Martial Arts Master

After leaving his clothes outside to air, Lou Cheng locked the door from the inside and came back to his room. Lying down on the bed with his head in a spin, he felt an impulse to pour out his feelings.

Lou Cheng took out the cell phone and sent a message to Yan Zheke.

“Something happened after the barbeque… ”

Lou Cheng tried to describe in a normal tone his relations with Wang Xu, what he felt when seeing Wang Xu being chased and how his state of mind changed after a serious conversation with him.

Yan Zheke tried not to interrupt Lou Cheng and just asked some brief questions during his account. She started to express her opinion after hearing his complete story. “Cheng, I told you that everyone had their own path to take, and it was not necessarily the education at school or the martial arts… Uh… I said it to you and you managed to defeat the opponent of Professional Ninth Pin in merely four months… Well, I have no face before you now!”

She sent an emoji with one drawing circles in a corner.

Lou Cheng’s mood was lightened a little bit by her joke and he chuckled. “I thought you were right and I never expected to reach professional rank so soon.”

“Don’t interrupt me. Don’t you want to listen to me?” Yan ZheKe replied with a vicious emoji.

“Well, you are the interrupter… ” Lou Cheng thought. He surely dared not say it out. “Please continue, Coach Yan!” He sent a smirk.

“Everyone has his destiny. We aren’t the Almighty God or supernatural being. It’s marvelous if one could change his confidants’ mind. But for others, you can’t make decision for them or force them to change their outlook on life. ‘Do your part and leave the rest to God'” Ye Zheke answered without any emoji.

Lou Cheng left a sigh. “I see it, but I still feel powerless and depressed. Good friends we were and distinct worlds we are in. I can do nothing but to watch… ”

“Cheng, the overwhelming majority of people are selfish. I’m selfish too. I draw circles with myself as the center to classify people from the intimate to the estranged. In the innermost circle are my parents and close relatives, who are surely more precious to me than my close friends. Friends fall into two categories, the ones for life and the ones for some stage of your life. As for the latter, the relations between you and them are similar to that between two intersecting lines. You converge at some point and then diverge forever because of different philosophies of life, choices, characters, favorable or unfavorable turns in life. Miss rather than meet. Wang Xu is the latter.” Yan Zheke sent a long message.

It was the first time that Lou Cheng saw a serious Yan Zheke elaborate on her philosophy. Her impression on him seemed to be more vivid.

“What about your future mate?” He subconsciously asked the question.

Yan Zheke sent a squint. “I won’t tell you. Are you listening to me carefully? Hmm!”

“Yes, I am! Please continue, Coach Yan!” Lou Cheng stifled his smile and said.

Lou Cheng’s mood mended a lot after cracking gags with Yan Zheke.

“A friend for life treasures something that you also hold dear. It’s quite obvious that Wang Xu isn’t the one. Are you willing to give up your study and get caught in scuffles of gangs? Are you willing to cause trouble to yourself and your family?” Yan Zheke asked.

“I don’t want to be disturbed by him.” Lou Cheng thought it over and said.

Yan Zheke sent a nodding emoji.

“As you said, you are in the distinct world now. If he continues to act willfully, the gap between you two will be wider. He is an episode in your life. It’s just a matter of time for your friendship to come to an end. You have tried to help him wholeheartedly. What you should do now is to reconcile yourself to the regret for him and let it go.”

“My grandparents have many disciples, who become police officers, soldiers, professional warriors, merchants… as well as evildoers in not a few number. ‘Warriors break the rules with violence.’ My grandpa and grandma were dejected, sleepless and enraged. Yet, they have straightened it out that it’s enough for them to do their possible to stop and save them.”

“Don’t yearn for the acme of perfection but for a clear conscience in your life.”

Lou Cheng quietly read the messages, lost in thoughts. After a long pause, he took a deep breath. “Got it. I shouldn’t feel any guilt about him. As a freshman, I saved his life and reasoned him out of gangs with sincerity. I have done my possible. It’s time to let it go.”

“Good! You are worthy to be taught!” Yan Zheke replied a proud emoji pushing up glasses. “You did very well today, saving Wang Xu without causing trouble. I used to dream of my deeds of heroism after my reaching high martial arts attainments. Yet I worried that I would break the rules with violence and ran into the following trouble. You gave me vivid instruction in how I could put my dream into practice.”

Lou Cheng felt a little bit proud and pleased. He sent an evil smile. ” Thanks to Coach Yan’s instructions! You teach by ‘Yan'[1] and deed. You are teacher ‘Yan'[2] and bring up outstanding student.”

“Poof! You are increasingly proficient in Chinese!” Yan Zheke sent a stunned dog emoji.

The funny chatting put Lou Cheng in a good mood. The characteristic smile unknowingly crawled on his face. They talked happily until 10 p.m. when Lou Cheng reluctantly stopped to take a shower and go to bed on time.

As Lou Cheng came back to the bed, he found that Cai Zongming had finally got home, logged in QQ and replied his messages.

“A secret? You are not a girl. I have no interest in your secret, unless it’s your dark past.” Cai Zongming sent a devilish emoji with a waving forefinger, indicating a ‘no’.

