Chapter 2: Childhood love- tang xiao tian

Shu Yawang purses her lips before saying,

“I only treat you well.”

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The weather is quite nice today. Shu Yawang opens the window and extends her upper body out from the fourth floor to look at the scenery. The streets are wet from the light rain in the early morning, bringing in a slight cool breeze. Yawang eats her breakfast before heading out to Xia Mu’s home. Her mother tells her to bring her summer vacation homework with her before she leaves. She nods her head lazily and grabs a random book before heading out the door.

As she walks past the playground, she sees Tang Xiao Tian doing push ups. Underneath him is a sheet of newspapers, dripping wet from his sweat. He grits his teeth as he does his push ups, his father monitoring him closely with his arms folded across his chest. Looking at the situation, Yawang guess that Xiao Tian is in some sort of trouble. When she tries to walk away, his father sees her and calls out,

“Yawang!”

Shu Yawang lifts the corners of her lips to make a smile and walk over to them.

“Good morning, Uncle Tang.” His face softens as he smiles warmly back to Yawang.

“You came just in time, go sit on him.”

“Dad!” Xiao Tian stands up from his push up position and gives a pleading look to his dad.

“Don’t you know how heavy Yawang is right now?” His father kick his shins.

“No matter how heavy she is, you can still take it! Aren’t you strong? Don’t you like to fight? If you’re not able to drench the newspaper with sweat today, don’t you even dare stand up. Yawang, go sit on him.”

“Um, Uncle Tang, I have somewhere to go to.”

“Huh?” His father looks at her sternly. Shu Yawang rubs her nose and walk towards Xiao Tan, sitting herself down on his back. He grunts from the weight and lies down flat onto the newspaper. His father, displeased, kicks him.

“Get up.” Xiao Tian lifts himself up slowly, his posture wobbly as he try to do push ups with Yawang on top of him. Yawang tries to help him by placing both of her feet on the ground. His sweat streams down to his chin, lingering for a second before it drops to the newspaper.

“Get your feet off the ground Yawang.” He uses his foot to push Yawang’s feet off from the ground, making Xiao Tan inhale a sharp breath from her weight.

“I don’t think you’ll have enough strength to fight anymore today.” His father nods his head approvingly, then looks at Yawang.

“Yawang, watch him for me today. Don’t let him get up until you see the newspaper is fully drenched with his sweat.” She smiles and nods her head.

“Okay.” His father smiles and ruffles her hair.

“Good girl, Uncle Tang is off to work now.” She waves goodbye to him as he leaves. Uncle Tang and her father are close friends, and Yawang and Xiao Tan have known each other since they were little. They always play together every day, causing trouble and getting punished from it. Xiao Tian have to do push ups as punishment and his father can never bear to punish Yawang, so he tells her to sit on him and watches over him instead. When they were little, Xiao Tian can barely lift himself up from Yawang’s weight, and they would always fall to the ground in pain. Now as they grow older, Xiao Tian can easily do twenty push ups with Yawang on him effortlessly.

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“Is my dad gone?” She looks out to see if his father is still there.

“Yeah.” Xiao Tian plops down to the ground, making Yawang fall as well. He takes in a couple of breaths before turning his head to Yawang.

“Why didn’t you go away when you see Dad punishing me?”

“I didn’t have enough time to.” She answers with a laugh. She looks at the newspaper, a large puddle of sweat has formed.

“How many did you do?” Xiao Tian wipes off the sweat on his face.

“Don’t remember, probably at least two hundred.” He sits up and throws his arm out to Yawang.

“What have you been doing these past days? I barely see you anymore.” Yawang crumples up the wet newspaper and tosses in a nearby garbage can.

“I’m tutoring a kid.” He laughs at her answer, looking at her in disbelief.

“You?”

“Yeah, me.”

“Don’t teach the kid bad things.” Yawang glares at him and slowly raises her arm.

“Don’t make me hit you.” Xiao Tian chuckles back, not flinching one bit. She rests her hand onto his shoulder, giving it a gentle pat. Xiao Tan is breathing heavily from the punishment, his head nudging onto his shoulder to wipe his sweat with his shirt.

“Tsk, just like a puppy.” She said, taking out some tissues from her bag. She lifts his head up and starts to pat the sweat onto the tissue. Maybe it’s because he’s sweating so much, some bits of the tissue stay on his face and hair. Yawang slowly picks the bits off from his face and hair, collecting them onto her palm. Xiao Tian looks at her as she continues to take the bits of tissue off from him, with her bright, round eyes and gentle smile. He leans closer to her and whisper softly,

“Yawang, you’re so kind. Yawang purses her lips before saying,

“I only treat you well.” Xiao Tian rubs his nose and chuckle, his cheeks flushed from embarrassment. Yawang sees how embarrassed he look and teases him.

“You fool.”

