"Oh, Zhang Lei, by the way, didn't I borrow thirty yuan from you last time?" San Leizi said, taking out the money as he spoke.
"Oh, yes, you have money now?" Zhang Lei didn't stand on ceremony; thirty yuan was no small sum, and Zhang Lei couldn't be too generous.
"Here you go, we're even now!" San Leizi waved and walked towards the station.
Zhang Lei stuffed the money into his pocket and continued playing with his friends. There were no counterfeit bills around at that time, so there was no need to worry about that.
Since practicing that qigong, Zhang Lei's physical fitness has been getting worse and worse. Although he has found a way to make up for it, at present it can only slow down the rate of decline. Zhang Lei's physique is still not as good as that of his peers, not to mention that these are his classmates who are older than him.
Feeling his physical strength waning, Zhang Lei didn't push himself. He knew his own condition and there was no point in pretending. Pretending to be strong for a day or two was fine, but if he wanted to keep showing off in front of his classmates, he would only be asking for trouble. Zhang Lei understood this a long time ago, or rather, he had learned to be realistic.
Zhang Lei walked alone to a bench by the playground and sat down. Slightly out of breath, he looked at the children still active in the field with a bit of envy. But thankfully, his condition was improving and he would recover eventually. Moreover, Zhang Lei had some expectations for the future. Wasn't there a saying that great responsibilities would be entrusted to those who were destined for them?
At this moment, San Leizi walked over and said, "Hey, Zhang Lei, um, I'm a little embarrassed, could you lend me some more money?"
When Zhang Lei heard someone speak, he turned around and saw that San Leizi had already sat down next to him, with one arm casually resting on the back of his chair. "Huh? What's wrong? Didn't you just pay me back?"
"Hehe, no, that guy was just unlucky and lost. He couldn't beat me anyway. Lend me some, and I'll pay you back tomorrow!" San Leizi had a sly smile on his face. Zhang Lei didn't notice because the kid had a pointed face and naturally smiled like that. When he was scolded by the teacher and looked miserable, others thought he was smiling.
"Oh!" Zhang Lei took out the thirty yuan he had just returned and hadn't even had a chance to warm it yet. It's easy to borrow and repay, and it's not hard to borrow again. San Leizi had just proven his credibility.
"That game with him costs at least fifty yuan. Could you lend me a little more? I'll pay you back tomorrow no matter if I win or lose. I can't go home right now, but my family has money when I get home!" San Leizi said hurriedly as he took the thirty yuan from Zhang Lei's hand.
"I still have some, but you must pay me back tomorrow. I need to give this money to the teacher to buy sportswear tomorrow!" Zhang Lei patted Susu and took out another fifty yuan from the inner pocket of his pocket.
Episode 1: Internal Skills Like Drugs, Chapter 7: The Unexpected Turn of Events
Lei Xiaofeng took the fifty yuan in the end, without saying he would give Zhang Lei thirty yuan in change. He said he would return it to him tomorrow anyway, so there was nothing to worry about.
When Zhang Lei asked him for the money the next day, Lei Xiaofeng naturally denied it, saying, "I've already paid you back the money I owed you. Tian Zhiguo and Wang Wenren were still there when I paid you back, aren't they?"
Lei Xiaofeng glared fiercely at the people he mentioned. Only then did Zhang Lei realize the imposing presence of the seemingly gentle San Leizi. Zhang Lei's friends immediately became subservient after being glanced at by him. Moreover, what he said was true; he had returned the money to Zhang Lei in front of these people. As for when he borrowed money again, it was obvious that he deliberately chose a time when no one was around. Besides, even if someone saw it, they might not dare to say anything. This San Leizi was not just a name without substance.
“But you paid me back that day…” Zhang Lei was somewhat unwilling and quickly began to argue.
Before he could finish speaking, Lei Xiaofeng slapped him hard across the face. "You little bastard, you dare to extort anyone? You even dare to extort me! Don't you know who I am?!"
In just one blow, Zhang Lei's face swelled up completely. "You, you!" Zhang Lei was a little dizzy from the beating and couldn't speak properly. From then on, it was Lei Xiaofeng's turn to dominate. Not to mention that Zhang Lei couldn't produce any evidence, even if he did, he probably couldn't argue with the well-prepared Lei Xiaofeng.
