Chapter Thirty: Stirring Up Trouble

A group of drunken brutes found themselves drawn to Su Yinxue’s singing as well. When her song ended, thunderous applause erupted; after all, she was both the class beauty and the school beauty, and the boys’ cheers came one after another.

But Su Yinxue sang no more afterward. A few girls performed a couple of sappy love songs, and then, for a long stretch, it became the time for Beyond.

“Truly Love You,” “No Longer Hesitant,” “Glorious Years,” “Boundless Oceans”—these were the absolute favorites for boys at a karaoke in this era. Yet, their singing skills were nothing to write home about, and Li Mu could hardly bring himself to praise them.

The attentive vice class monitor noticed that everyone had been sitting for over an hour, and, except for Li Mu who hadn’t uttered a note, all had sung a bit. Remembering that Li Mu had sponsored nine hundred yuan for the drinks and snacks, she seized a lull, grabbed the microphone, and loudly called out, “Li Mu, you haven’t sung yet! How about a song for everyone?”

Now that Li Mu was suddenly the handsome guy, all the girls chimed in.

Having had a few drinks, Li Mu was not at all reserved. He stood up with a cigarette dangling from his lips, ran his hand through his tousled hair, looking every bit the mischievous bad boy, and said, “Who’s got the songbook? Pick ‘Never Let You Be Lonely’ for me!”

Chen Sheng was never an idol singer; older and not particularly good looking, his singing was too rough and casual, not the taste of young people. Those who liked him tended to be middle-aged with some life experience. So when Li Mu requested this song, most had never heard it.

Yet for Li Mu, this song carried deep sentiment. The lyrics, melody, even the vocal style brimmed with genuine emotion, and the accompaniment was just a single guitar, making it all the more pure.

“Let me gently kiss your face, wipe away your tears of sorrow…”

“The road is long, we'll walk it together…”

“I won’t let you be lonely anymore, we’ll walk together till the end of time…”

Li Mu’s voice was naturally husky and magnetic, and his rendition was nearly perfect. Not only did it move many to tears, but some attentive listeners discerned a sense of world-weariness and reflection that belied his handsome appearance.

Among them, the most startled and emotionally turbulent was Su Yinxue. She found herself less and less able to understand Li Mu. In the three years she’d known him, all her impressions seemed to have been completely overturned in these past few days.

For the entire night, Li Mu sang only this one song.

He didn’t drink much more, nor did he smoke more. Su Yinxue, too, didn’t sing again. Aside from their shared silence, everyone else grew more boisterous—several boys drank until their eyes could barely open, but whenever a familiar song played, they would still belt out the lyrics.

Around eleven, a few male classmates went off together to the restroom. Not long after, Li Mu’s desk mate Hu Guoran came running back in panic, flinging open the door and shouting, “The class monitor’s been beaten up! All the guys, follow me!”

A group of drunken high school graduates, their adrenaline spiking faster than anything else, sprang to action at those words. Over twenty boys staggered to their feet and rushed out, trailing after that classmate.

Li Mu noticed that everyone was heading out to fight empty-handed and couldn’t help but sigh, “They really are just hot-headed kids.” So he grabbed a beer bottle, held it behind his back, and followed them out.

The crowd swarmed after the boy to the restroom entrance, where the scene stunned many.

The KTV restroom was spacious, with a large open area at the entrance. The class monitor and two other classmates were cornered by four or five street youths, who were relentlessly beating them. The most aggressive of the group had even grabbed a mop and was jabbing it at them with both hands.

Seeing more than twenty people arrive, the street youths were caught off guard. One of Li Mu’s classmates shouted angrily, “You dare beat our class monitor? Let’s go!”

The street youths were dumbfounded—they hadn’t expected so many opponents.

Their private room was right across from the restroom; five men and three women in total. Three of the men had gone together to the restroom, and one of them bumped into the class monitor from Li Mu’s class. The class monitor, drunk himself, instinctively snapped at him for not watching where he was going, and the other responded by slapping him without a word.

The class monitor’s three male friends tried to help, but the street youth called his other two male companions over, and once gathered, they started fighting—five against four. The high schoolers stood no chance, barely able to defend themselves. Hu Guoran managed to escape and bring back reinforcements.

Li Mu had no clear recollection of the brawl; in his previous life, he remembered drinking heavily and falling asleep soon after arriving at the KTV. The next day, he heard that the boys in his class had fought with some street thugs the night before, and one classmate had been stabbed in the abdomen—though his life wasn’t in danger, he spent more than half a month in the city hospital before recovering. Li Mu had visited him several times, and, as he recalled, the perpetrator was never caught.

Fragmented memories and the scene before him gave Li Mu pause. It seemed the knife-wielding attacker from his previous life was one of these thugs. They must be carrying knives, and he would have to keep a close eye on them to avoid repeating the past.

The thugs were initially aggressive, but seeing so many people, their confidence faltered. The one holding the mop tried to act tough, pointing at the crowd and shouting, “This has nothing to do with you! Get the hell out of here!”

Faced with so many, the street youths lacked conviction but still tried to bluff, which only enraged Li Mu’s drunken classmates, who surged forward, ready to fight.

The street youths realized they’d stirred up trouble. Normally, they wouldn’t care about high schoolers, but now, the drunken crowd looked ready to risk everything, and intimidation was useless.

The mop-wielding thug immediately threw it aside, pulled a butterfly knife from his waistband, and pointed its sharp tip at the nearest student.

“Back off, all of you! Whoever comes closer, I’ll stab them to death!”

The thug, drunk himself, seemed ready to do anything with so many charging at him.

Li Mu’s classmates were flooded with adrenaline, their minds focused on fighting, and they rushed forward regardless.

The girls who had followed out were terrified; they hadn’t been drinking and understood how serious it was when someone drew a knife.

The thug with the butterfly knife was desperate. As the crowd surged, he raised the knife, ready to strike.

At that moment, a shadow suddenly attacked from the side. As he turned to look, a beer bottle shattered with a loud crash over his head, and pain exploded in his skull, leaving him barely able to stand.

It was Li Mu who struck.

Bringing a beer bottle had proved useful. He made a flanking move, caught the thug off guard, and smashed the bottle over his head, causing blood to stream down his face.

Without waiting for anyone to react, Li Mu grabbed the thug’s wrist, twisted it forcefully, and with a crack, broke it, causing the knife to drop.

The thug grimaced in agony, and Li Mu quickly picked up the butterfly knife, glancing at the other four thugs and noting they were unarmed. He kicked the bloodied thug to the floor, angered by their bullying, and shouted to the boys behind him, “All together, beat them up! Anyone who fights back, break their arm!”