Martial Arts Master

The one who came in first was Qiu Zhigao, Old Qiu. At 1.75 meters, he was about the same height as Lou Cheng, but was sturdy with hard muscles, and was enthusiastic about showing off his body and strength in the dorm. He was also as a member of the Martial Arts Club. He had never received any standard martial arts training, and thus he simply relied on his excellent physical condition to reach Amateur Sixth Pin, being just a little below Cai Zongming.

He was not a rude or uncivilized person, being straightforward and amiable instead. He had no serious flaws, except for his craving for dirty movies. What’s more, he was sensible enough to realize that it was impossible for him to have a bright future only through martial arts as he was still in the rank of Amateur Sixth Pin after his entrance to the university. Therefore, he devoted himself to study and was even absent from the Welcome Party of the Martial Arts Club.

“Cheng, what did they say at the orientation? What time are the weekly drills? When can we use the strength training gymnasium?” At the sight of Lou Cheng, Qiu Zhigao rattled off questions one after the other, asking about what issues had been covered at the afternoon’s orientation.

Taken back, Lou Cheng answered, “I left a little early and didn’t hear it. We can ask someone else later.”

Since he’d run into that major event earlier, Lou Cheng had forgotten his previous plan and didn’t chat with Yan Zheke!

“It would be better for you to stay put.” This was said by the second person to come in, Zhao Qiang, who was the dorm leader, a “leading example” and a studying maniac who had a medium height and muscular stature, bushy eyebrows and large eyes. His hard work and self-discipline toward his studies had left a deep impression on Lou Cheng.

“Indeed. Who knew that the orientation for the Martial Arts Club would be so boring.” Lou Cheng didn’t dare mention the greatest reward he received for attending the orientation: Yan Zheke’s QQ number. He changed the subject intentionally, “Qiang, what were you guys talking about a second ago?”

Zhao Qiang answered thoughtfully, “Old Qiu and Model Worker found a phone number on the desk of the self-study room saying that the girl’s dorm was looking for a social meetup. I told them to ignore it and focus on studying.”

Model Worker was the last member of the dorm, Zhang Jingye, who came from the northwest and had a calm disposition. Despite his good looks when he’d been younger, there were bumps and hollows on his face due to constant exposure to fierce winds and sandstorms, and he thus turned out less handsome than before.

Following behind Zhao Qiang, Zhang Jingye said with a smile, “Was it because our dorm doesn’t have any suitable social meetup partners?”

“Sigh, youth is the time of raging hormones. The honest ones, like Model Worker and Old Qiu, can’t always control themselves,” said Zhao Qiang, while shaking his head and sighing. Then, he dropped his school bag and started sorting out the books.

With a serenity beyond his years, Lou Cheng digested all of the emotions brought on by the Jindan and said, “A girls dormitory phone number carved inside the study room? Could this be a prank, or some kind of revenge? How can it be possible that the girls dorm would ask for a social meetup like this? Aren’t you all afraid of getting chewed out?”

There was a landline in every dorm room of Songcheng University, but they had slowly started to die out with the popularization of cell phones.

“I discussed it with Model Worker. That phone number is the same length as the one we have in our dorm. It definitely belongs to the girls’ dormitory over there. Couldn’t we just change the last few digits to call another girl’s dorm? No need to worry about pranks or revenge or any of that stuff,” Qiu Zhigao said excitedly.

Zhang Jingye nodded his head and said, “Furthermore, girls will probably prefer this kind of random call asking for a social meetup. It’s got a feeling of being brought together by destiny, despite this great distance that separates us, you know?

Lou Cheng thought carefully for a moment, then said, “Not bad, you’ve thought this through. How about you give it a shot?”

These two had brains!

Zhang Jingye and Qiu Zhigao stared at each other for a while. They were itching to have a try and were both excited and agitated at the thought of making a phone call and meeting new girls.

It was all so impulsive and impossible to know what the result would be. How exciting!

“Old Qiu, you do it,” Zhang Jingye pouted his lips and said.

