09 – Hearsay

Ju De returned home to the Ning family villa and waited for his sister to return from her afterschool meeting with the other student counselor members. As the president of the Kaishi High School, she was naturally the one with the most workload while still maintaining the top ranking at the school.

On her return, she took the time to visit her mother in her room. After chatting about her day, she left the room and noticed Ju De waiting from the hallway.

“Hey sis, do you have a moment?” Ju De asked.

Ning Xuxu wondered why Ju De was acting so formally. Ever since they were little, they had stuck together in order to survive the torture by their father, who drilled into them the importance of being better than everyone else. Ning Xuxu trusted no one in the world other than her brother and mother.

They moved outside to the balcony that overlooked a large plum orchard; it had been a long time since they had a serious conversation.

“I’m going to join the Evils of Kaishi,” Ju De told her.

“So you’re finding another method to embarrass father?” asked Ning Xuxu. “You’re not afraid he will put you into counseling again?”

“Che, he doesn’t care anymore,” said Ju De.

“So why the Evils?” Ning Xuxu had heard her teachers complaining about them, but other than looking rough and being lazy, they hadn't caused many problems within the school.

“They are interesting,” Ju De replied. “Do you know Li Yun?”

Ning Xuxu was aware of his reputation, but they could only be considered acquaintances. Li Yun and his friends were generally placed in the lowest ranking class while she was in the advanced class.

“What did he offer?” asked Ning Xuxu.

“Better fights and more painful outcomes, isn’t that a great deal?”

Ning Xuxu remembered the time when their father used to beat Ju De up for failing his elementary school tests. Ju De missed those days because his father was at least attentive. As their father Ning Long prepared for a higher position above mayorship, he had given up on making his son appear normal and was rarely at home.

“It’s good you found a place for yourself,” Ning Xuxu said with a smile. She knew that Ju De needed attention and a place to belong to.

“He told me you should stop seeing Mr. Jiang,” said Ju De.

Ning Xuxu raised her eyebrow and laughed. “Already siding with an outsider over your family?”

“Sis, you know I will stick by you, but if your affair is made public, everything you have created so far will crumble.” Maybe it was what she had wanted all along, for everything to crumble, but Ju De didn’t want that to happen. “Sis, just a few more years, and you don’t have to be in this house anymore. We can get him back in the future.”

Ning Xuxu snickered, wondering how her little brother could change so quickly. She had heard rumors about the Evils, but maybe it was time to get to know them better.

****

There was no exact origin story of the Evils. A lot of stories were simply hearsay, but there were a few who had experienced it firsthand.

On a quiet evening, three hoodlums stalked what appeared to be two high school students leaving an internet cafe. When the hoodlums approached closer, two of the hoodlums recognized Li Yun and Bufu. They quickly took off running without the two students ever knowing what had happened.

"Hey, why did we have to run away from those punks?" asked a rookie hoodlum while breathing heavily. He had run half a mile into a dark alley after the two other gang members told him to run. "Don't tell me you're afraid of two measly boys."

Dou Yao glared angrily at the rookie with enough malice to frighten the rookie.

"Are you f****** stupid!?" Dou Yao barked as he was ready to kick rookie in the shin. "Out of all the punks to steal from, you want us to steal from the Gong Dayun and Sanmiao Bu?"

"Hey, hey, this kid is new," said the mid-level hoodlum, wedging himself between the two and patting Dou Yao's shoulder to calm him down.

The rookie was still confused. He had relocated from a different city, and had never heard of Gong Dayun and Sanmiao Bu. He simply saw two high schoolers walking out from an internet cafe, one who looked like a delinquent and one who looked like the typical pretty boy. Even if the delinquent could fight, there were three of them against two.

"Xiao Dun, the number one rule in Yide city, do not mess with the Four Evils of Kaishi High," Bing Tou warned. "They are not the typical high school delinquents. Those four not only rule their own school, but the entire region."

Like in the Chinese mythology, there existed four evils that terrorized the world, Gong Dayun, Sanmiao Bu, Taotie Fang, and a mysterious existence they called the Qiongqi.

The rookie had heard of situations where high school bosses were strong enough to rule an entire region, but he didn't think it was possible.

"Let me tell you a story," said Bing Tou. "When our boss Qi Sho initiated a war against Kaishi High's territory, we gathered 32 of our best fighters. At that time, Kaishi High only had 12 members. Every one of us assumed that they were an easy target because of their small number."

"During the battle challenge, we were confident. Boss took the lead and walked up to Hundun Yun to negotiate the territory deal. No one knows what was said, but we could all see fear creeping up on the boss's face."

"Afterward, the boss turned around and told everyone to retreat."

"No way? That was it?" asked the rookie. He suddenly felt disappointed in joining the gang with such a weak boss.

"If you think the boss is weak, think again," said the mid-level hoodlum. "Just ask Dou Yao what happened next."

"I tried to revolt against the boss," said Dou Yao, regretting the whole incident. "I thought I could become the new boss after seeing him retreat. It wasn't difficult to get people on my side. However, the boss and the remaining members beat up everyone who revolted."

Dou Yao knew that their boss Qi Sho had a black belt in karate, but he didn't think Qi Sho with three other of his friends were enough to take on all twelve of them.

That wasn't the end of the story. A month later, Dou Yao recovered and wanted revenge. Knowing that they couldn't target their boss Qi Sho, they sought out Li Yun, the seemingly weaker target whereas Fatty Fang was a known sanda fighter. The result was them all being knocked out.

"No way! How is that even possible?" asked the rookie. This wasn't some sort of television show. "All twelve people against one person?"

The rookie was completely in awe. Dou Yao nodded with memories bringing them chills.

In reality, the event was much more comical than what the rookie had imagined. Li Yun mercilessly kicked the attacker between their legs and slashed their throat with his scroll. These were high school kids, not real gangsters, so they all ran away after feeling a bit of pain.

If Dou Yao could have lied about the event, he would, but Li Yun had followed Dou Yao after elbowing his right eye. Dou Yao ran off and was chased down for several miles while screaming for forgiveness. There were too many people witnessing his embarrassing flight. After the event, Dou Yao forced the other eleven members to exaggerate Li Yun's fighting prowess.

The stories such as that and others had spread throughout the region, and Li Yun became known as the Gong Dayun of Kaishi High. His nickname primarily came from his ability to figure out people's weaknesses and secrets.