Chapter 158 (1): Small D

Chapter 158 Part 1: Small D 

Hangzhou Railway Station. Chen Xiaolian walked out of the railway station and stood outside. The weather was not looking good and a light drizzle was falling down amid the gloomy atmosphere.

Chen Xiaolian knew that Han Bi went to a middle school within Hangzhou City and his address was located at the West Lake area.

The school was not that hard to find. He simply stopped a cab and got it to bring him over to the school. After arriving, he saw that the gate of the school was closed. Chen Xiaolian frowned.

There were still a few more days before school reopens. Thus, the number of students within the school was scarce.

Chen Xiaolian’s age allowed him to walk into the school undeterred. The guard at the gate simply assumed him to be a student of the school.

He walked around the sports field for a while and watched a group of boys playing football despite the rain. One after another, they sloshed onto the ground, their bodies resembling mudskippers. Yet, none of them became tired.

Without holding onto an umbrella, Chen Xiaoian stood at the sports field for a moment to watch them.

Canopies were constructed above the field stands where some students were watching the game. Some pleasant looking girls were standing on the stands and cheering them onward. The cheering action from those girls prompted the boys in the field to play harder.

Chen Xiaolian walked until he reached the shelter provided by the canopy and he continued to observe the football game for a little longer – the game between these high school students contained no technical contents and were more of a competition between their physical prowess. They were simply slamming into each other within the muddy sports field, turning the game of football into rugby.

The referee was clearly ignoring the situation despite the overt actions shown by both sides.

As for the girls under the canopy, they were clearly from this school. From their shouts of cheerleading, Chen Xiaolian was soon able to determine which team was the home team.

After a moment, he sat down beside a polite looking female student with chubby cheeks.

When the game began to slow down, Chen Xiaolian pretended to move closer and exchanged a few words with the girl with chubby cheeks. It was simply some words regarding his view toward the game. His criticism toward the foul actions by the visiting team soon aroused the girl’s feeling of hate against a common enemy.

As their conversation was proceeding smoothly, perhaps due to Chen Xiaolian having fairly good looks, the chubby faced girl glanced at him and asked. “You are not from our school, are you?”

“En, I am here to find a friend,” Chen Xiaolian inserted his hands into his pockets. “Do you know Han Bi?”

“Han Bi? The fellow who plays with aircraft models?”

Chen Xiaolian smiled. It appeared that Han Bi was quite a famous person within his school – as expected of one who could be selected to participate in an international competition for aircraft models; he was clearly someone of repute within the school.

The chubby cheeked girl glanced at Chen Xiaolian and replied. “You came here for Han Bi? I thought you came here to look for Yu Jiajia.”

“Who?”

“Yu Jiajia,” The chubby cheeked girl gestured toward a group of students at the bottom left side of the stands. There were roughly seven or eight girls there. Amid those girls was a girl wearing a white coloured wool sweater, sporting a ponytail. From a distance away, she exuded a look of purity. The other students sat around her like stars gathering around the moon. As for her, she simply sat there in the middle, like a small white flower.

“Our school beauty,” The girl with chubby cheeks curled the corners of her lips. “She filmed two advertisements before and likes football. Every time our school team participates in a competition, she would surely arrive. A lot of boys from the other schools will take this opportunity to secretly catch a glimpse of her. There are also many who pretend to like football in order to get close to her. I thought you are one of her fans.”

Chen Xiaolian smiled and looked at the girl known as Yu Jiajia again. She possessed quite the good looks, especially her eyes. Her eyes were captivating and clear. However, due to the distance between them, Chen Xiaolian was unable to see much more of her.

“I am here to find Han Bi. Do you know where I can find him?”

“The school has yet to open. So, he is probably not at school,” The girl with chubby cheeks pondered and replied. “Aren’t you his friend? Why did you run over to his school to find him? Do you not have his phone number?”

“Err, I am his friend from junior high school,” Chen Xiaolian quickly made up a story. “I am from another district. Now that I am here in Hangzhou, I thought about meeting up with him. However, I do not have his number…”

The girl with chubby cheeks was enthusiastic and she smiled. “That is easy. Wait for a bit. I will help you find out about it. There seems to be some fellows from Han Bi’s class here.”

The girl with chubby cheeks had Chen Xiaolian wait right there as she went over to the group of students congregating at the bottom side of the stand.

Coincidentally, the game entered an intermission and the competition was paused. Players from both sides left the field. The emotions of those involved in the game were running high and everyone was in a bad mood. The players did not even shake hands with one another. Some were even cursing out expletives. If not for the existence of referee and coaches, a brawl would likely have broken out.

Chen Xiaolian watched from far away, as the girl with chubby cheeks approached the group of students within the stand.

The girl known as Yu Jiajia was indeed a famous figure here. Members of the home team could be seen running over to start a conversation with her.