Lou Cheng replied Yan Zheke first. He did not care about whether Cai Zongming had interest or not. “I went to Yanling on my way home and participated in the Phoenix Cup Warrior Sage Candidate Challenge Tournament. You can guess my rank of position.”

“Holy crap! You went far this time! How stupid you are that you told me the name of the tournament and asked me to guess your rank. I’ll know everything with a click on Google.” Cai Zongming sat at his computer desk with fingers typing on the keyboard, making fun of Lou Cheng out of habit.

Lou Cheng sneered loud and murmured to himself. “That’s what I want. I know you so well.”

My rank that you find on the Internet will surely be much more shocking than that I tell you.

Cai Zongming opened the browser, clicked into the official website and directly started to read the news.

“The final: Jiang Lan VS Wang Ye? The Professional Eighth Pin VS the Professional Ninth Pin?”

“The third-place match: Huang Zhenzhong VS Bai Song? The Professional Eighth Pin VS the Professional Ninth Pin… ”

Lou Cheng shook at the mouth when reading the news. He immediately sent a message to Lou Cheng.

“Damn! You fooled a wise man! There’s no way I can find a rookie’s position in a ranking of names of such a high-level tournament!”

“Haha, scroll further!” Lou Cheng did not say more, expecting Little Ming to find it by himself.

Cai Zongming stared at the screen with suspicion and flicked through the pages. Suddenly, he found a piece of news.

“‘No. 656’ Lou Cheng quit the quarter-final on account of physical exhaustion.”

“The quarter-final?” He clicked on the news, suspecting it was a fighter with the same name with Lou Cheng.

“No rank… an undergraduate of the Songcheng University… defeated the fighter of the Professional Ninth Pin… ” After a while, Cai Zongming read the last phrase out and called Lou Cheng with no hesitation.

“Cheng, you asked someone to make the fake website for you?” Cai Zongming blurted out once the phone was connected.

Lou Cheng proudly smiled. “Holy shit! You aren’t Yan Zheke. Do you think I would bother to make a fake website to cheat you? I think your IQ doesn’t deserve the high-end trick.”

“It’s not very long since you defeated your Brother Wu of the Martial Arts Club by your specialty of long distance running… You have jumped from the Amateur Ninth Pin to the Professional Ninth Pin?” Cai Zongming said with astonishment.

Lou Cheng tried to explain in an easy tone. “Not very long? Three months, OK? I’ve learned 24 Blizzard Strikes, built up my strength and speed, improved my coordination, as well as done many pair exercises and watched plenty of matches of the Martial Arts Club. The first a few of opponents were relatively weak. I achieved mastery of the 24 Blizzard Strikes, the Listening Skill and the Mercurial Balance through the combats with them. I lucked out and got into top eight.”

Cai Zongming remained silent for a while before responding to Lou Cheng’s story. “…Cheng, are you showing off?”

“Yes, I am!” Lou Cheng laughed. “Wanna beat me? Can you beat me?”

“Damn… ” Cai Zongming found him brusque but amusing. “Never meet people so devilish like you Lou Cheng! Wait and see. I’m gonna join the special training of the Martial Arts Club next semester. With my talent and Geezer Shi’s instruction, I’ll catch up with you in no time. You show-off!”

Perfectly satisfied with Cai Zongming’s response, Lou Cheng got ready to go to sleep. Before hanging up the phone, he said,

“You can find my fight videos on the official website. Watch them with reverence!”

Before Cai Zongming replied to his arrogant words, Lou Cheng hung up the phone and went to say good night to Yan Zheke on QQ.

Yan Zheke got to know Lou Cheng’s training at 5:30 a.m. everyday in their chatting during the Tournament. She felt admiration for him and recognized his rapid progress.

After a moment of blankness with the phone in hand, Cai Zongming found the videos and started to watch.

His mouth dropped open increasingly wider. After finishing all videos, he murmured to himself as if flapdoodle.

“Is that Cheng?”

“A dozen of me can’t beat him… ”

“Has he been possessed by the devil?”

“Of course, being possessed only happens in novels.”

…

At 5 a.m. the next day, Lou Cheng got up on time. He put on his martial arts suit, took the phone and keys and jogged to Jiang Fei’s home as the elementary warming-up exercise for martial arts training.

It was dark outside with no glimmering of light. The street lamps shed pale yellow light on the quiet road, setting off the surrounding desolation.

Lou Cheng took regular breaths and jogged in the chill of the early dawn, exhaling white puff into the air. He gave Jiang Fei a ring to confirm that he had got up.

Lou Cheng finished a moving stance, including the skills and divided movements, when he saw Jiang Fei walk out of the entrance of the Community. He was shivering with cold in his deformed martial arts suit because of his fat.

Lou Cheng kept from laughter and said, “Let’s jog first to warm up.”

“OK!” Jiang Fei said with excitement. He had been looking forward to today’s training after yesterday’s incident. “Which way, Cheng?”

Lou Cheng had mapped out their directions. He pointed at the way on the left side. “We are gonna run to Sanli Pavilion and do training in People’s Park.”

“Sanli Pavilion? People’s Park?” Jiang Fei opened his mouth widely with a pale face. “Kill me!”

It’s at least ten kilometers!

[1] ‘Yan’, Pinyin of 言, equivalent to “word” in English

[2] ‘Yan’, Pinyin of “严”,equivalent to “strict” in English