Martial Arts Master

At the end of June, the students at the Songcheng University campus dwindled as the examination period drew to an end. That added a strange forlornness to the season when summer fruits dangled on branches in abundance.

In dormitory room 302 (Unit 2, Block 7), Lou Cheng opened the wardrobe and stared at the messy pile of T-shirt, pants, and clothes. For a moment, he felt lost.

Those were the leftovers after Coach Yan’s long-distance filtering…

At his feet, the 28-inch rolling suitcase had been stuffed to the brim. There were also cardboard boxes, sealed and affixed with delivery notes, waiting to be sent out.

“If you have any old clothes you don’t need, you can take them over to Block 12. If I remember correctly, there are a few seniors in their senior year hosting a charity campaign,” said Zhao Qiang, tossing a perfunctory glance at Lou Cheng. He had already packed his stuff.

“How admirable. I’ll drop by tomorrow,” replied Lou Cheng. He shut the closet door and turned back to his room leader of three years, Qiang. “When are you going back?”

“Tomorrow afternoon. I’ll be going to Songcheng Normal University first,” said Zhao Qiang with a hint of embarrassment, pushing up his black-rimmed glasses. He then asked, “What about you?”

“My flight is on the day after tomorrow. In the afternoon,” Lou Cheng smiled. He took a good look of the room, then extended an invitation. “Should we hang out tonight?”

“Sure,” Zhao Qiang assented readily.

Old Qiu, who was striking poses and flaunting his muscles out of boredom, stopped what he was doing and laughed. “Thought you’ll never ask!”

The Model Worker, Zhang Jingye, took his eyes off the strings of codes on the computer screen and reached for his phone. “OK, I’ll let Wu Qian know.”

“I’ll ask the guys next door,” Lou Cheng said as he walked out of the small dormitory room and stopped before Talker’s door. The wooden door creaked open after two light knocks.

Lou Cheng smiled when their eyes focused on him. “Dinner’s on me tonight, anyone?”

Cai Zongming made a clicking noise with his tongue. “Thought you forgot all about the farewell dinner! I was just thinking if I should remind you about a good restaurant over at Food City. Supreme Seafood Barbeque.”

Qin Mo, the plaster saint, put on his gold frame glasses and clapped. “Now this is what I have been waiting for! Tonight’s your night, you can be assured I won’t compete to foot the bill!”

“Sure,” said Mou Yuanxing, lifting up his phone to indicate that he had already gotten the approval of his boss— the girlfriend he had been with since even before enrolling. He spent most of his university life dozing in the dormitory, and presently he was half-sitting and half-lying on his bed.

He wasn’t tall but had a scholarly air.

Tang Wen, God-man, raised his head. “What time are we leaving?”

“Eh, you are not going to be cooped up here playing games?” blurted Lou Cheng in amusement. The scum always made Xiao Ming buy his take-outs!

“I’m mainly on mobile games now. I can play them anywhere,” replied Tang Wen matter-of-factly.

Well, fair enough…Lou Cheng took out his phone and glanced at the lit screen. “We’ll take Talker’s suggestion and head for the Supreme Seafood Barbeque at Food City in about half an hour. ”

Compared to when they first arrived three years back, the periphery around the new campus area was no longer as deserted. Presently, there were residential areas, the Food City, and a few fairly busy streets.

Half an hour later, after twenty-odd minutes of walking, the group from dormitory room 302 arrived at the Food City. They found the Barbeque restaurant recommended by Cai Zongming and ordered a large amount of food, along with cartons of beer.

“We are definitely drinking. Talker, Cheng, I leave it up to you whether you want to drink,” Qin Mo said. Combing his hair upwards with one hand, he switched up his scholarly looks to a wild one. “I’ll be the beer commander for tonight!”

“Yeah, you are a clubber, we get it, ” mocked Cai Zongming as he took a bottle of Dongrui beer proffered to him. “I shall break my no drinking vow for tonight— as a form of respect to Cheng for footing the bill.”

“Just admit that you want to drink. Don’t use me as an excuse,” Lou Cheng said in irritated amusement as he poured himself a cup of buckwheat tea. He then stood up and cast a glance over the crowd. Rather sentimentally, he began. “I’m going to make this short and sweet— no hoary old adages. It is of extraordinary fate that we have been assigned to the same dormitory room and lived under the same roof for three years— day and night. In my senior year, the only time I might be back is for my thesis and graduation certificate. That being said, I would like to take the chance tonight to propose a toast to everyone— with my buckwheat tea replacing beer. To everyone, to the three years that passed, and to the end of our youth!”

“You are quite the orator now, aren’t you?” teased Cai Zongming as he stood up with a glass filled with beer.

