Chapter 5

Watching Su Muyan leave, Lin Nan leaned against the first row of desks and let out a long sigh. At this moment, several classmates who had gone out to buy lunch returned. For some reason, almost everyone who entered the classroom couldn't help but glance at him a few times.

"Hmm?" Feeling a bit strange, Lin Nan hurriedly looked at himself in the mirror at the front of the classroom. He found that his hairstyle and everything else were normal, and there seemed to be nothing particularly noteworthy.

At this moment, the class monitor, Su Bing, walked in with a bowl of spicy hot pot and a bag of yogurt. Seeing Lin Nan, she frowned and looked at him, "Lin Nan, you haven't gone home yet?"

"Yeah, I had something to do just now," Lin Nan replied casually.

At this moment, Su Bing suddenly said something that made him stunned, "Why don't I go and plead with Yang Xueyu for you?"

"Plead with him? Plead for what?" Lin Nan looked at her in confusion.

"Tch, don't tell me you don't know." Su Bing rolled her eyes, "I saw Yang Xueyu leading a group of over ten people blocking you at the school gate just now. They only dispersed when I came back with the food."

"Uh..." Lin Nan finally understood why everyone who came in was looking at him with that expression. It turned out they thought he was a coward who could cause trouble but couldn't resolve it.

In his previous life, he had hung out with Yang Xueyu, so he didn't think much of him at the time. But now, before he had started to fall into bad habits, he had no friends. Thinking about this, Lin Nan regretted being so rash and offending him. With over ten people, unless he could turn into Bruce Lee, he wouldn't stand a chance.

Seeing Lin Nan's thoughtful expression, Su Bing wrinkled her nose and ignored him, walking straight back to her seat.

Lin Nan sighed slightly, thinking that since he was here, he might as well face it. Since he couldn't avoid it, he stopped thinking about it and turned to leave the classroom.

He touched the familiar walls as he walked out of the teaching building and headed towards the school gate along the flower beds. He remembered that there was a dumpling restaurant less than a hundred meters diagonally across from the school, where the celery and pork dumplings were once his favorite. However, since he graduated from high school, he hadn't come to this area again.

Sure enough, not far away, a large red sign with five black characters caught his eye: "Xu's Dumpling House."

In the future Ninghai, eating stewed dumplings at a dumpling house was considered a high expense for an ordinary high school student. After all, even the cheapest dumplings, with a filling of leek and egg, cost twelve yuan per pound, and for many students with bigger appetites, one pound of dumplings wasn't enough.

However, the dumplings were still quite cheap now. When Lin Nan entered the dumpling house, it was already packed with people. There were no seats available, and even the queue for buying dumplings had five or six people.

"Ha, it's so crowded today. So many people are eating dumplings," Lin Nan muttered, about to turn and leave. At this moment, he suddenly heard a familiar loud voice from inside, "Nan, over here, there's a seat."

"Hmm?" Lin Nan looked in the direction of the voice and saw Lin Tong's big head poking out from a round table at the back of the dumpling house, waving at him.

"Hey, you're here too," Lin Nan smiled and squeezed in. At this moment, Lin Tong patted a boy next to him and said, "You, if you're done eating, go back to the classroom first. No need to wait for us."

"Okay, you guys eat, I'll leave first," the boy replied, getting up from his seat. Lin Nan sat down in his place.

"Another pound of fennel," Lin Tong shouted, raising his neck.

"No, I can't eat that much, and I don't like fennel," Lin Nan turned and said, "Half a pound of celery and pork, no fennel."

"Okay, you wait a moment. The celery and pork dumplings will be ready soon," the bald owner of the dumpling house, who was in his early thirties, smiled and nodded at Lin Nan. Lin Nan then turned and patted Lin Tong's shoulder, "I remember you usually go home for lunch. Why are you eating dumplings today?"

"Hehe, my mom isn't home, and no one is making lunch, so I'm eating out," Lin Tong said, putting half a dumpling in his mouth and looking at the other two people at the table, "By the way, I haven't introduced you yet. They live near my house and are good friends of mine. This is Lin Nan from our class, also my brother. I usually call him Nan."

"I'm Du Fei, from Class 4," the boy with glasses at the back extended his hand to Lin Nan. Lin Nan shook his hand and nodded, "A friend of Tong's is a friend of mine. If you need anything, just let me know."

"Thanks, Nan," Du Fei nodded. At this moment, a plain-looking girl next to him snorted, seemingly disdainful.

