November 2, 2025 — 12:23 pm

Chapter 6

Wen Lan snapped back to reality and said to Lin Ting, “You can shut up now. If you’re bored, go home and wash your mom’s feet.”

“Hey, let the young man finish speaking. By the way, I still haven’t asked your name,” Boss Ye chimed in.

“Lin Ting, the one with the fire radical, like in ‘alkane’,” he continued. “You guys are asking who I’ll be a subordinate to if I win, but you should at least ask my opinion.”

Wen Lan remained silent. Boss Ye leaned forward in the darkness, signaling a subordinate to light his cigarette. He waited quietly for Lin Ting to continue.

“I just arrived at this school, and this person has been picking fights with me. He even gathered a bunch of people to ambush me. I’ve disliked this guy for a long time,” Lin Ting said with obvious disgust. He took a few steps towards Wen Lan and faced him directly. “Back at my old school, I was someone people didn’t dare to mess with. Tell me, how can I swallow this insult?”

“What do you want to do?” Wen Lan stared at him, their distance no more than 20 centimeters.

“I’ve wanted to beat you up for a long time,” Lin Ting said. Without giving either of them time to react, he threw a punch directly at Wen Lan’s stomach.

The punch was thrown with full force. They were so close, and Wen Lan had absolutely not anticipated such a move. He took the full impact, staggering back several steps. Fortunately, his physical conditioning saved him from falling.

“Holy shit, you bastard! Are you fucking crazy?” Wen Lan flicked away his knuckle dusters and then, with a clean, sharp punch, sent a fist whistling through the air, smashing into Lin Ting’s left cheek.

Lin Ting was prepared. He blocked the punch with his left arm, absorbing the impact. Simultaneously, he bent down with the momentum, and as Wen Lan lunged forward, Lin Ting used that force to sweep kick Wen Lan’s left knee.

“You’re the one who’s crazy! Everyone here is fucked up in the head. Especially you, Wen Lan!”

Wen Lan’s left knee buckled, but he immediately flipped up and lunged forward at Lin Ting. Lin Ting was instantly pinned by Wen Lan’s more than 100 kilograms of weight, struggling to get up.

Wen Lan pinned Lin Ting’s neck with one hand and wrestled with Lin Ting’s fists. “I’m not done with you! Believe it or not, I’ll hunt you down wherever you go. If you have the guts, just never let me see you again, you mad dog!”

Lin Ting laughed. The next second, he opened his mouth, tilted his head slightly, and bit down hard on Wen Lan’s arm.

Lin Ting had strong teeth and very sharp canines. The bite made Wen Lan lose all his strength, and he was thrown several meters away by Lin Ting.

Lin Ting staggered to his feet, leaning against the wall, and smiled in the moonlight.

The next moment, Lin Ting suddenly jumped onto a long-rusted machine tool and used the height advantage to pounce on Wen Lan. The two immediately wrestled again, fists landing on faces, arms, and stomachs. Just as Wen Lan had used his stamina to gain the upper hand, Lin Ting’s good teeth gave him the advantage again.

They continued until both were exhausted. Boss Ye’s group watched the spectacle, while Wen Lan’s subordinates were anxious but afraid to intervene.

Lin Ting sat on the ground, his back against the wall, spitting out a mouthful of bloody saliva – it was unclear if it was from Wen Lan’s beating or from his bite.

Wen Lan wasn’t in much better shape either, but he shakily stood up, his arms and shoulders covered in bloody marks. “Lin Ting, are you a fucking mad dog? If you’ve taken the wrong medicine, get lost. Don’t embarrass yourself here. I’ll beat you every time I see you from now on.”

“The same goes for you! I’ll come up and bite you every time I see you!” Lin Ting retorted, unyielding.

“Are you two done?” Boss Ye, who had been watching the prolonged farce, looked extremely displeased.

“In any case, I’m not going to be his subordinate,” Lin Ting said to Boss Ye.

“Do you think I want you?” Wen Lan, supported by Mazzi, lay back on the worn-out sofa.

“Boss Ye, I’ve been thinking a lot lately. Why don’t you take me as your subordinate? I’m alone with no one to rely on. If I want to cause trouble for Wen Lan, I have to consider if he’ll bring a group of people to stuff me in a sack and beat me in some warehouse. If you take me in, I’ll have a backer. Then, every time I see him, I’ll beat him; every time I see him, I’ll bite him until he rolls on the ground.” Lin Ting smiled at Boss Ye.

Wen Lan gave Lin Ting a deep look, then turned to Boss Ye. “This guy is a mad dog, difficult to control. Brother Ye, if you like excitement, take him.”

Boss Ye chuckled. “You really can’t judge a book by its cover. I saw this young man looking quite gentle last time.”

Lin Ting remained seated on the ground, leaning against the wall. He felt that gaze scrutinizing him. After a long wait, the gaze finally turned into words: “Forget it. Wild dogs are hard to train. It would only cause unnecessary friction between us and affect our relationship.”

Wen Lan smiled. “That’s right, Brother Ye is a smart person.”

“Let’s have dinner together next time, just the two of us to catch up,” Boss Ye said before leaving with his group.

Suddenly, only Wen Lan’s group and Lin Ting remained in the factory.

Lin Ting squinted his eyes – he was truly exhausted. He felt Wen Lan’s group closing in on him.

Big Ears spoke first. “Brother Wen, what should we do with this kid?”

