The Bully

Bully is an urban-life web novel by Zhibai, completed on July 5, 2011, on Zongheng Chinese Network. The book runs to about one million characters across 293 chapters, including the finale. Its protagonist, Lin Qiang (nicknamed Qiangzi), comes from the very bottom of society: before the age of fourteen he could barely feed himself and simply scraped by. Taken in by a slovenly cook to learn the trade, at seventeen he is carried off by the businessman Jiao Lei after an accident. He is later ambushed and gravely wounded, yet survives by a miracle—and his body undergoes a mutation that leaves him with recovery powers and fighting skills far beyond ordinary people. From there his fortunes turn. He returns to city life and enters school, getting caught up in the open and secret power struggles of various factions, fighting all the way against underworld figures, ranked masters, and even overseas dark forces targeting Chinese communities. He survives repeated brushes with death and is said to have gone white-haired overnight. After eighteen, he finally becomes a figure whom people tremble to hear of, and vows: "I have three thousand bullies; I will spur my horse and raise my blade to trample the barbarians." Yet Qiangzi has his own account of himself: he calls himself "a good man with morals, taste, and culture—and money and girls too," and believes in being "fiery hot toward comrades and ice cold toward enemies." The novel portrays its characters through marketplace details—a toothpick in the mouth, a snuff bottle, walking the bird and teasing the dog, a swaggering three-sway walk—giving it a thick street-level flavor. Beyond its hot-blooded thrill, it also writes about the rules of survival and individual growth. The book unfolds in five volumes and closes with Qiangzi's return and reunion with family and friends.