Seeing Lei Xiaofeng's smug expression, Zhang Lei suddenly realized that Lei Xiaofeng wasn't refusing to pay back the money at all; it was a carefully designed trap. He hadn't been mistaken about the look he saw before the start of the semester. Because his mother had put him among the students who had to repeat a year, Lei Xiaofeng was really taking his anger out on him and deliberately retaliating against him.
It must have been tough for San Leizi. Given his personality, it's not easy for him to feign friendship with Zhang Lei for so long, let alone gain Zhang Lei's trust and get him to lend him money. Not to mention this trap, who knows how long he's been planning it.
Zhang Lei was unaware that San Lei had used this method more than once, but no one dared to report him. Most of the money Zhang Lei had seen him counting earlier came from this method. Although he might genuinely have a talent for billiards and was quite good at it, playing only a little each day was no match for the delinquent youths who spent all their time there. Of course, he lost more than he won.
Eighty yuan may not seem like much, but at the time it was nearly a third of an average adult's salary. For a junior high school student, this was enough to keep him entertained for quite some time.
Since he had already completely fallen into someone else's trap, what else was there to say? Zhang Lei could only sit down angrily, covering his face and fuming. Zhang Lei did want to fight this San Leizi, but could he win? Zhang Lei had that much self-awareness.
Fortunately, Zhang Lei still had that qigong. Although it only had side effects in other aspects, it was very effective in healing injuries. After Zhang Lei covered his face with his hand for only ten minutes, the swelling that looked like a steamed bun had already subsided.
That's good, otherwise Zhang Lei wouldn't know how to cover it up. The prevailing attitude here is that you can't tell the teacher about a fight. Only students can resolve their own issues. It's a loss of face for anyone to go to the teacher.
Zhang Lei himself didn't know why he was so stupid to abide by such a ridiculous rule. But as a child, he was limited by his past and couldn't possibly be as great as he would be later and become a rule-breaker.
Zhang Lei was prepared to suffer in silence and swallow his bitterness. Fortunately, he had some spare change at home, and although he was reluctant to pay the extra fifty yuan, it wasn't entirely hopeless.
The problem is that Lei Xiaofeng has no intention of letting him off so easily. The school made him repeat a year, and there was nothing he could do about it. But that doesn't mean he can't take his anger out on the children of those despicable teachers.
Zhang Lei is his biggest target. He has already picked fights with many of the other teachers' children, but he left Zhang Lei as a big fish to enjoy slowly. The new homeroom teacher is really good. He even arranged for him and Zhang Lei to be deskmates, which makes things even more convenient. Moreover, their duty roster is on the same day.
Lei Xiaofeng, who never did chores, started looking forward to Wednesdays. On chores days, even Zhang Lei couldn't leave after school if he wanted to, because the chores would be a long process. Lei Xiaofeng couldn't help but smile smugly at the thought.
"Lei Xiaofeng! What are you laughing at? Is my class that funny?!" This was Ms. Yang, the Chinese teacher who disliked Lei Xiaofeng the most. Actually, Zhang Lei didn't know that there was another reason why Ms. Yang hated Lei Xiaofeng so much: her child had already been beaten by Lei Xiaofeng. Although the child was too naive to tell his parents, how could a mother not know when her child's face was swollen from being beaten? She just didn't ask him directly for the sake of her child's fragile self-esteem. But it wouldn't be difficult to find out who the culprit was by investigating from the side.
Therefore, Ms. Yang's feelings towards Lei Xiaofeng went beyond mere dislike; strictly speaking, hatred would be a more accurate description. Hitting her child would be far more unbearable for a mother than hitting her.
Lei Xiaofeng isn't someone you can just fight with. Some teachers' children are still in kindergarten, while others are already adults. Although Lei Xiaofeng is arrogant, he can't guarantee he can beat an adult. Furthermore, many teachers have daughters. Fighting between boys and girls is a different matter. Boys fighting go unpunished, but hitting a girl might get you taken to the police station.
"It's nothing, my face is just cramping!" Lei Xiaofeng rolled his eyes at the teacher. Old man, if you're still annoyed, I'll go find your little brat instead of Zhang Lei today.
