Those Years When I Was Forced to Top the Forbes List

Chapter 12 A Small Accident at the Milk Tea Bar

"Perfect circle!"

"Duck! Do you want one? Do you want one?"

The table at "Xin Yue Milk Tea Bar" was slammed loudly.

"Damn, you idiot, you had a pair of two and you didn't even pick your hero? Don't you care about your teammates? If you feed me your hero, I'm leaving!"

"You're the idiot! I can walk this route all by myself!"

"Wait, what's the rush? Four sevens! Hahahaha, if I didn't have the goods, would I dare to arrest the landlord?"

"Oh ho, that feels good now, go ahead and do it! I'll see you do it!"

The space, which wasn't very big to begin with, was suddenly filled with swearing and cursing.

A table at the back of the room made a loud thud.

A workbook was slammed on the table, and Xin Mengzhen's delicate face showed anger as she tried to get up.

Yang Qingyue quickly grabbed her arm, shook her head, and whispered, "There's no need, Mengzhen. Let's leave when Chen Xuebing arrives."

"Phew." Xin Mengzhen spread her hands flat and pressed them down, letting out a sigh of relief as if she were exercising, but her delicate brows were still furrowed. "So annoying, is there only one milk tea shop near the school?"

“There’s another subway station across the street, but there are no seats available.” Yang Qingyue looked at Xin Mengzhen somewhat embarrassedly.

When she visited Guangzhou last year, Xin Mengzhen took her to the "Garden Hotel" coffee shop, which had a high ceiling of seven or eight meters, a spacious area, and was lively but not noisy, with lyrical light music playing.

In Chongqing, with its unique environment, the culture of gangsters and dockworkers is prevalent. These days, drinking coffee is considered a bit pretentious. This campus milk tea bar even sells beer. When they came in, a table of girls was drinking Snow Beer with a plate of sunflower seeds and a dish of fried chicken strips.

The commotion started again over there.

"I'm arresting! Should we talk to them or not?"

"No manners!" Xin Mengzhen said, getting a little angry, as she took out her MP3 player from her bag.

But the voice was quite loud, and the people playing cards over there craned their necks to look over around the sofa partition.

A murmur rippled through the room, and a boy with dyed white hair stepped out of his seat. He walked straight up to Xin Mengzhen and Yang Qingyue, staring them in without any restraint. Seeing their backpacks, he laughed loudly:
"Both are girls, students."

Yang Qingyue, sitting on the outer edge, nervously grabbed Xin Mengzhen, but Xin Mengzhen stood up, her gaze meeting Bai Mao's directly, ready to protect Yang Qingyue.

"Never mind, never mind, let's play cards." Someone at the other table said, sounding a little impatient.

White Hair took another careful look at the two faces before returning to his side.

Teasing sounds.

"They're both good-looking...both of them..."

"Is your youngest child drinking?"

"She's really beautiful, you should go see her..."

"The students at Nanping Middle School are barely grown up, what's so interesting about them?"

"Hey, if you don't ask me, go ask someone else."

Xin Mengzhen gritted her teeth, packed her things, and prepared to leave. Yang Qingyue also stopped insisting and prepared to pack her schoolbag.

"Hey? Beautiful lady, don't go yet, leave your QQ number!" The white-haired guy and the buzz cut guy came back laughing.

Xin Mengzhen jumped to her feet, furious: "No!"

Upon hearing this, the people over there all stood up and looked over.

Hearing the commotion, the female owner of the bubble tea shop quickly came out from behind the cashier and shouted, "No fighting allowed in the shop!"

The group ignored the instructions and got up, blocking the narrow corridor.

These people had white, yellow, and red hair, and some were bald. Yang Qingyue was a little scared, but she still stood up and blocked Xin Mengzhen, who was unable to control her temper inside.

Xin Mengzhen forcefully pushed the table aside, squeezed her body out, and blocked Yang Qingyue inside.

With a "thud," a milk tea cup on the table crashed to the ground, shattering into pieces.

Xin Mengzhen was on the verge of a fight, but the group of young people from the underworld all laughed.

If they were just good-natured girls, they wouldn't find it fun at all.

Just then, the curtain at the door was drawn back, and Chen Xuebing arrived late.

It seems I arrived two minutes too early and missed the scene where the thugs started hitting me and the hero saved the damsel in distress.

"Sister Liang, which table are those two girls sitting at?"

When the female owner of the milk tea bar saw Chen Xuebing, it was as if she had seen a savior. She grabbed him and pointed inside.

"Hurry, hurry, are those two girls surrounded inside your friends?"

The milk tea bar was a long, narrow corridor with five tables and chairs arranged in circles against the wall. Chen Xuebing saw the group of seven or eight people inside, rolled up his notebook, tucked it behind his back, covered it with his clothes, and peeked inside, calling out:
"Yang Qingyue?"

Yang Qingyue's anxious voice immediately came from inside: "Chen Xuebing! Over here!"

When the name Chen Xuebing was called out, everyone inside stopped moving, especially the one standing at the back of the crowd, whose eyes showed some fear.

"Chen Xuebing?"

Chen Xuebing recognized the man and laughed: "Hey, you're my friend inside. What's going on?"

Hei Er didn't laugh; his eyes were fixed on Chen Xuebing, knowing that this guy liked to strike when people weren't expecting it.

When he realized Chen Xuebing wasn't approaching, he turned around and patted the white-haired man: "He's an acquaintance, never mind."

Chen Xuebing had just changed into clean clothes and had no intention of causing trouble. He waited for Hei Er to clear a path before entering the room, where he saw the table littered with cups and plates.

"Are you alright?" Chen Xuebing called out.

"It's okay, let's...go." Yang Qingyue controlled her pounding heart and steadied her breathing.

