Martial Arts Master

Without any plans in the afternoon, Lou Cheng went home early. He happily chatted with Yan Zheke on his cellphone as he nestled in the sofa, watching variety shows.

His mother was not home even when night fell. The dinner Lou Cheng had anticipated for a long time could only exist in his imagination.

“Mom, where are you?” The “leftover” child took the initiative to call his mother.

Qi Fang was confused. “Haven’t I told you?”

“No… ” Lou Cheng was even more confused.

Qi Fang laughed in embarrassment. “Oh, you spend so much time away from home while studying that I got used to it.”

“What are you used to? Living without me, your son?”  Lou Cheng hid his face in hands and sighed helplessly.

Qi Fang continued, “Feifei has already spent several days here and your aunt’s urging her to go home. Since I have already exchanged work shifts with someone else for these few days, I thought I might as well send her home personally. If anything happens to her, how can I face your aunt? Cheng, settle dinner on your own with your father.”

Ah, so I can sleep in my bed tonight? Lou Cheng was pleased and asked, “Mom, when will you be back?”

“Perhaps the day after tomorrow. I’ll visit your maternal grandpa tomorrow and get some home-grown vegetables… ” Qi Fang soon began nagging Lou Cheng to visit his maternal grandparents on weekends when he was not at the martial arts club.

After enduring his mom’s lecture, Lou Cheng texted Yan Zheke to complain about being abandoned by his biological mother and was left without dinner.

Without a hint of sympathy, Yan Zheke responded with pictures of the delicious food she was eating.

“You don’t need to thank me. Older sister will help you finish them!”

A short moment later, Lou Zhisheng came home to find Lou Cheng lying on the sofa, playing on his cellphone. With the lights and TV off, the light from the screen flickered on his face.

“You young people really can’t live without your cellphones.” Father Lou shook his head and sighed as he turned on the switch, allowing light to flood the room.

“Dad, mom is visiting aunt. We have to be responsible for our dinner,” said Lou Cheng said, looking up with the cellphone still in hand.

Lou Zhisheng adjusted his gold-rimmed spectacles and announced, “I know. I’ll make dinner… ”

He paused abruptly.

Lou Cheng blanked before sighing.

“Why don’t we go to grandpa’s for dinner?”

“Okay!” Lou Zhisheng made a prompt decision, as if he had been waiting for this suggestion for a long time.

Without washing up, they made a quick call to inform Lou Debang and promptly left home. On their way there, they stopped to buy marinated duck and shredded chicken as additional dishes for their dinner.

When they arrived at his grandpa’s home, Lou Cheng noticed something was different: there were visitors!

There were a man and two women who sat in the living room having a casual conversation with grandpa Lou Debang, uncle Lou Zhiqiang, and cousin Lou Yuanwei. Lou Cheng’s grandma and second aunt were busy preparing dinner in the kitchen.

“Zhisheng, you’re here! Do you still remember old Zhao’s son Zijun? He’s so impressive now! He’s the deputy director of the police station in Xiafei Road.” Lou Debang grinned, pointing at the only man among the guests.

“Zijun? Of course I remember. We used to play together when we were kids. Whenever we played cops and robbers, you would always insist on being the policeman. Looks like you’ve turned your dream into reality.” Seeing his childhood playmate again was a pleasant surprise to Lou Zhisheng.

Old Zhao and his family used to be their neighbors a long time ago.

Zhao Zijun was in his forties with a square face, short eyebrows, and heavy eyebags. He stood up and patted Lou Zhisheng warmly. “Zhisheng, you still look like a scholar. Each time I got into mischief, my dad would lecture me while using you as an example. He said he would be satisfied if I were half as obedient as you were… ”

“Someone else’s child…” Lou Cheng made this conclusion for Zhao Zijun in his mind.

