If I had been the only one to stand up for Mia, John and his crew in hip-hop outfits might've rushed over to beat me up without hesitation. But just then, Da Luo and Xiao Luo stepped up behind me, showing clearly that if a fight broke out, they were on our side.
The Luo brothers, though rural kids with few other strengths, were built like tanks — broad-shouldered, dark-skinned, and muscular. Standing behind me, they looked like two wrathful guardian deities. Their presence definitely put pressure on John — in a real fight, these two would be formidable.
On John's side, his regular cronies like Bighead Buddha, Skinny Monkey, and Pillar weren't present. He only had a few street-style friends with him. Although the numbers on both sides were about even, our team clearly had the upper hand because of the Luo brothers.
John never expected that someone like me — who was usually timid around him — would suddenly take the lead in standing up to him. His face darkened as he gritted his teeth and growled, "You little punks think just because you've grouped up, I can't deal with you? Just you wait…"
He pulled out his phone, clearly about to call reinforcements.
Harper, now visibly angry, shouted, "Enough! It's my birthday tonight. If you want to fight, take it outside! Don't ruin my evening!"
Seeing Harper angry, John didn't dare escalate. He pointed at Mia and me, saying, "This isn't over. Just wait." Then he stormed out with his hip-hop buddies.
Mia knew he'd caused serious trouble, and he had no mood to party anymore. We said a quick goodbye to Harper and left.
Outside the KTV, Mia grabbed my hand and said, overwhelmed with emotion, "Andrew, thank you for backing me up tonight — and Da Luo, Xiao Luo, you too. From now on, you're my sworn brothers. If I ever hesitate to help you, I'm not even human."
It's natural to feel grateful when someone lends you a hand in tough times. I understood Mia's emotion and joked, "So we only become brothers starting now? What, we weren't before?"
Mia threw his arm around my shoulder and said, "We were good friends before — now we're real brothers."
I pretended to be grossed out. "Get lost. Don't hang on me like that — people might think we're gay!"
Da Luo and Xiao Luo burst out laughing. Mia loudly declared, "Gay? Hell yeah, we're the Four Great Gays of Second High!"
In unison, the three of us shouted, "Screw off!"
Mia was still in high spirits, and since we didn't have class the next day, he suggested we go somewhere else to drink. Everyone agreed.
So we headed to the nearby night market for a late-night snack. The place was full of street food stalls — cheap and tasty.
We picked a random stall, ordered a few stir-fries and a dozen beers, and sat down to drink.
After a while, Mia spoke up, "I hit Ba-ge's cousin tonight. He's definitely coming for me tomorrow. Ba-ge's powerful — way out of our league. I brought this on myself, so don't stick your necks out for me tomorrow."
The Luo brothers stayed silent. After all, getting involved with one of the grade's top dogs wasn't something to take lightly.
I thought for a moment and shook my head. "Mia, you called me brother — that makes your business my business. I won't just stand by."
Da Luo said, "Even if we want to help, how? Ba-ge has more people than we do — we'll just get crushed."
I replied, "Even if Ba-ge has the numbers, fear won't help us. At this point, our only option is to stick together. If he pushes too hard, we'll go find Zheng Zhantao."
They all knew Zheng Zhantao respected me and had tried to recruit me before. And power-wise, Zheng Zhantao wasn't inferior to Ba-ge. If we sided with him, Ba-ge wouldn't dare touch us.
Xiao Luo asked, "Then why not just go to Brother Tao right now?"
I took a sip of beer, looked at them, and said, "You forget Zheng Zhantao's nickname?"
Zheng Zhantao was known as the 'Smiling Tiger' at school. Despite his always-friendly demeanor, he was cunning and selfish — not the kind of guy you'd want as a real brother.
They understood immediately. Unless we had no other choice, we'd better not rely on him. Still, having that backup plan eased everyone's worries a bit. At least we weren't cornered.
