Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The messy room was divided into three sections: there was a rest area which had a few sofas and a television, a training area which had bits of broken sandbags, and a gaming area which stored the gaming equipment.
The stubbed bald man obviously had a bad temper, and his fists were like metals which were being polished. The bones which poked through his skin seemed like to be itching from time to time, and only through vigorous training would it cease. The marks on the walls must have been his ‘works’.
There was an inconspicuous table at a small corner of the room, but there were no fist prints or mess around there. It looked like Wine God Elder had especially avoided that area, which he had known was his brother’s respite space.
Zhou Guohong laughed merrily and said, “Hi Old Mai, you are still as energetic as before.”
“I don’t like to talk with educated people,” Wine God Elder shot him a glance and then turned to look at Lin Jie. “Young chap, you do train well.”
Lin Jie made a salute. “Thanks for your praises, senior.”
“Senior? Hahahaha!” Wine God Elder laughed. “Okay, this is interesting. Old Qing, you all go ahead and discuss about the stuff, I will go to the balcony.”
Old Qing was alarmed by this comment. “You can’t train at the balcony! Remember, last time you had hit the neighbor’s poodle dog by accident. They are still looking for opportunities to get even with us…”
“Such a naggy man!” bellowed Wine God Elder.
Seeing this, Old Qing shrugged his shoulders helplessly and turned to the two of them. “I am sorry for letting you all see this. My brother’s rather impatient… I will go and make tea for you all, please wait here…”
When Old Qing stood up, Lin Jie finally saw that his arms actually could reach his knees—it was like the arms of a gorilla!
When he came back and passed them the tea, Lin Jie sipped on the cup of tea in his hands and asked, “Teacher, which university will you be teaching at?”
“Jiang City University of Arts and Sciences,” replied Old Qing.
Lin Jie was shocked. Wasn’t this the university he would be enrolled in?
“Ah, hope to see you there, teacher! I will be attending university there.”
“Haha, sure,” commented Old Qing. He went straight to the topic, “I am willing to sell this house, but the thing is, my brother, he’s a bit…”
Lin Jie smiled and said, “I can see, he’s quite stubborn. In the past… was he a soldier? More accurately, part of the Special Troops?”
Zhou Guohong tried to smooth things over immediately. “Jie, be mindful of such comments.”
Special Troops!
Everyone held them in high respect and fear. Special Troops were considered a type of ‘warring weapons’! From their births, they would undergo specialized training at the respective camps, and it was rumored there was not more than 1% of the Special Troops who could live beyond the age of 20! They were like the ‘Avengers’ from the Marvel movie series, and were responsible for dealing with all kinds of armed events!
More accurately said, Special Troops ‘weapons’ made for their missions and they would die for their missions—even in China, where democracy was held in high regard, soldiers from the Special Troops were still treated harshly. One could only leave the Special Troops unless they were dead!
As such, Lin Jie’s comments had serious consequences—if it was spread out, the police would start to conduct an investigation on the brothers.
Old Qing sipped his tea, and his tone turned stern. “Jie, do take note. Some times misfortune finds its way out through one’s mouth.”
Lin Jie smiled, embarrassed, as he said, “Oh yes, yes. It’s just that I have always held great respect for those from the Special Troops.”
Even if Lin Jie was able to take on several hooligans all at the same time, he would be nothing compared to a soldier from the Special Troops—they could easily burst Lin Jie’s head by just wiggling their fingers.
This was definitely not an exaggeration.
“Okay, let’s get it straight here. I am indeed planning to sell this house, and I have been meeting up with a few interested buyers, but they are all too full of nonsense. As such, we aren’t able to reach a common consensus,” commented Old Qing.
Zhou Guohong couldn’t help but let out an awkward cough at this. He had introduced several interested buyers to Old Qing, but those people had tried to bargain for lower prices—to be honest, it was natural for any house-buyers to do so, especially since this house was filled with so many fist prints and would definitely need a re-painting. This was the main arguing point of those buyers who tried to lower the cost price of this house.
Given the brothers’ tempers, it was also equally expectant that when the buyers tried to argue their case, they were all shooed away in a not so welcoming manner.
Yet now, Old Qing was claiming that he had rejected those buyers mainly because they were ‘too full of nonsense’…
Lin Jie pondered for a while, put his bank card on the table and said in a very straightforward manner, “All I have here is 2,400,000$, but I need to keep some for my family. Thus, I can only afford 2,000,000$ for this unit. If you find that this is not enough, we can work out an installment plan, and I can pay you later.”
“Oh, there’s no need for installments, 2,000,000$ is enough,” surmised Old Qing.
“Please wait here for a while, I will go and inform my elder brother.”
Lin Jie and Zhou Guohong looked at each other. Zhou Guohong chuckled and said, “Old Qing likes to seek his elder brother’s advice for everything. Just wait here, he will be back soon.”
A short while later, sounds of arguing were heard.
“2,000,000$? Well, it’s definitely enough, but does this kid know what the most valuable part of this house is? Kid, come here, let’s have a talk!” Wine God Elder had an especially loud voice. When he talked, even the teacups vibrated a bit.
Lin Jie had no idea why he wanted to see him and thus walked to the balcony with Zhou Guohong in curiosity.
Wine God Elder leaned back in his wheelchair, but he still looked intimidating. He asked loudly, “You are willing to spend 2,000,000$ just to get this house?”
Lin Jie turned his eyes, and suddenly had an epiphany—wasn’t this exactly like in the game? If he couldn’t put across the correct answer to Wine God Elder’s question, he would lose the opportunity to get the house.
