Chapter 57 (2/2)

Ma Wei and the others got up from their seats to support Zhang Heng. They did think that their actions would lead to a chain reaction—when the other students saw that someone had taken the lead, they followed suit and stood up as well.

The outburst was so big that it drew even more people’s attention. It had everyone jabbering, trying to find out what was happening. More and more people joined in until the entire half of the alley was standing up!

Having never seen such a show of force before, the black exchange students were beside themselves.

The pressure of standing in the middle, surrounded by a ma.s.s of people, was unimaginable. Tonight, even if it were Tyson who was in this situation, he would have been terror-stricken too. The black man finally realized what a big mistake he and his friend had made.

Many of these exchange students were not exactly model citizens in their own countries. Only when they were no longer welcome there, did they escaped to this ancient, Eastern country, choosing whichever school they wanted, free accommodation, and could even apply for subsidies! With their pride and glory being part of the face-saving culture, whenever they had any sort of conflict with other students, the school would always stand by them for the sake of the bigger picture. So, eventually, after a while in this foreign country, they began to lose their bearings and became conceited.

Tonight, the both of them were out looking for fun, and when they spotted the j.a.panese girl, they thought of a heinous idea—grabbing the girl’s phone was not their real motive; what they really wanted to do was to use the phone to trick her into getting a room with them! They never expected there to be any impending problems, at least not running into Zhang Heng, who spoke fluent j.a.panese.

In their anger, they used an expression they often used back in their country.

Outraged by their slur, Zhang Heng had taken the first move and knocked one of them down. He could easily take down the other one even if they had to fight mano y mano.

He did not expect his roommates to get up from their seats and also the rest of the people who were eating along the streets to join in as well. Coming completely as a surprise, it was the first time he had seen something like this! He could only presume that because these a.s.sholes had been kept unchecked for too long, many people were wary of them.

In the end, Zhang Heng said to the other black man who was now petrified, “Welcome to China!”

The culprit then quickly returned the phone to Hayase Asuka, then ran away from the scene with his b.l.o.o.d.y-nosed friend.

Someone started to cheer, and the rest of the street followed.

Wei Jiangyang ran to his roommate, exhilarated. “That was incredible! We will be bragging about tonight ten years down the road! Did you see how, when everyone stood up together, that black men nearly wet his pants?!”

Ma Wei stuck out a thumb and said, “Virtuous macho men!”

The ecstatic one was Chen Huadong. He fumbled excitedly, “Since when did you learn how to speak j.a.panese? When did you learn j.a.panese?!! My G.o.d! Is that even natural? Is that even natural?! Is there anything you don’t know? d.a.m.n! That punch to his face was really cool! You have to teach me how to do it!”

Hayase Asuka did not understand a word of it, but she caught on to the atmosphere and was grinning ear to ear.

Zhang Heng said to her, “You better go back while it’s still early, and don’t come out alone late at night. But if you have to, at least learn some Mandarin.”

Hayase Asuka’s face flushed red as she answered in a small voice, “I have a few cla.s.smates from j.a.pan. Their Mandarin is pretty good, and we usually hang out together. Are you an exchange student from j.a.pan as well? Your Mandarin is so good, and you even know how to speak English as well.”

When Zhang Heng realized that she was mistaken, she shook his head, “I’m Chinese, but I’ve spent some time in Tokyo before.”