Feeling a bit nervous about strange schools and strange disciples, Lou Cheng picked up Yan Zheke and arrived at the reputed restaurant which he had made the reservation. The restaurant was famous for cooking all kind of beef, such as fried beef, steamed beef, stewed beef, griddled beef and so on.
After ordering, the girl grabbed something from her orange satchel that looked a lot like tissues and handed it to Lou Cheng. "Clean your face." said the girl.
"What's this?" Lou Cheng asked with a dumb look.
"Makeup removing wipe. You wore make-up for this program recording, right?" Yan Zheke smiled.
"Makeup removing wipe… Never heard of it…" Lou Cheng answered in embarrassment.
Yan Zheke tilted her head slightly and could not help smiling, "Silly, you should know what it is by its name. Use this tissue to wipe your face. It will be easier. When you remove everything yellow from your face, you are done with facial cleansing."
"But… But I washed my face after the show." Lou Cheng explained in puzzlement.
"I knew you would say this. You can't clean your face with water when you wear so much makeup. Why do girls prepare makeup removing lotion as well as the cleansing oil? That's the reason. And I think you should feel uncomfortable with your sensation and control of skins." Yan Zheke smiled at her gently.
"Oh, I see… No wonder I did not find it refreshing. I assume I washed my face too quick, so I plan to take a bath before tonight's dinner party." Lou Cheng finally came to the realization.
If it were not for the protection of the brain, he would use vibration from the Internal Training Methods to cleanse his skin. But brain was the forbidden area, even for mighty ones with physical invulnerability.
While speaking, he took one piece of tissue and started to wash his face. Something yellow came off immediately.
"So… Do you grasp something new again?" Yan Zheke raised her head while curling the corner of her lips. Obviously, she took pride in herself.
"Thank you, Coach Yan. No, you are my life mentor. I learn so much thanks to you!" Lou Cheng gave an honest smile after the clean-up.
Yan Zheke suddenly let out a sigh. "Cheng, we might not date tomorrow. My parents are going to visit their friend tomorrow and they force me to go with them. Gee, I hate such social activities. If I know their friend well, I'm fine with it. But if not, it would be so uncomfortable. What am I supposed to talk when with a guy who I see three or four times in a year? And I have to sit tight and pretend I care what they are saying during the whole damn conversation. Sometimes they make me answerer question that I do not like. I haven't got the worst part yet. If I meet some naughty kids there, the chaos is, is beyond my imagination…"
When Yan Zheke went on with her complaining, she noticed Lou Cheng was smiling at her attentively. She pouted as she spoke, "Why are you staring at me? Are you disappointed with me? Will you ever be tired of my complaints?"
"Nope, never. Actually, I'd love to see you complain more. You looked super cute in this way." Lou Cheng added with a smile, "To me, it makes you more of a person and draw us closer."
Yan Zheke rolled her eyes at him, smiling. "So what are you saying? I am not a normal girl to you back then or I do not smell like a normal girl?"
"Yep, you smell like a fairy for sure." Lou Cheng wore a serious look on purpose.
Puff. Yan Zheke laughed, curved her lips and turned sideways, "What shall I do? I felt tricked! You know, last year when we got to know each other, you weren't like this. And at that time, I could not expect this kind of conversation out of your mouth."
"People all grow up, so do I. Plus I have my good mentor." Lou Cheng answered without blushing.
"Yep. Somebody's skin indeed grows thicker," said Yan Zheke irritably.
Lou Cheng chuckled. He held her hand, helped massage her acupuncture points and changed the subject in the meantime. "Ke, will you attend tonight's dinner party in celebration of the Youth Tournament?"
He heard from Ke that Empress dowager had received the invitation as well.
"Nope," Yan Zheke shook her head and continued, "I am afraid that somebody is gonna talk to me by then. If my dad finds out our relationship, em…"
When two in love attended the same party, people would see something from their language, their look, and their sight, unless they kept a distance from each other.
