Chapter 111: Recalling an Old Friend
Song Ping smiled. Good! Good Guy! What a slap in the face. Using pepper spray against alloy tonfas. Haha~! Such an interesting guy!
The referee was surprised that none of the judges opposed. He lifted Zheng ZhengXiong’s hand with an odd expression. “Victor! Zhang ZhengXiong!”
“Eh, just like that? He became champion using pepper spray?”
“You Chinese are too shameless!!”
“It’s just that you guys are too stupid. This is called winning through intelligence. Look at that guy and his alloy tonfas. Then look at our Demon King Zhang, insta-killing him with a weapon used by little girls. Pepper Spray! Tsk~ tsk~ a fitting end for you islanders.”
“You!!!”
“The Grappler Champion has been decided! As expected of the devil from T-105 - Zhang ZhengXiong. He even bring this sort of cheat level concealed weapon to a compet.i.tion. It worked just like on TV, easily taking out any attacker. I should also get myself one of those. It can be my secret killer move during a fight.”
Zhang ZhengXiong swaggered back to the audience to join Ye Cang and the others.
All that was left was the kendo compet.i.tion, but it was also coming to an end. Jin XiuYan couldn’t overcome Haruka Mizuno in the end. Among the compet.i.tors, there was a girl called Zhao XiangYu who was eliminated quite quickly, but she grabbed Zhang ZhengXiong and Ye Cang’s attention. However, it wasn’t the girl’s sword skills that drew their attention, it also wasn’t her opponent’s gorgeous sword play, but because that girl looked exactly like QinXue.
Ye Cang’s eyes became a little moist, blurring his vision, but he quickly snapped out of it. I’ve already said my final goodbyes, and even ensured that she had reincarnated. A ripple again formed in his tranquil heart. They only look alike.
Little Ye Tian also noticed. She slowly embraced him and tugged on his sleeve.
Zhang ZhengXiong sighed, and reached out to pat his shoulder. “Bro, don’t overthink it…”
“Mm…” Ye Cang raised his head and didn’t speak. Wu Na looked at his heartbroken expression, and although she was curious, she didn’t ask. She knew the two of them had a relative that pa.s.sed away. Did this girl remind them of her?
During the award ceremony, Zhang ZhengXiong examined his medal. As he didn’t even get a trophy, he felt slightly disappointed. He grabbed the medal, and directly left with everyone. Xiao Ke’er who had conferred it to him, smiled and stood there motionlessly. That guy didn’t give her any face. He even ignored Song Ping, who had called out to him, and directly left.
“This Zhang ZhengXiong might be talented, but he’s too obstinate and arrogant.” Song Ping looked at Zhang ZhengXiong’s back and frowned, furious.
“You’re not his match…” Zhou XiaoZhi left behind these words before leaving, stunning Song Ping.
Song Ping sighed, was it another brat like Qin ShaoTian? He turned and looked at Yasuaki Ryuichi sternly criticizing his students. Was ZhengBang still declining? Perhaps… The mystery behind the Chrysanthemum Scattering Arts, only ancestor Lin Lin understood them. Without anyone able to comprehend it, the current generations was slowly withering. He got up to leave.
…
Ye Cang and the others pa.s.sed through the night market on the way home. While they were there, they feasted at Old w.a.n.g’s store. Zhang ZhengXiong grumbled the whole time about the disappointing award. Stuff like, if they have a ** trophy, why not use it. He was eventually berated by Ye Cang about watching his language in front of the kids, and was smacked in the head a few times.
“Earlier, that ZhengBang guy. His move was so bad, I feel like even I could do better.” Lin Le pouted. He cupped his hand and made as if to scoop the moon. Ye Cang and Zhang ZhengXiong both stared shocked. Although there was no qi, but the movements were perfect! There wasn’t any hesitation, nor movement giving away his intentions. The two watched surprised. Ye Cang couldn’t help praising him. “Not bad. Lele, you’re quite talented.”
“Shucks~, I’m just playing around…” Lin Le’s ahoge swayed delightedly.
