Chapter 205 – Bruce Long
In another room, Dong Wu was incensed and Qin Qi’s expression dark. Dong Qing-Yue looked fairly dissatisfied.
“Why’s this punk so difficult to deal with?” Qin Qi broke his silence. “Our plan was perfect – and he saw through it!”
Dong Wu glared at Dong Qing-Yue. “Tell us – how did he see through it?”
“He didn’t at first. He kept trying to console me and pull me back when he saw that I wanted to jump off the cliff. I went according to the plan too, and pulled him to the cliff when he grabbed my hand but his reaction was just too quick. He grabbed my waist right away and the only way I could throw him down the cliff was if I went down with him too,” said Dong Qing-Yue.
“Looks like we’ve underestimated that punk.” Dong Wu was full of hate for Xia Lei.
“Young Master Wu has been good to us and we can’t even get this small thing done. Would he still view us so kindly in the future?” said Qin Qi.
Dong Wu was quiet and his expression darkened.
“There are some programs for exchanging pointers at the martial arts seminar. I’ll go take care of that old man tomorrow. I’ll leave Xia Lei to you,” said Qin Qi.
Dong Wu nodded wordlessly.
Just then, Dong Qing-Yue’s phone rang.
Dong Wu and Qin Qi looked at her.
Dong Qing-Yue looked at the phone screen and said, “It’s Miss Wen calling.”
Qin Qi smiled wryly. “She sure is antsy. Probably wants to know the result, huh?”
Dong Wu sighed. “Pick up. She was the one who thought of this plan to kill Xia Lei off. It’s only normal for her to be anxious to know about the result.”
Dong Qing-Yue unlocked the phone and put it on speaker-mode.
Gu Ke-Wen’s voice came from the phone. “Qing-Yue, is that punk dead?”
“He…” Dong Qing-Yue did not finish her sentence.
“Heh heh, he must be dead, huh? My idea was so great. He must be a meat pancake now, right?” Gu Ke-Wen felt good about herself.
One had to admit that the plan she’d thought up was detailed indeed.
Dong Qing-Yue glanced at Dong Wu and Qin Qi, then braced herself and said, “Miss Wen, Xia Lei… is alive. My father only managed to cut his thigh.”
“How is this possible?” Gu Ke-Wen’s voice carried surprise.
“He’s too wiley. We’ve tried our best,” said Dong Qing-Yue.
“You…” Gu Ke-Wen did not voice her ugly thoughts. She stopped talking for a bit, then said, “It’s fine. It failed this time but there will be more opportunities. The bottom line is that I don’t want to see him returning to Hai-Zhu.”
“Understood. Please rest assured, Miss Wen,” said Dong Qing-Yue respectfully.
“That’s all.” Gu Ke-Wen hung up.
“How about we work together to kill him off tonight, then hide overseas for a period of time,” said Qin Qi, “Master can guarantee that we’ll be fine with his connections.”
Dong Wu frowned. “That punk’s very wiley and we’ve already alerted him. He’s sure to have his guard up. Besides, we’ve already ticked off the people of the Tang Sect. The Tang Sect may lend him a hand. They have a lot of people and this is their territory too. Our chances of success are too slim.”
“Tang Sect? Ha! They think they’re really the originators of concealed weapons?” Qin Qi snorted and said disdainfully, “If they were on our territory I’d roast those Tang Sect chickens!”
“Never think that way. I’ve been around longer than you have and I know a bit about the Tang Sect’s history. In the old days, the Tang Sect was a rule-abiding martial arts sect which practiced and refined their martial art, barely going out to show their faces in public; this is why they’d always seemed so mysterious. But times have changed now and the core members of the Tang Sect joined the army and became instructors or officers. Some entered the business world and made a fortune these past 30 years with the reforms and the opening of the Chinese market. No one knows how great the Tang Sect’s wealth is. A huge clan like this rich in history and martial arts is a clan that even Master wouldn’t dare take lightly – how can you or me even have the power to cause a disturbance to it?” said Dong Wu.
There was a saying – ‘an ant shaking a tree’ but Dong Wu did not say it aloud.
Qin Qi looked disgruntled but he felt that Dong Wu’s words made sense.
At that moment, Dong Qing-Yue’s phone suddenly rang again.
Dong Qing-Yue did the same as before and put Gu Ke-Wen on speaker-mode. “Is there anything else, Miss Wen?”
Gu Ke-Wen’s voice came from the phone, “I’ve just found out that there’s an American at this martial arts seminar named Bruce Long. This guy claims to be the successor of Bruce Lee and says that his is the true Wing Chun. He issued a challenge to all the Wing Chun experts before he signed up to participate in this martial arts seminar. Isn’t that punk a Wing Chun practitioner? You guys know what to do, right?”
A faint smirk appeared on Dong Qing-Yue’s lips. “I understand. I’ll look for this Bruce Long right away.”
“Remember to make Xia Lei sound like he’s very impressive – and his Master, Liang Zheng-Chun too. Hurry up, go. His room number is 202,” said Gu Ke-Wen.
“I’ll remember, Miss Wen. Wait for our good news.” Dong Qing-Yue hung up.
Dong Wu laughed. “This is interesting. We don’t know if this American is good or not, though.”
