Martial Arts Master

Lou Cheng returned to the living room and sat down on one end of the sofa. While listening to the adults’ conversation, he took out his handphone and sent a message to Yan Zheke,

“I’ve given my parents the gifts. They praised that I’ve picked a nice style and they like them very much!”

Yan Zheke sent a “satisfied grin with shiny teeth” emoji and said, “Of course, you’re gonna see who chose them!”

“True, way better than my taste!” Lou Cheng flattered and added, “I’ll need more Coach Yan’s guidance in future!”

Yan Zheke gave a “shocked face” and asked, “There’s more that you wish to learn other than martial arts?”

“Of course, you’re my life advisor!” Lou Cheng “snickered.”

You can also help me resolve my problem of being single!

Yan Zheke sent a “touching my chin while in deep thoughts” emoji and remarked, “How I can be your life advisor so easily? At least you’ll have to pass my test!”

“What test? I’m all ready!” Lou Cheng exclaimed and sent a “pounding chest and roar” emoji.

Yan Zheke gave a “rolling eyes” and said, “… I haven’t decided yet, tell you next time.”

“Alright. Just now when my parents received the gifts, they were nagging that I should save up while grabbing the clothes tightly, as if I was going to snatch them back.” Lou Cheng said, trying to change the topic.

Yan Zheke covered her mouth, smiled and commented, “All adults are the same. They usually didn’t mean it when they said ‘no’.”

While the both of them were chatting on the phone, Lou Cheng was half-listening to the conversation that Grandpa and Father were having, as well as greeting Cai Zongming, Zhao Qiang, Jiang Fei, and other classmates a happy new year on QQ. At the same time, he refreshed the Longhu Club forum to look at the latest post.

The whole forum was filled with the New Year atmosphere, as greeting posts from the other forums were seen everywhere. Lou Cheng glanced through the posts and found the “Wonton Seller” lady had posted several replies in the forum.

Not long after, “Wonton Seller” directed a post to him. “Young Tiger, how come you are inactive these days? Got busier during the break?”

“Yeah, busy with training, visiting relatives, high school gathering, but I did update myself with the forum, just lurking around.” Lou Cheng responded.

As his learning environment at junior high school was nasty, he did not share the same frequency with his classmates then, so they had not contacted each other long ago. The only few classmates that he was still in contact with were people like Wang Xu, who was his childhood friend from kindergarten till junior high.

“Wonton Seller” used a “cheeky” emoji and commented, “So you are here today to greet everyone with a Happy New Year?”

“Yup! Happy Lunar New Year!” Lou Cheng went with the flow and replied.

“Wonton Seller” sent a “huge index finger waving from side to side” and shot, “That’s insincere! Come, join this group to share and snatch Angbaos (Red Packets)!”

Looking at the stated group chat ID, Lou Cheng copied and searched the ID on QQ, only to discover a group titled “Longhu Club forum Chatroom”.

Upon using the “Schrodinger’s Tiger” nickname to answer the identity clarification question, Lou Cheng was instantly added into the group chat. There were about 30 participants, most of which he was familiar with, such as the moderator Pig-Riding Knight, Wonton Seller, Above the Sky, A Plumber Eating Mushroom, Sea-Blue, Brahman, Unparalleled Dragon King, Okamoto’s Fan, Invincible Punch, Road to the Arena and so on. However. But Beautiful World, Outspoken and No Hooligans were not there.

“Finally find the way to the moderator’s group?” Lou Cheng chuckled at it and sent 20 packets of Angbaos of 20 yuan each.

After a round of fierce snatch, the Angbaos were all gone at an instant. “Pig-Riding Knight” said, “Welcome Young Tiger, how’s your training for martial arts recently?”

“Not too bad, very soon I’ll obtain a professional level!” Lou Cheng replied, purposely used a “cackling with hands on the hip” emoji.

“Road to the Arena” laughed and said, “You got to explain what do you mean by ‘very soon’? Regarding cosmic distance ladder, three to five years are considered very soon as well.”