Chen Xuebing nodded, bent down to look at the cups under the table, and called out, "Sister Liang! Two cups are broken, how much?"

At this moment, everyone noticed an irregular bulge hidden under Chen Xuebing's clothes at the lower back, and Hei Er became even more nervous.

"That's enough, that's enough!" The proprietress sounded relieved to see that the group of thugs hadn't caused any trouble. Chen Xuebing then said, "Let's go, you guys go out first."

Yang Qingyue nodded obediently and walked out.

Xin Mengzhen remained standing there, clenching her fists and glaring angrily at the white-haired man.

"Also?" The white-haired man was clearly not a local. He took a step forward, looking annoyed, as if to stop people, but was pulled back by Hei Er and made way for him.

Chen Xuebing then stepped forward, grabbed Xin Mengzhen's small fist, and used some force to slowly pry it open.

My palms were warm and slightly damp, and Xin Mengzhen's faint fragrance was refreshing.

When you grasp something, it becomes holding hands.

The moment Xin Mengzhen fully extended her fist, her body relaxed, and Chen Xuebing pulled her slowly toward the cashier.

Several young men looked at Xin Mengzhen's profile with envy, jealousy, and hatred, but the leader, Hei Er, kept giving them meaningful glances.

"Excuse me, Sister Liang, please charge me the full price for the cup. Have you paid for the milk tea yet?"

Chen Xuebing took out 100 yuan from his pocket and put it on the cashier's counter.

The proprietress quickly pushed him away, saying, "Oh, never mind, Xiao Chen."

"Keep it, keep it."

"Forget it."

"Take it." Chen Xuebing's tone became unquestionable as he pushed the money further in.

"Okay, okay! I'll take ten yuan! I've already paid for the milk tea, and the cups are five yuan each, that's the cost price."

While the proprietress was giving change, two girls stood behind Chen Xuebing.

Yang Qingyue kept checking to see if anyone inside had come out, while Xin Mengzhen stared blankly at Chen Xuebing's back.

The people inside were resentful and dissatisfied.

"Second Brother, who is it? So arrogant!"

"Yeah! I've never seen them either. Which gang are they from? Those two girls provoked us first. Shouldn't we demand some compensation for emotional distress?"

"Hey." Seeing that Chen Xuebing didn't seem to be planning to cause trouble, Hei Er grinned and said, "Brother Ma took a machete and fought him, but he beat him up. You even managed to catch Brother Ma's knife with your bare hands. Do you dare to do that? He's been practicing Sanda since he was a kid, and several police stations nearby take care of him... Go ask him for compensation for emotional distress, I won't stop you."

The people inside fell silent.

The voices weren't loud, but the milk tea shop wasn't big either.

The two girls had heard rumors about Chen Xuebing's ways of doing things, but they were now able to see the details of how he was doing it.

Chen Xuebing seemed thoughtful when he heard the name "Brother Ma".

In his past life, Huo Xiaowen and he had a good relationship. Huo Xiaowen was a decent person, and he had a paralyzed mother.

Huo Xiaowen is Brother Ma.

He was the fourth child in his family and was initially called Huo Si (meaning "Fourth Brother Huo"). Later, following the rule that "people in the underworld don't use their real names," he adopted a confusing nickname: Brother Ma.

Those who know the origin of this nickname find it both funny and absurd: it's a direct translation of the English word "Huo Si" (霍四).

Horse.

It represents an aspiration for culture.

Chen Xuebing couldn't help but laugh, took the money back from Sister Liang, and slowly walked out of the milk tea bar.

Yang Qingyue quickly chased after her, patting her chest, her face flushed.

"Phew... thank goodness you came!"

"A bunch of petty thugs, things will calm down in a few years," Chen Xuebing waved his hand.

"You're not a good person either." Xin Mengzhen walked out of the milk tea bar, her heart not at peace. Looking at Chen Xuebing's relaxed smile, she felt a slight displeasure that she couldn't tell others.

She felt shy when Chen Xuebing held her hand, and his face, now bathed in sunlight, made him feel very safe.

For her, being held hands by a boy is a "major event".

This scoundrel, however, acted as if nothing had happened.

“They all said you fought with them and even used a knife!” Xin Mengzhen became more and more unhappy as she spoke.

Chen Xuebing was speechless: "Nonsense, I never touch a knife. Picking up steel pipes or bricks on the street is a completely different thing from carrying a weapon. My dad is a policeman, don't insult my family's heritage."

"Then... what is this!" Xin Mengzhen was annoyed and ran behind Chen Xuebing, patting his waist.

She also saw the bulge on Chen Xuebing's back when he bent over.

Guangdong is no less peaceful than Chongqing. She has encountered motorcycle gangs and group fights before. They like to carry their weapons on their lower backs like that, and when a fight breaks out, it's a bloody mess.

The thought that Chen Xuebing might be one of them made her nervous.

No, whatever he does.

Chen Xuebing patted his lower back and then laughed.

He lifted his shirt, took out Yang Qingyue's notebook, and waved it in front of Xin Mengzhen.

"Notebook, test paper, isn't it for doing test papers?"

Xin Mengzhen was taken aback.

A blush gradually appeared on her face.

But seeing Chen Xuebing's teasing smile, his dark eyebrows furrowed slightly: "You knew the milk tea bar was such a mess, why didn't you say so earlier? You might as well have gone to school!"

"I haven't been here in a long time either, I forgot. Besides, didn't Yang Qingyue grow up in Chongqing? She should find a quiet place to study. This place even plays music, why would she come here?"

"Huh?" Yang Qingyue asked in surprise, "Then...where are we going?"

"Let's go, I'll take you somewhere else."

(End of this chapter)