“Leave him alone. Just pretend today never happened. Stay away from this mad dog in the future.”

“Who the hell is a mad dog? You brought a bunch of people who can’t fight to go head-to-head with these guys. Do you really think your brain is filled with imported nuclear waste?”

Wen Lan was silent for a moment, then gave a signal. Mazzi and Big Ears, holding milk tea and chips, went to help him up.

Wen Lan, seeing their clumsy movements, was both angry and amused. “Can you two get rid of this stuff? Are we on a picnic?”

“It’s okay, give it to me!” Lin Ting smiled.

Mazzi’s gaze swept over the group. Holding a cup of milk tea in one hand and taking the chips from Big Ears with the other, he stuffed them into Lin Ting’s arms before returning to help Wen Lan.

The group walked towards the door.

“Thanks, mad dog.” As he neared the door, Wen Lan suddenly stopped, turned back, and smiled. The moonlight happened to fall on his hair, which dangled near his nose. His profile was outlined with dark blue, three-dimensional contours. His features were cold and sharp, yet the soft moonlight seemed to melt a hint of tenderness into them.

“…Get lost!” Lin Ting said, then curved one side of his lips into a smile.

He hadn’t fought in a long time. After the fight, though Lin Ting was in pain, the numb, floating sensation was gone. His feet finally felt like they were firmly planted on the ground.

Lin Ting chugged down the milk tea in a flash and didn’t forget to use the chip bucket to buy a bottle of iodine from the pharmacy.

When he returned home, the first person he saw standing in the courtyard was Gu Yi.

“You’re… do you need to go to the hospital?” Gu Yi, wearing a polo shirt, was placing a large bag, over a meter tall, in the corner. He looked like he had just finished some high-class leisure activity and then had a meal before coming home – Lin Ting vaguely smelled seafood on him.

“It’s nothing,” Lin Ting said, shaking the plastic bag containing iodine and chips. “Just some scrapes, I can handle it.” Without waiting for Gu Yi’s stunned expression in the courtyard, he went straight back to his room.

He closed the door and collapsed onto the bed. The entire world felt quiet, as if only he existed.

Before he could decide whether to go downstairs and ask Auntie Fang to heat up some food or just sleep and eat tomorrow morning – he really didn’t want Su Li and Gu Jiang to see him like this, but Gu Yi’s chances of not telling them were about zero.

As he hesitated, his phone in his pocket buzzed.

Who would be calling him at this hour?

Lin Ting figured it was probably an advertisement. He casually unlocked his phone, and the large characters “Wen Lan” on the screen made him jump out of bed.

— “Have you eaten? Want to grab something? Whatever you want, I’ll treat.”

Lin Ting hesitated for a moment before replying: “Okay, treat me to seafood.”

When Wen Lan appeared at Lin Ting’s doorstep on his electric scooter, his mood was quite complex.

“Buddy, aren’t you a rich second generation?”

Wen Lan raised an eyebrow. “What? Rich second generations can’t ride electric scooters?” He then handed Lin Ting another helmet hanging from the handlebars.

Lin Ting took the helmet and put it on. It fit perfectly. “I thought rich second generations were all chauffeured around, playing golf and eating Japanese food.”

Wen Lan laughed. “I’m just worried about the nuclear wastewater affecting your precious brain. Before the current shifts, let’s go eat Chinese seafood.”

The electric scooter had almost no suspension. Wen Lan rode it like everyone else, whether there were speed bumps or potholes, he just charged ahead with his eyes closed, oscillating between morality and traffic laws. Lin Ting’s tailbone felt like it was about to break from the jolting.

“Wen Lan, did you forget about the two injured people on the bike?”

“Weren’t you quite cocky at the Cotton Mill earlier? Scared now?” Wen Lan said with a wicked grin as they waited for the light to change. “You hit me first, so this is just reasonable retaliation.”

“Alright, you just wait. I’ll deal with you after I finish this meal,” Lin Ting said, nodding at him. “The light’s green, let’s go.”

The electric scooter weaved and bumped through traffic, finally stopping in front of a seafood barbecue restaurant. The owner seemed to know Wen Lan, as he started greeting them from afar upon seeing the scooter.

The owner appeared to be from the north, with a strong accent, and was very enthusiastic. “Your usual private room.”

“Do you come here often?” Lin Ting asked.

Wen Lan led the way towards the back. The restaurant was actually much larger than it appeared, with a messy and chaotic layout like a maze. Lin Ting suspected he wouldn’t be able to find his way back to the toilet.

“Yeah, I bring Song Mi and the others here once or twice a month.” Wen Lan entered a private room, moved a chair, and sat down to look at the menu.

“Song Mi?” Lin Ting pondered for a long time but couldn’t recall who that was.

Wen Lan tossed him the menu. “They just gave you milk tea and chips, and you’ve forgotten them? How heartless.”

“You mean Mazzi.” Lin Ting flipped through the menu. A waiter arrived. “Sea urchin, salt and pepper mantis shrimp, and a sea cucumber and rice dish. Garlic lobster, and ten steamed oysters. Let me see…”

“Add a braised abalone. That’s enough for now,” Wen Lan said, waving to the waiter. He then turned to Lin Ting. “If you can’t finish it, pack it all up. I’m too lazy to carry it.”

Lin Ting found this person rather interesting. “Are you a specialty student?”