What happened that night was merely an interlude for Jiang Wei—not exactly minor, but not enough to disrupt his life. The people around him were as boisterous as ever. Every day at noon, he would play basketball with Ding Banfan and the others, while Tang Zihe would sit steadfastly on the sidelines among a group of Omegas to watch, providing a fresh wave of evidence for the school forum’s ship thread.
However, while his own life had settled into a peaceful rhythm, someone else’s days had become a living hell. His classmates might still show some restraint in front of him, but the moment Gu Renwen stepped into the hallway, he became a pariah, a street rat pointed at and whispered about by everyone he passed.
And that was the light treatment.
After all, being whispered about only affected one's mood. Some people weren't about to let him off that easily.
Ye Feiyang was one of them.
But even a school bully had a brain. He knew that getting into a fight on campus was too easy to get caught; if he ended up with a disciplinary mark before he even finished the job, he’d be a fool.
So, he chose to corner his prey in the small alley next to the school gate.
There was an inconspicuous little alley by the entrance of No. 4 High. Usually, the only people who frequented it were sanitation workers clearing trash. Students wouldn't even spare it a glance as they left school—a narrow, cramped dead end really didn't have much to offer.
It was the perfect spot for violence.
With late autumn approaching, the sun set earlier and earlier. As long as one didn't make too much noise, it was virtually impossible to be noticed. Even if someone did notice, a faint-hearted passerby would probably just assume the place was haunted.
Gu Renwen had become a complete loner at school over the past few days. Previously, when leaving for the weekend, he would have blended into the crowd. Now, anyone who encountered him would instinctively step back, creating a hollow isolation zone around him that made him painfully conspicuous.
But who was there to blame?
He could only blame his own momentary lapse into malice.
Consequently, he had taken to waiting until most of the students had left before slowly making his way out of the school gates. Since no one was coming to pick him up anyway, a few minutes' difference didn't matter to him.
But those few minutes made a world of difference to a school bully who had been scouting the location.
Gu Renwen had barely turned the corner when he felt a hand clamp over his mouth. He was promptly dragged away and thrown onto the ground by his backpack.
"So, you're that little nerd from Class 1?" Ye Feiyang frowned as he looked down at Gu Renwen, who was struggling to crawl back up.
Gu Renwen didn't scream as Ye Feiyang expected. He only let out a cry of pain and blinked rapidly, trying to grope around to stand.
His glasses had been knocked off.
"I'm talking to you. Is your name Gu Renwen?" Ye Feiyang’s patience varied from person to person, and for the boy in front of him, he clearly had none left. He crouched down and grabbed the other's collar. "Are you deaf?"
Even if Gu Renwen couldn't see clearly and didn't have much of a social circle, he knew exactly who he was facing.
He shrank his neck back into the darkness, his voice trembling. "Yes."
He had heard this school bully was fierce. Looking at him now, it was true.
He had heard this school bully hit hard. Judging by that fall just now, it was true.
He had also heard that this school bully had once broken someone's bones in a fight, leaving them hospitalized for days... that was probably true, too.
It seemed his fate tonight would be grim.
Ye Feiyang clearly despised Gu Renwen’s cowardice. "So you're not deaf after all."
He kicked the seated Gu Renwen over again.
"You know, the kind of person I look down on most is someone like you," Ye Feiyang said, pulling out a cigarette from somewhere and lighting it. The spark became a flickering light source in the dark, illuminating Gu Renwen’s terror. "Acting like a good little student in front of the teachers all day, while stabbing your own classmate in the back with such a dirty move."
"Is that something a human being does?"
Ye Feiyang spoke to himself, his anger rising again. He knew Jiang Wei’s personality; the guy was always smiling and seemed friendly to everyone. If anyone ran into trouble, Jiang Wei would always lend a hand if he could. His popularity in their grade was beyond reproach. To have a friend like that bullied by someone like this—Ye Feiyang couldn't swallow that resentment.
Thinking this, he raised his fist toward Gu Renwen again.
"Haven't seen you in a while, and here's our school bully returning to his old trade?"
The sound of dry leaves being crushed echoed from the entrance of the alley. Jiang Wei walked in unhurriedly, silhouetted against the glow of the streetlights.
"Jiang Wei?" Ye Feiyang was clearly surprised to see him there.
"I was just waiting for Tang Zihe at the gate. He got pulled away by a teacher. I heard something going on in here, so I came to check it out," Jiang Wei explained simply. He looked further in and saw Gu Renwen slumped on the ground, shivering.
"It's inconvenient to move on campus, so you're out here bullying our class's little academic star," Jiang Wei let out a huff of a laugh, his tone unreadable. "Very clever."
Seeing him approach, Ye Feiyang instinctively moved to block him. "This guy bullied you so badly, and you're not getting revenge yourself? Well, don't stop me from serving some justice."
Jiang Wei clicked his tongue, clearly dissatisfied with Ye Feiyang’s words. "What is wrong with all of you lately? Do I really look like some fragile, helpless flower?"
The idea of a boy nearly 1.8 meters tall being a "delicate flower" in the eyes of others was truly a ridiculous notion.
"Got a spare cigarette? Borrow one," Jiang Wei patted Ye Feiyang on the shoulder. Surprisingly, the other boy actually handed him one, though he didn't pull out a lighter, clearly not intending to light it for him. "Don't worry. Do I look like the type to swallow my pride and not pay someone back after being bullied?"
Ye Feiyang thought about it and decided it was best not to answer that.
"Those who bully me naturally have to be bullied back by my own hands."
As Jiang Wei spoke, he used his strength to slowly haul Gu Renwen up. The boy was lighter than he expected, and since he was nowhere near 1.8 meters tall, he looked like a malnourished, pitiful kid being harassed by a thug.
