Chapter 53: Baldie Qiang’s Eighth-Grader Syndrome

“Look! There are many big bald heads!”

“Hush, don’t shout!”

When Su Chen and his friends were eating, they heard a child from the table next to theirs yell, but his mouth was quickly covered by his nervous father, who sat beside him.

Tracing the boy’s line of sight, they saw a few guys with shiny bald heads approaching impudently.

A strange expression stole over Su Chen’s face.

Those guys were Red Hair and his thugs that he had knocked over not long ago. He did not expect them to actually shave their heads.

They somehow appeared to be even more arrogant now.

Red Hair did not see Su Chen. He walked directly toward the vendor with his minions.

“Yo, time to pay this month’s protection fees,” Red Hair rubbed his glossy bald head and said with a grin.

“Yeah, I have the money ready. Please check.” The vendor was all smiles when he handed Red Hair the protection fees; he even put the money in a red packet.

The customers were curious when they saw that. Since when had people become so cooperative in paying protection fees?

The vendor was indeed willing to pay the protection fees.

Vendors like him were already used to thugs collecting protection fees from them.

Moreover, Red Hair was quite kind and generous compared to the others. He would not collect too much money, and he did do stuff for the vendors.

If people came looking for trouble, Red Hair was only one phone call away, and he would come to the rescue with his people immediately. That was why the other thugs did not dare to make a scene in that area.

“Boss, we’ve been working together for so long that I trust you,” Red Hair smiled as he kept the red packet in his pocket. He then patted his huge bald head and said, “Oh, right! From now on, don’t call me ‘Red Hair’. Call me ‘Baldie Qiang’.”

After he shaved off his red hair, he felt even more confident than before. Besides, being bald was indeed more comfortable in such sweltering heat of the summer than having thick hair. The cool wind brushed over his head when he walked down the street, and that felt so good.

He did not know if it was only an illusion, but he did think that he had become more powerful.

His real name was Zhou Qiang, so he picked the nickname “Baldie Qiang” for himself.

“Okay, Brother Qiang!” The vendor did not dare to call him by his nickname directly, so he smiled and called him “Brother Qiang”.

“Baldie Qiang… Pfft…” The naughty boy at the table next to Su Chen could not hold his laughter anymore.

The children’s animation, Boonie Bears, was very popular, and many children loved it. One character in the animation was also called Baldie Qiang and was very well known among children.

When the boy’s father noticed that Zhou Qiang and the other thugs, who were also bald, were staring at them coldly, he was so scared that his face turned pale.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Kids don’t know anything. We are leaving now… leaving now,” the man stood up and apologized in a panic. He then took his son by the arm and left. He dope-slapped his son while walking away and nagged, “Even eating can’t stop you from talking nonsense. I won’t take you out to dinner anymore…”

The customers did not know how to react. They looked at the group of bald heads anxiously, worried that they would vent their anger on them.

Zhou Qiang suddenly burst into laughter. He said proudly to his minions, “Did you see that? I am famous now. Even an eight-year-old kid knows me.”

“Brother Qiang, cool!” The other thugs also thought that he was pretty impressive, and they nodded in agreement.

The people who were eating there were relieved. They found it funny but did not dare to laugh. They were trying so hard to suppress the urge to giggle.

“Boss, we are hungry. Bring us some food, and also two crates of beers,” Zhou Qiang said to the vendor and led his thugs to the empty table left by the father and son.

Lin Yumeng and the other two girls were a bit scared when they saw the bald heads heading toward them, so they lowered their heads and ate quietly.

“Brother Qiang, look, pretty girls.” A rookie looked at Zhou Qiang excitedly when he saw the three girls.

However, Zhou Qiang and the other guys stopped when they saw Su Chen–their eyes were wide open, their faces were covered in fright. They swallowed their saliva unconsciously.

The rookie joined the gang not long ago, so he did not recognize Su Chen, but Zhou Qiang and the others could never forget the time they got beaten up by Su Chen.

And of course, they still remembered clearly that Su Chen said he was gonna beat them up every time he saw them, forcing them to shave off their nice hair–although that did feel good.

Zhou Qiang slapped the rookie on his face. The rookie was totally dumbfounded.

The others also stepped in and gave him bashes and kicks. The rookie cried out in pain.

The other customers were startled and completely baffled.

“What are you doing? Don’t scare my girlfriend!” Su Chen frowned and yelled at them.

Zhou Qiang and his minions stopped hitting the rookie instantly and looked at Su Chen nervously.

“Brother Chen, what a coincidence that you’re also eating here!” Zhou Qiang greeted him with a reluctant smile.

Everyone shot Su Chen a look of astonishment.

“That’s enough. Sit down and don’t make a scene! You guys have already shaved your heads. I won’t beat you up anymore,” Su Chen said in a level voice.

He could tell that the vendor paid the protection fees voluntarily, so there was no use for him to act like a hero and “save” him.

Furthermore, after what happened just now, he found them quite funny and not always appalling.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah…” Zhou Qiang nodded repeatedly and quickly led his people to the table next to Su Chen and his friends.

The rookie, whose face got bashed in, realized that he said something wrong. He stood there in a blue funk and did not even dare to move.

“You, get lost! Don’t just stand there and block the way. You’ll make brother Chen uncomfortable,” Zhou Qiang said to the rookie in a cold voice.

“No! Brother Qiang, forgive me,” the guy promptly apologized. He said to Su Chen with his swollen cheek in his hand, “Brother Chen, I’m sorry. I was too ignorant and arrogant. It was all my fault.”

“Fine, fine! Go sit down, and don’t act like a rascal next time,” Su Chen waved his hand impatiently.

“Yes, yes! I won’t do that anymore,” the rookie swiftly ran toward the table and sat down. He acted like he was granted amnesty.

“Chen, what was that? You’re incredible!” Pan Xiaojie could not contain his curiosity any longer, so he looked at Su Chen and asked.

Lin Yumeng and the others also looked queryingly at him.

“Fu Xuyang hired those guys to corner me a while ago, and I taught them a lesson,” Su Chen smiled and explained.

They finally got it and did not find it strange anymore. They knew that Su Chen was exceptional at martial arts. These thugs wouldn’t even last a minute picking a fight with him.

“You know what? They used to have very colorful hair. Baldie Qiang dyed his hair red and called himself ‘Red Hair’ back then,” Su Chen smiled and continued.

“Pfft!”

“Haha…”

They laughed out loud, except Li Jia. She was not interested in anime and did not watch One Piece, so she did not get why it was funny. She looked at them, puzzled.

“Ahem… Brother Chen, I thought it was cool back then. My real name is Zhou Qiang. You can call me Xiao Qiang.” Embarrassed, Zhou Qiang rubbed his bald head.

The others laughed harder when they heard that. “Xiao Qiang” means cockroach.

Some other customers also could not control themselves anymore and they started laughing, too.

“You have the Eighth-Grader Syndrome. Get it treated!” Su Chen smirked and glanced at him.

While they were all laughing heartily, a heavily-built man in a singlet arrived.

The man’s height was more than 180 meters. He was not as beefy as a body-builder, but he looked like he was loaded with explosive energy. His expression was icy cold, and a dangerous vibe was radiating from him.