Returning to '97, creating a new life

We usually get our goods on Sundays, and then we go to get more on Wednesday noon.

I go to buy stock on Saturday morning, specifically to sell at No. 5 Middle School. The amount left determines the amount I need to restock on Sunday.

In just one month, by the National Day holiday, the initial capital of over two hundred yuan had accumulated to nearly a thousand yuan.

In the last week, sales dropped significantly, and the market was basically saturated, except for consumables.

The attitude of driving him away evolved into action, causing his stall to be moved further and further away from the school gate. Although everyone knew about this little stall, it still affected his customers to some extent.

During this period, the Wednesday deliveries sometimes delayed the first class in the afternoon. Xu Kai accepted the punishment and was very cooperative. His homeroom teacher, Ms. Lü, was secretly helpless. On the surface, Xu Kai remained silent even when he was reprimanded, punished, and made public apologies in class, or when the punishment for skipping class was upgraded. This made Ms. Lü not take any drastic measures against him in the end.

He has a good attitude in admitting his mistakes, and his daily performance is also good. Regardless of whether he can concentrate in class or not, all his subject teachers say that he has a good attitude, listens attentively, and can answer basic questions correctly several times, proving that he is not pretending to be serious, but is genuinely serious.

Lu Yan has a deep memory of that afternoon's conversation. She usually interacts with rebellious teenagers, but suddenly one of them speaks like an adult and makes perfect sense. Upon closer observation, this student seems to have grown up a lot compared to when he was in the second year of junior high school. He is much more mature and no longer skips classes to go out and play.

What made Lü Yan truly respect Xu Kai was his attitude after supposedly "skipping class." He was poor and wanted to earn some money, so could he ask the teacher for leave as an excuse? He didn't have that option because he didn't behave differently from others. This meant that when Lü Yan dealt with other truant and mischievous students in the class, no one would say she was treating Xu Kai differently, and no one would complain, because every time she punished Xu Kai, it was the most severe.

During their conversation, Xu Kai made no attempt to hide his intention not to put his teacher in a difficult position, which confirmed Lü Yan's suspicions: this child has very high emotional intelligence and his interpersonal skills are far superior to those of his peers.

Bare feet 182cm.

Xu Kai was moved from the second-to-last row to the last row.

His classmates and teachers were surprised, surprised, surprised by his rapid growth in height. They had some discussions, and then they got used to it and accepted it.

Xu Kai rarely experiences the pain he used to feel in his bone joints, but he knows he might grow a little more, due to his thirst for nutrients and the comfort his body feels after each relatively high-intensity workout.

Buy some fruit, buy some beef, and the actual gains this month will be higher, more than a thousand dollars. The main dishes at home are potatoes, cabbage, and tofu. They don't keep you full after eating. It's not about the 'quantity' but the 'quality' that your body craves. A beef stew with potatoes will make you less hungry when you wake up in the morning. That's the final verdict.

Self-study period.

Xu Kai rested his left hand on his cheek, twirled a pen in his right hand, and stared blankly at the ground.

[I don't have enough capital, should I borrow from my mom?]

After pondering the idea for a few minutes, I gave up on it, and the subsequent thought of borrowing money from my elders was not even considered.

Selling jewelry and small commodities is just about earning some pocket money and slightly improving my life; it's definitely not enough to completely change my circumstances.

These past few days, more people have been watching me. Damn it, someone definitely doesn't like me.

The bell rang, and Xu Kai stretched his arms and legs as he walked out of the classroom. The outdoor toilet was in a corner of the campus. Just as he came out and was about to find a horizontal bar to stretch, a boy from the next class came over: "Xu Kai, it's almost Mid-Autumn Festival. Brother Song asked you to buy two packs of cigarettes. He's waiting for you in the garage (the arcade located in the garage below the building, which is what everyone calls the arcade)."

Xu Kai said "Oh," and the other person walked away. Their eyes met, but there was nothing in their eye contact. The other person thought this was normal.

A petty thug who can only hang around the school and bully middle school students.

After thinking for a moment, clenching his fist, and looking down at his body, which had become noticeably more muscular in the past month, Xu Kai ultimately decided to give up on looking down on the matter from an adult's perspective; there was no need.

After school, Xu Kai bought two packs of cigarettes for seven yuan each, signaled Zhang Chunlei to go first, and left his schoolbag containing the goods at school. He put the money he earned today in his regular schoolbag, passed through the residential buildings in front of the school, went through a small market, and arrived at the arcade commonly known as the "garage".

Those who haven't experienced it will never understand what it's like for a young person with nothing to do to spend all day in an arcade, because it's not just one day, but possibly most of the year, you'll see him most of the time, how boring that must be.

As a result, some students interpreted this behavior as something cool and impressive about hanging out in the arcade.

The place was filled with smoke and the smell of sweat and stale tobacco. Several girls were chatting and blowing bubble gum, smoking cigarettes, seemingly oblivious to everyone else.

In front of the horse racing game machine, Xu Kai found Brother Song, who was young but had a fierce face. He walked up to him and greeted him, "Brother Song."

"Hey, you're here."

Xu Kai took his hand out of his school uniform pocket and stuffed two packs of cigarettes into Song Ge's coat without saying a word. The other man didn't say anything either, but just smiled at Xu Kai.

