You Like The Smart Ones? You Should Have Said So Sooner! - Chapter 17

Chapter 17: To Be a Dog Then

Dumbass.” Song迎 (Song Ying) disgustedly swatted away Zhang Kun’s hand.

“Heh, quite the temper today,” Zhang Kun laughed. “I didn’t play it well last time and let you run off with that kid, but you won’t be so lucky this time.”

“If that kid dares to show up again, I’ll break his legs personally!” He spat viciously.

Song Ying coldly lifted his eyelids, staring at the persistent Zhang Kun with a fierce glint in his eyes.

Zhang Kun noticed it and was amused: “What, not convinced? Come on, your Grandpa Zhang will beat you until you’re convinced today!”

Song Ying was already annoyed; he didn’t waste words and immediately started fighting them.

On the other side.

At home, 秦勉 (Qin Mian)’s right eyelid had been twitching constantly.

He looked at the time, feeling restless.

What was going on? It was almost 11:00 PM, and he still hadn’t heard the sound of Song Ying returning. Usually, he could hear the sound of the door opening and closing when Song Ying came home.

Li Zhixun, seeing him check his phone frequently, asked weakly: “Brother Mian, do you have some urgent business?”

Qin Mian glanced at him.

Li Zhixun jolted and said: “Brother Mian, if you have something urgent, go take care of it, I’m fine.”

Since the last cold war with Song Ying, Li Zhixun had moved the tutoring sessions to Qin Mian’s house.

Qin Mian checked the time again, hesitating for a moment. He remembered what he had said before: that he’d be a “dog” if he ever spoke to Song Ying again.

Damn it, if I’m a dog, then I’m a dog! Could anyone be more of a dog than Song Ying?

“Wait here, I’m going out to check,” he dropped the sentence, stood up, and ran out.

Song Ying was unusually fierce, fighting Zhang Kun and his gang.

“Dammit, why is he so hard to handle today?” Zhang Kun spat out bloody saliva and touched the cut on his face caused by a piece of metal.

Song Ying had grabbed scrap metal and a stick from the ground, trading blows with their steel pipes. But he was outnumbered and had already taken several hits. His backpack and phone had fallen into some unknown corner.

Just then, the thug who had been keeping watch outside rushed in frantically.

“Boss, Boss! That kid is here!”

Song Ying froze for a second, and in the next instant, a sharp pain shot through his left leg.

“Ugh!—”

A pipe from the opposite side had smashed into his leg. Song Ying instantly collapsed to his knees, breaking into a cold sweat. But his gaze was fixed on the corner of the alley, praying that Qin Mian wouldn’t come. This time, these people came prepared; they wouldn’t be as easy to deal with as before.

Zhang Kun’s eyes widened with delight: “Good! Last time I was careless, watch me give him some real trouble tonight.”

As Qin Mian approached the alley, he sensed something was wrong and immediately dialed the police on his phone. Just as he tucked the phone into his pocket, a brick flew toward him. He dodged it with a violent sidestep, cold sweat breaking out on his back.

“Song Ying!?” Qin Mian called out loudly into the dark alley.

Song Ying gritted his teeth, enduring the agonizing pain in his leg, his forehead drenched in sweat: “…Run! There are too many of them, you can’t win!”

Hearing this, Zhang Kun sneered and revealed his face from the shadows: “Run? You’ll have to ask me if I’ll let you run first.”

Qin Mian narrowed his eyes, his heart tightening at the sight of Song Ying half-kneeling on the ground. But on the surface, he let out a disdainful chuckle: “You guys are quite bold. In a society ruled by law, you dare to use real weapons?”

“Pfft, the law is nothing. Even if I go in, the Zhou family just has to lift a finger and I’ll be out again,” Zhang Kun said, pulling a knife from his pocket and tossing it. “As for you two, with your thin arms and legs, if I really give you a poke… that would be very bad indeed.”

Qin Mian’s gaze landed on the cold gleam of the knife. His eyes tightened, but he laughed lightly: “Bro, what’s the grudge? Why all the fighting and killing every day?”

He paused, thought for a moment, and said: “How about this? You’ve already beaten him. I’ll give you some money, and you take your brothers out for a drink. Let’s call it a day, okay?”

“Heh, you know how things work,” Zhang Kun was amused. “But that won’t do. I’m here specifically to teach you a lesson today. You kicked me last time, and I still haven’t fully recovered. If I don’t get some ‘interest’ back from you, I won’t be satisfied!”

Qin Mian twitched the corner of his mouth, wanting to curse inwardly: “Then how about this, I’ll give you more?”

At this moment, a thug next to Zhang Kun spoke up: “Boss, stop talking to him, he’s stalling for time. I saw this kid take out his phone just now; he might have already called the police.”

Qin Mian’s face darkened, knowing things had gone south.

Sure enough, Zhang Kun’s expression changed instantly as he pointed the knife at him: “What!? You dare play me! Get him!”

“Damn it.” Qin Mian gritted his teeth and stopped talking, engaging Zhang Kun and the others directly. He had been fighting since he was a kid; why would he be afraid of them?

Qin Mian kicked down the weakest one, ducked a steel pipe, and snatched one away to use as a weapon. But he couldn’t hold out against so many people. Zhang Kun was wielding a knife, and the attacks were coming at him from all sides. Qin Mian had to keep his attention on the knife, which meant he couldn’t react in time to the simultaneous attacks of five people.

With a muffled groan, he took a heavy blow to his left shoulder.

Zhang Kun shouted: “Pin him down!”

Four people lunged at once. Qin Mian couldn’t dodge in time, lost his balance, and fell to the ground. Zhang Kun kicked out, hitting Qin Mian right in the abdomen, sending him flying several meters.

“Ugh!—”

Instantly, the pain was so intense that Qin Mian couldn’t make a sound, curling into a ball.

“Qin Mian!!” Song Ying’s pupils shrank as he witnessed this.

Song Ying forced himself to stand up. Taking advantage of Zhang Kun’s distracted attention, he picked up a steel pipe and swung it at Zhang Kun. Zhang Kun staggered, turned around fiercely, and kicked again, sending Song Ying tumbling right next to Qin Mian.

“Qin Mian? Qin Mian!” Song Ying managed to find his voice, shaking Qin Mian slightly, but Qin Mian didn’t respond.

Seeing this, one of the thugs got scared: “Crap, Boss, did you kick him too hard?”

Zhang Kun swallowed hard and said steadily: “What are you afraid of! The Zhou family is backing us.”

To be honest, Zhang Kun was also unsure. Last time, the young master of the Zhou family had sent them to check on Song Ying, but they hadn’t been sent since. This time, looking for trouble with Song Ying and Qin Mian was purely out of a personal grudge.

At that moment, the wail of a siren pierced the silence of the night, and red and blue lights flashed closer and closer.

“B-boss! The police! The police are here!”

“Run!”

“Hurry up and run!”

Usually, they were quite arrogant, but this time they weren’t sure if anyone would cover for them—and they weren’t sure if someone had been killed. The group dropped their pipes and fled in terror.

In a semi-conscious state, Qin Mian heard Song Ying’s anxious voice and the sound of sirens before finally losing consciousness completely.