Martial Arts Master

Yan Xiaoling, an art student didn’t need to go through the national college entrance examination as other students did. She stayed in bed browsing the internet on her mobile while others left early and returned late for school. In the background was an old song called White Moonlight playing on his laptop.

Soon her responsibility half took charge and dragged her back to inspect the forum, making sure the site was not polluted by ads or scams.

“Preview of the Songcheng TV Station’s interview with Lou Cheng… Preview…” Her eyes opened wide like a shocked cat as soon as the page was loaded.

She clicked on it before her head could think it through and played the video.

“Who is Lou Cheng? How skillful is he? Has he reached Professional Ninth Pin yet?

“I don’t have answers to any of these questions.”

…

Joy gradually replaced the shock on her face. Yan Xiaoling murmured joyfully,

“It is Lou Cheng… It really is!”

“Ha-hah. How interesting! She asked who Lou Cheng was in front of Lou Cheng…

“He didn’t have any martial arts training until half a year ago?”

The shock trailer was soon over. Yan Xiaoling felt unable to suppress her exaltation and astonishment. She quickly replied to Lush Gives Birth To Light’s post.

“Long live the good person!”

“It really is our Lou Cheng!”

“Hah! He is a caring boy!”

After three replies in a roll, she opened her QQ to inform Brahman of this good news.

“Hurry up! Check the first post on the forum. The first one under those topped ones!”

The words were not enough to express her excitement and joy. She switched to voice message mode and moved her phone close to her lips.

“Ha-hah! I’m so happy! Finally some news about Lou Cheng!”

“He’s so caring! So caring. So, so caring! It is so important that I have to repeat three times!”

“Unbelievably the Challenge Tournament was his very first actual combat. He has practiced martial arts for only six months. He’s amazing, amazing, amazing!”

“I’m so happy right now! I’m rolling on the floor with my face buried in my hands! Don’t you ask me how I can send you voice messages in this position!”

…

Those voice messages traveled far along with her exaltation and excitement. After a while, “Brahman” sent back an emoji of wiping cold sweat off. “You are such a nympho. I thought you were a pretty and cute fan…”

She also sent a voice message in her crispy young girl voice. “Little Changye, you liar! You sound like a little girl in elementary school. How could you trick me that you were a high school senior?”

In a perfect mood, Yan Xiaoling wasn’t bothered by being called a liar. She cleared her throat and put on a more serious voice as if a radio host. “You have to accept that some people are gifted with a naive voice. Wait to see me become a student of Songcheng University this fall!”

“Hmm! I’m waiting. I’ll go and check the post first.” Brahman opened the forum and clicked on the post.

As the video played, her facial expression slowly changed. She pulled her two braids hanging above her shoulders with excitement and quickly typed a reply to “Lush Gives Birth To Light”.

“Too short… I want more!”

“My idol came to the Warrior Sage Challenge Tournament after only six months martial arts training with zero actual combat experience and made it to the top eight… No wonder he’s so mysterious… I love him more!”

There is no conflict at all between a mysterious, hidden expert and a talented youth with half a year training and a top-eight record!

Sharing the same excitement and joy with Yan Xiaoling, Brahman couldn’t wait to spread it out.

Hmm… I’ll share it with Uncle Pig Riding and Uncle Arena so they can learn something about my idol! They blamed for their defeat on a lack of actual combat… He has trained for only half a year!

Brahman hesitated if she should post it in the douche section or the Longhu Club forum.

The former one was probably better for Road to the Arena and Invincible Punch’s face, but the limited number of viewers was obviously not satisfying for her…

After one second of serious thinking, Brahman decided to share it on the Longhu Club forum!

Adults think about potential consequences. Kids seek for fun!

Soon a new post was published on the Longhu Club forum with the title

“My idol’s latest news!”

Brahman tagged many in the post and introduced with her nose in the air: “Check it out! An exclusive interview with my idol! Allegedly he’s only trained for six months…”

Soon Unparalleled Dragon King replied a shocking emoji: “Six months only… No wonder he’s not in my database and no one seems to know anything about him… Only six months…”

Road to the Arena closely followed: “Speechless… I’ll buy a piece of tofu and kill myself.”

Invincible Punch sent an emoji of crying to faint in the toilet: “Master Road, I need no tofu. I’ll just end my life in my toilet!”

Pig-Riding Knight replied the sticker of Yao Ming’s signature laugh: “Come on. Let’s queue and die.”

Comments flooded in rapidly, making Brahman’s eyebrows dance. She copied and pasted some to share the joy with Yan Xiaoling.

“Beautiful World” commented: “He seems to have some talent. This kind of fighters always improve fast at the beginning thanks to their great potential’s explosion, but soon they’ll reach the bottleneck. His future is not yet bright.”

“Outspoken” questioned: “What if he’s a reincarnation of a living Buddha and will achieve physical invulnerability in a few years? Who can match him then?”

“Okamoto’s Fan” joked: “I’ve made up my mind and I’ll start my martial arts training. What if I also have some talents? Maybe a glare of mine can cause pregnancy and orgasm!”

“Wonton Seller” wrote: “I think I have just started admiring him… However talented, he couldn’t defeat Professional Ninth Pin fighters in half a year without hard training. I love this hard-working genius!”

…

Lou Cheng came across this scene while browsing the forum and it muddled his wits. Watching on the side quietly, he felt great inside.

It is spreading too fast!

…

Shu Rui had no idea what was happening in the Longhu Club forum, but she saw Eternal Nightfall and Brahman’s replies with great joy and excitement. She smiled and followed Lou Cheng’s forum.

“Brahman” was trying hard to develop more fans for Lou Cheng. “Wonton Seller” was successfully induced and became a follower.

