Today, the eldest brother also ca hopping out of his room.
His left leg still couldn't bear weight, but the good news was that his right leg could manage well enough to walk.
The whole family eating together made for a warm and harmonious scene.
"Eat more — look how thin you've gotten!" Huang izhen kept piling food onto Shu Fen's plate with her chopsticks. "If there's sothing you like, just help yourself."
"Ma, too!" Chen Wuqi thrust his bowl forward imdiately.
"You're a grown boy and still need to be fed?" Chen Hanliang shot him a glare, and Chen Wuqi instantly pulled his bowl back.
A cacophony erupted from upstairs — wailing, cursing, crying, all blending into a chaotic ss.
Huang izhen had no idea what was happening. She imdiately opened the door to watch the commotion, then pushed open the iron gate and stepped out to gather intel.
She returned monts later, her expression conspiratorial as she whispered:
"That gossip-mongering Yu woman upstairs — karma finally caught up with her. Soone just doused her entire apartnt in manure! Can't even have her New Year's dinner now." As she spoke, Huang izhen snuck a glance at Shu Fen.
"We're eating here — could you not bring that up?" Chen Hanliang grumbled irritably.
"I absolutely will bring it up. People shouldn't be so wicked, or sooner or later they'll get what's coming to them!" Huang izhen muttered.
"I used to work at the martial arts hall, but now that I'm busy training, the job takes up too much ti. I'll ask Senior Brother if Shu Fen can take over the cleaning there. She could sleep at the hall at night. Fifteen hundred a month." Chen Wujun suddenly spoke up while eating.
"Just cleaning in the evening, and room included, for fifteen hundred a month? That's a great deal — ask the hall master!" Huang izhen's interest was instantly piqued.
Shu Fen lifted her head to look at Chen Wujun, her eyes brimming with hope.
Young as she was, she already understood how cold and fickle the world could be, and she could tell kindness from cruelty.
"I'll ask in a bit. Shouldn't be a problem," Chen Wujun said.
"You're going to the hall again later?"
"I need to head to Master's place. Won't be back till midnight," Chen Wujun replied.
"Then let slice up so roast ats for you to bring along," Huang izhen offered.
"And grab those two bottles of wine from the shelf," Chen Hanliang added. The wine on the shelf was stock he'd been saving — he couldn't even bear to drink it himself.
Chen Wujun had received plenty of care at the martial arts hall. He'd even worked there before. Now that he was visiting Master's place in the evening, he certainly couldn't show up empty-handed.
Huang izhen scarfed down the rest of her al, then opened the door and went back out to enjoy the spectacle.
She returned half an hour later, thoroughly satisfied, and sliced up so roast ats for Chen Wujun, then took the two bottles of wine down from the shelf and bundled everything together.
Chen Wujun carried the bundle straight to the gambling den.
At this hour, there were fewer gamblers around.
After eight o'clock, though, the place would co alive — and during the New Year period, it would be even livelier than usual.
Though custors were sparse, the den was far from quiet. All the foot soldiers with nothing to do were gathered there, and the food was already laid out and ready.
"Brother Jun, let raise a glass to you! Brother Jun may be young, but your skills and your brains — I respect that more than anything!" Ah Fei was the first to snatch up his glass.
"You lot still have to hold down the fort at the den over New Year's, so I ca to share the reunion dinner with you." Chen Wujun smiled and clinked glasses with Ah Fei, downing half a glass of beer.
After Ah Fei ca Curry, then the foot soldiers lined up one after another to toast him.
Once the al at the den was finished, Chen Wujun headed out of the Walled City carrying quite a haul.
This was far more than just what his family had sent along — he'd had people prepare everything in advance.
He made his way to Ma Tau Wai, an area lined with old tenent buildings that was even livelier than the Walled City.
He knocked on Zhou Qing's door. It was Senior Brother Li Yaozu who answered.
"Thought you weren't coming till tomorrow!"
"Brought so dishes over!" Chen Wujun grinned.
"Co in!" Senior Brother Li took the items from Chen Wujun's hands and carried them to the kitchen.
"Master!" Chen Wujun stepped inside to find Zhou Qing on the sofa watching television — a currently popular series called Star Trek: The Next Generation.
"Find yourself a seat," Zhou Qing said, glancing up at him briefly.
"Master, you watch this too!" Chen Wujun settled onto one end of the sofa, his curiosity piqued.
He never would have expected soone like his master to watch science fiction.
Chen Wujun watched along while making idle conversation. "Master, when do you think we'll make it to space? Like in the show — flying around in starships..."
Zhou Qing's expression shifted several tis, but he said nothing for a long while.
Monts later, Chen Wujun got up to help Senior Brother Li move the table and set out all the dishes.
What surprised Chen Wujun was that despite there being only three of them, Senior Brother Li had set out four place settings.
"Senior Brother, is soone else coming?"
"No." Despite saying this, Senior Brother Li still placed four stools around the table.
A mont later, Master Zhou Qing erged from his room carrying a photograph. He placed it at one of the settings, then picked up a wine cup, filled it, and set it before the photo.
Only then did Chen Wujun understand. Curious, he leaned in for a closer look. The photograph showed thirteen people in total — n and won both, ten n and three won.