“You guys go home first. I want to take a little walk to relax my mind” Ye Cang smiled towards the others. He then turned and walked towards the nearby half-moon lake.
“Bro, don’t be out too late.” Zhang ZhengXiong said, holding back Wu Na who wanted to chase after him. “Let my bro have some time to himself.”
“That girl today, you both looked at her as if you’d seen a ghost. That guy even leaked some tears. Just what…” Wu Na sat down and asked.
“Yeah, it’s something you don’t know about my sister and us.” Zhang ZhengXiong saw Little Ye Tian’s heart-broken expression. He smiled, picked her up, put her on his lap, and pet her head. “You peaked at his memory?”
Little Ye Tian nodded, not saying anything.
“My elder sister is called Zhang QinXue. We were born to a broken family in the slums. Before meeting bro, all I remember is a father that would drink and beat us. Frankly, I don’t even remember my mother, because she died from illness when I was very young. Sister said that mother was a gentle but cowardly woman. Our family was poor, we rarely had enough to eat. What money we did have, would go towards wine or playing around in the red-lights district. He even tried to persuade my sister to… Hah~ In short, father would drink and come back drunk to beat us, many times, over many years. I thought that he would really kill my sister and I one day…” Zhang ZhengXiong sank into his thoughts, and stopped for a moment. “Until one winter, he came back drunk again. As always, he vented his anger on us, but this time was different. He even wanted to ** my sister. His own daughter! The good thing is that while my sister was resisting, she accidently knocked him out. She then brought the young me and we ran away from that hopeless home.”
“It was an exceptionally cold winter night. It was raining hard. I don’t know how far my sister ran while carrying me. We were both covered in cuts and bruises. All I remember was that bone-piercing cold. Even now, I still remember being on sister’s back and watching her bruised face. Beaten and exhausted, but still running and telling me ‘A’Xiong, don’t fall asleep. You hear me?’ The two of us eventually found shelter under a store’s entryway, but were soon chased away. There was nowhere we could take shelter from the rain. We continued looking, until the hunger and cold forced us to huddle up in a small alley. Although I was young at the time, seeing sister’s hopeless expression, I knew what would happen to us… Powerlessly, we looked as less and less people walked by, but none of them reached out to help us…” Zhang ZhengXiong’s story, made Wu Na’s heart ache. Was this when it happened?
Zhang ZhengXiong looked at Wu Na’s expression. “Mm, I still remember his expressionless face, holding a large black umbrella. He walked over and blocked the rain. Truth be told, at that time, me and my sister almost peed ourselves in fright. An expressionless white haired boy with a black umbrella, my sister and I thought that he was death, here to take us away.”
Wu Na couldn’t hold back her smile. So that’s how they met.
“Especially when bro looked at us and indifferently asked ‘Cold?’. Me and my sister froze. We nodded, terrified. Then he asked us ‘Hungry?’ and we could only keep nodding. Then Bro thought for a bit, and said ‘Follow me’. We thought he was bringing us to h.e.l.l, but after pa.s.sing through a few streets, he brought us to a simple and clean appartment. Bro gave us a change of clothes, and let us wash up. The clothes I was wearing were Bro’s, and my sister wore the clothes his Grandmother left behind. He let us go make our own meal with whatever was in the fridge. He was burning incense in front of his grandmother’s picture, telling her about his good deed. Then he sat in front of the TV and watched a cartoon. Then…” Zhang ZhengXiong smiled gently, then sadly shook his head. “Ok, let’s stop here for now.”
Zhang ZhengXiong lifted Little Ye Tian up onto his shoulders, wrapped an arm around Lin Le, who was lost in thought, then began walking towards the apartment. Wu Na stared blankly. Next? What happens next!? What do you mean let’s stop here!? What about the f**king main point! You didn’t even say yet. She quickly ran to catch up. “d.a.m.n it! Next? What happens next? You still haven’t gotten to the point. What exactly happened!? Hurry! Tell!”
“Secret. I’ll tell you next time…” Zhang ZhengXiong’s bright laughter and Wu Na’s questioning and profanities faded into the distance.