“Duh! I have been working on this speech for days! This is like the umpteenth version!” Lou Cheng confessed with self-derision as he clinked glass with Zhao Qiang and the others.

“To our university days!” he said emotionally. He raised his glass and glugged down the tea in it.

Qin Mo and the others followed suit. This time, Cai Zongming did not interrupt him.

Sitting down again, Lou Cheng peeled and ate a roasted mantis shrimp the size of a palm.

He re-filled his glass with tea. Looking at Zhao Qiang, he asked,

“Qiang, your already have your postgraduate recommendation, right?”

“No. But I will get it next semester,” Zhao Qiang replied. A hint of pride flitted across his face. “Just saying, but, I’m among the top few in my cohort… Cheng, if you are coming back to Songcheng anytime in the next three to four years, come look for me anytime. I should be here most of the time.”

He stopped and filled his glass with beer. With a good-natured sigh, he said,

“I should really make a post on the forums with the title ‘My amazing roommate’. Back when I just met you, you were just that guy who was neither tall nor muscular and liked to sleep. But now? You are an Inhuman Mighty One— the Heavenly Son of China! Here’s to you. Sometimes, you just can’t deny destiny and fate…”

Lou Cheng drank up. He then smiled at Zhang Jingye. “Model Worker. The university admissions will open in the later half of this year. I heard you are not pursuing a Master’s Degree. What are your plans?”

“Plans? Well, I plan on staying in Songcheng. You know, I’m a Northwesterner, and for us software engineering graduates, the only places for us to get jobs with good career prospects is Didu, Huahai, Huacheng, Moshang, Gaofen and Songcheng. I have already thought things through. It’s okay if things are tough in the beginning, or if I have to do overtime. I’m fine with it as long as I get to learn a thing or two,” Zhang Jingye answered sincerely, having thought through his future. “Cheng, remember to hit me up if you come back to Songcheng!”

Qin Mo interrupted with a chuckle. “Model worker, you reminded me of a joke that goes: In our line of work, the third-rate programmers write the codes, the second-rate programmers are in charge of the computer architecture, and the first rate programmers, hah, the first rate programmers make the powerpoint slides!”

They erupted into a hearty laughter. When they had quietened down, Cai Zongming asked peremptorily, “Come clean, Model Worker. You are doing this because Wu Qian is from Songcheng, right?”

“No… But she does plan on staying in Songcheng…” Zhang Jingye replied with mild embarrassment.

“That’s something worth toasting to!” Lou Cheng laughed, picking up his glass again.

They were all wife-lovers!

After they had all gulped down their drinks, Qiu Zhigao spoke up on his own. “I’m not keen on postgraduate studies either. I’ll leave once I get a good offer from any company in the big cities.”He then looked at Lou Cheng and sighed. “I’m kind of regretting it now. Had I followed you to special training in our freshman year, maybe… maybe things would be different for me now…”

Right now, none of the available options appealed him…

“We are still young. As long as we are willing to work hard, things will get better,” Lou Cheng said reassuringly, raising his glass.

Without another word, Old Qiu upended his glass and swallowed the bitter beer. After a few years in university, there were always those who leave feeling hopeful and triumphant and those who leave sullen and dejected.

Lou Cheng turned to Tang Wen. Not wanting to pour salt over wounds, he said jokingly, “God-man, with how popular esports are nowadays, I’m sure you’ll be raking in big bucks in the future! Don’t forget us when that time comes!”

Tang Wen raised his cups and poked fun at himself shyly. “Only if I manage to get enough credit from my final clear examination (in China, you get 2 re-tries when you fail your senior year). If I don’t, you guys won’t ever see me again— I’ll be dead under my father’s belt!”

They touched glass and exchanged a few banters. Lou Cheng then looked at Mou Yuanxing.

“If we are ranked by the amount of time we spent in the dormitory room, I’ll be the last and you’ll be the second last. That alone deserves a toast.”

“Aren’t you forgetting about Qin Mo?” Mou Yuanxing rebutted wittily. That set them off laughing once more. Standing up on his own, Qin Mo lifted his glass of beer.

“Guilty as charged. Come, to the three of us that rarely return to the dorm at night! You don’t have to drink, Cheng.”

After downing that, Lou Cheng glanced at Xiao Ming with a grin.

“There’s no need for formalities between us, right, Talker?”

“Right, no need for formalities— now lend me your credit card,” Cai Zongming replied disdainfully.

After a round of toasting, they shifted their focus back to the barbecue and began talking about the interesting anecdotes in the three years that had elapsed— such as Tang Wen forgetting about the examination time, and Lou Cheng putting his love interest above friendship, only showing up at the dormitory room and exchanging a few words before bedtime.

