On the way to the classroom in the afternoon, Xie Lan discovered that Dou Sheng was walking a little lame.
The limp is very strange - sometimes the left foot limps, sometimes the right foot limps. He limps when walking on flat ground, but not when going up stairs. He limps when he sees the teacher, but not when he sees his classmates.
When he returned to his seat, he finally couldn't help asking, "What's wrong with your feet?"
Dou Sheng was very calm, "I forgot about the tailbone. Hu Xiujie asked me at noon if I was okay. I have to perform for two days."
"… "
All the teachers were grading papers and the afternoon classes were changed to self-study. The class monitor Dong Shuijing announced that the academic year ranking list would be released tomorrow.
Amid the wailing, Che Ziming leaned back and said, "Lan, I just realized later that your British stomach can handle spicy food."
"I can't eat it." Xie Lan lowered his head and flipped through the textbook, "I won't order the pork ribs pot anymore."
Che Ziming said, "I'm sorry, are you hungry now? I have some bread."
"Nothing." Xie Lan buried his head in writing. "I had a box of snacks from Dou Sheng at noon."
"That's good." Che Ziming breathed a sigh of relief.
After a few seconds, he suddenly turned his head to look at Dou Sheng.
Dou Sheng propped up his forehead with one hand, "What are you doing?"
"You gave him your food?!"
Dou Sheng said nonchalantly, "No points."
Then he added, "I gave them the box as a gift. How can this be called a point? This is a free gift."
Che Ziming rolled his eyes on the spot.
When he turned back, Xie Lan stopped writing and whispered, "It seems like it happened more than once."
Dou Sheng was stunned for a moment, "Huh?"
"It was the dirty buns at first, and you hadn't even started a fight at that time." Xie Lan slowly organized his logic, "So I think you didn't give me the food to bribe me, at least not that time, but because you felt guilty."
Dou Sheng looked a little stunned. After looking at him for a while, he sighed, "Your thoughts are quite clear."
"I've always felt something was wrong." Xie Lan began to tense up. "What else happened that day?"
Dou Sheng didn't say anything for a long time.
Not only did he not say anything, he also lowered his head, took out a picture from his phone and threw it to him.
"Here, look for yourself."
Xie Lan was stunned. "What?"
There are two cats sitting side by side on the screen, one is a big orange cat, and the other is a milky white cat. The big orange cat is licking the milky white cat's fur with his eyes half closed, while the milky white cat is lying on the ground, lying like a comfortable cat cake.
Dou Sheng only showed it to him for a while before taking the phone away.
"You see, this is a Chinese tradition."
Xie Lan was confused, "What tradition?"
Dou Sheng said slowly, "The tradition is that the big cat has always lived in the house, and the second cat came later. To show acceptance and status, the big cat has to lick the second cat's fur. This is a natural instinct. Even if the big cat doesn't like to lick other cats normally, the second cat is an exception."
Xie Lan was silent for a few seconds, "That sounds quite touching."
Dou Sheng nodded, "Yeah."
Xie Lan: "But what does it have to do with Chinese traditions?"
"It doesn't matter." Dou Sheng said frankly, "I thought adding this sentence would make it easier to fool you."
Xie Lan: “…”
He still felt that Dou Sheng must have secretly tricked him somewhere.
Xie Lan pondered and looked up the dictionary, and it took him an entire afternoon to compare the Chinese and English versions of the periodic table of chemical elements. His first small goal was to be able to read the names of chemical substances, as long as he saw "carbon dioxide" and knew it was CO2.
The bell rang at five o'clock and Dou Sheng woke up on time.
The first thing I did when I woke up was to ask Che Ziming, "Where are we going to eat?"
"The small dining table in Yangchang Lane, the same as always."
Dou Sheng hummed, "Who are they?"
"Dai You is not going today, so the three of us can go together, and we can bring Xie Lan along as well."
"What is the small dining table in Yangchang Lane?" Xie Lan couldn't help but ask.
"Yangchang Lane is the dark alley outside the west gate." Che Ming stood up and said, "The small dining table is a place opened in my home for students to eat. We basically eat in the cafeteria at noon and at the small dining table at night every day."
At around five o'clock, music was playing on campus, and some students went to the cafeteria while others went to the west gate.
The car driver said that there were countless small restaurants outside the west gate, and the one they were going to was the best. The only drawback was that it was a bit far and they had to go through a narrow alley, but a few grown men were fearless when walking together.
"Auntie said there's one serving of non-spicy Malatang left, so it's just right for Xie Lan." Che Ziming texted the proprietress on the way, "But there aren't many steamed buns, so can the four of us eat three trays?"
"It's okay." Dou Sheng said calmly, "You don't have to eat."
Che Ziming rolled his eyes in the dark, "You're being too generous to others."
The alley was indeed a bit dark, narrow and winding, just like goat intestines. They walked about three or four hundred meters and could no longer hear the noise from the school. Street lights gradually appeared at the innermost part of the alley. The narrow road was covered with dead leaves that had not been swept away. The legendary residential building was not far away.
Dou Sheng, who was walking beside Xie Lan, suddenly paused.
