Returning to '97, creating a new life

One kick landed on Ma Xin's abdomen, sending him sprawling across the ground. The kick sent him flying more than a meter away, crashing into the base of the game console.

Xu Kai was punched in the back of the head again.

He flipped over, braced himself with both hands on the ground, pounced on the other person's shoulder, and headbutted the person who had just punched him in the face.

He grabbed the other person's shoulders with both hands, ignoring the person behind him who was kicking him, and repeatedly raised his head and headbutted him. Four or five times, the other person's nose spurted blood, and he was temporarily unable to resist due to dizziness.

Xu Kai was kicked to the ground and felt dizzy and disoriented. However, there was no time for him to recover. He glanced to the side, raised his right leg, and kicked hard at the ankle of the person who was already standing and kicking him.

With a loud thud, the kick landed squarely, sending the opponent sprawling face down. Had it not been for the body's instinctive reaction—knees hitting the ground first and hands bracing for protection—Xu Kai's kick would have caused a severe fall.

Ma Xin was about to stand up again when Xu Kai, instead of standing up, lunged at him while he was squatting and throwing him to the ground. He then punched Ma Xin, cornered him against the wall, and unleashed another barrage of blows.

"Alright, alright."

At this moment, Brother Song appeared, accompanied by several people. He grabbed Xu Kai's right arm and, in a gesture of trying to break up the fight, helped him up to stop him from continuing.

With bloodshot eyes, Xu Kai suddenly turned around and glared fiercely at Brother Song, who was taking sides.

"What, you trying to sneer at me?" Brother Song glared at him, his tone unfriendly.

Xu Kai didn't say anything and got up without hesitation.

At that moment, the arcade owner came over: "If you want to fight, go outside, don't do it here."

Amidst the many fearful glances from the arcade, Xu Kai was the first to leave. Once outside, he took off his backpack, removed his school uniform, put the backpack back on, walked to a corner, picked up three red bricks, wrapped them inside his school uniform jacket, tied a knot, and made a simple school uniform meteor hammer.

He can leave now, but this matter still needs to be dealt with later. Fighting is not a big deal, but if people like Ma Xin are not completely scared and backed down, they will definitely cause trouble for him for the sake of face.

After waiting for less than two minutes, Brother Song and the others pulled Ma Xin and the other two out of the arcade, wiped their nosebleeds, dusted off their clothes, and rubbed their soft tissue contusions.

Song Ge was surprised to see that Xu Kai hadn't actually left.

Ma Xin and the other two glared fiercely at Xu Kai, utterly unconvinced. The fact that he had just taken on three people at once had already made them realize that this kid was no pushover.

"grass!"

Inside the arcade, there were quite a few onlookers. Ma Xin, who felt he had lost face, had been cursing and threatening revenge when he was pulled up earlier. Now, seeing that the other party hadn't run away, he was being held up.

You could say you were accidentally ambushed just now, but what about now?

He picked up a wooden stick from the corner, and his two helpers instinctively looked for something handy as well.

boom!

Ma Xin fell flat on his face. Just as he picked up his wooden stick, Xu Kai swung his "meteor hammer" and smashed it directly onto his shoulder with tremendous force, knocking him to the ground.

Xu Kai found the right angle and hit him again, this time controlling his strength, and the blow landed on his back.

A scream came from Ma Xin's mouth as he curled up on the ground like a boiled shrimp.

Xu Kai, carrying the "meteor hammer," stared at Ma Xin's two henchmen. The two men, who had just picked up bricks, froze on the spot, too afraid to rush forward.

Brother Song looked at Xu Kai with a different expression than before, categorizing Xu Kai as a ruthless and greenhorn. He wondered if this kid dared to use a knife. If he did, this kid was the kind of person who would do something big, and these kinds of people were the most difficult to mess with.

He had other ideas, stopped Xu Kai, and helped Ma Xin up: "Ma Xin, can we talk?"

Before Ma Xin could speak, Xu Kai gave him a look. Xu Kai understood immediately, thought for a moment, and then stepped forward to support Ma Xin's other arm. While he was supporting him, he didn't put down the "meteor hammer" in his hand.

"Brother Ma, we're all Brother Song's brothers. Please give us a chance to apologize, okay?"

………………

After tidying up his clothes at the door, Xu Kai dusted off the dirt, which made the marks fade a lot. He could only explain the bruise on his forehead from the headbutt as bumping into the door frame while playing around with his classmates.

Kids are just kids. Even the "big brother" Song, who can handle things, is just a player who can only hang out in junior and senior high school. He's also a player who's broke and doesn't even have the money to find a restaurant. He just takes Xu Kai, Ma Xin, and others away from the arcade and finds a corner of a nearby residential building. They each light a cigarette and that's how they settle things and negotiate.

Xu Kai didn't object to Song Ge's idea of ​​recruiting him into his group. They were just a bunch of naive young people hanging out together, only interested in intimidation from others, and unlikely to do anything outrageous. As long as he could safely deal with Ma Xin, he didn't mind being seen as hanging out with Song Ge. At most, it was just a fight, nothing more.

