drinking in Northeast China is not about the process, but about having a good time. This is directly related to the straightforward and bold nature of Northeasterners. Today's enemies may be tomorrow's sworn brothers. Being straightforward, bold, and not bound by trivialities are the innate traits of Northeasterners. Although it may be hard for friends from the South to understand, I think this is precisely what makes them endearing.

As Liu Xiangtian and his three friends drank and chatted, San Yan touched his glass and said, "Boss, I think we should form an organization. With more and more people, it's hard to control without a complete organization." Li Shuang and Gao Qiang had already been thinking about this and nodded in agreement. Gao Qiang said, "San Yan is right. If we want to make a name for ourselves, we must have our own organization." Li Shuang added, "Yes, just like our city's Ax Gang, that's so impressive!" (J City's Ax Gang is an ancient gang in the city, and no one knows when it started. It is a recognized organized crime group.)

Liu Xiangtian bowed his head and remained silent. He also wanted to establish an organization, but it was easier said than done. He picked up his wine glass, took a sip, and said, "I don't object to having an organization, but the number of people will increase dramatically at that time. We'll have to rely on the organization for eating, drinking, and having fun. How can we support them?" The three of them were stunned, and Liu Xiangtian tilted his head back and drank the wine in his glass, then continued, "The money we have now comes from collecting 'protection fees' from students. At most, we can get $20,000 a month. How can we maintain an organization with this amount of money? Even if we manage to establish it now, we will only break up soon."

Gao Qiang asked, "Tian Ge, so what do you mean?" Liu Xiangtian smiled slightly, lowered his head and played with the wine glass in his hand. Li Shuang was impatient and, seeing Liu Xiangtian remain silent, asked loudly, "Tian Ge, why don't you speak? We're all listening to you!"

Liu Xiangtian looked at the three of them, who were staring at him without blinking, and slowly said, "Now...you guys...should...study hard!"

Li Shuang and Gao Qiang were dumbfounded and blurted out, "Study hard?"

"That's right, you should study hard now. There's only one month until the high school entrance exam, and I want all of you to get into high school. If anyone fails...I, Liu Xiangtian, won't let him go. Unless you don't want to be with me anymore!"

San Yan was also dumbfounded and asked, "And...what about me?" Liu Xiangtian grinned and said, "You'll still control this place and make it stronger, expanding our influence. Our goal is to target all the middle and high schools. The triads don't bother with small-time businesses like junior high schools where they can't make much money. They don't want what we want, so we'll focus on recruiting students both in and out of school, that's our foundation."

San Yan nodded, "Tian Ge, I understand. There are small-time gangs like us all over J City. We can't compete with them since we haven't even rubbed elbows with the triads. They're the black society, and we'll be the grey society. Not black, not white, right?"

Liu Xiangtian nodded in approval and said to Li Shuang, "Xiao Shuang, Qiangzi, learn more from Zhang Ge. It'll do you no harm." Gao Qiang blushed but still didn't understand, "So what do we do in high school?" Liu Xiangtian stood up, and his eyes sparkled, "We'll control the No.1 High School with me!"

Li Shuang and Gao Qiang were almost jaw-dropping, "Co...control the No.1 High School? My goodness!" Li Shuang laughed and said, "I'm looking forward to it! Yeah, No.1 High School, that infamous gangster high school in the whole province. Hahaha!" She turned to Gao Qiang and asked, "Brother Qiang, do you know how many criminals come out of our No.1 High School every year in the province?" Gao Qiang shook his head. He didn't know, but he had heard that it was quite chaotic there.

Seeing Gao Qiang shaking his head, Li Shuang shook her head and said, "Hehe! 'According to incomplete statistics, 8% of criminals in the province come from J City No.1 Middle School.' Hahaha! I can't wait!"

San Yan and Gao Qiang looked at Liu Xiangtian in disbelief and said, "Tian Ge, this can't be true!"

Liu Xiangtian squinted and said, "I'm not sure about that. I don't know where Xiao Shuang heard that from, but it's probably not reliable!"

San Yan and Gao Qiang looked at each other and had an enlightened expression, "Oh, so it's just some people making things up!" Li Shuang was anxious and said, "What I said is true, believe me!"

"Tsk~~~~~~~" San Yan and Gao Qiang both raised their middle fingers in unison and turned their heads, ignoring her. A flushed Li Shuang stood up and shouted, "Where's Liu Xinyu? Get out here and stop deceiving me with lies!" A hand reached out from under the table nearby, and an unclear voice said, "Who? Who...who's calling me?" "..."

Everyone enjoyed the meal and drinks, or rather, they drank to their heart's content. In the end, the bill came out to over a thousand yuan, but the restaurant owner waived the cost of the drinks. Despite the expensive meal, everyone only ate a few bites because their stomachs were already filled with beer when the food arrived. (Another Northeastern Chinese trait...wasteful...sigh)

Although Liu Xiangtian didn't drink much, he still had a bit too much since he wasn't used to alcohol. He was sober-minded, but his body felt like it was floating. Gao Qiang and San Yan drank a lot but weren't drunk, only Li Shuang was quite intoxicated. She held Liu Xiangtian's hand, crying with tears streaming down her face, then turned to Gao Qiang and laughed and joked around, and then went to kiss San Yan's face. In the end, everyone agreed that they couldn't let Li Shuang get drunk again in the future since she couldn't hold her liquor. Gao Qiang called a taxi to send Li Shuang home. San Yan offered to send Liu Xiangtian home, but he politely refused.