Unfortunately, he didn't even manage to hit Zhang Lei. Before get out of class ended, Zhang Lei said he wasn't feeling well and asked for leave. Lei Xiaofeng didn't get that kind of treatment. He either didn't come at all, or if he asked for leave, no teacher would pay any attention to him. That's the difference between a good student and a bad student in the eyes of a teacher.
Zhang Lei was never a fool. He could tell whether Lei Xiaofeng was finished or not. Since he knew he couldn't beat him, running away was the only right thing to do. Face wasn't that important. Besides, no one in the class dared to say they could beat this Lei Xiaofeng.
Although the two-year age gap gradually weakens with age, and the difference between eleven and thirteen years old is far less significant than the gap between five and seven years old, Lei Xiaofeng is a student who has repeated two years of school. He is now fifteen years old, and even among his peers and slightly older students, Lei Xiaofeng is a king in battle.
Zhang Lei didn't have much theoretical analysis; he only needed to know one thing: he definitely couldn't beat this San Leizi, so the best course of action was to flee.
There are always some people who feel they've been cheated if they can't take advantage of others, and they also feel cheated if they can't bully others. Lei Xiaofeng is one of these people. He naturally felt he had been cheated when Zhang Lei got away that day.
Unfortunately, the interface that makes him feel unwell can only be used for one day, not every day. Even though he only used it once yesterday, his parents asked him a lot of questions when he got back. They didn't suspect anything, but they were worried that their precious son had some kind of illness.
Zhang Lei could only offer a perfunctory response. Deep down, he probably knew that telling his parents and letting them figure out a solution was the best approach. But anyone who's been through that age knows that at that age, talking to your parents about something like that is far more painful than getting a beating. Besides, even though both his parents are teachers, it's impossible for a student like San Leizi, who has absolutely no fear of teachers, to actually do that.
Moreover, the situation of schools for factory workers' children is quite special. Unlike ordinary schools, the most serious punishment is usually a warning. Schools for factory workers' children cannot be dealt with as harshly as they can with other students.
In ordinary student fights, the school would not only be unaware of them, but even if they were aware, they would at most issue a reprimand, and there would be no warnings or demerits. This directly led to the fact that, in the rather combative folk culture of Northeast China, the students of Yudian Di School still had a notorious reputation. Several students who transferred out of the school did not stand out here, but when they arrived at their new schools, they were able to quickly gain the upper hand over the original students, not to mention the tough characters who were already there.
Lei Xiaofeng is a ruthless character among ruthless characters. He can become the king of this place where there are several fights of all sizes almost every day, and he does it not by forming gangs. What kind of person is Lei Xiaofeng?
To use a more numerical analogy, if Zhang Lei's recent experience from frequent fights allows him to instantly enhance his body's internal energy, thus boosting his muscle explosiveness at certain times, and his current combat power is a 10, then Lei Xiaofeng's combat power is at least 20, assuming Zhang Lei has internal energy. While Zhang Lei isn't entirely defenseless against him, he has absolutely no chance of defeating Lei Xiaofeng.
Some might say that disadvantages in strength, speed, and stamina can be compensated for by combat experience. Good heavens, comparing Zhang Lei's combat experience to Lei Xiaofeng's! Although Zhang Lei had a small fight every day and a big fight every three days when he was in sixth grade, even at that frequency, he wasn't necessarily more experienced than Lei Xiaofeng, let alone at other times. It can be said that the biggest difference between the two is their fighting experience. If Zhang Lei can still be considered on par with Lei Xiaofeng in other aspects, then in this aspect, Zhang Lei isn't even qualified to look at Lei Xiaofeng's back.
Zhang Lei understood that if a classmate, especially his deskmate, wanted to cause trouble, he couldn't just hide from them. He had to find a way to resolve this, but a solution wasn't something that could be easily found by simply thinking about it.
The next day, Zhang Lei finally couldn't escape and was cornered in the classroom by Lei Xiaofeng.
"Zhang Lei, stop running! Do you think you can escape? Let me tell you, from today onwards, you're going to get a beating every day!" Lei Xiaofeng gently twisted his neck. Unlike Xiong Yong and the others, who would pretend to crack their knuckles when beating someone, Lei Xiaofeng was a true veteran of many battles. This kind of small scene was too familiar to him.