Wei Xiaochi was like a dog from a distance, his gaze as tangible as it could be, staring at the lively Jiang Zhan on the basketball court, radiating waves of resentment.

As a top-tier alpha, Jiang Zhan had long, powerful limbs and astonishing jumping ability. With a single leap, he effortlessly dunked the basketball with one hand into the hoop.

His muscles flowed smoothly and firmly when he dunked.

His teammates clapped in celebration of the beautiful shot, while Han Ziyang looked around distractedly.

Jiang Rui asked curiously, “What are you looking at?”

“Today, I feel like someone’s watching me.” Han Ziyang felt uneasy, “It’s making my left eyelid twitch. Look, it’s twitching again.”

Jiang Rui laughed and scolded, “You’ve watched too many horror movies, haven’t you?”

“Screw horror movies.” Han Ziyang looked gloomy.

Jiang Rui put his arm around Han Ziyang’s neck, “Stop imagining things, the coach is calling us to gather.”

Seeing Jiang Rui didn’t believe him, Han Ziyang, with a dark face, hugged the basketball and walked towards the coach to join the others.

After exercising, Jiang Zhan looked somewhat lazy but followed Han Ziyang.

As if summoned, Jiang Zhan’s half-lowered eyes suddenly sharpened with his usual arrogance, and with keen intuition, he looked sharply in one direction.

On the other side of the playground, a head peeked out from behind a plane tree, met Jiang Zhan’s gaze, and quickly withdrew with a whoosh.

Wei Xiaochi, clutching his head, ran off like mad.

Realizing Jiang Zhan wasn’t following, Wei Xiaochi stopped, his chest heaving like a broken bellows, panting heavily.

After catching his breath, Wei Xiaochi looked several times in the direction of the basketball court with resentful eyes like Sadako.

He really couldn’t understand what these rich kids were thinking; they clearly didn’t lack this bit of money, yet they refused to pay it back.

Was this the fundamental reason for their prosperity? They had no shame.

Wei Xiaochi also hated himself for being a coward.

As the last ray of the setting sun sank below the horizon, the clouds lost their crimson hue, blending into the ink-black sky.

Returning to the classroom to fetch his English exercise book, the basketball court was nearly empty except for two team members cleaning up.

Bicycles weren’t allowed inside the school, so Wei Xiaochi pushed his bike as he slowly left the school.

Wei Dongjian was home today, and Wei Xiaochi didn’t want to eat with him; fetching the English exercise book was just an excuse.

Wei Xiaochi’s relationship with Fang Yuan wasn’t bad, polite and courteous, he didn’t dislike her and sometimes even understood some of her actions.

But towards his biological father, Wei Dongjian, Wei Xiaochi harbored much resentment.

Perhaps because he was his real father, there were expectations, and with great expectations came greater disappointment.

After leaving the school, Wei Xiaochi pushed his bike for a while before riding it, taking a long detour he had never taken before.

Street lamps cast patches of orange light on the asphalt, and Wei Xiaochi leisurely cycled through the streets.

Passing an intersection, he heard several dog barks mixed with someone speaking.

“Hey, why are you alone today? Where are all your eunuchs?”

The voice was sarcastic and a bit familiar.

“Even when walking a dog, we meet. It must be fate. If you don’t get back at me for last time today, even the heavens won’t stand for it.”

Hearing this, Wei Xiaochi finally remembered who was speaking.

The fear etched into his memory made him want to get as far away as possible.

Although there were bullies in Class One, with the class leader’s protection, Wei Xiaochi’s life was quite okay.

His real dark times were in middle school, where he was bullied by someone named Fang Zhixin for three whole years.

Wei Xiaochi had never provoked him; Fang Zhixin just saw him picking up discarded water bottles from the trash and started calling him a scavenger, even putting the trash can over his head.

Wei Xiaochi had reported it to the teachers, but Fang Zhixin only got a verbal warning.

After that, the bullying got worse. When the matter escalated to the school’s notice, the grade director called in both sets of parents.

At that time, Wei Dongjian was out of town, so Fang Yuan went to talk with Fang Zhixin’s parents.

When Wei Dongjian returned, he scolded Wei Xiaochi, calling him useless, saying he should have fought back, that he lacked the qualities of a man.

Fang Zhixin received a serious demerit from the school and didn’t dare to openly bully Wei Xiaochi anymore.

But Wei Xiaochi’s life remained difficult; Fang Zhixin found out about his family situation and spread rumors in school that his mother ran off with another man, his father remarried, and had twins, neglecting him.

These rumors morphed into dozens of versions, getting more outlandish, even claiming he had AIDS.

Thinking back on those middle school days, Wei Xiaochi didn’t know how he survived.

Fang Zhixin came from an average family, with average grades; Wei Xiaochi thought that if he could get into a key high school, he could escape this person.

This belief sustained him through those three years and motivated him to study hard.

Fortunately, Wei Xiaochi bet right. The ones who bullied him the worst didn’t make it to No. 2 High School, and he hadn’t seen Fang Zhixin for a long time.

Hearing Fang Zhixin’s voice again, all those terrible memories came flooding back, making his ears ring for a few seconds.

Stay away from Fang Zhixin.

Wei Xiaochi pursed his lips, hunched over, and pedaled hard to get away from this place of trouble.

Fang Zhixin’s next words seemed like an invisible hand grabbing Wei Xiaochi’s collar, making him hesitate.

