Book 1: Chapter 4: Eyes Filled with Emotion
The fourth day of Teng Qingshan’s stay in Yangzhou City, inside the courtyard of the house he rented.
Teng Qingshan was silently sitting cross-legged in the center of the courtyard. As the night passed by and the first bright rays of the morning sun began to illuminate Yangzhou City, Teng Qingshan opened his eyes. His heart was as tranquil as a lake, and he was in full control of his mind. Facing the morning sun, he stood up and took a deep breath, his face showing nothing but an expression of peacefulness. He immediately started to practice the Twelve Forms of Xing Yi.
The Xing Yi Martial Arts had twelve forms, which were divided into: Dragon, Tiger, Hawk, Monkey, Horse, Swallow, Sparrow, Chicken, Bear, Bird, Alligator, and Snake styles.
Every single style had its own subtle differences.
When Teng Qingshan practiced the Dragon style, he appeared like a floating dragon that was erupting out of the sea and soaring through monstrous sea waves as fast as lightning, generating spiraling bursts of energy in its wake. Every spiraling thrust of his fist was like the fierce advance of an electric drill, and sharp sounds were emitted as it pierced through the air. The integration of Dragon Form with «Drilling Fist», one of the five ways of boxing included in the postures, was already close to perfection.
When he used Tiger style, his figure moved up and down at such a tremendous speed that he seemed like an illusionary image to others. He crouched down and wildly pounced forwards – and like a fierce tiger rushing down a mountain, his leap was accompanied by a low howl. He rotated and bent his left fist as he brought it in front of his face. His right fist fiercely thrust forward like an artillery shell, suddenly giving rise to the sounds of exploding firecrackers. He crossed his left and right fists and then thrust his left fist. While alternating between using his left and right fists, he resembled a fierce tiger racing down a mountain and unceasingly ripping apart everything along the way – aching to tear its prey into tatters.
By the time he had finished his boxing practice, the sun had already appeared over the horizon.
Facing the morning sun, he restrained his power!
As he gazed at the rising sun, Teng Qingshan’s eyes were as firm as an unshakable boulder. He had started to pursue ‘The Martial Way’ ever since the death of his wife. His extremely firm beliefs helped to continuously promote his comprehension of the Xing Yi Martial Arts, and every insight allowed him to more deeply appreciate the profoundness of the Xing Yi Martial Arts.
“It’s already been three days, yet I haven’t even seen Qing He!” Teng Qingshan frowned, but then began to smile. “However, the efficiency of the ‘Hand of Darkness’ is really low. They were only able to discover my tracks yesterday evening.”
The reason why Teng Qingshan thought so was because Yangzhou city and An Yi County were only a bit more than a hundred kilometers away from each other, so the Hand of Darkness should have found him within a day. Who would’ve thought that they would not have been able to track his location down before the third evening of his stay?
However, it wasn’t too strange, since the Hand of Darkness would most likely have expected for Teng Qingshan to immediately flee to a remote area after his whereabouts had been revealed. Therefore, they spent their energy searching other places. No one thought that Teng Qingshan would be daring enough to stop as close as Yangzhou city..
“I haven’t seen Qing He for three days now. Because he’s a member of the nation’s Special Operations Organization, perhaps his arrival was delayed due to some important matter…” As usual, Teng Qingshan left his residence and proceeded straight to the Willow Tea Club in a taxi.
Normally, Teng Qingshan would stay at the Willow Tea House in the mornings and then visit the White Cloud Cafe – which wasn’t too far from the Tea House – in the afternoons. This way, he could watch the home of his younger brother Qing He from inside the White Cloud Cafe.
In Yangzhou City, Old city sector, Willow Tea House.
“Oh sir, you’ve come. Please come in and have a seat.” The waiter showed Teng Qingshan the way to a seat by the window on the second floor in a very familiar manner. “Sir, are you going to order soya-bean milk and meat dumplings again?”
He had sat in the exact same position and ordered the exact same things for three consecutive days, each time spending the entire morning in the tea house. Because of this, the waiter was already quite familiar with Teng Qingshan’s usual habits.
Teng Qingshan lightly nodded his head. “Correct. Thank you for your consideration.” Then he turned his head towards the window and looked in the direction of his younger brother’s home, which was situated quite far away from him.
“Sigh… During the past few days, he still hasn’t returned home. What exactly is going on?” Teng Qingshan frowned. This was already his fourth day coming here to observe. During these past few days of observation, Teng Qingshan had already familiarized himself with his younger brother’s home. He could very easily distinguish if a door, window, or curtain had been opened.
During his entire surveillance, however, he hasn’t seen any observable changes at all!
No one had been staying in Qing He’s home during these past few days.
“‘Sharpshooter’ Sun Ze and ‘Body Crusher’ Dolgoterov will be here within the next few days… I hope that I can see my younger brother before the inevitable battle.” Teng Qingshan silently murmured from the bottom of his heart.
“Sir, here’s your soya-bean milk and meat dumplings.”
The waiter served him meat dumplings and a big glass of soya-bean milk. After accepting the food, Teng Qingshan started to eat his breakfast while silently waiting and continuing his vigilant watch….
A Land Rover’s Range Over SUV advanced through the streets of Yangzhou City’s old sector like a swaying breeze. Such an aggressive and manly vehicle was actually being driven by a beautiful, delicate, short-haired woman. A beautiful woman driving such an intimidating vehicle truly had a different flavor to itself, and many people in the streets couldn’t help but praise her again and again with shining eyes.
