At the end of September, a slight chill of early autumn was in the air.
The once somewhat quiet university town had regained its bustle. Since the Olympics had been held this year, the familiar tune of "Beijing Welcomes You" still drifted through the streets and alleys.
Currently, the military training for freshmen at the various universities in the town was nearly over.
As the freshmen gradually became familiar with their campuses and the surrounding university town area, many began to get restless. Especially the freshmen from the vocational college next to the University of Finance and Economics and from the University of Food and Economics, their boldness grew, their actions became more and more flamboyant, and their attitude increasingly arrogant.
Now, on weekends, whenever you saw students gathering in groups near the snack street or school gates, nine times out of ten they were freshmen.
Freshmen, new to everything, did indeed tend to form cliques more easily than the upperclassmen. This was especially obvious at schools with relatively lax management like the vocational college and the University of Food and Economics.
Their reason for banding together was simple.
If they didn't stick together, how could they stand up to those seniors who pulled rank?
If they didn't stick together, what would they do if they got into a conflict with street punks outside?
In short, if you didn't want to get pushed around, you had to stick together.
It was Saturday. As soon as the holiday began, a crowd quickly gathered at the east gate of the vocational college, diagonally across the street from the University of Finance and Economics. There were both guys and girls. Compared to the students from the University of Finance and Economics, this group clearly had a more thuggish air about them.
Most of the guys had long, side-swept bangs, occasionally blowing aside the hair that covered their left eye. The girls mostly sported big, puffy perms, and their clothing and style were very mainstream.
As soon as this group of students with their flashy hairstyles gathered, they started passing out cigarettes. Perhaps because their numbers had grown, bolstering their confidence, someone couldn't help but vent the frustrations that had been building up since enrollment.
"Fuck his mother! Yesterday I ran into some dumbass senior who cut right in front of me in the cafeteria line. I called him out on it, and the bastard just glared at me, saying I, a freshman, didn't know the rules. What fucking rules! He's just relying on being a year ahead, thinking he can bully a newbie like me!"
"Brother Qiang, that's nothing!"
A short guy with a bowl cut, his bangs so long they almost covered half his face, leaned in and said, "The night before last, I went to the internet cafe for an all-nighter. Some sophomore from the neighboring school's time was up, I wanted the machine, he wouldn't give it up, and instead of leaving, he told me to get lost. Goddamn it! If it weren't for the fact they had more people, I would've kicked his ass right then and there!"
"Damn! Binzi, you just backed down like that? You should've fought him! What's there to be afraid of! There are so many of us now!"
"Yeah! How can us guys from the vocational college take that kind of disrespect? We wouldn't be able to show our faces anymore!"
Brother Qiang put a fresh cigarette in his mouth, and the bowl-cut guy hurriedly lit it for him. He took a drag and slowly exhaled, saying, "That's exactly why relying on just a few of us scattered individuals won't work. Haven't you seen those bastards from the University of Food and Economics? Last week at their school's back gate, over twenty of them ganged up on one guy, just over some girl, and sent a lone senior straight to the hospital. Now the freshmen over there can practically walk sideways!"
"Brothers, to be honest, back in my county's No. 5 High School, I was the one who called the shots. I even started a gang called the Azure Dragon Gang back then, had over fifty members, and I was the boss. Before coming here, I was the one overseeing the arcades near our school. No one, inside or outside the school, dared to mess with me."
"Brother Qiang, that's badass!"
"Brother Qiang, I had no idea you had such a legendary past. If we were from the same place back then, I'd have wanted to follow you."
"Yeah, Brother Qiang!"
"..."
"Alright, alright, no need to dwell on past glories, that's all in the past now. Coming to Pearl City for university, we don't have any foundation here. Better to keep our heads down and behave."
"Yesterday, downstairs at my dorm, I just looked at a senior sister a few times too many, and I almost got surrounded by a few sophomore seniors. Damn, it's so frustrating!"
"If this were back home, could I take that? I'd make those guys kneel down and call me grandpa!"
"No helping it. The situation's against us. Who told us freshmen are new here and easy to bully." Brother Qiang said this while deliberately sighing.
Sure enough, hearing Brother Qiang's words, the group's emotions were immediately stirred up.
The short guy with the bowl cut was the first to jump out, viciously throwing his half-smoked cigarette to the ground.
"Fuck! Brother Qiang, you can put up with this?!"
"What's so great about being an upperclassman? They've just been in school a few years longer! What gives them the right to act so high and mighty!"
A girl with heavy smoky eye makeup, holding a cigarette between her fingers, spoke up, "Exactly! If the freshmen from the University of Food and Economics can swagger around, why do we have to act like grandsons? Brother Qiang, you were the top dog before. You should take the lead!"
Right after, another guy with hair dyed in streaks of yellow and red, looking like a puffed-up rooster, said excitedly, "Brother Qiang, to be honest with you, back at my XX High School, I was also the top dog. I had over twenty brothers back in the day. Who at the internet cafes and pool halls around the school didn't offer me a cigarette? If my family hadn't forced me to come here for school, I'd still be the baddest dude on my block!"
"Holy shit! Brother Ji, never knew you were that badass too!"
"He's not the only badass one! A lot of us here used to be legends!"
"For real?"
"At my county's No.3 High, there weren't really any gangs, but I never backed down from a fight. Even the jocks at my school got beaten into submission by me! Coming to this shitty place and having to act like a grandson? I ain't having it! Brother Qiang, just say the word, and I'll be the first to charge!" Another burly guy started recounting his own resume.
"........."
One after another, people kept stepping forward to talk about their glorious pasts, using this method to show they weren't cowards either, that they had guts.
Even some of the girls claimed they were famous 'big sisters' at their schools back in the day.
In short, every single one of this group had an extraordinary past, each one a formidable figure who had 'been in the game.'
As for how much of it was true, that was anyone's guess. It's not like you could go investigate their old schools back in their hometowns, right?
And nobody really cared if it was true or not. After all, when you're out here, the face you show is the face you make for yourself.
Brother Qiang looked at the impassioned crowd, secretly laughing to himself, but on the surface, he maintained his deep, thoughtful demeanor.
"Looks like all you brothers and sisters are made of the right stuff! But what can a few of us alone accomplish? Why are the freshmen over in the Agriculture and Economics department so tough? Isn't it just because they banded together early? But we're still just a scattered mess right now... Sigh!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the crowd immediately started responding.
"Brother Qiang, then let's band together too! Let's form a club, with you as the boss! Bring back the glory of your old Green Dragon Gang!"
"Yeah! Form a club! Damn it, let's see who dares to glare at me then! From now on, us guys can collect protection money, and the girls... uh, the girls gotta have an intimidating aura too!"
"Form a club!"
"Form a club!"
"........"
The crowd chanted in unison.
