Martial Arts Master

Thinking about the new martial arts set Geezer Shi promised, the upcoming preliminaries, himself becoming one of the pillars of the Martial Arts Club, and Yan Zheke whom he had been missing for the entire winter holiday, Lou Cheng was looking forward to the new school term more than ever.

One day apart seems like three years. How many days have we parted?

However many phone calls and video calls can’t match having the beautiful girl standing by his side!

He wanted to buy a ticket for the next train and set off tonight, but he needed a message to make sure whether there was a right premise.

“I’m in my dorm, unpacking.” Yan Zheke sent a “fist of encouragement” emoji. “When is your train? You didn’t get your ticket again?”

Lou Cheng felt delighted and answered with no hesitation. “I got a ticket for tonight. See you tomorrow morning!”

He knew Yan Zheke’s flight was today so he booked tonight’s train ticket. But he was ready to change his ticket in case Yan Zheke’s flight got delayed or canceled. So he didn’t share it with her yet.

Game on!

Operation Food, bringing all the delicious food from Xiushan to his loved girl!

As Yan Zheke was unpacking her bag and cleaning her dorm room, Lou Cheng rushed out with his wallet, key, and mobile.

“Sigh… Cheng, will you have dinner at home tonight?” Lou Cheng’s mother Qi Fang shouted at his back.

“Yes!” Lou Cheng answered loudly without stopping. He reached the entrance of the residence in no time.

It’s 3 p.m. now. I must hurry or braized quail eggs, and tamale bread will be sold out!

A few minutes later, the car arrived. Lou Cheng threw himself in and gave his destination.

“Old Xinhua Book Store!”

It took Lou Cheng 20 minutes to get to the old Xinhua Book Store through traffic. He felt relieved upon seeing the stall selling braized quail eggs. He strode over, took a quick glance and blurted out,

“One potion, please.”

He would love to bring more but the limited capacity of his large thermal insulation lunchbox had to be shared with other delicious food.

He waited until the last second to buy these so everything could stay in a comparably good condition when presented to Yan Zheke.

To make sure these stalls would be open and not sold out, he had come twice to figure out the best route. If Yan Zheke arrived in Songcheng two hours later today, he would have changed his ticket to tomorrow night.

The stall owner glared at him and murmured,

“Only one potion for such a growing man?”

His hands didn’t slow down. He opened a small bag and filled it up until it could accommodate no more.

The owner accepted the money and handed over the bag. Lou Cheng quickly ran into a taxi and shouted out his destination without catching his breath.

“The back entrance to No. 1 Middle School!”

With no traffic jam, he reached the familiar food street outside the back entrance to his middle school in merely ten minutes. Lou Cheng took the change and rushed to the stall selling tamale bread.

About a dozen was left. Thank goodness… Lou Cheng glanced over the cart and ordered with joy. “Mister, please give me two.”

He carefully recalled the flavor of eating of Yan Zheke before requesting,

“No spring onion, please!”

“No problem.” The middle-aged stall owner poured the top four potions of tamale into a basin and started to add seasonings.

His moves brought Lou Cheng back to his senior high years when he and his school mates would run to the locked gate during the ten-minutes break to order this bread as if prisoners behind bars.

This tamale bread was very popular among No. 1 Middle School students for its perfect location and amazing flavor. Lou Cheng had tried many, but none of them was as tender however good their smell was.

Not a restaurant critic, Lou Cheng didn’t have better words than chewy, tasty, smooth, tender and lively to describe this tamale. Cao Lele who used to sit right in front of him and hate tamale eventually became a fan of this stall.

According to the owner, they cut beef off the bone and chopped it into small pieces to achieve the tender and smooth texture. The bread made from high-quality ingredients provided a slightly sweet aftertaste, working up a healthy appetite.

Coming back from his random thoughts, Lou Cheng saw the stall owner shaking his hand full of chopped spring onion.

Spring onion?

He came back to reality and stared at the owner with anger. “I said no spring onion!”

The owner looked embarrassed. “Sorry! I got used to it… Look! Only a few pieces on the top. I’ll take them out.”

Lou Cheng’s anger was mixed with amusement.

“Forget about it. I’ll eat these two myself. Please make two more with no spring onion!”

“Yes!” The owner, much relieved, went back to make food. He gave the first two with spring onion to Lou Cheng and mixed another basin without it.