Don’t judge a person from their appearance. A handsome boy who is 180cm that is constantly involved with fights, is extremely innocent and pure. If a girl comes closer to him or flirts with him, he will instantly blush and you will be able to hear his heart racing within three steps away. Maybe because of that, many girls confess to him. And everytime he rejects them with his ears perked red, Yawang wants to kick him. Fine, she did kick him, about twenty times freshmen year. That doesn’t include the confessions she did not get to witness.

Later, she heard from his best friend, Zhang Jing Yu, that apart from the time his face was red from his first confession, the rest was because he was scared of Yawang. He is scared that she will be nearby to kick him so he grew aware of his surroundings everytime he gets a confession. However, she will still manage to kick him on the shins. As he grew aware of her, he gets nervous, and when he gets nervous, his face will turn red. Yawang unknowingly smiles when thinking back about it.

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“What are you laughing at?” Yawang stands up and brush the dirt away from her clothes.

“Nothing.” Xiao Tian stands up after her.

“Where are you going later?”

“Tutoring.”

“Don’t go. The mall just open up a new internet cafe and we get to play for free for three days. Zhang Jing Yu can hold seats for us, let’s go.” Yawang is a little hesitant from his offer, they are all obsessed with this new online martial arts game called “Legend”. But playing the game requires a charge card, and Yawang don’t have much allowance left to use. Her fingers start to itch to think of playing.

“But I need to go tutor.” She reply when she thinks of her current responsibilities.

“If you don’t come, I’m not holding the spot for you.”

“Ah, come on.” She pulls his arm and smile. “You go first, I’ll go later.”

“Alright, I’ll wait for you there.” He leaves right after saying that.

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She sees Xia Mu sitting on the floor in his bedroom wiping his gun.

“Xia Mu, let’s go out today. Aren’t you bored staying home all day?” And of course, he didn’t reply. She gives a smirk and starts to walk towards him. Xia Mu quickly assembles back his QSZ-92 and stuffs it into his back pocket, looking back at her suspiciously.

“I’ll bring you to an internet cafe, alright? Don’t you like looking at army weapons? There’s constant updates of them online.” Xia Mu’s eyes shift to the side, contemplating, then he slowly nods his head. Yawang smiles widely and grasp onto his hand, leading him out of his room. His hand feels cold and bony from her touch. Xia Mu tries to release her grasp from him, but she will quickly grab his hand back. They walk out of the villa and walk to Yawang’s home to get her bicycle. She wheels her bicycle towards him and points to the back seat. He looks at the front seat instead, his face full of thoughts.

“What? You want to sit at the front?” He shakes his head and sits at the back. Yawang holds tightly to the handlebars as she sits at the front. The sun is shining brightly and the summer heat is on the rise, so Yawang chooses to bike under the shades where the large trees are. Xia Mu silently sits behind her, but when she suddenly brake to a stop, his body clings tightly to her back. They arrive in front of the mall within thirty minutes, and the internet cafe is packed with high school students. Yawang manages to find Tang Xiao Tian and Zhang Jing Yu at the back and she quickly walk towards them while holding onto Xia Mu’s hand. She pats Xiao Tian’s shoulder, but since he is fully concentrated in killing a wild pig, he didn’t react. Jing Yu, however, react immediately when she pats his shoulder.

“You’re finally here, I’ve been waiting forever.” He gets up from his seat and tells Yawang to sit.

“I’ll be back at seven.” Yawang looks at the time, it’s currently 12:30pm.

“Okay, go home and take a nap.” Zhang Jing Yu and his friends have been playing in the internet cafe since the first day it was opened. They will take turns playing, his friends will play during the day and he will come at night, taking advantage of the promotion to the maximum.

“Use my card to play and help me upgrade.” Yawang shakes her head.

“I can’t beat the magician.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“You’re useless. I’m leaving, Xiao Tian.” Zhang Jing Yu stifles out a yawn before leaving, and Yawang is able to see four cavities from his yawning. Finally, Xiao Tian turns his head around.

“Who’s this kid?”

“The kid I’m tutoring.” Xiao Tian smiles cheerfully to Xia Mu.

“Hi, I’m Tang Xiao Tian.” Xia Mu didn’t answer him back, staring blankly at the computer screen. Xiao Tian rubs his nose, feeling a bit offended.

“I don’t think he likes me.”

“He’s like that, he don’t really talk much.” She have Xia Mu sit on the computer chair and go to find another chair for herself. She place the chair between Xia Mu and Xiao Tian and sits down.

“Have you ever go online before?” Xia Mu shakes his head.

“Alright, let me teach you, I’m your tutor afterall.” She holds onto the mouse and teaches Xia Mu how to type words into the search engines and help him make an account for the game “Legend”. She teaches him the basics of the game and Xia Mu, a smart child, quickly catches on. With the help of Xiao Tian whose in level 40, Xia Mu quickly rises up to level 7 in less than two hours. Since you will need to use a charge card after reaching level 7, Yawang lets Xia Mu uses Jing Yu’s card to continue playing.