"What's wrong?" Che Ziming glanced at him, "Are you still pretending to be lame here?"
Dou Sheng said nothing, but lowered his eyes to look at the ground, slowing down his pace and walking quietly.
Xie Lan inexplicably felt that something was wrong, and he subconsciously turned around to look behind him.
-Nothing at all.
"Something's not right. Let's go back." Dou Sheng suddenly whispered.
The gate of the residential area with street lights on was just over a hundred meters away. After walking a long way in the dark, he said he wanted to go back.
Yu Fei straightened up and rested his elbow on Che Ziming's shoulder. "What's wrong?"
Dou Sheng whispered, "There seemed to be someone behind us when we first entered the alley. We didn't pay attention to it at first, but that person kept speeding up to chase us. About two minutes ago, he turned around and came back, as if..." He paused, "It was as if he just wanted to make sure we were going this way."
"Damn it?" Che Ming shuddered, "Two minutes ago, why didn't you say so earlier?"
Dou Sheng considered and said, "I'm thinking about distributing the buns."
Xie Lan: “?”
Dou Sheng's eyes fell on the gate of the residential building not far away. "And at first I thought he would call for someone to come from the back, and we could just go into the community and everything would be fine, but—"
Before it was over, the sound of a can being kicked suddenly came from the quiet and empty iron gate.
Xie Lan looked up and saw three boys with dyed hair coming out from the other side of the iron gate. Their target was clear, staring straight at Dou Sheng.
The face was unfamiliar, but the T-shirt covered with mysterious words was very familiar. Xie Lan was a little puzzled for a moment, wondering whether the English taught in China was within his comprehension range.
"Okay, it's still about Wang Gou." Yu Fei frowned and said impatiently, "It's so annoying. I should have known not to have dinner with you guys tonight."
Zamao No. 1 took out a cigarette from his pocket and put it in his mouth, and Zamao No. 2 lit it for him.
He held the cigarette between his teeth and raised it towards Dou Sheng. The smoke from the cheap cigarette filled his forehead, as if his head was on fire.
"Are you Dou Sheng?" Zamao No. 3 asked, "Are you the one who is causing trouble for Lei Zi?"
Dou Sheng stood still, "Which one is Lei Zi, the one with a short haircut or the one with long hair?"
It turned out that he also distinguished the two in this way. Xie Lan couldn't help but say what a coincidence.
Zamao No. 2 shouted, "Why do you care so much? Just draw a line here today and clear up what needs to be cleared up."
Dou Sheng pondered for a while, "Is it a buzz cut?"
Hearing this, Zamao No. 1 narrowed his eyes behind the smoke and asked, "Have you seen us in Yingzhong?"
Dou Sheng said calmly, "No. I just remembered that it was the long-haired guy who was performing that day, and maybe the quiet guy will take revenge later."
Xie Lan suddenly had an idea and asked subconsciously, "Dogs that bite don't bark?"
"Yes." Dou Sheng was a little surprised. "You know this sentence, that's good."
"Hold."
Zamao No.1 threw down his cigarette and asked, "Where is the man from Yongping Street?"
"They said we're almost there." Zamao No. 2 kicked his right foot impatiently, as if there was a mangy dog lying on his ankle and he was anxious to shake it off. Or maybe he just suffered from hyperactivity of his right foot.
"No more waiting, let's do it." Zamao No. 1 put out the cigarette butt on the ground, rolled up his sleeves, revealing the strong muscles on his arms.
Xie Lan was trying to figure out the level of these ferocious-looking guys and whether they would display the Chinese Kung Fu skills seen in the movies. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Dou Sheng squatting down, scooping up a handful of food, and then picking up an irregular piece of wood.
It was some renovation material left over from the demolition of an old bungalow, and the wooden board was full of splinters. Xie Lan looked at Dou Sheng holding it in his hand and suddenly felt a little unhappy.
Maybe it’s not that I’m unhappy, it’s just that I can’t explain it clearly even in English.
Three people rushed over from the opposite side. Dou Sheng grabbed one of them by the collar with his free hand and pulled him from Xie Lan's direction to himself. The wooden board in his other hand flew out directly, spun a few times in the air, and hit the other one's shoulder dully.
The board fell to the ground and was picked up by Yu Fei. Yu Fei was a completely different person from his usual depressed look. His face was full of irritability. He turned his wrist impatiently and raised his arm violently. The muscles on his lean arm bulged, like a villain in Contra turning on the violent mode. He used a series of thunderbolts and hit hard with the board.
Xie Lan was a little stunned. He never expected that the French bulldog... No, Yu Fei was like this when he was not depressed. He thought it was quite powerful.
Che Ziming just pulled his arm to the side and shivered, "These three are real social people. Damn, where did the guy with the buzz cut get to know these people?!"
Xie Lan looked at the situation on the field and felt that both sides were equally matched. It was even possible that his side was stronger. The main reason was that Yu Fei was really good at fighting, and he was getting stronger and stronger as he fought. His speed and strength kept breaking through. He was as frantic as he was usually.
"Has Yu Fei learned anything?"
