Chapter Sixty-Four: One Arrow, Three Targets

“Get me a few guys from the South City. Tomorrow afternoon, wait for me at the entrance to Yonghe Temple. Help me deal with three high school students. Afterwards, big sister will treat you all to hotpot.” Han Xue immediately began delegating tasks. If Hongtao had known it was this easy for her to find people, he definitely wouldn't have paid her thirty yuan.

“Just three high schoolers? Are we roughing them up or giving them a real beating?” Shengzi felt this hotpot meal was coming a bit too cheap—he was uneasy.

“With your attitude, do you think I'd need you to beat them up? You don't need to do anything fancy, just give them a good thrashing, but don't go overboard. A bloody nose, a black eye—listen to me: find a few reliable guys, not some greenhorns who don't know their own strength and might go too far. If something happens, I don't know you!” Han Xue rolled her eyes and gave Shengzi a huge side-eye.

“Alright, you really think highly of me, huh? Why go all the way to the South City? Can't our own guys handle it?” Shengzi was so rattled by her glare that his whole body felt weak.

“Is your brain just for decoration? If I wanted them, would I be talking to you alone? Enough nonsense—are you in or not? Do it my way, or I'll get someone else!” Han Xue was losing patience.

“No, no, no, we'll do it your way. I'll head to the South City now and make sure I find professionals. When the time comes, out come the big belts, five black eyes each, as intimidating as possible, but not a drop of blood. They'll be fine in a few days. Is that what you want?” Shengzi grinned from ear to ear, eager to show he understood. He glanced hopefully at Han Xue, his eyes darting occasionally to her chest before looking away quickly.

“Three o’clock sharp. Don’t be late! Eat by yourself, I’m going out for a walk.” Han Xue couldn't stand the look on his face—utterly repulsive. She had lost her appetite for the meat dishes on the table. She downed her beer in one gulp, stood up, and sashayed toward the stairs. As she passed Shengzi’s table, she shot him another glare, sparking a round of whistles and jeers from the second floor.

“Xiao Tao, why are you so interested in the Confucius Temple? What’s worth seeing in that rundown courtyard?” The next afternoon, before class, Hongtao found his uncle on the third floor and insisted he and the "Smelly Big Sis" accompany him to tour the Confucius Temple in the Guozijian. His uncle was baffled.

“You’ll see when we get there. And don’t forget, you have to bring her along,” Hongtao said, not revealing his real intentions.

“Don’t call her ‘Smelly Big Sis.’ You know her real name. Using a nickname is so rude!” For once, his uncle acted civilized.

“Oh, so now you’re defending her? Weren’t you the one who told me that nickname in the first place? Now you want to burn the bridge after crossing it? Smelly... Big... Sis...” Hongtao was annoyed by the silly, lovestruck expression on his uncle’s face. The guy hadn’t even held her hand, yet after a few days of kindness from her, he was already acting like her groom and protecting her everywhere. Hongtao had no patience for such nonsense. He spun around and dashed down the stairs, his voice ringing shrill and sharp like a police siren, echoing through the hallway.

Beijing’s No. 143 High School was located right on Guozijian Street, on the south side, its gate facing north. Diagonally across was the reason why the street bore its name: the ancient highest institution of learning, the Guozijian, also called the Confucius Temple. At the time, this school’s reputation was even lower than Yonghe Temple High School, where his uncle studied. The local kids all knew a little rhyme: “143 High, a ragtag crowd, broken desks, broken chairs, broken lights!”

You didn’t need to ask anyone’s opinion. Just walk beneath the classroom building and count how many intact window panes remained—you’d know exactly what kind of students this school harbored. Since high schoolers had one extra class in the afternoon, Hongtao, his uncle, and Smelly Big Sis entered the Confucius Temple while the school gate across the street was still open; the last class hadn’t let out yet.

Hongtao didn’t see Han Xue, but he figured she hadn’t stood him up. Under the big trees at the school gate squatted two young men, clearly not students. How to describe them? They looked human enough, but somehow not quite like good people. Even the way they smoked was different: cigarettes were clamped at an angle between their lips, held with their teeth, grinning and scanning the area as if afraid no one would notice they were troublemakers. They might as well have “Bad Guy” tattooed on their foreheads.