The others joined in and cracked jokes about it, making the atmosphere lively. Just then, “Brahman” lady gave out 20 Angbaos with 10 yuan each.

As Lou Cheng was inexperienced in snatching Angbaos and he was at the same time chatting with Yan Zheke, by the time he saw the Angbaos, he had already missed it. He took the opportunity to take a closer look at Brahman’s profile picture. The picture she used was probably a real photo of her, with her hair tied in plaits on both sides and placed in front. She had delicate features and looked pretty cute, with a child-like looking face.

“This kid is indeed a freshman at junior high…” Lou Cheng murmured to himself. He previously heard from the forum that “Brahman” had just graduated from primary school and was very childish. From the way she expressed herself on the forum, it did seem to be true, but he had never gotten the chance to confirm it personally through photos.

“Those who took my Angbaos, faster help me to recommend my post!” “Brahman” commanded as she used a “swinging whip” emoji, followed by a link to her post.

Though Lou Cheng didn’t manage to snatch the Angbaos, he clicked on the link out of curiosity and saw the title of the post

“Lou Cheng forum is here to greet all with a Happy New Year! We welcome all to visit often to boost the popularity~~”

“Lou Cheng forum… What’s that? ” Lou Cheng’s jaw dropped, portraying a standard dumbstruck expression.

A Lou Cheng forum actually exists?

He was bewildered for a moment, before he quickly clicked on the link in the thread.

A new forum page opened, and the first thing he saw was a picture of himself standing in the arena, looking determined and strong.

“Holy cow, this is really my forum… when was it built?” Lou Cheng was feeling shocked, yet excited and jovial. He looked further down and saw the description text for the forum.

“This is a private forum of Lou Cheng from Songcheng University Martial Arts Club, where it contains every detail of him. We welcome you to join us, and together, we shall protect him to grow stronger.”

“Protect… ” Lou Cheng thought to himself. He peered at the moderator’s name and saw an ID called “Eternal Nightfall”, while the assistant moderator’s ID was “Brahman”

She really thought of me as her new idol? For that moment, Lou Cheng was quite pleased with himself, as he happily swiped open the sticky thread “About Lou Cheng”.

The thread starter, “Eternal Nightfall”, wrote,

“Lou Cheng is a student from Songcheng University, a member of the Martial Arts Club, and has participated in the first session of Phoenix Cup Warrior Sage Candidate Challenge Tournament. As a rankless fighter, he had achieved a remarkable result of the eighth position and defeated two Mighty Ones of Professional Ninth Pin. The following links will lead you to his tournament videos, photos, and related news.”

“He’s a boy who has a silly-looking smile, so I feel that he should be a warm-hearted person, and definitely caring. However, the moment he stands on the arena, he’s filled with confidence, someone who is crazy yet ferocious. That’s cool AF.”

“I am his second fan, and I hope to record his growing process bit by bit.”

Next was “Brahman”‘s reply, “In my heart, Lou Cheng is a specially mysterious expert, till the moment I saw this video of him. However, that didn’t stop me from liking him. A simple-minded guy that catches everyone’s attention the moment he’s on stage and defeats every strong opponent in front of him. Doesn’t that make him even more mysterious and more attractive?”

“I am his No. 1 fan. Hope to be by his side as he grows stronger.”

While looking at the posts, a gentle smile crossed Lou Cheng’s face, yet he commented, “The black history had spread rather fast… ”

Exiting from the sticky thread, he saw posts on videos, photos and related news of the “Warrior Sage Challenge Tournament.” They were categorized and organized neatly, better and more complete than the ones he had saved.

Other than these posts, there were also re-visit posts by “Pig-Riding Knight” and curious posts by “Eternal Nightfall,” asking that since the number of visitors had increased much based on the recent back end record, yet why only the two of them were active on this forum. “Brahman” guessed that this was a result of her advertizing about this forum everywhere.

At the same time, there were also posts by “Eternal Nightfall” where she “rolled all over the floor” and made a big fuss that if there were no more new news on Lou Cheng, she was going to die!

