Martial Arts Master

In the spacious locker room, a young lady wearing a fresh set of white martial arts suit with black trimmings, sat elegantly with both hands by her side. She had a quiet, bashful but happy expression. Kneeling in front of her, was a boy who bent over, carefully applying ointment on her. It was a beautiful sight oozing with youth. Their eyes met time to time, making the painting seem even more magical.

In no time, Lou Cheng had rubbed away all the bruises and red swelling. He looked at the girl’s left leg reluctantly and said,

“I remember you used the top of your foot to give Feng Shaokun a blow. There should be some bruises there right? ”

“Ah? ” Yan Zheke jolted awake from her dream, pulled her leg back and with a slight flush, lowered her head and said, “No need for that. I’ll do it myself when I get back…”

After saying that, before Lou Cheng could say anything, she blinked her eyes and asked,

“Do I look normal already? ”

Lou Cheng looked at her and smiled. “Much better than just now.”

As he spoke, he gently and carefully rolled down the right side of her trousers.

Yan Zheke smiled softly. She checked her reflection in her phone and with energy recharged, she said,

“Let’s go back then!”

“You’re back to normal, but I haven’t recovered…” Lou Cheng did not dare to stand up, he smiled and continued to kneel. “I’m always mistaken. I shouldn’t relate you to doing laundry, sunning the quilt and other chores like spring cleaning.”

A fairy should be away from ordinary mortal chores!

Yan Zheke broke into a laugh and said, “Which girl lives in a vacuum? If I don’t do my laundry, you mean I have to throw a piece of clothing away every time I wear one? Unless you’re saying that you’ll do laundry for me?”

Lou Cheng tried to hold back a smile and said seriously, “That’s also alright. ”

Yan Zheke rolled her eyes and said, “Rough men like you don’t know how to do laundry properly. You’d probably just rub the clothes a little. I don’t trust you with it! Wait till I’ve taught you…”

Just at this moment, she stopped suddenly and felt somewhat bashful and sweet at the same time.

Does she promise a far ahead future?

In the midst of a dreamy feel, she suddenly recalled a line: Always giving empty promises during youth.

“When people are young, they would not be unable to grasp the length of time, the heartlessness of time, the difficulties of reality and how relationships and people change so easily. They often feel that “for life”, “forever” such promises and commitments are easy to fulfill…” As these thoughts flew by, Yan Zheke who was hardly 19 years old started to feel a little emotional.

“That sounds good!” Lou Cheng did not realize that the girl’s mood had changed and instead he agreed very readily. Regardless whether it was a household chore or not, as long as he had Yan Zheke, everything would be good.

Yan Zheke looked at him with deep emotions. She pursed her lips and said,

“Then, you’d better remember what you’ve said today!”

“I’ll grab a little notebook to note it down.” Lou Cheng chuckled. He always believed that notes were infinitely better than memory.

He sensed the abnormal change in emotions and quickly switched the topic. “Ke, shall we have fun at the Songcheng Ocean Aquarium tomorrow afternoon?”

Then they could head to the third place that he had already checked out to enjoy some delicious food. Both locations were no more than 15 minutes by car!

Ay, since they had started dating officially, he had no time to explore new areas. They always wanted to be together the moment they were free. “It’s true when they say you cannot be loyal and filial at the same time. Ay, it’s kind of strange to use this saying here…”

Yan Zheke blinked and with an apologetic tone, she said, “I’m afraid we can’t do that. Tomorrow afternoon I have to go to the Tiantong Taoist temple. ”

“Huh? ” Lou Cheng looked at her in bewilderment.

How come she never mentioned this matter before?

“I also just heard from my brother,” Yan Zheke said with her lips tightly pressed together. “After he was injured, he moved to the Tiantong Taoist temple to recuperate. The environment is good, the air is fresh and the chief Taoist practitioner is also my uncle’s old friend from Songcheng days. So it’s best to recuperate there. An elder in our family heard that he was injured and will be visiting him since he’s nearby. I was called along, so we have to wait till next week to go to the Aquarium.”

