Chapter 290: He’s Here!

Chapter 290: He’s Here!

“Learn kung fu from me?” The smile on Wu Chen’s face turned subtle.

He was not surprised in the slightest. All of it fell within his expectations.

From the moment Wu Chen learned what had happened to Tang Xinbao and Guo Qiqi on the previous July 20, he had anticipated this moment.

Wu Chen understood Tang Xinbao.

He knew far less about Modu than about Donghai. But he did know people of Tang Xinbao’s status.

During the thousand-year loop, Wu Chen had once arranged to make contact with Tang Xinbao on a certain July 7 and demonstrated his fighting skill to him. Even then, Tang Xinbao had wanted to take him as a master and learn.

Tang Xinbao had two great passions: fighting and cars. Fighting came first.

Wu Chen had displayed combat ability that shattered Tang Xinbao’s understanding of what was possible. Combined with the sense of closeness that came from Wu Chen being his lifesaving benefactor, it was more than enough to make Tang Xinbao want to take him as a master and learn from him.

And this was the key to resolving the trouble Tang Xinbao’s beating had caused.

Even without this step, Wu Chen could still have settled the matter.

But if Tang Xinbao became his disciple, settling everything would become far simpler.

“Yeah, Big Brother. You’re so good. Teach me, won’t you? I’ll work hard. I’ve always wanted to learn from a real expert, but those guys… they’re just so-so.” Tang Xinbao grew more excited as he spoke, until even the logic of his sentences began to slip.

“None of them are good enough. You’re amazing, Big Brother! You’re incredible! The way you fought yesterday—outside of movies I’ve never seen anyone fight like that in real life. And you made it look so cool…”

“I can formally take you as my master. I can pay tuition. Big Brother, just find some time and teach me…”

“We’re about the same age. If you could train yourself to that level, I should be able to do it too, right?”

“And I’ve already got a foundation. I’ve trained since I was little.”

Wu Chen could barely get a word in. Tang Xinbao grew more worked up, his words coming faster and faster, as though he feared a refusal and wanted to say everything he possibly could before it arrived.

He was genuinely desperate to learn.

The idea had begun to take shape the night before, after he witnessed Wu Chen’s astonishing prowess in the alley.

He had thought about it before falling asleep.

He had thought about it again on waking that morning.

He had even dreamed about it in the night.

The dream came from the sheer emotional force of the previous day. He had come within a hair of catastrophe, and Wu Chen had saved him. The image of Wu Chen coming to his rescue with the bearing of a peerless master had followed him into sleep.

Wanting to learn kung fu from a great master was the sort of boyish fantasy a great many boys carried in childhood or adolescence.

Most grew out of it.

Tang Xinbao was different. This was no adolescent fantasy. He genuinely loved fighting.

Wu Chen sat on the sofa while Tang Xinbao stood beside him, talking and gesturing without pause. He rattled off a long stream of words and finished with, “Big Brother, I’m serious. Whatever you tell me to do, I’ll do it…”

Then he stared at Wu Chen with hopeful eyes.

Wu Chen smiled and looked him up and down, putting on the air of a man assessing whether Tang Xinbao was worth teaching.

“Big Brother, I’m in great shape!” Tang Xinbao immediately struck another strongman pose. “You saw it yesterday. They beat me like that and I’m still fine. I’m built tough!”

He simply wanted to prove he was capable.

He wanted to learn.

“Get your injuries healed first.” Wu Chen appeared to weigh it, then smiled. “You can’t train in your condition. Once you’re mostly recovered, we’ll talk about it…”

He neither refused nor agreed.

He was keeping him on the hook.

“Big Brother, I can do it. I’m really fine,” Tang Xinbao protested at once.

“In your condition, if I wanted to test your skills, how much of your real ability do you think you could show me?” Wu Chen asked with a smile.

Tang Xinbao fell silent.

He could not fight at all right now. Everything hurt whenever he moved, and vigorous movement was out of the question.

If Wu Chen wanted to test him, of course he wanted to perform well.

And right now he could not.

“Then… in a few days…” he began after thinking.

“We’ll talk about it in a few days,” Wu Chen cut him off.

Just then, sounds came from the second floor.

Soon Li Ruobing came down the stairs in a crisp women’s suit, her long black hair hanging straight. She was going to the office that afternoon, so she had dressed for work.

“Miss Li.” Tang Xinbao turned and greeted her as she came down.

“How are you feeling?” Li Ruobing asked with a slight smile. “Any discomfort anywhere? If there is, you have to tell me. I’ll have a doctor come over.”

“I’m fine, Miss Li. I feel great,” Tang Xinbao said at once.

He certainly did not want Wu Chen, sitting right beside him, thinking there was anything wrong with his body.

Li Ruobing came into the living room and talked with Tang Xinbao for a few moments. Then she heard sounds from the kitchen and went in.

Wu Chen and Tang Xinbao kept talking in the living room.

They had already agreed to leave the question of taking Wu Chen as his master for later, but Tang Xinbao still steered every word toward fighting and martial arts.

He asked question after question about how to train and what methods to use.

Wu Chen gave him a few simple answers.

Before they knew it, it was eleven.

Guo Qiqi came downstairs.

She looked to be in good condition. She had not really been injured to begin with, and after washing up, changing clothes, and putting on makeup that morning, nothing in her appearance suggested what she had been through the night before.

Wu Chen and Tang Xinbao both greeted her, then went on with their conversation.

Guo Qiqi did not interrupt their talk of fighting.

She sat in the living room a while and listened, then went to the kitchen. Not to help cook—she did not know how. She merely wanted to look around and talk to Li Ruobing.

Guo Qiqi was quite curious about her.

She had long heard of the Li family’s eldest granddaughter, that famously unconventional and extraordinary woman. Li Ruobing pulling a gun the night before had startled her further still.

She was simply curious and wanted to know her better.

And as a direct-line daughter of a major family, Guo Qiqi understood perfectly well that growing closer to a woman of Li Ruobing’s standing could only be to her benefit.

Another half hour or so passed.

Around eleven forty.

Lunch was served.

Eight dishes and a soup.

Most of it Zhuang Xiaodie had prepared; she had deliberately trained her cooking. Li Ruobing had gone into the kitchen to lend a hand, with the unspoken thought of learning a little from her.

Besides, as the lady of the house, with Tang Xinbao and Guo Qiqi as honored guests eating their first meal in her home, Li Ruobing felt she ought to cook at least one dish herself.

…

At the same moment lunch began at Wu Chen’s home.

Donghai Airport.

A private jet that had taken off from Nanguang City landed in the north section of Donghai Airport after a two-hour flight.

Once the jet finished taxiing and came to a full stop, several black sedans with Donghai plates, which had been waiting for some time, drove straight onto the tarmac and pulled up beside the plane.

Every door opened.

More than a dozen bodyguards in black suits got out and stood waiting beside the cars.

They were all from Nanguang, but they had secretly arrived in Donghai a day earlier to arrange the vehicles, the reception, and everything else in advance.

A few minutes later.

The cabin door opened and the stairs came down.

A man of about thirty in sunglasses hurried down the steps, adjusting the cuff of his white shirt as he went. Behind him came seven men and women, assistants and bodyguards both.

Ding Ruilong!

He had arrived in Donghai!

Off the plane, Ding Ruilong walked to a relatively inconspicuous black Audi. A bodyguard opened the door for him, but he did not get in.

Instead he looked around the airport, took his phone from his trouser pocket, and dialed.

He called Li Ruobing directly.