"Wang Fang, what do you mean?" Lin Tong's face darkened, looking at the girl coldly.

"Nothing," the girl pouted, sizing up Lin Nan and then looking at Lin Tong, "I heard that a student named Lin Nan from Class 3 was blocked at the school gate today and didn't dare to leave. I guess it's him."

"What!" Lin Tong was stunned and then said excitedly, "When did this happen? Why didn't I know?"

"Just now. Yang Xueyu came to our class and called Zhang Hao, Liu Yimin, and others, saying he wanted to beat up a student named Lin Nan," the girl said, her eyes involuntarily drifting to Lin Nan again.

"Damn, Nan, wait, I'll call some people now," Lin Tong threw down his chopsticks and reached for his phone. At this moment, Lin Nan reached out and held him back, shaking his head, "No need, let's not cause trouble at our school."

"No, Nan, you don't understand," Lin Tong looked at him and explained, "Yang Xueyu is nothing, but he has an older cousin in Class 7 who knows a lot of people in the school."

"I know," Lin Nan nodded, "Don't worry, I can handle it myself. I didn't know he was blocking me just now. I only found out from Su Bing later."

"I didn't know either. If I had known, I would have taken care of him," Lin Tong sat there with his arms crossed, then continued, "I've heard he wants to establish himself as a tough guy in Class 11. I'll deal with him sooner or later."

"Alright, let's eat. I'll handle it myself," Lin Nan patted his shoulder, a hint of gratitude in his eyes.

After lunch, the group left the dumpling house.

Du Fei and Wang Fang said goodbye and went back to school. Lin Tong looked at his watch and realized it was still early. He suddenly rubbed his hands and smiled at Lin Nan, "Nan, want to go to the arcade?"

"Sure, let's go," Lin Nan nodded, and the two turned and walked down the alley next to the dumpling house.

In the future Ninghai, most small arcades had been shut down, replaced by large card-based entertainment centers. However, in 2002, arcades were still quite popular. Most arcades had mahjong machines, gambling machines, and other such devices, so they were often located in hidden places like alleys or unmarked buildings, making it difficult for anyone but regular customers to find them.

Actually, after the rise of internet cafes, fewer people were interested in arcade games. However, for some, arcade games were a form of nostalgia. Just like in the future, when online games were everywhere, some people still played Super Mario every day. It wasn't because Super Mario was particularly engaging, but rather a way to remember their lost youth.

When they entered the arcade in the alley, most of the players were students from their school. At this time, action games were already on the decline, with only a few like "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Journey to the West" still popular. Fighting games like the "King of Fighters" series were still quite popular. Among the "King of Fighters" series, "King of Fighters '97" was a milestone game. Even in the future, in 2013 and 2014, it still had a large following on various online arcade simulation platforms, rivaling any online game. Lin Nan had also been a fan, but he was a beginner, barely able to play.

"Boss, five yuan worth of tokens," Lin Tong came to the counter and took out five yuan.

"Wait a moment," a girl's voice replied, which was so pleasant that both Lin Nan and Lin Tong couldn't help but look at the counter.

To their surprise, the person selling tokens at the counter was also a student from their school, with short hair and glasses, looking quite refined and quiet.

"Huh?" Lin Nan looked at her curiously. In his memory, the owner of the arcade was a fat middle-aged woman, and her child was a boy who was still in junior high school.

"Here," the girl counted for a while and then handed twenty tokens to Lin Tong. As he took the tokens, Lin Tong deliberately touched the girl's hand, causing her to drop several tokens.

"Sorry," the girl quickly came out from behind the counter to pick them up. At this moment, Lin Tong shook his head, "It's fine, it's just a few coins. But, beautiful, I come here every day. Why haven't I seen you before?"

"Oh, I'm just helping out temporarily. My aunt went out to do something," the girl said, still picking up the tokens. At this moment, Lin Nan realized that the owner of the arcade was her aunt, and she was just helping out temporarily, which was why he didn't remember her from his previous life.

"Here," the girl finally picked up the three tokens that had fallen and handed them back to Lin Tong. Lin Tong still tried to tease her, "Beautiful, you're also from our school. Which class are you in?"

"Not telling you," the girl pouted and went back behind the counter, lowering her head and not looking at him.

"Come on... let's be friends. I'm Lin Tong, from Class 11 of the senior year..." Lin Tong was smiling and talking when he suddenly felt someone pat him hard on the back. He turned around and saw a short, long-haired boy in a school uniform staring at him and sneering, "Defeated, what are you blabbering about now?"