They couldn’t stop talking about the good times once they started on the topic. A few of them were drunk like skunks. They were sending off Lou Cheng and mourning their three years of youth at the same time.

“Cheng, w-when you reach the Physical Invulnerability State, I w-will definitely tell everyone I know—’H-he’s my roommate! My good bro! I-I was there to witness his growth…” Towards the end, Old Qiu was slurring his words. Afterwards, Zhao Qiang, flushed from alcohol, assisted him back into the dormitory room. The other drunks went off in high spirits to play Internet games.

The dining room quieted down in an instant. The only ones left were Lou Cheng and Cai Zongming.

“Want to go for a walk? I could use some air,” suggested Xiao Ming.

“Why not,” Lou Cheng replied placidly with his hands in his pockets.

Cai Zongming turned and walked into his dormitory, returning later with two small bottles of Red Star Erguotou(Chinese alcohol) in his hands.

He laughed in self-contempt. “Just tonight, okay?”

They walked out of the dormitory, through the commercial street, and to the other side of the long bridge. They stopped when they were at a deserted place by the lake.

Lou Cheng subconsciously wanted to clean the wooden bench before sitting down, but then realised he wasn’t the type to bring tissues.

Sigh… He laughed and shook his head, then sat down.

Cai Zongming plumped down beside him. He twisted off the cap of the alcohol and chugged a mouthful. Chuckling, he said, “Cheng. You wanna know what was my first impression of you?” Before Lou Cheng could reply, he answered it by himself. “What a hillbilly! His ridiculous hairstyle is obviously the result of sleeping with wet hair. And what the heck is he wearing!”

“F***! You are finally willing to tell the truth!” Lou Cheng chuckled.

Cai Zongming gulped another mouthful of Erguotou. “When you said you wanted to woo Yan Zheke, even though I encouraged you and gave you tips, I never thought you would succeed. Same goes for martial arts. I thought you were just wasting your time…”

He paused to look at the glimmering surface of the lake. Relaxing, he said, “But in the end, you created a miracle… We are talking about the Longhu Club… THE Longhu Club, damn it! At that time, you were still fawning over the Dragon King and how you wanted to watch the Longhu Club competitions. Now you are on your way to joining them. It’s like the plot of a drama…”

He broke off. Without turning to him, Cai Zongming spoke in a deeper voice with a vague quality of dreaminess. “Cheng. You have to do it for us. Fulfill this martial arts dream of ours… Become a Physically Invulnerable Mighty One!”

“What do you mean ‘do it for you’?” Lou Cheng asked blankly.

Cai Zongming gave a soft laugh. His voice turned huskier. “I’m well aware of it myself. Even if I can attain the Dan Stage in my senior year, the most I can do after graduation is fight in fourth-rate competitions or become a reserve for third-rate Nanbei district contests. In my entire life, it’s hardly possible for me to even become an Inhuman, let alone attain Physical Invulnerability. Perhaps if I put in continuous hard work for, say, five to ten years, I can take home a Seventh Pin certification. And that’s already the best case scenario. Who knows, maybe I’ll only be able to grasp the concept of ‘withdrawing’ at the age of thirty…”

He turned back, looking at Lou Cheng with pitch-black eyes, and shook his head. “Cheng, that’s called ‘living for the sake of living’, and not ‘chasing after a dream’…”

He grabbed the bottle of alcohol and took another swig. Summoning a smile, he said, “And I don’t even enjoy the life of having to fight and fight and fight every week! I hate it.”

But, you were always so eager before every battle… so pumped up during talk-time… Lou Cheng wanted to demur, but the words wouldn’t come to his mouth.

Cai Zongming quaffed another draught of alcohol. He leaned back against the back of the bench and gazed at the starry sky. “I went back home once on the first of May (Children’s Day in China) and when I saw my Dad… he looked ten years older than when I last saw him. He asked what I planned to do after my senior year. At that time I thought a man ought to find his own path…”

Lou Cheng was briefly stunned, then he knew where the conversation was heading. An intense, inexplicable sadness took over him.

Cai Zongming tilted his head to him and tried to sound cheeky. “Who knows? It might be a good thing after all. Weren’t you the one that told me quieting down more often helps one comprehend the concept of ‘withdrawing’? Who knows if I wouldn’t suddenly become a kungfu master if I quieten down for a good couple of years at home?”

That’s when he saw the change on Lou Cheng’s face. His voice cracked. “Hey, why are you tearing up! Look, even I myself isn’t bothered by it, there’s no reason to… Don’t cry, damn it!”