Lou Cheng gazed at the owner like a tiger watching its prey, ready to take action in case the man reached his hand to spring onion again. He took a bite of the bread and this familiar chewy, tasty, tender, smooth and lively tamale almost made him cry with satisfaction.

He finished the two potions in no time as if he hadn’t had any for years. But actually he just had four yesterday on his exercise trip.

He double checked there was no spring onion before he paid and took the bag. On the way out of the food street, he booked a taxi online.

The next stop, House Wang Rice Noodles!

He arrived in just over ten minutes. When he saw the bamboo steamer at the takeaway counter, he felt completely relaxed.

One last step and the mission will be completed!

Originally a crossing-the-bridge noodles restaurant, House Wang blended in Xiushan characteristics over the years. The soup slowly boiled in a clay pot would be poured on cooked rice noodles, with powerful flavors and a long finish.

Their sticky rice cakes were fluffy and cute, smooth and sweet with an extra refreshing fragrance from the wrapping bamboo leaves.

“Two, please!” Lou Cheng said to the waitress with a big, bright smile.

His watch kicked 4:10 p.m. when he completed Operation Food. He took a taxi home as he practiced before and sneaked into his bedroom. He took out the newly purchased mini vacuum device to suck the air out of the bags of tamale bread, braized quail eggs, and sticky rice cakes and sealed them before placing them into different layers of his large insulation lunchbox.

He was chatting with Yan Zheke all this time not to expose his operation.

Before 6 p.m., he walked out of his bedroom and said to Qi Fang,

“Mom, I’m taking tonight’s train.”

Watching TV on the couch, Qi Fang suddenly jumped up. “What? I thought you didn’t decide when to go back to school! Why so sudden?”

“The Martial Arts Club has a special training.” Lou Cheng told a white lie.

Qi Fang frowned. “I was planning to make you a big meal before you go… We don’t have much at home now… Sigh… I’ll go to the supermarket.”

She rushed out before Lou Cheng could respond.

Watching his mom dashing out of the door, Lou Cheng slightly felt guilty. He waited until 5:45 p.m. and took a taxi in a rush again.

When he got to Old Liu Barbecue in the old town, the restaurant was just open, getting the BBQ rack ready.

“Two eggplants for takeaway. No spring onion!” Lou Cheng emphasized.

“Sure. Take a seat and wait.” Old Liu smiled, very friendly.

When the eggplants were ready, Lou Cheng couldn’t help reminding before Old Liu took it in for seasonings.

“No spring onion, please!”

Old Liu laughed. “Young man, get off my back! Telling me once is enough.”

“Sure. Sure…” Lou Cheng laughed at himself but unconsciously he shouted again at Old Liu’s back before he disappeared into the kitchen.

“No spring onion, please!”

Several minutes later, Old Liu came out with a disposable container, a bit annoyed. “Your eggplants. No spring onion!”

“Thank you. Thank you!” Lou Cheng didn’t care. He quickly paid and left.

Back home, he put eggplants and sauce into a bag, pumped air and sealed the bag before putting it in the bottom layer of the lunchbox while his mom busy in the kitchen.

He heaved a sign as closing his lunchbox, with joy all over his face.

Double protections. Should be safe!

Take tonight’s express train and I’ll be there tomorrow morning at 6 o’clock. It might still be warm by then!

…

Around 10 p.m., he said farewell to his parents and left with his luggage and the disguised lunch box by illegal taxi to the station.

He waited for over an hour and Yan Zheke already fell asleep when the train finally pulled in. He found his seat with ease.

Placing his backpack on the rack, he wasn’t sure what to do with the lunch box. He didn’t want it to fall down during the night.

Putting it on the table would cause inconvenience to others and disturb his own sleep as he didn’t have a window seat.

After thinking all this over, he kept the lunch box in his arms and adjusted his backrest, calling it a night.

Yan Zheke will be surprised by this, won’t she?

Will she be touched?

I spent quite some money this new year but I also got some lucky money from senior members of the family. Plus my secret savings—16,000 yuan in total should be enough for taking her out…

Sigh… The preliminaries and study… How much time do we have to date?

However, I can train with Yan Zheke… He-heh…

Don’t know how big the difference between Lin Que and me is…

In his imagination, lust, expectation, intimidation, and considerations of loss and gain, Lou Cheng hugged the large lunchbox tightly, falling asleep. The last clear thought in his head was:

Songcheng, I’m back!