So looked like old farrs, pipe in hand, faces etched with hardship. Others appeared ordinary, wearing athletic clothes, their features unremarkable. And there were striking won too, dressed fashionably yet radiating a fierce, heroic energy...
They all shared one thing in common: broad shoulders, powerful builds, eyes brimming with vitality and spirit — an unmistakable air of distinction.
One glance was enough to know they were martial artists.
Chen Wujun studied the photo for a while before finally spotting Master Zhou Qing. The Zhou Qing in the photograph looked to be only around thirty — far younger than now, vibrant and imposing.
"Master... are they... martial uncles and aunts?" Chen Wujun's curiosity stirred.
"No."
Zhou Qing raised his wine cup in a silent toast to the empty air, then tilted his head back and drank it down.
A long ti passed before he finally picked up his chopsticks. He pointed at the old farr in the photo and spoke in an even, unhurried tone: "His na is Zhuang Huai. Just like he looks — a simple farr. The Wolf Fist you learned? That was his specialty."
Then he pointed to a man in a suit and glasses, soone with a sowhat scholarly air: "His na is Yin Zhou. The Spirit Ape Hanging Beam Stance you learned — that was his family's art..."
He pointed next to a man built like a bear, massive and imposing: "His na is Yang Dianqing. He practiced Intention-Shape Fist. The Old Bear Hugging Tree Stance you learned cos from his lineage..."
Then he indicated a woman in athletic wear who appeared to be in her thirties: "Her na is Cheng Lin. The Swimming Dragon Palm you learned was passed down from her branch..."
Zhou Qing pointed out each person with a calm detachnt, but a heavy weight settled in Chen Wujun's chest.
It felt as though every sentence Zhou Qing spoke, every person he identified, carried a gravity that pressed down on the soul.
"Master, are they now..." Chen Wujun asked softly.
"Dead." Zhou Qing's voice was calm. "So don't ntion any of these nas to anyone."
"Understood," Chen Wujun nodded.
He had a creeping sense that Zhou Qing might be entangled in sothing monuntal.
That was why, from the very mont Chen Wujun beca his disciple, Zhou Qing had warned him never to reveal who his master was.
Everything he'd learned ca from these people. They were undoubtedly supre masters, yet all of them were dead — and their nas could never be spoken aloud.
'I must never let anyone find out who my master is. Otherwise, I might end up beaten to death.'
"Master, what's your specialty?" Chen Wujun sensed the heavy atmosphere and, eyes darting, tried to shift the mood.
"You'll find out in ti," Zhou Qing replied in a slow, asured tone.
Hearing this, Chen Wujun didn't press further. Instead, he steered the conversation toward so questions he'd been mulling over the past few days while practicing Swimming Dragon Palm.
Zhou Qing answered each one patiently.
At half past eleven, Chen Wujun left Zhou Qing's place and walked ho, turning things over in his mind.
'I wonder what kind of trouble Master got mixed up in — what kind of catastrophe he was swept into.'
'So many supre masters, and every last one of them dead.'
Chen Wujun couldn't puzzle out any answers. After a mont, he set the matter aside.
'Whatever it was, it has nothing to do with .'
'As long as no one finds out who my master is, that's all that matters.'
Back in the Walled City, an amusing thought suddenly struck Chen Wujun.
'They say Shu Fen is eating from a hundred households. Turns out I've been learning from a hundred masters!'
...
Early the next morning, Chen Wujun headed to the gambling den with a small bag in hand.
The bag was stuffed with red envelopes.
"Brother Jun — wishing you a prosperous New Year, wealth and good fortune!" The foot soldiers launched into a barrage of New Year's greetings the mont they spotted Chen Wujun.
"Such sweet talkers... here, this one's yours!" Chen Wujun handed out a red envelope on the spot.
Each one contained a hundred dollars.
He spent over an hour at the den, distributing red envelopes to Curry and all his n, before finally heading out to et Ah Hao. Together, they went to see Shark Jiu.
Shark Jiu's residence was on the twelfth floor, right above Jindi Finance — five units knocked into one, roughly a hundred and fifty square ters. By Walled City standards, it was a mansion.
"Sister Jiu — wishing you a prosperous New Year, wealth and good fortune!" Chen Wujun flashed a beaming smile the mont he laid eyes on Shark Jiu.
"Grinning like that... a grown man like you isn't waiting for a red envelope, is he?"
Shark Jiu grabbed red envelopes from a cabinet by the door and pressed one each into Chen Wujun's and Ah Hao's hands. She'd clearly prepared them well in advance.
"Co in."
Chen Wujun gave the envelope a squeeze — thick. Probably a thousand dollars.
Once inside, he looked around. The floors were bare cent. There was one bedroom, one bathroom, and beyond that just a living room. Apart from a single sofa, the living room was completely empty — hollow and sparse.
Other than its sheer size, the place was remarkably austere.
Yet Chen Wujun had barely taken a few steps before his gaze sharpened.
There, in the center of Shark Jiu's living room floor, rings of footprints were pressed deep into the cent — as though carved into it, crisp and unmistakable.
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