As we drank and chatted, I noticed a Yamaha scooter pull up nearby. Two girls got off — one chubby with a mushroom haircut, and the other a striking beauty with long wine-red hair, multiple earrings in her right ear, a T-shirt with denim shorts revealing long, fair legs, white sneakers, and a silver bracelet. Definitely the rebellious "bad girl" type.
Mia and the Luo brothers noticed too. They whispered, "The one with the red hair is seriously hot. Probably a student from Third High?"
The two girls parked and looked around the food stalls. Their eyes settled on us. The chubby one asked, "Zhang Zheguan?"
I looked at them, confused. "Zhang Zheguan? You've got the wrong guy."
She looked disappointed. "Really not?"
I looked at her, then at the rebellious beauty beside her, and smiled. "Nope."
The red-haired girl, seeing we weren't the ones they were looking for, turned to the mushroom-head and said, "Deng Wen, if your online friend doesn't show, we'll wait a bit — then we're out."
They sat at the table next to ours. Mia whispered, "That redhead is gorgeous — she's on par with Harper."
Da Luo and Xiao Luo nodded. I glanced at the girls and said, "They're probably here to meet an online date. If they agreed to come out so easily, they're probably not 'good girls.'"
Just then, the redhead pulled out a pack of cigarettes, put one in her mouth but couldn't find a lighter. She turned to us and asked, "Got a light?"
"Yeah! Yeah!" Mia scrambled to offer his lighter and lit it for her.
She accepted the help without surprise, took a puff, and said coolly, "Thanks," then walked back.
Xiao Luo commented, "She's definitely from the streets. Total gangster vibes."
I shrugged. "Not every bold girl's a gangster. Some are just cocky because they're pretty."
As we chatted and drank, a group of teens in vocational school uniforms showed up. One, dyed blond, looked around and walked over to the girls' table. He leered and asked, "Are you Deng Wen?"
The mushroom-cut girl stood up, pleased. "Yes, yes! You're Zhang Zheguan, right?"
Zhang Zheguan looked disappointed, but his eyes quickly landed on the redhead, lighting up. "And who's this hottie?"
Deng Wen introduced her. "She's my classmate and our dorm boss — Ni Anqi."
Ni Anqi… the name sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it.
They sat down, introduced themselves, and ordered food. Trying to impress, Zhang Zheguan loudly called for two dozen beers and lots of seafood, then shouted to the waiter, "Hey, I'm starving — get our food first or I'll trash your stall!"
The waiter, intimidated by their dyed hair and tattoos, left without protest.
Mia, already tipsy, scoffed at Zhang Zheguan, "What the hell — that guy's uglier than me, but he can still get dates. Life's so unfair."
We laughed. "Come on, you're not that much better."
To be fair, aside from his buck teeth, Mia was decent-looking. Zhang Zheguan, on the other hand, had a pimply, pancake-flat face. But somehow, he'd scored a date with a beauty — definitely made us jealous.
Just then, a waiter came over with a dish of mussels in black bean sauce. Zhang Zheguan intercepted him. "Wait, leave that here."
The waiter frowned. "That's not yours — it's for that table," pointing at us.
Zhang Zheguan glanced at us and said, "Leave it. I'll talk to them."
He swaggered over and greeted us, "Hey bros!"
I looked up. "What's up?"
He pointed to the mussels and said, "Mind if we have those first?"
Mia, tipsy and annoyed, snapped, "Why should we?"
I could tell this guy was trouble. Not wanting a pointless fight, I held Mia back and said, "Forget it, let him have it. Hey waiter, have the kitchen make another for us."
Zhang Zheguan smirked and nodded at his buddies, then said to me, "I'm Zhang Zheguan from the vocational school. Hit me up if you need anything."
After he left, Mia complained, "Andrew, why'd you let him take our food? What're you scared of?"
I poured Mia another beer and said with a laugh, "He's trying to impress a girl. No point fighting over this."
Mia and the Luo brothers still felt indignant. I understood. Watching some ugly punk score a hot date while showing off at our expense… yeah, anyone would be pissed.