Chapter 56

Seeing everyone’s gaze on him, Xie Wendong assumed a Tai Chi starting posture—the “Wild Horse Splitting Paths” stance—and winked at another thug. Wu Ge, who had been fighting with the third guy and was covered in blood, grew anxious. He let go of the third guy’s clothes, kicked him aside, and quickly moved toward Xie Wendong. The other thugs also stopped fighting and followed behind, staring at Xie Wendong in surprise. Wu Ge examined Xie Wendong carefully: medium build, thin, under twenty years old—nothing particularly notable about him. Turning back to his men, he snapped angrily, “Who the hell are you? You’re really ruthless—give me your name!” Xie Wendong dropped his stance and said disdainfully, “You? I doubt you’re even worth looking at!” He meant it sincerely; in City J, someone like Wu Ge wouldn’t even deserve a second glance. Humiliated, Wu Ge gritted his teeth and said, “Damn you, kid! I’m going to show you what happens when you mess with me!” He pulled out a switchblade from his pocket, unfolded it, and thrust it at Xie Wendong’s abdomen. Xie Wendong didn’t dare be careless. He tilted his body to avoid the blade and reached for Wu Ge’s wrist. Wu Ge laughed sneerily, flipped his hand, and swung the blade toward Xie Wendong’s abdomen. Xie Wendong quickly turned, moved to Wu Ge’s left, and punched him hard in the chest with his elbow. Realizing Xie Wendong wasn’t easy to deal with, Wu Ge became more cautious. When he saw the elbow coming, he quickly blocked it with his palm. But he underestimated Xie Wendong’s strength—Xie Wendong used all his force. Wu Ge felt a sharp pain in his palm, which soon went numb. The powerful impact sent him several steps back. After regaining his balance, he looked down and saw that his palm was deformed, with several fingers broken. Without giving him a chance to recover, Xie Wendong rushed forward, grabbed Wu Ge’s hair, pulled hard downward, and simultaneously kicked him in the face with his knee. “Ka, ka!” After just two kicks, Wu Ge fainted, his nosebone now level with his face. Letting go of Wu Ge’s hair, the latter collapsed weakly. Xie Wendong didn’t even glance at him. With a smile, he scanned the remaining thugs and said calmly, “Who else isn’t convinced? Come out!” An imposing aura radiated from Xie Wendong. The thugs didn’t dare step forward anymore. They knew Wu Ge’s capabilities, but seeing him knocked out in just a few blows by this young man showed how strong he really was. When Xie Wendong’s gaze fell on them, they all retreated. “Since no one else comes out, I’ll be leaving!” With that, Xie Wendong helped the leader up and headed toward the school. It was only after they walked far away that the other students realized what had happened and rushed after them.

When he caught up with Xie Wendong, Lao San stared at him in disbelief and said, “Xiao Qi, I really didn’t expect it—you’re so good at fighting!”
Xie Wendong didn’t want others to know too much about him, so he smiled and said, “You didn’t notice? I’ve learned martial arts.”
Lao Si nodded as if he’d understood and said, “I saw… the stance you used. It looked quite like Tai Chi, right?”
“That’s right, it’s Tai Chi!” “No wonder you’re so good. Tai Chi is a national treasure of China! Zhang Sanfeng in TV… (omitting hundreds of words spoken by Lao Si), Xiao Qi, you have to teach me someday!”
Xie Wendong smiled and nodded.
Huang Lei came over and whispered, “I’m sorry for what I said about you just now… You’re not upset, are you?”
Xie Wendong smiled and said, “It’s okay. I didn’t take it to heart.” Hearing his words, Huang Lei felt both happy and disappointed.
Everyone took the leader to the school clinic. After checking him, the doctor said there was nothing serious—just minor skin injuries. Only then did everyone feel relieved. While the doctor applied medicine to the leader, he lay on the bed and asked loudly, “Who picked up my glasses?”
Everyone remained silent. The leader sighed and said, “It’s a shame about my glasses. My girlfriend gave them to me. If she finds out I lost them because of a fight, she’ll be furious!” Hearing this, everyone looked at him with sympathy for a long time…
After this incident, everyone admired Xie Wendong even more, especially the girls. This puzzled Xie Wendong—did girls these days like those who knew martial arts? When fighting with Wu Ge, he hadn’t used any Tai Chi moves; it was all about fighting skills, with only a fake Tai Chi stance at the end to deceive everyone.
That night, Xie Wendong took out his mobile phone and, under the watchful eyes of the others, left the dormitory (mobile phones were rare at that time). He went to the playground outside the student building, first called home to let them know he was safe, then tried to reach Jiang Sen.
“Brother Dong, how’s City H? What’s different about it compared to City J? When can we go there?” Jiang Sen was very excited to hear Xie Wendong’s call.
“Nothing much different—just bigger. Some of the brothers from the secret group should come first. I need information here!” “Okay. Do we not need the other brothers?”
“Not yet. There’s no place for them to stay, and too many people would mean high costs.” “Oh, I see. I’ll take the bus there first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Mm!” Xie Wendong thought for a moment, then smiled sheepishly and said, “Remember to bring some extra money from the gang. I’ve spent a lot these past few days!”