"This machine was really good today. It produced 20 (bet 1 to 20) many times. They bet more than 50 times the amount at most." Brother Song's attitude had improved a lot. He chatted with Xu Kai in a very familiar manner, just to show others.

From his perspective and that of some students who are seeking similar advice, you see, we're very close. Nobody should bully me anymore, and if I bully someone, don't talk back, or I'll get Brother Song to deal with you.

Are you scared yet? It's a barren version of a small society, not too dirty, and even a little bit of dirt won't affect the appearance.

"I'm not playing anymore today, I need to go home early. Brother Song, I'll be leaving now."

"Um."

An arm wrapped around Xu Kai's neck: "Damn, you've grown quite a bit taller, you're so tall now."

The air was thick with the smell of smoke. Xu Kai turned his head and saw a face covered in acne, only slightly shorter than himself, with triangular eyes. A puff of smoke was blown directly at Xu Kai.

Ma Xin, a senior in the second year of high school. When Xu Kai was in the first year of junior high, Ma Xin was in the third year of junior high. He also dropped out of junior high and hung out in the neighborhood. According to some of the school's troublemakers, Ma Xin was a very influential figure in and around the school.

When Xu Kai and Wang Lei were playing games at the arcade, the other party asked for game tokens. Recently, Xu Kai set up a stall near the school gate, and the other party also patronized the stall, buying a lip balm and a bottle of colorless nail polish on credit. Xu Kai didn't think much of it and didn't expect the other party to pay him back, and the other party obviously didn't follow up on the matter.

Wearing a Korean-style suit, gleaming leather shoes, long blond hair, and an earring in his left ear, he was dressed in a way that perfectly embodied the current trend of non-mainstream, energetic young men—a stylish and sophisticated look: "I heard you've made quite a bit of money lately, while I've lost a lot today. Want to borrow some to recoup your losses?"

They said it was a loan, but without any discussion, they went straight to Xu Kai's pockets.

"Brother Xin, this thing is never accurate. If you can't tell today, take a break and we'll talk about it tomorrow." Xu Kai grabbed the other's wrist, stopping him with a conciliatory smile on his face.

"Damn it, I lent you some money, it's not like I'm not going to pay you back, look at the way you're behaving." His face changed, and he started to exert force to forcibly search her pockets.

"Are you going to rob us?"

"Damn, you've got some nerve, you little brat."

The other party raised his arm to slap Xu Kai across the face. It had nothing to do with technique; he didn't take Xu Kai seriously at all. Under normal circumstances, one slap would be enough to subdue these kids.

There's no psychological barrier; it's hard to say who the child is.

There are no physical barriers. In this month, not only has my height increased, but my physical strength and stamina have also changed.

There are no technical barriers. At the very least, I've been through so much in society for many years. Although I don't bully people, I've encountered situations where we were evenly matched more than once. I'm not a professional, but I know some basic and practical absolute theories.

Get started when it's time to get started.

Once you start, don't hold back.

With a casual slap, Xu Kai grabbed the other person's wrist with his left hand, clenched his right fist, and swung it up to punch the other person in the face.

You've got some nerve!

That electric cannon shot really hit hard.

Facing Ma Xin, who was stumbling backward and almost fell, Xu Kai showed no sign of stopping. He chased after him and kicked him to the ground, causing him to crash into someone sitting in front of a game console.

In the blink of an eye, before anyone around could react, Xu Kai had already mounted his opponent and launched an attack, his fists slamming into the opponent's head repeatedly.

"Damn, you've gone mad."

Song didn't move, but Ma Xin's two good classmates, who usually hung out together, were just as carefree after graduating from junior high school. Even if they went to a vocational school or technical secondary school, it didn't stop them from hanging out together all day.

They hadn't reacted at all and never expected Ma Xin to be beaten. Normally, in similar situations, they would just watch from the sidelines as Ma Xin was kicked a couple of times and slapped a couple of times. They would never dare to fight back.

He went up and kicked Xu Kai in the shoulder, knocking him off Ma Xin.

Chaos erupted in the arcade. The owner got up, but didn't immediately intervene to break up the fight. He was used to it; if the fight didn't damage his machines, they could settle it themselves; if they did, they could discuss compensation. As for things like plastic chairs, the owner wasn't too picky and basically ignored them—if they were broken, they were broken.

Xu Kai jumped up and immediately retaliated, displaying a style completely different from that of students his age.

They either dare not resist, or they don't know how to fight, or they go crazy and grab a knife and do whatever they want.

Adults are better at controlling their aura.

With his height and strength, Xu Kai's advantage in fighting was obvious. He could take a punch without any problem, but when Xu Kai landed a solid punch, he knocked his opponent down.

He didn't suffer any losses, but he didn't gain any advantages either. When Ma Xin got up, since it was three against one, the four of them quickly started grappling and began the "ground fighting" phase. Xu Kai would rather take an extra punch or kick than let anyone on the other side get up, and he would fight them all on the ground.

He got more and more energetic as he fought, while his opponent was being hit and punched and kicked. After a few rounds, he was panting and starting to run out of energy.

People who have never been in a fight can't understand this. They think that throwing a few punches takes a lot of energy. But in a real fight, it's almost like you're using all your strength with every punch. Without good physical fitness and years of training, you'll be exhausted after just a few punches. At least when you're breathing rapidly and without rhythm, it's hard to really exert any force. A punch or a kick will feel weak and feeble.