CHAPTER #30

Walking downstairs to the main floor of the school, Qihe saw that Suyin was following him. Once reaching the next hall, she looked one way and then the other, before asking, "where did he go?"

Qihe snuck up on her and put his face next to hers, "why are you looking for me?"

She turned and pushed him away, so he pretended to fall. From the ground he held his hand out to her, "help me up?"

Suyin offered her hand, but instead he pulled her to him. "Remember to pay my medical bills." Laughing he booped her nose, then left.

"It's not my fault you fell!" She shouted after him, but didn't follow.

What new game was she playing now and why suddenly want to involve him? He was nice enough to her and treated Bohai well, so what did Suyin want? They had a class together, but she paid more attention to the girl in front of her, than to him. She was sticking to her usual m.o. but didn't fool him, she was up to something. By the end of class, he was already bored and disinterested.

As Qihe walked by the class door on his way to the next one, she held out a folder to him. "You forgot your homework."

He back tracked and took the folder, "thanks, I didn't know we had any."

She held out her hand to him and requested, "running errands fee."

He gave her back the folder and asked, "do you want money…" he ducked under her outstretched arm and moved closer. It caused her to let go of the folder, so he caught it one handed, as his other hand was braced against the wall. Leaning in beside her ear, he finished asking, "… or me?"

Suyin couldn't help the blush, but still shoved him away using her hands braced on his shoulders. "I want favours and money."

He laughed and rose an eyebrow, questioning her answer silently. Qihe walked down the hall and put his arm around one of his fan girls, before replying over his shoulder, "sorry you get neither."

At the end of the hall was Bohai. He'd seen the exchange and gave his sister a warning look, to which she tossed her hair over a shoulder and sauntered away. As Qihe approached he asked, "Boss are you signing up for the basketball tournament?"

"I didn't know there was one."

"It's for the Mooncake festival held here at the school. The first prize is two kilos of hairy crab, second prize is a tea set worth 200 yuan and the third prize is a bunch of mooncakes."

"Sure sign me up if you want. Are you playing too?"

"I don't want to make the team loose."

"Don't listen to Suyin, you're a decent player and a good guard."

"Thanks Boss. I'll put my name in when I write down yours." Bohai grinned and added, "want me to put your twin and half-brother's names down too?"

"Not Lu He, he's busy working on a new drama, but I'll ask Xiang Shao later and we can always switch him out if there are extra people who want to join our team and he can't play that day."

At the next class Qihe was napping at his desk, head resting on his hands. He overheard the guys behind him talking about Suyin. "She gave me her little rubber band."

"I thought she was only into girls," his seat mate said.

"I guess she must like me very much. And she might be bi. Haitao from the swim team said he saw her making out with his friend Sile."

Annoyed, Qihe said over his shoulder, "you are too noisy!"

"Sorry Mafia Boy," the guys apologized immediately.

As the rest of the class filed in and found seats, Suyin, who arrived a little late, found the only seat available was beside Qihe. She saw him sleeping on his desk and pulled out the books to finish the homework that was due at the end of class. Suyin tapped his shoulder, then looked questioningly at the guys behind, when they suddenly moved their desks as far back as possible. Shortly after Qihe sat up.

"I'm hungry, do you have anything to eat?" Suyin asked.

Angrily he retorted, "does it look like I'm carrying food? Don't you think I ate it?" He got up and walked out.

The guys behind her whispered, "oh shit, she's made Mafia Boy mad!"

When Qihe returned he dumped candy and junk food on her desk. She looked up at him, "I don't like sweets."

He was not impressed with her insolence and grabbed her by the shirt collar. "Choose for yourself!" He lifted her up and dragged her out the door.

"Let go!" She protested.

"Don't test my patience today."

"Who shit in your porridge?" Suyin joked, but then saw the dangerous look in his eyes and immediately apologized. "Sorry. I'll go get food by myself."