Jiang Sen laughed after hearing this. “I said, Dong Ge, the guild earns over a hundred thousand a day now. All this money belongs to you—you can spend it however you want!”
“No, the money in the guild was earned by our brothers with their lives. Every penny is soaked with blood and sweat; it doesn’t belong to me alone! Enough talk!” Xie Wendong hung up the phone.
On the other end, Jiang Sen held the phone, his heart in turmoil. Xie Wendong’s simple words made him feel ashamed, filling him with admiration for the young man who was several years younger than him. Not only him—everyone in Wendong’s guild felt the same way. It was Xie Wendong’s charisma that kept thousands of people united as one.
Sometimes, extreme personal admiration isn’t a bad thing. Xie Wendong would come to understand this even more in the future.
Back in his dormitory, Xie Wendong lay on the bed and picked up the novel he had just rented from the bookstore downstairs out of boredom.
After a while, Lao San came over. “Xiao Qi, lend me your phone. I need to call my family.” Lao Si rushed over immediately and said, “Let me use it first—I’m faster!” Then Lao Ma came… Xie Wendong watched helplessly as the six of them fought over the phone.
The next afternoon, during class, Xie Wendong was sitting in the classroom listening to the lecture when there was a knock at the door.
“Come in!” The teacher, interrupted, was somewhat annoyed.
The classroom door opened, and a cute girl around seventeen or eighteen stepped in. Seeing the attention of a hundred people on her, she blushed slightly and said, “I’m sorry to disturb you, teacher. I’m looking for Xie Wendong.”
Xie Wendong was stunned. He didn’t remember having met this girl before. Lao Wu beside him asked with a smile, “Is she your girlfriend? She’s pretty nice!”
Xie Wendong didn’t say anything. Not many people in City H knew his name, so she must be from his family. He stood up, walked over, nodded at the teacher, and left the classroom.
“Who are you?” Xie Wendong asked the girl.
The girl blinked innocently, thinking to herself how young he was, and smiled. “Dong Ge, I’m a member of the Dark Group. Team Leader Jiang is waiting for you at the entrance of the teaching building!”
Team Leader Jiang? Heh, Xie Wendong knew she meant Jiang Sen, but he didn’t know when he had earned such a title! He nodded at the girl and headed outside the teaching building. From afar, he saw Jiang Sen standing on the stairs with a few others, looking around.
Xie Wendong walked over. Seeing Jiang Sen and the others about to bow, he waved his hand and asked, “Lao Sen, how’s things at home?”
Jiang Sen smiled and said, “It’s the same as always!”
“What about the other brothers who came with you?”

“I’m worried it might be inconvenient with so many people, so I had them stay at a hotel for now. By the way, Dongge, I brought 100 people with me this time—all elites. The rest will arrive in a few days!”
Xie Wendong nodded and asked softly, “Did you bring all the weapons?”
“Yeah, I brought them all! A few of us came here in the gang’s vehicles.”
Xie Wendong responded with an “oh” and thought deeply, “If we drive the gang’s vehicles back, the license plates will reveal our identity. I don’t want people to discover we’re part of the Wendong Gang so soon! Also, send my brothers out to gather information about the underworld in City H, especially about that disco club called New Youth north of City H. The more detailed, the better.”
Jiang Sen nodded in agreement and immediately told his brothers to send someone to drive the vehicles back to City J. Then he asked, “Dongge, should we take action against New Youth first?”
Xie Wendong replied, “Yes, and I also want to buy that disco club!”
“Buy it?” Jiang Sen said in surprise, not understanding Xie Wendong’s intention. Xie Wendong smiled and said, “We don’t have a foothold in City H yet. It’s important to have our own base first. That disco club is in a good location and a profitable place as well.”
“Oh, I get it! I’ll have someone investigate right away!”
“Good!” Xie Wendong said, “We also need to thoroughly investigate the entire underworld in City H. There’s also this group called the Soul-Reclaiming Gang—I need you to find out more about them. I have some conflicts with them. Also, go visit the provincial party secretary later. Bring… some money. The relationship between us will determine our future development in City H. And you don’t need to come to school to see me often; just call if there’s something important. Well, if nothing else, I’m going back to class!”
Jiang Sen pointed at the cute girl behind Xie Wendong and said, “Dongge, this girl is Wen Zi. I want her to replace Ying as your new bodyguard!”