After awhile, Xiao Tian stands up and lets Yawang play with his card. She’s playing as a warrior, and that’s an easy position, you just need to kill off the monsters. However, she keeps on forgetting to add blood everytime she kills them, making Xiao Tian constantly reminding her from the back. When Xia Mu lets Yawang play with Jing Yu’s card, it gets more challenging. The operating keys that the magicians use are from F1 to F8, and she never remembers which key is for which move. Every time when she is in danger, Xia Mu will stretch out his small hand and press the keys for her, helping her add blood, add magic, or using the magic shield.

“Ugh, I forgot again.” She would mutter to herself. Xia Mu briefly glance at her before looking back at the computer screen to help her.

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Time flies by when you go online, they haven’t play for long, but the sky is already turning dark. Yawang is sitting between Xiao Tian and Xia Mu who teamed up to fight a monster when suddenly a hand slaps against Xiao Tian’s shoulder.

“Tang Xiao Tian!” Yawang and Xiao Tian both turn their heads. They can’t immediately recognize the person from his swollen face, but Yawang manage to figure out the person to be the high school senior, Cheng Wei. His father is a construction foreman, and whoever dares to mess with Cheng Wei in school will get a threat of getting beat up by migrant workers. Behind Cheng Wei stands seven to eight tanned, built men.

“You brought your girlfriend too?” Tang Xiao Tian stands up in front of Yawang, protecting her.

“Cheng Wei, what’s your deal with bringing so much guys here?”

“You scared now? You weren’t scared when you were fighting with me yesterday.” He points to Yawang and Xiao Tian before yelling out an order.

“Pull them out.” A couple men pull their arms to lead them outside. Yawang forcefully steps back, blocking Xia Mu from their view. Xiao Tian pulls off the hands that are holding onto Yawang.

“Cheng Wei, if you want revenge, then just take it on me! Why pull her in this?”

“She is part of my revenge,” He looks to the crowd in the internet cafe.

“Whoever dares to call the police will not be able to leave this place.” The men pull Yawang and Xiao Tian out of the cafe. Yawang keeps on giving Xia Mu signals to tell him to run back home. They are pulled to the back alley, both of their backs hitting against the wall. She hides behind Xiao Tian as he protects her.

“Cheng Wei, you can do whatever you want to me tonight, but don’t touch Yawang.”

“I’m going to touch her, I’m going to teach you a lesson, Tang Xiao Tian. How else am I going to continue to have things my way in school?” Xiao Tian places one hand behind his back and reach for Yawang’s. He grasp onto it and can feel Yawang’s hand shaking in fear. He shakes it once, she knows what he’s telling her. He tells her to run when she sees a chance. She shakes her hand back and Xiao Tian lets go of his grasp. He lunges towards Cheng Wei and Yawang starts to run as fast as she can. The men goes to help Cheng Wei, making it easier for Yawang to escape. Cheng Wei wipes the blood off from his lips and glare at Xiao Tian.

“Beat him up!”

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Shu Yawang bites her lips as she limps away. She turns her head and sees Xiao Tian being thrown to the ground. She turns her head back and runs as fast as she can, I have to get out of here and get help before he gets beaten to death!

“Get her!” she hears Cheng Wei yelling as he chases after her. She moves to the left and aims her kick to his waist. He stumbles from the blow and she runs away, but he quickly catches up and got a hold of her. He clutches onto her wrist and glare at her furiously. Yawang can hear Xiao Tian yelling at a distance,

“Shit! Cheng Wei, if you dare hit her, I will kill you!”

“You bitch, I’ll show you!” He raises his hand and strike his palm down, hitting Yawang’s arms. The blow stings her arm like a blazing fire.

“How dare you block me?” Cheng Wei grabs Yawang’s arms so she won’t be able to block. She shuts her eyes as she murmurs to herself. He is so screwed, I’m going to show my dad my injuries and have him destroy his house!

“Stop.” A cold voice speaks out from a distance. Yawang slowly opens her eyes and turns her head to the voice. It’s Xia Mu, who’s pointing his QSZ-92 towards Cheng Wei.

“Let her go.” Xia Mu tells Cheng Wei.

“Haha, you kid, you’re bringing a toy gun to scare me? Don’t be silly.” Cheng Wei laughs.

“It’s real.”

“Real? Do you think I’m an idiot?” Cheng Wei crouches down and pats Xia Mu’s head.

“It’s getting late, go back home to your mom.” His men roar with laughter as if they had heard the funniest joke of their lives. Yawang looks over to Xia Mu helplessly. This kid, I tell him to run back home, why did he run back here? Does he think he will be able to fool them with his toy gun? Xia Mu lowers his gun, tilting it to the side and placing the gun barrel gently against Cheng Wei’s head.

“Type 92 handgun. Produced in China. Has a 5.8mm caliber and uses DAP5.8mm bullets, The total length of the gun is 188mm and it can carry up to 20 bullets, making the world’s most lethal handgun.” Xia Mu tilts his head to the side when he finish speaking.

“Do you want to see if it’s real or fake?”