[MILD VIOLENCE]

Returning to class, Qihe went back to sleep until the teacher arrived. When he opened his eyes and leaned back in the chair, he saw that Suyin had left him a peace offering of an ice tea and bag of chips. He didn't touch it and ignored her the whole class. Qihe wasn't sure why he was so pissed off suddenly and decided to skip the next class to look for a fight. He texted some of his gang; the guys in senior high and those that hung out at the basketball courts. He was told some dude was waiting to fight Mafia Boy outside the courts. He was the king from another district's senior high. Qihe decided to head out that way and ditch the rest of school. After the fight he could always play a pick-up game too.

When Qihe arrived outside the basketball court where he usually met with his half-brother, he saw a guy shadow boxing and grinned. This was exactly what he needed. "Someone looking for me?"

"Mafia Boy, that guy wants a fight… mind if I set up a bet?"

"Did he bring friends?"

"Four guys and they're wearing a lot of bling, so we can jack up the betting."

"Go for it."

"Want a cut?"

"Nope, but leave them some money to take him to the hospital later."

"Sure thing Boss."

Qihe moved his head side to side and rotated his shoulders, then stretched his legs. "Call him over to me, when your bets are in." He sized up the guy that wanted to fight him, he was tall and muscular, but that didn't mean shit.

"Gen, the guy in the black mouth mask, is Mafia Boy!"

"That shorty? Boys this won't take long."

Qihe rose an eyebrow. In his hand he gripped a lighter, that would reinforce his knuckles, during the impact phase of the punch. Gen had a cauliflower ear on his right side, meaning he got punched in that ear frequently, compared to the other ear that was fine. That told him 2 things: first that Gen dropped his guard on that side and secondly he was a real fighter. Probably a boxer or kick boxer. Qihe stood relaxed, but ready.

"Let's get on with this then," Qihe said.

Gen threw a straight left and followed up with a right upper cut, all of which Qihe avoided. The tall guy was eager to prove his abilities. He danced on his toes, like a boxer and didn't try throwing any kicks. Qihe half turned, stepping away from another combination of punches, that came up empty. Their momentum had warmed him up, so he whipped back in a reverse quarter circle, moving fast. It looked like the two of them would collide, but he twisted and threw a right hook, catching Gen on that bubbled ear. As designed it was a hard blow and it snapped Gen's head sideways, but not as much as some guys. This guy could take a punch, but that wasn't unexpected. Without pause, Qihe was already throwing an elbow towards the guy's chin. Gen stayed on his feet, but shook his head, showing it had surprised him. Using his knee, Qihe rammed it into the solar plexus, hard enough to drive the guy's breath out of him, but not hard enough to inflict lasting damage. In this fight Qihe wouldn't use street moves like kicking a guy in the balls, head butting or eye gouging. This guy he planned to defeat with his MMA skills. Gen was shuffling his feet like boxers are trained to do to create aim and momentum. But he was already breathing hard, the lack of stamina was obvious. Qihe threw his own combination of punches, that were fast and aimed for maximum damage. As Gen danced back to put distance between them, Qihe launched a twisting kick, that landed on the back of the guy's neck. When Gen went down onto a knee, he was finished with a left hook.

"He's out, come collect him."

"The winner is Mafia Boy, pay up boys."

"Gen's going to be pissed when he wakes up."

"He held up better than others, but needs to work on his cardio." Qihe explained and accepted a water from the fight bet organizer. "Any of you guys want to play basketball, while you wait for him to wake up?"

The four friends shrugged and looked at each other, undecided.

"It can be one on one, so the rest of you can stay with Gen."

"Aren't you tired from the fight Mafia Boy?"

Qihe laughed, "not at all, that was a good pre-game warm up."

"We should take him back, maybe next time," one of Gen's friends said after he finished paying for his lost bet.

"Alright, later." Qihe went to round up some guys to play a game. He was no longer pissed off and in a good mood. He sent a text to Xiang Shao to drop by the court after he was done school, if not busy.