Seeing the connection, Lin Jie couldn’t help but smile to himself. His eyes scanned the fist prints on the walls and shot a quick glance at Wine God Elder’s iron-like fists, and an idea was formed. He smiled and said, “If put up for sale in the property market, this unit will only be worth 1,000,000$ at most. Furthermore, with so many fist prints…”
When the words ‘fist prints’ were mentioned, the two brothers’ expressions turned sullen.
‘What, so this lad was still trying to bargain with us over the fist prints after all?’
Zhou Guohong coughed hurriedly and motioned to Lin Jie to stop talking, or else this deal would be off.
“The main reason for me offering the price of 2,000,000$ is exactly because of these fist prints! I am guessing there must be more than 100 fist prints in this room alone? Haha, I will pay 10,000$ per fist print—it’s still more worth it for me!” finished Lin Jie. All the rest were stunned.
“Heh heh, Special Troops are my idols!” Lin Jie scratched his head, a look of simplicity on his face. “I always felt Special Troops should be like you—when you thrust out your fist, the air gets cut through and vibrates all around, that is really… wow!”
Lin Jie’s acting was indeed marvelous. One could almost see shiny stars in his eyes when he was trying to express his idolization of the Special Troops. Especially the last ‘wow’, it was the best of all, like a fan gazing lovingly and full of admiration at his idol, but couldn’t find the correct words to describe his feelings.
“Hahaha, 10,000$ per fist print?” Wine God Elder laughed. “Then it seemed like my fists are still too cheap! It should be at least $100,000 per fist print! However looking at how young you are, I will be magnanimous and give you a 90% discount off!”
Old Qing heaved a sigh of relief, and without any care for his elder brother’s face, he patted Lin Jie’s shoulders and smiled. “Thanks to you, this house is finally sold!”
Wine God Elder glared at him and was about to start fighting with him, but after catching himself, he coughed dryly and commented, “Zhuo Hongguo…”
“My name’s Zhou Guohong,” corrected Zhou Guohong.
“It’s almost the same. Anyway, you and Old Qing go out for a walk or go somewhere else to talk about your literature. You kid stay here, I have something to discuss with you,” beckoned Wine God Elder to Lin Jie.
Old Qing was alarmed. “No, you can’t do that!”
“What, had I ever disappoint you at all? Or do I need to seek your consent before I can do anything?”
“When had you not disappoint me? If not for me, you would be long dead due to your nasty temper!”
“Wth, you kid, now all grown up, aye? Try to retort me again if you dare?!”
“Hpmh,” Old Qing could not help but give a snort when he heard this. He turned and hugged Zhou Guohong’s shoulders, leading him out of the room. “Guohong, let’s go talk about education, I bet you also don’t want to lower yourself to my brother’s levels…”
As Lin Jie watched the two teachers leave, he finally turned and sized Wine God Elder up properly. This intimidating stubbed balded man was smiling weirdly and staring at him. “Your name’s Lin Jie?”
“Yes,” Lin Jie hugged his fists and made a salute.
“You’re body’s quite fit. Youngsters nowadays are normally too lazy to care about training, it’s rare to find someone like you. But the way you train yourself is too lousy. I saw that the moment you greeted me, you hugged your fists—what are you trying to show? That you are also one, who learned martial arts, and hence we talk the same language?” Wine God Elder saw right through Lin Jie’s gimmicks, smiled and said, “Haha, you’re an interesting chap, seems like you’re not one who abides by rules. It’s been so many years since I met someone like you, and my hands do feel itchy for some fight. I can never get satisfied with practicing with Old Qing, he’s not the same style as me. If not for the fact that at least he knows how to teach, I bet he would have ended up just trimming the trees by the roadside with those skills of his.”
Cold sweat started to form on Lin Jie’s forehead. ‘Old Qing had such long arms, and he must have some special talents too. Yet to him, Old Qing’s just fit to trim trees? This is really…’
“Well, I do need someone who can be my sandbag rather urgently. I think you are suitable for that,” laughed Wine God Elder loudly. The air vibration caused by his voice hurt Lin Jie’s eardrums. Wine God Elder threw Lin Jie a book and said, “Take this, here’s a gift from me!”
Lin Jie caught the book and was slightly stunned by its cover. This book gave off ancient vibes, and when one touched it, it felt as if one was handling smooth silk—this was a book of quality.
‘Is this some secret martial arts book?’ Lin Jie was excited and proceeded to flip opened its pages.
“Aye, don’t be so impatient. Read it after you leave,” Wine God Elder put on a mysterious smile, “We will meet again if fate allows us to.”
Lin Jie bowed respectfully, and said loudly, “Master…”
“Oye, don’t anyhow shout those words!” glared Wine God Elder. “When is there an instance of trying to learn a skill from a master, without bribing the master with gifts and pretty ladies—in fact, the master even has to sell you a house at a good price?! You will only come to find me after you manage to be skilled in some stuff from the book!”
After that night, Lin Jie left the place. With Zhou Guohong’s help, he finally managed to settle the new house’s matters.
As for the Wine God Brothers, they left right after they settled the handover. In fact, they had not even moved away all of their existing furniture.
“Okay, it’s almost done now,” Zhou Guohong glanced at his watch and said, “Jie, I am leaving for my lessons now. This is the contact of the renovation company, the school’s being owned by this company. You can call them if you need help in renovation.”
Lin Jie heaved a sigh of relief after he thanked Zhou Guohong profusely.
‘Finally done! I hope Dad will be pleased with this birthday gift, hehe…’
“Oh yeah, that book…” Lin Jie took out the ‘secret martial arts book’, took a deep breath to regain his composure, and opened the book carefully…
‘What, ‘The Three Hundred Tang Poems’?!’