Old Qiu took a step forward, then paused in sudden fear, “Model Worker, it’s better if you do it.”

“Um, um…” Zhang Jingye was also afraid.

At this moment, as an onlooker, Zhao Qiang said while shaking his head, “You guys…”

Lou Cheng and the others thought he would say that learning was more important and that such youthful temptations were unacceptable, but he dropped his school bag and looked around, then walked toward Lou Cheng’s desk and picked up the landline next to the door, saying to himself, “As our dorm number is 302, let’s take the chance to fetch numbers from it as our lucky numbers and just take 32 to be the tail numbers.”

Lou Cheng, Qiu Zhigao and Zhang Jingye could only stand there in astonishment as Zhao Qiang shot a sharp glance at them, as if to say, “Bunch of amateurs!”

After getting through, Zhao Qiang was all smiles, and his manner became slightly obsequious.

“Hello, this is from the boys dorm. We just casually dialed a phone number of the girl’s dorm, and were wondering if there was any chance a social meetup could be arranged. Are you girls interested?”

“Ummm, our dorms are the Computer Software College.”

“We’re in Dorm 302, Unit 2 of the 7th Building, and we happened to dial 32 for the last numbers.”

“Aren’t you girls from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature?”

“Um, um, ok ok, you can ask…”

“Um, um, um.”

“Okay, okay…”

Girls’ laughter passed from the other side of the phone into Lou Cheng and the others’ ears. Several minutes had passed before Zhao Qiang reluctantly dropped the phone and turned his head with a smile.

“It’s settled! They’ve agreed. The girls from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature are going to meet us this Friday and have dinner together. If we get along with each other, we can all go out for a social meetup next time.

“What do you think, not bad eh?”

After he finished, Zhao Qiang noticed that everyone’s eyes were fixed on him, but not saying a word. He touched his face and said in wonder, “Is there something on my face?”

Lou Cheng’s impression on Zhao Qiang had been completely overturned. Now he had to give him a hard time. He recalled his favorite comedy sketch and pretended to sigh with disapproval while shaking his head.

“I’d have never thought that you, Qiang, could have been a dashing wolf under naive sheeps clothing this entire time!”

Hearing this, everyone including Zhao Qiang himself broke out into laughter. Shaking his index finger, Zhao Qiang said in a singsong voice, “Even a wolf needs love! Even a wolf needs love! Even a wolf needs love!”

Everyone roared in hoots of laughter, but then they quickly switched their subject to the meeting on Friday. Even though it was still Monday, this didn’t stop Zhao Qiang, Zhang Jingye and Qiu Zhigao’s imaginations from starting and coming up with all kinds of hypothetical scenarios.

Lou Cheng listened for a moment, but then Yan Zheke’s image suddenly crossed his mind. His mood returned from its playfulness back to a serene calmness.

Having a crush on a girl, yet still trying to get to know other girls and going out for social meetups… was that the right thing to do?

“I don’t care what other people think. I just don’t want to take it for granted…” After thinking for a while, he said, “Qiang, I’ve got something going on Friday. I’ve got to go downtown, so I can’t joint the social meetup this time.”

“What thing?” Zhao Qiang asked in surprise.

“Some things are going on in my family.” Lou Cheng lied, although he frankly wasn’t sure if anyone would buy it.

Zhao Qiang didn’t hesitate but nodded his head and said, “Fine. How about you help me to ask whether Casanova is available. After all, we have to scrape four people together, otherwise, it’s not terribly polite.”

Um, Lou Cheng was taken aback by Zhao Qiang’s frankness. It was as if he’d wanted it to be this way all along… Lou Cheng asked hesitantly, “Why do you want to ask Casanova?”

Casting a glance at Zhang Jingye and Qiu Zhigao, Zhao Qiang said with a smile,

“You know that we are all too naive and clumsy when it comes to talking. In a social meetup, you need to have someone who’s good at finding subjects to talk about. I was thinking about asking Casanova earlier, but it seemed like five people going together was a bit disrespectful. Now it just so happens you don’t want to go, so…”

“Naive and clumsy… when it comes to talking…” Lou Cheng recalled the way Zhao Qiang was chatting up with the girls and stared at him in the face.