"Ah." Che Ming said, "He seemed to have said that he was close to the seventh level of Sanda, the Little Green Dragon of Jianghu."
"… "
Although I don't understand it, it seems very powerful.
Not long after, Yu Fei seized the opportunity and turned around and kicked down Zamao No. 2. The wooden board hit his calf hard, and No. 2 fell to the ground, holding his calf and rolling in pain.
Number Three was also knocked down by Dou Sheng. Number One took two steps back, panting heavily, and stared at Yu Fei.
Xie Lan suddenly felt something was wrong.
They didn't get any advantage, but they didn't leave. Combined with what they just said, it's hard not to think that they have a backup plan.
Xie Lan was just hesitating whether to tell Dou Sheng and the others to run when he heard footsteps behind him.
Some of them were unhurried and reluctant, and didn't seem like they were in a hurry to fight.
Xie Lan turned around and the man raised his eyes. Their eyes met and they were both stunned.
Che Ziming exclaimed, "Oh my god, are you involved with them?"
Chen Ge.
Dou Sheng and Yu Fei were also visibly stunned. Dou Sheng dropped his hand that was holding the wooden board and stared at Chen Ge with a frown.
This was the first time that Xie Lan felt such strong negative emotions in Dou Sheng's eyes. Even yesterday in the staff toilet, he was indifferent, unlike now when he looked very calm, but underneath the calmness there was a murderous intent suppressed.
"Let's go." Dou Sheng pointed at Chen Ge with the tip of the wooden board: "Leave here, I will pretend I didn't see you."
Chen Ge came out of his daze and snorted, "What a noble and upright member of the fourth squad."
"You're also from Class 4!" Che Ziming yelled, "You haven't left yet!"
"I'm not from Class 4." Chen Ge said in a low voice, "I haven't been for a long time."
As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly raised his head sharply. Almost at the same time, Dou Sheng subconsciously pulled Xie Lan to the side. Chen Ge rushed over from a few meters away and kicked away the knife that was stabbed from behind them.
Yu Fei cursed, turned around and blocked the grab with his left hand, pressed his right shoulder against Zamao's, clamped his right arm, turned to the left and back, and threw the man out over his shoulder.
The body hit the ground with a dull sound. Changmao lost his voice for a long time before he recovered. He pointed at Chen Ge and said angrily: "Yongping Street sent a piece of trash like you to take turns?"
Rotation. This was the first time Xie Lan heard the term "rotation". He learned something new.
Chen Ge paused, "What street is Yong? I don't know it, I've never heard of it, I just passed by."
"Stop pretending! What's your name?"
In the distance, another person who had been knocked down a few minutes ago and had not stood up since then shouted, "My name seems to be Chen something!"
Dou Sheng said, "Chen Xiujie. Class 4, Grade 2, Yingzhong High School. Welcome to choose. Remember that."
Xie Lan: “?”
Chen Ge: “…”
Zamao No. 1 exchanged glances with his companions and reached a kind of consensus.
"… Shit. You just wait. And you, Chen Xiujie from Yongping Street, I'm going to settle this with your street boss."
The harsher the words, the faster the person ran, and in a short while even his shadow disappeared.
Che Ziming took a deep breath and said, "Fortunately, Herring is here today, otherwise we would be in trouble."
"Yeah." Dou Sheng threw the wooden board to the ground beside him and glanced at Chen Ge as he heard the crisp sound of it hitting the ground. "It's a good thing that the thugs who came to take turns on duty betrayed us."
Chen Ge didn't even raise his eyelids, still looking down at the ground in the distance. After pausing for a moment, he turned around and walked back in the direction he came from.
"Explain your words clearly!" Che Ziming was about to rush forward as if a firecracker had been lit.
However, Dou Sheng reached out to stop him, turned around and watched Chen Ge's figure disappear. After a long time, he said in a low voice, "Forget it."
"You can't help him." He said calmly: "There are some things that no one can help with."
The violence in Yu Fei's eyes subsided, and he returned to his listless look, a little depressed and a little sleepy. After hesitating for a moment, he raised his hand and patted Dou Sheng's shoulder.
Che Ziming sighed, "That's what you said, but didn't you also say that you were inspired by someone to come out?"
"There's no comparison." Dou Sheng whispered, "My case and his are of a different nature."
Xie Lan turned his head and looked at him.
They were playing charades again. Perhaps because he had only known them for two days, or perhaps simply because his Chinese was not good, he often couldn't guess the riddles.
He just felt that in the gloomy night, Dou Sheng's profile looked a little too cold and desolate.
But Dou Sheng quickly put away his quiet temperament, turned around to glance at him, and was about to say something when his eyes inadvertently fell on his rolled-up sleeves and he suddenly frowned.
"You got hit? When?" He came over and pulled up Xie Lan's wrist, gently poked the two slightly swollen bumps on his arm, and hissed, "It's over. Ms. Zhao Wenying will definitely cripple me."
Xie Lan was silent.
He glanced at Che Ziming silently, and Che Ming immediately clasped his hands together behind Dou Sheng and begged for mercy.
Should I tell Dou Sheng that these two purlins were carved out for him by Che Ziming because he was too scared