Jiang Wei slammed the boy against the wall and then propped a foot up on the wall beside the boy's waist. With the borrowed cigarette dangling from his lips, he looked about seventy to eighty percent like the hoodlums one might occasionally see on a street corner.
Then, the "thug" reached out a hand and said, "Hand over all the money you have on you right now."
Gu Renwen, who had expected another beating, froze.
Ye Feiyang, standing three meters away smoking quietly, also froze.
"Was I not clear?" Jiang Wei said roughly, tapping the backpack in front of Gu Renwen. "This is a robbery. Hand over the money."
Though Gu Renwen’s hands were shaking as he unzipped his bag, he moved quickly, fishing out his wallet and placing it in Jiang Wei’s hand.
"Phone."
Seeing Gu Renwen hesitate, Jiang Wei urged him, "What? Electronic devices don't count as money?"
They did.
If the robber said they did, they did.
And so, under Ye Feiyang’s dumbfounded and slightly amused gaze, Gu Renwen reluctantly handed over his phone.
"Unlock it." Jiang Wei pressed Gu Renwen’s thumb onto the sensor. "Did you delete the stuff?"
What stuff?
Gu Renwen was stunned for a moment, then his face turned deathly pale.
Receiving no answer, Jiang Wei frowned impatiently. "Don't play dumb with me. Did you delete the video?!"
"I—I deleted it! I really did!" Gu Renwen was startled by Jiang Wei’s sudden increase in volume. He tried to shrink even further into the wall, as if trying to merge with the bricks. "Shen Yannan came to find me before. He watched me delete every last bit of the video. It’s definitely gone, you can't get it back..."
Shen Yannan wasn't exactly a patient person. "Coming to find him" likely meant Gu Renwen had suffered a bit.
Jiang Wei hadn't expected Shen Yannan to go that far for him.
He shoved the phone back into Gu Renwen’s arms, then opened the wallet. He glanced inside, swept out all the cash, and stuffed it into his own pocket. "This is for my hospital bills and mental distress compensation. Any objections?"
"No, none at all." Gu Renwen shook his head like a rattle. Was he kidding? In this situation, having an objection would be a death wish.
"Good. Now, give me an apology, and I'll let you go." Jiang Wei nodded, staring into Gu Renwen’s eyes.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Gu Renwen hurriedly bowed in apology.
The moment he bowed, Jiang Wei shifted a small step to the side. Once the apology was finished, he gave the boy a shove toward the alley exit.
Gu Renwen kept his head down and limped toward the exit, but because he was looking at the ground, he walked straight into someone’s shoulder.
The moment Tang Zihe saw Gu Renwen, his brow furrowed.
Gu Renwen was inwardly lamenting his luck. How could he run into three harbingers of doom in a single night!
Fortunately, Tang Zihe didn't do anything; he walked straight toward Jiang Wei.
He reached out and snatched the unlit cigarette from Jiang Wei’s mouth. "You've got quite the nerve, haven't you? Think you're a big shot now?"
Ye Feiyang was waiting for Jiang Wei to snap back—after the last few minutes, his perception of Jiang Wei had been completely overhauled. This guy wasn't a delicate flower; he was a Venus flytrap!
Instead, Jiang Wei’s imposing aura vanished instantly. He lowered his head with an excellent attitude of admitting his wrongs. "I didn't smoke it, really. I was just holding it to scare him."
Ye Feiyang: ...?
*Excuse me, are you a top graduate from the No. 4 High School of Dramatic Arts?*
"Have you been waiting outside for a long time?" Jiang Wei transformed into a large, tail-wagging dog, grabbing Tang Zihe’s arm. "I was wrong. I won't leave school early next time. I'll definitely wait to pack up and leave the dorm with you."
Ye Feiyang: ...???
*Wait a second, that's a lot of information to process.*
Tang Zihe scanned Jiang Wei from head to toe. Seeing that he didn't have so much as a scratch on him, his expression softened. He patted Jiang Wei’s head. "Let's go. My mom is waiting for us in the car."
"Okay."
The cigarette in Ye Feiyang’s mouth had long since burned out, but he had forgotten to take it out. It wasn't until it nearly burned his lips that he snapped back to reality. "Wait a minute. You two are... going home together?"
Tang Zihe finally seemed to notice his presence. He raised an eyebrow as if to say, *“You have a problem with that?”*
No problem. He didn't dare have a problem.
Jiang Wei, on the other hand, waved at him. "Bye-bye."
Just as his hand dropped, Tang Zihe caught it in his own, and together they walked out of the alley.
***
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
--- | --- | ---
打劫 | A Little Extortion | The chapter title; refers to Jiang Wei's "robbery" of Gu Renwen.
过街老鼠 | Street rat | A Chinese idiom for someone who is hated by everyone.
叶飞阳 | Ye Feiyang | A character, the "school bully" who is actually friends with Jiang Wei.
谷仁文 | Gu Renwen | The antagonist who outed Jiang Wei's gender.
四中 | No. 4 High | Short for the Fourth High School.
一班 | Class 1 | The class the characters belong to.
娇花 | Delicate flower | Used sarcastically to describe someone fragile.
大型犬 | Large dog | Often used in BL to describe a character with "Golden Retriever energy"—loyal and affectionate.
戏剧学院 | Dramatic Arts Academy | Used by Ye Feiyang to mock Jiang Wei's acting skills.
Enjoying the story? Rate this novel:
Take a Whiff: The Alpha's Hidden Scent | Chapter 68 | A Little Extortion | Novela.app | Novela.app