“I’m not f****** crying!” Lou Cheng rasped.

Cai Zongming turned away to peer at the lake.

“I’m not f****** crying either!” he declared.

He drew a deep breath, then picked up the alcohol bottle and faced Lou Cheng. With tears faintly glistening in his eyes, he said, “Cheng… You have to walk down this path properly… You have to see it through…”

“I know…” Lou Cheng felt a lump at his throat. Picking up the other bottle of Erguotou, he wrung the lid off, touched bottles with Cai Zongming, and threw his head back to guzzle the alcohol.

The burning sensation felt foreign yet familiar to him.

…

A day passed. It was early morning.

Lou Cheng recovered from his stance and heaved a sigh. Instead of leaving the lake, he walked in another direction, along the path that was eminently familiar to him.

That was where he found the black carp…

That was where he had actual combat for the first time and exhausted his enemies…

That was the lamplight that witnessed his first kiss with Ke Ke…

That was the scenic viewpoint they passed by every time during their dates…

He came close to circling the lake before returning to the long bridge and heading for the martial arts dojo. There, he occupied a showering room in the changing room to wash off the sweat from training. After changing into a fresh set of clothes and putting on his glasses, he emptied the stuff in his locker, before locking it and leaving the key on top.

When he was out of the changing room, he saw Deng Yang, He Zi and Wang Dali focused on special training on the field, which was vacant during holidays. They didn’t notice his presence. His lips curved into a smile, and he watched on for a while longer before walking into the trophy room. He stared for an entire ten seconds at the Feitian Cup that signified their victory in the Nationals the year before. Retracting his gaze, Lou Cheng slowly examined every part of the dojo, before ambling out of the martial arts dojo without disturbing He Zi and the others.

Walking along roads which he had walked countless times in the past, he measured the length of the lecture building, the bridge, the parade square and the commercial street with his feet once more. He entered Block 7, climbed up the staircase of Unit 2, and went back to his dormitory room. Zhao Qiang had left the campus a day ago. He had no idea where Qiu Zhigao and Zhang Jingye went, but the table was in a mess, and the luggage and rolling suitcases were carelessly scattered across the room.

Lou Cheng put his laptop into his backpack and made the final preparations. He snapped a picture and sent it to Yan Zheke along with a text.

After that, he shouldered his belongings and dragged the rolling suitcase behind him. When he was at the doorway and about to leave, he suddenly turned his head. He glanced over the wooden desk, over Zhao Qiang’s bed that was always kept in neat conditions, over Qiu Zhigao’s slightly charred chair, and over Zhang Jingye’s ajar wardrobe. After his eyes had made a full round, he walked out silently and shut the door to a room full of memories.

The living room was pretty much empty with the exception of some junk. Desolate. After one last look, he swung around. Dragging the suitcase behind him, he left the dormitory and went down the staircase.

A few steps later, Lou Cheng turned back once more to look at the mottled door and fading words ‘302’ on the label. The past three years had aged them considerably too. Lou Cheng sighed. Without dallying, he hefted his suitcase and walked down the rest of the staircase.

He marched straight on, switching from his feet to the school bus, from the school bus to a taxi, from the taxi back to his feet, before he finally boarded the plane. After chattering with Yan Zheke, Lou Cheng switched his phone off. The plane was starting to move. After a momentary wait and a rapid acceleration, the iron bird took off into the blue skies.

Tilting his Head, Lou Cheng watched as the city grew smaller beneath him. A few prominent infrastructures were in view.

That’s the Ocean Aquarium …

That’s Songcheng Martial Arts Dojo…

That’s the plaza with the store that sells tasty chiffon cakes…

That’s the mall where I bought a ring for the first time…

They gradually diminished. The eye-catching Zhaoshan Lake and Weishui Lake came into his eyes, confusing his reality with illusions.

That the lakeside that’s under research according to the white-haired geezer…

That’s Songcheng University Martial Arts Dojo, where brother-in-law made his cool appearance…

That’s the dormitory where I exchanged banters with Talker…

That’s the canteen that belonged to me and Ke Ke…

That’s the changing room where everyone expressed their pains and sorrows…

That’s the grandstand where I shouted ‘I’ll be here again’…

That’s the trophy room where our overlapping hands shoved the trophy into place…

That’s the library where I jumped down the tall building with her in my arms…

That’s where we spent our blooming Valentine’s day under the moonlit sky…

They all shrunk so fast, eventually disappearing without a trace as the plane soared higher.

Slowly retracting his gaze, Lou Cheng leaned against the back of the chair and shut his eyes. Quietly, he said the words he had been suppressing at the bottom of his heart,

“Goodbye, Songcheng.”