Aside from those two, Hongtao noticed two more similar types on each side of the gate, exchanging glances and subtle hand signals—a clear sign they were all together.

Seeing this, Hongtao felt reassured. These six were obviously lying in wait. The two at the gate were lookouts, responsible for identifying the targets; the four lurking on either side were the muscle, ready to intercept anyone who tried to run. The street had only two exits, east and west, and each end was covered. There’d be no easy escape.

Hongtao spent nine cents on three tickets for the Confucius Temple, then pulled his uncle and Smelly Big Sis to a stop just inside the gate, hiding behind a pillar and watching the school entrance across the street.

“Xiao Tao, who are you waiting for?” his uncle asked in confusion.

“He must be waiting for Gao Liang and his friends. Did you tell your nephew about Gao Liang?” Girls are always more perceptive. When Hongtao led them onto Guozijian Street, he’d watched her out of the corner of his eye—she’d looked uneasy, keeping close to the right-hand wall, afraid of getting near the school gate. Once they were hidden inside the temple’s entrance, she grew even more nervous, clutching the hem of her shirt tightly with both hands.

“Gao Liang? Xiao Tao, why are we waiting for him? You can’t beat him—he’s even taller than me!” Now his uncle was a bit scared too. People are like crickets: once bitten, twice shy. Lose a fight once, and you'll never have the nerve to challenge the same opponent again.

“Don’t slander me! I’m such an honest kid—since when do I fight? I just have a feeling something’s going to happen today, so I want to stick around. Maybe we’ll see some excitement. What’s wrong with you two keeping me company a little longer?” Hongtao would never admit anything, but he refused to leave.

After a while, the school bell rang for the end of class, and students began trickling out. The two at the gate sprang into action, signaling to a boy as he exited. The boy hesitated, but walked over. After a few words and a slap on the head, he obediently followed them behind the tree, peeking nervously at the entrance.

Soon, the number of students increased as the entire high school poured out. The boy behind the tree pointed toward the gate, and the two lookouts stepped forward, deliberately bumping into two tall boys. What happened next was simple. The two tall boys tried to avoid trouble, but the lookouts blocked their path. Hongtao couldn’t hear what was said, but knew it didn’t matter. They weren’t reasoning—they were identifying targets. At that moment, the four from either side began moving, striding quickly across, each drawing a web belt from under their coats.

Six against three, with a clear advantage in age and experience. The two tall boys and a shorter one who tried to intervene were all taken down at once by the attackers. Belts with metal buckles rained down on them, forcing them to roll on the ground, unable to get up. Within seconds, the six assailants sprinted east, hopped on three bicycles waiting nearby, doubled up, and disappeared through the Guozijian archway.

The students at the gate were still in shock. The girls had already fled, shrieking, while the boys retreated into the school, too scared to come out. The old man from the guard room reacted faster than the young ones—he’d already run into the teaching building, probably to fetch a teacher. There were few pedestrians on the street, and the few who happened by just stopped to stare at the three students lying on the ground, unsure what had happened.

“See that? That’s what I call professional! Not a word, just straight to action—done in under a minute, and before anyone knew what happened, they were already at Beixin Bridge. Learn from this, Uncle. Your team has a lot to improve. Come on, let’s go have a look. This isn’t something you see every day—we might as well study their technique.” Hongtao, having seen the two lookouts move to identify the targets, was sure that Gao Liang and his friends were doomed today. He hadn’t watched the beating closely—instead, he’d been observing Smelly Big Sis’s expression. Until now, he hadn’t entirely believed her words, but now he was convinced. She had nothing to do with Gao Liang. Her first reaction was to hide behind his uncle, peeking out, her face showing nothing but fright, tension, and surprise—not a trace of sympathy.

“I think I’ll stay here. We all live in the same compound—what if they see me?” Smelly Big Sis didn’t want to show her face.

“What’s the harm? All the more reason to go—you’re neighbors, right? Show some concern. We just happened to be passing by; we can’t pretend we didn’t see anything. Come on!” Hongtao thought to himself, I paid thirty yuan for this—you’re going over there, or I’ll only count it as fifteen yuan’s worth.