Flipping to the last page were posts by the two moderators where they initially argued on who should be the No. 1 fan. As Lou Cheng looked at the posts one by one, a smile revealed on his face. Adopting the description from another novel, his heart felt warm, cozy and complete.

He initially wanted to “like” the forum, but after much consideration, he decided to lurk around and just watch silently, so that he would not disturb the discussions of the two fans. He then followed the reply post by “Pig-Riding Knight” before exiting from the forum.

He returned to the group chat and sent a direct reply to “Brahman”, “I’ve visited the forum, and it seems like the moderator is rather young, should be the same as yours?”

“Brahman” used a “ten times amusing look” and replied, “Thanks, Young Tiger! As for little Eternal Nightfall, I felt that she’s younger than me, guess she should only be a primary school kid, and I am her daddy!”

“Primary school kid… ” Lou Cheng twitched at the corner of his mouth. Could it be that he had the potential to attract Lolita-alike? The main moderator and the assistant moderator were both under fourteen!

…

In a cozy bedroom, Yan Xiaoling was scrolling the forum when she suddenly sneezed. She simpered and said to herself,

“Who’s talking about me?”

Soon, she returned her attention to a very important thing which she recalled. Yes, it was decided, she would aim for the School of Arts in Songcheng University!

…

When it was almost dinner, Lou Cheng’s uncle, Ma Guoqin, was finally home with his youngest son, Ma Jiale.

“Where have you been to, Uncle? We’ve been waiting for you for a long while.” Lou Cheng asked with a smirk.

Ma Guoqin pretended to be angry and replied, “This son of mine is too mischievous, so I got to tag along to get some firecrackers for later.”

He used to be a colleague of Lou Zhisheng, Lou Cheng’s father while working as a driver in the goods delivery unit. Even after the enterprize went bankrupt, he did not give up as gathering some colleagues to help others with long distance delivery. Though it was tiring, the profits were good. With the recent trend in online cabs booking, he quitted that job and used his savings to purchase a car, which at the same time, he could be a part-time private driver.

Talking about this, most of the people from Lou Cheng’s family used to work in that bankrupt enterprize, which was also a unique feature at that time. Fortunately, when it went bankrupt, Lou Cheng’s grandparents had already retired and were living on pension funds, so they were not much affected. There was a period when Lou Cheng’s family had a very hard time and he had to go over to his grandfather’s house every two to three days to have his meals. Lucky that his second uncle, Lou Zhiqiang, was not mean and treated him well.

At the table, everyone no longer had a worried look on their faces as the bitter and dilemma period had long gone. They were chatting in a jovial mood, creating a lively and cozy atmosphere. Even for Lou Yuanwei, whose restaurant had just shut down, had let himself free as his words sparkled with wisdom. Afterall, there were no debts left uncleared, wasn’t it? And he still had a job, wasn’t it?

Lou Cheng’s grandparents wiped their tears upon seeing this scene, feeling extremely emotional about it.

The old couple was quite interesting as well. Since young, Lou Cheng knew that his grandmother was easily agitated and had a very bad temper, so his grandfather would usually handle the family matters. However, recently, his grandfather’s temper was getting weirder and weirder, whereas his grandmother became much more forgiving, so she had ended up handling with the family matters.

The whole family sat together to catch up and had dinner, then gathered around the elderly to watch the celebration party at night. When the clock struck ten, Lou Cheng and his parents stood up, preparing to leave, and had planned to call a cab to fetch them. However, his uncle-in-law, Ma Guoqin, initiated to send them home, which saved them many troubles.

When they got home, Lou Cheng had initially sat at the sofa, chatted with his parents and accompanied him to watch the television. When it was about 11:40 p.m. and the surrounding was filled with the noises of the firecrackers, he stood up and walked to the balcony. He then called Yan Zheke from the record list of his recent calls.

As for why he had called her this early was to prevent any last minute hiccups. What if Yan Zheke received other calls at exactly 12 a.m.?

“Hello, Cheng?” A familiar soft and clear voice was heard from the other end of the phone. It was Yan Zheke.