“Cat got your tongue, Brother Zhan? That’s not like you.” Still the sarcastic tone, “What, no lackeys to back you up?”

After Fang Zhixin spoke, there were a few laughs in agreement.

Brother Zhan?

Wei Xiaochi’s ears perked up. Was it Jiang Zhan?

He put his bike in a corner, mustered his courage, and peeked around the corner of the alley.

In the dim alley, a few strands of bleak moonlight barely illuminated several figures.

Fang Zhixin was facing away from Wei Xiaochi, with a dog beside him.

He wasn’t cursing; it was a real dog, not one of Fang Zhixin’s followers.

Wei Xiaochi recognized the dog; he had seen Fang Zhixin walk it before. The Husky had grown much taller in over a year, with glossy fur and sturdy limbs, looking foolishly cute.

Every time the Husky saw Wei Xiaochi, it would happily come over to lick him, and Fang Zhixin would curse it for being true to its nature, loving to stick its nose into piles of crap.

Besides the dog, Fang Zhixin had two companions behind him, and they had Jiang Zhan cornered.

Jiang Zhan had been provoked several times by Fang Zhixin, but this notorious school bully from No. 2 High School hadn’t retorted once.

Was he outnumbered three to one? Was the school bully stumped?

That shouldn’t be.

Rumor had it that at the beginning of his freshman year, Jiang Zhan was cornered by senior students in the school’s small woods and still won against five.

Jiang Zhan stood at the back of the alley, his features obscured by darkness, so Wei Xiaochi couldn’t see his expression, but he couldn’t help sweating for him.

Fang Zhixin dropped the dog leash, suddenly stepped forward, and kicked Jiang Zhan in the stomach.

Wei Xiaochi saw Jiang Zhan sway backward, faintly hearing a grunt of endurance.

Jiang Zhan didn’t fight back, making Fang Zhixin scrutinize him, puzzled, “Got your teeth pulled?”

Wei Xiaochi was also wondering why Jiang Zhan wasn’t fighting back. From his observations over the past few days, Jiang Zhan had a pretty bad temper. Why was he like a toothless tiger today?

The excited Husky was making noises, jumping around happily.

Suddenly, Wei Xiaochi remembered the strange scene from yesterday outside the bathroom at the sports square where Jiang Zhan was staring down a little puppy.

Could it be… Jiang Zhan was afraid of dogs?

Wei Xiaochi’s mind echoed with Sherlock Holmes’ words — after eliminating the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

Jiang Zhan wasn’t just afraid of dogs; he was very afraid.

So afraid that even with the Husky just standing in front of him, he wouldn’t dare to move.

This was quite the coincidence; Wei Xiaochi wasn’t afraid of dogs, and dogs liked him, but he was terrified of Fang Zhixin.

The shadow Fang Zhixin cast on him was almost ingrained in his bones; seeing him made Wei Xiaochi scared.

Fang Zhixin was no saint; seeing Jiang Zhan in a bad state today, he took the “strike while the iron’s hot” approach and mercilessly threw two punches at Jiang Zhan’s face.

Wei Xiaochi heard the sound of flesh hitting flesh, his teeth aching.

Jiang Zhan owed him 176; if he saved him today, would he pay it back?

The thought from his brain made Wei Xiaochi’s legs tremble.

Without much time to think, seeing Jiang Zhan about to be ganged up on, Wei Xiaochi, trembling, zipped his school uniform up to his nose and shouted at the Husky —

“Hi, beauty.”

He wasn’t trying to flirt with the Husky; the dog’s name was Hi, Beauty.

Fang Zhixin often mentioned this dog in class. The name was given by Fang Zhixin’s brother, who said when walking the dog, if he failed to hit on a beautiful woman, he could claim he was just calling the dog.

Fang Zhixin thought his brother was particularly clever. In ninth grade, he bragged about going to high school to hit on girls with the dog and actually got a girl’s contact.

Hearing its name, the Husky turned its head.

“Go get it.”

Wei Xiaochi tossed his English exercise book far away.

Fang Zhixin often trained the Husky with plastic frisbees. Seeing the trajectory, the dog excitedly bent down and dashed like an arrow towards the book.

The well-trained Husky caught the book’s corner just before it hit the ground, happily ran back to Wei Xiaochi, and presented it as if seeking praise.

Wei Xiaochi petted the Husky, picked up the leash, and led the silly dog away.

Seeing someone take his dog right under his nose, Fang Zhixin was furious, “F**k, where are you going? Hi, Beauty, come back here…”

Before he could finish, a chill ran up his spine.

Realizing the danger, Fang Zhixin quickly turned around, only to meet a heavy punch, his ears buzzing like a thousand bees.

Dazed, Fang Zhixin lifted his eyelids, but before he could see clearly, another punch came down.

Wei Xiaochi tied the Husky to a streetlight and hid in a corner, listening to the occasional screams from the nearby alley along with Jiang Zhan’s profanity.

“Screw your ancestors.”

“Just you few dogs dare to corner me.”

“F**k.”

Indeed, without the Husky, Jiang Zhan’s fighting prowess was back.

Hugging his English exercise book, Wei Xiaochi crouched in the corner, listening to Fang Zhixin’s howls of pain, feeling a sense of satisfaction like a slave turning the tables on his master.

The ancients did not deceive me; revenge, even if taken ten years later, is sweet.

Satisfying.

Damn satisfying.