In the quiet room, He Zheng squatted on the floor smoking, chatting idly with Zhang Tie.
Cigarette butts littered the floor, and the smoke made the room a little choking.
It was 11:47 p.m. He simply couldn't sleep, nor did he dare to.
Little Crewcut and Ye Lin weren't much for conversation, and An Ke hadn't woken up, so all he could do was shoot the breeze with Zhang Tie.
With nothing else to talk about, he could only recount his past glories. In his telling, his three years as a middle school bully rivaled Qin Shi Huang's conquest of the realm. With his two fists, he had beaten everyone in school without finding a worthy opponent.
But when Zhang Tie asked about his record in high school, He Zheng stammered, unable to answer. Zhang Tie's guileless follow-up questions only made him more flustered and angry.
He was short and had stopped growing when he started high school, so for those three years, people cornered him in the bathrooms and beat him up every day.
Fortunately, Zhang Tie was too dim to notice his embarrassment. Even after He Zheng repeated his middle school exploits three or four times, the big lunk still said, "You're fucking awesome, Brother He."
"Fuck, Zhang, I'm not bullshitting you. Back then, six or seven guys cornered me in an alley, and my wife Yang Qiao was there too. Do you know how badass I was?"
"I charged in with a machete..."
"Are you all okay?"
An Ke's voice suddenly came through his wristwatch.
He Zheng froze. Forgetting his boast about attacking people with a pencil sharpener blade back in the day, his eyes lit up, and the others immediately grew excited too.
"An Ke, you're awake!?"
"Yes. I'm fine now."
Alone in her room, An