Lou Cheng sounded excited intentionally and effused, “Tell you something. I’d just called Coach Shi to greet him with a Happy New Year, and he suggested planning for actual combat practice starting next semester.”

“Actual combat practice?” Yan Zheke suddenly became interested and excited.

Lou Cheng smirked and added, “He said that I am now almost of a professional level. Together with your cousin and everyone’s improvements in martial arts, we will be able to form a team for the preliminaries next year!”

“Preliminaries!” Yan Zheke repeated with a slightly higher pitch voice, vividly revealing that she was anxious and excited upon hearing it. She added, “We can actually go for preliminaries!”

“Yup, I was feeling the same way when I heard it. I was totally excited for it.” Lou Cheng honestly commented.

Just then, Yan Zheke lowered her voice and said, “Not sure if I have the opportunity to participate in it with my current level… ”

“You’ve acquired with basic meditation skill and have some grounding to begin with. In addition, the talent in martial arts runs in your family, so I believe you’ll easily achieve a level of Amateur Third Pin after a year, which is good enough to be a substitute.” Lou Cheng immediately encouraged her.

“Yes, I must work even harder. Starting with the first day after New Year, I will wake up early to practice to get a good start!” Yan Zheke said with determination, to the extent that Lou Cheng could even imagine the look of her clenching her fist and pouting her mouth, which made him smiled.

“Oh yes, what’s your cousin’s level now?” he asked, changing the topic to drag some time while waiting for the clock to strike midnight.

True enough, Yan Zheke’s attention moved on to the next topic as she pondered before answering. “The way he trains himself is crazy. Grandpa said that his vital energy and blood had reached its peak at his current level, so next, he will need to train to restrain himself. This is to integrate his body and skills into one, which may take a few months, to as long as three to five years.”

She didn’t mention the possibility of failing, as she was very confident in Lin Que.

Lou Cheng followed up on the topic, and soon, there were sounds of the firecrackers all around him. The sounds were so loud that no other noises could be heard, and the same firecrackers sounds could be heard from the other side of the phone.

It was midnight. The eve was over, and it was New Year!

After a few minutes, the sound of the firecrackers became weaker. Lou Cheng was glad that the call was not cut off as he heard the soft breathing sound from the other side of the phone, and recalled that Yan Zheke could also hear his breathing sound over the phone.

He calmed his heart, suppressed his excitement, and leaned his back on the wall. He pursed his lips, and with a gentle smile, he said in a low voice,

“Happy New Year.”

Over the phone, he heard a gentle cheerful reply, “Happy New Year.”

That moment was heart-warming and a sense of happiness was in the air. Lou Cheng looked out and saw the colorful fireworks in the air. Again, he lowered his voice and added,

“Wish you happiness in the new year.”

Yan Zheke chuckled and replied, “Wish you happiness in the new year as well.”

Though her reply was not loud, it lingered in Lou Cheng’s heart.

The both of them did not speak after that. Over the phone, they quietly listened to each other’s breathing and the sound of the firecrackers, which depicted a fresh start.

Again, they were a year older!

After a while, Yan Zheke spoke, “Are you still training tomorrow?”

“Of course. As long as I’m not seriously ill or injured, I’m gonna persevere on with my training. A new year must have a better start. Not to mention that you’re gonna wake up early to train as well, I can’t possibly lose to my role model.” Lou Cheng answered with a grin.

All of a sudden, Yan Zheke scolded “angrily”, “Then you should be in bed! It’s already late, and you’re gonna wake up at 5:30 a.m.!”

Even though Lou Cheng got scolded, he was not mad about it. Instead, he chortled and said, “That’s because I was waiting to say ‘Happy New Year’ to you?”

“Alright, I need to go to bed as well. Gonna wake early, gonna wake early!” Yan Zheke murmured to herself, before she added with a sweet voice, “Good night Cheng~”

“Good night Coach Yan, and sweet dreams.” Lou Cheng smiled and waited for Yan Zheke to hang up.

He returned to the living room. As he was feeling excited and joyful, his words gushed out from his mouth the moment he saw his parents,

“Dad, Mom, happy new year!”

I am really very happy!