The other two guests were ladies, so he dared not look too closely at them. When he took a quick glance at them, Lou Cheng noticed a young woman in her twenties wearing half her hair in a top bun. She looked demure and a little shy. On the other side, his cousin Lou Yuanwei’s talent for sparkling colorful conversation seemed to have died. He looked visibly nervous.

Huh! So it was not a reunion between old neighbors, but rather a blind date! With the realization dawning on him, Lou Cheng approached Lou Yuanwei and patted his shoulder with great interest.

This was his first time seeing a blind date in person.

It seemed that Lou Yuanwei’s ambition for creating another unnecessary setback for himself had frightened his parents, so they decided to speed up the process of his blind date and directly invite the girl to their home!

Lou Yuanwei gave his cousin a disheartened look, but dared not say anything.

“This is my wife Huang Qun and daughter Zhao Qian. She’s a Chinese teacher in No.3 Primary School. Is that your son?” After reminiscing about the old days, Zhao Zijun began introducing his family members.

Lou Zhisheng smiled. “Yes. Lou Cheng is still a student.”

“He has entered university, hasn’t he? Where is he studying?” Zhao Zijun asked casually.

“Songcheng University,” Lou Zhisheng replied with some pride.

“That’s great. He’s similar to you in this aspect!” Zhao Zijun didn’t ask for further information about Lou Cheng as he was not the protagonist for today’s show.

They sat down and continued chatting about Lou Yuanwei’s current job, Zhao Qian’s condition, as well as what Lou Zhiqiang did after he had signed the contract for the cafeteria in the past.

Lou Cheng could tell that his uncle was repeatedly warned to answer all questions as briefly as possible, in case he unconsciously hurt the guests’ feelings.

When it was time for dinner, Lou Cheng played his role well as a bystander who was in charge of eating the pork, chicken, duck, chops, and eggplants. He left the quiet hero and heroine alone as their respective parents hogged the spotlight, only speaking occasionally to answer questions.

Lou Cheng could sense their overwhelming embarrassment even with the tip of his toe.

Hmm, he had tried Absolute Reaction this morning, but found it completely ineffective.

So did he catch that thief by chance?

But that wasn’t quite right. That feeling was too strong…

Is it because I was deep in my sleep then, but wide awake this time?

When he snapped out of his trance, Lou Cheng noticed the frigid atmosphere in the room. It seemed like the Zhao family was not quite happy with Lou Yuanwei’s situation.

As soon as he’d finished dinner, Zhao Zijun excused themselves without even allowing Lou Zhiqiang and Lou Yuanwei to send them off.

After the guests left, Lou family fell into a depressed silence. A few minutes later, Lou Cheng’s second aunt Wang Lili patted Lou Yuanwei. She whimpered and said, “If we were still as rich as we were two or three years ago, would Old Zhao look down on you? Weiwei, one should give in to fate. Some people are born to live rich and prestigious lives, while others are meant to live stable and comfortable lives. Stop creating more unnecessary setbacks for yourself. Work hard and progress in your career… ”

Lou Yuanwei pressed his lips tightly together without saying anything. Rooted stubbornly in his place, his face looked bleak.

“That’s enough! Let him do whatever he wants. We don’t have any money for him to waste anyway!” Lou Zhiqiang shouted, his hair seemingly greying in just the span of an evening.

“Had I’d known earlier, I wouldn’t have come for dinner…”  Lou Cheng soon got a headache and saw that his dad also shared the same thought.

As the saying goes, even an upright official finds it hard to settle a family quarrel. Lou Cheng and his father had no right to meddle in this affair.

“I won’t say anything else. You people can solve it yourselves.” Old Lou waved and sighed. He returned to the sofa and watched the TV in silence.

When Lou Cheng’s grandma and second aunt began to clean up the table, Lou Zhiqiang went to sit on the single sofa. Lou Yuanwei seemed to have something to say, but he ultimately gave up and returned to his bedroom, a lonesome figure leaving the living room.