“Actually, I’m not really fond of such gatherings. It’s a little pressurizing to have a conversation with elders whom I’m not close too.” The more she explained, the more dissatisfied she got. She wanted to be with Lou Cheng more than some gathering.

Initially Lou Cheng was disappointed, but when he saw how sad and dissatisfied Yan Zheke was, he lit up from an idea and laughed.

“Then tomorrow afternoon I’ll go to the Tiantong Taoist temple too! ”

“Ah? ” Yan Zheke was caught off guard and could not react in time.

Lou Cheng laughed and said, “We’ll just take it as a date to the Tiantong Taoist temple! ”

Anyway the scenery is pretty there and their food is known to be rather delicious.

“Who wants to go on a date with you?” Yan Zheke said shyly, and then she asked, “But once we’re there, I can’t accompany you. For you to just roam around alone, isn’t that boring?”

Lou Cheng confidently replied, “You can go in and have a chat with the elder and your cousin first. Then find an excuse to come out. They can’t possibly stop you from offering some prayers and taking a hike, right? When it’s dinner, you return to them again and I’ll settle dinner on my own.”

Yan Zheke was right in the midst of the relationship’s honeymoon period. She definitely would not bear to waste a precious weekend away, so she was swayed by the suggestion. She considered for a while before saying, “OK then. Anyway Uncle and us, young people have a generation gap. We don’t have much to talk about anyway.”

“So this’s happily decided!” Lou Cheng clasped his hands and smiled. “Hmm, how’s your cousin going to move to the Tiantong Taoist temple to recuperate? Doesn’t he need to go for class? ”

Yan Zheke somewhat sighed and with a helpless smile, she said, “He said that he could handle the current curriculum through self-study and revision…”

Just at this moment, she realized that Lou Cheng was kneeling the whole time in the most awkward and uncomfortable position. She said with some suspicion,

“Why aren’t you standing up? ”

“If I had stood up earlier, you’d have called me a hooligan!” Lou Cheng was relieved and reached to adjust his pants as he stood up slowly. “Got too engrossed in our conversation. Did you just forget?”

Shouldn’t be obvious already!

Yan Zheke looked at him suspiciously. “I keep having the feeling that you’re hiding something from me. What was your hand doing just now! ”

“The pants got a little crooked after kneeling. Just adjusting them.” Lou Cheng lied without batting an eyelid. He stretched out his hand and said, “Let’s head back. Before someone starts accusing me of becoming a big pervert.”

Yan Zheke was tickled by the words and stretched her hand out for Lou Cheng to hold on. She whispered,

“You. Are. One!”

…

After separating from Lou Cheng, Yan Zheke went back to her room with light steps and some bags in her hands. When she opened the door, she saw Li Liantong, Shi Xiangyang and Zong Yanru looking at her quietly, and all ready to interrogate her.

“You girls, what’re you up to?” Yan Zheke questioned in a surprised manner.

Li Liantong laughed coldly and said, “Ke, you didn’t cover your tracks properly! ”

“Ah?” Yan Zheke was shocked and quickly checked herself.

Didn’t Cheng say that I looked normal already?

I checked myself too!

Li Liantong burst out in laughter and turned to Shi Xiangyang and Zong Yanru. “See? Just a little trick will spill the beans. Come on, call daddy!”

“What were you guys betting on?” Yan Zheke said in an embarrassed but also furious manner.

“I was betting that you and Lou Cheng were kissing passionately. The girls, they didn’t believe, so they threw in their pride and said they’ll call me Dad if they lose.” Li Liantong said smugly.

Shi Xiangyang and Zong Yanru felt funny and angry at the same time. They both called Li Liantong Dad and then turned to look at Yan Zheke with a judging look.

“Ke, how could you let Cheng succeed!”

Yan Zheke turned red and said, “I didn’t confess anything. All I did was touching my lips!”