Can his boyfriend keep a distance from her? She didn't think so because she doesn't have any confidence in herself either.
"Ugh." Lou Cheng sighed with regret, "I thought I could see you in an evening dress."
"You pervert." Yan Zheke cursed jokingly. "But I hate attending parties and banquets like this. Although I can put on my beautiful dresses, I also have to talk with a bunch of people who I am not familiar with. My face freezes because I smile too much… Anyway, it's super boring. I might as well use the time to do more papers."
She complained about all kinds of boring stuff in such occasion. The more excited she got, the gentler Lou Cheng smiled.
When dishes were almost served, Lou Cheng suddenly remembered something, "Ke, actually I can't date either. I think I am kind of famous now because I got the championship in the Youth Tournament. Master let me go to Wuyue for my apprenticeship acknowledgment."
"Formal acknowledgment of your apprenticeship?" Yan Zheke did not hide her joy. She was happy for him from the bottom of her heart.
"Yep. It was so sudden that I am a bit nervous. I don't know which sect I belong and what my peers would be like." Lou Cheng honestly shared his feelings, expecting some advice from his girlfriend. After all, she was born in an aristocratic family of martial arts.
Yan Zheke looked up and continued after a moment of silence.
"Cheng, you should be nervous. Do you honestly expect your fellow disciples to be nice to you? It's not a sure thing even if your master is a Mighty One with physical invulnerability, even if he is one of the leaders who control your sect?"
"How come?" Obviously, Lou Cheng knew nothing about surviving in a sect.
Yan Zheke took back her hands and seriously analyzed for him. "A sect is like an interest group. The distribution of interests is settled before your appearance. But when you showed up as the champion of this Youth Tournament, plus you are going to be a Professional Eighth Pin or a Seventh Pin in the following year, you break this balance. Of course, we are not talking about how much benefits you will receive currently. Your problem lies in your growth speed. Those disciples who are raised to be the next leader of your sect are around your age, but they can't compete with you. In future, who will be the leader, who will be the assistance? They know pretty well. Now, do you still think they will be nice to you?"
She recalled things her grandfather and uncle used to talk about, as well as certain books she read and then she retold all to Lou Cheng in an incisive and cold tone.
"… Cutting off their money is like murdering their parents." Lou Cheng concluded with a slang after a moment's thought.
His fellow disciple spent so much time together practicing martial arts from childhood. Of course, they were close. He was different. He was an outsider. They for sure would reject him, isolate him and hate him.
Seeing her boyfriend change into a serious look, Yan Zheke chuckled, "It's not that serious. You are under your master's protection. They won't go too far. They might provoke you, trying to give you a little taste of humility. But don't get mad at them. Follow the rules and everything will be fine."
"OK." Lou Cheng nodded with an occupied mind.
"Also, don't trust these passionate fellow disciple. People who confront you directly aren't the worst. Mind those who play dirty. They would accompany you with all beer and skittles, making you fall from virtue. Once you develop a bad hobby, you can't blame anyone but yourself. My grandpa has a martial niece whose talent was all wasted in this way. He made bad friends and did bad things, so he had to suffer on his own." Yan Zheke pursed her lips.
She knew Cheng would not screw around in nightclubs, but she feared he might be too embarrassed to turn down others' invitation.
Lou Cheng listened in kind of trance. After quite a while, he spoke in relief, "Everything gets complicated when there are people around…"
Around 6:50 p.m., Lou Cheng, wearing a white and black-edged martial arts suit, came to the venue in high spirit. The dinner party in celebration of the Youth Tournament was about to start.
A long red carpet was already on the ground. Fans were there too. They held various cameras and signs, which reminded him of the day he and Zhang Zhutong first met.
When his gaze swept across those fans, he found signs and bands that had his name on it. He finally knew how many fans he had gained on the forum in the last two days.
He took a breath, put on a small smile, stepped on the red carpet and walked toward the entrance with his head up.
Snap! Snap! Snap!
People kept screaming Lou Cheng's name. Under all flashlights came tonight's leading character.