“Dad, I’ll go have a chat with my cousin brother,” Lou Cheng whispered.

“Go ahead. Persuade him.” Knowing his son was maturing rapidly in the past half year, Lou Zhisheng nodded without hesitation.

He knocked at the door and entered a dark bedroom. Lou Cheng sat on the computer chair and turned towards to Lou Yuanwei, who was lying on the bed. “Bro, what are you trying to do this time?”

Lou Yuanwei had once mentioned it.

The figure lying on the bed replied in a muffled voice, “Remember that I’ve once ran a restaurant? Takeaways are getting popular in Xiushan these days, so I’m planning to sell take-out food without a brick-and-mortar store. That way, it won’t cost too much money… ”

Lou Yuanwei once again became talkative when it came to his favorite topic. Sitting up, he asked in bitterness and confusion, “Cheng, do you know what is the most painful moment for a man?” “It is when he sees no hope in his life. I go to work on time every day and earn a salary of two or three thousand yuan a month. Sure, it’s not bad enough to starve or leave me in the cold. But I see no hope in it at all. Today is the same as yesterday, and tomorrow will definitely not be any different than today. A house? I don’t have one! A car? I can’t afford one either! With such a pitiful pay, when will I be able to buy any of those things? What can I do, still rely on my parents?”

“I don’t want to struggle uselessly either, but I don’t want to live like this forever… ”

Listening in silence, Lou Cheng thought he would be just as pained and helpless if he was in a similar situation.

“But you can’t just do whatever as you like. You should at least do some surveys to see whether it was worth doing before stepping into it.” Lou Cheng persuaded him from another perspective.

Lou Yuanwei replied in surprise, “I think it should be promising. Many of my colleagues like ordering take-out… ”

But you can’t just rely on your intuition… Lou Cheng complained in his mind. Then he took out his cellphone to consult his life mentor, Coach Yan.

Yan Zheke sent a questioning emoji. “I haven’t done such an investigation. If your cousin wants to do this business, he should at least make some surveys, such as the area he’ll be targeting on, if there are a lot of restaurants nearby, and if they’re popular among residents there… ”

Lou Cheng rephrased her suggestions and reported them to his cousin. Lou Yuanwei, who only had high school education, was taken aback. “Cheng, you even know things like these?”

“I don’t know them, but I have a classmate who knows,” Lou Cheng answered proudly.

Coach Yan is so awesome!

“Okay, I’ll go and figure them out.” Lou Yuanwei suddenly realized he had been acting on impulse all along. He had been so certain that his plan was guaranteed success.

…

Ningshui County, Qi Yan’s home.

Lying on the bed, Qi Yunfei watched a video with both her legs swaying in the air.

“Sister, what are you watching?” Wiping her hair dry, Chen Xiaoxiao entered the room.

Qi Yunfei giggled. “Brother Lou Cheng’s match. He looks super cool!”

“Brother Lou Cheng? Match?” Chen Xiaoxiao was puzzled.

“Take a look!” Qi Yunfei passed her the tablet.

“I’m still drying my hair!” Chen Xiaoxiao mumbled. But she still took the tablet and opened the video.

A few minutes later, she asked in surprise, “Is that really Brother Lou Cheng?”

How powerful and impressive he looked!

“Yep!” Resting her chin on her hand, Qi Yunfei said excitedly, “I’ve almost become obsessed with Brother! It’s enough for me if Ding Yanbo can become half as good as Brother Lou Cheng!”

Her eyes glittered as she fantasized about the future.

…

After leaving grandpa’s home and arriving at the entrance of their neighborhood, Lou Zhisheng and Lou Cheng noticed a wanted poster put up in the most visible place.

“Police Department Class A Wanted poster… ” Lou Zhisheng read the title.

Lou Cheng’s attention was drawn by the following line of words:

“… Three cases of family extermination… ”

“Zhan Xuming (Fugitive No… ), male, Professional Seventh Pin… ”