Li Liantong sniggered and said, “Even if we didn’t trick you, I can be sure of what you did. Didn’t we cheer for you? After the competition, I was looking for you. I wanted to take a picture with the now famous female star, so I waited outside the locker room. I just waited and waited, until everyone was gone. You and Lou Cheng still didn’t come out!”

“A male and female all alone in a room. Plus, you’re an official pair. As long as he’s a man, he’ll surely make a move, and if you didn’t “co-operate”, you would have stepped out soon enough. How could it be, that for the past 10 to 20 minutes, the locker room door didn’t move an inch?”

Yan Zheke was speechless. She had no grounds to refute anything. Her face was just burning and she could not wait to climb onto the bed and sleep. She could not tolerate talking to Dirty Tong for any moment longer!

“See, you’ve admitted it!” Li Liantong stretched her hands out, feeling proud about what she had just uncovered.

Seeing that Yan Zheke was completely embarrassed, Zong Yanru’s heart softened and tried to change the conversation subject.

“It’s completely natural for couples to kiss. What’s there to gossip about…”

Before she finished her sentence, upon hearing the word “kiss”, Yan Zheke took a quick step forward and covered Zong Yanru’s mouth with her hand, her face turning redder than ever.

This word from Ru was more damaging than any of Dirty Tong!

After the laughing fits, Shi Xiangyang caught her breath and said,

“Alright, alright. I thought we wanted to have a picture with Heroine Yan? Let’s do it before she changes out of her martial arts suit! ”

“Me, first! ” Li Liantong squeezed to Yan Zheke’s side, hooked her arm and posed.

At the same time, she said emotionally, “Ke, you have a different beauty charm when you’re in the martial arts suit and fighting. Making people’s little weak heart beat so fast. I’m truly considering whether I should snatch you away from Lou Cheng!”

Yan Zheke gave a forced smile and said, “First, you got to be able to beat him…”

“Huh…” Li Liantong grunted unhappily. “If that’s the case, I can only step back and look for a boyfriend with great martial arts skills. Super secure then.”

“That may not be the case though. Many martial arts people have bad character and temper, which will make you insecure instead. Don’t just look for a boyfriend because you want a boyfriend.” Yan Zheke said thoughtfully.

Li Liantong was a little stunned.

“I was just saying. You don’t need to be so serious, Ke…”

“Alright, one, two, three…” Shi Xiangyang raised her phone and shouted.

Click!

The beautiful memory was captured on the screen.

…

While they took photos, Lou Cheng strolled down the streets, towards his own dormitory. As he walked, he recalled the sweet taste earlier and sighed.

He had wanted to come clean with Yan Zheke about the Jindan since his master already knew about it. However, there were simply too many people in the locker room, and then as he was so absorbed in the kiss, he completely forgot to look for the opportunity to tell her.

When they separated, he had gathered the courage to tell her, but then the timing was not right again.

“Perhaps after the Jin Dan starts to dissolve… Then, it’s maybe more appropriate to tell Ke…” Lou Cheng thought to himself.

He understood within him that such a decision was to keep a secret. On the other hand, he liked Yan Zheke too much, and he was afraid that it would wake him up from this beautiful dream. He felt a little guilty, not confident and somewhat not good enough for that girl.

So, he had to continue to improve himself, and hopefully, one day he would have the confidence to tell her everything.

Back in his room, he sat at the living area, talking to Yan Zheke and flipping sheets of pictures and corresponding commentary on them.

“Ey, Cheng? You’re going to take the Marine Biology class?” Cai Zongming asked as he walked past Lou Cheng and saw the pictures.

Lou Cheng laughed brightly and said,

“No, just preparing for my date next week. ”

“Tsk!” Cai Zongming pointed his middle finger to express his displeasure and despise for Lou Cheng.

…

The next morning, Lou Cheng found out happily that because he had awakened the Power of Frost, his body’s capability had improved in a short amount of time. The injury on his right arm was healed a day earlier and now he could start his rehabilitation training.

This also meant that he could finally practice the “Thunder Roar Zen” tactic which he had been training in his mind repeatedly!