…

In a flash, Valentine’s Day came. Following Cai Zongming’s advice, Lou Cheng heated up and flirted whenever he could to deliver his intention without causing her too much pressure or burden.

Back to the dorm after dinner, he took out his mobile to reply Yan Zheke’s message and start new topics.

However, he heard nothing from her.

One minute, two minutes, ten and 20 minutes passed and Lou Cheng started to worry. It never happened in the past. He usually knew exactly what she was busy with when she couldn’t respond to his message in time. But this time he had absolutely no clue.

“She told me she had dinner already… Could anything bad happen to her? But what could happen in school? Any reckless man won’t be a problem for her considering her current martial arts skills… Did she fall in the lake by accident? She can’t swim!” Standing by the window, Lou Cheng’s head was filled with random possibilities. Tortured by his bad conjectures, he could stay there no longer and shouted at Cai Zongming,

“Talker, let’s go!”

Cai Zongming moved his eyes away from his laptop, confused. “Isn’t it too early?”

“Let’s go now. It helps our digestion,” replied Lou Cheng insincerely.

“Fine…” Cai Zongming frowned while turning off his laptop.

The two began their walk to the classroom building. Lou Cheng kept his eyes sharp, looking for anything unusual or suspicious but spotting nothing but loving couples which made him jealous. “Yan Zheke left with her classmates, so there would be some uproar in case any accident happened.”

Abruptly his head clicked and his wild conjectures turned to an entirely different direction.

“Today is Valentine’s Day…”

“Did anyone confess his love for her? What would her response be?”

“No reply from her for so long… Did she…?

Lou Cheng dared not continue this thought. His face turned gray and his heart felt plugged, sulking. He wanted to call and ask her but he understood it was no good. He didn’t even know what to say once the call got connected.

Half an hour. An hour… Time quickly went by and Yan Zheke wrote him nothing. Sitting in the classroom, Lou Cheng didn’t listen to the teacher. Lost and suffering, he checked on his mobile frequently every a few minutes. Cai Zongming curled his lips and cleared his throat, whispering,

“Having a fight?”

“Not really…” Lou Cheng found it hard to put his thoughts into words.

Cai Zongming smiled. “Relax. Conflict is normal. It’s the time to play some communication skills…”

He continued on to explain his philosophy of dealing with girl problems but Lou Cheng was too lost to listen. No more than three out of ten lines reached his ears.

Dee!

Ten minutes before the end of the class, a notification for Yan Zheke’s new message flashed on his screen.

She began with an emoji of collapsing to the ground. “Phew… Finally back to my room.”

Moody and rather bothered, he simply replied an OK.

He suddenly remembered what Cai Zongming just said that same content delivered differently would become completely different for girls; anger couldn’t solve conflict but communication could; good communication demanded a good attitude.

After a long deep breath, he added, “What happened? You sound tired.”

“Very! Physically and mentally!” Yan Zheke used the emoji of crying while making a fist. “Someone declared love to me after dinner. Candles and flowers in front of so many people… How embarrassing! I don’t understand what is wrong with his head! He only wants to touch my heart but ignore my feeling? Who enjoys being watched like an animal? So embarrassing!”

Lou Cheng was delighted, his anger and gloom fading away. “So… You said no?”

“Of course! Right in his face, ruthlessly!” Yan Zheke confirmed. “I ran away after refusing his affection. Scared of being bothered by him, I went to a classroom instead of my dorm. My phone was dying and my roommate was on the way with my charger but a phone call from School of Psychology came in about my cousin… Emm… After that call, my phone totally discharged…”

“Her phone had no power…” Lou Cheng felt relaxed inside out with a tiny portion of emotion still trapped in his heart. “School of Psychology?” He was puzzled.

“My cousin is studying in School of Psychology. We thought it might help his Mild Autism but it was not the case at all… Psychological services didn’t seem to work… Sigh… Teachers called me over for this matter. I came back to my room, had my phone plugged in and immediately started my English test…” Yan Zheke added an emoji of panting and squatting.

Lou Cheng came to a sudden realization. “You completed your paper early?”

“Yeah… I’m so exhausted…” After a pause, Yan Zheke showed her acute senses. “Cheng, you sounded a bit weird earlier.”

Thinking about denying, but Lou Cheng eventually chose to be honest. “You didn’t reply for such a long time… I was concerned and went off into wild flights of fancy. I was afraid you might have fallen into the lake or encountered bad guys… I became very worried and disturbed… I always phoned you…”

“Ha… You are so good at cursing me…” Yan Zheke chuckled. “Didn’t know you are so easily disturbed and worried.”

This message lit up Lou Cheng’s last bit of emotion. He blurted out, unable to contain himself.

“Because I like Yan Zheke. I like Yan Zheke very much!”

Regrets hit him right away.

I screwed up… What happened to no declaration of love before starting a relationship?

What about expressing love and affection face to face not by phone or through the internet?

Supposed to wait for two more days to use the tricked set on our date…

Damn it! I screwed up… Big time…

Nervousness, upset, worry and expectation all came at once. Lou Cheng heard his heart beating fast, more violent than ever.

Yan Zheke relapsed into silence again. The longer Lou Cheng waited, the more desperate he felt.

“You… Aren’t you gonna say something?” He took heart and asked again, waiting for his doomsday.

A dozen seconds later, Yan Zheke sent a shy emoji.

“Let me enjoy it for five more minutes first…”

The implied meaning hit Lou Cheng hard as if the most beautiful fireworks blasted in his heart, brilliant and bright.

This is a yes from Yan Zheke!

The most beautiful thing in this world is the girl I love happens to love me back.

Lou Cheng wanted to jump up high. Joy and flashes of fireworks went on and on in his mind.

He looked out of the window, seeing the full moon becoming brighter and brighter.