Lin Qing silently drove the Land Rover through the streets..
She was already accustomed to the attention that she got from both sides of the streets, but there was a slightly lonely expression on her face.
“I originally believed that I would continue to remain muddleheaded. However, I came across him… Teng Qingshan. He was like a gust of wind that suddenly arrived before me, and filled my world with colors once again. But that gust of wind silently left me soon after its arrival.” Lin Qing’s eyes looked desolate, but her gaze suddenly fell on a roadside Tea House — the Willow Tea House.
The Willow Tea House was located in a remote area in Yangzhou City, and its reputation was not as large as that of the Abundant Spring Tea House. However, it had the same kind of deep and profound history, and the prices on its menu were very low compared to those of the Abundant Spring Tea House.
After turning a corner, the Land Rover stopped in the vacant lot before the Tea House. Ling Qing exited her vehicle and entered the building.
“Miss Lin.” When the waiter saw Lin Qing, he hastily welcomed her in a cordial manner. “Miss Lin, you haven’t visited here in a while!”
“I was out on a trip,” said Lin Qing with a faint smile as she directly climbed the stairs to the floor above.
Teng Qingshan had already finished his breakfast. He had been drinking tea while putting all of his attention towards his younger brother Qing He’s home.
“Teng Qingshan!” A slightly trembling voice rang out.
Teng Qingshan was startled, as there were only a few people who knew about him in Yangzhou City. When Teng Qingshan turned around, he saw a lady wearing black trousers and a white shirt, with short hair neatly arranged both sides of her head — Lin Qing! Teng Qingshan’s calm heart couldn’t help but violently jolt when he looked into Lin Qing’s eyes.
Lin Qing’s eyes showed anger and anxiousness, but they also contained traces of joy and irritation. Just how could a pair of eyes hold so many emotions?
“Cat…”
Teng Qingshan still remembered the time when he was twenty years old and went to Lebanon in order to carry out a task with his wife ‘Cat’. However, Cat was shot, and he had to strip off her clothes immediately so that he could extract the bullet from her body . The emotions he saw in Cat’s eyes during that time were similar to the emotions Lin Qing’s eyes were currently showing him…
Not only anger and anxiousness, but also joy and irritation…
Her eyes showed the very same emotions!
Coincidentally, it was also after that event that they finally took the crucial step and became lovers.
“Teng Qingshan, didn’t you say that you had to go back to your home town due to some pressing matter? Didn’t you say that your home was in a mountainous region I’m unaware of? So how are you still in Yangzhou?” Lin Qing sat down across from him and hurriedly asked for an explanation. However, Lin Qing discovered that Teng Qingshan was silently staring at her.
He was gazing into her eyes!
It was very rude to act this way when there was a lady seated before him.
“What are you looking at?” Lin Qing asked, unable to bear his gaze anymore. She may have said it in a scolding manner, but thinking that this blockhead Teng Qingshan had finally noticed her charm, she felt an indescribable hint of joy from the bottom of her heart.
“Your eyes look very similar to my wife’s eyes,” Teng Qingshan said with a faint sigh as he shifted his line of sight away from her and took a light sip of tea.
Lin Qing was shocked.
“Your wife?” Just a moment ago, Lin Qing was full of anger and wanted to ask why he deceived her. But she was completely satisfied when she heard the word ‘wife’ from him. “Didn’t you graduate from university only a little while ago? How do you already have a wife?”
Teng Qingshan shook his head and said, “I have never gone to university.” Actually, even the glasses he was wearing were fake. They were only for the purpose of disguising himself.
“You, you…” Lin Qing’s brain was in complete disorder.
“Sorry for deceiving you all this time. What I said about my home being in a mountainous area as well as graduating from a university were nothing but lies.” Teng Qingshan said with a faint smile. “Lin Qing, I have some very important matters I need to take care of. As it would be inappropriate to involve you in them, I chose to deceive you until now. There are many things that could become complicated if I were to begin explaining them to you. It would be for the best to act like you’ve never met me before.”
Lin Qing had always found Teng Qingshan mysterious ever since the time he had exposed his astonishing strength and incredible physical ability at Great Xing’An mountain. But now, Lin Qing found Teng Qingshan even more mysterious.
“Act like I’ve never met you before?” Lin Qing stared at Teng Qingshan.
Teng Qingshan nodded his head.
Lin Qing felt that Teng Qingshan was concealing the indifference within his heart. It was as if he was unwilling to establish any contact with other people. She finally understood him!
“You have deceived me all along, so don’t tell me that you’re not prepared to make up for it!” Lin Qing asked rhetorically.
“Make up?” Teng Qingshan frowned.
“Are you busy today?” Lin Qing quickly asked.
Teng Qingshan slightly nodded his head. “I’m planning to spend my afternoon in the cafe on the other side of this tea house.”
“Very good.” Lin Qing nodded with a little smile. “I’m not going to ask for too much. While you finish your tea, I’ll accompany you. Then, when you go to the other cafe in the afternoon, all I ask is that you will allow me to be in your presence. If you’re meeting someone, I won’t interfere. All I want is to stay with you for a day. How about it?”
Teng Qingshan felt somewhat doubtful about her asking to stay with him for just a day.
If she were to be by his side, there was no way that he wouldn’t be held back.
“All right.” Teng Qingshan nodded his head in agreement, causing Lin Qing to reveal a faint smile.