The girl appeared reserved. However, her attitude was somewhat haughty. Even so, her behaviour only served to stoke the fires of enthusiasm within those boys covered in mud.

During the intermission, a group of substitute players went onto the field to warm up.

Then, something happened.

As some of the boys were warming up in the sports field, they deliberately talked loudly. It appeared that they were attempting to get the attention of Yu Jiajia. After gesturing about for a while, they placed some footballs on the ground and pointed at a spot on the stand. They laughed loudly and shouted a few words.

The spot they were indicating was the side corner of the stand. There were several patio umbrellas set up there and a very thin figure in grey coloured clothes was slowly closing up the patio umbrellas. He was the only one to work on it and his actions were slow, albeit clumsy.

One of the substitute members of the home team shouted out a few words and made some gestures, eliciting the laughter of the others.

Then, they did something.

Those boys rushed forward and kicked the footballs placed on the ground.

Their objective was obvious. It was the distant patio umbrellas.

The thin youngster who was in the middle of working was not aware of all those. As he was diligently trying to keep one of the patio umbrellas, several footballs descended from the skies!

The techniques of those boys were terrible. However, there were several of them. Seven to eight footballs descended upon the youngster, one of them struck a patio umbrella, causing the patio umbrella to tilt, and the gathered rainwater poured down onto the thin youngster’s body. The thin youngster became drenched from head to toe and his entire body became like a soaked chicken.

Several of the boys who kicked the footballs forward laughed out until their bodies were bent from the act. Some of them even let out jeers.

Chen Xiaolian did not say anything.

Likewise, the youngster who was drenched from head to toe did not say anything. He simply turned around to look in their direction for a moment before slowly rolling up the patio umbrella. Then, he quietly left through the edge of the sports field.

The youngster’s timid behaviour appeared to have instigated the violent nature of those boys. Their shouts became louder as a result. One of them tried to show off… back then, the football which struck the patio umbrella was his handiwork. In order to attract the attention of the girls on the stand, the fellow had become carried away.

He placed down another football and sent it flying with a kick. The football flew over toward the thin youngster.

This time, the football did not strike the youngster. Instead, it struck the pool of water beside him. The falling football caused the water from the pool to spray up, and a good portion of it splashed onto the body of the thin youngster.

The thin youngster turned his head around, his expression revealing annoyance. However, he dared not shout back and only muttered a few words.

Chen Xiaolian noticed that the youngster’s appearance was very ordinary. As for his expression… it appeared that he was used to it.

Presently, he appeared very annoyed. However, there was also fear in his expression. He was both thin and short and he dared not provoke those players with stocky bodies. All he did was curse out in a whisper.

It was then that Yu Jiajia who was seated on the stand laughed out. Maybe it was due to this action of hers, at any rate, the football players became riled up.

The fellow who kicked the football suddenly became excited; it was as though he had been injected with chicken blood. [1]

He was showing dissatisfaction toward the muttering of the thin youngster.

“Who are you cursing with your grumbling?!”

The fellow became increasingly arrogant and he ran toward the edge of the sports field. Grabbing the thin youngster, he knocked him over, throwing him down onto a pool of water.

Chen Xiaolian was unable to stand by anymore.

Even if you want to bully others, this was too much!

The thin figure of the youngster got up from the pool of water. This time, it appeared that he was enraged. He shouted out and pounced forward, grabbing onto the waist of the football player. Unfortunately, his strength was insufficient. He was thrown off and fell down the ground.

At present, several other players had run over. They encircled the youngster and shoved him about. Some started punching and kicking him.

Seeing the poor youngster brought down onto the ground again, the students on the stands laughed to the point of bending over. They seemed to be watching the performance of a clown.

Chen Xiaolian’s face turned ugly and he stood up from his seat.

The girl with chubby cheeks walked back and saw the look of indignation on Chen Xiaolian’s face. She saw that Chen Xiaolian was planning to interfere and she quickly held him back. “It would be better for you not to go over. Otherwise, you will get beaten up.”

“Is this the ethics of your school?” Chen Xiaolian sneered.

The girl with chubby cheeks revealed an awkward expression and she said in a low tone of voice. “Those football players are all students who specialize in sports. They usually like to stir up trouble and think of themselves as great heroes. They believe that girls like it when they act that way, a bunch of brain-damaged people. Why bother looking for trouble with them? Not everyone from our school is like that.”

Pausing, the girl with chubby cheeks whispered. “That fellow who is being pushed around is someone who is constantly being bullied. However, no one will help him out.”

“Why?” Chen Xiaolian frowned.

Yu Jiajia, raw: ‘余佳佳’, pinyin: ‘yú jiā jiā’. ‘余’ (yú) means me or extra. ‘佳’ (jiā) means good or auspicious.

1 ‘Injected with chicken blood’ means to become emotional and excited toward something. ↩