Martial Arts Master

“Champions!”

In a nicely decorated private room in a BBQ restaurant, Lou Cheng and the others toasted one another time and time again, celebrating their hard-won victory as champions of the National Competition.

After the awards ceremony, they were interviewed and then took a group photo, then each of them had lifted up the trophy cup and walked around the arena, sending their greetings. They had then returned to the locker room amidst the raucous applause of the spectators.

After showering, they had gotten on the bus and returned to the hotel to drop off their things. They then met back up and came to this place to continue their team celebration, except Lin Que, who was seriously injured.

Seeing how happy everyone was, Geezer Shi had relaxed his restrictions and allowed them to drink in celebration. They could drink anything they wanted, but he only had one demand: that they couldn’t get drunk!

Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke had their own principles and wouldn’t make an exception even for this occasion, so they chose to drink soda and plum juice while toasting among their senior and junior brothers and sisters.

After another round of toasting, the slightly red-in-the-face Sun Jian took a bottle of beer and grunted as he refilled his cup, afterward pulling Lin Hua to his side. He glanced at everyone and said humorously,

“Alright, I myself, as a useless onlooker, hereby suggest a toast to everyone.”

Lou Cheng, Cai Zongming, and the others roared with laughter, one after the other saying, “If you want to toast, just do a toast, why make Sister Lin join you?”

Sun Jian laughed, took a deep breath and said,

“I’ve been waiting until now to say this. When we head back to Songcheng, me and Huahua won’t be continuing in the Martial Arts Club. I want to take this opportunity to give everyone a farewell toast.”

He and Lin Hua were going to go to Huahai to work, and there were a few things he had to take care of. In order to complete his final thesis, he would have to pack his schedule to the brim, and he’d simply be too busy in the meantime.

Lou Cheng had already foreseen this and prepared himself internally for it. However, actually seeing and hearing Sun Jian say it, he felt emotional. Everyone had been together for nearly two years now, attending special training and sweating blood and tears together; how could they not feel as if they were close friends?

However, every banquet must end and everyone must go their separate ways when it’s finished.

Not waiting for Cai Zongming and the others to open their mouths, Sun Jian said with great emotion,

“Even though during this National Competition, I wasn’t like Huahua and I couldn’t drag up a chance to get in the arena, my impression is just as strong as before. I don’t feel like I’m not a member of this team.”

Arriving at this point, he smiled. “When I first entered the Martial Arts Club, all I wanted to do was train in order to be in a competition and be able to vent out my frustrations. I never imagined that I’d be at any kind of district contest or National Competition until I met Brother Chen and you all… you all… ah, forget it, I can’t say anything bad about you guys. Anyway, for those two years, I never felt that I was really a member of the Martial Arts Club. It was just that when I had time I’d use the arena or the Strength Training Gymnasium. If I didn’t have time, then nobody would really pay me any mind.”

“These two years though, doing special training, exercises, and working and struggling together with everyone to get to the National Competition, I really started to feel that I was a member of the Martial Arts Club. If we lost, I was sad, and if we won, I was excited. As my Dad would say, I had a collective sense of honor…”

As he went on, Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke watched and listened quietly. Reaching the tail end of his speech, Sun Jian grunted and drank from his cup of beer and then broke out by saying,

“This cup is a toast from the eternal substitute Sun Jian!”

Lou Cheng and the others each lifted up their glasses and, after drinking a mouthful, responded in unison,

“Let’s make a toast to Senior Brother Sun!”

Sun Jian once again poured himself a small cup of liquor, and pulling Lin Hua’s hand said,

“I read a book once, and it said a vast majority of one’s life is plain and ordinary. There’s not much worth writing home about, and it’s just a cycle of one day after the next. Every once in a while something will stand out and there will be a spark that gives your life a different color.

“Perhaps in the future, my life will be this ordinary, but I can proudly say that in my prime, Huahua and I, along with you all, all came together to realize our dream. Together we tasted the bitterness of defeat and the sweetness of victory. Together we created a miracle!

“After the flames of youth die out, some sparks remain. It’s great, great!”

He and Lin Hua toasted together, and with voices full of both sadness and joy said,

“Afterwards, whoever comes to Huahai don’t forget to get in touch with us.