A group of poor guys frequented arcades, billiard halls, and computer rooms. They would go to a large roller skating rink to warm up together, hoping to save face by protecting the girls they brought with them and finding other girls to play with.

They didn't care about Ma Xin, but were concerned about the potential trouble that might arise from saving face. Ma Xin was just a blustering coward. When Brother Song stepped in to mediate, he kept saying it was all a misunderstanding and that everyone would be brothers from now on. Xu Kai cooperated perfectly, calling him Brother Ma at every turn.

It's clear he's not a truly ruthless character, but if we don't mediate and give him a way out, for the sake of his reputation in this area in the future, the only thing someone his age would do is call on his friends and gather a group of people to ambush Xu Kai at the school.

It was troublesome, so Xu Kai was willing to cooperate with Brother Song.

At the same time, standing together temporarily is beneficial to my stall business. Recently, there have been many young hooligans of my age who are basically penniless. Including those from the Fifth Middle School area, my initial persona of being poor and struggling to make ends meet has become unable to shield me from those greedy eyes.

What age group, what social class, what level of small society exists?

I'm broke, you're rich, how about we spend some money together? How about you spend some on me? I'm out of cigarettes, can you buy me a bottle of water? Can I get some game tokens at the arcade? Can I play a few rounds at the billiards hall? Can I play two hours at the computer lab?

Xu Kai also carefully recalled the events and talked with Wang Lei, Zhang Chunlei, and others, and it took him a month to fully readjust to the values ​​of young people his age. With Song Ge's mediation, he went to the convenience store again and bought four packs of Yunyan cigarettes. He gave two packs to Ma Xin and one pack to his two friends, addressing them as "brother" and giving them a way out. This gave them a reason to give Song Ge face, and they could also say that they hadn't lost face by being at a disadvantage in the fight that day.

If Xu Kai becomes even more outstanding in the future, this unexpected encounter today could become a topic of conversation among them.

Ultimately, Xu Kai's ruthlessness and actual combat prowess are the real stepping stones in the underlying logic. How about getting a group of people to beat him up? He'll save face once, but what if he runs into someone else in the future? Or what if Xu Kai is just a greenhorn, a hothead, carrying a switchblade in his pocket to block him?

It was a win-win situation for everyone.

Brother Song patted Xu Kai on the shoulder and said with a smile, "Brother, let's hang out sometime." Xu Kai smiled and nodded, but other thoughts popped into his mind. Getting to know these people might be a good choice. If he had enough capital, the best thing for him to do in the next few years would be to make money off young people.

During the National Day holiday, Xu Kai disappeared from the school playground and did not play basketball.

I didn't go to the arcades or other places I frequent near the school to avoid being asked about the fight that night. I was too lazy to talk about it, and I was also too lazy to accept the so-called respect others had for me. The gangster mentality that kids develop from watching Hong Kong movies is quite ridiculous.

It's one thing to be able to use this kind of江湖 (jianghu, a term referring to the world of martial arts and chivalry) mentality, but to flaunt it on one's person is something else entirely. Xu Kai, whose soul is well past the age of thirty, can't bear the shame of taking pride in the mindset of a middle school student. It's the same as how he sees middle school girls: he can't tell which one is pretty or beautiful and doesn't evoke any desire in a man for a woman. At most, he thinks the girl is cute and has the potential to be a beauty.

Aside from riding his mother's bicycle around the city, he only glanced at his homework, picked out the ones he liked to do, and wrote a little bit. The rest of the time, he went to his uncle's workplace basketball court and, with a bunch of rough, tough men, took advantage of the last bit of good weather in the year to sweat it out.

Ever since Xu Kai's running jump allowed him to touch the rim with his fingertips, the dream that had been building up in his heart for decades burst forth uncontrollably, and with each small improvement, it became an obsession.

The warm current that surged through his body after exercise, and the overall comfort, all told him one thing: there was still room for him to grow taller, and there was still room for improvement in his physical fitness.

The God of Three Points is handsome.

But for an ordinary person, that unattainable basketball hoop is the basket of their dreams.

On the last afternoon of the National Day holiday, after playing a full game for twenty minutes and a dozen or so rounds of three-on-three half-court, the sun set, the temperature quickly turned cool, and the people on the court dispersed.

Xu Kai looked down at his right palm, which was slightly aching, and the smile in his eyes was undisguised.

Just now, he grabbed the rim with his right hand. Although it was only once, and although he is still far from 'dunking', the joy brought by the speed of progress from touching the rim with his fingertips to grabbing it with one hand in just a few days completely surpasses the joy of his current high three-point shooting percentage.

During the National Day holiday, the meals at his maternal grandparents' house were quite good every day. Even though sometimes they ate leftovers for several meals in a row, Xu Kai still ate with gusto.

The concept of "craving" doesn't exist in terms of taste experience. What's happening now is the body's thirst for nutrition, which has greatly increased Xu Kai's appetite. Seeing his current height, his grandparents, uncles, and aunts all encourage him to eat more. The way he enjoys eating has also stimulated the appetites of others.

After the National Day holiday, school started again, and my height has changed again. The environment inside and outside the school has also changed. Everything is visibly improving and moving forward by a large margin...