“What’s wrong?” Zhao Qiang puzzledly asked.

Lou Cheng said seriously, “Qiang, you’ve become a wolf again!”

Then he stood up and went out to the next dorm to see whether Cai Zongming had returned. The door was left unlocked, and there was only one person in Cai Zongming’s dorm, Tang Wen, who was the youngest one in the dorm and had skipped a grade in high school. However, after his senior year of high school, he’d become addicted to the internet and always stayed in his room to play games, skipping classes with teachers who were not stern or who did not give roll call frequently.

“Tang Wen, hasn’t Casanova come back yet?” Lou Cheng asked.

Without even turning his head, Tang Wen replied, “No, no one has come back.”

Among the two other guys in Cai Zongming’s dorm, the first one was Mou Yuanxing. Mou was admitted into Songcheng University together with his girlfriend from high school and thus aroused the envy of all the single guys. What’s more, he was always absent until the lights were out in the dorm. The other guy was Qin Mo, who came from a wealthy local family and always sneaked out of the campus to fool around with a different social circle, though he was nice and got along with everyone.

Lou Cheng sighed, took out his cell phone, and walked out to the courtyard of the 7th building. Squatting near the flower bed, Lou Cheng dialed Cai Zongming’s number and lit a cigarette.

Some things weren’t convenient to talk about in the dorm, so he didn’t use the landline.

“Casanova, I have something to tell you.” Lou Cheng got right to the point once the phone was connected.

There was noise coming from the other end, but soon after Cai Zongming seemed to have changed to a secluded place outside. He chuckled, “What’s that? Why are you in such a hurry? We’re still eating hotpot.”

“Qiang and the other guys made a random call and found a dorm from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature for a social meetup. They want you to come as you are the Casanova and have your gift of the gab, which is perfect for that situation,” Lou Cheng said with a laugh.

“Are you complimenting me? Or insulting me?” Cai Zongming grumbled, “That sounds interesting. I’ll have a look, but isn’t five people going together a bit disrespectful to the girls?”

Lou Cheng paused and said, “I’m not going.”

“Oh, why aren’t you going?” Cai Zongming asked in surprise.

Lou Cheng did not keep Cai Zongming in the dark, “It doesn’t seem like a good idea for me to go out for a social meetup with other girls when I have feelings for another girl.”

“What?” Cai Zongming faltered for a moment and said, “Cheng, a social meetup isn’t a date. Everyone’s just going out to get to know each other, eat and drink, just broaden their social circle. No one’s going to put a gun to your head and force you to date someone. Even me, maintaining my chastity, don’t care that much. Moreover, you and Yan Zheke barely even know each other and you’ve got a long way to go before you can even think about becoming her boyfriend, so what’s with all this fussing about?”

“Forget it, I just feel a little guilty. I’m not going.” Lou Cheng made his decision.

Cai Zongming asked, “Cheng, are you a living antique or what? I think you could set up your own Chastity Memorial Archway!”

“Whatever you say.” Lou Cheng hung up the phone and didn’t get up, continuing to squat. He kept smoking his cigarette, the spark of which flickered now and then, lending a great tranquility to the darkness.

With a smile on the corner of his mouth, Lou Cheng empathized with his roommates’ horndog behavior, and felt he had also been affected by them. The whole thing was quite interesting; he would like to join them, were it not for his feelings for Yan Zheke.

This was the real college life, hustling and bustling about, yet with enough beauty to make a youthful heart soar skywards. On the other hand, the Jindan was from another world, imaginary and not real, yet brimming with hope.

“After today, how is my own life going to change? Will I impress Yan Zheke with martial arts?”

Lou Cheng sat on the edge of the flower bed and put out the cigarette. He took out his cell phone, logged into QQ and clicked on Yan Zheke’s profile.

The courtyard was full of students returning to their dorms in a continuous stream, while the corner was quiet and peaceful as if they were two disparate worlds.