“Zhan Hongyan, you can tell me now, since we have gone this far.”
Xiao Bing was curious about what Zhan Honyan wanted to tell him. In truth, she hadn’t done anything for him since she swore her fealty to him. However, as the saying goes, “soldiers are trained for a thousand days just to fight one war”. So Xiao Bing did not urge Zhan Hongyan to prove her loyalty. She would be needed when he fought the Long family or even Master Hou. Although Master Hou was his ally now, the future was always uncertain.
Staring at Xiao Bing, Zhan Hongyan asked gravely, “Brother Bing, can you do me a favor? Because I know Mr. Gao is one of yours.”
“Gao Fei?” Xiao Bing remembered the prudence Zhan Hongyan had whenever she mentioned Gao Fei. She seemed to be afraid of him. He wondered what this had to do with Gao Fei. “Tell me about it. I’ll see what I can do,” he replied, smiling.
“Thank you.” Zhan Hongyan continued with sternness, “Can you ask him to take me as his pupil?”
“Take you as his pupil?” Xiao Bing gasped and then he suddenly understood the reason why she always appeared terrified when she was with Gao Fei, while others would just feel uncomfortable. It was because she was once an assassin. She knew the intention of killing on Gao Fei was so intense. That was why she was always in awe of this man and even wanted to learn from him.
Gao Fei was an unfathomable killer. He could kill men before they even saw him coming. Even Xiao Bing himself was shocked when seeing how Gao Fei slaughtered his enemies. Gao Fei did not make any extra movements and the wounds on his dead enemies were invisible to the eye. Xiao Bing did not even find any trace of a struggle on their corpses, which made Gao Fei’s fashion of killing very intriguing.
Sometimes, Xiao Bing even wanted to find out Gao Fei’s true might by challenging him. But his senses warned him that he was still probably no match for Gao Fei.
“I’ll try to do that for you,” answered Xiao Bing with a smile on his face.
“Really?” Zhan Hongyan sounded excited.
“Of course. You are mine now. The stronger you are, the better it will be for you to do things for me.”
Upon seeing Zhan Hongyan so excited, Xiao Bing suddenly put on a faint smile and asked, “But I’m so curious. You are not afraid of him anymore? I see you hiding from him all the time.”
“I’m still afraid of him.” Zhan Hongyan sounded slightly embarrassed. “The intention of killing on him is dense. The apathy in his eyes even frightens me, a woman who used be an assassin. But I want to be stronger, and only he is able to help me with that. “Brother Bing, actually you’re as strong as him, otherwise you could not have killed blood-drinking Jim. But your path is different from his. I will benefit a lot from him…”
Xiao Bing nodded and smiled. “I understand. Although I can’t guarentee you that he’ll 100 percent take you as his student, I will try my best to convince him.
“Anyway, I owe you a big favor.”
The moment Xiao Bing and Zhan Hongyan stepped back into the noodle house they found Maggie giggling. Though Maggie was a just little girl, she was so smart that even Xiao Bing could not figure out what was inside her weird brain. “Maggie, would you mind if I asked your brother to go out and have a talk with him?”
Maggie replied with her cute voice, “Of course. Why should I forbid it?”
Xiao Bing began having his dinner after Wang Guifang served the dishes. After he finished, he went out with Gao Fei and told him about Zhang Hongyan’s wish.
Apathy still remained on his face after Gao Fei heard about Zhan Hongyan’s wish. “It’s true that I’m your boss now. But that doesn’t mean that you need to do everything I ask of you. Teaching others is not one of your job responsibilities, so I won’t force you. It’s all up to you,” said Xiao Bing sternly.
“I know.” Gao Fei snorted, “She’s poorly endowed in the wisdom of killing. She’s not worthy of knowledge…”
Xiao Bing instantly realized that Gao Fei would most likely not agree. Xiao Bing could not force him to do so, as he had said himself. But he truly wanted to do Zhan Hongyan this favor. It was not merely for her, but also for himself.
However, quite to his surprise, Gao Fei spoke in another tone. “But I’m bored when I have nothing to do. I can give her some advice when I have time.”
A smile touched Xiao Bing’s lips. It basically wasn’t different from taking her as his student. It was just that Gao Fei would not call the woman his student. But Zhan Hongyan would definitely be enraptured if she knew this.
While Xiao Bing intended to go back, Gao Fei suddenly asked, “You are interested in my true strength, aren’t you?”