“Goodbye!

“We truly will meet again!”

As he spoke, he suddenly began to cry and emptied his glass. Lin Hua also finished her glass while holding back her tears.

Li Xiaowen and the others also had tears in their eyes as one after the other they toasted, symbolizing that they would certainly meet once again.

Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke also were wet in the eyes. With heavy hearts, they clinked glasses and drank all of the contents.

Smiling yet crying, joyous yet melancholy, excited yet downtrodden, the celebration by the Songcheng University Martial Arts Club was reaching its end. Sun Jian, contrary to Geezer Shi’s restrictions, had drunk himself into a stupor, endlessly repeating the phrase, “Goodbye, we’ll meet again!” but no one blamed him and no one scolded him.

Standing in the restaurant, they talked throughout the night. Each and everyone of them was bright and happy, their minds free and clear.

“Hic… I won’t go back to the hotel with you all, I need to hit the streets with my friend Fang Yuan,” he said as he pointed to the girl sitting on a bicycle across the road. Cai Zongming’s alcohol tolerance was quite high.

“Go, only two days have passed and you’ve become this much of a scoundrel!” Lou Cheng replied humorously.

He would soon be separated from his girlfriend again!

Watching the figure of Classmate Little Ming as he crossed the road to make sure he was safe, Geezer Shi coughed. “While we’ve been occupied with the National Competition, ever since we’ve gotten to the Capital, I haven’t met my old friends. You all go back, this old man has some things to do.”

“Yes, Master!” Lou Cheng, Yan Zheke, and the others waved goodbye.

Waiting for Shi Jianguo to leave, Li Xiaowen and He Zi became more excited and said to the two couples Lou Cheng, Yan Zheke, Sun Jian, and Lin Hua with a smile, “We’re going to go walk for a bit and have some drinks, we don’t want to interrupt you lovebirds.”

“Be careful!” Lou Cheng warned.

“There’s no need to be worried, we’ve got a bodyguard!” Li Xiaowen laughed dryly as he pointed towards Li Mao.

As they laughed, they all crossed the street, taking their leave abruptly.

At the same time, Lin Hua flagged down a taxi. Pointing at Sun Jian, he said to Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke, “He’s so drunk, I’ve got to take him home. Are you two going together?”

“The hotel’s not very far, we are planning on walking back,” Lou Cheng said with a grin, helping Lin Hua lift Sun Jian into the car.

“Bye bye!” Lin Hua sat down and lifted down the car window, waving his hand at the two of them.

“Bye bye!” Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke responded with a laugh.

As the car started to move and leave, suddenly all that remained was the cold night wind. The clamor and liveliness of before had already transformed into silence and tranquility.

After getting used to this for a moment, Lou Cheng held in a smile and put his left hand over his chest. With a gentleman’s posture, he bowed his waist and said,

“My beautiful madam, no, beautiful fairy, may I invite you to join me for a stroll?”

His right shoulder was wrapped with several layers of bandages and bound together with a clamp. As a result, he could only clumsily wave ahead.

According to the doctor’s advice, due to his body’s healing abilities, he’d be much less hindered after a couple of days passed. After three weeks or so he’d be as good as new. Of course, this was on the condition that he didn’t hurt himself again.

Yan Zheke burst into laughter and said,

“Such a damaged individual shouldn’t be acting so much!”

Even though she said this, she still gave her right hand and allowed Lou Cheng to hold it.

With the wind blowing, the two of them leisurely wandered down the street, bathing in the neon lights and enjoying the afterglow of being together.

“Ah, when Brother Sun Jian and Sister Lin Hua said goodbye just then, I really was sad…” Yan Zheke suddenly sighed in the midst of their idle chat.

Lou Cheng also had the same feeling and nodded his head, but he teased, “Coach Yan, I remember what you taught me. There are two kinds of friends. One kind only crosses paths for a short period of time and inevitably, gradually drifts apart. There’s no need to be so heartbroken.”

A vicious smile gathered on Yan Zheke’s face and she gritted her teeth as she rolled her eyes at him.

“I understand this!”

But there was no reasoning with emotions.

Being subjected to such a fierce and angry gaze by Yan Zheke, Lou Cheng’s heart suddenly skipped a beat. Using his periphery to look around, he used his chin to point towards a quiet alley with no one in it. “Let’s go over there.”