He enjoyed all people's admiration on the red carpet. When he entered the venue, before he could look around, an old man with white hair walked toward him. He was meticulously dressed.
"I will call you my nephew since your master and I are friends for years." The old man laughed, "Well, old man forgets things. And I haven't introduced myself. I am the former director of the provincial police agency. After my retirement, I am only She Dawei, an old man who hasn't died yet."
"Uncle She, nice to meet you. Thank you for helping me so much before." Lou Cheng greeted him according to seniority of his master.
Geezer Shi must turn to Director Xing for help about what happened to Wang Xu through this connection.
She Dawei let out a big laughter, "Just a small favor. Stop mentioning it. Come on, I will introduce some elder masters to you."
He led Lou Cheng to Yin Huaming and started to introduce again, "This is Little Yin. He is the chairman of Martial Arts Association in our province. According to seniority, you can call him Brother Yin. But considering his age, just call him uncle Yin. In this martial circle, we don't mind such things."
"Uncle Yin, nice to meet you." Lou Cheng almost failed to hide his smiles. He greeted Yin Huaming by instructions.
Yin Huaming shook his head in big smiles, "Martial uncle She, I am only ten years younger than you."
Calling him Uncle Yin indeed brought them much closer, after this reintroduction.
"Who told your master to accept apprentices at the age of 20?" She Dawei cursed jokingly.
Next, he introduced Lou Cheng to several other people. There are Luo Zhong, vice governor in charge of martial affairs; Yu Hong, vice principal of police school who was also the boss of Shenhuo Club behind the curtain, and 60-year-old Gao Jianxi, a Mighty one of Professional Fourth Pin. She Dawei introduced almost all big shots in Xing martial arts circle to his martial niece.
One stranger after another, one greeting after another, Lou Cheng finally knew what it was like when he smiled too much.
After another round of greeting, he excused himself by going to the restroom and sneaked into the balcony, hid in the corner and complained to his girlfriend by saying, "… I guess this is the trouble of being famous. I'd love to study in the classroom with you rather than spending time in parties like this."
Before Yan Zheke could reply, Lou Cheng saw a tall man carry a bottle of red wine into the balcony. He was a lean man under 40. Lou Cheng could sense his tiredness behind his eyes, yet he looked so energetic from his appearance.
"Lou Cheng?" The man raised his bottle with a gentle smile.
"Hello." Lou Cheng answered instinctively, raising his bottle of water as well.
"I'm Wang Zhou." He smiled. "Last night, I heard a message from the underworld. Somebody paid 30 million for your life.""
"What?" Lou Cheng was both surprised and puzzled.
Who will set me up?
Wang Zhou sipped his wine and added leisurely, "But there was no follow-up after this message. People who have this ability to kill you would not risk their stable life for this sum of money. Meanwhile, our society is stable and harmonious. And even if somebody gets this money, he might not survive to spend a penny. You don’t have to worry so much. I mean this message only tells somebody doesn’t like you, for now."
"How did you know?" Lou Cheng thought for a while and asked.
Wang Zhou gently shook the bottle, turned his back, then walked away and said.
"People in this circle prefer calling me Master Ba."
Master Ba? Master Ba from the Virtuous Hall… That makes senses now… Lou Cheng exhaled and once again felt this championship had changed his life.
What will happen when his apprenticeship is acknowledged?
Inside the venue, Gu Shuang in a black evening dress peeked at the balcony and then texted Yan Zheke.
"Hey, Ke, your man is so honest. He won't even look at those debutantes. You know they flirt with men all the time, but he disappoints them so much."
"Why should you care!" Yan Zheke was annoying and amusing at the same time. "Right, bring me four bottles of Ningshui hard liquor. Original-proof spirits, please! Cheng will visit his master tomorrow, and he is not coming empty-handed."
The next day, Lou Cheng grabbed his luggage and headed toward the airport. For him, it's a new journey.
The destination: Wuyue Province!