CHAPTER 27: CHAPTER 27 FIGHTING (2)

The large porcelain bowl was filled with cold noodles, topped with cucumber shreds, cilantro, a small pinch of beef shreds, and half a hard-boiled egg.

Zhao Meimei leaned over the bowl, took a sip of the soup; it was icy cold and sweet and sour, seemed to have a hint of orange or apple flavor.

Shi Yang handed the broken chopsticks to Zhao Meimei, "Eat up."

Zhao Meimei was eating cold noodles for the first time; at home, she always ate the noodles her mom made. Cold noodles had more texture, and they looked fun, plus they tasted good.

Zhao Meimei slurped down a few bites, and when she bit into a slice of cucumber, she frowned and pulled it from her mouth, placing it on the table.

Shi Yang glanced over, "Why aren’t you eating the cucumber?"

Zhao Meimei swept her thin eyelids and pouted, showing a disgusted expression, "Cucumbers are not tasty."

Shi Yang noticed the layer of cucumber shreds floating in her bowl and instinctively picked them all into his own bowl, saying while he did, "You’re at the age where you need to grow, being picky isn’t good."

Zhao Meimei stuck out her tongue, "Does cucumber even have any nutrition? It’s all water."

Zhao Meimei hated cucumbers the most; during the hottest days of summer, her kindergarten teacher would give them cucumbers and tomatoes chilled with cold water to cool them down.

As summer progressed, they ate cucumbers and tomatoes until the season ended; at first, Zhao Meimei thought they were delicious, but after eating too much, she grew sick of them and didn’t want any upon seeing cucumbers and tomatoes.

After the meal, Shi Yang asked Zhao Meimei, "Are you full?"

Zhao Meimei had eaten half a bowl of cold noodles, drank a belly full of soup, burped contentedly, and nodded, "I’m full."

Shi Yang went to pay the bill and took Zhao Meimei along with Qu Chaozong out of the restaurant.

Qu Chaozong rubbed his belly, "Got nothing to do this afternoon, come to my place to play games?"

Qu Chaozong meant the arcade near his house. Shi Yang glanced at Zhao Meimei, hesitating.

Zhao Meimei heard about going out to play, and quickly tugged Shi Yang, "I want to go too, take me with you."

Qu Chaozong pleaded on her behalf, "Isn’t there a fruit machine? Let Meimei play that."

Before school started, Shi Yang was busy cramming homework; his hands were itching to play. He turned to Zhao Meimei, "You really want to go?"

Zhao Meimei nodded excitedly, "I want to go!"

"Alright then! But you gotta keep this a secret from your parents when you get home," Shi Yang reminded.

Zhao Meimei nodded repeatedly, feeling a smug sense of having a little secret inside.

Zhao Meimei had never been to an arcade before; it was a small iron shed with a few machines piled inside. People sat in front of the machines, holding joysticks in their hands, yelling incoherently.

Zhao Meimei thought it was quite interesting.

Qu Chaozong wiped sweat from his face, "It’s hot as hell here, there’s not even a fan. I’ll go buy two bottles of iced water, what do you want to drink?"

Shi Yang: "Anything, get Meimei a bottle of soda."

Shi Yang took out money and exchanged it for some tokens, giving Zhao Meimei a handful, waiting for the person playing in front of the fruit machine to leave, then led her to the side of the machine, teaching her how to choose fruits, how to press start, telling her if she guessed right she would get tokens, if wrong she should play again.

Zhao Meimei was smart, and learned quickly. She put the tokens in her pocket, throwing them, and choosing fruits herself.

The fruit machine was essentially all about luck; the machine’s factory settings had already determined how many rounds would go before a big prize appeared, all based on whether the player hit the right moment.

Zhao Meimei chose large watermelon, orange, and apple. Shi Yang had thrown two tokens when teaching her, generating some points. Zhao Meimei, playing for the first time, threw in two more, watched the points rise rapidly, found it interesting, and threw a few more in.

Zhao Meimei reached to press start, when suddenly someone spoke, "Hey! Kid! I’m still playing this machine! Get up!"

Zhao Meimei turned her head and saw a boy wearing the Seventh Middle School uniform, glaring at her impatiently.

The boy saw Zhao Meimei didn’t move, got annoyed, "I told you to get up, didn’t you hear me?"

Zhao Meimei had never feared anyone in her life, she was fierce, squinted her eyes and glared at him, "Who are you?"

The boy reached out, pressing down on the back of Zhao Meimei’s chair, "Didn’t you hear what I said? I’m playing this machine!"

Zhao Meimei mimicked her Brother Yangyang, flipped her eyelids coolly, "There wasn’t anyone here when I sat down. You say you’re playing, who can prove it?"

The boy grabbed Zhao Meimei, "Get lost! Prove my ass!"

Zhao Meimei didn’t cry though being shoved, stubbornly retorted, "If you can’t prove it, how can you kick me out?"

The boy tried to drag Zhao Meimei off; his arm was tightly gripped by a strong hand, "What are you doing!"

Shi Yang’s face was composed, glaring fiercely, dark eyebrows knitted into a knot, "You want to talk, then talk. Why are you dragging my sister?"

The boy turned around, saw the age matched, raised a brow, "I’m telling her to get up!"

Shi Yang kept a cold face, "Why should she get up? She’s playing. If you want to play, wait in line!"

The boy glared, "Why should I wait in line? I’ve been playing this machine all along!"

Shi Yang: "When I brought my sister here, no one was in front of this machine."

Boy: "Because I just went out to order food!"

Shi Yang: "Once you leave the spot, anyone else can play. You want to play? Wait until my sister finishes, then you can have the spot."

"Damn! You’re pretending!" The boy cursed.

"Get lost!" Shi Yang was done wasting words, reached out, pried open the boy’s hand from Zhao Meimei’s chair back.

"Damn you!" The boy charged forward, kicking at Shi Yang.

The redness in Shi Yang’s eyes showed no emotion, he cursed back, "Damn you!" grabbed a chair beside the machine, and swung it at the boy...

With one chair swing, he knocked the boy down. Shi Yang tossed the chair aside, stormed over, throwing punches and kicks, really hitting hard.

Shi Yang grew up with his mom living alone outside, bullied quite often as a child. Fighting was something he learned instinctively.

He looked gentle and obedient on the surface, but deep down carried a natural intensity; he never hesitated to fight, truly daring to strike.

Qu Chaozong joked that day to Zhao Meimei, revealing Shi Yang’s past. In fact, everything he said was true; Shi Yang was quite famous at Sixth Middle School, known among the teachers for his good grades, handsome looks, and well-off family; in the eyes of the students, he was a school bully, feared by none.

Shi Yang was not only handsome but could fight; in the eyes of teens just entering puberty, he was simply walking hormones, cool to the bone, making people infatuated.

The arcade owner quickly came out to intervene, understood the situation, didn’t say who was right or wrong, just grabbed a handful of tokens from the counter for the beaten boy, offering him a way out, "Enough, come back and play next time. Your ordered food should be ready by now, right?"

The boy looked at Shi Yang with hatred, memorized his face, didn’t take the tokens offered by the owner, and turned away.