“Eh?” Yan Zheke blinked in bewilderment.

“We can take a shortcut over there,” Lou Cheng said without skipping a beat, pulling her closer as they entered.

Seeing her boyfriend be this insistent, Yan Zheke’s face was full of confusion. However, she didn’t have any hesitation. As their pace once again quickened, the bricks shook underneath each step they took, and her skirt waved like in a dance.

Lou Cheng clung to her and looked ahead. After they had gone a few steps inside the alley, he suddenly used some force to pull her close into his chest.

“…” Yan Zheke raised her head and was just about to say something when Lou Cheng used his own mouth to block up hers, passionately and fervently.

“Oh, oh!” she uttered as her body softened. Her two hands grasped Lou Cheng’s clothes and she was the first to stick out her tongue, allowing her boyfriend to taste its sweetness.

Lou Cheng kissed harder and more intensely, breathing in her warm and supple smell, feeling her delicate and splendid body.

After a moment, they finally separated, breathing softly.

Yan Zheke’s eyes again lit up as she looked at Lou Cheng and said full of happiness, ” You… how are you so excited? You just want to head straight back to the hotel!”

Lou Cheng snickered. “I thought that tonight your mom and dad would surely come and find you to have a heart-to-heart, so when we get back to the hotel, we have to separate after a short time. So kiss first and talk later!”

“Ah, you’ve become a master!” Yan Zheke’s eyes seemed to swirl as she thought about his reasoning.

“It’s all because Coach Yan taught me well.” Lou Cheng lowered his head and placed his forehead on the little fairy’s. In contrast to his previous haste, he spoke slowly from his heart as if he was in a dream. “It’s great… we’re champions… together with you, we’ve become champions…”

In the face of this posture and this voice, Yan Zheke’s entire heart melted. She lifted up her head. Her pink lips separated slightly and her eyes sparkled as the looked at her boyfriend, waiting for him to kiss her.

Lou Cheng naturally gave her what she desired.

The two of them were intertwined, continuously stroking and brushing lightly. A path that should have taken a few seconds took half an hour. As they finally arrived at the entrance of the hotel and saw the figures of Ji Mingyu and Yan Kai, a car rushed up and stopped beside them.

The door opened. Stepping out in a pair of casual pants and t-shirt, a cool and collected Lin Que stood in front of them conspicuously.

“Brother,” Yan Zheke subconsciously yelped.

Lin Que nodded his head slightly. Looking them both in the eyes, he said gloomily,

“I might not go back to Songcheng University.”

Ah… Lou Cheng stared blankly for a moment. Yan Zheke seemed as if she had predicted this earlier.

Lou Cheng knew that Lin Que had come to study at Songcheng University to make up for his father’s regret and to become the champion of the National Competition. He wasn’t like Peng Leyun, who loved to study regularly, and he also wasn’t like Ren Li, who simply didn’t want to be illiterate. Getting through all the ordinary classes and obtaining a degree didn’t mean too much in his eyes. Once his dream was realized, he naturally wouldn’t be enthusiastic about returning.

However, Lou Cheng still hadn’t thought that Lin Que’s farewell would come this quickly, or that it would come at a point when he wasn’t prepared.

Lin Que was still calm and collected in appearance, but he spoke more than he normally would.

“I heard a song before and remember a line in it. It goes ‘In the frivolous days of youth, all sensible things must come to an end.’ ”

Pausing for a moment, he again revealed an extremely minute smile, and using a tone that wasn’t quite the same as his usual apathetic one, said,

“In the frivolous days of youth, all sensible things must come to an end.”

Finished speaking, he turned and pulled open the door, getting back in and sitting down. Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke could only see his lonely silhouette.

As the car pulled away, Lin Que didn’t turn his head. He only slowly raised his hand, giving them a seemingly careless wave.

The car, and him along with it, faded into the distance until there was no silhouette.

Their previous fervor had gone, and in its place was a cold cheerlessness.

Lou Cheng closed his eyes, and in the emptiness, it was as if he could still hear Lin Que’s words ringing in his ears.

“In the frivolous days of youth, all sensible things must come to an end.”