Xiao Bing had not expected Gao Fei to ask this question. “You could say that,” he answered, smiling.
“I will not tell you about it, just like how you disguise your true power,” said Gao Fei slowly while fixing his eyes on Xiao Bing.
Xiao Bing grinned. “You don’t think I’m at the Transforming Strength stage?”
“The power you have shown is indeed within the stage of Transforming Strength. But you are at a higher level compared with even a master at the prime stage of Transforming Strength. If it weren’t for me having noticed the subtle difference, I would have thought that you were just an ordinary martial artist of Transforming Strength.”
Xiao Bing grinned. “Since we both have secrets, then we should respect each other’s secrecy.”
“I’ll beginning tutoring her tomorrow and she will be at the Concealing Strength stage within a month.”
Xiao Bing was still surprised upon hearing it, even though he knew that Gao Fei was quite a capable man. Xiao Bing believed that, besides him, who was once the strongest in this world, there were few who had the same confidence that Gao Fei had. He found this Gao Fei more and more intriguing.
After returning to the noodle house, Gao Fei walked up to Zhan Hongyan, who seemed to have known what Gao Fei was about to tell her. The nervousness on her face was conspicuous. The others all cast them glances of curiosity, wondering what happened.
Gao Fei suddenly snorted sarcastically, “Your mentality is so weak yet you dream of being my pupil?”
They recalled that Zhan Hongyan had asked Xiao Bing to go out to discuss something with him before, and they realized that she must have asked him to do something for her. “Wow, she wants to be my brother’s student?” Maggie exclaimed with mounting disbelief.
Every time Zhan Hongyan was near Gao Fei, fear would arise from the bottom of her heart. However, upon hearing his sarcastic words, she thought of the desire to be stronger and suddenly raised her chest and spoke aloud, “I want to learn from you and get stronger.”
Gao Fei gazed at this woman for a moment and he suddenly nodded. “I have told my boss that I won’t take you as my student. But I will begin training you now and then starting tomorrow. But remember, don’t call me your teacher until I have acknowledged you. Moreover, my way of training is rather cruel. If you can’t withstand it, then I’ll stop training you.”
Seemingly excited, Zhan Hongyan opened her mouth and was intending to call him teacher, but she did not let the word escape from her tongue. “Thank you, Mr. Gao.”
“You’re welcome.”
Maggie’s eyes blinked with vast disbelief as she opened her mouth wide. She was 100 percent certain that Gao Fei would refuse because she knew her brother better than anyone. But she was wrong this time.
In her memory, Gao Fei had always been an extremely apathetic man. He probably had never smiled at anyone, except for Maggie, let alone impart his knowledge of martial arts unto a woman he barely knew. And Zhan Hongyan did not seem to be a rare talent in martial arts.
But everyone still felt happy for Zhan Hongyan. They even proposed to toast to the teacher and the student. But Gao Fei refused because both he and Zhan Hongyan didn’t drink. So not long after, they all went home.
They parted with each other at the door. Lil Bei was still protecting the women of the Su family. Su Xiaoxiao stared at Xiao Bing sadly, thinking of the days when Xiao Bing would make breakfast for her. She missed those days. But they had long gone before she realized it.
Actually, she thought of those days all the time recently. She really wanted the time back.
But she was a girl who appeared to be cold on the outside but was warm on the inside. She would not ask Xiao Bing to come with her, even though she missed him so badly. Besides, so many things had happened to the Ye family, and Ye Xiaoxi needed someone to be there for her.
Li Chunlan looked at Xiao Bing and spoke with great sincerity. “Lil Bing, why not stay at my place for a few days when you have time. Xiaoxiao will be delighted by your company. She must grow bored of this old woman.”
Su Xiaoxiao pouted, “Mom, you are still pretty young. And how can you be so sure that I’d enjoy his company?”
Xiao Bing grinned. “I’ll definitely pay you two a visit soon, auntie.”
“I’m happy to hear that. Goodbye then. Be careful on the road.”
“How about I give you two a ride?”
“That’s not necessary. It would be a pity if we didn’t walk under the splendid starry sky tonight.”
“All right then. Goodbye, auntie.”
Xiao Bing got into his car after everyone had left. But suddenly, he noticed that there were a man and woman seemingly quarreling on the roadside. The girl seemed extremely familiar to him. Xiao Bing pulled over and lunged at them with a face full of fury.