“Bruce Lee did learn Wing Chun in the beginning but created Jeet Kun Do with Wing Chun as its base. If that American guy named Bruce Long is Bruce Lee’s successor then he must have some skills. Let’s go meet him; we won’t lose anything by meeting him,” said Qin Qi.
Dong Qing-Yue laughed. “What has Xia Lei done? Miss Wen is so bothered by him, and those whom Miss Wen is bothered about always end badly.”
“Qing-Yue, there’s a saying that goes ‘the evil one brings on himself is the hardest to bear’. Let’s go and see this Bruce Long,” said Dong Wu.
The three of them came to Room 202 and Dong Wu reached out a hand to knock on the door.
The room door was opened by a blonde beauty in an exercise bikini.
The blonde spoke in English, “Who are you? What is this about?”
Dong Qing-Yue replied in English, “We are friends who’ve come because we heard about Mr Bruce Long. We have something very important to talk about with him. Please let him know.”
“Something very important?” The blonde did not pass her words on.
“It has to do with Wing Chun,” said Dong Qing-Yue.
The blonde opened the door wide at that and moved aside. “Please come in.”
Dong Wu, Dong Qing-Yue and Qin Qi entered.
The room had two beds and a bathroom but there was no one in it. The door to the bathroom was open and it was empty too. Dong Wu and Qin Qi’s heads went up at the same time and to the corner above the door.
In the corner was an Eurasian young man in exercise shorts, his arms and legs pressed against the wall and holding his body up. He looked like a spider stuck on the ceiling. There was not an extra ounce of fat on his body and the muscles he had were no less than those of the creator of Jeet Kun Do – Bruce Lee, Li Xiao-Long!
Dong Wu, Dong Qing-Yue and Qin Qi were gobsmacked.
These movements were impossible for the three of them! Only those who had incredibly strong bodies could do it.
This Eurasian young man was Bruce Long and his name was just one word different from Bruce Lee’s name.
At that moment, Bruce Long suddenly dropped from the ceiling with a punch aimed at Qin Qi, who was standing. His posture was like that of a diving eagle, not letting Qin Qi escape from his sphere of attack!
Qin Qi braced himself and punched at his punch.
Bam! The two punches connected.
Thump, thump, thump!
Qin Qi was pushed three steps back before he could right himself. He was amazed.
Bruce Long landed on both feet and spoke in fluent Chinese, “I am Bruce Long. Which of the three of you is a Wing Chun practitioner?”
Smiles appeared on Dong Wu, Qin Qi and Dong Qing-Yue’s faces…
The light of dawn dispelled the darkness but the Golden Summit of Mount Emei was covered in clouds and the rays of sunlight failed to reach the ground. This, however, did not affect the start of the martial arts seminar. After breakfast, the organiser of the seminar, He Ping, gathered all the people participating in the martial arts seminar in a conference room in the hotel.
Xia Lei and Lu Sheng followed Liang Zheng-Chun to the conference room and there were already quite a number of people there when they walked in. Liang Zheng-Chun greeted the people he knew and introduced Xia Lei to those he was on rather good terms with. He was just missing the sentence ‘This is my future son-in-law’ when he spoke to them.
After a night’s rest and recovery, Xia Lei’s wounded leg did not hurt anymore and it had also stopped bleeding. His right leg was a little lame because of the deep injury.
“Is your leg okay, Mr Xia?” came a female voice.
Xia Lei followed the voice. It was Tang Yu-Yan, the person who had helped him last night. She was with her older brother, Tang Bo-Chuan, who was also looking at him with a smile. He had not taken a close look at the siblings last night but, looking at them now, he discovered that Tang Yu-Yan was a slim and toned beauty with pale, soft skin. She was like a doll fashioned from pearl powder and dough. Tang Bo-Chuan was scholarly and handsome too and he had a refined air, not at all like a martial arts practitioner. He looked like a painter or a photographer; an artist.
“It’s fine. Thank you.” Xia Lei greeted them.
“Come sit with us.” Tang Bo-Chuan took the initiative and extended and invitation to all three of them.
“Would you like to go over and sit with them, Master?” Xia Lei asked for Liang Zheng-Chun’s opinion.
Liang Zheng-Chun nodded. “Let’s go over. They’ve helped us, so it’ll be rude to refuse.”
Master and disciples seated themselves next to the Tang siblings. Liang Zheng-Chun greeted the siblings and Xia Lei started chatting with them.
Xia Lei liked making friends too and the Tang siblings were outstanding people. Friends like these were more than welcome.
After some short conversation, Dong Wu, Dong Qing-Yue and Qin Qi walked through the doors of the conference room.
A flash of anger appeared in Xia Lei’s eyes at the sight of those three people.
“I have no idea how these three were allowed to participate. Why is this martial arts seminar letting people like that in?” Tang Yu-Yan frowned. She seemed to really dislike the barrel-waisted Dong Qing-Yue.
At that moment, the Eurasian Bruce Long walked through the doors of the conference room. He joined the trio which had entered before him.
Dong Qing-Yue said something to Bruce Long in a low voice and he abruptly looked over, straight at Xia Lei and Liang Zheng-Chun.
