"By the way, you must have practiced playing basketball for a long time, Cheng Nuo. Why have I not seen you train before?" Lin Hu asked curiously.
As the saying goes, "no pain, no gain". Lin Hu believed that loads of hard work was necessary to obtain Cheng Nuo's basketball skills.
However, as a frequent visitor to the basketball court, Lin Hu had never seen Cheng Nuo there.
Cheng Nuo forced a smile and answered, "Brother Hu, would you believe me if I told you that I really knew nothing about basketball before I signed up?"
Lin Hu replied to him with an unconvinced stare, as if he was saying "do you think I'm an idiot?" Hence, Cheng Nuo laughed and changed the topic.
"Hahaha, forget it. Let's talk about…"
…
At this moment, a group of people walked into the sidewalk eatery.
"Big Brother Dog, what do you think of eating here?"
"Yeah. Sounds good."
Then the gang sat down in style.
The man in the middle was bald. He had a roaring Tibetan mastiff tattoo on his left shoulder and a fierce-looking… husky on his right.
Anyway, they sent out a vibe that they were not to be trifled with.
The stall owner scuttled towards them, smiling. "What would you like to eat, sirs?"
The bald man with dog tattoos, aka Big Brother Dog, took a cold glance at his seven subordinates, who were crowded against one another around a table for four. Then he waved his hand and said, "Give us some beer!"
"Sure. How many cases?" the stall owner asked smilingly.
Big Brother Dog waved his hand in a manly manner again and said, "Give us… eight bottles first!"
After he had sensed the trace of contempt in the stall owner's eyes, Big Brother Dog cleared his throat awkwardly and explained himself, "We'll ask you for more later. One bottle each is enough for now!"
"Oh and, give us eight mutton sticks to go with the beer."
One minute later, each member of the gang had a bottle of beer and a mutton stick. They looked at one another in awkward silence.
Big Brother Dog laughed loudly and said, "Hahaha, today's dinner is on me. Eat all you can! Suit yourselves!"
The other seven people were speechless.
"Come on. First of all, to Gao, for joining our Husky Gang!"
"To… Gao…"
"As of now, the size of our Husky Gang has officially increased to eight members. We are one step closer to becoming the biggest gang in the country! Now, let's welcome Gao to give us a speech!"
All of them clapped their hands.
The other customers at the eatery all looked at the gang strangely, as if they were a bunch of idiots. In the next second, Gao Yuan stood up reluctantly.
That's right. It was Gao Yuan. He had joined the famous Husky Gang so as to contend with Lin Hu.
Since Lin Hu had connections with gangsters outside the school, Gao Yuan felt compelled to join a gang too.
However…
Judging from the scale of the welcoming ceremony today, it seemed that this Husky Gang was kind of… short on money.
The stereotypical image of a gangster leader had always been someone with a bald head, a gold necklace, some false gold teeth, and a wrench made of jade.
But the one in front of him only had the "bald head" box ticked. He was so far off from all the other standard ideas!
Gao Yuan looked at Big Brother Dog, who was savoring the leftover sauce on the steel stick. He suddenly felt that he might have made the wrong decision.
A few minutes later, Gao Yuan finally ended his impassioned yet boring speech.
"Alright. From now on, you are officially the eighth member of our Husky Gang," the Husky guy, no, Big Brother Dog, said smilingly as he patted on Gao Yuan's shoulder with all sincerity. "Now, as the leader of the gang, I have a task for you."
Gao Yuan was excited. He could feel the surge in his adrenaline level.
"A task? Am I going to threaten people to pay us protection money? Or watch over KTV? Or to fight with my gang comrades? This is my first task! I can't wait!" Gao Yuan thought.
"Pay me 100 Yuan for gang funds. Now! At once! No negotiation!"
"Huh?!" Gao Yuan was stunned.
"The Husky Gang… charges gang funds?" he asked. This was the first time Gao Yuan had heard that gangs had membership fees.
"Why not? Just like class funds, we have gang funds."
"O… Okay," Gao Yuan said as he reluctantly handed over his allowance for the week.
"Forget it. The 100-Yuan contribution is worth it so long as I can join the Husky Gang to contend with Lin Hu!"
Big Brother Dog happily pocketed the money and patted Gao Yuan's shoulder again. "Rest assured, Gao. We'll treat you well if you work hard. After all, we aim to be the best gang in the country!"
"Of course," Gao Yuan replied, his eyes beaming with expectation. He nodded seriously and said, "I will do my best, Big Brother Dog!"
Big Brother Dog slowly put down the stick on the table and asked, "Are you guys done? If yes, we are leaving."
"Bill, please."
Gao Yuan was shocked at the sudden plot twist.
"The total is 40.50 Yuan."
"Okay. Keep the change," said Big Brother Dog. Then he pulled over his jacket and snapped his fingers. "Let's go!" With that, the gang left in style.
The stall owner looked at the two 20 Yuan bills and the 50 cent coin he had just received. "Did he just say 'change?'"
"Big Brother Dog, Big Brother Dog!" Gao Yuan called out to him not long after they had left the eatery.
"Yes?" Big Brother Dog stopped and turned to him.
"Big Brother Dog, I just saw my enemies. Could you help me… teach them a lesson?"
Undoubtedly, he was referring to Cheng Nuo, Lin Hu, and Hao Shuai.
Gao Yuan had just noticed Cheng Nuo, though Cheng Nuo had seen him a long time ago.
"Eh? Isn't that Gao Yuan? Why is he here too?" Hao Shuai asked.
"Don't mind him. Gao Yuan? Hmph. He's not worth my attention," Lin Hu said.
"Haha." Cheng Nuo laughed.
Big Brother Dog and his subordinates discussed their plan quietly.
Then a skinny guy pulled up his collar and walked towards Cheng Nuo's table in a frivolous manner. He took the last chair and sat down, uninvited.
The guy snatched away the bottle of beer from Lin Hu's hand and finished it in one gulp.
"I guess you don't mind me joining you, do you, brothers?" the skinny guy asked with a grin.
After that, he reached for another bottle.
Pang—!
Without any warning, the skinny guy was thrown backwards in his chair by Lin Hu's kick.
That created a commotion in the eatery.
The instigator was on the floor, confused. Things weren't going according to his plan! Usually, the two parties would have flamed each other first before they rolled up their sleeves, looking ready for a fight. Afterwards, the skinny guy would smash the bottle on the floor to signal his comrades to surround their rivals.
At least that was what should have happened!
The skinny guy struggled to stand up. He was still feeling light-headed from the fall.
Rustle—
The other members of the Husky Gang immediately came forward and surrounded Cheng Nuo and his friends.
Cheng Nuo and Lin Hu looked at each other. It was what they had expected.
When Cheng Nuo saw Gao Yuan talking to the gang behind their backs, he knew that they wanted to cause them trouble.
That had been proven right!
"Boy, what are you up to? How dare you kick my brother," Big Brother Dog shouted at Lin Hu with a menacing look on his face.
Cheng Nuo looked as if he was composed, showing no signs of fear. Actually, he was very worried deep down.
Although Lin Hu had asked his gang for help, they might get beaten up before Lin Hu's gang could arrive. They were clearly outnumbered.
Meanwhile, Hao Shuai was even better.
His whole body was shivering with fright, which made Cheng Nuo even more nervous.